‘No way I’m going back to Iraq’: Iraqi Kurds flee to Belarus

[StonyArabia]

As the asylum seeker crisis continues to brew between Belarus and the EU, Iraqi Kurds tell tales of agony and helplessness

Baghdad, Iraq – The unforgiving cold that engulfs the forest in the no-man’s land by the Belarus-Poland border sets in nightly and only dissipates after sunrise.

Thousands of asylum seekers, mostly from the Middle East, have gathered in the forests on the eastern frontier of the EU.

Some have been there for weeks, battling cold and hunger as they wait in hope of crossing the border to enter Poland.

Shvan, who is on the Belarusian side of the border, struggles to keep himself warm in nearly-zero temperatures.

He tries to sleep in a tent he bought in Minsk, the Belarusian capital. When he steps out of it, he is greeted by a scene that is becoming the new norm.

Groups of people like him emerge from tents or sleeping bags dotted along the barbed-wire fence that stretches as far as the eye can see.

“I don’t know how long I can keep doing this, because this is really humiliating,” Shvan, a Kurd from the Iraqi city of Soran, told Al Jazeera during a WhatsApp video interview, asking to only be identified by his first name out of fear of repercussions.

“We keep telling the Polish officers that we are running out of food and water, but they do not care at all.

“They look at us as if we are some crazy animals,” Shvan sighed, his breath hanging in the cold air.

“They look at us as if we are some crazy animals,” Shvan sighed, his breath hanging in the cold air.

As Shvan took a quick walk to collect wood for a fire, he turned his camera to a family of four.

“Look – this man has to wrap his jacket around his daughter so she doesn’t get too cold,” he said.

Shvan is one of the thousands of refugees and migrants who left their home countries and embarked on this perilous journey to Europe.

They are stuck in the border area, which has been largely shut off to the media. As winter sets in, human rights groups have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis.

Many are from the Kurdish region of Iraq – a northern territory that is effectively autonomous.

Despite its relative safety compared with federal Iraq, the Kurdish region has its own scars: corruption that has driven many to unemployment, nepotism that has shut many Kurds out of decent jobs and, as put by people who spoke with Al Jazeera, “the impossibility of having a good life”.


But those who have already embarked on this journey paid thousands of dollars to travel agencies for a full package that included flights out of Iraq and to Belarus, hotel fees, and visa fees.

Dilsoz, a 27-year-old woman from Erbil, the Kurdish capital, left her home with her husband in early October due to a lack of employment opportunities.

During a text exchange with Al Jazeera, Dilsoz said they paid about $7,000 to a travel agency in Erbil for a package that included a flight from Erbil to Istanbul, a night in an Istanbul hotel and a ticket from Turkey to Belarus.


“It was easy when we left because the travel agency took care of everything,” Dilsoz said. “I had to ask my family and [my husband’s] family to financially support us to afford the package, but I thought it was worth it because I’d rather risk this journey to Europe than stay at home and lose hope for life.”

Shvan recounted a similar journey.

“I remember the joy of getting the confirmation text from my travel agent – I thought my new life was about to begin,” he said.

As they reached the Belarus-Poland border, that dream shattered.


Polish border police have heavily fortified the border, putting up barbed-wire fences and deploying extra troops.

Confrontations between refugees and the Polish border control occur nearly daily.

Reports suggest Belarus lured asylum seekers like Shvan and Dilsoz into the country so they could be escorted to the border area. The Belarusian police have been accused of giving the refugees and migrants wire cutters to help them cross the border to Poland.


Many in the West claim that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the EU over a disputed election in 2020, has been using refugees and migrants to punish the European Union and try to destabilise the continent.


As the crisis continues, some transit countries – such as Turkey – and their flagship airlines have banned certain nation’s citizens from boarding flights to Belarus, including Syrians, Iraqis, and Yemenis, in a bid to reduce the crisis.

Travel agencies contacted by Al Jazeera said they had since rerouted their flights so passengers could transit in cities such as Dubai to avoid the ban.

This eastern front of the EU migratory route is relatively new, compared with the dangerous maritime journey from Turkey to Greece or from North Africa countries to Italy and Spain.

Both sea routes have seen asylum seekers die and led to more coastal control. A relaxed visa policy put out by Belarus paved the way for an attractive alternative.


In a cabinet meeting last week, the Iraqi government said that it would allocate $300,000 to “support the Iraqis stranded by the border” and help them “voluntarily return”.

Iraq has since announced it will offer repatriation flights to anyone who wants to return, from Thursday.

“No way I’m going back to Iraq,” Shvan said. “And I don’t think anyone else here would want to go back to a life without any hope.”


SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
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[coolfrenchguy]

why they don't go to the multi-billionaires rich states of the E.A.U or in Saudi Arabia,you know the states who are building completly un-ecological infamous towers costing billions,like the BURJ KHALIFA of 1.5 billion (with 20 others billion added)in Dubaï , where we have allready here in europe a certain percentage of native europeans, who allready living under the level of poverty ,completly homeless for somes who haven't 0000 of euros in their pockets for a better living and a better wellness ,who can't afford decent food,clothes and a better medical care,and heating in their cold houses,with the prices of energy for heating and fuel for cars who are going insane
but don't be wrong i'am not a monster and i understand very well ,but some crisis could been avoided with the right persons at the right place,and at the right time , here it seem than they are trapped into a nasty game ,but don't blame the poles or the europeans who are just defending their territories,but blame the fake travel agencies,the smugglers ,the maffias(#1 of the human trafficking) ,the faked NGO's sponsored by rotten individuals like georges soros and many other ones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking

Migrant smuggling

A distinction should be made between trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants.

Article 3 of the Protocol against the smuggling of migrants by land, air and sea, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000) defines the smuggling of migrants as follows: “The expression 'smuggling migrants ”means ensuring, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material advantage, the illegal entry into a State Party of a person who is neither a national nor a permanent resident of that State ”31.

Legally, the smuggling of migrants is therefore distinct from trafficking in human beings, even if in practice these two phenomena are partly linked, since victims of trafficking and illicit migrants use the same routes and the causes at the origin of these two phenomena are often the same (example: people fleeing a country at war).

The Anglo-Saxons use two very distinct terms to express one or the other: for the illegal smuggling of migrants they speak of smuggling and for human trafficking they use the term trafficking.

What differentiates one from the other are the purposes of the traffickers. The former (people smugglers = smugglers) will stick to a contract of crossing borders to the final destination in exchange for a pre-determined sum. Once this is done, both smugglers and migrants will not seek to meet again. The situation is quite different with human trafficking. Criminal organizations will create a lasting dependency relationship among their victims, even if they can sometimes use illegal immigration channels. There is a loss of freedom like slavery, which is one of the variants of the slave trade. All the schemes will be good to exploit them for as long as possible with maximum profits.

The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings defines illegal trafficking as “the act of ensuring, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material advantage, 'illegal entry into a State Party of a person who is neither a national nor a permanent resident of that State ”32.

This clearly means that these traffickers-smugglers are necessarily people who carry out this activity for purely profit.

This therefore does not concern people who, voluntarily, for ideological or philosophical reasons, pass borders to threatened people (example of the Resistance's escape routes during World War II). The difference is significant: traffickers-smugglers are criminals in the international sense, while voluntary smugglers will be seen, depending on political affinities, as patriots or philanthropists by some, and enemies, rebels, even terrorists. by others. The nuance introduced by volunteering is therefore important.

The traffickers-smugglers show, moreover, a total indifference vis-à-vis their 'clients' whom they consider, treat and exploit like cattle. The latter are totally dependent on it, their families in the country of origin having often even had to borrow enormous sums in order to finance their passage.

In almost all cases, trafficking is accompanied by various forms of violence, possibly rape, torture or acts of barbarism.
In libya

In 2016, photojournalist Narciso Contreras returned, thanks to the support of the Carmignac Prize for Photojournalism, with the first evidence of slavery in Libya.

In November 2017, journalists from the American channel CNN filmed scenes of the sale of migrants as slaves in Libya. The UN condemns an 'inhuman' situation. Libya promises an investigation


in conclusion : there is a lot of people who should be lockdowned for human trafficking

[StonyArabia]

why they don't go to the multi-billionaires rich states of the E.A.U or in Saudi Arabia,you the states who are building completly un-ecological infamous towers costing billions,like the BURJ KHALIFA of 1.5 billion (with 20 others billion added)in Dubaï , where we have allready here in europe a certain percentage of native europeans, who allready living under the level of poverty ,completly homeless for somes who haven't 0000 of euros in their pockets for a better living and a better wellness ,who can't afford decent food,clothes and a better medical care,and heating in their cold houses,with the prices of energy for heating and fuel for cars who are going insane
but don't be wrong i'am not a monster and i understand very well ,but some crisis could been avoided with the right persons at the right place,and at the right time , here it seem than they are trapped into a nasty game ,but don't blame the poles or the europeans who are just defending their territories,but blame the fake travel agencies,the smugglers ,the maffias(#1 of the human trafficking) ,the faked NGO's sponsored by rotten individuals like georges soros and many other ones
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking

Because those countries don’t offer a future for them. There are some already there, but like I said those countries like Saudi, UAE, ect, don’t have certain future. Sooner or later there might be political coups and so on. Plus they don’t have the best human rights record.Not mention some of the mega projects they are building are opposed by certain tribes. Many tribes don’t want this mega urbanization happening on their land. Some of them also see the Arabs are responsible for their plight, aside from their governments. This because the Iraqi central government, which is Shia Arab lead had strangled the Kurdish economy. Plus they believe all of Europe is rich, prosperous and egalitarian, and they see Europe is the land of milk and honey. No one is blaming the Poles or Europeans, but this is clearly, a result of the Iraq war. Kurds got helped by the US and Britain to get autonomy from Iraq in 1991. After 2003, the so called imposed democracy in Iraq, is very discriminatory against minorities, and Kurds are not immune from this. However, when the Kurds decided to gain full independence from Iraq, the Iraqi central government fought a mini war, this mostly consisted of Shia Arabs and Kurds, and the Sunni Arabs have already declared this was none of their business. After this the Iraqi central government declared victory, and to ensure the violence to be contained, this was to strangle the economy of the Kurdish region, which lead to this situation. Many Turkmens especially Shia ones are heavily pro Iraqi central government. Many Shia Arabs who settled in the north, got expelled. North of Iraq is very volatile, and thus it can go in bloodshed and flames easily. This due to the nature of North Iraq, which is one of the most diverse area of the Mideast. The ethnic composition is Kurd, Sunni Arabs, Shia Arabs, Sunni Turkmens, Shia Turkmen, Assyrians, Shabak, Christian Arabs and Bedouins(subset of Arabs mostly Muslim, some Christian).

Thus the Americans only gave an illusion that Kurdistan is democratic, peaceful and economically well off. For example the Gulf nations supported Iraqi Kurdistan, but once they found out about the oil pipline, they changed their tunes because it would jeopardize their economies. Plus they don’t agree that Kirkuk should go to Kurdistan, an oil rich city.



Migrant smuggling

A distinction should be made between trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants.

They both play with human beings

Article 3 of the Protocol against the smuggling of migrants by land, air and sea, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (2000) defines the smuggling of migrants as follows: “The expression 'smuggling migrants ”means ensuring, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material advantage, the illegal entry into a State Party of a person who is neither a national nor a permanent resident of that State ”31.

I don’t agree with illegal immigration. However when people migrate to other areas of the world. It shows that their nation has become truly a failed state on all levels, economically, political, and socially.

Legally, the smuggling of migrants is therefore distinct from trafficking in human beings, even if in practice these two phenomena are partly linked, since victims of trafficking and illicit migrants use the same routes and the causes at the origin of these two phenomena are often the same (example: people fleeing a country at war).

The Anglo-Saxons use two very distinct terms to express one or the other: for the illegal smuggling of migrants they speak of smuggling and for human trafficking they use the term trafficking.

What differentiates one from the other are the purposes of the traffickers. The former (people smugglers = smugglers) will stick to a contract of crossing borders to the final destination in exchange for a pre-determined sum. Once this is done, both smugglers and migrants will not seek to meet again. The situation is quite different with human trafficking. Criminal organizations will create a lasting dependency relationship among their victims, even if they can sometimes use illegal immigration channels. There is a loss of freedom like slavery, which is one of the variants of the slave trade. All the schemes will be good to exploit them for as long as possible with maximum profits.

The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings defines illegal trafficking as “the act of ensuring, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material advantage, 'illegal entry into a State Party of a person who is neither a national nor a permanent resident of that State ”32.[

This clearly means that these traffickers-smugglers are necessarily people who carry out this activity for purely profit.

This therefore does not concern people who, voluntarily, for ideological or philosophical reasons, pass borders to threatened people (example of the Resistance's escape routes during World War II). The difference is significant: traffickers-smugglers are criminals in the international sense, while voluntary smugglers will be seen, depending on political affinities, as patriots or philanthropists by some, and enemies, rebels, even terrorists. by others. The nuance introduced by volunteering is therefore important.

The traffickers-smugglers show, moreover, a total indifference vis-à-vis their 'clients' whom they consider, treat and exploit like cattle. The latter are totally dependent on it, their families in the country of origin having often even had to borrow enormous sums in order to finance their passage.

People smugglers are scum. However the root of the problem at least in Iraq and Kurdistan, is rooted in the American interference in Iraq.

In almost all cases, trafficking is accompanied by various forms of violence, possibly rape, torture or acts of barbarism.
In libya

Libya is also a failed state, following NATO’s invasion.

In 2016, photojournalist Narciso Contreras returned, thanks to the support of the Carmignac Prize for Photojournalism, with the first evidence of slavery in Libya.

In November 2017, journalists from the American channel CNN filmed scenes of the sale of migrants as slaves in Libya. The UN condemns an 'inhuman' situation. Libya promises an investigation


in conclusion : there is a lot of people who should be lockdowned for human trafficking

Yes most migrant smugglers don’t give a shit about the people and would like to make off money. The migrants themselves especially from Iraqi Kurdistan, are not refugees but rather economic migrants. Well those from Libya are combination of refugees and economic migrants.

If wars in the Mideast and North African regions did not happen this would not be the situation, migration wise. However it seems darkness will blockout the sun, sadly, this darkness was created by Bush, Colin Powell, then Obama, Clinton.

Hail Trump

[TheForeigner]

No, the reasons they come to the West are that they will get on welfare(money for nothing) and like Putin said in front of the Russian Duma a few years ago: to conquer those countries!

[StonyArabia]

No, the reasons they come to the West are that they will get on welfare(money for nothing) and like Putin said in front of the Russian Duma a few years ago: to conquer those countries!

Well like I said they believe that Europe is land of milk and honey. However not all of the European state offer welfare. These migrants might think welfare is livable wage, where it can provide them with a middle class comfort, but for the most part it does not. Although this probably varies from country to country. In North America, living your whole life on welfare is not livable, it’s used just to get you buy. Only idiots would use welfare to sustain themselves, especially if they are not disabled.
Most mideadtern countries have political problems, and also they don’t have a welfare programs. They have their own system, to help the poor and disabled you can only manage to get buy. However if you don’t work you will have a hard time there, but they also have uncertain future.

[Blondie]

No, the reasons they come to the West are that they will get on welfare(money for nothing) and like Putin said in front of the Russian Duma a few years ago: to conquer those countries!

Putin should care about his own country because Russia is more islamized than any european country.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/...redicts-a64706

[StonyArabia]

Putin should care about his own country because Russia is more islamized than any european country.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/...redicts-a64706

The Muslims in Russia are mostly native to Russia, like Tatars, Bashkirs, who tend to be pro-Russian. As well North Caucasian groups like Chechens, Circassian, various Turkic groups, and even Azeris and Kurds are natives to Russia most southern regions.

Russia recognize Islam as its one of it’s main religions.

[TheForeigner]

Putin should care about his own country because Russia is more islamized than any european country.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2019/...redicts-a64706

But what can he do? Vast majority of Muslims in Russia are indigenous peoples conquered by Russians a long time ago. Maybe and hopefully that mufti is wrong.

[TheForeigner]

Maybe Putin should consider allowing for independence of parts of North Caucasus and not allow Central Asian immigration into Russia anymore. Besides of course do more to encourage Russians to have more babies.

[sioned]

The Northern Caucasus region is rightfully part of Russia, if mudslems dont like Russian rule, they can always leave the RF and move to Afghanistan or other mudslem shitholes.