September 27, 2001

OPEN LETTER TO THE EUROPEAN UNION PLEASE END ATTEMPTS TO ABROGATE THE 1951 GENEVA CONVENTION

 The proposal ostensibly intended to find a "uniform definition of refugees" applicable for all EU countries hides within it the danger of the abrogation of the 1951 UN Geneva Convention on Refugees to the detriment of the refugees as a whole. The danger is aggravated even further by the events of September 11 and the corresponding possibility of taking measures against bona fide refugees.

While the agreement by the European Commission to include women who have been raped or persons who have been tortured or subjected to psychological or sexual violence within the definition of a refugee the inclusion of the clause "any person seeking protection from a state deemed safe" shall not be considered as a refugee poses a grave threat to all present and future refugees. Who is to determine which countries are safe? It is to be noted that such a mistaken determination by the UNHCR (designating Ethiopia as "safe" or "democratic" and the subsequent revocation of the right of asylum from Ethiopian refugees in the Sudan) has led to much suffering and injustice.

The 1951 Convention has adequately defined who is a refugee. That victims of torture and sexual violence (including brutal genital mutilation) should be accorded asylum and protection is only proper. However, the attempt to redefine the refugee in a restrictive sense so as to deny would be refugees protection and rights is unjust. France and Germany must also accept refugees fleeing from non- state bodies. A uniform definition of a refugee or a uniform refugee and immigration policy should not lead to the arbitrary and damaging abrogation of the 1951 Geneva Convention.

 SOCEPP calls on all EU countries to uphold the 1951 Geneva Convention and to respect the right of asylum. Countries like Ethiopia in which political repression by the state is the norm cannot be described as 'safe" by any standards pertaining to human rights, justice and even decency.