EC IMMIGRATION ministers attending a meeting of the TREVI group in Copenhagen have taken a tough line against the families of refugees from former Yugoslavia being allowed to join their relatives in the West.
They proposed limiting the possibility of family reunion to exceptional circumstances'. This implies an indefinite pe not of choreca scaraton to thousands of the most tragic vicums or the Bosnian conflict British refugee organisations claimed Britain has reneged on its pledge to give a temporary haven to the relatives of a specific group of refugees - the former Bosnian camp deFIGHTING RACISM tainees. The Home Secretary had promised to let them be Joined by up to 3000 of their acpchochis Figures are very hard to obtain but according to the UNHCR only 238 ex-detainees and 3.4 members of their families had arrived in Britain by carly May.
Bottom of table
Already the Home Office definition of the family has been applied inflexibly and according to the UNHCR Britain comes close to the bottom of the European league table in honouring its quota.
The new EC guidelines on refugees fleeing ex-Yugoslavia conclude that most people displaced by the conflict should be given protection and assistance in the region.
EC countries should conanue to admit auticutary vulnerable groups including former prisoners, those with illnesses that cannot be treated locally, those whose lives or physical safety are threatened. rape victims who do not have access to rehabilitation and returning combatants who face serious problems in their places of origin.
The new definition of exmean those few who manage to find asylum in the EC will not be reunited with their families.