It does not really matter what definition is related to asylum seeker or refugees stories. Although the reasons which force a person to leave his/her country are irresistible, nonetheless deciding on leaving his/her country is extremely hard. The first step towards a new life is timid because it is unknown where and how that life will be sustained if it will be sustained at all.
The journey begins without knowing if you will catch the life you dreamed of and after accepting that death is around the corner if you get caught before reaching another country. However, most of the time, these journeys begin as a result of precipitancy to save your life. You do not care about the journey since what awaits you if you stay is certain.
There are several ways to depart from a country. One of these ways is to depart to another country and -by confidence in their law and international law- expect help from them. This method is not widely used and it is not secure. The other way used is departing to the desired country by human traffickers. This is a more secure method. If we examine the situation worldwide, we come up with the fact that people who are faced with a choice between the fairness of international law/countries and human traffickers tend to choose human traffickers for some reason. How do people trust human traffickers who could not care less about them over law and human rights? The basis of thi trust is that human trafficking is a commercial business and commerce is the sacred value of now. When you have nothing to lose, your life becomes a commercial material. The rest is easy for traffickers. Transporting you from one location to the next as a smuggled good is up to them.
Masses that flee their countries trust human traffickers who transport them to another country more than they trust their own rights. Human rights are utterly important and definitely sacred. It is a simple expression of who we are in truth. It is about what we are and what we mean in nature. However, it is not possible to understand how people today are unconcerned with human rights, willingly remain distant from it and moreover accuse it. In the hands of dominant powers, human rights function only to force their will and serve as a mean of power to exploit human rights and people. This is an understandable reason to remain distant.
The panorama shown to us by written and visual media implies to what extent the human rights are being violated. The scenes beyond number in which people are loaded in lorries and trucks are perceived as a tragedy stored in the nonfunctioning parts of our brains. This behavior implicates the severity of this issue. They are carried in lorries and trucks with an unaware disregard to their dreams and hopes as goods thoroughly stacked for increased profit. Only a small percentage of these incidents make it to the news we watch or read. Mostly we read how they were killed or apprehended “red-handed” by the police forces. Unfortunately what we know is only the tip of the iceberg. Many tragedies disappear before reaching the pages or the screen.
Official refugee applications mount up to a figure of ten thousand in Turkey; and it is estimated that a figure of above two hundred thousand are trafficked across Turkey to reach other countries. According to the statistics declared by Fortress Europe website, over twelve thousand people lost their lives while seeking asylum in European borders. Thousands of children lose their lifes in this perilous journey every year. Well then, why do people voluntarily submit themselves to these people with itchy palms? Why do they start a journey which might claim their life by paying for it in advance? Are they adventurers? or do they have no other choice? Why does a flood of people trust human traffickers over sacred government and law?
The reasons which route people to illegal options are not hard to comprehend. Running away from their country means refoulement when he/she is caught for the immigrants. The situation is a little different with regard to refugees. In order to understand the situation of refugees, let us evaluate the standing of Turkey; people who seek asylum in Turkey must be available to live in Turkey through his/her own means for three years, he/she must lease accommodation and take the risk to live in Turkey, he/she must accept in advance to earn below normal wages since he/she will not have work permit, he/she must accept that authorities will indicate that right to work is effective although it is not, he/she must accept that Turkey will ask from them for the same fee demanded from foreigners visiting Turkey for tourism or business every 6 months, he/she must accept that UNHCR is not very involved in his/her rights as bind by its liabilities, that UNHCR might give an appointment date in several months time just for an interview, that a final decision might be reached at least in 2-3 years’ time and that this decision might also be unfavorable thereby he/she must start over from scratch, he/she must accept that although it is a right, it is not easy to obtain aid from relative offices, he/she must accept that he/she will be discriminated and there are only a small number of places to receive aid and that being a refugee doe not necessarily prevent him/her from being deported and etc. Unfortunately, general outlook over the world will present a similar view. Turkey’s approach to immigration might be evaluated as better than many countries for that matter. Under these circumstances it is not hard to comprehend that people running away from their countries enrich human traffickers and appeal to illegal methods.
It is possible to cite under the current situation that people appeal to human traffickers because there is no legal system or approach of justice based on human rights or human rights just remain in writing and not in effect. It is not meaningless to assume that only human traffickers are to blame for deaths in lorries, boats and trucks. All countries and international law are liable for this predicament. Countries exert their utmost efforts to terminate unofficial mechanisms arising from human trafficking system instead of taking necessary steps to protect human rights. This termination shall only become real once the realities of these people are acknowledged and they are approached under the vision of human rights. Otherwise, people who have already accepted death will enable existence of these mechanisms.
Senar ATAMAN
