Refugee/Migrant Crisis

Saudi woman alleging abuse by her family can stay temporarily in Thailand
Associated Press
Published:
January 7, 2019
Updated:
January 7, 2019 3:16 PM EST
In this Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, photo released by Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun/Human Rights Watch, Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun views her mobile phone as she sits barricaded in a hotel room at an international airport in Bangkok, Thailand.Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun / Human Rights Watch via AP
BANGKOK — An 18-year-old Saudi woman who fled her family over alleged abuse and barricaded herself in a Bangkok airport hotel room in a desperate bid for asylum will be allowed to stay in Thailand while her case is evaluated by the U.N. refugee agency, immigration authorities said Monday.
Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun grabbed global attention when she sent out pleas for help via social media, saying she feared for her life if she were put on a plane back to Kuwait, where she had slipped away from her family, or her homeland.
Instead, she has been allowed to enter Thailand temporarily under the protection of the U.N. refugee agency, which was expected to take about five to seven days to study her case and her claim for asylum. She said she wants to go to Australia to seek refuge there.
“We will not send anyone to die. We will not do that. We will adhere to human rights under the rule of law,” said Thai Immigration Police chief Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn.
Alqunun’s plight mirrors that of other Saudi women who in recent years have turned to social media to amplify their calls for help while trying to flee abusive families and other obstacles they face in the conservative kingdom.
Photos released Monday night by immigration police showed Alqunun with Thai and U.N. officials after she left the airport transit hotel room where she had been holed up over the weekend, sending her pleas for help on her Twitter account. She later tweeted that she feels safe under U.N. protection and has gotten back her passport, which had been taken from her earlier.
Alqunun’s ordeal began when she fled from her family while in Kuwait and boarded a flight to Thailand, apparently taking advantage of being away from Saudi Arabia’s restrictions on women who cannot travel abroad without a man’s consent.
Upon arriving at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Saturday night, she said she was met by a man whom she identified at various times as either a Kuwait Airways employee or a Saudi diplomat, who took her passport and said he would help her gain entry to Thailand. Saudi Arabia denies its officials were involved in any way.
In this photo released by the Immigration Police, Chief of Immigration Police Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, right, walks with Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun before leaving the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok Monday, Jan. 7, 2019. Immigration police via AP
When the man returned about an hour later with four or five other people, they said they knew she had run away, that her family wanted her back, and she should go home to Saudi Arabia. She was sent to a hotel room, and told she would be put on a Monday morning flight to Kuwait.
She then went online, sending out pleas for assistance over Twitter, and also barricaded her hotel room door. Global attention was sparked by social media and she did not get on the scheduled morning flight to Kuwait.
Alqunun wrote of being in “real danger” if forced to return to her family in Saudi Arabia, and said in media interviews that she might be killed. She told the BBC that she had renounced Islam and was fearful of her father’s retaliation.
Her Twitter account attracted more than 66,000 followers in less than 48 hours and her story grabbed the attention of foreign governments and the U.N. refugee agency. As the pressure grew, with concern expressed by Australian lawmakers, Germany’s ambassador to Thailand and human rights agencies, Thai officials agreed to allow U.N refugee officials to meet with her.
The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said it expected to take at least 5-7 days to evaluate her case and claims, according to Surachate, the Thai immigration police chief.
Giuseppe De Vincentiis, the UNHCR representative in Thailand, told journalists he did not know where Alqunun would be staying but that she would be safe because she was under his agency’s protection. UNHCR declined to release any details of its meeting with her, but De Vincentiis noted “a good spirit of collaboration so far” with Thai officials.
Surachate said Alqunun’s father was due to arrive Monday night, and officials would see if she was willing to meet with him.
“As of now, she does not wish to go back and we will not force her. She won’t be sent anywhere tonight,” Surachate said at a news conference.
“She fled hardship. Thailand is a land of smiles,” he said.
He noted her tweets mentioned “she does not want Islam,” adding that “this type of thing, in her country, is a hard crime.”
Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, told The Associated Press that Thailand should let Alqunun continue her journey to Australia.
“She has a valid Australian visa,” he said. “The key thing is she should not be sent back to Saudi Arabia, she should not be sent back into harm’s way.”
Surachate challenged parts of Alqunun’s story, including that she had an Australian visa.
“The fact is she didn’t have any money. She intended to come here and didn’t have any visa to go to Australia. So we have to state the facts here. But we will provide assistance nonetheless,” he said.
He later said Kuwait Airways had been at fault for allowing her to board her flight to Thailand without having proper travel documents. The airline did not immediately comment.
Earlier, Surachate had said that the Saudi Embassy had said she had run away from her parents and said she could be in danger. The embassy did not mention that she had rejected Islam.
Her case highlighted Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship laws, which require women who want to travel, obtain a passport or marry to have the consent of a male relative — usually a father or husband — no matter what their age.
It also underscored the limits of the reforms being pushed by Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman as he struggles to repair damage to his reputation after the grisly killing three months ago of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul.
For runaway Saudi women, fleeing can be a matter of life and death, and they are almost always trying to escape male relatives.
In 2017, Dina Ali Lasloom triggered a firestorm online when she was stopped en route to Australia, where she planned to seek asylum. She was forced to return to Saudi Arabia and was not publicly heard from again, according to activists tracking her whereabouts.
Despite efforts by the Saudi government to curtail the scope of male guardianship laws, women who try to flee their families in Saudi Arabia have few good options inside the kingdom. They often are pressured to reconcile with their families, sent to shelters where their movement is restricted or face arrest for disobeying their legal guardian.
While the Saudi Embassy in Thailand denies Saudi authorities were involved in trying to stop Alqunun from going to Australia, the kingdom has in the past forced its citizens to return home.
Saudi Arabia’s charge d’affaires in Bangkok, Abdullah al-Shuaibi, was quoted in Saudi media as saying that Alqunun was stopped by Thai authorities because she did not appear to have a return ticket, a hotel reservation or itinerary to show she was a tourist. He said the Saudi Embassy has no authority to stop anyone at the airport and that such a decision would rest with Thai officials.
“She was stopped by airport authorities because she violated Thai laws,” he was quoted as saying in Sabq, a state-aligned Saudi news website. “The embassy is only monitoring the situation.”
Saudi Arabia says five face death penalty in Khashoggi killing
Netflix criticized for yanking ‘Patriot Act’ episode in Saudi Arabia for lambasting crown prince
Saudi Arabia ‘categorically’ rejects U.S. Senate’s ’interference’ in kingdom

http://torontosun.com/news/world/sa...i-hotel-while-seeking-asylum-wont-be-deported

FATAH: How Twitter saved life of Saudi rebel who rejected Islam
Tarek Fatah
Published:
January 8, 2019
Updated:
January 8, 2019 2:21 PM EST
Had there been no Twitter, it can safely be assumed, Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, an 18-year old Saudi woman who fled her family, country and religion could have been dead.
We now know she is safe, in the care of the UN Human Rights Council in Bangkok awaiting a decision on her request for asylum in Australia or Canada.
However, for 24 hours this young rebel had barricaded herself inside a room at a Bangkok Airport hotel, completely at the mercy of Thai authorities, who seemed to be acting at the behest of Saudi authorities and wanted Rahaf deported back to Kuwait from where she had escaped.
Her ordeal began long before she boarded a flight from Kuwait to Australia with a stopover for a flight change at Bangkok Airport.
According to Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch, who has been in close contact with Rahaf, she was fleeing physical abuse by her male relatives, in particular by her father and her brother.
Robertson told CBC’s As it Happens that the 18-year old was confined to her room for almost six months. “She very clearly stated that she was unhappy with Islam. She was unhappy having to wear the hijab and being forced to pray,” he added.
Without her family’s knowledge, the young Saudi rebel obtained an Australian visa and an airline ticket to Sydney, Australia, where she intended to ask for asylum.
But while she was in the air, her influential father had alerted Saudi authorities who in turn pressured Thai authorities at Bangkok airport to seize her passport and deny her access to her connecting flight to Sydney on Saturday.
The Thai authorities obliged and detained Rahaf at an airport hotel until she could be deported back to Kuwait on Sunday.
In the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 6, Rahaf began tweeting for help: “I’m in real danger because the Saudi embassy trying to forcing (sic) me to go back to Saudi Arabia, while I’m at the airport waiting for my second flight,” she tweeted to the world.
But she had only 24 followers and her first tweets went without being noticed until the BBC picked up the story.
Later she sent me a two-word appeal on a Twitter direct message, saying “Hi Help!”
It was a call to arms.
Soon we had seven Toronto tweeters at my home, three in the U.S., four in India and many more, all coordinating our tweets and writing to leaders like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland to President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel.
One of us was monitoring the status of Kuwait Airways KU412 that was supposed to take Rahaf back to darkness. And if all else failed and she was forced on the Kuwait Airways jet, an activist in India was ready with a ‘bomb scare’ tweet to stop the flight from leaving. Fortunately, that was not necessary.
Others sent scores of appeals to the Thai Prime Minister and other officials including newspaper editors to help save a life.
Saudi prisoner Raif Badawi’s Canadian wife Ensaf Haider and Arab-American activist Mona Eltahawy kept up a relentless barrage of tweets that were invaluable in turning the plight of the Saudi rebel into a worldwide case.
Notably silent in this crisis were Islamist groups who never tire of repeating the Quranic verse: “To save one life is to save all of mankind.”
I asked the Islamic Council of North America (ICNA), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) for their reaction, but there was none.
Fortunately, the pressure of ordinary citizens using social media saved the life of Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun who is today free and may soon be in Canada as our beloved fellow citizen, sister and daughter.
http://twitter.com/rahaf84427714
http://torontosun.com/opinion/colum...-saved-life-of-saudi-rebel-who-rejected-islam

Australia considering resettlement for fleeing Saudi woman
Associated Press
Published:
January 9, 2019
Updated:
January 9, 2019 9:04 AM EST
Chief of Immigration Police Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn talks to media about the status of Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun outside the Saudi Arabia Embassy in Bangkok Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019.Sakchai Lalit / AP
BANGKOK — Australia’s government said Wednesday that it will assess the resettlement case of a Saudi woman who fled from her family now that the United Nations has deemed her a refugee, taking the woman’s high-profile quest for asylum a step forward.
The Department of Home Affairs confirmed in a statement that the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees had referred 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun to Australia for consideration for refugee resettlement.
Alqunun arrived in Bangkok on a flight from Kuwait on Saturday, and planned to continue to Australia, where she held a tourist visa. But after being detained by Thai authorities, she refused to board a flight back to Kuwait, barricading herself in an airport hotel room.
After grabbing worldwide attention with dramatic posts on social media in which she said she feared for her safety if made to return home to her family, Alqunun eventually was placed in the care of the UNHCR as her bid for refugee status was considered.
Australia’s Home Affairs Department said it would “consider this referral in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals.”
Indications from Canberra suggest Alqunun may receive a sympathetic hearing.
“If she is found to be a refugee, then we will give very, very, very serious consideration to a humanitarian visa,” Health Minister Greg Hunt told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. before the UNHCR’s referral.
The case has highlighted the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Several female Saudis fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home. Human rights activists say many more similar cases will have gone unreported.
The influence of the Internet on Alqunun’s case was noted by several human rights advocates.
The representative in Australia of Human Rights Watch, Elaine Pearson, said it was encouraging that Alqunun was able to highlight her situation using social media, and she hoped more Saudi women might act similarly.
“The unique thing about this case is that she had access to social media, and was able to report on it and bring the world’s attention to her plight,” said Pearson. “I think there are many cases like this that go unreported.”
A similar point was made by UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch, who said that what was different in Alqunun’s case was that “the wave of all of the voices of solidarity and support came together, joined up in terms of caring for this individual.”
Thailand’s immigration police chief Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn said that Alqunun’s father and brother arrived together in Bangkok on Tuesday but Alqunun refused to meet them.
Surachate discussed her case on Tuesday with Saudi Charge d’Affaires in Thailand Abdalelah Mohammed A. Alsheaiby.
In a video clip of the meeting released by Thai immigration police, Alsheaiby is heard telling Thai officials: “From the moment she arrived, she opened a new account and her followers reached almost 45,000 in a day. And I would have preferred it better if her phone was taken instead of her passport.”
The comments sparked anger on social media. Surachate said that police could not confiscate her phone because she was not being detained and said that the Saudi diplomat’s remark was “just an opinion” and “nothing to be taken seriously.”
A Tuesday statement from the Saudi Embassy in Thailand denied interfering in Alqunun’s case, and said it was only monitoring her situation. Describing her case as a “family affair,” it said Saudi officials had neither seized her passport — as Alqunun had claimed several times — nor demanded her deportation back home.
The embassy and Thai officials earlier said that Alqunun was stopped by Thai authorities because she did not have a return ticket, a hotel reservation or itinerary to show she was a tourist, which appeared to have raised a red flag about the reasons for her trip.
Saudi Arabia’s wider human rights record has come under intense scrutiny since the killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi in October. Khashoggi, who wrote critically of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in columns for The Washington Post, had been living in self-imposed exile before Saudi agents killed and dismembered him inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
The kingdom offered various shifting accounts of the circumstances of his death before eventually settling on the explanation that he died in a botched operation to forcibly bring him back to Saudi Arabia.

http://torontosun.com/opinion/colum...-saved-life-of-saudi-rebel-who-rejected-islam
http://torontosun.com/news/world/australia-considering-resettlement-for-fleeing-saudi-woman

...and yet now, we have I POO, the Islamic Party of Ontario.

get your woman's lib burkas here!!!

$74 million not enough to cut refugee claim backlog: internal documents
Canadian Press
Published:
January 10, 2019
Updated:
January 10, 2019 6:34 PM EST
An asylum seekers, claiming to be from Eritrea, is confronted by an RCMP officer as he crosses the border into Canada from the United States Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 near Champlain, N.Y.Paul Chiasson / The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The agency that processes refugee claims in Canada estimated it would need almost four times as much money as it is getting to tackle a major backlog in asylum claims, caused in part by an influx of irregular migrants.
Documents obtained under access-to-information law show the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) drafted estimates in November 2017 showing it would need $140 million a year, plus an additional $40 million in one-time costs, to process 36,000 extra refugee cases annually.
That’s the number of cases the board would need to complete to cut the backlog while also dealing with new asylum claims.
The government ultimately earmarked $74 million for the IRB, over two years, in last year’s federal budget to address Canada’s refugee backlog.
This amount will not go far enough, the IRB said in a “key messages” document circulated within the department.
“The additional funding will allow us to finalize at least 17,000 additional claims for refugee protection and a little more than 3,000 RAD (refugee appeal division) appeals,” the IRB says in the document dated May 24, 2018. “Certainly the current inventory of pending claims — a little over 50,000 — cannot all be finalized with the funding provided, and in a two-year window. To tackle an inventory of this size, while still meeting ongoing intake, requires a longer-term approach.”
The number of outstanding claims has since grown to over 64,000.
The Immigration and Refugee Board has had an increase in the number of refugee claims since 2017, a phenomenon it attributes to “changes in the global environment.”
In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the number of new claims began exceeding the board’s capacity to process them by an average of about 2,300 cases a month, which has resulted in the growing backlog. It means asylum-seekers hoping to be accepted as refugees to Canada face wait times of up to 21 months before their claims are even heard.
Part of the problem has been an influx of irregular migrants, mainly from Nigeria and Haiti, who have been crossing the Canada-U.S. border through unofficial pathways to seek asylum.
These irregular asylum cases, totalling over 38,000 since the beginning of 2017, accounted for about 42 per cent of the pending refugee claims at the IRB, as of May 31, according to the documents.
The IRB has responded by making a number of operational changes as well as adding staff, thanks to the $74 million in new funds.
But the internal documents also reveal that even before the IRB began adding jobs, dozens of board positions had been left vacant since 2016 due to delays in the cabinet approval process for the positions.
Meanwhile, employees processing claims have raised concerns about heavy workloads as they try to chip away at the ever-growing pile of case files. They also complained of problems with their pay due to the federal government’s buggy Phoenix compensation system.
“Employees are clearly feeling the effects of the increased workloads and stress (pressure)!” one employee said in a question posed to then-IRB chairman Mario Dion in an employee town hall in November 2017. “We’re working hard and it doesn’t seem fair that we’re having issues with our pay.”
“Employees are already tired. How are you planning on managing this?” another employee asked.
One staffer pressed Dion about when the influx of claims will be considered a crisis.
In his response, drafted with the help of staff, Dion told the employees that while attempts were constantly being made to work smarter, “efficiencies and hard work alone will not solve the current issues around growing backlogs.”
“Simply put, the IRB is not sufficiently resourced to deal with its current workload,” Dion told employees.
After this town hall, government did announce the $74 million, which will add at least 50 additional decision-makers to the IRB’s refugee-protection division. Some of the money will also go toward translators, interpreters and other support staff. These resources, coupled with streamlined processing strategies, has increased the number of finalized cases by 40 per cent over the last year.
But the IRB notes more than once in the documents that a longer-term strategy will be needed to fully clear Canada’s backlog of asylum claims.
Irregular migrant claims drop to lowest levels since 2017, but backlogs remain
Trudeau calls Tories’ migration statements ‘fearmongering’
Irregular migrants on track to cost Canada almost $400 million, watchdog says
http://torontosun.com/news/national...-cut-refugee-claim-backlog-internal-documents

spaminator said:

$74 million not enough to cut refugee claim backlog: internal documents
Canadian Press
Published:
January 10, 2019
Updated:
January 10, 2019 6:34 PM EST
An asylum seekers, claiming to be from Eritrea, is confronted by an RCMP officer as he crosses the border into Canada from the United States Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 near Champlain, N.Y.Paul Chiasson / The Canadian Press
OTTAWA — The agency that processes refugee claims in Canada estimated it would need almost four times as much money as it is getting to tackle a major backlog in asylum claims, caused in part by an influx of irregular migrants.
Documents obtained under access-to-information law show the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) drafted estimates in November 2017 showing it would need $140 million a year, plus an additional $40 million in one-time costs, to process 36,000 extra refugee cases annually.
That’s the number of cases the board would need to complete to cut the backlog while also dealing with new asylum claims.
The government ultimately earmarked $74 million for the IRB, over two years, in last year’s federal budget to address Canada’s refugee backlog.
This amount will not go far enough, the IRB said in a “key messages” document circulated within the department.
“The additional funding will allow us to finalize at least 17,000 additional claims for refugee protection and a little more than 3,000 RAD (refugee appeal division) appeals,” the IRB says in the document dated May 24, 2018. “Certainly the current inventory of pending claims — a little over 50,000 — cannot all be finalized with the funding provided, and in a two-year window. To tackle an inventory of this size, while still meeting ongoing intake, requires a longer-term approach.”
The number of outstanding claims has since grown to over 64,000.
The Immigration and Refugee Board has had an increase in the number of refugee claims since 2017, a phenomenon it attributes to “changes in the global environment.”
In the 2017-18 fiscal year, the number of new claims began exceeding the board’s capacity to process them by an average of about 2,300 cases a month, which has resulted in the growing backlog. It means asylum-seekers hoping to be accepted as refugees to Canada face wait times of up to 21 months before their claims are even heard.
Part of the problem has been an influx of irregular migrants, mainly from Nigeria and Haiti, who have been crossing the Canada-U.S. border through unofficial pathways to seek asylum.
These irregular asylum cases, totalling over 38,000 since the beginning of 2017, accounted for about 42 per cent of the pending refugee claims at the IRB, as of May 31, according to the documents.
The IRB has responded by making a number of operational changes as well as adding staff, thanks to the $74 million in new funds.
But the internal documents also reveal that even before the IRB began adding jobs, dozens of board positions had been left vacant since 2016 due to delays in the cabinet approval process for the positions.
Meanwhile, employees processing claims have raised concerns about heavy workloads as they try to chip away at the ever-growing pile of case files. They also complained of problems with their pay due to the federal government’s buggy Phoenix compensation system.
“Employees are clearly feeling the effects of the increased workloads and stress (pressure)!” one employee said in a question posed to then-IRB chairman Mario Dion in an employee town hall in November 2017. “We’re working hard and it doesn’t seem fair that we’re having issues with our pay.”
“Employees are already tired. How are you planning on managing this?” another employee asked.
One staffer pressed Dion about when the influx of claims will be considered a crisis.
In his response, drafted with the help of staff, Dion told the employees that while attempts were constantly being made to work smarter, “efficiencies and hard work alone will not solve the current issues around growing backlogs.”
“Simply put, the IRB is not sufficiently resourced to deal with its current workload,” Dion told employees.
After this town hall, government did announce the $74 million, which will add at least 50 additional decision-makers to the IRB’s refugee-protection division. Some of the money will also go toward translators, interpreters and other support staff. These resources, coupled with streamlined processing strategies, has increased the number of finalized cases by 40 per cent over the last year.
But the IRB notes more than once in the documents that a longer-term strategy will be needed to fully clear Canada’s backlog of asylum claims.
Irregular migrant claims drop to lowest levels since 2017, but backlogs remain
Trudeau calls Tories’ migration statements ‘fearmongering’
Irregular migrants on track to cost Canada almost $400 million, watchdog says

http://torontosun.com/news/national...-cut-refugee-claim-backlog-internal-documents

Click to expand...

Over worked and under paid . Give me a break .

Topless protest in Australia to support Saudi woman fleeing family
Associated Press
Published:
January 10, 2019
Updated:
January 10, 2019 1:00 AM EST
In this image made from video, woman protesters march with a sign outside the building housing the Saudi consulate in Sydney, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019.Australia Broadcast Corporation via AP
SYDNEY, Australia — Four women held a topless protest in Sydney on Thursday to support runaway Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun, as Australia began considering her bid to settle in the country as a refugee.
Alqunun was on Wednesday deemed a refugee by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, after being detained in Bangkok en route to Australia. The 18-year-old publicized her case via social media after barricading herself in her Bangkok hotel room, saying she feared for her safety if sent back to her family in Saudi Arabia.
In downtown Sydney on Thursday morning, four women, dressed only in jeans and calling themselves the Secret Sisterhood, protested outside the building housing the Saudi Consulate, calling on Australia to grant Alqunun residency.
With “Secret Sisterhood” written on their backs, the women held placards with messages including “Let her in,” “Rahaf Sisterhood Hero” and “All women free + safe.”
In this image made from video, a woman protester marches with a sign outside the building housing the Saudi consulate in Sydney, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019. Australia Broadcast Corporation via AP
Secret Sisterhood founder Jacquie Love said the protest was held to urge the Australian government to recognize Alqunun’s plight, and that of oppressed women everywhere.
“We are here to encourage them to let her in,” Love said. “She’s been recognized by the UN as a refugee so we believe the Australian government needs to step up, recognize her plight and recognize what she’s gone through, and she could be an icon for the rest of the world that women shouldn’t be oppressed and they should be fleeing countries that they are oppressed in.”
“We decided to go topless because we believe all women should be able to express themselves freely and safely and we wanted to send a message to Rahaf that we can actually do that in Australia, that women can actually be free and safe,” Love said.
Secret Sisterhood has also set up a GoFundMe account, which had raised $2,290 dollars for Alqunun by Thursday morning.
Alqunun’s case has highlighted the cause of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Several female Saudis fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home. Human rights activists say many more similar cases will have gone unreported.
In this Jan. 7, 2019, file photo released by the Immigration Police, Chief of Immigration Police Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn, right, walks with Saudi woman Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun before leaving the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. Immigration police via AP, File
After mounting a campaign for assistance on Twitter from her Bangkok airport hotel, Alqunun was allowed to temporarily stay in Thailand under the care of the UN refugee agency, which ruled her claim for asylum valid and referred her case to Australia. Following that decision, Australia’s Home Affairs Department said it would “consider this referral in the usual way, as it does with all UNHCR referrals.”
Alqunun’s father arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday, but his daughter refused to meet with him.
Thailand’s Immigration Police chief Lt. Gen. Surachate Hakparn said the father — whose name has not been released — denied physically abusing Alqunun or trying to force her into an arranged marriage, which were among the reasons she gave for her flight.
Australia considering resettlement for fleeing Saudi woman
Saudi woman alleging abuse by her family can stay temporarily in Thailand
EDITORIAL: Rahaf Mohammed and Asia Bibi — two cases that deserve our attention
FATAH: How Twitter saved life of Saudi rebel who rejected Islam
Surachate said Alqunun’s father wanted his daughter back but respected her decision. Surachate described the father as being a governor in Saudi Arabia.
“He has 10 children. He said the daughter might feel neglected sometimes,” Surachate said. “But he didn’t go into detail.”
Before the UN agency’s decision to refer her case to Australia, the country’s Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said there would be no “special treatment” for her.
However, Health Minister Greg Hunt, also speaking before the UN’s decision, said: “If she is found to be a refugee, then we will give very, very, very serious consideration to a humanitarian visa.”
http://tendaily.com.au/news/austral...een-rahaf-al-qunun-be-granted-asylum-20190110
http://gofundme.com/f/help-rahaf-alqunun
http://torontosun.com/news/world/topless-protest-in-australia-to-support-saudi-woman-fleeing-family

EDITORIAL: Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun and Asia Bibi — two cases that deserve our attention
Postmedia News
More from Postmedia News
Published:
January 10, 2019
Updated:
January 10, 2019 7:34 AM EST
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun (L) and Asia Bibi.Courtesy of Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun/HO/AFP/Getty Images / British Pakistani Christian Association/HO/AFP/Getty Images
Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun says she was fleeing an abusive home in Saudi Arabia and planning to make her way to Australia when she was stopped in a Bangkok airport and detained by authorities who planned to return her to her family.
But now the 18-year-old is under UN protection in Thailand and seeking asylum, stating her family punished her for things as minor as cutting her hair and she wants to leave them, her country, and her Islamic religion.
Australia considering resettlement for fleeing Saudi woman
FATAH: How Twitter saved life of Saudi rebel who rejected Islam
Saudi woman alleging abuse by her family can stay temporarily in Thailand
HASSAN: Christians are brutally persecuted in Pakistan
Mohammed had been held by authorities in an airport hotel room while they awaited her father, but she barricaded herself inside and took to social media to broadcast live updates of her ordeal. She made direct appeals to people around the world, including Toronto Sun columnist Tarek Fatah, who spun into action and advocated for the young woman.
“Fortunately, the pressure of ordinary citizens using social media saved the life of Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun who is today free and may soon be in Canada as our beloved fellow citizen, sister and daughter,” Fatah wrote in his latest column.
It now seems more likely that she will be granted refugee status in Australia after all, but Canada was her other request.
“I want Canada to give me asylum!” she tweeted during what was the late hours of Monday night here in Canada.
http://twitter.com/rahaf84427714/status/1082524384667955200
While the particulars of her story are unconfirmed, Mohammed certainly seems a model case for refugee status. She renounced Islam, which is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.
Likewise the case of Asia Bibi, who faced violent protests after being acquitted of blasphemy in Pakistan after initially having been sentenced to death. The Christian woman had faced unsubstantiated accusations of insulting the Prophet Mohammad and the Quran.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was right to speak out in Bibi’s defence and say we would do what we could for her. At present, Bibi is apparently still in Pakistan but in a safe place.
These are just two examples of individuals who face imprisonment, punishment and even death because of their beliefs or lifestyles, and Canada does and should continue to welcome those fleeing intolerance, oppression and harm.
That doesn’t mean our border is meaningless. It means we must use our hearts and our heads when offering sanctuary to those in need.
http://torontosun.com/opinion/edito...sia-bibi-two-cases-that-deserve-our-attention

I can get behind her to come to Canada a real refugee for asylum

Trudeau says Canada has granted asylum to Saudi woman in Thailand
Associated Press
Published:
January 11, 2019
Updated:
January 11, 2019 9:26 PM EST
OTTAWA — Canada granted asylum on Friday to the Saudi woman who won the world’s attention on social media as she fled an abusive family after escaping to Thailand.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would accept 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun as a refugee, after she was stopped last Saturday at Bangkok airport by immigration police. Police denied her entry and seized her passport, while her brother and father travelled to Thailand to take her back to Saudi Arabia.
Trudeau brushed aside suggestions that the move might complicate already strained relations with Saudi Arabia, while the organization Human Rights Watch praised Canada for acting swiftly to provide sanctuary to a vulnerable young woman.
Alqunun barricaded herself in an airport hotel room and launched a Twitter campaign that drew global attention to her case. Canadian diplomats in the Thai capital were seized with her plight immediately, and though Alqunun originally said she wanted to reach Australia, it became clear in the past week that Canada represented her quickest path to freedom.
Trudeau announced during a press conference in Regina that the United Nations High Commission for Refugees asked Canada to take Alqunun as a refugee, and Canada agreed.
“That is something that we are pleased to do because Canada is a country that understands how important it is to stand up for human rights, to stand up for women’s rights around the world,” Trudeau said.
Alqunun’s case once again shone a spotlight on the state of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. Many Saudi women fleeing abuse by their families have been caught trying to seek asylum abroad in recent years and returned home.
“I’m the girl who ran away to Thailand. I’m now in real danger because the Saudi Embassy is trying to force me to return,” said an English translation of one of her first postings to Twitter. Alqunun also wrote that she was afraid and that her family would kill her if she were returned home. The Twitter hashtag #SaveRahaf ensued, and a photo of her behind a door barricaded with a mattress was seen around the world.
The Trudeau government’s decision is sure to further strain Canada’s relations with Saudi Arabia. In August, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expelled Canada’s ambassador and withdrew his own envoy after Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland used Twitter to call for the release of women’s rights activists who had been arrested in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis also sold Canadian investments and recalled their students from universities in Canada.
Trudeau appeared unfazed by the possibility of ill effects on Canada’s relations with the Saudi Arabia.
“Canada has been unequivocal,” he said. “We will always stand up for human rights and women’s rights around the world. This is part of a long tradition of Canada engaging constructively and positively in the world and working with our partners, allies and with the United Nations. And when the United Nations made a request of us that we grant Ms. Alqunun asylum, we accepted.”
Alqunun had previously said on Twitter that she wished to seek refuge in Australia.
But Australian Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told reporters on Wednesday and that Alqunun wouldn’t get any “special treatment” and was no different from any other similar case.
Dutton’s comments, coupled with the arrival of Alqunun’s father and brother in Bangkok, heightened the urgency to find a safe haven for her, Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, said in an interview from Bangkok.
“There was the uncertain aspect of her father and her brother — the people she feared most — still being here, still being in Bangkok and still being present. There was a great deal of worry about that. That something might happen,” said Robertson. “That was actually one of the reasons why the original idea that she might be going to Australia was switched to go to Canada, because Canada was prepared to act much quicker and really make this happen.”
Robertson praised the swift action of Donica Pottie, Canada’s ambassador to Thailand, for her early involvement in the case and helping push the Thai government to allow the UNHCR to gain access to Alqunun, which is not something that usually happens in such cases in Thailand.
“They were on it from the get-go,” said Robertson. “She was part of the coalition of people that were pushing very hard when we thought we were going to lose Rahaf.”
Pottie was not available for comment.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi welcomed Canada’s decision, given the hardening of attitudes in some countries towards the plight of refugees.
“Ms. Alqunun’s plight has captured the world’s attention over the past few days, providing a glimpse into the precarious situation of millions of refugees worldwide,” he said in a statement. “Refugee protection today is often under threat and cannot always be assured, but in this instance international refugee law and overriding values of humanity have prevailed.”
Earlier this week, Trudeau was forced to defend Canada’s immigration system during a town hall in Regina, in which one man said that Islam and Christianity are two cultures that don’t “mix.”
“There are many more Rahafs out there, and it’s important that we not lose that compassion for other people just because there are some who want to try to divide us, and try to politicize differences in appearance, or colour of skin or origin,” said Robertson. “We can’t let the bigots win.”
http://torontosun.com/news/world/thai-police-canada-australia-willing-to-accept-fleeing-saudi-woman

‘The last power these men have over women’: Fate of Saudi teen sheds light on male guardianship laws

When Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun fled her family with plans to seek asylum in Australia, she ran into an obstacle along the way: a layover in Thailand.
Upon her arrival in Bangkok, officials seized her passport and threatened to deport her back to her family. So the 18-year-old, who had traveled from Kuwait, locked herself in a hotel room at the airport and began to tell her story on social media, claiming she had to escape her abusive family and feared they would kill her. When she heard news that her father had landed in Thailand to try to bring her home, she tweeted that it “worried and scared” her.
Her demands to meet with the U.N. refugee agency worked, and her plight went viral. On Friday, Surachate Hakparn, who heads Thailand’s immigration bureau, said “the story ends today.”
“Ms. Rahaf is going to Canada as she wishes,” he said. As The Washington Post reported, she left Thailand to be resettled in Canada, and Hakparn said that when she departed, she had a “smiling face.”
Alqunun’s struggle to leave her family, even as an adult, drew attention to Saudi Arabia’s restrictive male guardianship laws. As a woman, even though she is 18, it remains illegal in Saudi Arabia for Alqunun to travel without permission from a male guardian. Despite some reforms by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, such as lifting a ban on female drivers, the guardianship law remains firmly in place in Saudi Arabia, and a number of female activists who led the calls for changes to the driving law remain in detention.
Human rights groups have long criticized the Saudi guardianship law, which requires women to seek permission from male guardians — which could be a husband, brother or son — to do certain tasks. In its 2017-2018 report on Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International said that in addition to travel restrictions, women in Saudi Arabia still needed permission to marry, enroll in higher education or seek employment. “They also remained inadequately protected against sexual and other forms of violence,” the watchdog group said.
Madawi Al-Rasheed, a visiting professor at the London School of Economics, told The Post that the while the guardianship laws have been somewhat loosened recently, they remain in place in part because they help the Saudi regime maintain men’s loyalty by billing themselves as protectors of women. But Alqunun’s case proves, she said, that the state “has actually failed to protect women from this private patriarchy.”
Women who are abused in their homes may feel “the only way out to end their trauma is to leave the country,” she said.
Alqunun is one of a number of Saudi women and girls who have fled home in hopes of seeking asylum abroad. Not all of them have been successful.
In 2017, a Saudi woman who publicized her plans to seek asylum was returned to Saudi Arabia after Philippine authorities detained her at the airport. Saudi Arabia called the incident a “family matter,” and at the time, passengers told Reuters that they witnessed a screaming woman being carried onto a flight from Manila to Riyadh.
Alqunun’s case, which was likely helped by the attention it garnered on social media, has raised questions over whether it will inspire other women to push back against the guardianship law, which Al-Rasheed called “the last power these men have over women.” Although Mohammed was initially billed as a reformer, Saudi Arabia has struggled with its public image in recent months, after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
On Thursday, Faisal Abbas, editor in chief of Arab News, published an op-ed saying that the male guardianship law should be abolished, claiming that Saudi Arabia has made significant progress for women’s rights in recent years and that guardianship is discriminatory.
“If there is any guardianship system that should be imposed in the Kingdom,” he wrote, “it should be imposed by the ministry on what its diplomats say and do not say — particularly the Saudi charge d’affaires in Thailand.”
He was referring to comments made by the Saudi charge d’affaires in Thailand, who came under scrutiny this week after a video circulated featuring him saying authorities should have confiscated Alqunun’s phone instead of her passport. Those comments were “the ultimate faux-pas,” Abbas wrote.

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Saudi teen granted asylum in Canada arrives in Toronto
Canadian Press
Published:
January 12, 2019
Updated:
January 12, 2019 7:11 PM EST
TORONTO — A Saudi teen described as a “brave new Canadian” by an official from the government that granted her refugee status as she fled her allegedly abusive family is en route to her new home, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister said Saturday.
Chrystia Freeland appeared alongside 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun with her arm around the teen as she appeared briefly at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.
Alqunun, fresh off a flight from Seoul, South Korea, and sporting a grey “Canada” hoodie and a blue hat emblazoned with the logo of the organization that arranged her resettlement, smiled and waved at a group of reporters, but offered no comment on her arrival.
Freeland, however, heaped praise on the young woman who shot to fame through her social media campaign to flee her family.
“It was a pleasure for me this morning to welcome to her new home a very brave new Canadian,” Freeland said. “… she wanted Canadians to see that she’s here, that she’s well, and that she’s very, very happy to be in her new home, although she did comment to me about the cold.”
“It does get warmer,” Freeland said she told her.
She was off to get winter clothes, said Mario Calla, executive director of COSTI Immigrant Services, which is helping her settle in temporary housing and applying for a health card.
Calla said Alqunun has friends in Toronto who she will be meeting up with this weekend.
Alqunun gained international prominence when she fled her family last week while visiting Kuwait and flew to Bangkok, where she barricaded herself in an airport hotel and launched a Twitter campaign outlining allegations of abuse against her relatives.
Alqunun said her father physically abused her and tried to force her into an arranged marriage.
Her father, who arrived in Bangkok not long before she left, has denied those allegations.
Trudeau says Canada has granted asylum to Saudi woman in Thailand
“I’m the girl who ran away to Thailand. I’m now in real danger because the Saudi Embassy is trying to force me to return,” said an English translation of one of her first posts to Twitter. Alqunun also wrote that she was afraid and that her family would kill her if she were returned home.
The Twitter hashtag #SaveRahaf ensued, and a photograph of her behind a door barricaded with a mattress was seen around the world.
In this Monday, Jan. 7, 2019, photo released by Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun/Human Rights Watch, Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun views her mobile phone as she sits barricaded in a hotel room at an international airport in Bangkok, Thailand.(Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun/Human Rights Watch via AP)
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Friday announced Friday that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees asked the federal government to allow Alqunun to settle in Canada, and Ottawa agreed.
“That is something that we are pleased to do because Canada is a country that understands how important it is to stand up for human rights, to stand up for women’s rights around the world,” Trudeau said.
The UNHCR said Alqunun’s plight has captured the world’s attention and provided a glimpse into the situation of refugees worldwide.
Spokeswoman Lauren La Rose praised Canada’s willingness to step up and assist in this case, but noted that Alqunun’s situation highlights a need for more interventions around the world.
“Canada has been a great ally and leader in this area, but there needs to be more spaces so that women and girls or anyone that is vulnerable can find a safe third country to resettle in,” La Rose said.
Calla said there may be an increase in asylum seekers using social media as a tool to reach out to governments and agencies to make their case for being granted asylum.
“There are many, many people in desperate situations — desperate in the sense that their lives are in danger,” he said. “They will do anything to get out of those situations to safety so it may be a tool that some will use.”
The move to accept Alqunun could serve to heighten tensions between Canada and Saudi Arabia.
In August, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expelled Canada’s ambassador and withdrew his own envoy after Freeland used Twitter to call for the release of women’s rights activists who had been arrested in the country.
The Saudis also sold Canadian investments and recalled their students from universities in Canada.
But Trudeau appeared unfazed by the possibility that the move could have ill effects, repeating that Canada stands up for human rights regardless of diplomatic consequences.
“This is part of a long tradition of Canada engaging constructively and positively in the world and working with our partners, allies and with the United Nations,” he said Friday.
At least one observer of middle-east politics predicted minimal fallout from Canada’s decision to welcome Alqunun.
Bessma Momani, a professor at the University of Waterloo and analyst of middle-eastern international affairs, said the relationship with the Saudi government has deteriorated to the point where such actions pose little political risk.
Momani said Saudi Arabia could theoretically pursue stiffer measures such as imposing full sanctions or shutting down the Canadian embassy entirely, but said the existing measures have already achieved virtually the same effect.
Sanctioning Alqunun’s resettlement and appearing to stand on principle, moreover, could bolster Trudeau’s image domestically at a time when he’s under fire from the left and the right on such issues as immigration policy and Indigenous relations, she added.
“There are a lot of gulf countries that you could … poke in the eye,” she said. “This one’s already in such an abysmal state of relations that there’s no real political or diplomatic harm to do.”
http://torontosun.com/news/national...in-canada-expected-to-arrive-in-toronto-today

Minister of trade welcoming a refugee to Canada something wrong with this picture?

Twin_Moose said:

Grampa said he use to autopsy the dead cows and found their stomachs 1/2 full of grasshoppers, when he got blown out of the West side of the province he moved to the East side where grass would grow as high as a cow's belly, but so did the stones Lol. We seen another grasshopper infestation in the 80's as well

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00's too but not as bad. If we don't see more snow or heavy spring rains they'll be back this year. Use Pam on your truck grill so they don't stick as bad.

I don't care for the jump (pun intended) in hornets that tag along with 'hoppers and I'm glad I no longer ride a motorcycle.

Well know if we are in a true drought if the hoppers numbers are up.

Twin_Moose said:

Minister of trade welcoming a refugee to Canada something wrong with this picture?

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Sounds like human trafficking.

Alqunun, fresh off a flight from Seoul, South Korea, and sporting a grey “Canada” hoodie and a blue hat emblazoned with the logo of the organization that arranged her resettlement, smiled and waved at a group of reporters, but offered no comment on her arrival.

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Was she sponsored by Roots or Joe Fresh?

Tecumsehsbones said:

Yep. F*ck the refugees. Let 'em die in misery and oppression. We, the free people of Canada (and the US) don't give a shit.
We'll drop a pallet or two of rice and beans, and congratulate ourselves on what a kind, compassionate people we are.

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What are you going on about? I have already posted that she was the type of refugee I have no problem bringing to Canada I just don't like who is trying to take credit for it, Canadian embassy highlighted her plight and we have a couple of ministers of immigration that should be welcoming her.

Saudi teen who fled her family and risked her life says she had nothing to lose

Who benefits from rescuing Rahaf? Questions linger after whirlwind story of Saudi teen's asylum

Saudi man facing N.S. sex charge goes missing

SYDNEY, N.S. - A 28-year-old Saudi man charged with sexually assaulting a Cape Breton woman has gone missing, with a leading immigration lawyer saying it may be a case of the Middle Eastern kingdom helping a citizen flee while awaiting trial.
Nova Scotia's prosecution service says Mohammed Zuraibi Alzoabi had $37,500 of his bail posted by the Saudi Arabian embassy last year in relation to the alleged sexual assault, assault and forcible confinement of the woman between Aug. 1, 2015, and March 26, 2017.
Alzoabi is also facing separate charges of dangerous driving and assault with a car in a December 2015 incident involving a Cape Breton man.
The money the kingdom provided for Alzoabi's bail last year was forfeited when he failed to appear in court last Monday, said prosecutor Shane Russell in an interview from his Sydney, N.S., office.
A court document says the sheriff unsuccessfully tried to locate Alzoabi on Dec. 8, and quotes his lawyer at the time, David Iannetti, as saying Alzoabi "fled the country some time ago," even though police had seized his passport.
Veteran immigration lawyer Lee Cohen said in an interview that the likeliest way Alzoabi would have left the country without a passport is with embassy-issued travel documents, as airlines face heavy fines if they board passengers without the government-issued permission or a passport.
The Saudi Arabian embassy has not responded to emails or telephone calls requesting comment.
"In order for this guy to leave Canada without a passport, it had to be facilitated by the Saudi government, or some government, and there's no reason to believe that any other government would put themselves in this position," said Cohen, who has practised immigration law for decades in Nova Scotia.
"It's intriguing to me as to why the Saudi government would put up bail and then facilitate his departure from Canada before he had an opportunity to complete the criminal process. This is a foreign government interfering with the criminal process."
The incident comes amidst continuing tensions between Saudi Arabia and Canada.
A Saudi teen has been granted asylum in Canada after fleeing from her allegedly abusive family. Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun said last week the Saudi embassy in Thailand had tried to force her return to the kingdom.
In August, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expelled Canada's ambassador and withdrew his own envoy after the Canadian foreign minister called for the release of women's rights activists who had been arrested in the country.
The Saudis also sold Canadian investments and recalled their students from universities in Canada.
In the United States, there have been reports of Saudi students leaving the country mysteriously as they faced serious criminal charges.
The Oregonian newspaper has reported recently on the flight last year of Abdulrahman Sameer Noorah, a Portland, Oregon, community college student who jumped bail in the hit-and-run death of a 15-year-old Portland girl and apparently fled the United States.
He was being monitored on a GPS bracelet, but someone cut the bracelet and he left the country two weeks before his trial.
The news site reported on Sunday it has found criminal cases involving at least five other Saudis who vanished before they faced trial or completed their jail sentence in the state.
They include two accused rapists, a pair of suspected hit-and-run drivers and one man with child porn on his computer.
Shawn Overstreet, a deputy district attorney in Oregon's Multnomah County, said in an interview that during his seven years in his position, he hasn't seen other governments provide their citizens with thousands of dollars in surety.
In the case of Noorah, Overstreet said he viewed a cheque for US$100,000 bail from the Saudi consulate for the young man's lawyer, which was later used by the lawyer to post bail.
"We're hearing this is happening more often than maybe we thought. We want to make sure this isn't something that continues to happen," he said.
The Cape Breton Regional Police said in an email Monday that they've issued a warrant for Alzoabi's arrest for failing to appear for his trial.
Russell, who is handling the sexual assault prosecution in the Alzoabi case, said he can't release many details about the two sets of charges, as neither case has been before the courts.
The woman's identity is protected under a publication ban.
However, the prosecutor said the allegations are serious, and he said the potential penalty for sexual assault is up to 14 years of jail.
"Having the court procedure hang over her (the alleged victim) caused her stress, and it will cause her ongoing stress the longer it lingers," said the prosecutor.

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