Government to allow third-country resettlement of refugees
Refugee camp near Zukòwò
KRASIMIR, KRASIMIR - Today, Immigration Minister Ruslan Vranchov, announced plans to allow third-country resettlement of the refugees from both Lecia and Mazaristan into other countries, preferably other member nations of the Esquarian Community, due to concerns over Katranjiev's ability to provide refugees with their basic needs.
Statement
Ruslan Vranchov justified the plans to allow third-country resettlement, saying that "since the 2015 census, the number of Mazari refugees has almost doubled from just over eight-hundred-fifty thousand to one-and-a-half million refugees. When we factor the number of Lec refugees, the total amount is around two-and-a-half million refugees within our borders."
"For decades, Katranjiev has welcomed refugees escaping persecution from Lecia, and since the start of the Mazari Civil War, we have welcomed refugees from there as well. However, with the influx of Mazari refugees into our country, combined with the ongoing drought in the Genida desert, we are concerned that if this situation continues, we will be unable to provide them with their basic needs in an adequate manner, without having to sacrifice the livelihoods of our own citizens," Vranchov said. "To allow this situation to deteriorate will only further inflame tensions between the refugees and the citizen populations of our country."
"Therefore, our government is left with no choice but to resettle around two million of the refugees. Our ideal places for resettlement are our fellow member states within the Esquarian Community, as they share the same values that we do, and are, for the most part, developed countries," Vranchev said. "While we may be willing to resettle them to non-members of the Esquarian Community, we have to ensure that those countries uphold the same principles of human rights that we do here."
Response by government officials
Prime Minister Elena Magdarov supported the plans, saying that "I have the utmost confidence that the policy of allowing third-country resettlement of refugees will help reduce the pressure on our resources, and will in the long run benefit both the refugees, and the civilian population, as they will be able to lead safer lives."
Deputy Prime Minister Volen Dachev also supported the plan, saying that "this plan helped us fulfill part of an agreement that was made to establish the coalition between the Conservatives and the Katranjian Independence Party, which is to resettle most of the refugees on our soil, so our citizens would not be burdened with helping refugees from Mazaristan."
Criticism
Former Prime Minister, and leader of the Liberal Party, Yasen Dinev criticized the move to resettle refugees, saying that "while I acknowledge the concerns made by the Immigration Minister, and by the government, about our ability to support them, the fact is that we do not need to sacrifice our standard of living to accommodate the refugees residing in our own country. Our standard of living has been rising, and it did not stop because we took in refugees escaping persecution from Lecia. To kick most of them out of our country is a disservice, especially when much of the refugees have not done any wrong."
Progressive Party leader Suhaila Abdalrahmanova also criticized the plan, saying that "the only reason why the government is considering such a policy of resettlement is due to the fact that our own government has implemented policies that prohibits refugees from obtaining legitimate jobs, and then the government has the audacity to act shocked when many of them either go on welfare, or join extremist groups." She suggested that "the governing coalition has more options than they say they do: to either lift all those laws which make it impossible for refugees to work legitimately, or to grant the refugees citizenship."
However, former acting leader of the Katranjian Independence Party, Viscount Zhelyazko of Rysinov told Slevdovatel that "the plan to resettle refugees does not go far enough: those wanting refugees to arrive in their country will only want specific refugees, and considering that the process will take years, it means that we will be stuck with more and more refugees, as we struggle to get the excess out of our country." He stated that "the best solution is to expatriate all known refugee criminals back to their home countries," which in his opinion would "make the matter of resettling refugees to other countries a moot point, as all the legitimate refugees can continue to receive benefits, while permanently ending the Sorrows."
More as the story develops.
