Refugees from all over the world find shelter in Romania
On their way to permanent sanctuaries, refugees from all over the world end up in a UN refugee shelter in Romania.
By Marloes de Koning in Timisoara
Wilfred Ntabuhungiro loves Romania. The small-set man fled the war in his native Congo for Somaliland, but feared for his live there as well. Not until he had boarded a special charter flight to Romania did he dare believe he no longer needed to fear for himself and his family. "Is this Europe? Great!" he thought as he landed in the Romanian city Timisoara. Before then, he was as skinny as a stick, Ntabuhungiro recalled. The memory made him laugh heartily, as he thanked both God and Romania in one breath. "Now I look like a boss," he said, as he stroked the leather jacket that adorned his belly.
Ntabuhungiro's final destination is Canada. Timisoara is only an unexpected stopover. Since 2009, this city is home to the only permanent Emergency Transit Centre (ETC) in the world. The ETC is a temporary shelter for refugees who need to flee their initial sanctuary immediately. The centre brings people together from all walks of life. Here, Christian Palestinians who found themselves stranded in Iraq live alongside Malaysians who fled in the wrong direction, into Burma.
Cream of the crop
"These people are the cream of the refugee crop," said Machiel Salomons, the UNHCR's representative to Romania. These people's refugee status is so evident that they are eligible for relocation in countries that allow for it, he said. To ensure they are not killed or raped while the red tape is being cleared, they need to be sheltered in a safe place pending a permanent solution. "The ECT is a halfway house of sorts," Salomons said.
The four stretched-out low rises on the edge of Timisoara appear modest for a facility with such a unique mission. Some 250 people now share sleeping quarters in a renovated farm. The centre boasts a communal recreation room, computer facilities and an athletic field in the middle of the complex. The residents cook their own meals. On a recent visit, Palestinian refugees were using the facility's wireless internet to talk to people back home on their laptop.
Helping out
The Romanian government did not hesitate to honour the UNHCR's request to relocate people who had not been through the usual longwinded application's procedure to its country. The screening for these refugees takes only a week. The Romanian government has a say in the procedure as well.
"We are helping the international community," Romanian deputy minister for foreign affairs Bogdan Aurescu explained, as he showed a group of ambassadors around the ECT premises. Aurescu made very little of the fact that the UN decided who could enter his country's borders.
Safe haven
Even so, the decision to let refugees in who had not been through the usual lengthy application procedure was a controversial one within the European Union, Salomons explained. European hesitation in this respect is typical of the contemporary refugee problem. Countries are taking ever more time to study whether refugees fit their requirements for granting asylum, leaving more and more refugees stuck in countries they fled to in a panic. Some of these displaced people are in mortal danger and need to flee immediately. These people can find safe haven in the Romanian ECT, the first centre of its kind, but certainly not the last, Salomons predicted. Similar facilities, of a temporary nature, have been set up in Slovakia and the Philippines.
A fence surrounds the Timisoara facility, but security is minimal. None of the refugees are looking to escape, since this would ruin their chances of getting relocated somewhere permanently. Most leave for the US or Sweden. Europe only grants asylum to 5.7 percent of all refugees relocated worldwide. Romanian deputy minister Aurescu was keen to point out that "more affinity on the part of the European Union would not reflect baldy upon it".
On their way to permanent sanctuaries, refugees from all over the world end up in a UN refugee shelter in Romania.
By Marloes de Koning in Timisoara
Wilfred Ntabuhungiro loves Romania. The small-set man fled the war in his native Congo for Somaliland, but feared for his live there as well. Not until he had boarded a special charter flight to Romania did he dare believe he no longer needed to fear for himself and his family. "Is this Europe? Great!" he thought as he landed in the Romanian city Timisoara. Before then, he was as skinny as a stick, Ntabuhungiro recalled. The memory made him laugh heartily, as he thanked both God and Romania in one breath. "Now I look like a boss," he said, as he stroked the leather jacket that adorned his belly.
Ntabuhungiro's final destination is Canada. Timisoara is only an unexpected stopover. Since 2009, this city is home to the only permanent Emergency Transit Centre (ETC) in the world. The ETC is a temporary shelter for refugees who need to flee their initial sanctuary immediately. The centre brings people together from all walks of life. Here, Christian Palestinians who found themselves stranded in Iraq live alongside Malaysians who fled in the wrong direction, into Burma.
Cream of the crop
"These people are the cream of the refugee crop," said Machiel Salomons, the UNHCR's representative to Romania. These people's refugee status is so evident that they are eligible for relocation in countries that allow for it, he said. To ensure they are not killed or raped while the red tape is being cleared, they need to be sheltered in a safe place pending a permanent solution. "The ECT is a halfway house of sorts," Salomons said.
The four stretched-out low rises on the edge of Timisoara appear modest for a facility with such a unique mission. Some 250 people now share sleeping quarters in a renovated farm. The centre boasts a communal recreation room, computer facilities and an athletic field in the middle of the complex. The residents cook their own meals. On a recent visit, Palestinian refugees were using the facility's wireless internet to talk to people back home on their laptop.
Helping out
The Romanian government did not hesitate to honour the UNHCR's request to relocate people who had not been through the usual longwinded application's procedure to its country. The screening for these refugees takes only a week. The Romanian government has a say in the procedure as well.
"We are helping the international community," Romanian deputy minister for foreign affairs Bogdan Aurescu explained, as he showed a group of ambassadors around the ECT premises. Aurescu made very little of the fact that the UN decided who could enter his country's borders.
Safe haven
Even so, the decision to let refugees in who had not been through the usual lengthy application procedure was a controversial one within the European Union, Salomons explained. European hesitation in this respect is typical of the contemporary refugee problem. Countries are taking ever more time to study whether refugees fit their requirements for granting asylum, leaving more and more refugees stuck in countries they fled to in a panic. Some of these displaced people are in mortal danger and need to flee immediately. These people can find safe haven in the Romanian ECT, the first centre of its kind, but certainly not the last, Salomons predicted. Similar facilities, of a temporary nature, have been set up in Slovakia and the Philippines.
A fence surrounds the Timisoara facility, but security is minimal. None of the refugees are looking to escape, since this would ruin their chances of getting relocated somewhere permanently. Most leave for the US or Sweden. Europe only grants asylum to 5.7 percent of all refugees relocated worldwide. Romanian deputy minister Aurescu was keen to point out that "more affinity on the part of the European Union would not reflect baldy upon it".
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