Реферат: The People Trade

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                                              <span Comic Sans MS";mso-ansi-language:EN-US">“THEPEOPLE TRADE”

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Выполнил: студент 2-го курса                

                                                                                              208 группы очного отделения          

                                                                                              специальности 0211                                                                                                                Чернов Вадим Александрович

                                                                                  Проверил: CалееваЛ.П.

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<span a_Futurica",«sans-serif»">                                               г. САРАТОВ 2000

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 Статья из журнала NEWSWEEKJULY 3, 2000 :      «THE PEOPLE TRADE».

                             

     «THE PEOPLE TRADE».

Specialreport.

Europeneeds workers: immigrants want a better life. Inside the shadowy — anddangerous — world of human smuggling.

Indidethe customs office in Dover, England, a fax machine chirruped.

Outcame a message from the European Pathway, a P&O Stena Line ferry that waschurning across the channel from Zeebrugge, Belgium. The crew was dutifullyalerting British authorities to a suspicious truck, a big white Mercedes-Benztractor hauling a refrigerator unit supposedly filled with tomatoes. One of thelast to board the ferry, the truck bore the name Van Der Spek TRANSPORT. Thename of the firm (it would later emerge that the company was only four days old) triggered misgivings — perhaps because it was close, but not identical, tothat of an established Dutch trucking company. The track, said a Britishcustoms spokesman, «fit the profile of one that could be used to smugglecigarettes, drugs or contraband… It was a hunch.»

         It was just before midnight, Sunday,June 18, the hottest day of the year, when the European Pathway pulled intoDoverunder the city's landmark chalk cliffs. Customs officials were waiting forthe Mercedes truck as it trundled off the ferry. They told the driver to backinto Bay 9 of the inspection shed. Opening the big doors to the airtightrefrigeration container. they first came across pallets of crated tomatoes.Muscling the tomatoes aside, the officers found one body. Thenthey found another body, and then another and another. In all, they found 54dead men, four dead women and two traumatized men clinging to life — all ofthem young Chinese, probably from Fujian province, who had been headed toBritain in search of jobs. «I will never forget the sight that greeted uswhen we opened the back doors,» one of the customs inspectors said,«There were just piles and piles of bodies.»

          The calamity in Dover shook not only Britain,where nothing on such a scale, had ever happened before, but all of Europe.From the boot of Italy to the bords of Norway, immigrants are entering Europein record numbers. Pushed out of their own countries by economic hardship or politicalturmoil, they are drawn to Europe's robust prosperity, especially within the 15countries of the European Union. «There is a strategic equetion thatproduces a massive push to immigrate,» says Jean-Claude Chesnais at thenational institute for Demographic Studies in Paris. Europe is relativellysmall and very rich, with a population that barely reproduces itself. «Andall around — in the former Soviet bloc, in Asia, in South Asia and Africa — youhave massive poverty, an absence of human rights and enermous populationpressure, „says Chesnais.

         European business desperately needsforeign labor — at the high and low ends of the skills scale. But the people ofEurope are often uncomfortable with foreign workers. In the eyes of theelectorate, the line between undocumented immigrants looking for jobs andasylum-seekers looking for political protection can become blurred. This isespecially true if the man who slips into Britain to work illegally in a Sohokitchen is likely to apply for asylum if he's caught; most Europe countriesthat feel prosperous. So last week in Dover grief over the fate of the Chineseimmigrants mixed with anger about the number of people on the outside who seemto want in. “The hospitals are always full of them and their children,»says Jonn Keith, a taxi driver. «They are cloggin up the system. They justwant everything for free.»

         Politicans are caught between thedemands of the bottom line and the ballot box. «We are not in a positionto be a lifeboat for the whole world,» says Gwyn Prosser, Labour member ofParliament for Dover. In Britain, the pressures on the Labour government to dosomethinggare mounting. Last year, the number of asylum seekers was up 55percent over 1998, reflecting a steep rise in the number of people trying toenter the country illegally. The government is responding by making thelifeboat a little less comfortable — climinating, for instance, such perks ascash benefits to anybody applying for asylum. In the particular case of Chinesemigrants, their numbers are also rising right now for reasons that have nothingto do with Europe: the United States has cracked down on illegal Chineseimmigration, and Europe is taking up the slack. The French experience is a casein point: the number of Chinese seeking asylum in France in 1999 was doublethat of the year before. 

         People-smuggling networks are thetravel agents of illegal immigration. Their business is big and growing. Thenetworks trafficking in Chinese migrants alone are said to take in threebillion dollars a year. As the stakes and numbers rise, so do the risks. Lastyear 300000 undocumented immigrants made it do Italy. Many died trying. So farthis year 180 people are known to have died in Italian waters — often pushedinto the sea and left to drown by smugglers trying to lighten their boats toget away from Italian coast-guard patrols. Four days before the deaths atDover, a Dutch organization, United for Intercultural Action, announced thatmore than 2000 refugees and migrants have died trying to get to Europe. Perhapsan incident like the death truck in Dover was inevitable. «It is True youwould treat your tomatoes better then [ the smugglies ] treated thesepeople,» says Wim De-Bruin, a spokesman for the National PublicProsecutor's Office in Rotterdam. «But the difference is that withtomatoes and other goods, you get paid when you deliver them in goodcondition.»

         At the end of last week, the bodiesfound in Dover remained unidentified. But British authorities believe theChinese began their journey in Fujian 30000 Dollars a head clients of anextensive smuggling network that move them from home to the English Channellush coastal province in southeast China, Fujian is the main starting point onChina's emigrant traik ( box). Fujian is by no means China's poorest province,but it sends an estimated 100000 emigrants abroad each year. People call onetown «widows' village» because so many men have left their womenbehind. The Pressure to leave Fujian is social as well as economic. «It'slike if you are not a lazy person, then you shouldn't be in mainlandChina,» says Ko-Lin Chin, a professor at Rutgers University in the UnitedStates. «People will say, „You're not in your early 20s: why are youstill here?“

         As news of what happened in Doverreached the province, grieving spread quickly. Fujian has sent so many of itssons and daughters abroad that nobody was sure who had perished or not in thedeath truck. He Xiaohong was terrified that her 24 — year old husband, and oddjob painter named Cao Xianxin, was among the dead in Dover. On May 10 he lefthome for Britain, comforted by a promise that on his long journey he would be»as safe as a tourist." He Xiaohong was in tears last week as shevowed: «If my husband returns safely, he'll have to beat me to deathbefore I ever let him travel abroad like this again.»

         The journey to the West is called«sneaking across the water.» It's made possible by Fujainese guidesknown as «snakeheads.» They are important figures in their homeland.«Everybody knows who the snakeheads are,» says Chen Mei Xing, aFijianese who slipped into England a few weeks ago. «He's a businessmanwith a very hihg status.» According to USA authorities, snakeheads arealso part of Chinese gangs known as Triads or Tongs. They Charge as much as60000 dollars for a trip to the United States; half as much for Britain.Typically, a down payment of 5 to 19 percent is made up front. A migrant whouses the snakehead's services can spend years repaying the debt. The Fijianesewho emigrate see the fee as a smart investment. In the end Fujian benefits too.Fujianese migrants pump large sums of money into the economy they left behind.City officials in Changle ( population: 600000) estimate that locals who havegone abroad put 100 million dollars back into the city's economy each year inremittances to their families and property investments back home. 

         Not that long ago the destination moreoften than not was America («The beautiful country»). But in 1993 afreighter called the Golden Venture ran aground off Long Island, and 10 Chineseimmigrants drowned trying to swim to shore. The incident promted a series ofcrackdowns by the U.S. government. Thousands of Chinese still migrate toAmerica — earlier this year, three Fujiance were found dead in a shippingcontainer in Seattle — but some of the traffic had shifted to other countries.

         Increasingly, Britain seems to be thealternative country of choice. The largest Chinese community in Europe isthere. Language is an important draw. Even though the government is cuttingback benefits, they are still relatively generous: food vouchers (instead ofcash) and housing ( though asylum seekers can no longer choose where to live).Another reason for the rise in asylum seekers to Britain is that Germany hastightended up it is border controls. Anyone can claim asylum in Germany andstay for years while the case goes through the courts. But under a 1994 lawGerman authorities can turn away refugees along it is border before they setfoot on German soil and have a chance to apply for asylum. This has caused theannual number of refugees coming into Germany to plunge from 513000 in 1993 tofewer than 100000 last year.

         People — smuggling networks adjustquickly to such changes. In Fujian, one family's 18 years old son left home inApril. Jin Xicai (not his real name) wanted something more then this jobrepairing mobile phones in Fujian. The family couldn't afford to send him tothe Unites States, so it settled for the less costly trip to Britain. On April3, Jin hopped a train to Beijing, joining other would-be emigrants in thecapital. Snaakeheads had promised him a plane ride to Europe, but instead Jinwas hustled onto a train for the week — long trans — Siberian trek to Moscow.He crossed the China — Russia border using a genuine Chinese passport. It hadbeen procured on the black market; the original photograph had been carefullyrazored off and replaced by a photo of Jin.

         When Jin phoned home from Moscow; hesaid he was being held under armed guard. Snakeheads had confiscated hisdocuments, luggage and spare clothes to prevent him from escaping. His nextphone call came from somewhere in the Czech Republic. To get there he hadapparently traveled by train, truck, even a horse — drawn cart. Then came a fewmore phone calls — from Germany and, finally, Holland.

         Jin's phone calls point to a well — traveled route from Fujian to Europe (map). Moscow is a fovered transit pointbecause of relaxed visa requirements for Chinese citizens. At any given timethere are said to be more than 200000 Chinese in Moscow en route to othercountries. Belgrade is another favorite, for the same reason. Serbian pressreports say that 40000 Chinese have settled in Yugoslavia since 1995. FromBelgrade it's easy to slip into Western Europe via Bosnia's porous frontiers.

        

         

                               Краткое содержание.

          «THE PEOPLETRADE».

Specialreport.

Europeneeds workers: immigrants want a better life. Inside the shadowy — anddangerous — world of human smuggling.People-smugglingnetworks are the travel agents of illegal immigration. Their business is bigand growing. The networks trafficking in Chinese migrants alone are said totake in three billion dollars a year.

         Fujian– the most impotant place in the China, from people illegally emigrate on west.

Fujian – the center of human smuggling. In the Asian countries life very heavy and the people search of moreworthy existence. They choose the countries which are very rich and in which itis possible to earn. The people try to get over through border by any ways.They are ready even to go in inhuman conditions to get in other country. Manydied trying. The emigrants often choose England and Italy, as the country ofthe future residing, but these countries do not want them to see at themselves.Because many emigrants, which come, render harm to economy, they fill in allhospitals, all parks, all premises of city, are engaged in illegal earnings,and some who could not find job, become criminals. England and Italy activelystruggle against illegal entrance of the emigrants on territory of the country.

         Itis favourable business — human smuggling. Many try on it to earn. For the largemoney they promise to transport the people in other countries, even without thedocuments. These organizations search for ways to these countries not directlythrough China, and transit through Russia or Czechia for example. Therefore itis very difficult to the countries to trace a flow of the emigrants. Nowcountries of Europe have a new task. To struggle not it is so much with theemigrants, how much with organizations, which carry out an illegal way ofemigration of the people.

The end.

                                    

                   Thedictionary:

Smuggling – контрабанда.

Suspicious– подозрительный.

Authorities– власти.

Hunch – догадка.

To trundle – ехать.

Piles — груды.

Calamity– бедствие.

Political turmoil — политическая суматоха.

Europe'srobust prosperity — здравое процветание Европы.

Desperately– отчаянно.

Asylum-seekers —  ищущие убежища.

Blurred– cтертый.

Prosperous– преуспевающий.

Pressures– давления.

Lifeboat- cпасательная шлюпка.

Benefits– выгоды.

Slack– слабый.

Experience– опыт.

Trying to lighten — попытка облегчать.

Lush– пышный.

To estimate– оценивать.

Grieving– огорчение.

Terrified– испуганный.

Increasingly- все более и более.

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