12月16日 英国で『GO HOME』キャンペーン L'hallucinante campagne britannique contre les immigrés

Lundi 16 décembre 2013

6時、晴れ、24℃、70％。

夜になると強烈なジャスミンの香りが家の内外でするようになった。一昨年家の庭に植えた10本全部に一斉に夥しい花々が咲いて香りを放つ。

向かいの家の28歳になる娘さんが昨日早朝亡くなったそうだ。例のごとく夜っぴで音楽が鳴らされた。彼女の弟はクリスチャンのサッカー仲間だそうがだ、過日母親を亡くした隣家のエマ君のほど親しくないようだ。

英政府はロンドンの一部の区で不法滞在者に対して『Go Home』キャンペーンをしている。テスト・ケースだと政府は云っているが、どうも全国に広がりそうな気配である。

『Go Home』というキャッチ・フレーズが刺激的なものだから、連立政府内からも人種偏見政策ではないかと批判が出ている。

いまのところ『Go Home』といっても強制的なものではない。むしろ不法滞在者に自由意志による帰国を促すためのキャンペーンらしい。というのも逮捕して強制送還する方がコストがかかるゆえ、自主的に名乗り出てきてくれくれれば、帰国までの英政府負担が730ポンドで済むというのだ。『Go Home』キャンペーンの広告費も1万ポンドしかかけていないと政府は弁明する。

しかし、インドやパキスタン、スリランカ、ナイジェリア、ケニアを対象にして英国に来る前に3000ポンドを預けることをビザ発行の条件としようとして、特にインドの反発を食らっている。

こうした入国前、入国後の移民防止、移民排除政策は英国だけではない。欧州大陸各国も英国の成行きをみながら、それぞれ対策を考えていることだろう。

北アフリカ・マグレブ諸国を含めて、アフリカ人はヨーロッパに行けば何とかなると国を捨てる人々が後をたたない。ヨーロッパだけではない。南アフリカにはナイジェリア人やコンゴ人、ジンバブウェ人の移民の大きなコミュニティが存在すると聞いている。そしてそれらの国から不法入国する人々が絶えないとも。気の利いたというか、能力がある連中は南アを経由してカナダに移住したいと望んでいる。

南アは遅かれ早かれ移民問題で総崩れする可能性があると僕は思っている。

これでは国がよくなるはずがない。なんとか国に残ってもらって「国造り」をしてもらいたいものである。

ロンドンの街をこの宣伝カーが
走り回ったとは

L'hallucinante campagne britannique contre les immigrés

«Rentrez chez vous», c'est le titre de l'opération que le gouvernement envisage d'étendre sur tout le pays.

Il s’agit de toute évidence de l'un des projets les plus controversés du gouvernement du Premier ministre britannique David Cameron. Depuis le début de l’année, une campagne-pilote se déroule dans quelques arrondissements de Londres, afin d'encourager les immigrés clandestins à quitter le territoire britannique et à «rentrer chez eux», faute de quoi ils seront arrêtés. De fait, la campagne s’intitule «Go Home».

Et c’est d’abord ce qui choque l’opinion. Car cela fait penser à des messages racistes entendus il y a quelques années, en Grande-Bretagne, souligne le Guardian. Et même le secrétaire aux Affaires et à l'Innovation, Vince Cable (Lib Dems) a jugé cette campagne «stupide et provocatrice».

Malgré les fortes critiques que cette campagne médiatique soulève dans l’opinion, elle semble destinée à être étendue sur l’ensemble du pays, a confié le porte-parole de David Cameron, indique le quotidien britannique The Guardian.

Mais en quoi consiste au juste cette campagne? Diffuser dans des quartiers, des affiches et des tracts encourageant toute personne vivant illégalement sur le territoire britannique à se déclarer, et donc à se rapprocher des autorités, afin d’organiser son retour dans son pays d’origine.

«Ce projet pilote est en cours d’exécution et cela fonctionne», a martelé le porte-parole du Premier ministre britannique, pour justifier l’idée de l’étendre au-delà de Londres.

（仏語記事のもとになった『The Guardian』紙（電子版）の記事は下記）

Go home' campaign against illegal immigrants could go nationwide

David Cameron's spokesman says controversial scheme involving mobile vans advertising a helpline for people to leave UK is working

Andrew Sparrow, political correspondent

The Guardian, Monday 29 July 2013 12.51 BST

One of the Home Office's mobile vans offering help to illegal immigrants who want to leave the UK. Photograph: Rick Findler

Downing Street took the risk of escalating coalition tensions on Monday by declaring that a controversial campaign telling illegal immigrants to "go home" was working and could be extended nationwide.

A day after the Liberal Democrat business secretary, Vince Cable, called the campaign "stupid and offensive", a No 10 spokesman said David Cameron disagreed, adding that the posters and leaflets were attracting "a great deal of interest".

In a separate move, Lib Dem sources said that a Home Office plan to force visitors from certain Asian and African countries to pay a £3,000 bond before being allowed to visit the UK had not been agreed within the coalition. Reports saying the plan had been signed off prompted a particularly angry reaction from India.

Immigration is one of the issues on which the two coalition parties differ most sharply and the future of the illegal immigration advertising campaign and the bond policy are likely to be the subject of further arguments in coming weeks.

The campaign, which features the message: "In the UK illegally? Go home or face arrest", has been widely criticised because the blunt "go home" message is said to be reminiscent of racist graffiti common in the 1970s.

The Home Office has defended the £10,000 campaign covering six London boroughs, which involved leaflets and small posters being distributed and two advertising vans being driven around for a week. The department said it represented a constructive approach to the problem of illegal immigration.

The leaflets and posters include a number for illegal immigrants to text if they want to receive free advice and support with travel documentation to help them leave the UK.

On Sunday Cable condemned the campaign strongly. "It was stupid and offensive, and I think it is very unlikely that it will continue," he said.

But on Monday the prime minister's spokesman said: "This pilot that is currently running is about targeting [illegal immigrants] and it is working."

He said Cameron believed that encouraging illegal immigrants to leave the UK voluntarily was more cost-effective than arresting them and removing them by force.

The two vans carrying the posters around the London boroughs are no longer in service, but the leaflets are still in circulation. The Home Office is going to carry on monitoring responses to the text number for another three weeks.

Asked if the pilot would be extended, the spokesman said: "The Home Office has said this is already working. Clearly, we will want to look at that in more detail and see how we take this forward."

The Home Office would not give details of what evidence it had to show the campaign was succeeding. But a spokesman said that, given that an enforced removal costs on average £15,000, "if one individual were to take up the voluntary return scheme, that would cover the cost of the pilot compared to the cost of an enforced return".

By comparison, a voluntary return costs on average £739, he said.

No 10's enthusiasm for the campaign failed to impress the Lib Dems, who said they continued to find the adverts distasteful. A party source said Lib Dem ministers would need a lot of persuading that the campaign was having a beneficial effect and called claims that it only cost £10,000 misleading, because the row about the campaign's political undertones meant that it had now had as much publicity as a much more expensive advertising drive.

A Number 10 claim that the "Home Office team" approved the campaign also angered the Lib Dems, who said that Jeremy Browne, the Lib Dem minister in the Home Office, had not signed it off.

Angela Smith, a Labour Home Office spokeswoman, said that the adverts were "a cynical stunt and stupid politics to hide government failures on the basics".

Last week it was reported that the Home Office was going to go ahead with a plan later this year to force some visitors from India, Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh to pay a £3,000 bond for a visitor visa allowing them to stay in the UK for up to six months.

As this triggered protests abroad, sources close to Nick Clegg said that the £3,000 figure had not actually been agreed. Late on Monday afternoon the Home Office also issued a statement playing down reports that the policy had been finalised.

A spokesman said: "In the long run we're interested in a system of bonds that deters overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has used our public services.

"We're planning a pilot that focuses on overstayers and examines a couple of different ways of applying bonds. The pilot will apply to visitor visas, but if the scheme is successful we'd like to be able to apply it on an intelligence-led basis on any visa route and any country."

Earlier on Monday the Confederation of Indian Industry said it was "strongly" urging the British government to reject the £3,000 bond plan.

"This scheme is not in accordance to the spirit of 'special relationship' that India shares with the UK. It will shun the Indian tourist from visiting UK and also divert many others to more tourism friendly European countries," the confederation said.