Hunger strikers reach stalemate with government

Iraqi hunger strikes were left disappointed after a meeting with Luxembourg's Immigration Minister ended in stalemate.

During the eagerly-anticipated meeting called at 3pm today with Nicolas Schmit, no clear solution or agreement was reached, leaving the 30 or so asylum seekers no clearer about their futures.

Despite the lack of progress, group leader Wilson Mikail pledged to continue the fight and his symbolic hunger strike in Place Clairefontaine. He told wort.lu/en: “No weather, no wind, no temperatures can take a decision for life”.

The group had camped out in Luxembourg City's Place Clairefontaine since Thursday where they refused food unless the government promised to speed up the processing of their asylum applications. Many among the group had been waiting as long as 18 months for even an initial response.

Mr Mikail continuously stressed that the action was in response to the “unbearable situation” he and other strikers were placed in. Accordingly, every decision would be accepted, he said: “If we are not entitled to have political asylum in this country then they can send us somewhere else. We just want a decision.”

Against all odds, no decision was made at the meeting. According to Mr Mikail, The minister continuously re-asserted that he was not in a position to make decisions nor to speed them up. Asylum applications would have to proceed as before.

However, Mr Schmit understood their “tragic life stories” and promised to hire more staff and discuss the problematic situation with the both ministers and department. After the meeting he explained in a statement to radio station DNR that Luxembourg, respecting conventions and legislation, had been “overrun in the last months – especially in the last 18 months – by asylum applications”.

He asked the asylum seekers to also understand the constraints in personnel and time from the side of the Luxembourgish government.

The migrant workers group ASTI approved of the decision to increase the personnel, emphasising however that this will most probably not immediately solve outstanding asylum applications.

In reaction to the meeting and Mr Schmit's proposals, Mr Mikail expressed his concerns that hiring new staff who lacked knowledge about the cases concerned risked adding: "more time to our endless wait”.

Mr Schmit urged the group in the meeting to stop blackmailing the government by allowing children and women to participate in the hunger strike. In order to calm the criticisms and “prove the government that our intentions were not to blackmail,” the disappointed group asked their women and children to go home.

Mr Mikail said that he will continue the hunger strike, if necessary alone. The remaining protestors were left to decide if they wished to continue the protest.