Page 143 - A Helping Hand for Refugees
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tion that simply exceeds their capacities. However, this does not jus-
tify the human rights violations that take place.
Many refugees are subjected to maltreatment, insults and contempt
in European countries. In a presentation film prepared by Amnesty
International, a refugee approaches the camera and says that Europeans
treat animals very well and asks them to treat them as well as they treat
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their animals because they are dying. These words summarize the sit-
uation very well.
The European Court of Justice sentenced Malta to pay compen-
sation to a Somali national refugee last July. The reason for the deci-
sion was that the refugee had been subjected to extreme hot and cold
over several months in prison where he was held for deportation, and
that he had not been allowed outside. The Court of Justice declared in
its verdict “…that the cumulative effect of the conditions complained of dimin-
ished the applicant's human dignity and aroused in her feelings of anguish
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