Manushi Editor Abused at Belgian Border

Dear Isis International,

I would very much appreciate your help in joining me in protesting against the physical and mental abuse that I experienced at the hands of the Belgian immigration officials in Ostendon September 11, 1985.

On September 11, a colleague and I were supposed to catch an important flight from Brussels international airport. Therefore, we left London on the night of September 10 by British Rail Service which connects with the ferry at Dover for Ostend. About ten days before leaving London, I had called the Belgian Embassy at London and enquired if I could get a transit visa from the immigration officials at the Belgian port of Ostend, to enable me to make the few hours journey through Belgium to Brussels Airport. I was told that if I had a confirmed ticket showing my onward journey, I would be allowed to travel from the Belgian port to the airport. In order to make doubly sure, I had my colleague ring up a second time. He confirmed that I could secure a transit visa at the port.

However, in the early hours of September 11, when we reached Ostend, as I was passing through the immigration counter, the person on duty looked at my passport and asked me to leave the queue and accompany him to his senior officer. I was taken to a small room. The immigration official was talking to someone else. Instead of being requested to wait outside, I was rudely ushered into a small bare adjoining room, and was locked in. As I was being forced into the room, I tried carefully to explain that if I missed the train connection, I would miss my scheduled flight. The officer rudely told me to keep my mouth shut and wait till he was free.

After about 25 minutes of being locked in, and the possibility of catching the train receding, I was finally made to enter the officer's room. I said to him: "I need a transit visa for a few hours to reach the airport." His reply was aggressive: "Are you telling me what I should be doing?" I said: "No. I am just telling you what I need." I tried showing him my air ticket but he refused to look at it. He took out a form, asked me a few questions required to enable him to fill it out, and, before I knew what was happening, he had stamped a deportation order on my passport. When I protested, he said if I said anything more, they would physically throw me into the ship or have me arrested.

In the meantime, my colleague was waiting where we had been separated, standing with my luggage. I requested permission to go out and meet him. An officer who accompanied me, held me firmly by the arm as I went to call my friend. We both came back with the bags, and tried explaining that we had proceeded from London on the basis of information given by the embassy that I could obtain a transit visa in Ostend. The officer yelled at us: "Impossible. You are lying. They could not have said you get a transit visa here on an Indian passport." He insisted that I would be deported or handed over to the police. We asked to see his senior officer. By this time, he was screaming at us and abusing us verbally.

We refused to be sent back in this fashion and tried to reason with him. I repeatedly tried explaining, but every time I opened my mouth, he would rudely cut me short. I appealed to another officer standing nearby and requested that he give me three minutes to explain my case. After much insistence, he gruffly said: "Go ahead. I give you three minutes." Instead of looking at me while I was speaking to him, he held his wristwatch in front of his eyes, measuring the time. As soon as I finished, he said: "Now your three minutes are over. Get into that room or I'll kick you in." I refused to be locked in. He called two other men. All three held me and began to drag me by the back of my neck and by my hair. My colleague said: "You can't do that to her" and attempted to put himself between me and the men who were assaulting me.

They then called two other men over. One of them punched my colleague in the jaw and pushed him into the small adjoining room. Two others pulled my hair, dragged me by the neck, forced me into the same room and locked the door on us. They kept us locked up for more than an hour, threatening to call the police if we resisted deportation. We told him we were willing to be arrested and put in jail rather than follow his unjust orders. All this while, he kept shouting and abusing us from the other side of the locked door. My colleague requested that he be allowed to contact his consulate for assistance. He derided us and said nothing of the sort would be allowed. He still retained my passport. He said they would return it only when I got off the ferry in Dover. For some reason, he seemed to be very angry that my passport showed that I had, on two previous occasions, obtained visas to Belgium. He kept repeating: "I will see you don't get in a third time."

After more than an hour of being locked up and being yelled at sporadically from outside, he opened the door. Four other immigration officers were in his room. They told us the next ship was due to leave in a few minutes and they were going to put us on the ship. We repeated that we would not v\willingly obey their arbitrary orders and repeatedly stated that they could arrest us if they so desired. At this point, they really went berserk, perhaps realising that they had already overstepped the bounds even of immigration officials' accepted behaviour patterns. We could prove an embarrassment if we stayed there any longer. They again hit my colleague. Two men dragged him and threw him out of the door in an attempt to separate us. Since my colleague had no visa problem, he was getting all this rough treatment simply for refusing to leave me alone in their hands.

Two other men caught hold of me while one grabbed my neck and dragged me out of the room and on to the ship even while I was screaming and protesting at being roughed up in this manner. One of them came behind with the luggage, kicking it all the way along. Fortunately, my neck was not permanently damaged but the two suitcases broke from the kicks and blows.

They left me on the ship with the broken suitcases, with no idea where my colleague was. He had tried to contact the police for help, but the police refused to assist. At the beginning, the immigration officials refused to let him come on to the ferry for Dover that they had forced me on to. But then, just about a minute before the ship sailed, they let him on board. By their use of brute force, they thus made sure I had no other option but to return to England. My friend returned with me, concerned about the condition they had left me in.

I had not only missed my flight but there were now two broken bags to carry, not knowing how long they would hold together in that precarious condition.

The treatment I was given is not unique. Many women from India and other Third World countries routinely go through such humiliations. The officer did, in fact, repeat several times that as an Indian passport holder, I should not have expected any other treatment. But racism, extreme enough in itself, is only part of the story. The other part has to do with the arbitrary treatment meted out by immigration officials, especially to more vulnerable groups whose governments may not be in a position effectively to protect them.

At no time did either my colleague or I use or threaten to use physical force, even in self defense. All we asked was that out ordinary human rights be respected so that the difficulty could be amicably resolved.

I have sent a complaint to:

1. The Prime Minister, Wilfred Martens, Lambermontstraat, 1040 Brussels, Belgium.
2. The Ministry of the Interior, Wetstraat, 1040 Brussels, Belgium.
3. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rue Quatre Bras, 1040 Brussels, Belgium.
4. The Belgian Ambassador, 50 Chanakyapuri, New Delhi-110021, India.
5. The Indian Consulate, Belgium.

A letter or other contact from you to any of these agencies would be appreciated, protesting the use of physical violence and arbitrary coercive actions with no provision for consultation with one's own consulate or any other outside authority, and demanding:

1. Public acknowledgment of misconduct and apology from the Belgian government.
2. Identification of the assaulting immigration officers, ranking certain that they will no longer have the power to treat other international travellers in this manner.
3. Punitive damages for physical harm, mental anguish and financial losses suffered through having to reschedule travel plans and appointments.
4. An end to discriminatory and arbitrary immigration procedures, and accountability for issuing contradictory information.

It has taken me several weeks to recover somewhat from the shock of that assaultive experience. I write to you in the hope that you will join me in my protest against such a blatant form of racial discrimination and abuse of authority.

Sincerely,

Madhu Kishwar

WOMEN WORKERS STRUGGLE ERUPTS IN EL PASO

Dear Friend:

We write to you in hopes of gaining your support for women working in the garment industry of El Paso. Up to this point, local factories have held garment workers hostage under threats of plant closings, layoffs and "bankruptcy". If indeed, the problems of the poor have taken a back burner because of the Reagan administration; in a border economy such as the one which exists in El Paso, the problem is even more severe. Opportunities available to minority women constitute jobs which offer poor wages, hazardous working conditions, and no benefits. This situation especially affects those women who are heads of household, which make up 56% of the garment workforce. Lack of skills leave these women few alternatives, and their critical situation has become even worse with the cutbacks on federal programs and the rising unemployment rate. For years now plant shutdowns have left the local workforce intimidated; and more and more small contracting firms have set up factories in the area, in order to take advantage of the cheap, abundant workforce. Women who work in the factories usually have no health insurance, no paid vacation, no paid holidays, their workweek is often shortened to 20 or 30 hours per week, and their pay remains at minimum wage. In order to make ends meet women move across the border, move in with relatives, sell perfumes, makeup, or food in order to complete a subsistence wage.

On top of this is the pressure placed on them in the workplace. Sexual harassment is common as are other abuses, but the language barrier in addition to the reduced capacity of enforcement offices have combined to leave women without relief or recourse from their problems. Recently these abuses erupted in one of the factories where women reached their limits and refused to tolerate any more abuse knowing full well the consequences of their action. At the present time the women continue their efforts in spite of all the obstacles.

As a support committee we are trying to assist with their need for legal support and aid to those families who are involved in the struggle. We are also assisting to create a nationwide network of support without which they cannot possibly hope to win the struggle they have begun. We will let the workers tell the rest of the story.

History - "The formation of the CMT workers committee"

CMT Industries at 208 Octavia Street has operated in El Paso for the past twelve years, and some workers have been working there since the company began. The company only recently printed personnel policies in which employees were promised four paid holidays. Workers went on strike after being promised a paid Labor Day only to be told later that the company did not "have enough money."

How you can help the CMT workers committee

Workers at CMT elected a committee to represent their needs, and refused to return to work until the owner signed formal recognition of the committee. This committee is exploring different avenues and attempting .to reason with the owners, in spite of their threat to shut down the plant if the "trouble" continues.

Although the committee has just begun its work there have already been reprisals. For this reason we write to you and ask your support. The importance of CMT to this community is that, in this particular factory workers have decided to put an end to the abuse, and that in order that they be successful they must receive support, money, and publicity from the outside, they must break the tremendous isolation of geirment workers. The committee itself is composed of two men and five women. Since the strike they have given statements to the press, organized the rest of the workers and taken on a heavy schedule in an attempt to keep the effort which they began alive and growing.

As the Women Workers Support Committee we are asking for your cooperation. Let us know if and how you cian help.

Sincerely,

Women Workers Support Committee
1227 E. Yandell
El Paso, Tx 79902
U.S.A

TO THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT

Against Apartheid

In the current situation of extreme repression in South Africa, the democratic women's movement of our country like other sections of the anti-racist movement is facing a brutal enemy onslaught. As a result of this, Victoria Mxenge was murdered by agents of the apartheid regime on August 1st.

She was a leader in the United Democratic Front and a lawyer who devoted herself to defending political trialists. At the time of her murder she was one of the defense lawyers in the treason trial of the sixteen (16) UDF leaders who could be sentenced to death. Among these leaders is Albertina Sisulu, a president of the UDF and leader in the South African women's movement. Her own lawyer, Priscilla Jana, has been detained under the provisions of the martial law. Many other women have also been detained and are held in secret without access to anybody except their fascist jailers. Other women have been killed by the apartheid army and police during the course of the continuing mass struggles for a united, democratic and non-racial society.

We call on the international democratic women's movement and people to launch a determined campaign in solidarity with the embattled women and people of our country. Demand the imposition of comprehensive and mandatory sanctions against the apartheid regime. Fight for the immediate and unconditional release of all South African political prisoners and detainees.

Act now for the termination of all relations between apartheid South Africa and the rest of the world. Let the Botha regime and its allies know that the women of the world are determined to end apartheid now.

All Power to the People

WOMEN'S SECRETARIAT.
AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS (S.A.)
P.O. BOX 31791
LUSAKA