Dear Minister of Interior Frau Fekter,Recently I became aware of your push for the Red-white-red Asylum card for all new Asylum seekers coming to Austria. The Red - White - Red card means that the Asylum seeker will be kept in a Detention centre, inside the Refugee camp for the first five days after arriving in Traiskirchen Refugee camp. After which the Asylum seeker will receive a green card which allows them to leave the camp, but only to the boundaries of the local town. Every Asylum seeker dreams of the day that they get their White cards where they receive a bit of freedom where they can travel through out Austria, and get reacquainted with family and friends. And then finally I just heard of a family from Africa that after 9 year of being Asylum seekers in Austria, nine year of living in limbo of the white card, have finally been given Asylum in Austria.
Now Frau Fekter my problem with your new law of incarcerating people in Traiskirchen refugee camp has nothing to do with the right of the Austrian government, to review the Asylum applicate to see if the applicate is wanted for a crime in their home country, or if they come from another EU country like people seeking Asylum from Romania, Hungary. My problem with the new Red -White - Red, no leaving of the Refugee camp for 5 days rule is two fold. Not allowing the Asylum seeker to leave the camp, means that you are denying the Asylum applicate the possibility to seek legal help in their Asylum case. Keeping the Asylum seeker hidden in detention centre inside the Traiskirchen refugee camp, could easily lead to the Austrian Government having no accountability to the Austria public or the Asylum seeker, the Austrian Government can deport 100% of people coming to Austria seeking Asylum, without any Refugee or humanitarian groups knowing about it. On the whim of one or two people the Austrian Government under the Red - White - Red card rule, hold the destiny of 1000 of people fleeing wars, threats of death, religious persecution and the wants of a better life for their children.
The second reason why I am concerned about this new Red - White - Red decision of detaining asylum seekers in the Camp for 5 days before they can leave the compounds of the camp is that I work at the Oasis that is found just around the corner from the Refugee camp, Between the Train tracks and the the mobile phone shop. At the Oasis we offer the Asylum seekers a place where they can come and relax, receive some donated clothing for the cold Austrian winter and get some free tea or coffee and cake. We are also offering the Asylum seekers free German lessons all of which the Asylum seeker will not have access to, if they are incarcerated in the refugee camp for 5 days.
But more importantly than winter jackets and hot cups of coffee and friendships, we at the Oasis want to share the love of Jesus with the Asylum seekers. We know that the Bible has the words of eternal life and has the hope and the place that these refugees are looking for. And Frau Fekter that is the reason why the Oasis is in Traiskirchen, we want to share the gospel with the refugees, that God loved the world so much that he sent his only son, that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. We do this by having a Wednesday Night Evangelistic program, where we read a passage from the bible and give a short talk showing how the passage can encourage, give hope and lead to eternal for the listeners. On Thursdays we show the Jesus film in different languages so that the refugees can watch and listen to the life of Jesus in a media that they can understand.
Frau Fekter as you know many of the people who come to Austria, come from Islamic countries where sharing about Jesus us Illegal and people caught sharing around Jesus are persecuted or even killed, and a conversion from Islam to Christianity is like signing a death certificate. But in free Europe many Refugees have felt freedom to Ask Questions about Jesus. Some have found the words of Christ to be true and have put their trust in him.
My major problem with the new Red - White - Red card is that you will be stopping the Asylum seekers from leaving the Traiskirchen Refugee camp and coming to find Jesus, in the Oasis centre or in the Ethnic or Austrian churches.
I pray that you and your Government will rethink this latest rule.
in Christ
David
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