Chinese fleeing to Italy so as not to give up their religious faith
An association has studied the growing trend. Many converted after discovering "a spiritual tendency that was initially ignored" in order to leave behind the materialism inculcated by the communist regime. Only a few get international protection. For commissions, they are not at risk in China despite the latter’s numerous human rights violations.
Rome (AsiaNews) – Over the past five years, the number of Chinese nationals fleeing their homeland for mostly religious reasons has multiplied fivefold.
They leave everything behind in order not to give up their faith, which they embraced to escape the materialism imposed by the regime, this according to a report by ‘A buon diritto’ (With good reason, ABD), an Italian association that helps refugees and asylum seekers in Italy.
According to the UN refugee agency’s Global Trends report, there were 57,705 registered asylum seekers from China in 2015, up from 10,617 in 2010.
The asylum seekers helped by ABD are members of 14 pseudo-Christian groups banned by the government, most of them linked to the ‘Almighty God’ cult. The sect is one of the cults considered “evil’ by Chinese authorities, its members accused of being violent and subversive.
In 2015, two of them were executed for the murder of a woman. Following the incident, hundreds of sect members were arrested. In addition to religious sects and communities, China has led a campaign against underground communities and "evil cults".
The report notes that the Chinese asylum seekers continue their religious activity in Italy. They rarely talk about their experience with fellow countrymen for fear of spies, so much so that they demand "non-Chinese translators".
The stories the association has heard are painful. Maria (a name a woman chose when she arrived in Italy) said that in China she was detained whilst evangelising and taken to a police station where she was "burnt with boiling water" and "suffered cuts to the back of her hands”.
Instead, G. was "beaten on his back with a stick so violently that he fainted from the pain . . . because he had refused to answer questions about the leaders and money of his house church." Since he could go to a hospital for treatment, his left kidney lost 25 per cent of its function.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Francesco Portoghese, a legal assistant and one of the authors of ABD’s legal report, said that what asylum seekers share is a "total devotion to the belief they profess", despite differences in the whys and wherefores of their conversion.
"Some of them left their families in order to practice their religion freely, even at the cost of giving up their partner and children," Portoghese explained. "Others gave up their careers and the possibility of completing their studies." For him, this shows "a spirit of abnegation almost from another age."
In the report, ABD notes that asylum seekers went "from a materialistic conception of reality, like that of the Chinese regime," to "a spiritual tendency that was initially ignored. It is precisely the tenacity with which they pursue the 'new road' that alarms the government."
For Portoghese, there is "also a dignity and a sense of discretion that can only be understood by looking more closely into each individual situation. It is essential to learn more about their stories if we want to understand them, because some answers are not precise enough and acceptable to the [UN territorial] commission."
Although the number of Chinese asylum seekers is high, only a few are granted refugee status. According to the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), the Chinese have one of the lowest acceptance rates. Portoghese notes that in 2016, only 13 applicants, or 5 per cent, were accepted out of 264.
For the legal assistant, there are many reasons for this, including the novelty of the problem, which never had so many people before. In fact, "It is necessary to understand the matter, which has not been studied in depth.”
According to ABD, some applications are rejected because of "incomplete or contradictory statements, poor knowledge of the religion practiced, and doubts about how they escape from the country."
In order to determine whether they are eligible, Chinese asylum seekers must undergo an official interview. The ABD report complains about “hasty translations that often appear vague and superficial; in some cases, what applicants say is distorted, or not full reported or not even recorded.”
For the association, it is surprising that they are not granted subsidiary protection – given to those who do not fall within the parameters for asylum but are in danger of 'serious injury' – in view of the fact that China arbitrarily applies the death penalty, and that torture and inhuman and degrading treatment ... are inflicted on people arrested for religious motives."
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15/10/2018 11:11
