Death of Mrs Jojo Muluta:a Zaïrese asylum seeker
01 January 1991
Death of Mrs Jojo Muluta:a Zaïrese asylum seeker
On 23rd of April Mrs Jojo Muluta, at that time pregnant, died in
the hospital of Meppel. According to the official statement of
the Minister of WVC, who is responsible for the refugee centres
in Holland, she died of serious anaemia. How could it happen that
she died after 14 days in Holland when medical treatment could
have saved her? This is one example of what is happening with the
`harmonisation' of EC policies through the Schengen and Trevi
groups.
Looking at the sad story of Jojo Muluta is in way looking at the
story of thousands of asylum seekers. Entering Holland is
becoming more and more difficult and asylum seekers who arrive
at Schiphol (Amsterdam airport) especially get very hard
treatment. What exactly happened to Jojo Muluta when she arrived
in Holland with her husband and three children?
The family, originally from Zaïre, took refuge ten years ago
in Libya, together with about 200 other Zaïrese, all members of
the FLNC, a party which was (and is) forbidden in Zaïre and whose
members were heavily persecuted. Last year the Zaïrese community
in Libya fell in disgrace and most of them decided to leave Libya
and seek asylum in Denmark and Germany. When the Mulutas,
together with another family, the Abubes, left Tripoli on 9
April, they were heading for Denmark, where they had addresses
of old friends. The plane did not go directly to Denmark; they
had to change planes at Schiphol airport.
There they first came in contact with the new European policy
on asylum seekers. On entering a European country you have to
stay there and ask for asylum in that particular country, and are
prohibited from continuing your trip. This happened to both
Zaïrese families; their luggage went on in the normal way to
Denmark, but they were held by the Dutch police. On the first day
of their arrival Dutch immigration officials tried to persuade
them to return to Libya.
Held in Holland
Since it was impossible to leave for Denmark they decided to stay
in Holland and seek asylum, and then the waiting started. The
normal procedure in Holland, said the Minister of Justice, is
that asylum seekers can be held for maximum 24 hours in the
airport transit space at Schiphol airport. There's no
accommodation, no good food, no real medical care and no access
to refugee help organisations. After the first day Jojo Muluta,
who was 7 months pregnant, began to feel sick with stomach ache,
headache and diarrhoea. When Jean Muluta asked the police for
medical help, they said they only were there to watch them, and
that they needed special permission to get out of the transit
space, which they would not get. For four days they had to stay
and every request for medical care was not followed up. When
after her death the Public Health Inspection investigated what
happened at Schiphol airport the police insisted on the fact that
they were never told Jojo Muluta was pregnant and they had not
noticed it themselves.
On the 13 April Jean Muluta was interrogated by the aliens
police. His wife Jojo was still ill and before the interrogation
started he asked the interpreter for medical help. `After the
interrogation', was the answer, but after 7 hours of questioning,
mainly on the situation in Libya, Muluta didn't get the medical
help for his wife he requested.
Then they were not sent back to Schiphol airport, but were
brought to the so called `Grenshospitium'. This is a newly opened
prison for asylum seekers, who in the eyes of the Dutch
government can't stay in Holland. In this prison asylum seekers
stay four to eight weeks, the time it takes to hear their lawyers
appeal. Afterwards most of them are sent back to the country they
came from. This prison is part of the new policy of the Dutch
government to put off as many asylum seekers as possible. It is
one of the restrictive measures that isolate the asylum seekers
from entering the Dutch s