This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by @marc-allaria: LE VOYAGE D'AURORA - STOP#9 - Christmas Island, Terre d'asile...!

^{As my primary language is not English, there are probably some mistakes in my translation.}

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Marc Allaria (@marc-allaria), a French guy.

THE JOURNEY OF AURORA - Christmas Island
Part 6: Land of asylum

I was able to show you from previous reports that Christmas Island is on a geographical position favorable to the blossoming of an exuberant nature. But this same geographical position also has another strategic interest, this one much more geopolitical.

The effect is immediate. The whole food chain has an appointment around the island. From the smallest organism carried by the currents, through the coral, all the species of tropical fish, and obviously the big hunters that are the tunas and the sharks. I had the chance to enjoy this parade of species and colors for two full weeks.

Indeed, Christmas Island is an Australian territory positioned at "only" 350 km from Indonesia. Indonesia, which is the largest Muslim country in the world and implicitly connected with many other Muslim countries located further west between Libya and the Middle East. By many social and economic factors, sometimes politically driven from the outside, these countries experience periods of strong instability. On the other hand, the political regimes of the Middle East are well known for their lack of tolerance in the opposition. As a result, there are many who disagree with the power that be. Only solution for them, fight with unequal weapons, or flee out of the country to seek political asylum in another country.

Even for those who can afford it, flying from an Islamic political state to a European or Western state is often impossible for reasons that strongly remind us that our minds are not so modern and that the Middle Ages are not so far away. The first Islamic State in the world, I remind you, will welcome Afghan, Iranian, Iraqi or Sri Lankan travelers without complication. From there, an Indonesian fisherman will wait for the asylum seekers, and will ask each of them around 7000 Euros to cross to Christmas Island. Between 30 and 50 men, women and children will be piled on a light boat to the high seas. If they survive, the Australian army will retrieve them and lock them up in a refugee camp built on the island for this purpose. A real small city of 2000 exiles and a few hundred staff is created. The asylum procedure will be registered and will take more than 18 months to process. Around 97% of cases will be granted and will allow asylum seekers access to Australia after two years of waiting. The Indonesian fisherman will be imprisoned for 4 years. He knew the outcome before embarking the migrants. He had accepted his destiny. For him and his family, 4 years of imprisonment is the condition to leave prison rich until the end of his days. He will then be able to use the money earned by his passage of migrants, a real fortune in Indonesia.

Each week brings a new boat, 1800 refugees are constantly waiting in the camp. Regularly, one of these boats comes to shatter between the swell of the sea and the sharp rocks of the coast. Men, women and children often perish just a few meters from the end of a long road.

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THE JOURNEY OF AURORA - Christmas Island - Part 6: Land of asylum, by @marc-allaria (translated from French)

This is an authorized translation in English of a post in French by @marc-allaria: LE VOYAGE D'AURORA - STOP#9 - Christmas Island, Terre d'asile...!

Remember that the person who speaks here is NOT me, Vincent Celier (@vcelier), but Marc Allaria (@marc-allaria), a French guy.

THE JOURNEY OF AURORA - Christmas Island Part 6: Land of asylum

THE JOURNEY OF AURORA - Christmas Island
Part 6: Land of asylum