Why Should Foreign Sports Personnel Be Allowed To Claim Asylum?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11731891/More-than-100-asylum-claims-from-Olympics-and-Commonwealth-games.html

If they are popular enough to be picked for their National Teams, what possible danger could they face in their own country?

[Hypognosis]

@divebuddy

No, I think you read me correctly. Excuse me while I think out loud:

IF *actually* gay AND home country aware AND *actually* oppressed because of that THEN ejected from team; no Olympics trip, no asylum claim opportunity.

IF *actually* gay AND home country duped by pretence of heterosexuality THEN proceed to Olympics but tale of oppression is a LIE. *

IF actually straight AND not actually oppressed then all asylum claim stories are a LIE.

IF actually straight AND oppressed for some other reason (political activism, for example) then surely the government persecution would extend to being kicked out of the Olympic team, as above?


That's what I meant by 'logic trap'.

* (Perhaps -fear- of persecution is an accepted criterion? If so, it's weak; too easy to exploit. They'll be claiming they're afraid of the wildlife, next.)


I still say that political asylum is a hangover from the cold war and was intended to cope with defectors and 'turned' spies. It should be handfuls of individuals per year.

We should scrap the entire concept and declare them all as economic migrants for as long as the flow rate continues to be in thousands.

Yes, I guess this points toward the "Australian-style points system" but, for those who lost their qualifications or skills certificates at the moment they fled their homes, we cannot simply take their word for it. Formal aptitude testing (building skills say) would require a spacious facility with secure fencing and involve huge costs, more so if the failure rate is high.

And how do you assign a point-score for the 16-year old dreamer who expects to be a footballer, on a six-figure salary? They've consciously sidestepped the process of being talent-scouted as being the best among their fellow countrymen, of that age, so they can't actualy be any good, can they?