Sadly, this current freezing-out of Ziyad's child at the River Jordan is not a "first" for Ziyad and his experience with Jordanian border control personnel. Similar to the Israelis immigration and security apparatus which have been so arbitrary in the past with Ziyad and his lack of free movement globally, the Jordanian immigration officers have often proven quite fickle over the past decades when allowing peoples to pass from Jordan into Israeli or Palestinian territory.

I recall that my first attempt to cross into Palestine to Israel from the Jordan Valley about 7 years ago was blocked by Jordanian border control officials who apparently wanted more money for their services. (I refused to pay "what I viewed as a bribe" but came back a year later--and tried again.  This time successfully.)

Later, a few years ago, i.e. after the birth of Ziyad's first son while he and his wife were living in North Cyprus, both his wife and  the new-born baby boy had made a similar trek to their homeland to visit their family.  Ziyad's boy was only 4 months old at the time. Upon arrival in Amman, the baby was detained by Jordanian immigration, and the mother was told that she would be allowed to enter the country but her new-born could not.

Why?

Well, the baby had been born in North Cyprus and North Cyprus was not recognized as a country by the Kingdom of Jordan. Therefore, even the baby's birth certificate was considered invalid. 

Ziyad's wife wryly replied, "Here are the baby, the baby's milk, diapers, and food.  I will leave the baby here and you take care of him while I go outside and bring back an official in the government to tell you what you need to do in my son's case."

The Jordanian official was in shock as the mother began to walk away. (Ziyad's wife didn't actually leave the room, but she assure us, "You should have seen the look on the guard's face as she turned and left the baby on the table in front of him.")

I ask, "Why should the official have been surprised?"

 "When you drive people to desperation, you should anticipate desperate reactions."

MY EXPERIENCE

Naturally, not only are Israeli and Jordanian officials and regimes guilty of trashing the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS.

In any one year, practically every nation on the planet is guilty of such inhuman shenanigans, such abuse of authority, and continual breaking of international agreements.  For  example, recently for an 18 month-period, the German authorities in Wiesbaden kept my wife separated from me and off of the continent of Europe.  My wife has a Filipino passport and the lowest level German immigration officials in Wiesbaden were allowed to manipulate and reverse decisions for many months at a time.

Later, in another incident, one Philippine airline officially arbitrarily decided that my wife could not return on a flight with me to Taiwan--even thought my 7-month-old daughter would be allowed to because she had a USA passport instead of a Filipino one as my wife does.

My baby was still nursing.  The option for me to travel with the baby was non-existent as our many of the kangaroo-court shenanigans of so many visa and national security officers world-wide.

In short, Ziyad and his family are far from alone in feeling internationally persecuted and obstructed in many ways from "pursing happiness."  This is horrendous practice because in any one year approximately 200 million people on planet Earth are immigrating or seeking to become immigrants. [1]

I wish to take this time to encourage immigrants and émigrés of the world to unite and demand better treatment before so-called legal regimes or state governments which disrespect the rule of law and have trashed Article 13  of the UN Declaration nearly continuously since its inception over 6 decades ago.

NOTES

[1]   FROM: http://www.globalissues.org/article/537/immigration

People emigrate from one country to another for a variety of complex reasons. Some are forced to move, due to conflict or to escape persecution and prejudices, while others may voluntarily emigrate. Although such a move may be necessary, it can be quite traumatic on top of the challenges experienced so far.

From another perspective, immigration can also represent an act of courage. For example,

• Moving to a different country with different culture and norms can be quite daunting;
• The potential loneliness to be suffered is not always easy to overcome;
• There may be the additional pressure to earn enough to live (in a more expensive-to-live-in country) and send back meager savings.

An economic migrant, a person searching for work, or better opportunities, will be stepping into the unknown--an exciting prospect if the person is already well-to-do, or daunting at least, if out of desperation.

Immigration can have positive and negative impacts on both the host (recipient) country, and the original country.

The recipient country is usually an industrialized country in Western Europe, or the United States. For these countries, immigrants offer various benefits such as the following:

• Immigrants will often do jobs that people in the host country will not, or cannot do;
• Migrant workers often work longer hours and for lower salaries, and while that is controversial, sometimes exploitive, it benefits the host country;
• Immigrants, when made to feel welcome in the host society, can contribute to the diversity of that society, which can help with tolerance and understanding;
• For the host country's economy, immigrants offer an increased talent pool, if they have been well educated in their original country.

But there are also numerous drawbacks:

• Immigrants can be exploited for their cheap labor;
• Developing countries may suffer "brain drain" as the limited resources they spend in educating their students amount to very little if that talent is enticed to another country. (The UK for example is often accused of actively hiring medical staff from developing countries. The previous link details this issue further.)
• Immigration can also attract criminal elements, from trafficking in drugs and people to other forms of crime and corruption;
• Immigration can become a social/political issue, where racism can be used to exploit feelings or as an excuse for current woes of local population;
• Where there is a perception that immigrants and refugees appear to get more benefits than local poor people, tensions and hostilities can also rise;
• Concerns about illegal immigration can spill over to ill-feelings towards the majority of immigrants who are law-abiding and contributing to the economy;
• Many die trying to flee their predicament, and this can often make sensational headlines giving the appearance that immigration is largely illegal and "out of control."

Despite what appears to be large population movements, Gary Younge, from the Guardian noted some time ago that people still are not able to move as freely as commodities. In some places around the world, there are additional restrictions being put up on people's movements.

KEVIN STODA-has been blessed to have either traveled in or worked in nearly 100 countries on five continents over the past two and a half decades.--He sees himself as a peace educator and have been-- a promoter of good economic and social development--making-him an enemy of my homelands humongous DEFENSE SPENDING and its focus on using weapons to try and solve global issues.

"I am from Kansas so I also use the pseudonym 'Kansas' and 'alone' when I write and publish.- I-keep two blogs--one with BLOGGER and one with WORDPRESS.- My writings range from reviews to editorials or to travel observations.- I also make recommendations related to policy--having both a-strong background in teaching foreign languages and degrees in teaching in history and the social sciences.--As a Midwesterner, I also write on religion and living out ones faith whether it be as a Christian, Muslim or Buddhist perspective."

On my own home page, I also provide information for language learners and travelers http://www.geocities.com/eslkevin/-,- http://the-teacher.blogspot.com/-& http://alone.gnn.tv/

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