JAPA: Nigerian Students’ Battles Against Discrimination In Eastern Europe
BY OGHOLAJA E. OLAYEMI ESQ
IT is trite to say that majority of Nigerian students who have towed the legal pathway to study and reside in Europe have found themselves battling job discrimination, that unless the European Union (EU), as a matter of great necessity, does the needful to stop this discrimination by its member states, Nigerian students in the EU may continue to have their rights infringed upon by the governments concerned.
There is no doubt that every human being has the right to move from one country to another either for economic, political or for other purposes. This right is guaranteed under international law for the free movement of persons from one territory to another. It is this right that entitles Nigerian citizens to travel from one continent to another including the member states of the European Union.
According to President of the Association of Nigerian Students in Europe (ANSE), Bashiru Muhammad, there are over three million Nigerians currently studying in different higher institutions in the member states of the European Union, so Nigeria has one of the highest numbers of international students studying in the EU with high hopes of securing a job and residing permanently after graduation.
However these expectations were cut short with uncertainties, like language as a prerequisite for employment in the member states of the European Union. This is a pretext to deny them their right to employment, particularly in the Eastern part of Europe where language is being used as a weapon to discriminate against foreigners that desire to work, study and reside permanently in Europe.
The EU is a bastion of global civilization, so as students who left the shores of their countries to study in the first world, they are confounded that some of the EU member states can rely solely on their national language as a prerequisite to seek employment without considering same as criteria for seeking admission to study in those same member states of the European Union.
The truth is that, in drafting the EU Labor policy to determine the official languages to be used by all member states, it was never the intention of the draftsman to discriminate against foreigners from third world countries but was aimed at a uniform standard of communication among member states of the European Union. However, most member states have willfully implemented this policy in part by relying solely on the national language of the member state as a prerequisite for employment with the exclusion of other alternative languages enlisted in the EU labor policy.
For instance, in determining the language to be used by the European Economic Community, REGULATION NO 1 of the (ECC) stipulates that the three official languages to be used as the official languages of all member states of the European Union will be that of the national language of the member state to include English, German and French as the most spoken language in the EU member states.
However, it is sad to find that most member states have intentionally disregarded the use of ENGLISH as part of the official language enlisted in REGULATION 1 OF ECC, therefore relying only on a single national language as the sole official language to be used for employment. This practice in its entirety is inimical to English speaking students particularly Nigerians residing in the member states of the European Union. It is an evidence of the deliberate effort by member states to grow their economies via the Nigerian/African students’ tuition fees but show less effort to provide jobs that will enhance the integration and settlement of the foreign students residing in their territory.
Consequently, by implication, the practice by member states in principle is contrary to the Provisions of the EU Regulation under Article 21 of the Charter on Fundamental Rights of the European Union that prohibits discrimination in treatment of languages and in the same vein contrary to Article 14 of the European Convention for Human Rights which further provides for the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms of individuals to participate in the labor force without discrimination on any grounds such as language or other status.
In affirmation to this principle, the Grand Chamber case of ITALIAN REPULIC V EUROPEAN COMMISSION in its decision concluded by stating that all official journals must be published in all official languages and if there are any subsequent amendments must be published in all official languages in order to avoid any discrimination based on language.
Conclusively, as a matter of urgency, it is expedient for the European Union to look into the activities of its member states considering how member states could implement the scheme of training professionals in English language and yet unable to absorb them to explore their international experiences through their knowledge and skills after graduation. This lacuna should be one of the priorities of the European Union to remedy in the present circumstances.
If discrimination against international students by member states would be a routine within the entire Europe, then international students particularly from Nigeria whose official language is English should indeed reconsider going to Europe as a preferred choice of study and work, or rather consider relocating to other English speaking countries like the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia where their inputs would perhaps be better appreciated.
If the EU must succeed in its pursuit of freedom and equality, it should as a matter of urgency establish a working committee to oversee the activities of its member states in order to ensure strict compliances with its policies. There is also the need for the EU to amend or guard against any form of ambiguities in order to guide against discriminatory practices by any of its member states and unless this is achieved, Nigerian international students would continue to battle job discrimination in the member states of the European Union.
