PRO ASYL: Stop deportations to Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Chechny
A week before their meeting in Berlin on May 31/June 1 PRO ASYL has urgently asked the German Home Secretaries to refrain from deportations to Sri Lanka, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Chechnya. Straight rules to stop deportations are required.
Sri Lanka: The Federal Ministery of the Interior (BMI) has recommended to the federal states a partial stop to deportations. Only Tamils from northern and eastern Sri Lanka are meant to benefit from this recommendation. Tamils whose livelihood upon return to Sri Lanka seems to be secured by still existing family structures are excepted. The problem, though, in case of deportation is rarely livelihood, but rather the risk to get arrested by security forces without habeas corpus after landing in Colombo or en route to the hometown. An internal flight alternative – as claimed for Colombo in the past – doesn’t exist anymore. Therefore, the conference of the Home Secretaries should specify the BMI’s recommendation and agree upon a general stop to deportations.
Iraq: Millions of Iraqi take flight to the neighbouring states or look for protection in their own country. Against this backdrop it is not understandable why the federal government has entered negotiations with the governments of Iraq and of the autonomous region of Northern Kurdistan about deporting Iraqi refugees. A deterioration of the security situation there can be noted as well – especially in those parts bordering Kurdish north Iraq. Therefore, in addition to stopping deportations more has to be done. A European resettlement program to take on Iraqi refugees from the neighbouring states is needed. Also, the conference must prevent chain tolerations and grant residence permits to those Iraqi who cannot be deported for risks to life and limb, thus giving these people a chance of planning their future life. So far, German politics has taken the opposite direction: More than 18,000 Iraqi have lost their refugee status by means of revocation procedures.
Bernd Mesovic, speaker
Hint: Background information on Sri Lanka, Iraq, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Tschetschenien and our demands to the Home Secretaries‘ Conference may be ordered via fax or mail.