Stop the Colonial Colaboration of the Nigerian Embassy with the German State!
From Monday 15 - Friday 19 of August 2011, Nigerian Embassy officials will be coming to Karlsruhe to identify Nigerian Asylum seekers for the purpose of issuing travel documents to facilitate their deportation. The identification exercise would be conducted under militant security at the “Asylum Reception Center”, Durlach Alle 100, in Karlsruhe. Besides this, the Nigerian embassy does such deportation hearings again and again, each time in another city. Africans from all over Germany have been summoned to show up for such deportation hearings, many of the victims of such procedures have been deported. Deportation hearings are a form of corrupt and neocolonial deportation buisness between Nigerian embassy officials and German authorities at the expense of refugees. We appeal to all refugee community activists and to all other anti-racists to stand up and protest against deportation hearings! We appeal to all refugees who are concerned of a deportation hearing: Don’t support your own deportation! Refusing to attend a deportation hearing or to refuse speaking at the hearing is civil disobedience against deportation business! Asylum seekers in Europe are routinely denied the right to fair asylum procedures and are faced with deportation threats and abuses through active collaboration of their Country Embassies who issue travel documents to deport them to their alleged home countries.The Nigerian embassys collaboratory role has since 2007 been on massive scandal of collecting corrupt Charges of 500 Euros to facilitate the deportation of each persons seeming to look like Nigerians. The abusive procedure of deportation hearings Victims are summoned to appear before a representative of the Nigerian embassy in any of the forced deportation hearing conducted randomly in different German cities.During the embassy hearing, refugees will be questioned by Nigerian embassy officials in order to confirm their Nigerian origin based on their language, their accents or specific words they use. Besides this, embassy officials can also arbitrarily “identify” someone to be Nigerian based on general appearance, the shape of his/her face, traditional scars etc.! It has also been reported that not only Nigerians, but also asylum seekers from Togo, Liberia, Uganda, Sudan, Sierra Leone etc. are been invited to embassy hearings with the Nigerian embassy as well.The identification exercise and its militant approach has continued to traumatise refugees and migrant victims through massive abuse as many are brought in by the police on Handcuffs like criminals.The same refugees who have excaped persecution from their home countries are forced to appear in front of officials of the same Regime that has caused them to flee. The hypocrit role of Nigerian embassy officials Mr Okoye Alias Ambassador has since 2008 justified this collaboration with his dicy role during a delegation visit to demand a stop to mobile hearings in 2008. The then Ambassador Ridmap agreed to consider to stop all forms of mobile hearing as demanded by a delegation of activist who visited the Embassy at the heat of the campaign in 2008. Mr Ahmed as Counsular Officer represents the Embassys at the deportation hearings and takes also the duty of an external BAMF (Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge) official mandated to question and reassess refugees stories during the identification exercise.The Question of criteria for issuing travelling certificates thrown to the Ambassador was ignored and the Nigerian Embassy continues to succumbs to the imposed personal datas from the deportation authorities without verifying its authenticity. There has been several cases of double date of Birth, Nationality, and Names which the Embassy hesitates to question. Amongst those faced with such identification exercises are Asylum seekers unjustly denied the right to protection or punished for resistance against German state repression i.e “violation of the Apartheid Restriction to freedom Movement” and also migrants that are forcefully seperated from their partners, children and family members through the influence of the racist authorities. Resistance and civil disobedience is possible Many times, refugees and other anti-racists initiated protest actions against deportation hearings. Moreover, many refugees decided to boycott deportation hearings, even if they were facing strong pressure from the authorities. Many of those who refused attending an embassy hearing were able to stop their own deportation successfully and to win time to find alternative solutions for their own situation. But the civil disobedience of refugees also needs active solidarity and support! Let’s break isolation, show your protest against the Nigeria deportation hearing in Karlsruhe on 18th of August 2011! Let’s make pressure against the embassies to end the corrupt and neocolonial collaboration with German deportation authorities!
