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Germany: opposition to ongoing deportations to Afghanistan

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11 February 2021

96 organizations and initiatives in Germany have condemned the government's ongoing deportations to Afghanistan, a country still at war and in the midst of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Press release published by Flüchtlingsrat Berlin on 9 February 2020. Translation by Statewatch.

Having restarted its monthly deportations to Afghanistan in December last year, Germany will continue with them in 2021. Deportations to a country which in 2020 was classified for the second time in a row by the Institute for Economics & Peace in its Global Peace Index 2020 as the most dangerous country in the world. [1]

On 31 January, the Federal Foreign Office designated Afghanistan as an area with a particularly high risk of infection and, as a consequence, tightened its travel and security warnings even further, as Afghanistan is particularly hard hit by COVID-19 and the health system cannot withstand the strain. [2]

In September 2020 the Higher Administrative Court of Bremen [3] and in December 2020 the Administrative Court of Baden-Württemberg [4] also determined that even healthy, single men without a social network in Afghanistan may not be deported there. The courts ruled that due to the worsening economic situation caused by the pandemic, they would not be able to cover their most elementary needs foreseeably.

Regardless of this, Germany is planning the next deportation flight to Afghanistan on 9 February, in which experience has shown that many federal states will participate again. While in Germany on the one hand every life is fought for, on the other hand people are deported to a COVID-19 high-risk and war zone and the life-threatening situation there is knowingly accepted.

The collective charter on 9 February would be the first deportation flight from Germany since the informal "Joint Declaration on Migration Cooperation", [5] which the European Union and Afghanistan signed in January this year and which is to apply for an indefinite period. According to this, up to 500 refugees can be deported from the EU to Afghanistan every month.

Among those affected by the deportation on 9 February are likely to be 22-year-old Hasib from Kempten/Allgäu, who went to school there, worked, loves football, wanted to start an apprenticeship and is now in custody for deportation in Ingelheim, [6] and the 20-year-old H. from North Rhine-Westphalia, who was born in Iran, came to Germany at the age of nine, has never been to Afghanistan and has no relatives there. [7] To name just two cases.

The protection of human life during a global pandemic of unique proportions cannot stop at national borders and depend on residence status or nationality. We call on the federal government to immediately stop any deportations to Afghanistan and to protect human lives!

Signed

1. We’ll Come United Berlin Brandenburg
2. Jugendliche ohne Grenzen
3. Migrant Support Network e.V.
4. Afghan Refugees Movement
5. Aktionsbündnis Antirassismus
6. No Border Assembly
7. Karawane München
8. YAAR e.V.
9. Hazara Zentrum Berlin
10. World Hazara Council – Germany e.V.
11. Zaki – Bildung und Kultur e.V.
12. Afghanisches Kommunikations- und Kulturzentrum e.V.
13. Verein iranischer Flüchtlinge in Berlin e.V.
14. Afghanischer Aufschrei Düsseldorf
15. Links*Kanax
16. moveGLOBAL e.V.- Berliner Verband migrantischer-diasporischer Organisationen in der Einen Welt
17. CISPM (coalition international des sanspapiers et migrants) Mannheim
18. Initiativ Oury Jalloh Mannheim
19. Migrantifa NRW
20. PRO ASYL
21. borderline-europe
22. SEEBRÜCKE
23. IPPNW Deutschland
24. medico international
25. Ärzte der Welt e.V
26. Verein demokratischer Ärztinnen und Ärzte vdää
27. Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein RAV
28. Flüchtlingsrat Baden-Württemberg
29. Bayerischer Flüchtlingsrat
30. Flüchtlingsrat Berlin
31. Flüchtlingsrat Bremen
32. Flüchtlingsrat Brandenburg
33. Flüchtlingsrat Hamburg
34. Flüchtlingsrat RLP
35. Flüchtlingsrat Sachsen-Anhalt
36. Flüchtlingsrat Schleswig-Holstein
37. Flüchtlingsrat Thüringen
38. Hessischer Flüchtlingsrat
39. Münchner Flüchtlingsrat
40. Sächsischer Flüchtlingsrat
41. KuB – Kontakt- und Beratungsstelle für Flüchtlinge und Migrant_innen e.V
42. BBZ – Beratungs- und Betreuungszentrum für junge Geflüchtete und Migrant*innen
43. Afghanisch-Deutscher Kulturverein Flensburg
44. BZSL e.V.
45. Migrationsrat Berlin e.V.
46. lifeline Vormundschaftsverein im Flüchtlingsrat Schleswig-Holstein e.V.
47. AWO Kreisverband Berlin-Mitte e.V.
48. BNS BerlinerNetzwerk für besonders schutzbedürftige geflüchtete Menschen
49. Evangelischer Kirchenkreis Teltow-Zehlendorf
50. Diakonisches Werk Steglitz und Teltow-Zehlendorf
51. Asyl in der Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.
52. Weltweit – die Freiwilligengruppe von Asyl in der Kirche Berlin-Brandenburg e.V.
53. XENION Psychosoziale Hilfen für politisch Verfolgte e.V.
54. Zentrale Bildungs- und Beratungsstelle für Migrant*innen e.V. (ZBBS)
55. Flüchtlingsbeauftragte des Ev.Luth. Kirchenkreises Lübeck-Lauenburg
56. Flüchtlingsbeauftragte des ev. Kirchenkreises Schleswig-Flensburg
57. AfghanistanNotSafe KölnBonn
58. Protest LEJ Leipzig
59. Leipziger Initiativkreis: Menschen.Würdig
60. Bon Courage e.V.
61. Wedding hilft
62. Sprungbrett Zukunft Berlin e.V.
63. Place4Refugees e.V.
64. Kölner Netzwerk „kein mensch ist illegal“
65. Lübecker Flüchtlingsforum e.V.
66. Seebrücke Lübeck
67. Seebrücke Berlin
68. Seebrücke Flensburg
69. Seebrücke Bochum
70. Seebrücke Kiel
71. AG Bleiben, Köln
72. Seebrücke Potsdam
73. Mosaik Köln Mülheim e.V.
74. Diakoniewerk Simeon FB SozInt
75. Lupine Mentoring e.V.
76. Vernetzung gegen Abschiebung Hessen/M
77. Humanistische Union OV Lübeck
78. WeGe ins Leben e.V.
79. MediNetz Bielefeld
80. Multikulturelle Zentrum Trier e.V.
81. Initiative – Abschiebestopp Thüringen
82. MOVE e.V.
83. e.V.
84. AK Politik Köln
85. die AG Bleiben Köln
86. Mosaik Köln Mülheim e.V.
87. Pallottinische Gemeinschaft St. Christophorus unterschreiben
88. Fremde brauchen Freunde e.V., Nordfriesland
89. Helferkreis Mohammad Zaki Kulmbach
90. MeG betreutes Wohnen
91. Die Flüchtlingslotsen im Amt Hürup
92. Barnim für alle
93. Bürger*innenasyl Barnim
94. OMAS gegen Rechts Lübeck
95. Bundesfachverband unbegleitete minderjährige Flüchtlinge e.V.
96. Initiativausschuss für Migrationspolitik in Rheinland-Pfalz

[1] https://www.economicsandpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/GPI_2020_web.pdf

[2] https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/ReiseUndSicherheit/afghanistansicherheit/204692

[3] https://www.oberverwaltungsgericht.bremen.de/entscheidungen/detail.php?gsid=bremen72.c.20994.de&asl=bremen72.c.11265.de

[4] https://verwaltungsgerichtshof-baden-wuerttemberg.justiz-bw.de/pb/,Lde/8969988/?LISTPAGE=1213200

[5] https://www.statewatch.org/media/1801/eu-council-joint-declaration-afghanistan-5223-21-add1.pdf

[6] https://www.ulla-jelpke.de/2021/02/12784/

[7] https://www.facebook.com/nedajeafghan/posts/2398011833655737

Image: Rasande Tyskar, CC BY-NC 2.0