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European asylum laws:137 dead in last 30 months

01 January 1991

European asylum laws:137 dead in last 30 months
artdoc November=1995

16.6.95. The Amsterdam-based European antiracist network "UNITED
- for intercultural action" has reported that a total of 137
people have died over the last two and a half years as a result
of European asylum laws. With regard to Germany, the report
states that at least 19 people have died attempting to enter the
country since the beginning of 1993, including five people who
drowned trying to cross the Oder and Neisse rivers which form the
border with Poland. A further 16 people have committed suicide
in deportation detention centres. Six refugees were murdered, and
five burnt alive in incidents in refugee hostels during the same
period. One Nigerian deportee died whilst being forcibly sedated
during a deportation, and a stowaway on board a German freight
ship was thrown overboard by crew members whilst the ship was in
the open sea.

Dominique John, a spokesperson for the Berlin-based "Antiracist
Initiative", which is involved in the UNITED campaign, commented
that the figure of 137 for Europe as a whole was much too low,
and that "the number of unreported cases was immense".

Berlin Antiracist Initiative, June 1995 Update