Ousman Sillah, National Assembly Member (NAM) for Banjul North, calls on the European governments to halt in any current operation of forced repatriation of these young people who had risked their lives and spent so much in order to reach the shores of Europe.
Reiterating his call for the European governments to accept and provide support to these young Gambia migrants.
The Banjul North lawmaker, was speaking when addressing Gambians at the Hammonia SV Vereinshaus (club house) in the German city of Hamburg on 9th November, 2018.
Hon. Sillah, who is currently touring seven European countries to meet with Gambians and friends of the Gambia,
He explained that he has spoken to a well-to-do German national who informed him that their country is currently experiencing a shrinking population as they are registering more deaths than births now.
He said the guy argued that based on this demographic reality, Germany therefore needs migrants to come and do work.
Mr. Sillah again emphasised that in as much as Germany, Italy and other European countries are being called upon to accept and assume their moral and legal obligations to accommodate and regularise the stay of all those people who found themselves within their territories, the Gambia government should not also abdicate its responsibility to create the conditions that would make the young people to stay and develop the country.
He added that migration is a normal phenomenon that has been with mankind since time immemorial but that the scale in which young people are now leaving the country for opportunities abroad is alarming.
He said it is therefore, the duty of the government to invest in the young people so that they would not be leaving their country for opportunities elsewhere.
He urged the government of The Gambia to engage European governments to put an end to the mistreatment of young Gambian migrants who are in search of better lives in other countries.
Sillah said what he has seen in a video footage that has gone viral in social media showing a young man being shoved on the ground by two German police and tied with a rope which is inhuman, degrading and a violation of human rights. He said that the young man who was tied groaned like a sheep ready to be slaughtered.
He concluded by saying that this was unacceptable and that the government of the Gambia should do something to ensure that Gambians are treated well anywhere they are in the world.
Author: Bakary Ceesay