By Bakary Ceesay
Gambia Refugees Association Europe Branch has advised the Gambia government to halt deportation with immediate effect.
In a press release sent to The Voice signed by Yahya Sonko, Public Relations Officer Gambia Refugees Association Europe Branch said: “The Gambia Refugees Association – Europe Branch has received shocking news from one of its members (name withheld), on Tuesday, 12th November 2019, that he was arrested in Munich while trying to renew his document (Aussweiss)”
He is said to be currently detained in Munich and will be taken to court before Friday, 15th November 2019. According to him, based, on the court’s decision, he could be deported to The Gambia on that same day.
“Our association denounced this form of humiliating and inhumane treatment and calls for an immediate stop to it”
We also received information that the scheduled flight for some of the targeted persons for deportation this week, will arrive on the 16th November at the Banjul International Airport in The Gambia.
Earlier, on the 25th October 2019, we received information that some Gambians were also deported and just few days ago, there was another scheduled flight which took some deportees. The rate at which the German authorities are deporting our Gambian migrants is alarming and we are deeply concerned about the fate and perspective of our brothers and sisters.
Already, Germany has planned to deport 3400 Gambians whose asylum claims were rejected. This is a huge number and we don’t think deporting them will be a good idea.
Our association has done a lot of efforts and will continue to do so for the interest of Gambian migrants and asylum seekers. We will continue to engage both the governments of Germany and The Gambia to find a peaceful solution to this problem.
The Gambia Government on the other hand must understand that there are better options than accepting the deportation of its citizens especially people who are law abiding, well integrated and are working and paying tax in Europe.
We therefore urge The Gambia Government to quickly intervene and take positive steps that will re-prioritize or minimize deportation before it is too late.