By: Nyima Sillah
Germany-based migration and human rights activist, Yahya Sonko Tuesday revealed that the final flight for 2023 deportation from Germany would arrive in The Gambia on Wednesday 13 December 2023 with a total number of thirty-five Gambians.
According to Mr. Sonko, the year 2023 is one of the toughest years for The Gambian asylum seekers and immigrants in the diaspora as the Barrow government cooperated with the European Union to send chartereddeportation flights to The Gambia.
“The first chartered deportation flight started on January 2nd, 2023 after that several chartereddeportation flights followed up. This is the worst year for Gambian immigrants in the EU. Many are worried, frustrated, and have left their houses, and their jobs because they are all facing the threat of deportation,” Sonko asserted.
He pointed out that this year, the Gambia government has broken a record in terms of deportation which has never happened in the history of the Gambia, stressing that more than 400 hundred Gambian citizens were deported from the EU to The Gambia.
“The saddest part of the deportation trend is that the Barrow government failed to take responsibility when it comes to the reintegration of deportees from the EU after receiving millions of euros from the EU. When I get in touch with these deportees from the EU, 90-99% complain that they don’t receive a single butut from the Gambian government,” Sonko explained. He added: “how can you continue to receive your citizens in hundreds and fail to help those citizens to reintegrate back into their societies?”
He stated that after spending five to ten years in Europe, the deportees would be brought home with nothing so without providing any reintegration for them and expect them to live with their families like that, arguing that this is why the crime rate is high in The Gambia.
“You cannot bring youths and ignore your responsibility as a government. I am calling on the Barrow government to immediately look into possibilities of reintegrating all these deportees back to their society,” The Gambian-based migration activist said.
