MIGRATION

Deported Nigerians: Germany violated international agreements – say activists

Twenty Nigerians were deported to their home country on 19 August. Our correspondent Raphael Adenaike was at the Lagos airport when the deportees arrived and they narrated their personal ordeals and experiences with the German police, immigration officials and medical doctors as well as the Nigerian Embassy to Raphael (read article here). Raphael also spoke with pro-refugee activists in Lagos …

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Nigerian who rampaged at German asylum centre deported

The authorities in the southern German state of Bavaria have announced that a Nigerian who went on a rampage recently at an Anchor Centre (Ankerzentrum), a big holding camp for refugees, has been deported to Nigeria. The news was broken on Thursday to the Bayerischer Rundfunk by the Bavarian State Office for Asylum and Repatriation (Bayerische Landesamt für Asyl und …

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2,400 Gambians to be deported by Germany, say refugee support groups

A week after 20 Nigerians were deported to their home country, refugee support groups in Germany have raised alarm that at least 2,400 Gambian refugees in the country were slated deportation. The groups, Flüchtlingsrat Baden-Württemberg (Refugee Council Baden-Württemberg), a non-profit organization that advises refugees and advocates for their rights, and the Gambia Helfernetz (Gambia Helpers Network), have written to Gambian …

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EXCLUSIVE! Nigerian deportees from Germany narrate their tales of woe in Lagos

Our Correspondent in Nigeria, Raphael Adenaike, was at the Lagos airport when Nigerian deportees, including a single mother of one, arrived from Germany on Monday 19 August. The deportees, whose asylum applications had been rejected, narrated their personal ordeals and experiences with the German police, immigration officials and medical doctors as well as the Nigerian Embassy to Raphael. With little …

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Refugees visiting home country: What German authorities say

A recent debate over the revocation of refugee status for Syrian nationals in Germany has raised some questions. Are people with refugee protection allowed to visit their home country? What happens if you are found to have broken the law? Charlotte Hauswedell of InfoMigrants takes a closer look. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has suggested that asylum-seekers from Syria should …

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Ambassador denies Germany’s claim of 30,000 Nigerians awaiting deportation

Nigeria has again faulted claims that there were 30,000 of its citizens who are irregular migrants in Germany awaiting repatriation. The Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, said the figure was unrealistic against the background that there’re only 32,000 Nigerians legally resident in the country. “So how could there be 30,000 Nigerians irregularly living in the country?” he …

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New law for quicker deportation enters into force in Germany

The so-called ‘Orderly Return Law’ (das Geordnete-Rückkehr-Gesetz) was approved in June. It went into force on Wednesday (21 August). It gives authorities and police more powers to enforce deportation orders. Critics fear more refugees could now be legally detained. The tightening of rules governing the deportation of rejected asylum-seekers took effect on Wednesday. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) said …

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New statistics on people with migration background in Germany released

Nearly one quarter of Germany’s population of 82 million has an immigrant background, according to statistics released Wednesday (21 August). Germany’s statistical agency Destatis said 20.8 million people in 2018 had a so-called “migrant background,” defined as a person who is a migrant or has at least one parent not born as a German citizen. That’s an increase of half …

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Anger at Lagos airport as Nigerian deportees arrive from Germany

No fewer than 20 Nigerian migrants have been deported by the German authority, The African Courier can confirm. The migrants arrived the Murtala Muhammed International Airport at 4:30pm on Monday (19 August). The African Courier gathered that the returnees were picked randomly at different times and detained in a deportation prison prior to their repatriation. READ MORE New law for …

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11,500 persons deported from Germany in first half of 2019, says federal government

Close to 11,500 people were deported from Germany in the first six months of 2019, slightly fewer than in the same period last year. That’s according to the German federal government, which also said that during deportations, the degree of physical resistance by asylum-seekers and the resulting use of force by the police are on the rise. In the first …

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Activists protest against Germany’s plan to deport Nigerians

About 100 protesters gathered in Gotha, state of Thuringia, on Saturday to protest against deportations to Nigeria and what they described as “the intimidation of the authorities and police”. Participants from Berlin, Erfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Göttingen, Jena and Wuppertal converged on the eastern German town in response to the call of refugees stationed in Gotha. Organised by pro-refugee groups, …

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UN calls for new EU approach after 150 migrants drowned off Libya coast

The UN refugee agency UNHCR has called for immediate action after two boats shipwrecked Thursday off Libya and 150 migrants are feared to have drowned. Search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean must be resumed and arbitrary detention stopped, the UN says. Up to 150 Europe-bound migrants, including women and children, were missing and feared drowned on Thursday after two …

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Ghanaian youth commits suicide in Italy

According to a report of the Italian news agency ANSA, a 20-year-old Ghanaian migrant has killed himself in a Caritas facility in Cremona. He was visiting a friend in the Italian city and was staying temporarily in the facility. The man, whose name was not revealed in the report, is believed to have suffered from psychological trauma. The director of …

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Government-backed African Advisory Centre opens in Dortmund

The African Network of Germany (TANG) has opened a new office in Dortmund. The organisation implements projects to support its objectives, among which is the promotion of the integration of Africans in German society. TANG, founded in 2013, also facilitates the engagement of diaspora Africans in the development of their countries of origin. The Dortmund office, which formally opened for …

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Sea-Watch captain hopes for better EU rules on rescued migrants, but analysts doubt

Sea-Watch rescue ship’s captain, Carola Rackete, has expressed the hope that the new EU commission would work to let boat-rescued migrants enter Europe. Rackete, who is under investigation in Italy for docking her boat in the Italian port of Lampedusa without permission in early July, said: “I sincerely hope that the European Commission now, after the new election of the …

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German government appoints Sylvie Nantcha member of federal commission on migration

The Federal Government has appointed Dr Sylvie Nantcha as a member of a technical commission on migration. The task of the 24-member commission is to identify “the root causes of flight and irregular migration” and it has until the end of next year to make concrete recommendations for action on how to tackle the issues. Flight and migration are among …

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New book on how colonisation drives today’s African migration to Europe

As I write this article, 44 migrants, mostly Africans, who were rescued in the Mediterranean by the humanitarian organisation Sea Eye off the Libyan coast on Monday, are desperately looking for where to be allowed to disembark in Europe. The migrants’ dilemma follows the Sea-Watch 3 controversy in June, when the rescue boat forcibly docked in the Italian port of …

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Why don’t African governments care about their citizens in Libya?

Fifty-three migrants, mostly sub-Saharan Africans, were killed on Wednesday when a faction in the Libyan civil war carried out an air strike that hit a migrant detention centre near Tripoli. More than 130 others were injured. The internationally-recognised Government of National Unity (GNA) blamed the attack on forces loyal to renegade General Khalifa Haftar, but his militants have denied it. …

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