Webjournal zum Flüchtlingskongress vom 21. April bis 1. Mai in Jena organisiert von The Voice Africa Forum e.V. , Schillergässchen 5, 07745 Jena	zurück | back

A letter to the Beauftragte der Bundesregierung concerning Residenzpflicht

Dear Mrs. Beck,

Ref: Participation of Refugees in the Karawane Refugee Congress 20 April - 1 May 2000 in Jena

Earlier contacts between your office, the Thüringen Flüchtlingsrat (Erfurt) and Flüchtlingsinitiative (Bremen), on behalf of the Congress Coordinating Committee during the preparation for the Caravan Refugee Congress in Jena, in which the demand was made that your office support the issuance of permission to refugees all over the country willing to attend the Congress, refers.

We wish to inform you that the Congress took place as scheduled from the 20th April till 1st May 2000. However, we regret to inform you that majority of the Foreign Offices simply refused to cooperate despite your letter urging them to do so and thus refused to issue permission for most of the refugees who wanted to attend the Congress. To the extent that even most of the refugees who were seriously engaged in the office towards the successful preparations for the Congress were denied the opportunity to attend. A case in point is that of Mr. Sunny Omwenyeke; the coordinator of The VOICE in Niedersachsen who also doubled as the Secretary of the Organising Committee. He wrote most of the invitation letters amongst which was the one to the invited speaker from Canada Mr. Bonny Ibhawoh. With this letter Mr. Ibhawoh obtained a visa from the German Embassy in Canada which enabled him to attend and participate in the Congress. But unfortunately, the writer of the invitation was refused permission by the City of Wolfsburg here in Germany to attend the Congress he helped prepared.

Given the seriousness of the restriction imposed on refugees by the „Residenzpflicht“ Law which in essence denies refugees the chances of political association, opinion and expression, we consider this situation as tantamount to political persecution of refugees in Germany. This is because refugees are being taken to court and punished for daring to attend any political association and meetings both as it relates to the situations in their homelands and as it affects their treatments here in Germany. The case of Mr. Yufanyi Cornelius in Weilrode, Thüringen who was the programme coordinator of the Congress is a striking example in this regard. In Rathenow and Cottbus, refugees are now being directly threatened with prison sentences as result of their participation in this Congress. Even many of the refugees who came had to pay between 10 - 15 Dm,-  to obtain their permissions and on their return, their monthly social assistance was reduced. The further intervention of the Interior Minister of Thüringen in urging fellow Interior Ministers to refuse permissions to refugees shows how far the state is willing to go in repressing and denying refugees and otherwise non-negotiable right.

We also consider the existence of this law and its implementation a gross violation of the basic rights of refugees in Germany. Given the general repugnance felt by all the participants and the numerous refugees who were denied the opportunity to attend the Congress towards this law, we have therefore resolved among other things: To dispatch a strongly worded letter to the German Federal Parliament demanding that the „Residenzplicht“ law be repealed without further delay as it constitutes a gross abuse of the fundamental rights of refugees to movement. We also wish to inform you that in the very near future we are going to be engaged in a series of actions to press home our desire to see that this law is abolished.

We wish to solicit your usual support and call on your office to play an active role in the struggle to realise this goal.

Enclosed is a copy of our letter to German Federal Parliament in Berlin and other relevant documents as part of the outcome of the Congress.

Yours Sincerely
 

Osaren Igbinoba

cc: Flüchtlingsrat Thüringen e.V., Erfurt
      Flüchtlingsinitiative, Bremen
      Karawane Südbaden, Freiburg.