DEPORTATION THREAT! Warning alert to all who are summoned to attend embassy interview appointments with the SIERRA LEONIAN Embassy
Dear brothers and sisters,
many Sierra Leonians in Germany are threatened of deportation and some of them have been deported. Repeatedly, Sierra Leonian refugees who have no safe stay have been told by the German authorities to attend interview appointments with the embassy of Sierra Leone. The purpose of these interviews: Issuing traveling certificates (TCs) for deportation! Interview appointments with the Sierra Leonian embassy always take place with the presence of German authorities who want to deport people to Sierra Leone!
Warning:
Attending an embassy interview with the Sierra Leonian embassy is only for your own deportation! Don’t support your own deportation! Don’t attend an embassy interview unless a lawyer is with you!
First: You should NOT sign any document proving your identity or your country of origin unless a lawyer is with you! Such a paper can be used to issue travelling documents for deportation without any other evidences or documents.
What is the problem with an embassy interview? What is happening there?
The only purpose of an embassy interview is issuing traveling documents (TCs) for deportation! Usually, authorities send out letters through which people are asked to come to an embassy hearing for reasons that are not clearly specified. Several times, such interviews took place in different German cities and many refugees at the same time were told to attend. The latest development is that the hearings take place inside the Sierra Leonian embassy building in Berlin and people are invited individually or in small groups. Sometimes, the authorities threaten to revoke the “Duldung” if the refugees don’t attend the embassy interview. This is partly wrong because the authorities HAVE TO prolong the “Duldung” if they cannot deport somebody.
During the embassy interview, refugees will be questioned by Sierra Leonian embassy officials in order to confirm their Sierra Leonian origin. It has to be clear: Don’t trust the embassy officials, even if they offer to help you! Some years ago, the Sierra Leonian embassy was not interested in supporting the repatriation of their citizens and people were able to explain them that they don’t want to return to Sierra Leone. But times have changed!!! Nowadays, the Sierra Leonian embassy is ready to collaborate with the German authorities by issuing traveling certificates (TCs) for the deportation of other Sierra Leonians! Every time when people are told to attend interview appointments with the Sierra Leonian embassy, representatives of the German deportation authorities are also there to observe the whole procedure – this means that it is not possible any longer to have a confidential negotiation with the embassy officials!
Which consequences might happen to you if you go to an embassy interview?
Those attending an embassy interview are being issued papers of identification and, soon afterwards, they receive a note of deportation.
Not attending an embassy interview can stop deportation!
Many refugees who refused attending an embassy interview were able to stop their own deportation successfully and to win time to find alternative solutions for their own situation.
Possibility of penalties for refusing to take part in an embassy interview or if you don’t talk with the embassy officials:
It’s true that if you refuse to attend an embassy interview and/or to talk with the embassy officials, you can get penalties such as cuts of your social welfare money. The authorities can also take away your working permission or you can get a restriction of your freedom of movement. However, many people still don’t receive any penalty and often, these penalties are given only for a limited period of time. The authorities don’t have the right to punish you if you can present a medical certificate proving that you are so seriously ill that you cannot participate in an embassy interview! Concerning the question of penalties, we ask you to contact us and/or your lawyer!
Attention: Police can pick people at their places!!
Police might try to arrest you at your place and bring you directly to the Sierra Leonian embassy interview by force, especially if you have already refused to take part in such an interview. This can happen to you even if you didn’t receive any official invitation for the embassy interview! Be careful, don’t let them pick you, call your lawyer and/or contact us!
Our advice is: Do not take part in an embassy interview and don’t talk any word with Sierra Leonian embassy officials unless a lawyer is with you! Be careful not to be picked by force! Get in touch with people and groups that support you!
Get in touch with us to get to know more about embassy interviews, tell us about your experiences. Let’s come together and protest against embassy deportation interviews!
Contact us: Caravan for the Rights of Refugees and Migrants, c/o Eine Welt Haus, Schwanthalerstraße 80, 80336 München
e-mail: caravane-munich@zeromail.org
telephone: 0163-6850563
website: www.carava.net
meeting: every Thursday, 8.30 pm, at Eine Welt Haus, Schwanthalerstraße 80, Munich (near metro station U4/U5 Schwanthaler Höhe)
Download Warning Flyer here