The VOICE Online - The 'Fortress Within': Restriction of Movement and Refugee Self-Organisation (first published in June 2009)
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Archive: Statement by Sunny Omwenyeke on Residenzpflicht before the Judge of the court in Wolfsburg
Your Honour,
MY STATEMENT
I stand before you today in defence of my humble self and my natural and civil rights to freedom of movement as a human being. Today I stand accused as a violator of the law and a criminal. Saying that I violated the law is to state the obvious. But I am not a criminal by any known standard; not even in the most primitive civil societies let alone in any developed society in the 21st century; except by this unique standard which is applicable only to refugees in this country, a country that prides itself as the most developed in the whole of Europe.
Before narrating the incidences that led to the violations for which I am now charged, I will quickly like to point out the meaning of the existence of this law (or a paragraph(s) of it) against the backdrop of it’s impact on innocent refugees. I cannot speculate on why the political leadership of the time enacted this law in 1982 (because, the official reasons aduced are simply too frivolous) but I can say definitely that it has been and remains the most effective means of criminalising refugees in this country for political reasons. The existence of this law makes even the most law?abiding refugee a criminal. It inherently criminalises refugees. This is because, it is forbidden for any refugee to leave his immediate district without a written permission from the foreigner’s office. Not only does this law violate the privacy and individuality of refugees, as it compels us to disclose our private plans and agenda to officers at the foreign offices ? who are strangers to our private lives, it is a circumvention and a violation in the most attrocious manner, of all international treaties to which Germany is a willing signatory, which borders on the dignity and freedom of a human being.
The lack of freedom of movement automatically impedes on my human dignity, my right to freedom of association and expression contrary to the provision and protection of same under the Geneva Convention, the European Community Human Rights Declaration and the German constitution. In the German constitution, provisions are made for the dignity of every human being to be respected and protected. I cannot imagine that when the writers of this constitution wrote this that they meant it only for Germans. They must have recognised that foreigners live in this country but never prescribed discrimination in the constitution as to how they should be treated, ( at least in respect of our human dignity and freedom of movement as a human being.) With it’s existence and enforcement, this law dehumanises and humiliates me. It discriminates against me and totally destroys my dignity as a human being contrary to the provisions of the constitution and treaties refered above.
When I was posted to Wolfsburg in November 1998, I was made to understand and compelled to sign that should I need to leave the territory of Wolfsburg, I shall need, ask and be given a permission from the foreigners’ office. It was against this background that I demanded permission to leave Wolfsburg a couple of days later. I sought and obtained the earliest permissions including one which permitted me to spend a week’s period in Jena for the International Human Rights Week of December 7th?12th 1998, which was hosted by The VOICE. Although this particular permission was not written for me due to bureacratic bottlenecks, my trip was nevertheless allowed. This was tested during the Week’s activities there in Jena when I was controlled by the police who called the foreigners’ office in Wolfsburg. They confirmed that I was allowed and I had no problems.
After this, I presented on different and countless occasions, invitations from various refugee groups and similar organisations to the foreigners’ office only to be denied the permission to leave Wolfsburg. This was because, they realised and were not comfortable with the intensity of my political engagement and wanted to curtail my political activism. Occasionally, when they felt happy and in good mood, they issued me the permission without any problem. This continued for a long time that I became fraustrated. I then began to ask the reasons for their refusal. From Mrs Schlichting to Mr. Maxara and Mr. Stahl to Mrs. Hörnig; they all insisted that they were not allowed to issue me any permission. The result of such refusals and my insistence led to my demand to speak with the head of the foreigners’ office. This was how I was led on several occasions to Mr. Werner Pils. The encounters were usually of heated arguments with him insisting on the refusals. On several occasions, I asked him pointedly, why I was being denied the permission to leave Wolfsburg and participate in the political activities which brought me to this country in the first place? He said that „unfortunately as a refugee in this country, I have absolutely no right to participate in politics: whether as it relates to my country or as it relates to my wellbeing here as a refugee“. He continued that „refusing to let me leave Wolfsburg is to ensure that I am restricted from further participation in any such activities“. He added that „my membership of The VOICE and The Caravan and the activities of these groups amounts to fighting the government of this country which has been magnanimous enough to host me“. He concluded that „as long as he remains in that office, I will never be allowed to leave Wolfsburg again“. When he said this, I told him that it was such repressions in Nigeria, coupled with the lack of freedom to express myself as well as the danger it constituted to my life that led to my flight from Nigeria and that he was painfully making me to re?live those sad and horrible experiences. So on the whole, I was only able to obtain permission eight times since November 1998 till date. (Attached are photocopies ). These of course includes the permission he was forced to issue when I was invited by the Federal Parliament in Berlin.
Given the humiliation, discrimination and denial which characterised virtually all my requests for permissions, I decided not to go back there and ask for permission anymore. However, when I assumed the position of Secretary to the Organising Committee for the Caravan International Refugee Congress, (20th April ? 1st May, 2000) which was hosted by my group; The VOICE, in Jena, I decided to apply again for permission for the benefit of doubt. I was refused permission by Frau Honing in consultation with Mr. Werner Pils. Given the workload in preparing for both local and international guests (over a thousand people attended the Congress), I had no option than to leave Wolfsburg without a permission to attend the preparation meetings in Jena. It was on my return from one of these preparation meetings that I was controlled inside the train between Magdeburg and Braunschweig on the 10th of April, 2000. For the Congress proper, I also applied for permission along with other refugees in Wolfsburg and we were all refused. This was inspite of the support letter from Frau Beck of the „Ausländerbeauftragte“ urging the foreigners’ office to issue permissions to all refugees willing to attend the Congress. Meanwhile, I had written invitations to many of our international guests across Europe, Asia, South and North America who all obtained visas with the invitations and attended the Congress.
In the course of the Congress, it was evidently clear that not only were refugees deliberately refused permissions to leave their districts, we were victims of the oppressive political will of the authorities to ensure our silence irrespective of whatever conditions we are subjected to. This became clear as some Interior Ministers threatened to imprison refugees who attended the Congress. It was against this background that refugees all over the country resolved in the Congress, to fight for the restoration of our freedom of movement which though is a part and parcel of our fundamental human rights, but has been grossly violated by the existence and application of this law.
Your Honour, the second control for which I am now charged resulted in the course of my participation in the demonstrations against the visit of President Khatami of Iran to Weimar on July 12th, 2000. As the Coordinator of The VOICE in Niedersachsen and an active member of The Caravan?for the rights of refugees and migrants, I participated in these demonstrations not only because it was organised by the groups that I belonged to, but to show international solidarity and support for my fellow comrades from Iran who as Iranians in exile like my humble self, reserved the rights to voice their opposition to the visit of a president whose actions have led to the flight of many from their beloved homeland.
MY SUBMISSION
Your Honour, the issues that I humbly plead before this court today for considerations are:
1. That as a refugee who is in this country on account of my political opinion and activities, to deny me any opportunity of continuing all such political engagements, through the deliberate refusal of permissions to leave the City of Wolfsburg, seeks to place me in a state of political coma and impotence. It further leads me to painfully re?live those sad and horrible experiences which I had under the dictatorial governments in my country and which resulted in my flight to Germany.
2. That on various occasions, I fulfilled the requirements needed to obtain a permission from the foreigners office ? by presenting invitations and addresses of the places of events, but was denied by the foreigners office on the decision of Mr. Werner Pils. These refusals were subjective.
3. That I exhibited the willingness to obey the law as shown by the permissions I obtained from the foreigners office but was later compelled into a situation where I had to break the law by Mr. Pils continued refusal to issue me permissions.
4. That the head of the foreigners office, Mr. Werner Pils be held responsible for taking decisions which effectively denied me such permissions and constitutes a violation of my rights.
5. That I was continuously treated with scorn and disdain and was always humiliated by the staff of the foreigners office. The resulting antagonistic and hostile atmosphere led me raise the issue with The Mayor of the City Mrs. Ecke on two different occasions, who promised to intervene. But as there were no changes, I was discouraged from going back there to seek any further permission.
6. That the law itself is not consistent with the provisions and protection of the dignity of human beings as spelled out in both the Geneva Convention and the European Community Declaration on Human Rights, to which Germany is a signatory.
7. That this particular provision of the law violates my fundamental and inallienable right to freedom of movement, free association and expression as a human being contrary to the protection of the dignity of man that is guaranteed by the German constitution.
8. Finally, given that the law is dehumanising and inconsistent with the provisions of the German constitution and a violation of the above mentioned international treaties, I ask that it be declared illegal, null and void.
Sunny Omwenyeke