Deutsch:
2. Erklärung an die Politik und die Öffentlichkeit "Lampedusa in Hamburg II" https://thevoiceforum.org/node/3209
Public Declaration and Call for serious conversations - To the assembly and the major of Hamburg
Hamburg, 14 of May 2013
In the view of our disastrous situation and of the ignorance towards our plight and our agony, we direct our demand for a face to face dialogue to the deputies of the city of Hamburg in order to find solutions.
First of all some background information which is known but nevertheless ignored.
We are victims of the war in Libya and victims of the European refugee policies. When the NATO started to bomb Libya in 2011 our lives were over. We lost everything we had. We were brought to the Mediterranean coast, put in a boat and sent to sea. We lived in refugee camps in Italia, until Italian government closed all camps early this year and told us to leave the country heading north. We were granted permission to stay according to Humanitarian protection. At the same time we are refused our resulting right.
Italy failed to implement the documented protection and the other nations of the European Union are not willing to.
Today, we are living on the street in those countries that are fighting wars in the name of human rights. It was not our intention to come to Europe. We were forced to do it. All of us have been working in Libya, on the African continent and have been taking care of our families and communities with our income. The NATO- war destroyed everything. Many people were dying in Libya and the Mediterranean Sea. We survivors in Europe have no more choice. We are here and we will stay. No European country can evade the responsibility. We will not to be played with anymore by the European policy. We demand the facts to be recognized and thus we demand the full recognition of our rights as refugees.
Until now we experienced that there is no will for a solution. On the contrary, it is tried to make us invisible, to singularize us and to put us in impoverishment.
It will be for everybody understandable, that we can’t endure this in silence.
In Hamburg our situation is that for now exactly four weeks we are living on the streets, without access to medical care, without access to the job market, without access to the education system and without any material basics. Our physical and psychological integrity is getting worse day by day.
When the city of Hamburg closed the accommodation for homeless people „Pik As“ exactly one month ago, on 15 of April 2013 and when they took us with busses to the city, when they put us on the street, weren`t the persons responsible knowing that they would cause problems? We were told that the only thing we would get is a ticket back to Italy. We think that the social and economical situation in Italy and other southern European countries is well known and that there is no possibility for livelihood for us. If it would be possible, we wouldn´t be here.
So we put the question again in the room, what should be achieved, if we get a document of humanitarian protection but at the same time every possibility to survive is denied? What could somebody do, whose basics are all taken away? Should we go begging or should we become criminals?
It is a very dangerous situation, we were pushed into. The forced living on the streets causes large damage on us and even the whole city, because it inevitably generates problems and conflicts in the neighborhoods and districts. Hamburg is a very rich city and the wealth is not at last taken from our continent. We are not coming as beggars we come in full knowledge of the relationships that brought us here against our will. No one can escape of the responsibility and just ignore us.
The problems need a solution and our rights need to be recognized. The first step and our first demand to the political representatives of the city is a roof over our heads.
The access to the job market links to this, so that we can provide ourselves.
Access to health care and education should also be self-evident.We haven´t survived the war against Libya to be now dying on the street.
We seriously call all parties and institutions to immediately get in direct contact with us, to find solutions. Our homelessness allows no delay.
Anane Kofi Mark: 0152-170 04594
Asuquo Udo: 0152 146 725 37
Supported by The Caravan for the rights of refugees and migrants - Hamburg
Ralf Lourenco: 0176-303 66 55 9
