Tag Archives: Anti-Black Racism

Statement of an Activist of Self-Organized #AfricansFromUkraine

Statement of an Activist of Self-Organized #AfricansFromUkraine

Speech on Rally at Jungfernstieg August 21st 2022

It’s been 6 months and we are still on the same topic. What is our status? Have we really escaped the war just to meet another kind of war ahead of us? It’s been 6 month since we left Ukraine in an attempt to escape the war and seek help in Germany, just like many Ukrainians. I have friends who are settled and are not passing through what we, as 3rd world nationals, face on a daily basis; the uncertainty, the threats to leave the country, the discrimination we face at the immigration office. They are taking our passports and forcing us into asylum.

We are not asylum seekers, we are refugees of war just like the Ukrainians but I don’t see any of them being forced into asylum. We are students just like the Ukrainians. We invested into the Ukraine. We studied there. We worked there. We have memories there. Our livelihood and properties has been destroyed just like theirs. The Ukrainians came looking for help from Germany, just like us. Were we wrong to believe that we could find help within the borders of Germany?

Continue reading Statement of an Activist of Self-Organized #AfricansFromUkraine

Statement Mouhamed Lamin Dramé

Mouhamed Lamin Dramé

– tortured with tear gas and Taser then shot to death by Dortmund police

The 16-year-old Mouhamed Lamin Dramé was an unaccompanied refugee from Senegal and on August 8, 2022 in such an extraordinary crisis situation, that he threatened to harm or even kill himself. At that time, he was in an inpatient placement in a youth residential group of the St. Elisabeth Youth Welfare Service at St. Antonius Church in Dortmund Nordstadt. A short time before, he had been treated at his own request for mental problems in a psychiatric clinic and expressed his suicidal intentions both to his caregivers and to the police officers called. He understood little or no German. His mother tongues were Wolof and French.

So we ask ourselves: How and in which language did the police actually communicate to calm him down in order to prevent suicide?

Mouhamed died in a hail of bullets from a submachine gun. The horror of the taking of such a young life should be dominating national headlines, yet, much of the reaction seems to be a “debate” or justification about the use of deadly force given that Mouhamed was holding a knife.

We condemn the general media narrative which distorts the course of events as if the police officers „had“ to shoot Mouhamed as a last resort, because the use of irritant spray gas and Tasers had „failed to calm him down“.

Why did the team of responders in a suicidal crisis not include mental health professionals or why did the police officers not wait for medical professionals to take adequate care but intervened excessively violent in the first step, unprofessionally escalating an already existing crisis situation?

How can police officers seriously „try“ to „prevent“ a suicide by means of a chemical warfare agent („tear gas“) and an electric pulse weapon (Taser)?

What are the competencies of police officers who are primarily called to deal with patients in psychologically critical situations? Is so called administrative assistance a license to violently intervene or moreover a license to kill?

Every medical doctor* would be held accountable for wrongful fatal treatments of patients – police officers, however, have an unconditional license to harm and kill, sanctioned by the state authorities and politicians as well as media made public opinion, without regard to their lack of competence and expertise or any accountability. While „speculations“ about known facts are morally and legally „forbidden“, the prejudiced and immediate construction of „self-defense situations“ is a routine normality in the public media discourse of police killings and its juridical persecution.

However, the use of violence against children, adolescents and people in need of protection is always an inhuman problem and can never and under no circumstances be assumed a goal-oriented „solution“!

Countless cases of police violence, race-related aggression and extralegal killings of vulnerable people by police officers, who have insufficient training/expertise in handling psychological crisis situations, are an unfortunately all too familiar phenomenon – yet learning processes or even error culture in the authorities are nowhere to be recognized. Rather the contrary is the status quo: impunity by all means providable.

As we grieve the loss of Mouhamed, we share in the grief, pain, rage, and sorrow of the recent killings of

August 2nd – a 23 year old Black man from Somalia was executed by a shot in his head in the early morning hours by police in Frankfurt

August 3rd – 48 year old Jozef Berditchevski, a street musician of Russian nationality was killed in his flat by 2 Köln civil police officers

August 7th – a 39 year old man in an obviously psychotic state of mind was killed by the police in Recklinghausen.

We also mourn the past killings of

Kamal Ibrahim – shot dead on October 3, 2021 by Stade police – 3 shots fired

Omar K. – shot on May 28, 2021 by Hamburg police – 7 shots fired

Mohamed Idrissi – shot on June 18, 2020 by Bremen police – 2 shots fired

Aman Alizada – shot on August 17, 2019 by Stade police – 5 shots

Adel B. – shot dead on June 18, 2019 by Essen police – 1 shot (through a door)

Matiullah Jabarkhil – shot dead by Fulda police on April 13, 2018 – 12 shots fired.

This list explicitly does not mean that German police officers do not shoot or otherwise kill White people in psychological crisis situations – but it illustrates that the inappropriate and counterproductive execution of vulnerable Black and People of Colour in crisis situations by police has no legal or institutional consequences.

Not a single one of these cases resulted in criminal charges or even officer discipline. Accountability is needed to deter future use of force and build community trust

We do understand all these cases as instances of racial health inequality and race-related brutality which is deeply rooted in institutional and systemic oppression.

We understand the historical context and condemn the systemic legalization of the dehumanization of Black lives in German Laws, German Administration, Media and societal practices.

 

We will not allow the death of 16year old Mouhamed Lamin Dramé to be in vain.

His killing is a sober reminder of the need, once again, to fight for the value of Black life in this country where a Black child in a mental crisis can be assassinated in impunity.

 

The BLACK COMMUNITY COALITION Of JUSTICE & SELF-DEFENCE calls on all courageous civil society initiatives and organisations to act swiftly and thoroughly to investigate and clarify the murder of Mouhamed as to bring justice for his grieving family.

Formally we demand thorough and comprehensive procedures by the German state of law well aware of our lived experiences of legal bias and cover up in all such cases ever since.

TOUCH ONE  –  TOUCH ALL

Justice for Johanna De Souza

EN below

GERECHTIGKEIT – Justice for Johanna De Souza

München, Bayern, Deutschland April 2022 …

Schon wieder starb eine Schwarze Schwester in einem deutschen Psychiatrie-Krankenhaus …
Schon wieder erfolgte eine Zwangsbehandlung, die tödlich endete …
Schon wieder wurden die Beschwerden der Patientin über die starken Nebenwirkungen der Zwangsmedikation nicht ernst genommen …
Schon wieder wurden die Angehörigen nicht unmittelbar über die Zwangsbehandlung, die Notfallverlegung in ein Herzzentrum und den Tod der Patientin informiert …
Schon wieder soll ein „Herzinfarkt“ für den Tod der 34-jährigen Patientin verantwortlich sein …

Continue reading Justice for Johanna De Souza

World Refugge Day 2022 – Demonstration for Equality of Treatment

 
On this year’s World Refugee Day on June 20, we want to show solidarity especially with African and international refugees that fled the war in Ukraine and are being discriminated against on racial, ethnical or national grounds. They are refugees of the same war, have suffered the same trauma of war and flight from war, had to leave behind their valuables and belongings, their normal lives and achievements – but are treated differently through discrimination and exclusion from temporary protection.
 
We want to advocate for the right to equal treatment of ALL refugees of ALL wars or due to ALL other valid reasons to flee once country of living.
 
Pls read the Statement of the self-organized Refugee group “Africans From Ukraine” here: https://blackcommunityhamburg.blackblogs.org/2022/03/29/statement-africansfromua-on-equal-treatment/
 

Continue reading World Refugge Day 2022 – Demonstration for Equality of Treatment

Spendenkampagne: Justice for Valérie – Solidarity for the Family

[DE siehe unten]

Solidarity funds to support Valérie’s family

 
 
It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Valérie Iyobor on March 21, 2022 in Uelzen, Germany. Seven-year-old Valérie had been experiencing excruciating abdominal pain and started vomiting on Sunday. She was urgently presented to a pediatrician at the Hammersteinplatz Medical Care Center in Uelzen the following day.
However, the pediatrician sent the little girl home  recommending that the worried mother give her bananas to eat and water to drink. That very same day, however, little Valérie’s pain became increasingly unbearable and her condition progressively worsened, prompting her mother to call 112 for an ambulance. She was taken to the hospital and underwent emergency interventions, but unfortunately all efforts to save her life failed. The police informed the mother that the preliminary autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a ruptured appendix.

Continue reading Spendenkampagne: Justice for Valérie – Solidarity for the Family

Justice for Valérie Iyobor

Trigger Warning!: Racism kills
 
It is with deep sorrow that BLACK COMMUNITY announces the death of Valérie Iyobor in Uelzen. Seven-year-old Valérie’s excruciating stomach pains were dismissed by the pediatrician of the Medical Care Center „Medizinischen Versorgungszentrum“ Hammersteinplatz for short, who sent the little girl home and told her mother to give her water and banana to eat. The pain increased and her conditioned continued to deteriorate that very same day. She was rushed to the hospital but unfortunately all efforts to save her life failed.
 

 
The police told the mother that the autopsy revealed the cause of death to be a ruptured appendix.
 
How come the pediatrician did not recognise appendicitis as a possible cause for the severe pain and vomiting? Why did she not examine Valerie thoroughly or order appropriate tests? Why couldn’t she make an accurate diagnosis?
 
We stand in solidarity with Sister Jennifer Iyobor in her demand for clarification of the circumstances leading to the death of her child Valerie. What she describes is a nonchalant attitude and negligence that people of African Descent often face in health care.
 
JUSTICE FOR VALÉRIE
TOUCH ONE ! – TOUCH ALL!

Continue reading Justice for Valérie Iyobor

Statement #AfricansFromUA on Equal Treatment

WE ARE AFRICAN AND INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AND REFUGEES OF THE UKRAINE WAR

Like millions of Ukrainian citizens we were forced to flee for our lives due to the war in Ukraine since February 2022 – we are refugees of this war and had to leave behind our belongings, our houses and flats, our studies and other ways of peaceful living in Ukraine as well as our investments in and fees for our future education and perspectives – some of us were separated from friends and loved ones and some even had to witness them being killed violently …

Unlike those millions of Ukrainian citizens many of us have been discriminated against all the flight way long – we have been excluded and even forced out of public transportation, we have been picked up and set out in remote forests, we have been held back at the borders from leaving the war-torn country without shelter from freezing temperatures, some of us have been dying unprotected from the cold at night and day, we were immediately told at the EU borders to return back to our respective countries of origin without regard to given situations and without access to refugee protection measures …

The EU-Council was very fast to announce that Ukrainian citizens will be granted unequivocal protection inside EU territories including unconditional access to social and medical care, work and education under temporary protection for refugees of war. Later on the same EU-Council even went on to announce that „ALL PEOPLE, who are fleeing war will be granted protection from and access to the EU, health, education, labor and residence – regardless of their nationality, ethnicity or skin color“

Despite this actually unambiguous statement, there were immediate exclusions from exactly this unconditional protection status for refugees of war, formulated along exactly those lines of nationality, ethnicity and skin color from the very same speakers of the EU-Council for those refugees of war who do not hold Ukrainian citizenship otherwise a Ukrainian permanent residence or have spouses of one of the 2 first categories …

What we demand:

According to the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Geneva Conventions and Protocols, the European Convention on Human Rights and other subsequent international treaties, declarations, codes and programs of action that EU countries are party in

WE DEMAND IMMEDIATE PROTECTION AND EQUALITY OF TREATMENT!

We appeal to the German government that the unprecedented decision to grant immediate temporary protection to ALL those who call Ukraine their home is now being translated into a practice of equality.

For all of us Ukraine has been our home and the center of our lives.

All of us have invested substantial funds and efforts as to enable their studies or respective ways of life in Ukraine and all of us had to leave behind considerable belongings, properties and deposits in uncertainty of probable loss or destruction by bombing, looting or to state of emergency laws. Also from that point of view we are in no way different from other refugees of the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

How do we feel?

After walking for days on end and having to experience segregation, racism, hunger, abuse and violence at the borders as well as separation from families and loved ones, with parents and little children being affected and exposed to harsh weather conditions and the experiences of destruction of documents, financial losses, educational losses, we now face burdensome uncertainty about our future. We are afraid and have anxiety. The trauma haunts us all. Some of us have problems sleeping, some of us have flash backs or strong reactions to unexpected noises. The war has affected us all. We do not know how our future will be. We start to wonder if we should go to another country …

We do not know if we will ever be accepted here …

Should we go or should we stay …

We arrived in Germany to again face unequal treatment based on our nationality, ethnicity and skin color as compared to people of Ukrainian citizenship, who were treated warmly and differently. While the German Minister Interior stated on March 3, 2022 “Third-country nationals who have been living in Ukraine with a regular residence status are also not required to go through an asylum procedure”, the German directive on how to address our specific situation of March 4, 2022 even falls short of the EU operational guidelines to the Temporary Protection under Article 5 of the EU Council Directive 2001/55 by excluding various groups of Ukrainian residence holders from temporary protection under section 24 of the German Residence Act, who would lose their actual accomplishments and their future by “going back to ‘their’ countries”, which they have left for still unchanged true reasons.

We need temporary protection and clarity now!

We Africans and other non-European nationals from Ukraine are neither responsible for nor part of the ongoing geo-political war but equivalently afflicted. We got into the same situation of war – both NON EUROPEAN CITIZENS & UKRAINIANS alike – and we should be given the same rights and treatment because none of us planned this war and the impact and trauma affects all of us. Bombs and bullets do not discriminate amongst their victims! And thus protection should be the same for all of those who had and lost their homes in Ukraine when war broke out. Many of our friends or international student colleagues have even met the dramatic decision to rather stay back in war-torn Ukraine than to flee to EU countries that refuse to provide protection for them.

Non-Ukrainian nationals from the war in Ukraine arriving in Germany have been facing very different terms of treatment – both in different federal states and cities but also within the very same city throughout time and different facilities. While some received so called “Fictitious Certificates” for 1 year without further procedures others were pressurized to submit an asylum application with their finger prints registered and passports seized. Again others were given a so called “Duldung” including the threat of deportation.

We call for immediate and unobstructed Temporary Protection, including the Right to Study, the Right to Work and equivalent access to social benefits i.e. accommodation, finances, medical care and social welfare as Ukrainian refugees of war. Those of us that have been forced to apply for asylum due to lack of information and administrative inconsistencies should have the asylum application withdrawn and given back their passports.

We ask to be given valid and consistent information for clarity.

Germany should take an example from other EU countries that offer protection and opportunities for studies to ALL. It is basically a shame to Germany for stepping back in regard to its responsibilities.

EQUALITY IS A UNIVERSAL RIGHT – NOT A PRIVILEGE TO SELECT!

EDUCATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT – NOT PRIVILEGE BY CHOICE!

Contact #AfricansFromUA c/o ARRiVATi – Community Care Network – mailto:info@arivati.de

Speakers:

Sister Omwenga +4915216149012

Brother Enyia +4915781315784

University and Higher Education in Germany

Donnerstag | 17.3.2022 – 18h | Thursday

Information event for Africans who seek to continue their disrupted studies in GermanyLet’s talk about: „University and Higher Education in Germany“

 
Get important information about the German higher education and the latest facts that concern African students who fled the war in Ukraine, as well as helpful content and exclusive tips.
 
Host: Sista Oloruntoyin
 
Speaker: Brother @Jethro Chikato – Engineer from Zimbabwe based in Hamburg, Germany – School Director and Educator providing educational services and medial help to students especially of African Descent
 
We give guidance and tips to those who would like to take up studies in Germany.
This includes: career guidance, choice of degree programs, applications, students jobs and meeting required conditions to study here.
 
We look forward to assisting you, so that you can make a difference here and on the continent.
 
„You’re the ones we have been waiting for“

Call for solidarity and equal treatment of all refugees of the Ukraine war

Hamburg, March 9, 2022

Call for solidarity and equal treatment of all refugees of the Ukraine war

The war in Ukraine has forced millions of people to flee war-torn areas, and many more are currently either unable to escape the hostilities or are still on the run.

Unfortunately, people of African Descent have experienced racial discrimination, horrific treatment, and violence at the EU’s external and internal borders, and exclusion from public transportation as they have fled. In particular, people of African descent were excluded from intra-Ukrainian train and bus travel and were forced to trek for days with children and in freezing temperatures. Families and circles of friends were sometimes separated or torn apart. At Ukrainian borders, Blacks were prevented from leaving the country for days at a time and were left to fend for themselves without shelter from the cold and wet. Once again Black people face a double-sided sword of war and racism.

Due to this unbearable situation for people of African Descent in war-torn Ukraine, our Black Community Coalition for Justice & Self-Defense joined the rescue action #EvacuateAfricansFromUA, initiated by Asmaras – World e.V.  and the Association of Mandate Bearers of African Descent [VMA] e.V., in collaboration with The African Network of Germany [TANG] e.V..

Within the framework of this rescue operation, we participated logistically and organizationally in the rescue operation by traveling with the bus convoys to the Polish-Ukrainian border and bringing back refugees. In the last three weeks, we have self-organized accommodation, medical consultations, legal advice, crisis intervention, psychological counselling and for African refugees, as well as care for Ukraine war refugees of other origins.

Since the European states offered immediate, unconditional assistance to war refugees from Ukraine right from the beginning only to people with Ukrainian citizenship and people with permanent residence permits in Ukraine, all other war refugees like students or temporary residence permit holders were unequivocally signalled by the border authorities of neighboring states that they were not welcome, would not receive official assistance, and must leave the EU-Schengen area as soon as possible.

The Black Community Coalition for Justice & Self-Defence condemns the unequal treatment of vulnerable people who have all been equally affected by the war in Ukraine and we demand that unconditional and equal protection be distributed regardless of nationality or residence status at the time of the start of the war on February 24, 2022.

Dividing war refugees into groups of those worthy of protection and those groups not worthy of protection is a painful double standard that is neither acceptable nor consistent with universal human rights. The affected and marginalized people have found themselves in this war situation through no fault of their own, and they were all driven out of what they thought was a safe home in Ukraine where they had legalized residency conditions.

The consensual and immediate offer of protection for war refugees with Ukrainian citizenship must be followed by comparable offers of protection for ALL other victims of this European war if the much-invoked European values and principles of humanity and equal treatment are to be taken seriously, especially when war and hardship make it particularly necessary.

Against this backdrop, we take note of the transitional regulation issued by the German government on March 7, 2022, according to which Ukrainian war refugees from third countries are to be temporarily exempted from the requirement of a residence permit until May 23, 2022, although the arbitrary setting of a deadline without reference to the end of the Ukrainian war seems neither appropriate nor comprehensible. What happens after May 23, 2022?

We point out that a temporary exemption is no guarantee for a residence permit – after the deadline expires, there is a risk that registered persons will be obliged to leave the country again or will be forcibly deported. This is not acceptable. It is a shame if the German authorities fail to challenge the violence of migration policy and choose to use citizenship as a racializing weapon.

We draw particular attention to the plight of pregnant women and also children. Children and their families, regardless of their nationality and especially when fleeing war, should be given priority and equal treatment and urgently receive humanitarian assistance, protection and child-friendly housing and education.

We demand

– Residence permits for ALL people affected and displaced by the war in Ukraine

– immediate right to stay for pregnant women, children and families

– immediate and unconditional access to medical and psychological care

– possibilities to receive BAföG or scholarships for ALL students affected by the Ukraine war

– issuance of work and student permits to complete or continue studies

as to enable all people affected by this extraordinary war situation to live a largely self-determined life in Germany.

Students among the non-Ukrainian nationals who had to flee from the war already had to bear and traumatic experiences and financial burdens for their respective studies in Ukraine. We demand the exploration of all possibilities to avoid financial double burdens for normative study access here in Germany and to create regulations for the transitional continuation of their courses of study interrupted by war as well as for the acquisition of the necessary language skills.

The registration of African students and nationals of third countries other than Ukraine who were legally in Ukraine at the time of the outbreak of war should be carried out without forcing them to apply for asylum.

We would like to appeal to all people of African origin and the Afro-diasporic communities national associations, churches, mosques, etc. to join the demands formulated here to the federal and state politicians and to organise together. Refugee work for the most neglected groups needs all of our commitment and networking so that the available resources can be optimally used and coordinated.

We thank Hamburg’s civil society, anti-racist organisations, labour unions, student organisations for the extraordinary solidarity and concrete willingness to help, especially those people who have been racially marginalised alongside the unspeakable traumas of war.

The German government has a responsibility to ensure that ALL refugees not only have safety but also equal access to rebuild their life and heal in dignity. Majority of „Africans Fleeing Ukraine“ can barely survive in Hamburg without self-organised civil society solidarity measures.

The refugee crisis in Ukraine is not only an important opportunity for Germany and Europe to demonstrate its humanitarian values and commitment to the global refugee protection regime, but also a critical moment of reflection. It is a question of political and humanitarian decision-making at the federal and state level as to how the effective and equal protection of all Ukrainian war refugees can be concretely designed and implemented.

This is not the time for legal restrictions and false demarcations. We call for a wholesome ethic of care and responsibility.

Grant full protection to ALL refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Action must be taken NOW!                                                                                    

Touch One -Touch All!

Individuals and organizations who would like to support this appeal, please let us know by mail info@blackcommunitycoalition.de.

 

1st Signatories:

Black Community Coalition for Justice & Self-Defense

Black Community Hamburg

ARRiVATi – Community Care for BPoC

AKONDA – Eine Welt Café Hamburg

Alafia Afrika Festival Hamburg

African Community Organizers

ASUIHA – African Survival in Hamburg

ARCA – Afrikanisches Bildungszentrum Hamburg

Asmara’s World

Black Media Group

Tschoobé For Freedom

 

2nd Signatories

Park Fiction Komitee

 

Aufruf für Solidarität und Gleichbehandlung aller Geflüchteten des Ukraine-Krieges

Hamburg, den 9. März 2022

Der Krieg in der Ukraine hat Millionen von Menschen zur Flucht aus den Kriegsgebieten gezwungen und viele weitere sind derzeit entweder noch nicht in der Lage, den kriegerischen Kampfhandlungen zu entfliehen oder befinden sich noch auf der Flucht.

Leider mussten Menschen Nicht-Ukrainischer Staatsangehörigkeiten bereits auf ihrer Flucht rassistische Diskriminierungen an den EU-Außen- und Binnengrenzen und Ausgrenzungen aus öffentlichen Transportmitteln erfahren. Besonders Menschen Afrikanischer Herkunft wurden von innerukrainischen Zug- und Busreisen ausgeschlossen und waren so gezwungen teilweise tagelange Fußmärsche mit Kindern und bei eisigen Temperaturen zurückzulegen. Familien und Freundeskreise wurden teilweise getrennt bzw. auseinandergerissen. An den ukrainischen Grenzen wurden Schwarze Menschen tagelang an ihrer Ausreise gehindert und ohne Schutz vor Kälte und Nässe sich selbst überlassen.

Aufgrund dieser unerträglichen Situation für Menschen Afrikanischer Herkunft im Kriegsland Ukraine hat sich unsere Black Community Coalition for Justice & Self-Defence logistisch und organisatorisch an der Rettungsaktion #EvacuateAfricansFromUA beteiligt, welche durch Asmaras – World e.V. in Zusammenarbeit mit der Vereinigung Mandatsträger*innen Afrikanischer Abstammung [VMA] e.V. und The African Network of Germany e.V. [TANG]) ins Leben gerufen wurde. Im Rahmen dieser Rettungsaktion wurden Bus-Konvois, die selbstorganisierte Unterbringung, Versorgung und Beratung von Ukraine-Geflüchteten Afrikanischer und anderer Herkunft organisiert.

Da die umgehend ausgesprochenen, bedingungslosen Hilfsangebote für Geflüchtete aus dem Ukraine-Krieg von vornherein nur für Menschen mit ukrainischer Staatsbürgerschaft und Menschen mit unbegrenzter Aufenthaltserlaubnis in der Ukraine galten, wurde allen anderen Flüchtenden aus der Ukraine durch die Grenzbehörden der Nachbarstaaten unmissverständlich bekannt gegeben, dass sie nicht willkommen sind, keine offizielle Hilfe erhalten werden und schnellstmöglich wieder aus dem EU-Schengen-Raum auszureisen haben.

Die Black Community Coalition for Justice & Self-Defence verurteilt die Ungleichbehandlung von Menschen, die alle gleichermaßen vom Krieg in der Ukraine betroffen sind und fordert den bedingungslosen und gleichwertigen Schutz von allen Geflüchteten aus dem Ukraine-Krieg unabhängig von deren Nationalität oder Aufenthaltsstatus in der Ukraine zum Zeitpunkt des Kriegsbeginns am 24. Februar 2022. Eine Klassifizierung von Kriegsflüchtenden mit Abwertung des Schutzanspruches von Menschen bzw. Menschengruppen ist weder akzeptabel, noch mit den universellen Menschenrechten vereinbar. Die betroffenen, aber ausgegrenzten Menschen sind ohne eigenes Zutun in diesen Krieg geraten und sind allesamt aus ihrem bis dahin sicher geglaubten Leben mit legalisierten Aufenthaltsverhältnissen in der Ukraine vertrieben worden. Dem einvernehmlichen und unmittelbaren Schutzangebot für Kriegsgeflüchtete mit ukrainischer Staatsbürgerschaft müssen vergleichbare Hilfsangebote für alle anderen Betroffenen dieses europäischen Krieges folgen, wenn die viel gepriesenen Europäischen Werte und Prinzipien der Humanität und Gleichbehandlung auch und gerade dann ernst gemeint sind, wenn es Krieg und Not im besonderen Maße gebieten.

Vor diesem Hintergrund begrüßt unsere Black Community Coalition for Justice & Self-Defence die heute von der Bundesregierung erlassene, vorübergehende Regelung, auch Ukraine-Kriegsgeflüchteten aus Drittstaaten eine vorübergehende Aufenthaltsgestattung bis 23. Mai 2022 zu erteilen, wobei die willkürliche Fristsetzung ohne Bezugnahme auf die Beendigung des Ukraine-Krieges weder angemessen, noch in der Sache nachvollziehbar erscheint. Wir möchten an dieser Stelle jedoch auch betonen, dass diese „vorübergehende Befreiung vom Erfordernis eines Aufenthaltstitels“ lediglich den Zugang zu medizinischer Grundversorgung sowie die Möglichkeit zur Beantragung von sog. Überbrückungsleistungen aus der Sozialkasse ermöglichen sollen, wenn man sich registrieren lässt. Nach Ablauf der Frist sind registrierte Personen erneut unverzüglich ausreisepflichtig und können unter Umständen auch zwangsweise abgeschoben werden.

BMI – Verordnung zur vorübergehenden Befreiung vom Erfordernis eines Aufenthaltstitels von anlässlich des Krieges in der Ukraine eingereisten Personen (Ukraine-Aufenthalts-Übergangsverordnung – UkraineAufenthÜV) vom 7. März 2022

Die Black Community Coalition for Justice & Self-Defence und die selbstorganisierte Initiative ARRiVATi – Community Care für Menschen Afrikanischer Herkunft fordern ein Bleiberecht für alle vom Ukraine-Krieg betroffenen und vertriebenen Menschen, deren Zugang zu medizinischer Versorgung und psychologischer Betreuung, die Erteilung von Arbeits- und Studienerlaubnissen und die Möglichkeit zur Teilnahme an Sprachkursen, um den Menschen ein weitgehend selbstbestimmtes Leben in Deutschland während dieser außerordentlichen Kriegssituation in der Ukraine zu ermöglichen. Da es unter den betroffenen nicht-ukrainischen Staatsbürger*innen einen hohen Anteil an Student*innen gibt, die bereits in der Ukraine erhebliche finanzielle Belastungen für ihr jeweiliges Studium tragen mussten, fordern wir die Prüfung aller Möglichkeiten, um finanzielle Doppelbelastungen in den normativen Studienzugängen hier in Deutschland zu vermeiden und Regelungen für eine außerordentliche Gewährung von BAföG und Stipendien zur übergangsweisen Fortsetzung der in der Ukraine gewaltsam unterbrochenen Studiengänge bzw. zum Erwerb der erforderlichen Sprachkompetenzen zu schaffen.

Die Registrierung von Staatenlosen und Staatsangehörigen anderer Drittländer als der Ukraine, die sich zum Zeitpunkt des Kriegsausbruches rechtmäßig in der Ukraine aufgehalten haben, sollte ohne Zwang zur Stellung eines Asylantrages erfolgen, um weitere existenzielle Unsicherheiten für die unverschuldet Betroffenen zu minimieren. Es ist eine Frage der politischen und humanitären Willensbildung auf Bundes- und Landesebene, wie der effektive und gleichberechtigte Schutz von allen Ukraine-Krieg-Geflüchteten konkret ausgestaltet und umgesetzt werden kann.

Wir appellieren insbesondere an alle Menschen Afrikanischer Herkunft und die Afrodiasporischen Communities und Organisationen, Afrikanische Landesverbände, Kirchen, Moscheen u.a. sich den hier formulierten Forderungen der Black Community Coalition for Justice & Self-Defence an die Bundes- und Landespolitik anzuschließen und uns gemeinsam zu organisieren. Die Geflüchtetenfürsorge der am meisten vernachlässigten Gruppen bedarf unser aller Engagement und Vernetzung, damit die vorhandenen Ressourcen bestmöglich genutzt und koordiniert werden können. Im Zentrum unserer Bemühungen stehen die tatsächlichen Bedürfnisse der geflüchteten Neu-Hamburger*innen, um deren Teilhabe an einem „normalen“ Leben in Hamburg besser und zielführender unterstützen zu können.

Wir bedanken uns bei der Hamburger Zivilgesellschaft für die bereits bisher geleistete, außerordentliche Solidarität und konkrete Hilfsbereitschaft auch und gerade für diejenigen Menschen, die über die unsäglichen Kriegstraumata hinaus noch zusätzlich rassistisch ausgegrenzt worden sind.

 

Einzelpersonen und Organisationen, die diesen Aufruf unterstützen möchten, teilen uns dies bitte unter info@blackcommunitycoalition.de mit.

Unterzeichener*innen:

Black Community Coalition for Justice & Self-Defense

Black Community Hamburg

ARRiVATi – Community Care for People of African Descent

AKONDA – Eine Welt Café Hamburg

Alafia Afrika Festival Hamburg

African Community Organizers

ASUIHA – African Survival in Hamburg

ARCA – Afrikanisches Bildungszentrum Hamburg

Black Media Group

Tschoobé For Freedom