Stop deportations to the Congo |
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Innocent Empi, Co-ordinator, Congo Support project |
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The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a huge country with lots of resources that are needed in the western world. The sufferings of the people of the Congo are based upon the interests of the big powers. Because these resources (gold, diamond, coltan, oil, water, electricity, cooper etc) cannot be obtained through the official and legal channels, the big powers sell weapons to warlords who then abuse and kill people – while multinationals are plundering the resources and getting them out of the Congo via Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe etc. As a result, more than four million people have died since the conflict began in 1996. Thousands are displaced within the country and thousands more are living now outside the Congo as asylum seekers and refugees. Most of the Congolese in Britain have fled persecution because they oppose the regime in Kinshasa. They had to flee in order to save their lives but unfortunately they are not given protection in Britain. The war in the eastern part of this country is still pending and people are being killed for the interest of the multinational making lots of profits. Teachers have taken strike action and there are lots of street children who cannot go to school because their parents have not got jobs. Opponents of the regime are being oppressed and civil liberties are under attack. Journalists, human rights defenders and political activists are arrested and assassinated etc. The Home office advises British people not to travel to the Congo. Human rights organisations, experts and the United Nations agree that Congo is not safe. In September, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Jens Hesemann. said “The number of people forced to flee violence this year in the DRC’s North Kivu province has passed the 300,000 mark, the highest level in over three years.” But the Home Office is willing to send failed Congolese asylum seekers back to the country, where they face persecution. The barristers and solicitors defending Congolese people have credible evidence and testimonies which prove that Congolese asylum seekers are tortured, imprisoned, detained and/or disappeared upon arrival in the country. This evidence from the former Congolese immigration officials, former Congolese presidential secret service, human rights defenders, experts and people working with DRC deportees. The Congo Support Project was set up in order to give information, advice and advocacy on a range of issues surrounding asylum. We are closely working with firms of solicitors who offer legal advice to Congolese; we help them integrate into the British society and we try to support those who do not have houses and food. The Congo Support Project also promotes Congolese culture through dance, music, drama, poetry etc and campaign against deportations to the Congo. We have organised five demonstrations in different parts of Britain - Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff and London. About 150 Congolese people and their supporters attended the demonstration in Manchester . It is hoped that a fair and just decision will be made to allow asylum seekers from the Congo to be protected so that they can live safely in the United Kingdom. Witnesses will put it clear to the judges and the Home Office that it is not safe to send people back to the DRC and that those who are forcibly deported end up in prisons and detentions and they are also tortured. We have not won yet and we will fight until people are safe in this country. |
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