exclusive
The federal government described deportations of Yazidis to Iraq as “unreasonable” in the spring. But that’s exactly what happens, according to research by ARD magazine monitor currently more and more common.
Unterthingau in Allgäu, end of November. Laila Khodaydaa was making breakfast in the refugee accommodation on the edge of the village when police officers broke into the family’s apartment early in the morning and handed her the deportation notice.
She has an hour to pack her things. She is then deported back to Iraq with her husband and two children. Back to the country from which the Yazidi family had fled from the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS). They came to Germany in 2019.
Only the other two daughters, Bascal and Jmana, in their early 20s, are allowed to stay for the time being. Jmana remembers: “We could hardly say goodbye. They wouldn’t let me see them. I was so upset that I had a nervous breakdown and was taken to the hospital.”
Victims of IS terror
The Kheiry Khodaydaa family belongs to the Yazidi minority in Iraq. In 2014, the IS terrorist militia killed an estimated 5,000 Yazidis in northern Iraq. Thousands of women and children were abducted, enslaved and raped. The Khodaydaa family also fled ISIS into the mountains and had to leave their village again and again in order to survive.
They finally found a new home in Bavaria. Bascal and Jmana learned German and completed their schooling. Both are now training to become nursing assistants and look after senior citizens in a Red Cross residential home. They don’t have a secure residency status, just a toleration status. This means that they also remain afraid of being deported.
Genocide recognized
It was only in January 2023 that the German Bundestag recognized the crimes committed by IS against the Yazidis as genocide. A milestone and at the same time a signal for those affected that the atrocities they suffered and their need for protection are recognized in Germany. All members and parties unanimously agreed to the resolution.
In March, the federal government also stated in an answer to a minor question: “It is unreasonable for Yazidi religious members from Iraq (…) – regardless of changed circumstances – to return to the former persecutor state.”
Human rights activist Düzen Tekkal believes that the fact that an increasing number of Yazidis are now being deported to Iraq is irresponsible: “A confession requires consequences. And the political consequence cannot be called deportation.”
Paradigm shift
The background for the increased deportations is apparently a closer cooperation between the federal government and Iraq in the area of migration that was agreed in May of this year. It is intended to make it easier to return asylum seekers from Iraq.
The numbers are not yet very high. But a trend is emerging. By the end of October 2023, 164 people had been deported to Iraq, and in 2022 there were a total of 77, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior monitor-Demand with.
How many Yazidis are among those deported will be determined monitorHowever, research was not recorded. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the federal states are responsible for deportations. These were based on the decisions of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The Federal Office carefully examines asylum applications and always makes decisions on a case-by-case basis.
Fear of deportation
However, Alia Hassan from Mülheim an der Ruhr shows what this can look like in individual cases. The 25-year-old fled to Germany with her family in 2019. She now speaks German almost fluently, is completing her high school diploma at evening high school and dreams of studying medicine. She also works in an ice cream parlor.
But she also recently received a request to leave Germany within 30 days. Her two sisters are allowed to stay. “When I got the letter, I couldn’t believe it. I was very emotional and very scared.”
In its decision, the BAMF writes: “The applicant is not threatened with torture, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Protection of minorities is not guaranteed
So are you no longer in danger in Iraq? What is astonishing is that, according to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the BAMF bases its decisions in particular on the Foreign Office’s assessment of the situation on Iraq.
monitor The currently valid situation assessment from November 2022 is available. It states that religious minorities in central Iraq suffered from widespread de facto discrimination. “The Iraqi state cannot ensure the protection of minorities.”
Even nine years after the IS atrocities, Yazidis cannot return to their home region in Iraq, confirms Professor Jan Kizilhan from the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University: “There, various rebel organizations are fighting against the Iraqi government, against the Kurds or among themselves. It “It can be life-threatening to go there.”
Failure of the authorities
Criticism of the federal government is now even coming from within its own ranks. Max Lucks, member of the Bundestag and Green Party chairman in the Committee for Human Rights, sees the deportation of Yazidis as a broken promise by the federal government and also a failure on the part of the authorities: “We are deporting these people back to where they are not safe. That is over In my opinion, a moral bankruptcy for our country.”
He accuses the federal government of breaking its own promises due to a stricter asylum policy in order to drive up the number of deportations.
But collective protection for Yazidis is not provided for in Germany. According to estimates by Pro Asyl, 5,000 to 10,000 are threatened with deportation to Iraq – the country of their collective trauma.
Alia Hassan from Mühlheim an der Ruhr is now suing against her deportation order. She says she hopes to be able to stay with her family and in her new home.
You can see more on this and other topics today at 9:45 p.m. on Monitor in Erste.