Catherine Sasman
24 November 2011
NAMRIGHTS is petitioning the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to intervene in the impending deportation of three of 13 Somali refugees and asylum seekers in Namibia.
The Namibian authorities have said that the deportation of the Somalis is a done deal. The only outstanding matter, said chief of immigration at the Ministry of Home Affairs Elizabeth Negumbo earlier, is obtaining permission from South Africa to allow the Somalis the right to transit through that country.
The three Somalis represented by Namrights are Ali Adeed Duran, Mahamud Mohamed Siyad, and Mohamed Abdi Arwah.
The three were arrested in April and July respectively. The Namibian authorities have denied them asylum on the basis that they were captured when found en route to Angola.
Ya Nangoloh said the three have informed the human rights organisation that they face imminent refoulement – that they will be taken back to Somalia – where they might be subjected to extra-judicial, summary, or arbitrary executions or torture or enforced disappearance at the hands of the militia group al-Shabaab.
In an earlier press release, Namrights claimed that at least 13 male Somali asylum seekers are being “clandestinely” held in Police custody “without recourse to justice”.
Namrights further claimed that a senior Police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity to the rights group, said 10 Somali asylum seekers are being held at a prison at Dordabis, and three at Seeis.
“These men, whose identifies are known to us, are prima facie asylum seekers who are unwilling to avail themselves of the non-existent protection of the authorities, if any, in their country of origin. Hence they have fled their violent-stricken and war-torn country in the Horn of Africa and arrived in Namibia as asylum seekers,” said Namrights.
The organisation said the men have been denied the right to consult confidentially with legal practitioners and are not at risk of being deported “without the authorisation” of the immigration tribunal.
Chief of Immigration Negumbo has earlier told The Namibian that the tribunal had ordered the deportation of the Somalis.
It is not clear where the men would be deported to, but indications are that they would be sent to a first country of asylum, or any of Somali’s neighbouring countries.
Namrights insists that anyone fleeing Somalia has an automatic right to be accorded refugee status in Namibia.
It said, according to the doctrine of non-refoulement, a norm of international law, forbids the expulsion of a refugee or asylum seeker to a country or area of a country where his or her life or freedoms are in jeopardy.
In light thereof, said ya Nangoloh, Namrights urged the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Namibia to take urgent steps to ensure that the Somalis are not deported by Namibian authorities to Somalia.
AllAfrica – All the Time
Link:
Namibia: Namrights Reports Pending Deportation of Somalis to UN Body