Three refugees whose nationalities were unknown have been successfully deported to Kenya after Swedish immigration authorities corrupted both the Kenyan immigration officials and security officers at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi.
The refugees, two girls and one man were deported to Kenya because according to the Swedish authorities, they are Kenyans. The deportees were not Kenyan passport holders while they had no identification documents that could prove that they were Kenyan nationals. Upon arrival at JKIA, they were handed over to Kenyan security personnel who assured the Swedish immigration officials that they would “take care” of the three deportees.
When they were deported from Sweden, the Swedish authorities rebuffed the Kenyan Embassy in Stockholm which sought to verify the identities of the deportees before they could be deported to Kenya. The Kenyan Embassy tried to intervene after a Kenyan businesswoman in Stockholm alerted the Kenyan Embassy that some three refugees were about to be deported to Kenya although there was no proof that they were Kenyan nationals.
When an Embassy official contacted a woman immigration police who was handling the case, she refused to involve the Kenyan Embassy in the case, arguing that she had instructions from her boss not to deal with the Kenyan Embassy.
According to the Swedish law, the Kenyan Embassy had a right to establish the identities of the deportees if the Swedes claimed that they were Kenyans. Since the deportees did not have any identification documents, a source at the Swedish immigration department told KSB that in such cases, the standard practice is to ignore the Embassies because involving them would effectively hamper the deportation process. “This is currently the practice regardless of what the law says because we have to get people who have no right to stay in Sweden out of the country”, the official told KSB. The official added that in cases where they ignored the Embassies, they were always sure that the refugees originated from countries where they were being deported.
When the three deportees arrived in Kenya, they were handed over to an immigration official called Mr. Kairo who assured the Swedish deportation police that he would take care of the three Kenyans. Once they arrived at the airport, one of the deportees communicated to a contact in Sweden and said that the Swedish police who accompanied them during deportation handed over 1000 Euros and a pack of chocolates to Kairo before they were ushered into a room and told to go home since Sweden did not want them.
The three refugees were deported on separate days and during the final arrival at JKIA, Mr. Kairo was not on duty but he had alerted a colleague called Mr. Mwangi to take care of the deportees once they arrived at JKIA. After they landed, the Swedish police who accompanied them handed an unspecified amount of cash to Mr. Mwangi who then “took care” of the deportees.
One of the woman deportees tried to protest her deportation to Kenya, arguing that she was not only a non-Kenyan but also had a Swedish husband who could be contacted to verify her identity but her protests fell on deaf ears. All of them were arrested at their place of work and they had no time to produce identification documents to prove that they were not Kenyans. They were also deported without their belongings.
KSB obtained Kairo’s telephone number and when he was contacted, he denied being bribed to accept the deportees to Kenya. He said that in certain circumstances, the Kenyan immigration usually accepts deportees without identification documents if they can speak “Kenyan Swahili” or if they have “Kenyan features”. When asked the kind of features they look for before being convinced that a deportee is a Kenyan, he answered in Kiswahili that “I know a Kenyan when I see one” (nina jua mkenya nikimoana hivi). The four Swedish police who accompanied the deportees told one of them that they would be returning to Sweden in two weeks time after spending some time at Amboseli and Mombasa.
The deportation of the three Kenyans raises serious questions about violation of Swedish and International law by Swedish immigration officials. Since the Kenyan Embassy tried to intervene in the case, the Mission should have been given due attention but it was simply ignored. Secondly, the practice of bribing Kenyan immigration officials to accept undocumented deportees is unacceptable, immoral and, most importantly, illegal. Thirdly, deporting refugees to any country without establishing their identities is a violation of the Geneva Convention which was adopted by its signatories to protect the rights of refugees. The case has shocked many Kenyans in Sweden because it shows that Sweden no longer respects International law.
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
No one is illegal – for a world without borders
Welcome to a website for those who beleive that all peoples should be free to roam the world and live wherever they please.
The No One is Illegal Network (Ingen människa är illegal in Swedish) works to provide practical support to peolpe who are forced to live undocumented after having had their applicatsions for asylum refused. We demand permanent right of residence for all people who have arrived in Sweden and wish to remain. We believe in a world without borders, a world where no one is illegal.
The No One is Illegal Network consists of local groups in Östersund, Norrbotten, Uppsala, Stockholm and Gothenburg. The local groups are autonomous and organize themselves as they wish according to our manifesto. Activities of the groups may differ a bit but are all related to working practically and politically for the rights of undocumented migrants.
Much work remains to realize everyone’s right to settle anywhere in the world. You can do a lot that is neither hard or difficult. No One is Illegal’s local groups need help with everything from bringing leftover food, accompany someone to the doctor or organize support parties to stop deportations and mobilize for demonstrations and campaigns.
Can you help with something, or do you need help? Contact your nearest group!
Uppsala
E-mail: uppsala(at)ingenillegal.org
Phone: 073 – 95 96 150
Stockholm
E-mail: stockholm(at)ingenillegal.org
Phone: 0707 – 33 61 07 (This phone nr is only for legal advice)
Östersund
E-mail: ostersund(at)ingenillegal.org
Göteborg
E-mail: goteborg(at)ingenillegal.org or momo(at)ingenillegal.org
Phone: 0704-37 75 24
Norrbotten
E-mail: norrbotten(at)ingenillegal.org
The network has an open e-mail list for those who are or want to become a part of movement for asylum seekers and, for example, want to discuss how we create a world without borders where all have the same social, political and economic rights and obligations. Connect with the open list by e-mail: ingen-illegal-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Information about other countries:
Independent information for refugees and migrants coming to Europe
Information about Dublin convention praxis in European countries
Activities
The network No one is illegal works practically and politically with refugees´ and migrants’ rights.
Our practical work is to support people who choose to live underground/hidden after having been rejected their application for asylum. This support may be to accompany someone to the doctor, to arrange a place in school for children, to write a new application for asylum, or just to be there as a supporting person when needed. Our work also consists of get left over food to give to the migrants, to assist with legal help and to organize solidarity parties to get money for food and rent.
No one is illegal work politically with lifting the issue of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants´ rights. We do lectures at schools and other places on the migrants´ situation and on our work. We are involved in blockades when deportations are to be done and we work in campaigns and networks working for migrants´ rights, such as Flyktinggruppernas and asylkommitéernas riksråd (FARR), Flyktingamnesti 2005 and Asylrörelsen 2008.
The network’s work has many aspects and all who, on the basis of network’s manifesto, would like to take part in this work are more than welcome!
Manifesto
The earth belongs to all of us. We each have the right to free movement
accross its lands and to settle wherever we please. According to the principle “From each according to his ability, to each according to her need”, we are entitled to equal access to the worlds land and resources once we do so with with care and respect in mind.
The No one is illegal network does not accept the legitimacy of national borders and merely acknowledges them as political constructions to which neither moral justification or an interest in their upholding exists. A person born in one place has no more claim on it than anyone else. It is not sufficient however that these ideas remain as visions. An attempt must be made at their realisation.
We do not recognise any countries, organizations or individuals entitlement to in any way restrict free movement of people across borders or to label them “illegal” migration. The right to freedom of movement is to us inseparable from the right to participate in society under equal conditions. Until borders have been abolished, we therefore also work for universal social, political and economic rights and conditions for all people, with or without papers.
We oppose all political attempts to use immigration as a tool for the undermining of wage levels and social safety nets within a state’s borders, for example, the forcing of recently immigrated people to work in conditions worse than those of the rest of the population.
The No one is Illegal network claim the right and responsibility of all people to actively participate in the construction of a just society. Real democracy and radical change can only be built from below. Our network therefore operates outside the parlimentary process. We strive to make decisions and take action in our own names and not in anyone elses and to avoid any of us assuming authority over anyone else in the network.
It is fundamental for our work that we pay attention to and counter the effects of the different power structures based on sex, class, sexuality, ethnicity and functionality that already exist in society. We see ourselves as a part of the global movement has been fighting for a long time for freedom, solidarity and an equal distribution of world resources – against all forms of authority.
No one is free until we are all free!
The No one is illegal network fight for these ideas by:
* Supporting people who are applying for a residency permit in Sweden or people who have been forced by Swedish immigration policy/authorities to live underground. Working for permanent residency permits for all people who are already here and wish to stay.
* Struggle for the right of everyone to enter and stay in the EU. Work for a change of EU politics that systematically exclude certain peoples.
* Disseminating information to the general pubic on the true nature of Swedish and European migration policies. Exposing the lethal fences that have been and are being constructed around the EU’s external frontier to shut out refugees and other migrants. Publisicing stories of refugees and other migrants. Breaking the myth that a humane refugee policy exists.
* Giving political answers to the the question of why people are forced to flee their home countries. Initiating a deeper discussion about migration on the basis of a global solidarity vision. Showing that these issues cannot be separated from discussions about the global economy, working and living conditions, injustice, racism and oppression.
* Cooperating with other groups fighting for the rights of refugees and other migrants and for open borders all around the world.
http://www.ingenillegal.org/no-one-illegal-world-without-borders
Muteng’erol muteng’erel ahashem suddan al suddan>
He’s the other politician with a white mother and a black Kenyan father
PRI’s The World
Reporter Kavita Pillay
December 31, 2013 · 4:15 PM EST
As an adult, he takes a transformative trip to Kenya, where he gets to know his father’s family. Fast forward a few years when he enters national politics during a landmark election.
Sound familiar?
“When I told my story, people always said, ‘Ah, Mr. Obama!'” says Jani Toivola, Finland’s first black Member of Parliament.
Except Toivola’s story might actually be more implausible.
Until he was in his mid-30’s, the entrepreneur, actor and dancer was a celebrity in this country of 5.5 million. He’s been the host of Idols, Finland’s version of American Idol, a contestant on Finland’s version of Dancing With the Stars, and he’s been a spokesman for the Finnish Tourist Board, explaining what’s cool about Finland.
But before all that, Toivola studied acting at the same school in New York City where Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro and Sarah Jessica Parker honed their skills.
“When I was 15 or 16, there was not a single black actor in Finland. … There was never really anybody saying ‘This is not for you,’ but at the same time, there was nobody in this society saying, ‘This is for you,’” he recalled.
Until Toivola got elected in 2011, there wasn’t a single black member of Finland’s parliament. And there were very few gay ones, too. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call Toivola a blazer of many different trails.
Now he’s in a new film called Heart of a Lion. It debuted at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and it’s been a hit in theaters across Finland.
“It’s about a young boy growing up in Finland, but having a multicultural background,” Toivola says. “In some sense, I could even sense that it’s my life story.”
Toivola plays the father of a young boy whose white mother is now dating a Neo Nazi. In short, it’s complicated.
“But at the same time, we laughed a lot. It’s also very much of a comedy,” Toivola says. “I think it’s also important to show that human side of these very difficult issues. The most crucial point is, if we are able to change our thinking and reach out to something new when it’s necessary, for our own well-being or for the well-being of people around us.”
Heart of a Lion is the first Finnish feature film to address race relations. The storyline was partly inspired by the rise of the right wing, anti-immigrant political party, the True Finns. The party isn’t especially kind to people who aren’t white.
Finland is over 95 percent white, making it one of the most homogeneous countries in Europe. Toivola says Heart of a Lion offers a glimpse of how the country is changing.
“The film is dealing with issues that I’m also dealing with as a politician,” he says. “It’s quite obvious that we are dependent on immigration. We need, in the future, more and more people, for example, in terms of employment. The birth rate is going down, and the percentage of elderly people, it’s quite high and it’s getting bigger. So it’s one of the biggest political debates right now, how can we open the gates more?”
Finns often compare themselves to their neighbor, Sweden. The Swedes have been dealing with immigration longer, and have generations with multicultural backgrounds. Toivola and Heart of a Lion director Dome Karukoski note that Finns love to gripe about everything being better in Sweden. But Karukoski cites one exception.
“Everything is better in Sweden,” Karukoski says, “but one thing that is better [in Finland is] that we have Jani Toivola.”
http://www.pri.org/stories/2013-12-31/hes-other-politician-white-mother-and-black-kenyan-father
May be his excellency the prime minister Raila can assist. He has international connections you know. If that doesnt work we can uproot the railway!