The so-called ‚Project X‘ pushes a section of political refugees living in Germany to a new level of degradation. The idea seems to be to make life for the refugee so difficult that he/she will try to leave Germany themselves because it is unbearable to live here. The refugees in ‚Project X‘ are concentrated in remote transit camps where they are given a bed, low quality food and weekly questioning. They do not even get the insulting 80 DM per month ‚pocket money‘ that other refugees get.

Whom does the "Project X" affect?

At present, there are two separate groups of people whom the "Project X" is being applied to:

People whose return is being refused by their country of origin. Syria and Lebanon, for example, don‘t receive Kurds, as they are not regarded as Syrian or Lebanese citizens. The Palestinian authority, under pressure form Israel, opposes the repatriation of Palestinians. Also, there are refugees from former Soviet republics whom neither the new independent state nor Russia will accept.

Even though these refugees have to face the clearly hostile attitude of their home country, the government of Niedersachsen is still trying to enforce their deportation by means of the "Project X". There is no exit to this humiliation, as refugees have no chance to persuade their countries even if they wanted to.

People who will not tell their identity and/or origin. Mostly they are from West Africa. The Human Rights situation in countries like Sierra Leone, Togo or Nigeria is a very distressing one. European governments are hardly considering this at all. In addition to the already named measures, refugees who don’t tell who or where from they are have to undergo linguistic and other tests. The tests are meant to help determine their home country.

This is reminding of history. For centuries, West Africa suffered from the European countries` slave trade. Countless people were murdered or enslaved, peoples were dispersed and their culture destroyed. As a result, today people of most diverse cultural origin and language are scattered over the whole of West Africa. It is therefore absurd to try to make out a refugee’s country of origin by means of linguistic tests.

Also, the colonial powers arbitrarily drew border lines for their territories. Within these borders, there are now states which are carrying on policies that serve European quasi-colonial interests. People in West Africa feel no more bond to their colonially created states than to an oppressor. On the other hand, in order to make deportations to Africa possible, the German authorities obviously tend to disregard the sovereignty of these states, by deciding arbitrarily where a refugee belongs to.

A person’s origin may be arbitrarily stated even if this person always gave a full account of their identity. Some months ago, a Ruandan man was deported from Mannheim to Nigeria with Nigerian travel documents facilitated by the German police. The Nigerian authorities would not accept him as a Nigerian, detained him, and deported him back. Now he is awaiting in Rottenburg deportation prison where he will be sent next.

Where is it being implemented?

For a year and a half now, in the German federal state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), the so-called "Project X" has been operating. If it proves efficient in the spearhead towns of Braunschweig and Oldenburg, plans are that it will be made general practice in the whole of the state. Within Germany, only the federal state of Nordrhein-Westfalen is pursuing a similar project.

What does the "Project X" mean?

When a refugee is elected to the "Project X", he or she will receive a written decision (Bescheid) ordering her/him to move to the "Central Admission Point for Refugees" (Zentrale Anlaufstelle für Asylbewerber, abbreviated ZASt) either in Braunschweig or Oldenburg. These are transit sites where normally refugees are kept for the first days after they applied for political asylum. The "ZASts" are usually situated in remote areas. Refugees under the "Project X" will receive no other benefits than a bed and meals. They are not granted even a minimal sum of cash and are not allowed to work. So they have no means of their own to keep contact with their friends, partner, or lawyers, or to buy a bus ticket to town. Instead, they are summoned to weekly hearings at the Foreigners Office (Ausländerbehörde). There is no time limit, so some refugees have been living in these conditions for more than a year. The "Project X" means all will continue to do so until their deportation can go ahead.

"Project X" is the sharp end of the strategy of the German government to exclude refugees from the social net that the German constitution is supposed to guarantee. It provides a mechanism, where, even when it is impossible to deport someone (for one of the reasons explained before), massive pressure is applied on the refugee so that his/her human dignity and physical integrity is destroyed in that they are forced into a situation of aiding their own deportation. This way the refugee is facing a multi-dimensional attack. First, the Bundesamt (the German authority that first deals with asylum applications) rejects the validity of the most obvious proofs of torture and persecution in the country where we flee from. Then, the courts pervert the word ‘justice’ by slavishly following the political pressures from the right wing consensus to ensure the deportation of higher and higher numbers of people. On top of this, the ‘Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz’ (the law on benefits for asylum seekers) and the‘Project X’ apply economic and social pressure on refugees to make life as hard for them in Germany as in the countries which they had to flee. If the refugee resorts to working illegally or travelling on the tram without paying for the ticket, they then provide fuel for the neo-fascist propaganda of the ‘criminal foreigner out!’ which provide the German state more ‘reasons’ to intensify deportation.

What are the consequences of the "Project X"?

In the town of Oldenburg, all refugees affected by the "Project X", approximately a hundred people, have gone into hiding. In the town of Braunschweig, also from about a hundred people, there are 25 left in the project. The others went underground. On the whole, only one single person was deported on the basis of the "Project X".

Under the rules of the "Project X", refugees do not receive even a penny in cash. Even getting the bus into town turns into an offence, as they cannot pay for it. There seems to be an intention, regarding these refugees, to criminalise ordinary behaviour. More and more people affected by the "Project X" have to go to prison for some time. So the statistics on foreigners’ delinquency show a further rise, leading to the image of foreigners being largely criminal. The statistics won’t tell, however, how it came about.

Are there similar projects in other countries?

In the Netherlands and in Denmark, operations very similar to the Niedersachsen "Project X" were discontinued after some months, mainly because of the resistance of refugees. However the German government being the economically dominant power in Europe wants to force obviously inhuman policies that others have rejected to set the tone for a powerful strategy of ethnic cleansing, not only for Germany but for the whole of the‚fortress Europe‘.

For all of these reasons, we demand for the government of the German federal state of Niedersachsen
 

• to stop the "Project X" immediately and without any substitute
• to allow the refugees concerned to return to their former place of living
• to reintegrate these refugees into the social welfare system
• to grant them at least a qualified non-deportation status (Aufenthaltsgestattung)

X is for eXclusion from society.

X is for eXclusion from human rights.

X is for eXtreme prejudice.

Caravan for the Rights of the Refugees and Migrants