Germany: "Repatriation for aid" agreed
01 July 1995
The Federal Interior Ministry announced over the weekend of 3-4 June that agreement had been reached with the Vietnam government on the repatriation of 40,000 Vietnamese immigrants in Germany. A speaker for the Berlin city senate commented that deportations would begin before the official signing of the treaty.
The question of the forced deportation of the Vietnamese immigrants in Germany came onto the political agenda when the German government revoked the residence permits of all Vietnamese contract workers to the former East Germany last year, thus transforming the entire group into "illegal immigrants". In addition the Economics Ministry has been sponsoring a long term multi-million mark poster campaign directed against the so-called "cigarette mafia", allegedly run by Vietnamese gangs, apparently as part of a campaign to connect the Vietnamese community with criminality in the public mind.
The German-Vietnamese Friendship Association "Reistrommel" (Rice-Drum) has criticized the repatriation agreement, yet apparently seems to accept deportation as a fait accompli. A spokesperson for the organisation is quoted as being primarily concerned with the reception awaiting future deportees, claiming that the Vietnamese government was planning to put some of those to be repatriated on trial for treason.
A speaker for the Berlin Senate commented that there were as yet no measures agreed on to monitor the human rights situation in Vietnam, but that this was no object to starting deportations immediately. Interior State Secretary Bese of the Berlin Senate went on to claim that the main objective of the agreement had been to act "effectively against the cigarette mafia and the associated serious criminality". Deportations prior to the formal signing of the agreement would be a "balancing act" but would be "justified by the high pressure of expectations". Secretary Bese also remarked that the deportations would also mean that "those Vietnamese living legally in Berlin won't be treated the same as their criminal compatriots". He failed to mention that the government has ensured that practically no Vietnamese citizens are able to live legally in Berlin.
The German Interior Ministry also announced that a total of DM100 million in development aid, as well as DM20 million in "immediate aid" would now be made available to the Vietnamese government in return for its acceptance of the repatriation program.
The European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the deal over Vietnamese immigrants on 6 April. By 151 votes to 99, the resolution attacked the exchange of people for money as a condition of a cooperation agreement with a Third World country.
Berlin Anti-racist information network, May/June update; The Week, 3-7 April 1995.ste.mobi/