Open letter to the Mayor of Goma to ensure the protection of asylum seekers and end their deportation
NREF: 24/COJESKI/NK/01/2024 Monday September 1st, 2024
Here is the Letter ” LETTRE 24 SEPTEMBER TO MAYOR OF GOMA
CC
The Head of UNHCR Delegation of Goma,
The Head of CNR Goma,
The Provincial Inspector of the Police,
The Commander of the 34th Military Region,
The Director of the Intelligence Service,
The Director of General Direction of Migration,
The Governor of North Kivu,
All in Goma
Mr Kapend Faustin
The Mayor of Goma, North Kivu Province
The Democratic Republic of Congo
Re: Appealing to discourage the deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda and put in place a proper management of forced migrants in Goma
On Saturday August 24th, 2024 you announced through the media the arrest of Rwandans during military security operations in some parts of Goma accusing them of illegally staying in the city of Goma. We were also alerted by other Rwanda asylum seekers indicating that some among those arrested were asylum seekers who were told to wait for the registration. We engaged you on phone and told us to contact your services of the migration but we were informed later that these asylum seekers were deported back to Rwanda the very same day.
We get this opportunity to share with you that the city of Goma is believed to host more than 40,000 asylum seekers and refugees generally from Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, among them only about 5,000 asylum seekers are registered by the National Congolese Commission for Refugees known as CNR in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR, and among those registered only less than 2,000 refugees and asylum seekers have refugee documents.
Over the years up today, there is no clear arrangement put in place by CNR/UNHCR which favors refugees and asylum seekers to acquire the needed documents and fulfill their legal requirement once in Goma, in the same way some Rwandan refugees claim that they have been waiting for their refugee documents more than 10 years now. Our efforts to engage CNR and UNHCR on issue to grant documents to asylum seekers have not yet been fruitful and we do not know what may be the real reason why these asylum seekers are denied protection in Goma in particular and in North Kivu Province in general. Due to security reasons especially fear of being attacked by the host community on ground of being spies, Rwandan asylum seekers opt to stay in areas that are not far from the border of DRCongo with Rwanda. Our monitoring team has observed that there are no credible information that may indicate the involvement of asylum seekers and refugees in the current criminality and security degradation in Goma, on contrary some have also been victims of this, and need protection.
Basing on the fact that being a refugee is a state of mind and not only legal and administrative requirement, and considering the above administrative gaps, we bring to your attention that the Mayor of Goma is empowered by the DRC Refugee Law of 2002 to play various roles in the management of refugees and asylum seekers until they are fully protected.
We appeal to you the following
To ensure that all asylum seekers and foreigners who may be arrested during security operations are not immediately deported, as they should be put in contact with organizations working on refugees issues,
To ensure that all those arrested on ground that they staying illegally in Goma, are provided accurate information about the asylum process in DRC, and those who came as asylum seekers are given opportunities to enter in contact with CNR, UNHCR and other organizations of the Civil working for the protection of refugees,
To put in place a particular document which can help you to clearly know who asylum seeker is and who is not, and this in direct collaboration with other Rwandan refugees,
To work directly with Rwandan refugees and other asylum seekers, and improve working relationship with COJESKI North Kivu in order to provide a proper management of the asylum seekers in Goma.
To put in place a team composed of refugees, organizations of the Civil Society, CNR, Police, UNHCR among others in order to guide you on how best to deal with forced migrants in Goma.
Yours sincerely
Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos
Coordonnateur Provincial
