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Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 18:37:28 +0100 (MET)
From: edward@hol.nl (Edward Schwienbacher)
To: Multiple recipients of <zpajol@london.monde-diplomatique.fr>
Subject: [ZPAJOL] Martin Air stops groupsexpulsion in Holland

>Comments: Authenticated sender is <respub@pop.xs4all.nl>
>From: "buro Jansen & Janssen" <respub@xs4all.nl>
>To: ASYLUM-L@ccsdec1.ufsia.ac.be
>Date: Fri, 14 Feb 1997 15:09:24 +0100
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Subject: Martin Air stops groupsexpulsion in Holland
>Priority: normal
>Sender: owner-asylum-l@dns.ufsia.ac.be
>Reply-To: asylum-l@ufsia.ac.be
>
>Press Release from Autonoom Centrum, Amsterdam 6 february
>1997
>
>On December 4 1996 a group of 80 people occuppied the head
>office of Martinair, a Dutch charter company. The action was
>organised by the 'Autonoom Centrum', and was a protest against
>the collaboration of Martinair with the deportations of refu-
>gees on so called 'Eurocharters': joint deportation by several
>European Union member states (France, Germany and the Nether-
>lands).
>With the action we wanted to start a discussion about the way
>Martinair was dealing with its own responsabilities and the
>way the company is renting its planes to others. One of our
>demands was that there would be a meeting with representatives
>and employees of Martinair. The action ended after this mee-
>ting. Martinair promised to read our information and that they
>would let us know what there future stand would be.
>
>Their promise finally led to two new meetings. To us it has
>become clear that Martinair will stop cooperating in groups
>deportations. This means that there will be no further actions
>against Martinair by us.
>
>We hope that Martinair will be an example to other companies.
>It is an encouragement to all people who believe that changes
>in the asylum do not necessarily (or at all) come from Den
>Haag, but will come at those moments when people take back
>their own responsabilities.
>
>Underneath the pressrelease from 4th december and background
>information about deportations in Holland
>
> Amsterdam, 4th of december 1996.
>Pressrelease.
>
>The Autonomous Centre from 10 o'clock onwards this morning has
>organised an occupation of the office of Martinair on Schiphol
>Airport.
>This airway agency plays an important part in the expulsion of
>'unwanted immigrants' in The Netherlands: refugees who have
>been turned down, illegal migrants, and other people without
>permit to stay.
>Parallel to this action a streettheatre will perform in the
>Plaza and the hall of departures.
>
>At this moment hundreds if not thousands rejected refugees
>live in the Netherlands, without papers and in great fear and
>uncertainty.
>Each moment they can be deported to a country where their
>lives are endangered, or where 'only' imprisonment, torture or
>poverty awaits them.
>The idea of a fair balance in judging asylum-requests or of a
>reasonable policy concerning working immigrants is long
>overdue.
>The policy is to keep as many people outside of Europe as
>possible; the figures must decrease, only that is of
>importance.
>The policy is mainly based on exclusion, imprisonment and
>expulsion.
>Drama's of human misery consequently occur as a result of this
>policy.
>The execution of this policy is only possible with the
>cooperation of employees of companies and social groupings.
>A policy which we reject and want to oppose actively.
>
>The Netherlands is a precurser concerning group evictions
>within Europe. The most important 'partner' for transport of
>groups of 'immigrants' to be expelled is Martinair. With
>Martinair airplanes, the so-called 'Eurocharters', groups of
>refugees from different European countries are expelled from
>Europe.
>
>An airport agency which uncritically places their means of
>transport at the disposal for the execution of the policy, is
>equally responsible for what happens to these people.
>It is too easy to say: the immigration policy has been
>established democratically and we only rent airplanes out.
>Everybody, also companies, carries own responsibility.
>A discussion about ethical enterprising should not be limited
>to the environment and the human-rights outside of Europe.
>
>Up till now a chilling silence reigns concerning the
>cooperation of group evictions by Martinair.
>It even occured that, while in France Air France refused to
>execute groupeviction after the clearing of the St. Bernard
>Church, Martinair flew to Paris and further with a number of
>refugees from Zaire.
>We hope that with our action the silence within Martinair is
>broken and a discussion is set in motion.
>
>- We demand an open discussion with representatives of
>Martinair (direction and workscouncil). A discussion in which
>employees also can take part. Until that time we will continue
>our occupation.
>- We call onto Martinair to give an example as a company, that
>takes its responsibility concerning human misery, by stopping
>excecutions of expulsions.
>- We call onto people to take action in case Martinair
>continues with the expulsion of 'unwanted immigrants'.
>
>Enclosure: survey of expulsion by Martinair
> letter to employees Martinair of a
>(uitgeproduceerde) asylant
> examples of the practice of expulsions
>
>Practice of evictions.
>
>Nightly raid/ expulsion in pyjamas.
>
>In the Netherlands at this moment approximately 8000 Iranians
> are still in uncertainty as to whether they are allowed to
>stay here. Regularly people in different parts of the country
>are rounded up and taken to Schiphol Airport. This also leads
>to great fear and desperation amongst those who are left
>behind. In this way a Centre for Asylumseekers (AZC) in
>Leeuwarden was raided by 20 policemen in the middle of the
>night. A family with two little children was handcuffed and
>taken to Schiphol in pyjamas.
>According to a Serbian neighbour the police stormed into the
>room and immediately handcuffed the man. The daughters of 11
>and 9 years old were carried on the shoulder of the police,
>crying and in pyjamas. The family could not take any
>belongings with them although they had stayed in the centre
>for two years.
>The belongings are stored on the terrain of the AZC.
>
>Guarding at night.
>
>The Iranians in Leeuwarden are afraid and desperate. At night
>they keep guard, out of fear that the police will invade
>another time.
>"We are afraid it will happen again. We smoke and talk all
>through the night. Sometimes two families sleep at the same
>time, we watch out, so that we can tell each other when
>something occurs. You can compare our fear with the one we had
>in Iran.
>The Iranian police also raids just like that, also never
>enters through the normal door. We want to give our children
>security, so we stay awake. It was really sad, especially what
>happened to the children. No one has had the opportunity to
>say goodbye."
>(A family from another AZC was surprised by undercover police
>october last early in the morning. To prevent eviction the man
>cut himself in the neck with a piece of mirror. According to
>fellow inhabitants he was beaten up and forcefully pushed into
>the car).
>
>Eurocharter Martinair.
>
>Most of the time people are expelled individually via normal
>airservice. But at the moment the charterflights are very
>popular. Relatively speaking those are cheaper and other
>passengers are less troubled by them.
>On the 22d of March 1995 the Netherlands organised the first
>charter. A Martinair Airbus flew 44 Zaireans -25 from the
>Netherlands, 6 from Germany and 13 from France- to Kinshasa.
>More than a hundred policemen and officials accompanied the
>group. The group expulsion mainly had financial advantages.
>A charter for big groups is more profitable than individual
>expulsions, especially if the costs can be shared with another
>country. As soon as the detentions occured hundreds of Zaireans
>people went into hiding. Others started a protest by means of
>a hungerstrike. The day of the expulsison the situation on
>Schiphol Airport was very chaotic.
>
>Witness: halfnaked woman dragged across the floor.
>
>A Zairean man who also was taken to Schiphol but last minute
>was saved from expulsion by his lawyer, tells what happened
>there:
>'When we arrived at Schiphol more people were there to be
>expelled. A family with two children, of whom the eldest girl
>was in the middle of her final exams. I am taken to an office
>with about 10 police officers, there I am handed over to the
>police on Schiphol. After some formalities I am taken to an
>ajacent room.
>The wall between this room and the office is made out of
>glass. In this way I could see how a woman was dragged by her
>arms into the room by two policemen.
>She has a baby who is carried by a female police officer. The
>woman asks all the time: "why is all this happening", "what is
>this". She did not want to enter the office because she wanted
>to talk to her husband first. Then she was dragged across the
>floor and beaten up. She wore a pagne, she lost the garment.
>With only nickers on she was laying on the floor with
>policemen on top who handcuffed her. Then the group was
>transferred into a big room.
>When the woman later joined us she wore the garment again. The
>head of police had promised that she could phone her husband,
>then she calmed down. Everybody wanted to phone, but it was
>denied all the time'.
>
>Loss of blood.
>
>Somebody is phoned by a Zairean woman: "It is a chaos here at
>Schiphol. The military police beats up people with sticks. A
>pregnant woman walks around naked and loses blood. I think she
>will have a miscarriage." The husband of this seven months
>pregnant woman was tied up onto a strap and given an
>injection. Others were handcuffed. During the stop in Paris
>thirteen Zaireans from France, all wrapped up in adhesive
>tape, were carried on board.
>
>No man from Zaire.
>
>After the landing at the Ndjili Airport the airplane was
>swarmed with policemen, and the diplomats of the contries
>concerned were looking on. According to the human rights
>organisation La Voix des Sans Voix everybody was registered
>and interrogated by the Snip. The Snip had the disposal of a
>list of passengers from the Dutch Ambassady. At the
>interrogation it became clear how careful Europe treats the
>refugies: six people were not from Zaire, one Ghanesian, one
>Senegalees, two from the Ivory Coast and two South-Americans
>(!!) were part of it. They were black, but they did not speak
>Swahili. With the same airplane these six people went back to
>the sender.
>
>Packed up as sausages.
>
>In the spring of 1995 the Belgium 'Rijkswacht' (national
>police) wrote a address of protest against the violence used
>by people accompanying the 'deportees' from other countries.
>The Rijkswacht mainly wrote about the 'packed up as sausages'
>deportees from the Netherlands, who strapped in a straight
>waistcoat and nailed down on a stretcher were shoved into the
>airplane to Zaire. Sabena refused several times to take them
>on board. For the airplane companies it is a lucrative
>business: for every Dutch deportee who has to go on a
>strechter six places must be booked.
>
>Examples of group expulsions.
>
>(This list probably is incomplete because it is difficult to
>obtain official numbers).
>
>The discussions on systematic group expulsions is propelled by
>CDA-Member of Parliament (MP) Koffeman, who after an
>assignment of four days with the military police proclaims
>that expulsions should take place with charterflights to avoid
>unwanted situations on regular flights.
>With this he hitches into one of the recommendations from the
>report of the Commission of den Haak, May 1993, which suggests
>that soundproofing precautions should be taken in airplanes or
>one should look into 'the organising of 'own' transport via
>special charters' (but which does not happen for financial
>reasons). 'However it is taken into consideration to see, if
>the developments on the expulsion of refugees proceed
>according to the consequences of the Treaty of Schengen, these
>ways - maybe in an international context - could not be taken
>up.'
>
>1993.
>
>The 'Algemeen Dagblad' on 7th of december 1993 pays attention
>to the group expulsions of refugees. " On 23th of november a
>Boeing 767 of Martinair was chartered with which about 25
>people from Ghana were taken back to Accra. The hiring of this
>machine, with 262 chairs, costs between 1 1/2- and 2 thousand
>guilders. This means about Y 10.000 guilders per asylumseeker.
>"
>
>Because the procedure of the Schengentreaty is not yet taking
>place, the 'Benelux' countries and Germany meanwhile decide to
> agree on further cooperation towards the immigration
>policies.
>
>Following a Dutch initiative a commission is formed to work,
>amongst other things, towards a coordinated approach of
>eviction
>of immigrants. Zairean immigrants seem to be chosen as the
>cornerstone of this policy, in any case the Netherlands
>suddenly re-starts the lawsuits of people from Zaire.
>
>1994
>
>Martinair also played a part with a group expulsion of a large
>group of transvestites and transsexuals from the Wallen-area
>in november '94. The chartermachine of Martinair was ready.
>According to an internal briefing of the Amsterdam police an
>'attempt should be made' to fill up the airplane 'in one go',
>so that the 'whole club could be expelled from the Netherlands
>in one go.' In the Wallen-area a razzia on large scale of
>travestites, mainly from Equador, took place. Many of them had
>fled from Paris earlier, because also there razzia's had taken
>place. From here and there all over the country also forty
>Dominican women were taken into custody and added to the
>group. The airplane stopped in between in Santo Domingo.
>Probably a lot of Dominican illegal immigrants were taken to
>Holland by Martinair to be expelled again by the same agency
>because this is one of the main flighttrajectories of
>Martinair.
>
>1995
>
>On the 22nd of march 1995 the Dutch language is enriched with
>the word 'eurocharter'. That day a machine of Martinair flies
>from Schiphol with 6 German and 25 Dutch Zaireans to Paris,
>where another 13 Zairean are taken on board. On the 19th of
>september the Netherlands has saved up enough Zaireans and a
>machine with 51 Dutch Zaireans leaves in the direction of
>Kinshasa.
>
>On the 21th of november Martinair flies again, this time with
>32 German and Dutch Zaireans direction Paris, to fetch 12
>Zairees. Then the machine flies to Zaire.
>
>1996
>
>The 1st of March another group expulsion, 10 from the
>Netherlands, 42 from France, 13 from Germany. The 10 from the
>Netherlands are transported by Martinair to Paris, then they
>fly on with a daughter of Air France. This repeats on the 6th
>of june.
>
>That group expulsions does not mean a special treatment of
>Zairean people becomes clear again in june. The administration
>of Justice announces the beginnings of expulsions to Somalia.
>First two Somalians are evicted. According to the
>administration of Justice this expulsion is so succesfull,
>that immediately it is decided to go for it in a big way.
>Later it will be revealed that the airplane with which the two
>were evicted, and the accompanying officials of the
>administration of Justice have been raided on arrival.
>The 15th of june a group of 19 Somalians is evicted on a
>regular flight of the KLM direction Djibouti. Djibouti refuses
>to take on the 19. Then one tries to dump the 19 in Dubai,
>which equally fails. At last the group returns in the
>Netherlands, where now there is a big upheaval in the press
>about this game of ping-pong. In the ever occuring stream of
>information one has to search real good to find the following:
>'According to the military police it was meant to expell a
>bigger group in the first place already on saturday. The
>'regular machine' of Martinair was ready, when shortly before
>departure the pilot received a message that he would not gain
>permittance for landing in Djibouti. From this group
>accordingly 19 people and their guardians were 'booked over
>'to the regular KLM flight to the Bengalese capital of Dhaka
>(...)'. (NRC, 19th of june).
>
>On the 28th of august a 767 from Martinair with ten rejected
>refugees (all from Zaire) leaves for Evreux near Paris. Two
>machines depart from Evreux that night, a french Airbus to
>Mali and Senegal, and an unknown 767 to Tunesia and Zaire.
>Both machines also transport illegal immigrants who shortly
>before were rounded up at a razzia in Paris from a church
>where some tens of illegal immigrants had taken refuge.
>
>For that matter,the 767 of Martinair should have contained 35
>Zaireans; 25 get wind of their threatening eviction and go
>into hiding in time.
>
>Finally it can be mentioned that on the 26th of september an
>eurocharter leaves again from Paris, with amongst others 18
>Zairees from the Netherlands on board, who were flown into
>Paris by Martinair.
>
>More infromation about refugees, illegals, migration and ant-
>racisme om our web-page http://www.xs4all.nl/~ac
>e-mail ac@xs4all.nl
>
>Autonoom Centrum
>Bilderdijkstraat 165F
>1053 KP Amsterdam
>0031.20.6126172
>

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