Deported Yazidi Family Denied Reentry to Court
A Yazidi family, consisting of four minor children, has been denied the chance to return to Germany after a court ruling. The family's deportation to Iraq in July 2023 was upheld by the Administrative Court in Potsdam, despite calls for their return from politicians and advocacy organizations.
The court's decision was based on a March 2023 ruling by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), which rejected the family's asylum protection claim as "manifestly unfounded" and found no legal obstacle to their deportation. The Potsdam Administrative Court upheld this decision, ruling that the deportation was lawful because the family did not individually face persecution or a significant personal threat such as persecution by ISIS, nor sufficient evidence of ongoing group persecution of Yazidis.
The family's case made headlines beyond Brandenburg, with a school class initiating a petition for their return. The petition, hosted on the Change.org platform, has garnered around 35,000 signatures. Politicians from the SPD, Greens, and the Left have also demanded the family's return.
Minister President Dietmar Woidke (SPD) has announced a critical review of the case, but acknowledges the need to accept the court ruling. Interior Minister René Wilke (independent) has announced a quick return of the family in coordination with the federal government, but a legal basis is currently lacking.
The German Bundestag recognized the crimes committed by the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS) against the Yazidi religious minority as genocide in 2014 and 2023. However, the court maintains that no individualized legal grounds justify overturning the deportation, relying on the absence of individual persecution threats and a binding deportation order in place since the BAMF decision.
The deportation occurred even though an urgent court order to halt removal was issued after the family was already deported, highlighting procedural timing issues rather than substantive legal error. The court does not consider that the family has suffered individual persecution or faces a significant individual threat such as persecution by IS. Similarly, the court does not see any sufficient indications of current group persecution of Yazidis.
Pro Asyl, a refugee aid organization, considers Germany's deportation practice towards Yazidis inhuman and calls for a deportation stop for Yazidi women and men from Iraq. The organization argues that the family's case is indicative of a broader issue, with many Yazidi asylum seekers facing similar challenges.
The family is currently staying with relatives in Iraq. They lived in Lychen in the Uckermark for several years before being deported to Iraq on July 22, 2023. The family tried for about two years to challenge the rejection of their asylum application in court, but their appeal was dismissed as unfounded by the Administrative Court in Potsdam at the end of July 2023.
The ongoing debate about this legal interpretation is likely to continue, with calls from politicians and advocacy organizations for review and protections for Yazidi survivors of genocide. However, the current judicial rulings remain the decisive legal basis for refusing the family’s return.
[1] [News Source 1] [2] [News Source 2] [3] [News Source 3] [4] [Political Statement 1] [5] [Political Statement 2]
- Despite ongoing debates among politicians and advocacy organizations, such as Pro Asyl, seeking a review and protections for Yazidi survivors of genocide, the current judicial rulings continue to serve as the legal basis for denying the Yazidi family's return to Germany.
- Amidst the ongoing war-and-conflicts, crime-and-justice, general-news, and politics discussions about the family's case, the Potsdam Administrative Court ruled that the family did not face individual persecution or significant personal threats like persecution by ISIS, nor sufficient evidence of ongoing group persecution of Yazidis, upholding their deportation decision.
