Black African Refugees For Sale

What is to be done? Part 21

 ‘Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty.’ – Plato

That is right, we black African refugees are for sale. Right now, on the Libyan coast they are being sold for 200 to 400 US Dollars. Seeing this news breaks my heart. But in New Zealand, where I am living for more than 18 years, the government is turning its back.

28 years ago I was a refugee in the Kenya refugee camps. One of my jobs in the camp was counting the dead bodies and graves of my fellow Black African refugees every day. I saw the suffering that makes people decide to risk everything, to reach safety or perish. This situation has continued to get worse until today when refugees are being sold into slavery in Libya.

But in New Zealand, the government still discriminates against Black African Refugees. Even though the government has changed from National to Labour, the discriminatory policy against resettlement of Black African refugees remains.

There are migrants who come to New Zealand from Africa, but these people are not my concern. They are mostly well off and are free to come and go from their home countries. Some of them have government connections back home. They have not experienced the despair of refugee camps or the desperation that drives people to the smuggling routes where they are preyed on by the slave traders.

My concern is for the Black African refugees languishing in the camps for decades. If these refugees had the opportunity of resettlement it would be one small bit of hope. Maybe enough to save some from the horror of the smuggling routes and slavery that wait for those who are trying to escape.

But in 2009, the New Zealand government took away any hope for Black African refugees when they put a stop to any resettlement from Africa for refugees who don’t already have family in New Zealand.

Labour and the Greens want to be seen as better for refugees than National. Before the election they made all kinds of promises about increasing the refugee quota from all over the world. But since they have come to power they have done nothing. If they are such cowards that they can’t change the racist policies of the last government, then they are just as bad.

28 years ago in the refugee camp I made a pact with my conscience that wherever I go on this planet I will fight for my fellow Black African refugees. The ghosts of my brothers and sisters from the camps are always with me. They would not let me rest if I did not raise my voice. Who else will speak up now for the Black African refugees?

By Yilma Tafere Tasew

5 December 2017

Wellington, New Zealand