The German state of Lower Saxony has triggered a political firestorm after deporting a Uyghur woman to China, a move that carries the significant risk of imprisonment or forced “re-education” for the individual. The incident has drawn condemnation from human rights advocates and raised serious questions about the oversight and implementation of German repatriation policies.
Initially, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) had designated Turkey as the intended destination for the 56-year-old woman. However, the foreign authority within the Rotenburg district defied this directive and proceeded with the deportation to China. Anthropologist Adrian Zenz, a long-time researcher of Uyghur persecution, has labeled the action a “serious scandal” and a “Lower Saxon human rights violation” highlighting the disregard for potential harm.
The woman was flown from Frankfurt to Beijing on November 3rd. While she reportedly arrived in Beijing without immediate obstruction and subsequently managed to transit through Dubai to Istanbul, her ordeal underscores the precarious situation faced by Uyghurs fleeing persecution in Xinjiang. These individuals often face arbitrary detention, political indoctrination and other severe human rights abuses under the Chinese government’s policies.
Lower Saxony’s Interior Ministry claims it was unaware of the specific deportation order, with Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) expressing regret and stating that deporting members of the Uyghur minority to China does not align with the state government’s intentions. This denial contrasts sharply with the documented actions of the Rotenburg authorities.
The Green Party’s legal policy spokesperson, Helge Limburg, has denounced the incident as a breach of both the German Basic Law and the European Convention on Human Rights. He questioned the rationale for not following the initially designated destination of Turkey, emphasizing the inexplicable nature of the decision.
The Rotenburg district maintains that it merely “implemented the directives of Bamf”. A June 19, 2024, letter from the Rotenburg foreign authority explicitly informed the woman that Bamf had ordered her repatriation to Turkey, with the stated threat of deportation to Turkey if she failed to comply. This threat was then abruptly contradicted with the additional statement that, lacking Turkish identification documents, she would be deported to China instead.
The current case echoes a similar 2018 incident involving the deportation of a 22-year-old Uyghur man from Munich to China, despite an ongoing asylum application. That event, attributed to a communication error, prompted a de facto suspension of Uyghur deportations. The recent Lower Saxony case suggests a significant breakdown in procedural safeguards and calls into question the extent to which such suspensions remain in place. The incident is now likely to prompt a parliamentary inquiry and a broader review of German asylum and repatriation procedures concerning individuals at risk of persecution in China.
