As you probably know, since November 2020 Deportation Alarm has been using flightradar to track deportation charterflights – therefore we can check whether charterflights that have been warned for, have actually happened or not. And to see which warnings we missed. Read which charter-deportations we tracked here.
Last month, the Kleine Anfrage “Abschiebungen 2020” was released. This means we could check how accurate our deportation tracking has been for November and December 2020. Here our self-reflection.
1. Analysis of official numbers of 2020 deportations
2. Reflection of Deportation Alarm’s flightradar tracking
3. How-to Guide for Deportation Tracking
1. Analysis of official numbers of 2020 deportations
In 2020, there were 10.800 deportations. The fact that this number is lower than preceding years means nothing when we remember that during a pandemic and months of nation-wide lockdowns, Germany has deported 10.800 people!
This yearly document (Kleine Anfrage) usually reveals which airline companies are used for deportations. This year, the goverment had decided to keep this a secret for the stated reason that revealing this information would damage the reputation of these companies in the eye of the public. We speculate that our campaign Lufthansa #abschiebefrei might have something to do with this censorship.
Besides, individual deportations on commercial passenger flights, there were also 112 mass-deportation charterflights in 2020. Besides a break in April/May 2020, these flights have continued as normal.
2. Reflection of Deportation Alarm’s flightradar tracking
In November 2020, we started tracking flightradar for deportation charterflights. Official numbers reveal 32 charter-deportations in November and December 2020. Our flightradar tracking listed 29. Hence, we missed 3 flights: 2 to Libanon and 1 to Turkey.
There were 7 flights that we tracked and that are not listed in the numbers of the Kleine Anfrage:
– 5 of these were flights from Karlsruhe Baden-Baden. After inquiry, the state clarified that the published numbers only include deportations with Bundespolizei on board and not those only organised by an individual Bundesland. Charterflights from Karlsruhe Baden-Baden are well documented, like the one that happened on 9.12.2020. We will keep publishing deportations from Karlsruhe Baden-Baden.
– The other 2 flights that we listed and were not shown in the official numbers were the deportations flights on 12.11.2020 to Nigeria and 21.12.2020 to Ghana. Here, we trust our own tracking more than the information revealed by the state. For the deportation flight on 21.12. to Ghana we actually have a court document that announces this deportation flight. Both these flights followed the exact same pattern as the monthly charter-deportations to Ghana and Nigeria, with the same charter airline companies. Hence we stand by our claim that these deportation flights happened and reject the state’s claim they didn’t.
In conclusion, we find that our tracking of flightradar is accurate enough to continue doing this. Also, it subverts the state’s attempt to censure which companies profiting from these charter-deportations, as we can use flightradar tracking to publish their names.
3. How-to Guide for Deportation Tracking
Anybody can track these flights. Flightradar is public information. Read here our guide on how to track deportation charterflights yourself.