Germany is often cited as a role model for democracy, freedom and the protection of minorities. Yet, what often goes largely unnoticed in the Middle East is the failure of putting laws into practice. A most dramatic illustration is asylum law. Even though the images of overcrowded boats at the coastline of Lampedusa are still burned on people’s retinas, the most appalling cases in Germany have remained behind the scenes.
In 2010 approximately 50.000 refugees applied for German asylum making Germany the second largest immigration country in the European Union. Its management of asylum flows therefore sets a benchmark for other EU state’s immigration policies. However, Germany’s struggles to fully live up to Human Rights conventions (EHRC) in terms of managing immigration flows.
With Serbia’s EU candidacy in 2009 and the dampening of visa regulations, an influx of Serbian refugees to EU-27 states took place. Roma originating from Serbia are the largest group of applicants in Germany that are denied asylum. European boarder control shows rigidity by rejecting 98 percent of applicants. Here, Germany aligns herself with the public vindication that the refugees are fleeing from poverty and therefore are not eligible for asylum. They base their argumentation on the Convention relating to the status of refugees (CRSR). This Convention states that asylum is to be granted only to those who are in humanitarian need or persecuted for their race, religion, nationality, and membership of a particular social group or political opinion. NGO’s like ProAsyl doubt that each application is considered in its own right. The high number of similar applications gave rise to prejudices that have manifested itself systematically. Then again, this blinds the German system to the fact that apart from the inhumane economic conditions of Roma in Serbia, they also frequently face serious harassment by nationalistic groups while police forces fail, or refuse to, give the Roma the needed protection. Therefore, with the planned expulsion of 10.000 Serbians in 2011, Germany breaches the thin line of transgressing international Human Rights conventions.
Particularly unsettling in a moral and legal sense is the situation of Serbian children refugees in Germany. Of the Serbians seeking asylum in Germany, 40 percent are children. In German asylum law, these children are not entitled to special treatment. This means that they are treated as equals with adults. In other words, they also fall under certain provisions of German immigration regulation that are highly controversial. These include compulsory residence in collective housing camps and restrictions of free movement in the city or state. This flies in the face of the Convention of the Rights of the Child, which stipulates a child’s entitlement to special protection and assistance provided by the state if the child is deprived of his or her family environment (Art 20.1). The evident lack of protective clauses for children in German asylum law strikingly portrays the dark sides of how Germany treats its Asylum seekers. This clear discrepancy between international conventions and German asylum law invokes the principles of the Human Rights conventions to pay attention to this alarming issue.
The case of asylum seekers in Germany is a point in case for the many serious gaps in European refugee law. Europeans but also the international community need to raise awareness of these fundamental breaches and act upon the calls of international organizations. We need to seal the gaping inconsistency to bring rights and reality closer together. Germany has to put its actions where its mouth is. Only then can Germany constitute a more true and honest example for developing democracies in the Middle East.
Madita Weise
Amnesty Netherlands
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