Germany refugee limit ‘legally sound, ethically questionable’

October 09, 2017

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who heads the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Horst Seehofer presented a policy suggestion on Monday roughly two years in the making. The parties finally reached an agreement on how to deal with refugees wanting to enter Germany.

The move comes as the two conservative parties aim present a united front ahead of exploratory coalition talks with their potential government partners, the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats (FDP).

The Christian Democrats and the CSU, the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, want to introduce a guideline that limits the number of people taken in for humanitarian reasons to 200,000 per year. This figure includes asylum applicants, refugees as defined by the Geneva Convention and people who attempt to come to Germany through family reunification applications, Seehofer said. The limit does not apply to highly skilled workers.

Both parties were careful not to directly mention a “migration cap,” a term that has been at the center of heated discussions in Germany for years. The CSU had originally threatened it would not be part of a government without it, while the Greens categorically reject the idea.

Despite its crafters avoiding rigid terminology, the proposal would still set a maximum number of migrants permitted into the country. The regulation does allow more refugees to come to Germany beyond the stated limit, but only if others leave: If 1,000 migrants whose asylum applications were rejected left the country in a given year, 201,000 migrants total would be allowed in, for example.

But even with this qualification, legal experts have pointed out several laws that such a limit would be in conflict with.

Air strike in Damascus, Syria (picture-alliance/abaca/A. Al-Bushy)

EU law says that people must not be sent back into a warzone like Syria, where their lives would be at risk

EU law: No one in need of protection must be turned away

“We have common EU asylum policies and regulations that predetermine how people who come asking for protection as refugees must be treated,” Thomas Giegerich, professor for European, international and public law at the University of Saarland, told DW.

“EU law does not include a migration cap for people in need of protection,” he said. “If someone comes from a country in the throes of civil war and it’s clear that they cannot go back there, they have the right to be protected and must not be turned away.”

This, Giegerich emphasizes, is not only true for those people who are personally persecuted and qualify for asylum. It also applies to refugees fleeing violence in their home countries who would be granted subsidiary protection. And all asylum applicants – even if it turns out they do not qualify – have the right to have their individual case examined thoroughly according to the German constitution, or Basic Law.

‘Ethically questionable politics’

Thus turning someone away at the border and sending them back to a war-torn country where their life would be in danger, just because a quota has been reached, would appear to violate EU law. But the agreement the CDU/CSU presented on Monday is worded in a way that shows both parties want to prevent a situation where Germany would have shut the door on desperate migrants.

It states that they want to “achieve” a limit of 200,000 migrants, but that if an unforeseen situation occurred, the number could be adjusted upward or downward.

To get to a point where the number of refugees and asylum applicants does not exceed 200,000, the conservatives introduced a list of measures including fighting the causes of flight, protecting the EU’s external borders and adding more nations to the “safe country of origin” list for quicker asylum application rejections.

“These measures are supposed to make sure that people who’d have a right to protection don’t even make it to our border,” Giegerich said. “Legally, that’s most likely a sound way to go, but it makes for ethically questionable politics.”

Potential legal action

Marei Pelzer, Pro Asyl (Pro Asyl)

Pelzer says a cap on migration is unconstitutional

“An individual’s human rights cannot be infringed by a quota,” Marei Pelzer, legal policy advisor at refugee activist organization Pro Asyl, told DW. “This might work differently for workers’ migration laws, where the state can control the numbers according to the demand in certain fields. But it’s not an option when it comes to protecting human rights.”

Pelzer believes that, should the conservatives’ guidelines actually be put into motion by Germany’s next government, the country would face significant legal action. If refugees were to be denied, they could, according to Pelzer, refer to the fundamental right to asylum in the German constitution and to several laws on the European level – like the European Convention on Human Rights.

“Of course people could sue,” Pelzer said.

But before it ever gets this far, the CDU/CSU would have to be successful in convincing their potential coalition partners that a migration limit is a good idea. Right now, that does not seem likely.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

The goal: Survival

A journey combined with misery as well as dangers for the body and the soul: In their escape from war and suffering, hundreds of thousands of people, mostly from Syria, traveled to Greece from Turkey in 2015 and 2016. There are still around 10,000 people stranded on the islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos. More than 6,000 new arrivals were recorded this year from January to May.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

On foot to Europe

In 2015 and 2016, more than a million people tried to reach Western Europe from Greece or Turkey over the Balkan route – through Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary. The stream of refugees stopped only when the route was officially closed and many countries sealed their borders. Today, most refugees opt for the dangerous Mediterranean route from Libya to Europe.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

Global dismay

This picture shook the world. The body of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi from Syria washed up on a beach in Turkey in September 2015. The photograph was widely circulated in social networks and became a symbol of the refugee crisis. Europe could not look away anymore.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

Chaos and despair

Last-minute rush: Thousands of refugees tried to get into overcrowded buses and trains in Croatia after it became known that the route through Europe would not remain open for long. In October 2015, Hungary closed its borders and installed container camps, where refugees would be kept for the duration of their asylum process.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

Unscrupulous reporting

A Hungarian journalist caused uproar in September 2015 after she tripped a Syrian man who was trying to run from the police at Roszke, near the Hungarian border with Serbia. At the peak of the crisis, the tone against refugees became coarser. In Germany, attacks on refugee homes increased.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

No open borders

The official closure of the Balkan route in March 2016 led to tumultuous scenes at border crossings. Thousands of refugees were stranded and there were reports of brutal violence. Many tried to circumvent border crossings, like these refugees at the Greek-Macedonian border shortly after borders were closed.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

Symbol of horror

A child covered in blood and dust: the photograph of five-year-old Omran shocked the public when it was released in 2016. It became an allegory of the horror of the Syrian civil war and the suffering of the Syrian people. One year later, new pictures of the boy circulated on the internet, showing him much happier. Assad supporters say the picture last year was planted for propaganda purposes.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

The unknown new home

A Syrian man carries his daughter in the rain at the Greek-Macedonian border in Idomeni. He hopes for security for his family in Europe. According to the Dublin regulation, asylum can be applied only in the country where the refugee first entered Europe. Many who travel further on are sent back. Above all, Greece and Italy carry the largest burden.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

Hope for support

Germany remains the top destination, although the refugee and asylum policy in Germany has become more restrictive following the massive influx. No country in Europe has taken in as many refugees as Germany, which took in 1.2 million since the influx began in 2015. Chancellor Angela Merkel was an icon for many of the newcomers.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

Emergency situation in the camps

In France’s north, authorities clean up the infamous “jungle” in Calais. The camp caught fire during the evacuation in October 2016. Around 6,500 residents were distributed among other shelters in France. Half a year later, aid organizations reported many minor refugees living as homeless people around Calais.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

Drowning in the Mediterranean

NGO and government rescue ships are constantly on the lookout for migrant boats in distress. Despite extreme danger during their voyage, many refugees, fleeing poverty or conflict in the home countries, expect to find a better future in Europe. The overcrowded boats and rubber dinghies often capsize. In 2017 alone, 1,800 people died in the crossing. In 2016, 5,000 people lost their lives.

World Refugee Day: Iconic images of the refugee crisis

No justice in Libya

Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Sub Saharan Africa and the Middle East wait in Libyan detention camps to cross the Mediterranean. Human smugglers and traffickers control the business. The conditions in the camps are reportedly catastrophic, human rights organizations say. Eyewitnesses report of slavery and forced prostitution. Still, the inmates never give up the dream of coming to Europe.

Author: Charlotte Hauswedell