DGSA Position Paper – Appeal for global solidarity and the right to asylum_July2018
Appeal for global solidarity and the safeguarding of the right to asylum 1
With deep concern, we witness the current developments in Germany’s asylum policy. The proposed
changes are triggered by tremendous shifts in political and medial discourses, and we fear that the
political measures being discussed will lead to a serious curtailment of the right to asylum. They are
ultimately directed against an open society and global solidarity.
We oppose the current direction for asylum policy!
Instead, we argue that …
… all refugees have a fundamental right to an assessment of their individual case in
conformity with the law
People who are forced to flee from their country of origin rely on finding refuge in another country,
and on having their individual case assessed in a fair asylum process, based on the rule of law.2 The
individual right to asylum is laid down in the German constitution, as well as in the EU Charter of
Fundamental Rights, and the Geneva Convention on Refugees.
We criticise the proposal to introduce a procedure at the German border to assess whether a person
fulfills certain conditions for claiming asylum under the German or European asylum system. This
would mean that asylum seekers would be refused entry at the border if they arrive from a third
country, where they are supposed to be “safe from persecution”. Another issue of the current debate
is the claim that those people who have been registered in another EU-member state before, or those
who travel without identity documents (sans papier) are rejected automatically at the border. Further
proposals include the possibility to install extraterritorial facilities for assessment proceedings outside
Germany, or even outside the European Union territory.3 For Germany it is intended that arriving
refugees have to stay in special reception camps to await their application to be assessed or rejected.
Click here for full document: DGSA Position Paper – Appeal for global solidarity and the right to asylum_July2018
