Asylum compromise

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Asylum compromise is the name given to the new regulation of asylum law agreed by the CDU / CSU and SPD on December 6, 1992 and passed by the German Bundestag on May 26, 1993 under the government of the fourth cabinet, Helmut Kohl, by the government coalition of the CDU, CSU and FDP with the consent of the (required for the constitution-changing two-thirds majority in the Bundestag) SPD opposition. The amendment to the Basic Law and the Asylum Procedure Act (renamed the Asylum Act with effect from October 24, 2015 ) restricted the opportunities to successfully invoke the fundamental right to asylum . Other components of the asylum compromise were the introduction of the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act and the creation of an independent war refugee status (Section 32a of the Aliens Act ). The asylum compromise was preceded by the asylum debate, one of the sharpest, most polemical and momentous disputes in German post-war history.

prehistory

Asylum law and refugee numbers

New asylum seekers since 1953 (first and follow-up applications)

During the time of National Socialism , more than 80 countries around the world took in around half a million refugees from Germany. Based on this experience, the Parliamentary Council decided to include a basic right to asylum in Article 16 of the Basic Law : “Those who are politically persecuted enjoy the right to asylum”. This basic right (now in Art. 16a, Paragraph 1) was not subject to any legal reservation , so it could not be restricted by a simple federal law. Initially, the number of asylum applications was fluctuating but low. In the mid-1980s, around three quarters of asylum seekers came from the “ Third World ”. However, the revolutions in 1989 , the Yugoslav Wars and the collapse of the Soviet Union changed these relationships:

From the late 1980s, the number of asylum seekers rose sharply. In the governing CDU / CSU parties, calls for an amendment to Article 16a of the Basic Law were loud. The SPD, FDP and the Greens rejected this. The number of asylum applications rose in the early 1990s to 438,191 in 1992, almost three quarters of them from Europe. However, the number of newly arrived asylum seekers was lower. At that time, there was no statistical record of who had recently entered the country as an asylum seeker and who was already in the country and had only made a second application (follow-up asylum application). The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has only been making this differentiation since 1995.

Even if Germany was the main host country for refugees in the EU, the number of asylum seekers did not develop as a German, but as a European phenomenon. In the EU, the number of asylum seekers rose from around 160,000 in 1985 to almost 700,000 in 1992. Asylum seekers came at the beginning of the 1990s mainly from Yugoslavia, which was falling apart in civil wars . In addition to the asylum seekers, there was additional immigration through family reunification of guest workers and (from 1989) by Germans from the former Eastern Bloc , especially Russian Germans .

The following table and the diagram on the right give an overview of the inflows of asylum seekers since 1953.

year Initial and follow-up applications for asylum
1953 1,906
1954 2.174
1955 1.926
1956 16,284
1957 3.112
1958 2,785
1959 2,267
1960 2,980
1961 2,722
1962 2,550
1963 3,238
1964 4,542
1965 4,337
1966 4,370
1967 2,992
1968 5,608
1969 11,664
1970 8,645
1971 5,388
1972 5,289
1973 5,595
1974 9.424
1975 9,627
1976 11,123
1977 16,410
1978 33,136
1979 51,493
1980 107,818
1981 49.391
1982 37,423
1983 19,737
1984 35,278
1985 73,832
1986 99,650
1987 57,379
1988 103.076
1989 121,315
1990 193.063
1991 256.112
1992 438.191
1993 322,599
1994 127.210
1995 166,951
1996 149.193
1997 151,700
1998 143,429
1999 138,319
2000 117,648
2001 118,306
2002 91,471
2003 67,848
2004 50,152
2005 42,908
2006 30,100
2007 30.303
2008 28,018
2009 33,033
2010 48,589
2011 53,347
2012 77,651
2013 127.023
2014 202.834
2015 476,649
2016 745,545
2017 222,683

Problems and Public Debate

The volume of asylum applications led to long procedures and increased costs for the municipalities for accommodation and care during the asylum procedure. Large parts of the German population felt that the number of asylum seekers entering the Federal Republic of Germany was too high. In February 1992, for example, according to an Emnid survey, 74 percent of those questioned were in favor of an amendment to the constitution to reduce the number of asylum seekers.

Under the catchphrase of " asylum abuse ", the low recognition rate in asylum procedures was discussed in particular. Only 4.25 percent of the applications were actually approved. A deportation of non-recognized as entitled to asylum applicants was often impossible. This particularly affected the civil war refugees from Yugoslavia. Cases were also reported in the media in which asylum seekers went into hiding after being rejected in Germany.

The topic has repeatedly been controversial. The subject of discussion was u. a.

Proponents of a more restrictive asylum policy were often accused of xenophobia . Right-wing extremists also took up the topic. In the 1989 elections in Berlin (7.5%) and the European Parliament (7.1%), the Republicans were able to move into parliaments on the subject of “asylum abuse”.

At the same time there were xenophobic crimes. The riots in Rostock-Lichtenhagen and the assassination attempt in Mölln in 1992 were among the most serious of numerous xenophobic acts of violence directed primarily against asylum seekers' accommodation and their residents. As a response from civil society, citizen movements expressed their solidarity with the victims and those threatened in the form of rallies and fairy lights .

In the course of the discussion about the restriction of the fundamental right to asylum, the term “ asylum seeker ” was used instead of the increasingly pejorative term “ asylum seeker ”. This new designation is criticized because it linguistically relativizes the constitutionally guaranteed right of asylum: If there is an unconditional right to asylum, asylum applications are to be granted, whereas an application can also be rejected due to the lack of legal entitlement to the requested recognition. In fact, the new name did not change the legal claim. The term “asylum seeker” found its way into legal language and is now the official name for people who apply for asylum or who are in an ongoing asylum procedure. In contrast, critics of the term prefer the term “asylum seekers”.

In view of the political mood, the FDP and SPD agreed to a change in the basic right to asylum after highly controversial domestic political discussions (the so-called Petersberger Wende ) . In June 1993, the asylum reform achieved through the asylum compromise came into force.

Content of the asylum compromise

The compromise rests on several pillars:

  1. Principle of safe third countries : Anyone entering Germany from an EU country or a country classified as a safe third country cannot invoke the basic right to asylum, as the legislature intended to apply for asylum in the safe third country , which means that there is no longer any need to apply for asylum in Germany . Which states are to be regarded as safe third states is determined by a law that requires the approval of the Bundesrat . Section 26a of the Asylum Act (AsylG) lists the countries currently classified as safe third countries. One problem in practice, however, is that some asylum seekers hide their entry route. Despite the rejection as an asylum seeker, an application for recognition as a refugee according to the Geneva Refugee Convention (Section 3 Asylum Act) or for subsidiary protection (Section 4 Asylum Act) is possible. Whether Germany is responsible for examining such applications is determined by the Dublin III Regulation .
  2. Principle of safe countries of origin : If a person comes from a safe country of origin, then it is rebuttably presumed that there is no persecution. During the individual examination of the asylum application, the asylum seeker must present substantial facts justifying persecution in a substantiated manner in order to receive a positive decision on the application. The safe countries of origin are determined by federal law, which requires the approval of the Bundesrat .
  3. Airport regulation: In fact, entry with the right to asylum is, apart from landing by ship on the North and Baltic Sea coasts, only possible by plane, otherwise immigration will always take place via a safe third country. In the airport procedure there is an accelerated procedure for asylum seekers who do not present a passport or a forged passport or who come from safe countries of origin. The applicant is heard within 2 days and then a decision is made as to whether the asylum application is obviously unfounded or whether entry into Germany is permitted. If the asylum application is rejected as obviously unfounded, the applicant will be provided with a lawyer at state expense so that urgent legal protection can be applied for before the administrative court. If the administrative court approves the application or does not decide on the application within 14 days, the applicant may enter Germany. In the event of a negative decision by the court, the applicant will be deported directly from the transit area.
  4. Introduction of a separate benefit law for asylum seekers: granting benefits outside of social assistance, significant reduction in benefits, benefit-in-kind principle, instruction in collective accommodation ( Asylum Seekers Benefits Act , in force since November 1993).
  5. Creation of an independent war refugee status in order to prevent war refugees from being forced into the asylum procedure that is hopeless for them (residence permit under Section 32a of the Aliens Act).

In order to implement the asylum compromise, Article 16, Paragraph 2, Clause 2 of the Basic Law (“Politically persecuted persons enjoy the right to asylum”) was transferred word for word to the new Article 16a of the Basic Law. The newly introduced Article 16a (2) of the Basic Law contains the regulation for entry from safe third countries. Furthermore, on July 1, 1993, the Asylum Procedure Act (AsylVfG) (today's name: AsylG) was amended, an ordinance on safe third countries was passed, the Aliens Act was changed and the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act was introduced on November 1, 1993.

Constitutional assessment

Even after it came into force, the amendment to the Basic Law was still controversial. On May 14, 1996, the Federal Constitutional Court upheld the constitutionality of the amendment to the Basic Law and the resulting simple legal provisions in three rulings.

consequences

As a result of the asylum compromise and the end of the Yugoslav war, there was a significant decrease in asylum applications. In 1995 166,951 asylum applications were counted, of which 127,937 were first-time applications; the number subsequently fell further until 2008. In 2006, according to the BAMF, 21,029 first-time applications were made, in 2007 only 19,164. After that, there was initially only a slight increase: in 2010 there were 41,332 first-time asylum applications. Of the 30,759 decisions on asylum applications made in 2006, 1,951 were positive. Subsequently, the rate of applicants recognized as refugees was significantly higher at 7,870 (for 28,572 applications in 2007) and 10,395 (for 48,187 applications in 2010).

A study by the Criminological Research Institute Lower Saxony came to the result: “The above-described reduction in the immigration of asylum seekers from over 400,000 in 1992 to around 115,000 in 1996 has led to the social structure of foreigners living in Germany changing in recent years has stabilized. […] It is therefore not surprising that the crime rate recorded by the police has fallen since the 'import of poverty' has been drastically reduced by the new asylum legislation. "

As of December 31, 2009, the Central Register of Foreigners (AZR) recorded 51,506 persons with an entitlement to asylum. A further 34,460 people were recorded who were granted residence permits as asylum seekers. The number of registered people with refugee protection was 67,585. In addition, on the reporting date, 24,839 people were recorded with one of the residence permits issued on the basis of certain deportation bans. The main countries of origin are Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran.

See also

literature

  • Ulrich Herbert : History of the policy on foreigners in Germany. Seasonal workers, forced laborers, guest workers, refugees. Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-47477-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ulrich Herbert : History of the policy on foreigners in Germany. Munich 2001, p. 299.
  2. ↑ BPB, Figures on Asylum in Germany , May 16, 2018
  3. ↑ Klaus J. Bade, Jochen Oltmer: Germany . In: Klaus J. Bade, Pieter C. Emmer, Leo Lucassen, Jochen Oltmer (eds.): Enzyklopädie Migration in Europa. From the 17th century to the present . Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2007, pp. 141–170, here p. 155.
  4. ↑ a b c Klaus J. Bade, Jochen Oltmer: Germany . In: Klaus J. Bade, Pieter C. Emmer, Leo Lucassen, Jochen Oltmer (eds.): Enzyklopädie Migration in Europa. From the 17th century to the present . Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2007, pp. 141–170, here pp. 164f.
  5. ↑ See BAMF, Asyl in Numbers, http://www.bamf.de/DE/Infothek/Statistiken/Asylzahlen/asylzahlen-node.html
  6. ↑ Statistics asylum applications in the European Union ( Memento from March 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 94 kB)
  7. ↑ The downward trend of the SPD over? In: Der Spiegel . No. 8 , 1992, pp. 40-47 ( online ).
  8. ↑ Christina von Saß: Refugees in Lower Saxony: Questions and Answers , Paragraph What is a safe third country and what does that have to do with "Dublin III"? ( Memento from September 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), NDR.de , September 12, 2015.
  9. ↑ BT-Drs. 12/4152. (PDF) p. 4 , accessed on September 18, 2018 .
  10. ^ BAMF, airport proceedings
  11. ↑ Federal Constitutional Court, judgment of the Second Senate of May 14, 1996 - 2 BvR 1938/93, 2 BvR 2315/93 -, BVerfGE 94, 49 ; Federal Constitutional Court, judgment of the Second Senate of May 14, 1996 - 2 BvR 1507/93, 2 BvR 1508/93 -, BVerfGE 94, 115 ; Federal Constitutional Court, judgment of the Second Senate of May 14, 1996 - 2 BvR 1516/93 -, BVerfGE 94, 166 .
  12. ↑ Asylum statistics of the BAMF , here the total of the recognitions of the right to asylum Art 16a GG, of refugee protection according to the Geneva Refugee Convention and of subsidiary refugee protection according to EU Directive 2004/83 / EC.
  13. ↑ Study (PDF; 4.8 MB) on kfn.de, p. 41f.
  14. ↑ Press release ( memento of July 24, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) on bundestag.de.