Refugee policy after the entry into force of the Geneva Refugee Convention

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As a refugee policy all of the legal requirements and practice of dealing of states and groups of states with refugees and asylum seekers called, who arrive on the areas in question or want to stay there. The foundations of refugee policy today are international law and the constitutional framework conditions applicable in the respective state, interests of the respective states (groups), humanitarian aspects and communal issues. One of the framework conditions under international law is the agreement on the legal status of refugees .

The policy that states pursue towards their citizens who have decided to flee or towards citizens who have already fled is usually not referred to as “refugee policy”.

Definitions

From the point of view of international law, recorded in the Convention on the Status of Refugees ( Geneva Refugee Convention ) of July 28, 1951, a person is considered a refugee, more precisely as a convention refugee , who "out of the well-founded fear of persecution because of their ethnicity , religion, nationality, affiliation to of a particular social group or because of their political convictions “goes out of the country. The Directive 2011/95 / EU (the Qualification Directive) of the European Union defines the status similar. In Germany refugee status is determined in the Asylum Act . In a narrower sense, every refugee policy since 1951 has dealt with refugees in the sense of the Geneva Convention and not with migrants in general . The term refugee policy is therefore not synonymous with the term immigration policy .

War refugees , environmental refugees (climate refugees) and economic refugees (misery refugees) are not considered refugees within the meaning of the Geneva Refugee Convention . The clarification of the legal, political and social position and the integration of foreigners living in the country in general is part of the policy on foreigners .

Politics of individual countries (groups)

European Union

The aim of the European Union's asylum policy , to which the European Council endorsed in November 2004, is to find an EU-wide uniform system. However, the year 2015 was characterized by the fact that an uncontrolled influx was recorded on a large scale. Against the background of the refugee crisis in Europe , the Dublin Convention is largely considered to have failed, according to which the EU member state is responsible for the asylum procedure which has allowed the asylum seeker to enter its territory across the external borders of the EU or at least not prevented it.

It was already established in 2013 that the distribution of refugees among the EU countries did not correspond to their size and capabilities. In the period from 2008 to 2012 , Sweden had to cope with 226.3 percent too many asylum applications, while Estonia had not even accepted 1/25 of the asylum seekers intended for the country. At the time, Germany was roughly in the range of its target figure. This “imbalance” was criticized even before the onset of the refugee crisis.

Germany

The first 8,535 Jewish contingent refugees who were threatened with persecution in Eastern Europe traveled to the still existing GDR in April 1990 . From the opening of the Iron Curtain in 1990 to the end of 2000, 137,055 Jews from the Soviet Union / Commonwealth of Independent States immigrated to Germany.

In connection with the Yugoslav Wars, the Federal Republic of Germany took in 350,000 people from the areas of the former Yugoslavia . In Munich alone the number reached around 50,000 in December 1991. A large number of them later returned to their homeland.

In 2015, more than one million refugees and asylum seekers were registered in Germany.

Austria

Sweden

After Sweden had taken in 80,000 people within two months alone, Stefan Löfven , Prime Minister, and Åsa Romson , his deputy, announced at the end of November 2015 that there would be a change in reception practices in Sweden; other European states would have to do more. Even the family reunification must be limited.

Slovenia

According to an estimate by the Slovenian police , 155,755 refugees were in the country at the beginning of November 2015.

Czech Republic

According to a survey by the opinion research institute STEM, which became known at the beginning of November 2015, 67 percent of the Czechs questioned expressed fear of refugees and asylum seekers and 93% of those questioned expressed fears of Islam .

Hungary

As part of the migration and refugee policy in Hungary , the erection of border fences was announced in June 2015, especially on the border with Serbia .

Switzerland

The Swiss asylum law is based on the Asylum Act (Asylum Act).

In November 2015, Federal Councilor Ueli Maurer declared that Switzerland could accommodate up to 50,000 people at short notice if necessary. The Swiss policy of returning several thousand refugees to countries such as Hungary and others was criticized in 2015 .

Turkey

At the beginning of November 2015, around half of the 4.2 million Syrians who fled the country were living in Turkey . According to UNHCR , half were women and half were men.

United States

The United States differ, unlike the European Union, strictly between refugees and asylum seekers. The current system for refugees is based on the Refugee Act of 1980 and has since been the basis for accepting a total of around 3 million refugees (as of 2016). The asylum law, on the other hand, is based on INA Decree 208 . Between 2010 and 2014, around 10,000 people were granted asylum each year.

  • Refugees ( refugees ) are people who were classified as such either by the UN refugee agency UNHCR or who have applied for the United States to a refugee status in person and have been recognized. The number of refugees the US takes in each year is determined by the US President in consultation with Congress. Every refugee goes through a review that can take several years. Once approved, a resettlement agency must first provide a kind of guarantee for each refugee before the person can be brought to the United States. If refugees are then in the USA, they have to apply for a permanent residence permit, can work immediately and apply for US citizenship after five years at the earliest . The upper limits set for the admission of refugees from all over the world vary greatly from year to year. For 2015 it was 70,000 people.
  • Asylum seekers are people who have already applied for asylum on US territory or at the border. Since 2014, such applications can be rejected by a representative of the immigration authorities after questioning the applicants and deportation can also be carried out without a court hearing. If the applicants come from a safe third country such as Canada, they will be sent back. Asylum seekers can be detained in the US for weeks or months pending a decision on their applications. Should they be released during their trial, they will not have the right to work and will not receive any financial support from the state. Recognized asylum seekers are allowed to work, can voluntarily apply for a permanent residence permit and apply for citizenship after five years at the earliest.

According to the UNHCR , the US took in 97,000 people in the 2016 calendar year ; in the first nine months of 2017 it was 28,000, according to the Pew Research Center . The Trump administration is trying to implement announcements made by Donald Trump in the presidential campaign.

Canada

Canada was known to be particularly generous in hosting refugees and continues to be a preferred destination for refugees and migrants. Between 1975 and 1980, groups of Vietnamese boat people landed and were granted asylum. After the arrival of boat refugees from Sri Lanka in 2009, Canada began tightening its procedures.

  • Asylum seekers can apply for asylum at the Canadian border or with authorities within the country. Applications from applicants from safe third countries, such as those of the European Union, are usually rejected. People who enter Canadian territory illegally, including migrants and asylum seekers, have been able to be detained since 2012 until the legality of their application has been clarified, for example until their identity has been clarified. The number of people seeking asylum on Canadian soil ranged between around 25,000 (2011) and 16,000 (2014).
  • Refugees are being brought into the country through Canada's resettlement program by the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship . Every year, a target number of refugees is determined by the responsible minister after consultation. The UN refugee agency UNHCR or private individuals propose candidates. These must be located outside Canada and correspond to the refugee definition of the Geneva Convention. Other refugees who do not fall under the definition can still be admitted if they are or are financially secured by a guarantor or from their own resources. The state pays for the refugees proposed by the UNHCR.

After a period of five years, the refugees either have to leave the country or apply for a permanent residence permit. In 2012, 9,655 refugees were relocated to Canada, compared to 20,045 in 2015.

International

The Global Compact for Refugees , which was adopted at the end of 2018, is an agreement that aims to ensure a predictable, appropriate distribution of burdens and responsibilities in refugee issues among all UN member states. The pact is not legally binding.

literature

Germany
  • Stephan Pio Fuchs: Scope of action of a refugee policy between framework conditions under international law, state priorities and municipal interests: legal, political and humanitarian aspects of the admission of Bosnian civil war refugees in Munich 1992–1997. 1999 ( online )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marianne Haase / Jan C. Jugl: Asylum and refugee policy of the EU . Federal Agency for Political Education . November 27, 2007, accessed January 17, 2016
  2. Steffen Angenendt / Marcus Engler / Jan Schneider: European refugee policy - ways to a fair burden sharing . Science and Politics Foundation . Berlin. November 2013, p. 8.
  3. Klaus J. Bade / Jochen Oltmer: Flight and Asylum since 1990 . Federal Agency for Civic Education. March 15, 2005, accessed January 18, 2016
  4. Better to die here . The mirror . Issue 49/1991. December 2, 1991, accessed January 18, 2016
  5. War refugees from the former Yugoslavia by destination country (UNHCR estimate, as of March 1995) . european forum for migration studies . 1997, accessed January 18, 2016
  6. ^ Philipp Plickert : Deutsche Bank chief economist: "Refugees are the best for Germany" . FAZ.net December 9, 2015.
  7. Sweden changes refugee policy. Asylum laws tightened with tears . tagesschau.de . November 24, 2015, accessed January 19, 2016
  8. a b Refugee policy in the EU - Sweden asks for discharge . n-tv.de . November 6, 2015, accessed January 19, 2016
  9. Hungary appoints representatives from the French embassy . The time August 31, 2015.
  10. Refugees in Switzerland: facts and figures . Swiss radio and television . November 13, 2015, accessed January 19, 2016
  11. Daniel Hechter: Deportation instead of asylum - How Switzerland gets rid of its refugees . Bavarian radio . November 8, 2015, accessed January 19, 2016
  12. Florian Rötzer: Turkey does the math in refugee policy . heise.de . November 3, 2015, accessed January 19, 2016
  13. ^ Office of Refugee Resettlement (Homepage), see also en: Refugee Act
  14. ^ A b c Ionel Zamfir / Members Research Service: "Asylum policy in the USA" European Union of March 3, 2016
  15. Barbara Junge: Refugee Policy in the USA - And Obama is still moving . The daily mirror . September 9, 2015, accessed January 19, 2016
  16. zeit.de USA takes in refugees again - stricter rules for eleven countries .
  17. ^ A b c Ionel Zamfir: Members Research Service: "Asylum policy in Canada" European Union of February 2, 2016
  18. Refugee Claims In: open.canada.ca
  19. Immigration and citizenship In: cic.gc.ca . See also English Wikipedia
  20. Resettled Refugees In: open.canada.ca