Germany
cracks down on Afghan migrants
Merkel’s
government claims deportations will rise “significantly.”
By JANOSCH DELCKER
10/28/15, 10:51 PM CET Updated 10/29/15, 7:23 AM CET
BERLIN — As Angela
Merkel comes under increasing pressure to limit the number of
migrants flocking to Germany, her government is now targeting asylum
seekers from Afghanistan in an attempt to show strength in dealing
with the refugee crisis.
Here too, an
increasingly fierce debate splits German society. While there are
calls for more Afghans to be deported — Germany, after all, has
been part of the coalition trying to make their homeland safe —
critics of the policy say that Afghanistan is not secure enough for
people to be sent back.
Based on the number
of refugees “both this month, as well as over the course of 2015,
Afghanistan ranks number two in the list of countries of origin of
refugees – that’s unacceptable,” German Interior Minister
Thomas De Maizière told journalists Wednesday.
German soldiers and
police were stationed in Afghanistan to make the country safer, De
Maizière said, and “one could expect the Afghans to stay in their
country.”
De Maizière’s
tough line comes as the debate on how to deal with the migration
crisis has become increasingly heated. The focus on Afghanistan
suggests that Merkel wants to demonstrate assertiveness after weeks
of criticism for her September decision to welcome hundreds of
thousands of refugees amid the continent’s migrant crisis since
World War II.
Horst Seehofer, the
conservative leader of Bavaria, on Tuesday called for limits on the
number of refugees allowed in to Germany. He gave her a deadline of
Sunday night to change tack, but did not elaborate on what would
happen, or not happen, if that deadline is missed.
A new asylum law
came into force Saturday that seeks to reduce incentives for
so-called economic migrants coming to Germany by cutting cash
benefits and speeding up the review process for asylum applications.
That law, and much of the discussion of the crisis, focused on
migrants from Albania, Kosovo and Serbia. But asylum seekers from
Afghanistan are now in the firing line too.
“We have to become
faster and more consistent with decisions as to whether asylum can be
granted,” Julia Klöckner, vice president of Merkel’s ruling
Christian Democrats, said in an interview when asked about the
situation of Afghan refugees. She added: “If people in the
countries of origin see that their neighbors who left 10 days ago are
already back, this has a greater effect than anything else.”
The topic was raised
during a summit on Sunday on the migration crisis in the Western
Balkans. A spokesperson for Merkel said on Wednesday that Germany had
stressed the importance of a repatriation agreement between the EU
and Afghanistan.
Macedonia, another
summit participant, has also voiced concern. According to government
data, the composition of the flow of migrants into Macedonia is
changing. It says that the number of Syrians moving through the
country decreased from nearly 90 percent of the flow in August to
about 60 percent in October. The number of Afghans, meanwhile, has
been rising and they now represent almost 20 percent of the flow.
At present, just
under half of all Afghan applications for asylum in Germany are
approved. Among the factors taken into account are if the applicant
had cooperated with German troops or allies, and where in Afghanistan
the applicant comes from. While some parts of the country are ruled
by the Taliban and considered dangerous, other areas, including the
capital Kabul, are deemed safer — although not by everyone.
“I was in Kabul
myself just two weeks ago — my 12th trip,” Omid Nouripour, a
Green Party member of the German parliament, said. “The security
situation was never as messed up as today.”
Afghans who have
been granted asylum in Germany supported Nouripour’s view,
describing a security situation that has become worse in part because
of the resurgence of the Taliban. “If you send people, they will
most likely join ISIL or the Taliban,” one Afghan living in Germany
said.
Sayed Hussian Alimi
Balkhi, Afghanistan’s minister of refugees and repatriations, told
Die Welt on Monday that Germany should not increase deportations as
the security situation was deteriorating.
In a press statement
on Wednesday following reports about a planned repatriation agreement
between the EU and Afghanistan, which is being pushed by Germany,
pro-migration NGO Pro Asyl accused the German government of ignoring
both reality and human rights. The group added that so far this year
the conflict between government troops and the Taliban had resulted
in more civilian casualties than in previous years.
There are certainly
people willing to go to great lengths to get to Europe. According to
Presse Portal, a five-member Afghan family paid €120,000 to
smugglers to help them get to Germany.
Legal limbo
More than half of
asylum applications from Afghans may be rejected, but according to a
report in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung almost no Afghans have been
deported from Germany in the past few years. Those whose asylum
request was turned down were stuck in a legal limbo; not granted
asylum but not being forced to leave Germany.
That situation has
to change, De Maizière said Wednesday. “The number of
repatriations, voluntary returns and deportations will rise
significantly,” he said, referring to the new asylum law’s stated
aim of increasing deportations.
Government
spokespeople confirmed that Afghan refugees whose asylum applications
were rejected would be deported, adding “it’s about carrying out
what would actually be the appropriate procedure.”
According to data
from the United Nations, around 21 percent of the more than 115,000
refugees who reached Greece via the Mediterranean this year were from
Afghanistan.
Authors:
Janosch Delcker
.webp)
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário