Amnesty International Report 2015/16 - Germany

Federal Republic of Germany
Head of state: Joachim Gauck
Head of government: Angela Merkel

Around 1.1 million asylum-seekers entered the country throughout the year. The government unilaterally decided for a period of time not to return Syrian asylum-seekers to their first country of entry in the EU. It expanded the list of safe countries of origin and introduced severe cuts to benefits for certain categories of asylum-seekers. The authorities' failure to effectively investigate alleged human rights violations by police persisted. Hate crimes against refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants increased sharply.

REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS

The influx of asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, increased considerably in the second half of the year, from already high levels. By the end of the year Germany had received around 1.1 million asylum-seekers. In August, Prime Minister Angela Merkel highlighted the necessity to address the needs of incoming refugees; invited other European leaders to share responsibility for people seeking protection in Europe; and decided to consider asylum applications submitted by tens of thousands of Syrians arriving in Germany through countries such as Hungary and Austria, rather than seeking their return to the first EU country they entered – a measure that was enforced for about three months. By the end of the year, 476,649 asylum applications had been submitted. Germany contributed to the EU schemes for resettlement and relocation by pledging 1,600 and 27,555 places respectively.

In July, a new law improved the legal status of resettled refugees, including by facilitating family reunification, but increased powers to detain asylum-seekers under the Dublin Regulation and those whose asylum application had been rejected. The amended Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, in force since April, fell short of human rights standards, particularly regarding access to health care. A new law passed in October expanded the list of safe countries of origin to include Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro, thus limiting the opportunity for nationals of these countries to seek protection. The law also introduced severe cuts to benefits set out in the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act for rejected asylum-seekers remaining in Germany in breach of an order to leave the country – or anyway remaining without legal status – and for asylum-seekers who moved to Germany despite having been relocated to another European country.

TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT

The authorities continued to fail to effectively investigate allegations of ill-treatment by police and did not establish any independent complaints mechanism to investigate those allegations. The obligation for police officers to wear identity badges was not extended beyond the federal states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Bremen, Hessen and Schleswig-Holstein.

The National Agency for the Prevention of Torture, Germany's preventive mechanism under the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture, remained severely under-resourced. The appointment procedure for the National Agency's members continued to fall short of international standards on independence and transparency, and excluded civil society representatives.

In May, national media reported on the alleged abuse of two Afghan and Moroccan refugees in the holding cells of the federal police at Hannover's main train station in 2014. Investigations against a federal police officer were ongoing at the end of the year.

DISCRIMINATION

On 27 January, the Constitutional Court found that the prohibition on teachers wearing religious symbols and dress, with the exception of those expressing Christian or Western values, which was in force in North-Rhine Westphalia since 2006, was discriminatory. Similar prohibitions remained in force in other German states.

Opposition to refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants, particularly Muslims, resulted in hundreds of protests being staged across the country. Hate crimes against refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants increased sharply. According to the government, 113 violent attacks against asylum shelters were perpetrated in the first 10 months of the year, compared with 29 in 2014.

The Federal Parliament considered an amendment to Section 46 of the Criminal Code, which, if passed, would require courts to take into account a racist or xenophobic motivation when deciding sentences.

In June, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination highlighted the authorities' failure to investigate the racial motivation of offences, including in relation to murders perpetrated by the far-right group National Socialist Underground (NSU) against members of ethnic minorities. Moreover, the Committee raised concerns regarding the discriminatory impact of police stop-and-search powers on ethnic minorities.

Several proceedings regarding the alleged discriminatory impact of identity checks carried out by federal police under Section 22(1)(a) of the Federal Police Act were pending at various levels of administrative courts.

ARMS TRADE

In March, the Federal Security Council released new principles in line with international standards for the sale of small arms and light weapons. In July, the Federal Cabinet passed a policy paper for the introduction of post-shipment controls.

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE

On 21 May, the Federal Court of Justice partially overturned the decision of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court in the case of Rwandan citizen Onesphore Rwabukombe, who was sentenced in 2014 to 14 years' imprisonment for aiding the commission of a massacre at the Kiziguro church compound. It was found on appeal that Rwabukombe was actively involved in the murder of 450 people at the Kiziguro church, and that his previous sentence was too lenient. The case was referred back to a lower court in Frankfurt for retrial.

On 28 September, the Higher Regional Court in Stuttgart sentenced Rwandan leaders of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) Ignace Murwanashyaka and Straton Musoni to 13 and eight years in prison respectively. They were both found guilty of leadership of a foreign terrorist group, while Ignace Murwanashyaka was additionally convicted of aiding in war crimes. It was the first trial based on the 2002 Code of Crimes against International Law.

On 5 December 2014, the Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf convicted three German citizens, originally from Rwanda, for their support to the FDLR.