Safe countries of origin are those whose citizens do not have to fear state persecution, according to assessments by the German government or the European Union. Whether such assessments are accurate is a matter for debate that often ends up in court.
Last week, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that EU countries are allowed to designate safe countries of origin to fast-track asylum procedures if authorities disclose the sources for their assessment. The court also found that for a country to be designated as safe, it must offer adequate protection to the entire population, including minorities.
The Luxembourg-based court also said that while having a fast-track procedure does not violate EU law, the designation of safe countries must be subject to judicial scrutiny so migrants can challenge decisions made on their asylum claims.
Germany has its own list of safe countries of origin. Asylum seekers from these countries hardly stand a chance of being granted asylum in Germany. Currently, eight European non-EU and two African countries are on this list.
Germany’s refugee program freeze strands asylum seekers
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Safe country candidates: Algeria, India, Morocco, Tunisia
The new German coalition government of center-right Christian Democrats and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) had agreed to add more countries to the list. “We are continuously assessing whether more countries meet the requirements. In particular, a country will be classified as safe if fewer than 5% of asylum seekers from that country have been accepted over at least a five-year period.”
It remains to be seen whether these plans will be as easy to implement as it sounds in the coalition agreement following the ECJ ruling. A spokesperson for the interior ministry, which is responsible for asylum policy, said that the ruling will be reviewed.
Yet the German government still intends to reform the process for determining whether a country of origin is safe. In the future, safe countries of origin are to be determined by decree. This would mean that neither the Bundestag nor the Bundesrat (the upper house of parliament representing the 16 federal states) would have a say in the matter.
German deportations to Afghanistan spark rebuke
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Interior Minister calls for reform to asylum law
The coalition has already submitted a draft bill on this issue, which is to be voted on after the parliament’s summer recess. The first debate already took place last July. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt took that opportunity to criticize what he sees as an insufficient number of deportations of rejected asylum seekers: “Our goal now is to remove the obstacles to effectively limiting illegal migration,” he said.
One such obstacle that the CSU politician highlighted was the fact that, under current law, people who have been ordered to leave the country are entitled to legal representation before their planned deportation can be enforced. This is one of the regulations that is to be abolished. Dobrindt hopes that this will also speed up deportations to countries already listed as safe.
Within the European Union, there are already discussions about setting up joint centers for the repatriation of rejected asylum seekers. The interior ministers of EU member states discussed this at their meeting in Copenhagen last July.
This is an idea that Dobrindt is in favor of. He pointed out that it can be difficult for individual member states to reach deals with non-EU countries, while it could be more expedient when several EU countries work together. Several countries already have concrete plans in place. “I wouldn’t rule this out for Germany either,” said the German interior minister.
Asylum-seekers in Germany face growing uncertainty
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
‘Those who cannot stay should not come in the first place’
In Dobrindt’s view, many of the people who came to Germany in the past were not eligible for asylum. He hopes that the planned reform will send a clear message: “People who come from a safe country of origin should not make the journey. Those who cannot stay should not come in the first place.”
Some members of the political opposition in Germany hope that the European Court of Justice’s ruling will force the federal government to change its course on asylum policy.
“The ECJ ruling on safe countries of origin is a major success for human rights and the individual right to asylum in Europe,” said Green Party MP Filiz Polat. She added that the plan to classify safe countries of origin by means of a legal directive without oversight by the Bundestag and Bundesrat is not possible.
Complex rules govern Europe’s asylum process
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
The Left Party: Georgia and Moldova are not safe third countries
Clara Bünger of the Left Party has also called on the governing coalition to carry out a comprehensive review of the list of safe countries of origin.”Georgia and Moldova should be removed from this list immediately.
The reason given was the precarious human rights situation in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Also, the EU member state Czechia considers only parts of Moldova as safe, while the Transnistria region is controlled by pro-Russian separatists and therefore considered unsafe.
The ECJ ruling, according to Bünger, “also represents a clear repudiation of the federal government’s plans to classify other countries, such as Tunisia and Algeria, as safe.”
Same-sex sexual relations are punishable by law in both Tunisia and Algeria. Classifying these countries as safe would conflict with a key criterion established by the European Court of Justice’s ruling: countries deemed safe third countries must ensure the safety of their entire population.
This article was originally written in German.
While you’re here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter, Berlin Briefing.