Germany: Liberal and conservative politicians call for resuming deportations to Afghanista
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Members of two German political parties have called for the resumption of deportations of convicted criminals to Afghanistan. The development follows a recent debate about designated “safe countries of origin.”
Representatives of Germany’s governing liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the opposition Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) are calling for the resumption of deportations to Afghanistan.
“Anyone who has been legally convicted of having committed a crime as a foreigner and who has been classified as a dangerous person must leave Germany,” Stephan Thomae, director of the FDP parliamentary group in the German Parliament, was quoted as saying by newspapers of the Bavaria media group on Friday (September 1).
Thomae also emphasized the need to individually assess whether Afghanistan is unsafe for “Islamist, jihadist, or Salafist criminals and endangerers,” referring to the deportations of about 650 Afghans from Germany in the first half of the year.
Alexander Throm, the spokesman for domestic policy of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, called for a deportation option to Afghanistan for serious offenders and dangerous individuals, according to the same newspapers.
“Such repatriations are in our security interests,” Throm said, citing Turkey as a model for deportations to Afghanistan. “The airport in Kabul is open. So repatriations to Afghanistan are possible in principle,” the Christian democrat said.
Also read: Germany takes in highest number of Afghan refugees in EU, as Taliban ‘celebrate’ return
Criticism from social democrats
SPD parliamentary group deputy Dirk Wiese meanwhile warned that such proposals must be feasible.
Rejected asylum seekers who commit serious crimes in Germany have “forfeited their right to stay,” Wiese told the newspapers. However, the security situation in the destination country must be conducive to returning people there, he said.
“We cannot send people back where their lives are at risk,” Wiese added.
The German government first considered resuming deportations of Afghans who commit crimes or pose a threat to society in March of this year. Deportations had been suspended following the Taliban takeover in August 2021.
Germany along with the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece and Austria was among the few European countries that carried out deportations to Afghanistan until the Taliban took power.
Debate about ‘safe countries’
The debate about what constitutes a so-called safe country of origin also re-surfaced this week.
On Wednesday (August 30), Germany’s federal cabinet approved a draft law to classify Moldova and Georgia as “safe countries of origin”, meaning asylum applications from those countries could be processed faster and lead to faster deportations for failed applicants.
A day later, on Thursday, FDP Secretary General Bijan Djir-Sarai called for the classification of more countries as safe countries of origin. “In addition to Georgia and Moldova, we must also declare other states such as Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia safe countries of origin,” he told the newspapers of the Bavaria media group.
“In addition, we must become much better at repatriations and deport consistently, including to countries like Afghanistan,” Djir-Sarai said.
Germany defines safe countries of origin as those where it can be assumed that there is generally no fear of state prosecution and where “the respective state can protect against non-state persecution in principle.” Therefore, foreigners facing deportation don’t face serious harm in his or her home country.
This classification currently applies to the member states of the European Union as well as Ghana, Senegal, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro.
Djir-Sarai said that the reform of the common European asylum system was a “first important step in the right direction” that must be followed by others.
“This agreement has shown that the will exists as well as the realization to talk about improving the border management capacity of the European Union,” he added.
The FDP secretary-general also called for “clear signals” that irregular immigration wasn’t a guarantor of success.
With KNA, dpa
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