Publications

Previous PageTable Of ContentsNext Page

GERMANY

Human Rights Developments

Right-wing violence against foreigners escalated in Germany during 1993. Although the government initiated a series of measures in late 1992, these measures did not improve security for foreigners living in the country.

Following domestic and international outcry after violent events in Rostock in August 1992 and the death of three Turks in Mölln in November 1992, the German government adopted a series of measures to deal with the violence more effectively. These measures included the formation of a working group to develop ways in which the police would monitor and combat violent right-wing extremists in the various states. Police searched the offices and homes of members of neo-Nazi parties, confiscated propaganda materials and some weapons, and made numerous arrests. Police stepped up surveillance of the far-right groups generally, and banned several neo-Nazi political parties, including the National Front, the German Alternative and the National Offensive.

On May 26, the Bundestag (parliament) voted 521 to 132 to amend the country'sconstitutionally-guaranteed right to asylum. The new asylum law took effect on July 1. Under the new law, asylum-seekers arriving at airports can be held for nineteen days and then expelled if they do not qualify for asylum. Asylum-seekers from "safe countries of origin", countries where the German government has determined that there is no well-founded fear of persecution, can be immediately returned.

Asylum-seekers coming into the country by land can be expelled immediately if they have traveled to Germany through a "safe third" country where they could have applied for asylum. All countries sharing borders with German are considered "safe".

The government had pushed for restrictions on the right to asylum, arguing that it was necessary to prevent further escalation of xenophobic violence. However, on May 29, only three days after the Bundestag voted to restrict the right of asylum, five Turkish residents died when four young skinheads set fire to their house in the town of Solingen. This was the worst single attack on foreigners since unification and set off yet another wave of attacks on foreigners.

Both the frequency and brutality of right-wing violence increased during the year. The government reported that there were 3,365 attacks against foreigners during the first six months of 1993, representing a 130 per cent increase over the same period in 1992. Violent attacks against foreigners increased 72 percent in 1992 as compared to 1991.

Following the Solingen murders, angry Turks marched through the streets of the town demanding a stronger response from the German government and greater rights for the 1.8 million Turks living in Germany, including the right to dual citizenship.

Chancellor Helmut Kohl, faced with severe criticism of his handling of right-wing violence to date, vowed in June to crack down on German right-wing extremists, calling for tougher sentences, more police power and tighter restrictions on militant right-wing extremist groups. In response to demands from foreign residents, Kohl also agreed to seek reform of the eighty-year-old German citizenship law, which strictly emphasizes German ancestry. Kohl did not favor allowing dual citizenship, however.

Throughout 1993, Kohl continued to deny any connection between his party's vigorous pursuit of restrictions in the asylum law and the growing violence against foreigners. In a speech before the Bundestag on June 17, the chancellor denied any "connection between the asylum law and the arson attacks in Solingen and elsewhere." However, some representatives within Kohl's own government have been critical of the chancellor on these grounds. The Federal Ministry for Women and Youth issued a report in June concluding, among other things, that the public debate over asylum- seekers resulted in "anti-foreigner groups no longer feeling marginalized and stigmatized, but instead as the forefront of a larger movement."

The chancellor's failure to provide moral leadership on this crucial issue only exacerbated a situation in which-as Helsinki Watch noted in an article-asylum restrictions have "focused attention on the victims, implicitly shifting the blame for the violence onto them."

The Right To Monitor

Helsinki Watch received no information to indicate that human rights observers in Germany were prevented from conducting their investigations and reporting on their findings during 1993.

U.S. Policy

In response to a string of racist attacks against foreigners, then-U.S. Ambassador to Germany Robert M. Kimmitt stated, "Such violence is simply unacceptable in a modern democracy, where tolerance is an important element." Similarly, in a speech in Berlin, Ambassador Kimmitt urged that German officials "must make it understood that racist violence is not acceptable and will be punished very harshly."

The Work of Helsinki Watch

Helsinki Watch focused much of its efforts during 1993 on monitoring violent attacks against foreigners and the implementation of the asylum law. A Helsinki Watch staff person met with representatives of human rights and asylum organizations in Germany in June. On July 1, Helsinki Watch sent a letter to Chancellor Kohl criticizing the Bundestag's decision to tighten Germany's asylum law, stating:

    The action of the lower house of Parliament in curbing the influx of refugees to Germany is a serious human rights setback. . . The new law would make it far more difficult for foreigners who have suffered persecution in their home countries to be granted political asylum in Germany, thus denying them protection guaranteed by international law.

During the latter half of 1993, Helsinki Watch representatives conducted an ongoing investigation of violence against foreigners, including the measures taken by the German government to deal with the violence, as well as the response of the police and judiciary. Helsinki Watch intends to conduct an additional fact-finding mission to Germany in early 1994. A report of the findings will be issued in 1994.

Previous PageTable Of ContentsNext Page