Criticism of the asylum debate

“With regard to asylum policy, there must be no overbidding competition at the expense of people seeking protection. Ethnic and religious minorities are an especially vulnerable group – and they are often subjected to multiple forms of persecution in their home countries. Their individual right to asylum in Germany must not be undermined,” criticized the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) regarding the current asylum debate before the Bundestag elections.

“For refugees from war and crisis zones, flight was often the only option after experiencing violence, loved ones being killed, and the destruction of their livelihoods. Often, they had to leave their homes in a hurry, and many were traumatized again while on the run. Also, many members of persecuted minority groups – such as Kurds from Syria or the Rohingya from Myanmar – do not have valid papers. Statelessness is one of the reasons why these people have to leave their homes. It is part of the discrimination and oppression,” reported Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East consultant. According to estimates, 4 to 10 million people are to be considered stateless. None of them are able to present valid travel documents at borders, including the border to Germany.  

“The fate of the Yazidi people, who were attacked by the so-called ‘Islamic State’ (IS) in 2014, shows that persecuted people are not always able to prepare for an escape. Often, the persecutors don’t leave their victims enough time to obtain travel documents or secure a valid visa from a German embassy. These people in particular must not be left alone by Germany or other democratic states,” Sido demanded.

“Friedrich Merz is now demanding that people without valid entry documents should be turned away at the border – which is not only inhumane, but also violates our asylum laws,” criticized Sido, who applied for asylum himself 35 years ago and is thus familiar with the difficulties people have to deal with when on the run. “In my case, the Syrian state was not willing to issue me a valid passport – neither under the leadership of Hafez al-Assad, nor under his son Bashar al-Assad,” Sido recalled.

“Further, the demands of the FDP that development cooperation should depend on other countries’ willingness to take back rejected asylum seekers ignores the situation on the ground and has a negative impact on the civilian population. Development cooperation is a means to combat the causes of flight and to ensure stability, not a tool to enable dictators to oppress political opponents without them having the opportunity to escape,” Sido criticized.

“In the current asylum debate, all political parties are ignoring Germany’s shared responsibility for the instability that has led to the migration movements from, for example, Afghanistan and Syria. NATO governments had intervened there without a political strategy, financing Islamist forces and allowing them to grow stronger. As a result, ethnic and religious minorities are the ones who suffer most: the Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians/Arameans, Christians, Yazidis, Bahá’í, Mandaeans, and – generally – women,” the STP’s Middle East expert emphasized.