Part three of this series talks about how, according to the new law, the German concept of "safe countries of origin" is tightened. This decision was subject to harsh criticism by civil society organisations.

The New Legal Situation

There is a list of countries that Germany has declared as "safe" countries of origin. Lately, the countries that were added to this list were mainly those where many people applying for asylum in Germany come from. The list now contains eight countries as Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro have recently been added. According to German law, there is a presumption that asylum seekers from "safe" countries of origin are not persecuted. Their application for asylum is considered manifestly unfounded, unless the person is able to demonstrate that he or she did indeed flee from persecution. They then would still face shortened time limits for appeal. Also new is the regulation that people from "safe" countries of origin have to stay permanently in the first reception centers and that they are not allowed to work.

According to the federal government, applications of people from "safe" countries of origin are to be processed in an accelerated procedure, since it appears as granted that the conditions for granting asylum, refugee protection or subsidiary protection are only to be found in isolated cases.

From a Human Rights Perspective

From a perspective of fundamental and human rights various aspects of the new regulations are problematic:

• Experts doubt that the designated countries are truly "safe". Studies show that minorities, for instance Roma in Kosovo, are denied access to healthcare, the labor market, sanitary services and education. Children are in many cases denied access to schools. Very often minorities are not only denied fundamental economic, social and cultural rights, but they are also threatened by violent assaults. This can add up to a degree that has to be considered as persecution under relevant refugee law.
• Asylum seekers have the right of access to effective asylum procedures, as stated for example under Article 13 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). This means that national authorities are required to review every asylum application independently and carefully. Is the legal presumption conform with this?
• Every human being has the right to be protected from discrimination: The principle of non-discrimination is a structural principle of human rights that the German Constitution regulates in Article 3.3. For the sake of human dignity, it aims to guarantee the same liberty for every human being. The special regulations for asylum seekers from "safe" countries of origin solely refer to the characteristic of origin attributed to them and by doing so they constitute a violation against the principle of non-discrimination.