• Home /
• Statewatch Database /
• Germany: Germany abandons Article 16

Germany: Germany abandons Article 16

01 January 1991

Germany: Germany abandons Article 16
artdoc May=1993

Following an all-party agreement, the German government is to
drop Article 16 of the Constitution which guarantees asylum to
Germany. A new constitutional clause has been inserted which will
make it possible for Germany to turn back asylum seekers entering
from other European countries, or from other countries in which
it is judged that there is no political persecution (Independent
7.12.92).
The Dutch magazine De Volkskrant (8.12.92) says that the German
government is seeking ratification for four bills, which will
probably go through Parliament in the Spring of 1993. Of the
450,000 asylum seekers to be affected by the bill, most are from
Romania and Bulgaria. A new quota system for guestworkers will
also be introduced - and the figure of 100,000 entrants a year
has been mooted . Meanwhile, the Federal Administrative Court in
Berlin has ruled that 35,000 Vietnamese migrant-workers still in
Germany can be deported because they `don't have to fear any kind
of persecution in their home country' (Die Tageszeutung 4.11.92).
Also proposed is a limit to the number of `ethnic Germans'
allowed to enter Germany. A new `finality clause' which limits
the right to German nationality for the children of ethnic
Germans currently living in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union is to be introduced. Negotiations have now started with
Poland and the Czecho-Slovakia governments for the return of
asylum-seekers with the German government offering financial
support and technical assistance, particularly for border patrols
of the borders.

IRR European Race Audit no 2 1992. Contact: Liz Fekete, Institute
of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, London WC1X 9HS Tel: ++ 071
837 0041