A prison for refugees whose asylum applications are to be processed through the so-called airport procedure is being built at the new major airport in Schönefeld. The Berlin and Brandenburg Refugee Councils and the Republican Lawyers' Association are protesting strongly against this.
A prison is being built at the new Willy Brandt Airport for refugees who apply for asylum upon arrival – this is according to the Potsdam state government's response to a parliamentary inquiry from the Alliance 90/The Greens party.1 The state government expects 300 cases per year.
The detention facility is planned to have 30 places. Even children and unaccompanied minor refugees are to be detained there. The Brandenburg Central Immigration Authority will operate the facility, while social services will be privatized and outsourced to the security firm BOSS; no public tender was held. The federal government and the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, which also jointly operate the airport, are politically responsible for the construction and operation of the detention facility.
Questionable, highly controversial…
With the massive restriction of the fundamental right to asylum in 1993, it was legally stipulated that refugees applying for asylum at the airport could be detained for the duration of the asylum process. An extremely expedited asylum procedure was introduced specifically for them: Immediately upon arrival, refugees are subjected to interrogation-like questioning about their reasons for seeking asylum. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) decides on the asylum application within two days. Only within a further three days can asylum seekers file a written appeal against the rejection of their asylum application from detention. If the asylum application continues to be rejected, the asylum seekers remain in detention – possibly for many months – until deportation and a state willing to take them back can be found. Pro Asyl describes the procedure as "hasty, unfair, and flawed" after evaluating case files from Frankfurt/Main.²
The German Basic Law stipulates that any deprivation of liberty must be reviewed by a court as quickly as possible, usually on the same day. However, no such judicial review is provided for in airport detention facilities. The cynical justification given by the legislature is that it is not actually detention, since "leaving by air" is possible at any time.
…and avoidable.
Most major German airports forgo the extremely expensive and controversial airport procedure because it is only required if suitable accommodation is available as defined in Section 18a of the Asylum Procedure Act. Berlin-Tegel, Stuttgart, Cologne/Bonn, and Hanover do not conduct airport procedures. Berlin-Schönefeld has seen only one or two cases per year to date. The numbers are also marginal for Hamburg, Munich, and Düsseldorf. Only Frankfurt am Main conducts up to approximately 300 procedures per year.3 The forecast of 300 cases per year for the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) Willy Brandt is therefore completely unfounded. It is clearly a political prestige project driven by other motives.
We consider the detention of asylum seekers and their children, as well as the de facto denial of legal recourse against asylum rejections, to be incompatible with the German Basic Law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The airport asylum procedure must be abolished for reasons of human rights and the rule of law.⁴
We call on Berlin and Brandenburg, as well as the federal government, to abandon plans to build and operate a detention center for asylum seekers at Willy Brandt Airport. As in Berlin-Tegel, asylum seekers should be allowed entry to undergo a regular asylum procedure.
Press contact:
Georg Classen, Refugee Council Berlin eV, Tel: 0179-4735393
Marcus Reinert, Brandenburg Refugee Council, Tel: 0151-50724851
Lawyer Berenice Böhlo, Republican Lawyers' Association,
Tel: 030 / 62987720
Notes:
1: Drs. 5/4096 of 4 October 2011, www.parldok.brandenburg.de (pdf)
2: “Hasty, unfair, inadequate” www.proasyl.de (pdf)
3: Figures cf. BT-Drs. 16/12742 dipbt.bundestag.de (pdf)
4: Cf. on criticism:
“Fear is part of my everyday life” www.proasyl.info (pdf),
“This is unlawful detention for children” www.fluechtlingsinfo-berlin.de (pdf),
“Why the airport procedure should be abolished” www.caritas-frankfurt.de
Refugee Council Berlin e.V.
Georgenkirchstraße 69/70
10249 Berlin
Tel.: 030/24344-5762, Fax: -5763
buero@fluechtlingsrat-berlin.de
Refugee Council Brandenburg e.V.
Rudolf-Breitscheid-Straße 164
14482 Potsdam
Tel.: 0331/716499
info@fluechtlingsrat-brandenburg.de
Republican Lawyers' Association (registered association)
House of Democracy and Human Rights
Greifswalder Straße 4
10405 Berlin
kontakt@rav.de
