For human rights and humanitarian reasons, the signatories reject fast-track asylum procedures (airport procedures) as well as the detention of refugees seeking protection in order to carry out the asylum procedure. They are calling on the states of Brandenburg and Berlin as well as the federal government to abandon the planned construction and commissioning of a so-called “custody facility” for carrying out fast-track asylum procedures on the grounds of BER Willy Brandt Airport and instead to enable asylum seekers to undergo a regular asylum procedure in freedom . They are calling on the federal government to forego the detention of those seeking protection and the fast-track asylum procedure at all German airports and to abolish the so-called airport procedure (Section 18a AsylVfG).
*Reason*
A “detention facility” is to be built on the site of the new major airport in Berlin Schönefeld in order to be able to detain incoming asylum seekers and get them out of the country as quickly as possible after a fast-track asylum procedure takes place there.
As part of the change to the Basic Law in 1993, as a result of which no refugee who enters the country regularly by land can receive the right to asylum, a special regulation for entry by air was developed as a further instrument to ward off refugees - the so-called airport procedure. Asylum seekers, including children and minor asylum seekers, can be detained for the duration of the fast-track asylum procedure. The prerequisite is that there is suitable “accommodation” on the airport premises.
As part of the airport expansion, a detention facility is now being built at Berlin-Schönefeld Airport. The central immigration authority in Brandenburg will be the operator. According to the state government, the private security company BOSS will provide “social” support.
Within two days of submitting the asylum application, a decision will be made as to whether the asylum application will be rejected as “manifestly unfounded” or whether entry will be permitted. In the event of a rejection as “obviously unfounded”, asylum seekers only have three days to file a complaint with the administrative court and an urgent legal protection application. If the urgent application against the refusal of entry is rejected within two weeks, you will remain in the airport detention center until deportation becomes possible.
The time pressure makes it impossible for the people who have just fled and are sometimes severely traumatized to calm down and be able to present their reasons for asylum in a substantiated manner. In some cases they are unable to stand trial due to the circumstances of their escape. The difficult access to lawyers also prevents asylum seekers from being able to adequately prepare for their hearing and significantly reduces their chances of being recognized as refugees in Germany.
The haste of the process repeatedly leads to blatantly wrong decisions. The asylum applications of two deserters from Eritrea were rejected in the airport procedure as obviously unfounded. They were imprisoned in a secret prison in Eritrea immediately after their deportation. Only after the deportation did the administrative court examine the case with the necessary thoroughness and grant asylum (1).
In addition, the short deadline for submitting an urgent application does not allow appropriate legal action. It is simply impossible to provide the required written justifications in a timely manner. Since the court's rejection of urgent legal applications becomes legally binding without a written justification, those affected can be deported before they have the opportunity to claim further legal protection. A deportation is usually carried out after the urgent application has been rejected, although the lawsuit against the Federal Office's decision is still pending. Experts therefore describe the so-called airport procedure as “hasty, unfair, inadequate” (2) and “contrary to the rule of law” (3).
The airport procedure is dispensed with at most German airports, including Berlin-Tegel, Stuttgart, Cologne/Bonn and Hanover. Two to four airport procedures are currently carried out in Berlin-Schönefeld every year. The numbers for the corresponding procedures for Hamburg, Munich and Düsseldorf are also marginal. At Berlin's new major airport, space is now to be created for the detention of 300 asylum-seeking refugees every year, including children of all ages and minors traveling alone, and their asylum applications are to be processed in the highly dubious fast-track procedure.
First signatory:
/Asylum in the Church eV/
/AWO Workers' Welfare Association Federal Association/
/Prof. Dr. Klaus J. Bade, migration researcher, Berlin/
/Federal working group PRO ASYL/
/German Joint Welfare Association – General Association eV/
/Diocesan Council of Catholics in the Archdiocese of Berlin/
/Archdiocese of Berlin/
/Refugee Council Berlin eV/
/Refugee Council Brandenburg eV/
/Dr. med. Jürgen Hölzinger, Committee for Human Rights Issues of the Berlin Medical Association/
/Initiative against deportation detention/
/Jesuit Refugee Service Germany/
/State Youth Organization of AWO Berlin/
/State youth organization of the AWO Brandenburg/
/League of leading associations of independent welfare services Berlin/
/(AWO, Caritas, dpw, DW, DRK, ZWST)/
/League of the leading associations of independent welfare services in Brandenburg/
/(AWO, Caritas, dpw, DW, DRK, ZWST)/
/Republican Lawyers Association eV/
/Hanns Thomä, Commissioner for Migration and Integration of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia/
/Survival Center/
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(1) cf. PRO ASYL, “Hasty, unfair, inadequate” , Chapter 3.5
(2) cf. documentation “Hasty, unfair, inadequate” ibid
(3) cf. press release from the Synod of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia dated October 29, 2011, http://www.ekbo.de
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