{"id":1328,"date":"2014-05-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/%20rroma.org\/02-05-2014-germany-wants-to-declare-serbia-macedonia-and-bosnia-herzegovina-safe-countries-of-origin\/"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:48:23","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T10:48:23","slug":"02-05-2014-germany-wants-to-declare-serbia-macedonia-and-bosnia-herzegovina-safe-countries-of-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rroma.org\/fr\/02-05-2014-germany-wants-to-declare-serbia-macedonia-and-bosnia-herzegovina-safe-countries-of-origin\/","title":{"rendered":"02.05.2014 Germany wants to declare Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina safe countries of origin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several German \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnewspapers reported on the pending draft bill of the federal government to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdeclare Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina to be safe countries of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\torigin. The new legislation would allow to process asylum applications from \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthese Balkan states within a week, what according to critics would clearly happen \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tat the expense of individual cases. Many journalists believe that the vast \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmajority of the applicants coming from the Balkans \u2013 in 2013 there were more \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthan 20,000 \u2013 are Rroma. How they obtained this information is not discussed \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tany further. In its statistics, according to the law, Germany only records the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnational but not the ethnic affiliation. Since 2009, for citizens of Serbia, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMacedonia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina there is no visa requirement: \u201cThe right to asylum in Germany is awarded \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tonly to few of them \u2013 last year there was a total of three. 120\u2019070 immigrants \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom the Balkans have tried to sue for the right of asylum in court. 39 Serbs, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t26 Macedonians, and 17 Bosnians were then allowed to stay. In nine cases out of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tten, the asylum applications of this clientele are \u201cobliviously unfounded\u201d, the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tauthorities argue. Therefore, the federal government wants to declare these \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthree Balkan countries as \u201csafe countries of origin\u201d\u201d<\/em> (K\u00e4fer 2014). With \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tthe new legislation, the federal government would lo longer have to justify why \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tit rejects an application for asylum from the three countries. It assumes no \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprofound persecution and exclusion of Rroma in Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA very different notion is communicated by human rights organizations and \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tleft-wing politicians: Rroma in the three countries are still heavily \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdiscriminated against, both by the authorities and regarding the access to the labour \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmarket, schools, and health care. This view is also supported by several \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\treports, such as the last activity report of the European Commission about the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tnational Rroma strategies (Europ\u00e4ische \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKommission 2013). \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe UN refugee agency criticizes the German Federal Government for focusing too \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmuch on the topic of political persecution, and thus neglecting discrimination \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tagainst minorities and human rights violations. Tom Koenigs, former UN special \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\trepresentative in Kosovo, also emphasizes that the classification of nations as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsafe countries of origin comes at the expense of individuals who are de facto \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvictims of persecution (Armbr\u00fcster 2014). Refugee fates are fates of \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tindividuals and have to be treated as such, he states, thus securing the \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tprotection of those who are actually in need of help. The Rroma Contact Point \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tshares this viewpoint (compare Gajevic 2014, Geuther 2014, R\u00fcssmann 2014, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSchuler 2014, S\u00fcdwest Presse 2014, TAZ 2014).<\/p>\n

Ehrich (2014) furthermore \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpoints out that the declaration of Serbia, Macedonia, and Bosnia- Herzegovina to \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsafe country of origin gives the states wrong signals regarding their minority \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tpolicy, since they are also candidates for the membership in the European Union: \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cApart from the consequences for \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tindividual Roma who actually need asylum, the declaration of the countries as \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201csafe countries of origin\u201d harbours a threat to Europe. Serbia and Macedonia \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tare already official candidates for EU-membership. Bosnia-Herzegovina is a potential \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tcandidate. Declaring these states \u201csafe countries of origin\u201d could destroy \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tincentives to improve the situation of Roma in these countries.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n