In a joint open letter to German Chancellor Scholz and the German Minister-Presidents, more than 300 organizations – from local refugee aid initiatives to organizations active in all of Germany – emphasize that they want to belong to a society that provides refugees with adequate protection. In the run-up to their meeting, the initiative demanded the Chancellor and the Minister-Presidents to take a clear stand against the outsourcing of asylum procedures and, instead, to work towards a sustainable solution regarding the protection of refugees in Germany.

In the scope of their meeting on June 20, World Refugee Day, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Minister-Presidents will discuss a possible outsourcing of asylum procedures. The German Ministry of the Interior will present a report regarding a review procedure that was initiated during the consultations between the Bund and the federal states in November 2023.

The organizations are warning against an outsourcing of asylum procedures. Model projects have shown that this approach leads to even more suffering on behalf of those affected – and to more human rights violations: It doesn’t work, and it is extremely expensive. A society that is fit for the future needs diversity, openness, and consequent commitment to human rights for all, the alliance stated.

“In war-ridden crisis regions, members of ethnic and religious minorities – and especially women – often suffer from various forms of persecution, and many of them are traumatized because they were forced to flee. They all have a right to an asylum procedure in Germany. Outsourcing these procedures to other countries would be a declaration of surrender before the xenophobic and right-wing forces in Germany,” stated Sarah Reinke on behalf of the human rights organization Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), which co-signed the letter.

“Mr. Chancellor, provide support for those who have been advocating for refugees in Germany, often for many years, in associations, refugee support groups, and as individual citizens. Outsourcing the procedures would also a slap in the face for these people who are showing selfless commitment,” the head of human rights work emphasized.

The alliance was initiated by PRO ASYL, the “Paritätischer Gesamtverband”, Doctors Without Borders, Bread for the World, Diakonie Deutschland, and Amnesty International. The Society for Threatened Peoples is one of the co-signatories. The open letter can be found here. ­