Germany has emerged as one of those countries that have accepted a lot of refugees from around the world and especially from war disturbed Arab lands.
The Asylum system in Germany is very tricky and most of the time the asylum seekers have to face deportation if they cannot prove the balance of probabilities against their refuge claims. Once they are ordered to leave the country, they have still chances to stay there through Church Asylum, second asylum application, or Härtefalkommission application.
Church asylum generally applies only to asylum seekers who are threatened with deportation in any form of inhumane living conditions, such as torture or death. People claiming asylum in mainstream churches do not have to be Christians but they will be expected to be an active part of the community while staying there. The church hosts them and gives them temporary shelter.
According to its own information, the BAMF received 355 reports of church asylum for 406 people last year. The highest range of church asylum cases was reported in 2016, when more than a thousand people, whose government asylum applications had previously been rejected, sought refuge in German parishes.
Courtesy: infomigrant.net
Germany’s political asylum office has withdrawn from its ban on church asylum durations. The modifications introduced are associated with the time frame in which the responsibility for asylum seekers in Germany will shift from other EU countries. The barriers to church protection were so great before that it was almost impossible to assist affectees.
A BAMF spokesman on January 14, 2021, in response to a request from the news agency KNA, confirmed that the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) had inquired into the church’s political asylum matters and the related things have changed. The Dublin law regulations will be changed for those who have asked for refuge in German churches. Before, the time frame for lifting up the Dublin law was 18 months. Now it has been reduced to 6 months. It means, if someone who receives deportation orders from authorities according to Dublin regulations, can still apply for church asylum, and if he stays for up to 6 months in church, the Dublin law implementation will be lifted on him.
The church hosts them and gives them temporary shelter but Church asylum is a matter of legal dispute. This is regarded as a violation of the rule of law. German authorities allow refuge in the church in special severe cases. And only when a deportation notice is issued to a failed asylum seeker.
In the past, there have been cases of asylum seekers hiding in churches to avoid deportation under the Dublin Regulation. Significant adjustments were made to the exchange deadline in the so-called Dublin case.
Asylum seekers in the church will now only have to stay for six months to withdraw from the Dublin system. Six months later, they are no longer eligible to be moved to the EU country where they previously claimed asylum. With the reduction of the time limit, the difficulties of deporting refugees are effectively minimized, because according to the Dublin Regulation, in such cases, the EU’s 2nd country for asylum seekers will no longer be responsible.
On 23 September 2020, the European Commission adopted the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. The New Pact recognizes that no Member State should shoulder a disproportionate responsibility and that all Member States should contribute to solidarity on a constant basis.
What is Dublin Regulation?
The law of combined approach of Europe towards Asylum system. The Dublin III Regulation has been ratified in all the EU countries, as well as Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland. In principle, the state responsible for your asylum application is the European country you have first entered when you arrived in the EU or the one which has issued you an entry visa.