Germany to restrict family reunification for refugees - International
German MPs agreed Friday to suspend family reunification rights for refugees without asylum status as conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government pursues a crackdown on immigration.
Under the legislation approved by the Bundestag, the process by which family members of refugees with subsidiary protection can apply to come to Germany will be suspended for two years.
Refugees with subsidiary protection have not been granted asylum status but are given an initial right to stay in Germany for other reasons, such as the threat of torture or the death penalty in their country of origin.
The government has said the suspension is necessary to lift pressure on Germany's immigration and integration services.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told deputies the change reflected the government's priority for "humanity and order" in immigration policy.
While Germany remained open to the world, "the resilience of our social systems has its limits", Dobrindt said.
Education, housing and care systems were all under pressure, he added. "Therefore, immigration to Germany must also have its limits."
The current legal framework caps the number of visas issued to the close family of refugees under subsidiary protection to 1,000 a month.
Suspending the right of family reunification would therefore lead to 12,000 fewer people immigrating to Germany each year, Dobrindt said.
The change aims to eliminate a "pull effect" that draws migrants to Germany and supports the activities of human traffickers, he argued.
Critics say that the right to reunification reflects a humanitarian principle and that refugees who live together with their families integrate better in society.
Opponents of the legislation organised a protest outside the Bundestag on Thursday.
"When we talk about good integration, the family comes first," Saeed Saeed, 25, one of the protest organisers who works with refugees in Magdeburg, told AFP.
Wafaa Mohamed, 42, a dentist from Syria living in Germany under subsidiary protection, said: "We want to make our voices heard to the federal government: we cannot live here without our families."
The legislation passed by MPs includes exceptions for hardship cases, such as family members in urgent need of medical care.
It also states that the initial suspension should be reviewed at the end of the two-year period and could be suspended.
Follow us on:
Facebook
Instagram
Whatsapp
Short link:
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al-Ahram Weekly
12 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Israeli forces kill at least 62 in Gaza as strikes continue to hit civilians near aid points - War on Gaza
Israeli forces killed at least 62 people in Gaza on Friday, including 10 who had gathered to receive aid, according to Gaza's civil defence agency. Spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told AFP that they were killed by Israeli airstrikes and gunfire across the Gaza Strip. A day earlier, the civil defence agency reported 56 people killed in another wave of Israeli attacks, including six struck at two separate aid distribution points. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday slammed the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which set up aid distribution sites across the war-torn strip, calling it "slaughter masquerading as humanitarian aid". According to Gaza's Government Media Office, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed and 4,066 injured by Israeli forces over the past month while attempting to access humanitarian aid. In a statement posted to Telegram on Wednesday, the office described the so-called "American-Israeli aid centres" as "death traps and traps for daily mass killing and luring," saying they had become sites of repeated massacres. The statement said the killings occurred as Palestinians attempted to reach food amid "a policy of starvation and comprehensive siege". According to MSF, in the week of 8 June, shortly after GHF opened a distribution site in central Gaza's Netzarim corridor, its field hospital in nearby Deir el-Balah recorded a 190 percent increase in bullet wound cases compared with the previous week. It has also previously warned that aid is being weaponised by Israel to forcibly displace Palestinians as part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing. "This initiative seems to be a cynical ploy to feign compliance with International Humanitarian Law," it said, adding that it "uses aid as a tool to forcibly displace people as part of... a broader strategy to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip." Earlier on Friday, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that at least 11 people were killed in Israeli air and drone strikes in southern Gaza. Israeli warplanes bombed a tent sheltering displaced families in al-Mawasi, a declared "safe zone" south-west of Khan Younis, while drones struck the Bani Suheila and Sheikh Nasser neighbourhoods. One person was also reported killed in a separate airstrike on al-Qarara. It was unclear whether those casualties were included in the civil defence toll. Gaza's health ministry said on Friday that Israel has killed at least 56,331 people and wounded more than 132,632 others since 7 October 2023, the majority of them women and children. It said 72 people were killed and 174 injured in the past 24 hours alone. "A number of victims are still under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulances and civil defence crews cannot reach them," the ministry said. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
14 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Germany to restrict family reunification for refugees - International
German MPs agreed Friday to suspend family reunification rights for refugees without asylum status as conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz's government pursues a crackdown on immigration. Under the legislation approved by the Bundestag, the process by which family members of refugees with subsidiary protection can apply to come to Germany will be suspended for two years. Refugees with subsidiary protection have not been granted asylum status but are given an initial right to stay in Germany for other reasons, such as the threat of torture or the death penalty in their country of origin. The government has said the suspension is necessary to lift pressure on Germany's immigration and integration services. Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told deputies the change reflected the government's priority for "humanity and order" in immigration policy. While Germany remained open to the world, "the resilience of our social systems has its limits", Dobrindt said. Education, housing and care systems were all under pressure, he added. "Therefore, immigration to Germany must also have its limits." The current legal framework caps the number of visas issued to the close family of refugees under subsidiary protection to 1,000 a month. Suspending the right of family reunification would therefore lead to 12,000 fewer people immigrating to Germany each year, Dobrindt said. The change aims to eliminate a "pull effect" that draws migrants to Germany and supports the activities of human traffickers, he argued. Critics say that the right to reunification reflects a humanitarian principle and that refugees who live together with their families integrate better in society. Opponents of the legislation organised a protest outside the Bundestag on Thursday. "When we talk about good integration, the family comes first," Saeed Saeed, 25, one of the protest organisers who works with refugees in Magdeburg, told AFP. Wafaa Mohamed, 42, a dentist from Syria living in Germany under subsidiary protection, said: "We want to make our voices heard to the federal government: we cannot live here without our families." The legislation passed by MPs includes exceptions for hardship cases, such as family members in urgent need of medical care. It also states that the initial suspension should be reviewed at the end of the two-year period and could be suspended. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Al-Ahram Weekly
14 hours ago
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Surge in conflicts fuels extreme poverty: World Bank - Economy
Conflicts and related fatalities have more than tripled since the early 2000s, fueling extreme poverty, the World Bank said Friday. Economies in fragile and conflict-affected regions have become "the epicenter of global poverty and food insecurity, a situation increasingly shaped by the frequency and intensity of conflict," the bank added in a new study. This year, 421 million people get by on less than $3 a day in places hit by conflict or instability -- a situation of extreme poverty -- and the number is poised to hit 435 million by 2030. Global attention has been focused on conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East for the past three years, said World Bank Group chief economist Indermit Gill. But "half of the countries facing conflict or instability today have been in such conditions for 15 years or more," he added. Currently, 39 economies are classified as facing such conditions, and 21 of them are in active conflict, the Washington-based development lender said. The list includes Ukraine, Somalia, South Sudan and the West Bank and Gaza. It also includes Iraq although not Iran. The report flagged that moves to prevent conflict can bring high returns, with timely interventions being "far more cost-effective than responding after violence erupts." It also said that some of these economies have advantages that could be used to reignite growth, noting that places like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo are rich in minerals key to clean tech like electric vehicles and solar panels. "Economic stagnation -- rather than growth -- has been the norm in economies hit by conflict and instability over the past decade and a half," said Ayhan Kose, World Bank Group deputy chief economist. The bank's report noted that high-intensity conflicts, which kill more than 150 per million people, are typically followed by a cumulative fall of around 20 percent in GDP per capita after five years. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
