Europe Refugee Crisis In Germany: Berlin ‘Losing Sight Of Human Rights,’ New Report Finds

France and Europe 'shameful' over refugees, terror response

European countries' "shameful" response to the migrant crisis and their counter-terrorism policies risk undermining their historic commitment to human rights, Amnesty International warned on Wednesday, singling out France for particular criticism.

The London-based campaign group, traditionally more used to lambasting dictatorships for rights abuses, used its annual report to take some of the world's oldest democracies to task.

Several countries in the European Union's passport-free Schengen area have reimposed border controls in response to a huge wave of migrants and refugees fleeing war and persecution in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

"That Europe, which is the richest bloc in the world, is not able to take care of the basic rights of some of the most persecuted people in the world, is shameful," said Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty.

He called for safe, legal routes for people to reach Europe and said they should be treated on a case by case basis, not subjected to "collective

punishment".

"The majority of countries, with the honourable exception perhaps of Germany, have simply decided that the protection of their borders is more important than the protection of the rights of refugees," added Amnesty's Europe director John Dalhuisen.

French ‘shortcuts’

Amnesty also expressed alarm about fresh counter-terrorism laws being introduced across Europe, in particular the "rights-sapping" state of emergency implemented in France after jihadist gunmen attacked Paris in November, killing 130 people.

The measure allows the interior minister to place under house arrest any person whose behaviour is considered "a threat to security and public order" and to order searches of homes at any hour without involving the court.

"This is curbing free expression, it is curbing free movement of people," Shetty told AFP.

"Everybody understands that the French government has to respond to this reality. But a government that has historically championed human rights can't take shortcuts."

UN’s ‘systemic failure’

More broadly, Amnesty warned that the international system that protected human rights was itself under threat.

Many governments were ignoring, undermining or using their vetos to reduce the impact of protections afforded by the United Nations, the International Criminal Court and other regional rights mechanisms, the group warned.

"The Syrian conflict is one horrific example of the catastrophic human consequences of a systemic failure of the UN to fulfill its vital role in upholding rights and international law and ensuring accountability," it said.

Shetty added: "The system that has been very carefully built over 70 years to protect human rights now needs to be protected from a wholesale

attack."

He urged world leaders to provide more political support and funding for the systems that uphold international law, and to back a reforming new UN secretary general when Ban Ki-moon's term expires at the end of this year.

Europe Refugee Crisis In Germany: Berlin ‘Losing Sight Of Human Rights,’ New Report Finds

As Germany continues to struggle with a large influx of refugees, an advocacy group warned the country was “losing sight of human rights,” the Local reported Wednesday. The report from Amnesty International critiqued new laws that have increased police powers to detain refugees as political tensions remain high and attacks against refugee shelters increase.

“[Germany’s] readiness to take these people in was a big contribution to helping those in need,” said Selmin Çalışkan, the general-secretary of Amnesty’s Germany branch. “But this refugee-friendly behavior from the government is no longer there.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel continues to face domestic pressure to backtrack on her open-arms refugee policy. The German leader has seen her approval ratings fall drastically since the start of the crisis.

A chartered flight with 125 Afghan refugees flew from Germany to Kabul

Wednesday returning refugees to their home country, Reuters reported.

Reports said the refugees agreed to voluntarily return. Since the start of the year, Afghanis have made up the second-highest number of refugees, after Syrians, making dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossings.

“After a difficult way to Germany in the hands of people smugglers they realized their future is in Afghanistan and that they are needed in their home country,” said a statement from the German embassy.

Tensions remain high in Germany with footage of refugees on a bus being intimidated by protesters in Clausnitz last week as they tried to go to a shelter, the BBC reported. In a nearby town, a refugee shelter was set on fire in an arson attack. Germany’s justice minister said the attacks were “abhorrent and disgusting,” however, statistics show such attacks have been increasing since last year.

European Union leaders are scheduled to hold another summit on the refugee crisis with Turkish officials March 7 to try to slow the influx of refugees crossing into Europe. Amnesty was critical of Germany trying to stem the flow by pressuring Turkey, a country where human rights conditions for refugees remain poor. Refugee arrivals in Greece and Italy have already surpassed 100,000 this year, the International Organization for Migration reported.

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