Germany: Asylum Seekers Benefits Act Must be Abolished
Cologne, Germany 4 October 2012-- In a submission to the UN Human Rights Council, FIAN Germany, the German section of the international human rights organization FIAN, has called on the German government to abolish the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act and to include refugees into the regular social security system.
The submission under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) also highlights the increase in food insecurity in Germany and calls for higher levels of social security for children.
Over the last few years, the number of food banks in Germany has skyrocketed. The organization “Tafeln” claims that they alone provide 1.5 mi. people with food and drinks. It and other organizations have taken over big parts of the state obligation to guarantee access to nutritious food for all residents. In its submission to the UN, FIAN Germany challenges the view that food security can be delegated to civil society.
“The right to adequate food should never be a question of the best position in a food bank’s queue,” said Ute Hausmann, executive director of FIAN Germany. “As a consequence, FIAN Germany calls on the government to implement a comprehensive anti-poverty program which specifically addresses state obligations related to the human right to food.”
In 2009, roughly 122,000 people received benefits under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, including asylum seekers, war refugees, victims of human trafficking, foreigners who have been granted a suspension of deportation (so-called tolerated foreigners) or those who are obliged to leave the country as well as spouses, partners and underage children. On 18 July 2012, the German Federal Constitutional Court declared the amount of cash payments specified under Article 3 of the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act as evidently insufficient and thus unconstitutional.
The ruling specifies that the fundamental right to guarantee a dignified minimum existence applies equally to German and foreign nationals living in the Federal Republic of Germany. It obliges the legislator to immediately introduce a revision of the Act, ensuring a dignified minimum existence.
In its submission to the UN, FIAN Germany calls on the German government to not only adjust cash payments, but to abolish the Asylum Seekers Benefits altogether. One major reason is that under the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act, in kind benefits have precedence over cash payments. However, Food parcels violate the freedom to be able to feed oneself in a self-determined fashion. In cases of deficient quality or food intolerances, the right to health is put at risk.
Also, food parcels can contain food items which do not meet the needs and customs of the recipients. In addition, currently the authorities responsible are under no legal obligation to prove that the in kind benefits are adequate and thus enable self-determined nutrition in dignity. Furthermore, legal means are lacking to remedy the situation when in kind benefits fail to provide healthy nutrition and one which is also in accordance with needs and customs.
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See the UPR submission of FIAN Germany
See FIAN Germany’s Policy Brief on the Asylum Seeker’s Benefits Act