On the occasion of the European Council’s Thursday and Friday meeting, 38 organizations warned against temporarily suspending the right to asylum in the EU. Among the signatories of the joint appeal (PDF) are LSVD+ – Verband Queere Vielfalt and Pro Asyl. They urge the federal government to firmly oppose such proposals at the European level.
The European Council will, at its meeting on October 15 and 16, for the first time consider proposals to temporarily suspend access to asylum in certain exceptional situations. This could become relevant, for example, when a very large number of people arrive at the EU’s external border at once and there is suspicion that a third country is deliberately weaponizing migration to pressure the EU or a member state.
“An EU-approved suspension of the right to asylum would be a grave breach of European fundamental rights,” reads the appeal. In the face of particular burdens, solidarity and mutual support among EU states must be the response, not a relinquishment of fundamental rights.
Alva Träbert, a member of the LSVD⁺ national board, stressed that the right to asylum is an individual right that must always be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Queer people flee laws that criminalize their identities, violence, arrest, torture, and sexualized violence, yet they are often rendered invisible. Whether someone is persecuted because of their queer identity can only be determined in an individual proceeding. “Human rights cannot be suspended or relativized when politics become uncomfortable,” said Träbert.
The organizations point out that asylum seekers at the EU’s external borders are already being denied access to asylum procedures through illegal rejections (“pushbacks”). In their view, the EU could be on the cusp of legalizing this human rights violation.
Marcy Ellerton
