Refugee Protection: Germany Country Report

This report examines the asylum determination systems and refugee protection regimes of Germany from a multilevel governance perspective, taking into consideration the national level as well as the state and municipal one. Additionally it explores the legal framework, as well as its implementation and concrete practices, along with main narratives among public and state actors and the perception and experiences of asylum-seeking migrants from a historical perspective. The report reveals that after a key decisive policy change in 1993, codified in the so-called asylum compromise establishing central features that endure until today, the nextdecisive break was the developments of 2015/2016 – with the massive inflow of nearly 800,000 asylum-seeking migrants to Germany. This new increase in numbers led to a near collapse of the reception and procedural systems that had been cut back over previous years, producing in fact a self-made emergency situation. Our report and the many statements of asylum-seeking migrants, of NGOs and lawyers, all emphasise the need to have a broad civil society sector and volunteers that support asylum applicants through each and every step of their procedure, monitoring the performances of state institutions and filling the gaps where state provisions endanger the rule of law and fundamental rights – as codified in international European and national laws