Germany adopts draft-bill which envisages declaration of Georgia as ‘safe country’
Germany adopts draft-bill which envisages declaration of Georgia as ‘safe country’

Germany’s Cabinet adopted a draft-bill, which envisages declaration of Georgia, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria as ‘safe countries of origin’ – Deutche Welle reports. The draft-bill will be sent to Germany’s upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat for approval.

If enacted, the change in the law would make it easier for Germany to turn back people from and deport them back to the countries in question, which have been frequently accused of human-rights violations.

“This means that people from these safe countries cannot call upon a right to asylum (in Germany),” German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters, adding that the proposed legislation was “an important contribution” to Germany’s attempts to balance humanitarian concerns with a desire for “order.”

Seehofer said that asylum applicants from the countries concerned had a success rate of less than five percent. But he also said that individual appeals to the rules would be possible and that people from the four countries in question who were already studying or working legally in Germany would be exempt from deportations.

In September of 2014, Germany declared Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina as ‘safe.” Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro were added to the list afterwards.