We participated in the campaign by Terre des Hommes with Pro Asyl and the Federal Association for Minors and Refugees against the suspension of family reunification for beneficiaries of subsidiary protection for two years.
This decision, which has now received a majority in both the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, affects all people in Germany who do not have a permanent residence permit, such as a positive asylum decision. This includes, for example, many Syrian refugees who, due to the still dramatically poor public safety situation in their country, cannot return to their homeland for the foreseeable future.
This deprives them of their right to an intact family for at least two years. Children do not see their fathers and mothers, spouses remain separated, and siblings grow up without a brother or sister. This contradicts the principle of the best interests of the child enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and prevents the integration of refugee minors.
We contacted a total of three politicians from the CDU and SPD: Isabelle Cademartori (SPD, constituency 275 Mannheim), Sertac Bilgin (CDU, constituency 206 Ludwigshafen), and Olav Gutting (CDU, constituency 278 Bruchsal-Schwetzingen). While Ms. Cademartori and Mr. Bilgin sought a personal meeting with us, Mr. Gutting has not responded to date, despite several email inquiries and two phone calls with his constituency office. Apparently, Mr. Gutting is either unable or unwilling to explain or take responsibility for his party's policy on this issue. In our view, the recognition of civic engagement, which is also frequently demanded by the CDU, looks quite different.
While Ms. Cademartori thanked us for our commitment during our personal meeting and was well-informed, she could offer us no hope of a change to the law. According to her, the regulation was not what her party wanted and the decision went against her own convictions. She considered the two-year time limit a small success. She hopes that one or two cases might be decided favorably in smaller committees.
The meeting with Mr. Bilgin is still pending due to a misunderstanding. He seemed very open and interested in our position. However, the statements on his website regarding migration and refugees offer little hope for substantive differences with the position and policies of the current CDU/CSU-led federal government.