In an urgent appeal, human rights politicians from the coalition and opposition in the Bundestag appealed to Chancellor Angela Merkel to personally take care of the fate of former Bundeswehr personnel in Afghanistan. “Dear Chancellor, the Federal Government and you personally have a political and moral responsibility for these people, without whom the difficult and dangerous deployment of the Bundeswehr in Afghanistan would simply not have been possible,” says the appeal Süddeutsche Zeitung is present. Merkel is “urgently requested” by the MPs to exercise her authority to issue guidelines in order to enable former local staff at risk to leave Germany quickly since the Bundeswehr withdrew.
“We are stunned and ashamed of the way in which the institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany deal with local forces in Afghanistan who have faithfully and reliably served our country and the security of our soldiers for many years who have been involved in our country because of this commitment have to fear their lives, and which in many cases are now clearly to be left to their fate “, complain the MPs. The appeal is signed by the spokesmen for human rights policy for the Greens, the CDU / CSU, the FDP and the SPD in the Bundestag, Margarete Bause, Michael Brand, Gyde Jensen and Frank Schwabe.
We hear from men, women and children “who are subject to our duty of care, fall on deaf ears with German authorities in Afghanistan with their legitimate concerns or, even worse, are not even admitted if they want to point out that they are at risk”. The federal government accuses the MPs of glossing over the situation. In contrast to what several departments recently claimed, “it is simply untrue that the people eligible for emigration to Germany only had to register – and then, so to speak, automatically receive an entry permit”.
A question of credibility
Afghan local workers who managed to leave for Germany, moreover, often find themselves on their own after their arrival and have so far received mainly civil society support, the MPs criticize. Germany’s dealings with local Afghan workers are not just about individual fates. “It is also about how credibly our country stands up internationally for its values and its given word,” it says in the letter.
The German government also refers to 2,400 visas that have already been issued for former Afghan employees and their families. The “Sponsorship Network Afghan Local Workers” recently assumed that only about 100 of them had reached Germany so far. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) had pointed out in the SZ that it was up to each ministry to decide whether local staff had to submit a plausible justified report of danger or whether, as required by the Federal Ministry of Defense, a risk was automatically accepted if someone was demonstrably local staff. The spokesmen for human rights policy demand from Merkel to ensure a uniform regulation.