Germany has deported 30 percent more people since the start of 2024 compared to last year when the increase was 25 percent compared to 2022, a spokesman for the German interior ministry said on Friday.
He said the reason for this is the stricter laws that have come into force.
Since the beginning of this year, 6,316 deportations have been recorded, while in the same period in 2023 there were 4,792 deportations.
Throughout 2023, Germany deported 16,430 people, and in 2022, this figure was 12,945.
Many people were deported to North Macedonia, Georgia and Austria in the previous two years. Germany deports many to other EU member states because many lived there before coming to Germany and should therefore go through procedures for obtaining asylum in those countries.
Deportations have gained new attention since a German police officer was killed in Mannheim by an Afghan immigrant. Germany has so far not deported citizens of Afghanistan and Syria to their home countries because they are considered unsafe.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced on Thursday that he wants to allow the deportation of serious criminals to Afghanistan and Syria again. The Ministry of the Interior is currently considering possible ways to achieve this.
Pro Asyl, a German organization that advocates for the rights of refugees, condemned Scholz’s initiative.
“International law clearly prohibits deportations to Afghanistan and Syria,” organization head Karl Kopp told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper published on Friday.
Kopp described Scholz’s intention as illegal because “both countries are known for their use of torture and inhuman punishment.”
Germany’s foreign ministry also warned on Friday against cooperating with the Taliban, who rule Afghanistan, on deporting Afghan criminals, saying the Islamist government would seek international recognition if it did so.
“The Taliban will want at least partial international recognition in exchange for any repatriation,” a spokesman for German Foreign Minister Annalene Baerbock said in Berlin.
“And the fact is that the German government does not recognize the de facto Taliban government in Afghanistan, like every other country in the world, and does not cooperate with it”.
There is only occasional contact “at a technical level” in individual cases, the spokesman added.
The Taliban have previously shown that they are open to cooperation in terms of accepting Afghan criminals and dangerous individuals.
