Germany’s highest court ruled this week that the return of some migrants to Greece, where they had previously been granted international protection status, did not violate their basic rights, opening the way for deportation from Germany to the Mediterranean country, according to Greekreporter.
Germany’s Federal Administrative Court in the eastern city of Leipzig ruled that despite the flaws in Greece’s migrant reception system, single, healthy and able-bodied migrants could be deported to that country.
“Single, employable, and non-vulnerable beneficiaries of international protection are currently not threatened with degrading or inhumane living conditions upon return to Greece,” the court said in a statement. “Therefore, asylum applications from this group of persons in Germany can be rejected as inadmissible.”
The decision came after the German court rejected the appeals of two men, a 32-year-old Somali national and a 34-year-old northern Gaza native whose nationality remains unclear. Both men fled their countries in 2017 and 2018 and travelled through Turkey before reaching Greece. There they were granted international protection status and issued temporary residence permits.
They later travelled to Germany and submitted new asylum applications, which the authorities found unacceptable, followed by deportation orders to Greece. Their legal claims were rejected by lower courts, which found no substantial risk of inhuman or degrading treatment upon their return to Greece.
The Leipzig court emphasised that while access to state support in Greece may be delayed due to bureaucratic obstacles, returnees can usually secure basic needs through temporary shelters and income from informal employment. Emergency medical care is also available.
This ruling contrasts with decisions of other German courts that are more critical of the living conditions of migrants in Greece. Because of such concerns and rulings, deportations to Greece from Germany have virtually stopped in recent years.
Federal judges upheld the lower court’s assessment. Presiding judge Robert Keller said the criterion was whether migrants in Greece had “bed, bread and soap” at their disposal. He added: “It’s not much – we know that. It’s a tough standard.”
Nevertheless, the court concluded that Greece did not breach the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in its treatment of asylum seekers.
German human rights groups such as ProAsyl have continued to argue that migrants in Greece face serious difficulties, citing systematic obstacles to accessing basic services.
The group condemned the court’s decision as detached from reality. “We have a very different assessment of the situation,” consultant Andreas Meyerhofer said. “We know that people are at real risk of falling into destitution.” He also warned that renewed deportations could further worsen the already dire situation of migrants in Greece.
