The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has expressed serious concern over Germany's decision to tighten border controls and turn back asylum-seeking migrants at border crossings, DPA reports, BTA reports.
The UNHCR representative for Germany, Katharina Tothe, told the agency that the measure to temporarily suspend the acceptance of asylum applications directly at the border was worrying. She stressed that Germany has been a strategic partner of the High Commissioner for decades and remains a key country for the provision of international protection in Europe.
The stricter border measures were introduced on the orders of the new Minister of the Interior, Alexander Dobrint, last Wednesday. Exceptions are made for vulnerable groups - pregnant women, mothers with young children and seriously ill people.
The new policy follows the inauguration of the new German government on May 6, led by conservative Friedrich Merz. The cabinet said it would extend the period of already existing temporary border checks and return all illegal migrants who have applied for asylum at the entrance to the country.
Tote recalled that international law does not oblige refugees to seek protection in the first country they arrive in. Under certain conditions, they can be redirected to other "safe" countries, but on condition that their rights are protected and responsibility is shared fairly between countries.
Closing the borders to all asylum seekers risks violating the principle of solidarity between EU countries, the UN representative also warned. She called on Germany to continue to implement existing European agreements on the processing of asylum applications.
According to DPA, refusing entry to Germany to people with invalid visas is not a new practice. However, until now it has mainly applied to people who have not applied for asylum or who are already banned from entering the country - for example after deportation.
The German Interior Ministry said it was too early to assess the impact of the new policy. Since the beginning of the year, 45,681 initial asylum applications have been filed in Germany - a 46 percent drop compared to the same period in 2024, when the number was 84,984.