(Deutsche Welle) The German government will put forward legislation declaring Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Georgia “safe countries of origin.” The decision was reached after the weekly meeting of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cabinet on Wednesday in Berlin.
If enacted, the change in the law would make it easier for Germany to turn back people from and deport them back to the countries in question, which have been frequently accused of human-rights violations.
“This means that people from these safe countries cannot call upon a right to asylum (in Germany),” German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters, adding that the proposed legislation was “an important contribution” to Germany’s attempts to balance humanitarian concerns with a desire for “order.”
