legal and social conditions for asylum seekers and refugees in ...

Appeal
– it may refuse to grant either of the above. In these cases, however, the Federal Office must
assess whether there are other obstacles to the removal of these rejected asylum seekers,
such as those set out in Section 53 of the Aliens Act (e.g. risk of torture, the death penalty, or
specific, material threat to life and limb following an expulsion). If the Federal Office accepts
that such risks exist, Duldung is granted;
– it may refuse to grant refugee status or any right to remain on the grounds that the applicant
may be deported without any risk to his/her safety. The applicant will then be ordered to leave
the country within one month.
No detailed information is available on the average processing time required for these cases. The
Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees estimates that, in 1999, about 30% of the
decisions were made within a month, about 54% within three months, but that approximately 25%
of the decisions took up to six months. In some cases, it can take much longer. The Federal office
has managed to reduce the backlog of cases pending from over 80,000 in 1996 to approximately
40,000 at the end of 1999, as shown below:
Cases pending at the Federal Office
January 1996 80.880
January 1997 45.704
January 1998 33.476
January 1999 36.475
January 2000 40.339
Negative decisions by the Federal Office may be appealed to an administrative court
(“Verwaltungsgericht”) with suspensive effect within two weeks of notification. Appeals may also
be lodged against decisions which are only negative in part, such as the refusal of status under
Section 16a of the Constitution but its granting under Section 51(1) of the Aliens Act, or a refusal
of refugee status but the granting of Duldung. Any appeal must be substantiated within one
month. The procedure before the administrative court includes a hearing, where the presence of
the appellant is required.
The Federal Commissioner for Asylum Affairs (“Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für
Ausländerfragen”), an administrative body under the Ministry of the Interior, has the right to
challenge positive decisions made by the Federal Office within the same legal time-frame.
According to NGOs, this happens in about 60% of cases.
Appellants without resources are entitled to receive free legal aid, but this is only granted if their
appeal is deemed to have a chance of success.
There are no national figures regarding the success rate for appeals filed with the administrative
courts. In three Länder, it was estimated to be about 8% in 1998.
Judgements made by the administrative courts may be further appealed to the Upper
Administrative Court (“Oberverwaltungsgericht”), if the latter considers the case to be of special
importance.
In cases where there is a question of principle involved, appeals may be lodged against a
decision of the Upper Administrative Court to the Federal Administrative Court
(“Bundesverwaltungsgericht”) in Berlin or to the Federal Constitutional Court
(“Bundesverfassungsgericht”) in Karlsruhe.
None of these have suspensive effect, but, in practice, deportation orders are suspended.
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Germany