Human rights in Germany
This article is part of a series on the |
Politics of Germany |
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Human rights in Germany enjoy a high level of protection, both in theory and in practice, and are enshrined in the
Law
The constitution of Germany, the
However, following experiences from the
The constitution guarantees all rights from the
The ratification of the European Convention on Human Rights allows citizens to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
Mandatory military service for male citizens was established in 1956.[2] At any time, conscientious objectors can opt to do Zivildienst (civilian service) instead. For the time of both services, many human rights such as freedom of movement are suspended. Since 1 July 2011, the government no longer has the ability to exercise the right under this article, that is, military service is currently de facto voluntary in Germany. However, there are no plans to abolish laws allowing conscription.[3]
Treaties
UN core treaties[4] | Participation of Germany | CoE core treaties[5] | Participation of Germany |
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
|
Ratified in 1969 | European Convention on Human Rights | Ratified in 1952 |
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights | Ratified in 1973 | Protocol 1 (ECHR) | Ratified in 1957 |
First Optional Protocol (ICCPR) | Accession in 1993 | Protocol 4 (ECHR) | Ratified in 1968 |
Second Optional Protocol (ICCPR) | Ratified in 1992 | Protocol 6 (ECHR) | Ratified in 1989 |
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights | Ratified in 1973 | Protocol 7 (ECHR) | Signed in 1985 |
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women | Ratified in 1985 | Protocol 12 (ECHR) | Signed in 2000 |
Optional Protocol (CEDAW)
|
Ratified in 2002 | Protocol 13 (ECHR) | Ratified in 2004 |
United Nations Convention Against Torture | Ratified in 1990 | European Social Charter | Ratified in 1965 |
Optional Protocol (CAT)
|
Ratified in 2008 | Additional Protocol of 1988 (ESC) | Signed in 1988 |
Convention on the Rights of the Child | Ratified in 1992 | Additional Protocol of 1995 (ESC) | Not signed |
Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (CRC) | Ratified in 2004 | Revised European Social Charter | Signed in 2007 |
Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography (CRC) | Ratified in 2009 | European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment | Ratified in 1990 |
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
|
Not signed | European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages | Ratified in 1998 |
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities | Ratified in 2009 | Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities | Ratified in 1997 |
Optional Protocol (CRPD) | Ratified in 2009 | Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings
|
Signed in 2005 |
United Nations Convention against Corruption
|
Signed in 2014 | Legally binding multilateral UN anti-corruption instrument | Signed in 2003 |
Germany is also a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council. It recognizes the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.
Reports
The
The 2008
Topics
Custody
The
The German citizen
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is guaranteed by the constitution. However,
Freedom of assembly
Open-air public rallies require (generally) prior announcement to the local authorities, but no permits. Local authorities can prohibit rallies only on grounds of public safety concerns or involvement of outlawed organizations.
Freedom of press
The most notable incident involving free press restrictions was the
In 2005, minister of the interior
A scandal regarding spying on journalists by the secret service
Police brutality
Especially because of experiences through the Nazi-regime, the German politics and people are very attentive to the power and way of working of the police. In Germany the use of firearms—even by the police—is strictly regulated and there are (compared with other countries) only a few cases of shots fired by the police every year.[7] However, there were some incidents in the last past years:
On 5 March 2009 a man died in a hospital after falling into a coma while in police custody in Hagen on 17 February where he had been bound face-down. The Office of the Public Prosecutor terminated its investigations and found that the force used by the police was proportionate, despite the fact that since 2000, police officers have been trained not to restrain a person face-down because of the danger of asphyxia.[8]
In December 2008, the regional court of Dessau acquitted two police officers of killing
Torture
There are no reports on systematic use of torture in Germany. However, there were some related incidents.
In 2002, Frankfurt's police vice president Wolfgang Daschner ordered a subordinate officer to threaten the suspect of a kidnapping to use force in order to get information on the whereabouts of the abductee (the abductee was killed shortly after the kidnapping, but the suspect told the police that the child was still alive, and Daschner decided to break the law to save the child's life. Daschner himself wrote down an official note of his actions). This triggered an emotional debate over the legality of such measures. Daschner was convicted to the lowest possible penalty of a fine. Daschner and the subordinate officer remained in duty.
In a trial against terror suspect
Forced psychiatric interventions have repeatedly been reported by Psychiatric Survivor activists to be inhumane, meeting the criteria of and being experienced as torture.[11] In 2011 and 2012, the German Federal Constitutional Court [12] and the Federal Court of Justice clarified that there has never been any sufficient legal basis for compulsory treatment as practiced until then. Under the protests of human rights activists[13][14] who were supported by sociologist Prof. Wolf-Dieter Narr, the German Government and successively also the federal state governments started working towards a quick legalization of involuntary treatment.[15][16] By the time the first of these laws were enacted, the Special Rapporteur on torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Juan E. Méndez, reported on abusive practises in health care settings worldwide and the policies that promote these practises. He stated that:
"both this mandate and United Nations treaty bodies have established that involuntary treatment and other psychiatric interventions in health-care facilities are forms of torture and ill-treatment" and that "it is essential that an absolute ban on all coercive and non-consensual measures, including restraint and solitary confinement of people with psychological or intellectual disabilities, should apply"[17]
Surveillance
Several parties, such as the right-wing "
Vulnerable populations
Minority and foreign parents
Ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the political process and in public life, especially the civil service.[19] There were some cases of attacks on minorities in the country by right-wing groups, although Germany is—especially because of its past—very considerate on tolerance and integration.[20] In 2010 the US State Department reported that "right-wing extremist violence and harassment of racial minorities and foreigners were problems”.[21]
Human trafficking
There has been a growing awareness of
LGBT rights
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Germany have evolved significantly over the course of the last decades. As of June 29, 2017, Germany legalized same-sex marriage, which provides the same rights as opposite-sex married couples receive. Same-sex step adoption has also been legal since 2005 and was expanded in 2013 to allow someone in a same-sex relationship to adopt a child already adopted by their partner;[26] however, joint adoption has not yet been legislated. Discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity vary across Germany, but discrimination in employment and the provision of goods and services is in principle banned countrywide. Transgender people have been allowed to change their legal gender since 1980. The law initially required them to undergo surgical alteration of their genitals in order to have key identity documents changed. This has since been declared unconstitutional.[27]
Intersex rights
Intersex people in Germany have no recognition of their rights to physical integrity and bodily autonomy, and no specific protections from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics. In response to an inquiry by the German Ethics Council in 2012, the government passed legislation in 2013 designed to classify some intersex infants to a de facto third category. The legislation has been criticized by civil society and human rights organizations as misguided.[28][29]
Research published in 2016 found no substantive reduction in numbers of intersex medical interventions on infants and children with intersex conditions in the period from 2005 to 2014.[30] The United Nations and Amnesty International have joined local intersex civil society organizations in calling for protections.[31]
See also
- Antiziganism
- Environmental racism in Europe
- Nazi Germany
References
- ^ Prof. Dr. Tobias Singelnstein (n.d.). "Strafverfahren gegen Polizisten wegen Körperverletzung im Amt" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-23. Retrieved 2018-08-12.
- ^ German law: Wehrpflichtgesetz (WehrPflG) vom Juli 1956, Fundstelle: BGBl I 1956, 651, Neugefasst durch Bek. v. 30. 5.2005 I 1465 (see wording of the law)
- ^ "Kabinettsbeschluss: Wehrpflicht wird zum 1. Juli 2011 ausgesetzt" (in German). RP Online. 15 December 2010.
- ^ "UNTC". Treaties.un.org. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ "CoE human rights treaties". BConventions.coe.int. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ "Ein Fehler ist aufgetreten: Die gesuchte Seite ist leider nicht verfügbar (Fehlernummer 404) | tagesschau.de". Archived from the original on 2020-04-14. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
- ISBN 978-3-16-148921-1
- ^ "Germany | Amnesty International Report 2009". Archived from the original on 2009-09-02. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
- ^ Peters, Freia (8 December 2008). "Wutausbruch nach Polizistenfreispruch in Dessau". Die Welt (in German).
- ^ "Tod im Arrest: Polizist im Jallow-Prozess zu 10.800 Euro Strafe verurteilt". Der Spiegel. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ "Psychiatrische Zwangsbehandlung ist Folter" (PDF). Bpe-online.de. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ "Bundesverfassungsgericht - Presse - Verfassungsbeschwerde eines im Maßregelvollzug Untergebrachten gegen medizinische Zwangsbehandlung in einem weiteren Fall erfolgreich - auch baden-württembergische gesetzliche Regelung verfassungswidrig". Bundesverfassungsgericht.de. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ "Massaker an Grundrechten geplant: Demobericht Justizministerkonferenz". Zwangspsycjiatrie.de. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ "» Demo gegen Zwangspsychiatrie auf dem SPD Landesparteitag 2012 in Wiesloch Meinungsverbrechen.de". Meinungsverbrechen.de. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ Renneberg, Dr. Verena. "SPD und Koalition stimmen für Zwangsbehandlungen". Bundestag.de. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ Ärzteblatt, Deutscher Ärzteverlag GmbH, Redaktion Deutsches (17 May 2013). "Deutsches Ärzteblatt: Baden-Württemberg: Konsens über neue Regeln für Zwangsbehandlung in der Psychiatrie". Aerzteblatt.de. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Méndez, Juan E. "Report on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". OHCHR.
{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|url=
(help) - ^ Senat, Bundesverfassungsgericht, 2. (18 March 2003). "Bundesverfassungsgericht - Entscheidungen - Einstellung der NPD-Verbotsverfahren: Erfordernis einer qualifizierten Zweidrittelmehrheit für Ablehnung des Antrags auf Verfahrenseinstellung - Einstellungsbeschluss eine Prozess- und keine Sachentscheidung, ohne Bindungswirkung". Bverfg.de. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Githu Muigai. "Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance" (PDF). 2.ohchr.org. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ Australia: Refugee Review Tribunal (17 November 2010). "Germany". Refworld. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
- ^ "Germany". 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor – U.S. State Department. Archived from the original on 2010-03-15.
- ^ "Trafficking in human beings". Archived from the original on 2004-03-07. Retrieved 2015-03-06.
- ^ "A modern slave's brutal odyssey". Bbc.co.uk. 3 November 2004.
- ^ "V. Country Narratives -- Countries A through G". State.gov. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ "Germany - Coalition Against Trafficking of Women". Archived from the original on 2007-01-25. Retrieved 2007-05-21.
- ^ "German court expands adoption rights of gay couples". Reuters.com. 19 February 2013.
- ^ "ERT Notes Steps Taken Around the World Recognising the Gender Identity of Gender Variant Persons". Equal Rights Trust. 2011-12-14. Retrieved 2015-05-26.
- ^ Viloria, Hida (November 6, 2013). "Op-ed: Germany's Third-Gender Law Fails on Equality". The Advocate.
- ^ "OII Australia, "German proposals for a "third gender" on birth certificates miss the mark", 20 August 2013". OII Australia - Intersex Australia. 20 August 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
- ISSN 0947-6822. Archived from the originalon 2017-02-04. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
- ^ Amnesty International (2017). First, Do No Harm.
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External links
- Archive of Germany reports by Amnesty International.
- 2008 Country report on Israel Archived 2011-12-23 at the Wayback Machine by Freedom House.
- Archive of Germany reports by Human Rights Watch.
- Censorship cases in Germany reported by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange
- World Press Freedom Review by the International Press Institute
- 2008 U.S. State Departmentcountry report on human rights practices in Germany.
- 2010 U.S. State DepartmentHuman Rights Report: Germany.
- 2008 U.S. State Departmentcountry report on religious freedom in Germany.
- Review of Germany by the United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review, February 2, 2009