Austria has joined Germany in saying that it intends to start deporting Afghans with criminal records back to their native country on a case by case basis.
Last Friday, a deportation flight carrying 28 Afghans – all convicted criminals from various states across Germany – left Germany for Kabul, the first deportations since the Taliban took control in August 2021.
The move was seen as part of tougher measures being considered in light of growing public upset and concern after the deadly Islamist attacks in Mannheim and, more recently, in Solingen which left three people dead and another eight wounded. A Syrian national and alleged Islamist extremist who had come to Germany claiming asylum is the alleged perpetrator.
According to German news magazine Der Spiegel, the German authorities did not deal directly with the Taliban but worked through negotiations with key regional powers. Each convicted criminal – all male – was given a payment of €1,000.
Under pressure from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the leader of the conservative opposition Christian Democrats (CDU), Friedrich Merz, had demanded an “effective moratorium” on refugees from Syria and Afghanistan, and for rejected asylum applicants from both countries to be repatriated.
He also said that any asylum seekers who had travelled back to their countries of origin should lose their German residency status.
Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner called Germany’s decision “very good”, and this week Austria’s Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum said they too would consider deportations to Afghanistan on a case-by-case basis, saying that it could be permissible because of the “changed security situation” in the country.
The Austrian authorities said it would “cooperate closely” with Germany on joint deportations, Euronews reported.
“The minister of the interior has been in negotiations with the German minister of the interior for a very long time about how we can solve the problem of deportations to Afghanistan because Austria is also deporting Afghans and Syrians right now,” said Chancellor Karl Nehammer.
While migrants rights groups have said freezing admissions would be illegal, Rupert Scholz, a constitutional lawyer and former Federal Defence Minister, told the newspaper Bild: “Our right to asylum is subject to internal security. If the people or the state are under threat, Germany can suspend admissions generally, or for certain countries of origin.”
Austrian’s Minister Karner called for talks in March to reassess the EU-wide ban on deportations to Afghanistan and Syria.
“Currently, we are not able to repatriate anyone to countries like Syria or Afghanistan, as it would be against EU law,” Karner said at the time. “In Austria, these two countries account for about three-quarters of all asylum applications.”
The Austrian authorities have already said that deportations to Afghanistan are permissible on a case-by-case basis because of the “changed security situation” in the country.
“The fact that deportations to Afghanistan are possible again is a demand that I, that Austria, have been making for a long time, and I am therefore very pleased that this is happening. It is crucial that we deport people to Afghanistan and Syria again,” Karner said this week.
“And that is why this will also happen departing from Austria in the future.”
Until now, Afghans deported from Germany and Austria were brought to a third country, and Amnesty International has criticised the decision to make deportations directly to Kabul.
Almost 9,000 Afghan nationals applied for asylum in Austria last year, according to the Austrian immigration agency.
In March of this year, the Irish High Court ruled that the state’s designation of the UK as a “safe third country” to which asylum seekers can be returned for processing is unlawful as a matter of EU law.