The 12th Synod of the Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (EKD) has called upon the Council of EKD to advocate the Federal Government and the European Institutions that:
- within the framework of the envisaged mandatory pre-entry screening and the (mandatory) asylum border procedures, fundamental and human rights are respected and monitored by independent bodies,
- access to legal assistance and effective legal remedy is guaranteed at all stages of the procedures,
- family and other meaningful links to a Member State are taken into account more consistently in determining who is responsible for asylum applications,
- a permanent, predictable and fair solidarity mechanism for the reception of refugees is established,
- detention in closed camps at the European external borders will not be the norm and that the expansion of the currently inhumane camps will be prevented,
- cooperation with third countries is not limited to the issues of border management and readmission agreements, but constitutes a comprehensive partnership and that development aid in this context exclusively serves to effectively combat structural causes of flight,
- clear rules for the distribution of those rescued at sea are established and that non-state actors are no longer criminalized and hindered, as well as the resumption of the intergovernmental sea rescue mission,
- ambitious objectives are set with regard to resettlement schemes and for the expansion of safe and legal migration routes to the EU,
- the European Commission monitors and sanctions the implementation of and compliance with existing asylum legislation in the EU Member States more strictly.
For more details, read the full text of the Resolution of the Synod.
Learn more about our advocacy work on migration by visiting our thematic page.