Do conscripted Ukrainians have to return home to renew their passports? The German Federal Ministry of the Interior sees an obligation to do so – actually.
Before the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference in Berlin, Development Minister Svenja Schulze ( Social Democratic Party, SPD) ruled out the possibility of forcing Ukrainian refugees to return to Germany. “Germany is not exerting any pressure and is not paying any return premiums,” said Schulze on Monday.
However, the air is getting thinner for the Ukrainian men aged between 18 and 60 who have fled to Germany and do not want to fulfil their compulsory military service in Ukraine. This is shown by responses from other SPD ministries to parliamentary questions in the Bundestag in recent weeks.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior, for example, does not see the conscientious objection of Ukrainians to military service as a human right with absolute priority. Their “personal interests” are opposed to the “interests of the Ukrainian state in effective defence”, explained Parliamentary State Secretary Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter on Wednesday. From an overall perspective, it is therefore “justifiable that the interests of the individual must take a back seat to those of the state as a whole”. These interests of Ukraine must also be taken into account by Germany “within the framework of sovereignty under international law”, the SPD MP continued.
This was sharply criticised by the Left Party. “What the German government is saying about the right to conscientious objection is both appalling and revealing,” said Clara Bünger, a member of the Left Party in the Bundestag. This human right must be respected by states at all times, especially in times of war, said the group’s refugee policy spokesperson.
Since 24 February 2022, 275,715 Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 have entered Germany, of whom 226,057 were still in Germany as of 30 April. The ban on issuing passports imposed by the Ukrainian consulate on 23 April is causing them problems. Those affected should therefore travel to Ukraine for expired documents. There they are threatened with immediate conscription.
Even though military service is compulsory, Ukrainians can be expected to travel to Ukraine to obtain a passport, says Schwarzelühr-Sutter. Her colleague Mahmut Özdemir, also Parliamentary State Secretary of the SPD, had already explained this in early May in response to a written question. Foreign nationals must always fulfil the passport requirement, which also applies to Ukrainians despite compulsory military service.
However, this obligation has no effect on the granting of temporary protection, Özdemir explained at the time. It is therefore still possible to apply with an expired passport.
For refugees, the question of whether and under what circumstances they can obtain a passport is also of central importance for the rest of their lives. Lawyer Matthias Lehnert recently pointed this out in an expert report for Pro Asyl. “It is unacceptable to oblige people, especially men, to travel to Ukraine to renew their passports,” Lehnert told “nd”. However, this does not mean that the German government’s hands are tied. It could issue replacement documents so that those affected could travel outside of Germany, for example.
A large number of men with Ukrainian citizenship living in Germany receive social benefits. At the beginning of the year, the Federal Employment Agency recorded around 132,000 men between the ages of 18 and 60 who were entitled to standard benefits.
The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has rejected calls from the Christian Democratic Union party to include Ukrainian war refugees in the asylum seeker benefits system, citing the EU Mass Influx Directive, according to which Ukrainians are granted a temporary humanitarian residence permit without having to go through an asylum procedure. They are nevertheless entitled to basic benefits for jobseekers or social assistance.
The EU Commission announced on Tuesday that it intends to extend the protection status for war refugees from Ukraine for a further year. The member states are to reach an agreement on this at a meeting in Brussels on Thursday. In Germany, this affects a total of around 1.1 million people.
Published in German in „nd“.
Image: Anyone who has to travel to Ukraine to obtain a passport could be forced to serve on the front line there (MoD Ukraine).
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