Bonn Moves to Stop Influx of Third World ‘Economic Refugees’

Chancellor Helmut Kohl on Wednesday unveiled measures aimed at stopping the influx of Third World refugees seeking asylum under West Germany’s liberal laws on granting refuge to victims of political persecution.

Kohl told a news conference the package was not intended to bar individuals seeking a haven from political persecution, but to dissuade “economic refugees” who seek entry to West Germany solely for financial reasons.

Kohl said that, in the first three weeks in August, 9,241 refugees had entered West Germany, which is one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

“The number of asylum seekers climbs from month to month,” Kohl said. “If this continues we will have to reckon with a record of over 100,000 this year and only around 16% are eventually recognized as victims of political persecution.”

Bonn has said it was losing control of a flood of refugees from Asia, Africa and the Middle East attracted by West Germany’s constitutional guarantee of political asylum and prosperous living standards.

Aid to Third World

The government spents about $975 million annually on refugee aid in addition to financial assistance for the developing countries, Kohl said, adding, “(West Germany) gives more money to help the Third World than the whole Warsaw Pact, including the Soviet Union.”

Kohl said his government would require entry or transit visas for citizens of certain Third World countries and order airline companies to to make certain that travelers from such countries were issued entry papers for West Germany when selling them tickets.

If they airlines failed to do so the airlines would be liable to pay for the return journeys of such travelers. They would also face a fine of $975 per illegal passenger, he added.

Visa requirements would be introduced for citizens of Lebanon, Syria, Ghana, Pakistan and Bangladesh, the native countries of many of the refugees, Kohl said.

West Germany would also call on its European Communities partners to move towards a greater harmonization of policy towards asylum-seekers as well as immediately deploying more officials to screen would-be refugees, he said.

Banned from Taking Jobs

Applications for asylum often take at least two years, and during that time, refugees are housed and fed by the state. They are not allowed to seek work while their cases are being considered. A new provision would extend the no-job period to five years.

Also, entry into West Germany will be automatically denied to asylum-seekers who have spent at least three months in a country in which they have been safe from political persecution.