US Report criticizes infringement upon foreigners in Germany
From: "Landeszeitung Lüneburger Heide"
February 26, 1999Washington (dpa) - The USA has criticized infringements upon foreigners living in Germany.
The human rights report published today in Washington by the state department mentions cases of excessive use of police as well as force against foreigners and harassment in public. Foreign organizations have expressed credible complaints about the discrimination against minorities in social and professional life, said the report. However, the number of anti-foreign and anti-Semitic incidents has decreased since 1998.
The report emphasized that the authorities followed up on such accusations and sought a remedy for them. Officials at all levels were proceeding against the use of right extremist force. "Police in the eastern states continued to move toward reaching standards of effectiveness characteristic of police in the rest of Germany and demonstrated greater coordination in preventing illegal rightwing and neo-Nazi activities" it stated literally. The report cited criticism of the deportation practice of several German states and mentioned by name the case of 14 year old "Mehmet," who was born in Munich and deported to Turkey.
The report varies from previous years in that it does not support the accusations of the Scientology organization about a persecution of its members in Germany; it only references them. The US State Department, in its annual report, evaluates the situation of human rights in nearly all countries on earth.
The human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) has criticized the process as one-sided and politically motivated, particularly as it leaves out human rights violations in the USA. "Every year, 50 entries are missing: from Alabama to Wyoming," stated Amnesty. In the USA there is said to be widespread misuse of police, and torture and violence in prisons. In the use of the death penalty, the USA has not even reached the minimal international standards.