Several human rights organizations and professional associations of lawyers have criticized the increasing questioning of constitutional mechanisms in this federal election campaign.
“The overemphasis on law and order demands and unconstitutional laws is not new to us and it is already a part of our work to address this politically and juristically” write the Humanist Union and the Association of Democratic Lawyers (VDJ) among others. However, this election campaign has a different quality. “In the context of a radicalized migration policy, which is being fostered by the AfD’s rise in the polls, the right itself and the institutions of the rule of law, primarily the courts and the legal profession, are also being openly doubted by democratic parties” the organizations write.
By approving the so-called “5-point plan” CDU/CSU, FDP, BSW and AfD have “openly demanded a breach with European law and constitutional law.” “Through a calculated breach of the law by means of permanent border controls, pressure is to be exerted on European legislation” it says in the statement, which has also been signed by the Committee for Fundamental Rights and Democracy, as well as the Republican Lawyers’ Association (RAV). In recent years, besides the migration law, there has also been more talk of an “executive disobedience” in climate and environmental law, where “court decisions are simply ignored by the government and administration” criticize the organizations.
Against the enforcement of the law, politicians and parts of the media argue that the law must not stand in the way of “the will of the people.” If it does, it must be changed. “But first, it’s not about simple legislation at all the legal aspects that are currently being questioned. Instead, it’s about fundamental and human rights, international and European treaties, or the independence of the judiciary itself” also note the New Judges’ Association (NRV) and the Post-Migrant Lawyers’ Association, taking into account. “It is true that the law is always the result of societal negotiation processes. But inalienable fundamental and human rights must not be put up for negotiation in political talks.”
The human rights organizations remind that these legal foundations are precisely in Germany the result of the historical experiences from two world wars and the NS regime. “They are a part of the processing of the past, which has not lost its validity. This particularly includes the indivisibility of human dignity and the equality of all people before the law, regardless of their origin.