the year the cases against the police officers were pending trial.
GERMANY Federal Republic of Germany Head of state: Frank-Walter Steinmeier Head of government: Angela Merkel Revelations of right-wing extremist activities among police and security forces raised concerns about the protection of minorities’ human rights. The authorities were urged by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance to investigate police racial profiling. The authorities failed to develop a comprehensive strategy against hate crimes. Calls to the nationwide “Violence against women” helpline rose sharply during the restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In a landmark court ruling it was stated that the Federal Intelligence Service’s obligation to comply with the human rights enshrined in the Constitution includes extraterritorial activity. Germany remained one of the few EU countries to accept asylum-seekers for relocation.
BACKGROUND In February, a man in Hanau shot and killed nine people of foreign descent in two shisha bars before killing his mother and himself at home. Before the attack, the man published a racist and anti-Semitic manifesto online. The Federal Prosecutor General took up the case and treated it as a terrorist attack.
DISCRIMINATION In March, following the Hanau attack, the government set up a Cabinet Committee against Racism and Right-wing Extremism. In September, the Committee carried out expert hearings, attended by representatives of migrant organizations and academics. Civil society organizations continued to report discriminatory identity checks by police of members of ethnic and religious minorities. In March, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance
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called for a study on racial profiling by the police. In July, the Federal Minister of the Interior rejected the need for a study, arguing that “discriminatory identity checks were illegal”. Authorities at both federal and state level failed to establish an independent complaints mechanism to investigate discriminatory and unlawful behaviour by police. At the end of the year, police in six federal states were still not required to wear individual identification badges. In May, the Federal Ministry of the Interior reported that the number of hate crimes committed in 2019 had risen by over 5% to 8,585; anti-Semitic hate crimes had risen by 13%. The authorities at both federal and state level failed to develop a comprehensive strategy against hate crimes which would include obligatory anti-racism training for law enforcement officers. Throughout the year, investigations were ongoing into a series of more than 100 threatening letters, including death threats, sent between August 2018 and the end of 2020 and addressed to mostly female politicians, lawyers and anti-racism activists. They were mostly signed “National Socialist Underground 2.0”, referring to the racist murders committed by the Nationalist Social Underground (NSU) between 2000 and 2007. The addresses were obtained from police databases, raising concern over data breaches and infiltration of the security forces. The Military Counterintelligence Service also investigated more than 500 soldiers suspected of using banned National Socialist symbols and of connections to “farright” networks that have advocated violence, focusing on the Special Commando Forces.
RIGHT TO TRUTH, JUSTICE AND REPARATION In April, the first trial addressing torture by Syrian officials started before the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz. Two members of the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate were charged with crimes against humanity, including 58 counts of murder and at least 4,000 cases of torture.
Amnesty International Report 2020/21
