Is Germany equally Secure for all of its People?
By: Abuhuraira Azhar
Tags: Ethnicity, Human Rights, Discrimination, Germany

Germany is a democratic state in Western Europe. The current form of government in Germany is Federal Parliamentary Republic where federal legislative power is vested in the Bundestag (the parliament of Germany) and the Bundesrat (the representative body of the Länder, Germany’s regional states). In 2017 federal elections, The Christian Democratic Union(CDU), led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, won the highest percentage of the vote with 33%. For the second consecutive occasion, the CDU reached a coalition agreement with the SPD to form a grand coalition, the fourth in post-war German history.

Germany has not always been a democratic state. In fact, the unified Germany of the past can be seen as an aggressor state with complete control of a dictator (Hitler). But after the end of World War II, West Germany was created in 1949 when the United States, Great Britain, and France consolidated those zones, or portions, of Germany that they had occupied at the end of World War II. Later in 1949, following the formation of the Federal Republic, a constitution ratified by the People’s Congress went into effect in the Soviet zone, which became the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik), commonly known as East Germany, with its capital in the Soviet sector of Berlin.

Both East and West Germany have been democratic states since 1949. After the disintegration of USSR, East and West Germany were unified as a single state and West Germany’s constitution and official name (Federal Republic of Germany) were adopted by the former East German state. It may seem that unification of Germany has made the state united again but there are disparities between East and West part of the state at multiple fronts. Unification might have united the territories but the people of Germany are still not unified. People living in West Germany are living a happier and more successful life than people in East part of Germany. There has been a trend of young people migrating from East part of the country to the Western part of the state. People of West Germany are more strong in terms of economy and prosperity than people of Eastern part.

The government of Germany is answerable to its people through free and fair elections as these discrimination do not affect the transparency of elections. Voter turnout in 2017 election increased from 70.8% to 76.2%. German territory has faced many evolutionary changes over the past two hundred years. The Unification of Germany into the German Empire, a Prussia-dominated state with federal features, was officially proclaimed on 18 January 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France. After World War II, it was divided into East and West wing, which is the cause of all sorts of intra-state discrimination. Later in 1989, Germany was reunified and since then, the state has exercised effective control over all of its territories.

With regards to general repute of the German government towards human rights of the entire population, it can be said that the government has always been greatly concerned. Full-time schooling is free and compulsory for children age 6 to 15 or 16; the exact age is determined at the state level. Although the control of education rests with the states, there is a national commission that strives for uniformity of curriculum, requirements, and standards.Germany’s system of social benefits is among the world’s most elaborate and all-embracing. A pioneer in establishing social welfare benefits, imperial Germany in the 1880s became the first country to provide health and accident insurance, workers’ and employees’ benefits and pensions, and miners’ insurance.

But this is only a general trend. Over the last 3 decades, people of Eastern part of Germany have faced discrimination in almost every sector. Not only this, another victim of this discrimination are non-German ethnic groups and immigrants. By the start of 21st century, more than 10% of people of Germany (around 8 million people) belonged to non-German ethnic groups. In 2015 only, more than one million immigrants entered Germany. This led to some serious hate and fueled the rise of the far-right anti-immigrant, anti-Islamic Alternative for Germany party.

To conclude this, one can say that Germany is a secure state, has effective control all over its territory and is concerned about its people. People generally have no problems regarding human rights in Germany but the government have not been able to eradicate this discrimination.