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German sea rescue ship in the Mediterranean (photo from 2022)
Photo: Max Cavallari / dpa
Sea rescue workers criticize a possibly unclear wording in a law that could have serious consequences. It's about a passage of the Return Improvement Act, which the Federal Council will discuss on Friday. The Bundestag passed the law on January 18th.
There is therefore concern that rescuing unaccompanied children from distress at sea could be prosecuted in the future. The Sea-Eye organization says that according to the planned innovation, it doesn't matter "whether the assistance is provided for selfish or altruistic motives." One could hope that the Federal Court of Justice would restrict this position. “But a legally secure regulation looks different,” says Aziz Epik, junior professor of criminal law, international criminal law and criminology at the University of Hamburg.
The background is that sea rescuers – unlike smugglers – cannot be paid to transport refugees. The traffic light coalition had confirmed that sea rescue should not be criminalized. But the organization also believes that a gap in the legal text was overlooked that would at least make this possible when unaccompanied minor foreigners enter the country by sea.
The federal government's goal is actually to punish smugglers more harshly. This should apply to people who help foreigners to enter the EU without a visa, “repeatedly or for the benefit of several foreigners”. In November, the Interior Ministry told the Tagesspiegel that it did not share the legal opinion that this also applies to sea rescuers. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” had previously reported that there was no intention of criminalizing private sea rescuers. “Such actions are to be viewed as justified in order to avert danger to life and limb,” said a spokesman at the time.
Sea-Eye is therefore calling on the Federal Council to call the mediation committee and, if necessary, put the legislative package on hold. The Bundestag has created ambiguities. There remains a risk of criminalization "which in itself endangers the work of sea rescue organizations," says Valentin Schatz, junior professor of public law and European law at the Leuphana University of Lüneburg.
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