CEAS Amendment Act Adopted: Sea-Eye Speaks of a Massive Attack on the Rights of People Seeking Protection

Around 102,250 people protest – children’s and human rights must be protected!

Despite urgent warnings from children’s rights and human rights organisations, the German Bundestag has adopted the CEAS Amendment Act on Friday, February 27th. The German federal government has thus chosen a course that expands the use of detention, facilitates deportations, and effectively makes access to individual legal protection more difficult.

Around 102,250 people expressed their opposition to the law through a joint petition by Sea-Eye and WeAct. They called for the protection of children’s and human rights and for fair asylum procedures to be ensured. In the run-up to the vote, Sea-Eye directly contacted the members of the Interior Committee, urging them to take the voices of more than one hundred thousand signatories into account during their deliberations.

“This reform cements a course aimed at combating migration instead of organising protection in a humane way. When people – even children – are effectively detained solely for applying for asylum, this constitutes an attack on fundamental human rights and the rule of law,” warns Anna di Bari, board member of Sea-Eye e.V. “We will continue to advocate for humanitarian solutions and will not silently accept this development. Our work at sea and our political voice on land belong together. We will continue to document, to call out abuses, and to resist whenever fundamental rights are being eroded.”

The law can only be prevented from entering into force if the Bundesrat explicitly raises an objection in March.

Background:

After the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) was already adopted at EU level, the Member States are now required to transpose the new regulations into national law by June 2026. In Germany, this task was assigned to Federal Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt, who introduced the so-called CEAS Amendment Act for this purpose. However, the act goes significantly beyond the EU requirements.

Although CEAS allows Member States some discretion in national implementation, Alexander Dobrindt is using this leeway for a particularly restrictive interpretation. In numerous individual provisions, the rights of refugees are further curtailed. It is especially critical that the law enables the detention of children.

Sea-Eye had already sharply criticised the reform of the Common European Asylum System at the EU level. In the organisation’s view, it does not aim to improve protection standards, but rather to promote deterrence and externalisation. The consequences of this policy are already visible today at Europe’s external borders.