Anti-Semitism, hate speech online, violence against women - the federal and state interior ministers passed numerous resolutions at their spring meeting.
Rust (dpa) - You want to fight anti-Semitism harder and analyze it more precisely: The federal and state interior ministers have agreed on a more resolute approach to anti-Semitic criminals.
They announced this at the end of their spring conference in Rust, Baden.
If possible, a joint competence center for civil protection should be set up as early as next year.
They also want to take action against hate speech on the Internet, violence against women and conspiracy ideologies.
An overview of the most important decisions:
ANTI-SEMITISM - The interior ministers want to develop nationwide uniform standards in order to restrict and, if necessary, ban anti-Israeli gatherings at synagogues, said Baden-Württemberg Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU).
Strobl hosted this year's spring conference in Rust, Baden.
In addition, the penalty for anti-Semitic crimes must be increased.
Unexplained anti-Semitic acts are no longer to be automatically assigned to the right-wing spectrum in the future. If the background is unclear, it should be recorded in a separate category in the crime statistics. This should enable better prevention. But it is not about relativizing right-wing extremism, said Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU). He spoke of a recognizable “imported anti-Semitism” that was becoming evident on the streets.
RIGHT CHAT GROUPS - Right-wing extremist chat content keeps making headlines in the police. From the point of view of the interior ministers, officials should also be able to be prosecuted if they share inflammatory content in closed chat groups. Background: According to lawyers, posting right-wing extremist photos or videos in WhatsApp groups by police officers is not necessarily a criminal offense. The interior ministers are calling for such cases to be consistently prosecuted. The conference of justice ministers should examine the possible introduction of a new criminal offense.
LOCAL EMPLOYEES FROM AFGHANISTAN - Germany should be more willing to accept former local employees and their families from Afghanistan. The interior ministers spoke out in favor of relaxing the rules. In future, the former helpers from the Bundeswehr and police should be allowed to bring all of their unmarried children, not just the minors, said Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD). Visa procedures should be streamlined. In addition, ask the federal government to cover the flight costs.
It is also good that the initially controversial two-year period has fallen, said Pistorius - in the future, former helpers who worked for the Bundeswehr or the police more than two years ago should also be allowed to submit an application. The local staff who helped the German military and the German police feel threatened by the Taliban because of the withdrawal of NATO.
HIT IN SOCIAL NETWORKS - The ministers want to work on ways to better identify anonymous hunters on the net. Pistorius wants to oblige social networks to store the true identity of their users. But this is not about a real name requirement. Whoever is on the social networks under a pseudonym does not have to leave any real data. Another possibility is a "login trap", in which the operators worked closely with the police to determine the IP address of agitators as soon as they log in again.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN - Misogynist crimes should also be better recorded in the police statistics.
These crimes would have to be "taken out of the dark", said Strobl.
“Shame is not a solution.
It only helps the perpetrators, who then get away with it. "Federal Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) welcomed this.
With more precise data it is possible to further develop prevention strategies and to ensure effective law enforcement.
SPD politician Pistorius said that politicians had to admit that “the reality is relatively brutal”.
Statistically speaking, every third day in Germany a woman is killed by her partner or ex-partner.
ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS - In view of the increasing number of attacks on journalists, further protective measures should be examined.
In order to preserve the freedom of the press in Germany, it is important that media representatives can carry out their work free from attempted intimidation, according to a decision by the department heads.
A working group is to clarify by the next conference whether further measures are necessary.
Thuringia's Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) pointed out that attacks on journalists were reported after "almost every major 'lateral thinking' demonstration" in the past year.
The number of crimes against journalists more than doubled in 2020 compared to the previous year.
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