The Rainbow Afghanistan Organisation condemns the governing coalition’s decision to end the humanitarian admission programme, especially the United Nations Resettlement programme which supports people in acute danger. This decision not only invites a humanitarian catastrophe, but also imposes a collective death sentence on thousands of members of the LGBTIQ+ community.
On April 9, 2025, the CDU/CSU and SPD adopted the closure of German borders for many refugees as part of their new coalition agreement. This policy constitutes a humanitarian tragedy in particular for those who are fleeing states which criminalise gender identity and sexual orientation with punishment by death, torture, stoning or long prison sentences.
Thousands of LGBTIQ+ individuals are at present forced to travel via life-threateningly dangerous and illegal routes, not because they have commit a crime, but in order to save themselves. They are threatened by human traffickers, rape, sexual violence, homelessness, illness, and death—through mountain passes and deserts, in overcrowded, sinking boats on the sea, through dark forests and unsafe camps. With no safe and legal means of applying for asylum, these individuals are forced to choose between certain death and risking death.
With this deciscion, the Germna government sends these people the message, ‘’Either you will die, or be subjected to this danger—if you survive, maybe we will listen’’.
The Bundesaufnahmeprogramm f[r Afghanistan [National Admission Programme for Afghanistan] (BAP), realised in 2023, had already promised rescue to to hundreds of LGBTIQ+ Afghanistanis by admission to germany under the previous coalition. This programme was one of the few hopes for those hundreds, still living under threat of extreme danger in Afghanistan. This hope has now been shattered. People in danger who are in need of international protection now more than ever have been abandoned.
We ask the German government: Do you know who the victims of this policy will be? Do you understand that this policy means you have capitulated to the Taliban, to Iran, and to other repressive regimes?
Your decisions are not only a threat to the lives of thousands but also seriously call into question the worldwide credibility of Germany as defender of human rights.
The Rainbow Afghanistan Organisation warns that silence and apathy toward this circumstance constitute partaking in a humanitarian catastrophy. We demand an immediate review of this policy, the reopening of legal pathways to safety and effective protection for endangered LGBTIQ+ refugees and migrants,
Rainbow Afghanistan Organisation
Berlin, April 10th, 2025
For more information and to keep up with Rainbow Afghanistan Organisation’s activities, you can follow them on instagram here.
This statement was originally written in German and translated to English by Shav McKay.
