Natalie Bennett: Germany Has Had Great Success Integrating Refugees

5 December 2017, 08:37

Germany has been successful integrating refugees and encouraging them to return home is immoral, the former Green party leader says.

We'll buy you a kitchen if you leave, Germany has told its refugees.

Asylum seekers in Germany are being offered new fitted kitchens, bathrooms and a year's free rent if they return to their country of origin.

Natalie Bennett, who supports the German policy of accepting refugees, said the move was immoral, in contravention of the UN's Refugee Convention and amounted to a politically driven decision, considering the success of integration in the country.

The former Green party leader said: "Germany has adopted a disturbing and inappropriate policy, tempting people to return into situations of danger is clearly wrong.

"If you look at the UN Refugee Convention the basis of that is that you don't engage in returning people to danger.

"If you look at where these refugees come from you're talking about Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, all of which are still in chaos.

"People should not be being tempted to return to places of danger, it is a humanitarian principle.

"Germany has had a great success in integrating refugees. We've seen a huge number of cases, tens of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people who've joined into the German education system, working, learning German.

"What we saw in 2016 was a significant growth in Germany's economy because of those asylum seekers."

Watch the clip at the top of this page.