17th Conference on Asylum The EU Borders: Safeguarding or shipwrecking Human Rights in the EU? Situation of Asylum Seekers in Spain and EU “The Role of theology and the churches in migration policy”

17th Conference on Asylum

The EU Borders: Safeguarding or shipwrecking Human Rights in the EU? Situation of Asylum Seekers in Spain and EU

“The Role of theology and the churches in migration policy”

(Katrin Hatzinger, Madrid 23.10.2025)

Dear colleagues and friends,

Dear all,

The Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) is committed to the invioable dignity of every human beig created in the image of God

As laid down in several, also ecumencial statements, we see that churches are shaped by migration. So, as it was said before, migration is for us a normalitiy and part of our ecclesiology.

As Protestants, we see plurality and diversity as a natural part of being society and being church, without ignoring the challenges this might pose. We had to learn throughout our history how to live in reconciled diversity with our ecumenical partners and within our own protestant family and we relate and build on that experience. Moreover, cultural diversity and the experiences of otherness are part of God’s created reality.

I am a lawyer not a theologian, but of course large sections of the Bible can be read as « migration literature « dealing with flight, hardship, persecution and exile, especially in the Old Testament. Migration can therefore be considered as a place in the Bible where faith and theology are shaped.

The Bible invites us to see the world through the eyes of migrants. The challenges of migration showcase the overall challenges societies have to face and give an honest testimony of the state of play of democracy, rule of law and the quality of living together.

Pope Francis has been refered to before and I would like to quote him as well as we as Protestant Church in Germany fully endorse his reasoning. He said: „It is not only the cause of migrants that is at stake, it is not just about them, but about all of us, and about the present and the future of the human family. Migrants, especially the most vulnerable, help us to read the signs of the time ».

In my opinion that is a very strong statement which fits unfortunately very well in our current political climate when we look at the hardening of European asylum and migration policies and the push for even more restrictions and externalisation and the inhuman and degrading migration policies of the US including the cuts on US aid and any form of refugee protection and development cooperation.

What is the role of us a a church in this point in time ?

It is manyfold :

As Church it is out mission to go public when peace, justice and creation are concerned. EKD has appointed a refugee bishop and has many working formats dealing with migration, asylum and integration.

Against all odds, we work towards positive narratives around migration. We highlight what is working well in integration, in society, in the parishes, we present success stories and we try to give migrants and asylum seekers a voice, ideally forming networks with many NGOs and enabling migrants to become their own agents.

We go public by working on human rights, against discrimination and racism and by informing or publishing counter-narratives, dismanteling fake news and disinformation, standing up against racist and populist rhetoric and too easy answers in a complex debate.

We financially support projects  from and for refugees, for example fostering the work of journalists who are refugees, or the activities of the NGO« Luftbrücke Kabul ».

We try to live solidariy and neighbourly love by offering church asylum to asylum seekers who are facing a situation of humanitarian hardship,  by being committed to search and secue missions as part of the  network « United4rescue », by counselling on asylum procedures via our welfare organisation Diakonie or by monitoring forced returns.

Last but not least, we are in dialogue with political decision makers, NGOs and academics in Berlin, the regional/ Länder level and in Brussels about how to shape a humane migration and asylum policy.

Now to the EU level where I am working:

Here we frame migration and asylum policies in the EU as a common task and not a common threat and call for sustainable and evicence-based policies, not for pure “Symbolpolitik”  in order to lure voters away from the far right and in the end only broading their electoral base.

In Brussels we do advocacy work in the so- called Christian group with inter alia CCME, JRS, Caritas Europe and COMECE. We try to work towards a European migration and asylum policy based on human rights, justice and solidarity.

Let me give you some examples of our work keeping in mind that the polical climate on EU level has deterioated to a large extent within the last 5 years which is often explained by the rise of right-wing governments in many EU countries.

We have been ecumencially working on the pact on asylum and migration and inter alia been doing advocay work for

• a strong independent human rights monitoring during the screening process and the asylum border procedure
• access to legal assistance and effective legal remedy at all stages of the procedures,
• that individual access to asylum procedures remains guaranteed for those seeking protection,
• that the concept of so-called safe third countries is narrowly defined, and that transit alone is not sufficient for the assumption of a "link to a third country",
• that those seeking protection have access to NGOs, free legal advice and effective judicial protection at all stages of the procedure,
• that the rights of children are fully respected, in particular that children and their families are excluded from the planned accelerated border procedure and must not be held in detention-like facilities.

We also agued for

• the establishment of a permanent, predictable and fair solidarity mechanism for the reception of refugees
• clear rules for the distribution of those rescued at sea are established and that non-state actors are no longer criminalized and hindered and that
• ambitious objectives are set with regard to resettlement schemes and that safe and legal migration routes to the EU are established

If we look at the legal proposals on the table today and the reality on the ground we have to note that there is a huge roll-back and many of our demands are ignored.

The pact is not even implemented fully already new Comission proposals for stricter rules without impact assessment have been presented : inter alia the reform of the safe third country concept (where the conncection criterion remains only an option), and the proposal for a common European return system with lengthy detention periods, a priorisation of forced over voluntary returns and the contested idea of installing so called return hubs outside the EU, the planned  revision of the FRONTEX regulation  with a much broader mandate and the ongoing difficult debate around the so- called facilitators package risking to criminalise humanitarian aid and rescue at sea activities.

Despite the bleak picture we continue to see our role as being the spike in the flesh of decision makers and ready to counter further polarisation in politics and society by listenting and talking to all sides (« people of good will »)  and arguing for pragmatic solutions upholding human dignity and human rights.