Ministry Requires Regular Updates on Foreign Affairs Matters
Berlin (dpa) - Due to a court ruling, the Federal Foreign Office must now release unedited situation reports on Iran and Nigeria. This decision was made by the Administrative Court of Berlin, as a spokeswoman confirmed upon request. The lawsuit was filed by a representative of the refugee aid organization Pro Asyl, questioning the blanket classification of the situation reports as confidential. The ruling has not yet been finalized.
In collaboration with the transparency platform "FragDenStaat", the plaintiff aimed to making the reports freely available. They argued that a public discussion about the report's contents regarding asylum and deportation situations should be feasible, based on the Freedom of Information Act. In this specific instance, the focus was on the situation in Iran and Nigeria in 2022.
The Federal Foreign Office defended the redactions for a variety of reasons, including the potential risk to relations with other countries, as well as internal and external security concerns. However, the court was not persuaded by this argument. The spokeswoman stated that the court emphasized that the Federal Foreign Office generally holds a broad latitude in estimating whether the publication of information in the situation reports could have negative impacts on diplomatic relations. Yet, this estimation must be detailed and not contradictory. The judges found the explanation provided in this case to be contradictory.
The court referenced several reasons for this decision, including the fact that such contents would also be discussed in public negotiations before administrative courts and would subsequently be visible in published judgments. Moreover, the Federal Foreign Office had already released a considerable portion of the reports in response to requests.
- The plaintiff, in conjunction with the transparency platform "FragDenStaat," intends to make the Iran and Nigeria situation reports publicly accessible, as argued that ongoing discussions about these reports, particularly regarding asylum and deportation situations, should be feasible under the Freedom of Information Act in the general news and policy-and-legislation sectors.
- The court's decision, which was not persuaded by the Federal Foreign Office's arguments for redactions such as risk to diplomatic relations and internal/external security, highlights a need for the office to provide detailed and non-contradictory explanations when assessing the potential negative impacts of publishing information from situation reports, especially in relation to policy-and-legislation and politics, as seen in the case of unedited Iran and Nigeria reports in 2022.
