Overview

• Germany deported 81 Afghan men with criminal records to Kabul on July 18, marking the first such flight under Chancellor Friedrich Merz and carried out through Qatar mediation.
• Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt hosted a summit on the Zugspitze with five EU counterparts and Commissioner Magnus Brunner to set goals for tougher asylum procedures and routine returns to high-risk countries.
• The Federal Government invoked its coalition agreement to prioritize removals of convicted asylum-seekers and impose entry and residence bans on deportees.
• The UN human rights office called for an immediate halt to forcible returns, warning that deportees face persecution, arbitrary detention and torture upon arrival.
• Amnesty International described conditions in Afghanistan as catastrophic, highlighting risks of extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances and torture for those sent back.