Overview

• Justices dismissed a constitutional complaint from two Yemeni nationals who alleged Germany bore co-responsibility for US drone strikes coordinated through Ramstein Air Base.
• The court ruled that Germany’s role as a technical data relay station does not in itself give rise to a constitutional duty to protect life under Article 2 of the Basic Law.
• It established that an extraterritorial protection duty requires substantive decision-making authority on German soil and a serious risk of systematic human rights violations.
• Lower courts were divided, with the Münster administrative court ordering an investigation in 2019 and the Federal Administrative Court overturning that order in 2020.
• The decision defines legal boundaries for Germany’s human rights obligations abroad without mandating changes to its ongoing technical support of US military operations.