National minorities
The Federal Republic of Germany has ratified the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. It entered into force for Germany on 1 February 1998. The autochthonous minorities and ethnic groups of German nationality, i.e. those traditionally resident in Germany, are protected by this Convention. Four recognised national minorities live in Germany: the Danish minority, the Frisian ethnic group (North Frisians, Sater Frisians), Sorbs and the German Sinti and Roma.
The protection and promotion of national minorities also includes the minority languages Danish, North and Sater Frisian, Upper and Lower Sorbian as well as the Romany of the German Sinti and Roma. The regional language Low German (Plattdeutsch) is also protected in Germany. The basis for this is the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of the Council of Europe of 5 November 1992, which came into force in Germany on 1 January 1999. The Federal Government, the Länder and numerous local authorities support the members of the national minorities and the speakers of Low German in preserving their cultural identity through many measures.
The Sorbs invoke legal foundations of direct German law for their promotion. Their cultural and ethnic preservation is guaranteed by the State Treaty of the Länder Brandenburg and Saxony of 28.8.1998 (Staatsvertrag_mit_Protokollnotiz.pdf (sorben.com).
In 2002, the previous office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Aussiedler Affairs was supplemented by the Commissioner for National Minorities. The current incumbent has been Bernd Fabritius since 2018.
In Germany live about 50 000 Danes, about 60 000 Sorbs and about 70 000 Sinit and Roma.
People with a migration background
In 2020, according to the microcensus, 21.9 million people lived in Germany who themselves or at least one of whose parents did not have German citizenship at birth. This corresponded to a population share of people with a migration background of 26.7 percent. While “Germans with a migration background” have the same political rights as all other Germans, they still often suffer discrimination in everyday life, at school, when looking for accommodation and at work. Foreigners living in Germany are subject to a multitude of regulations. After the reform of the “Aliens Act” (1990) and the “Citizenship Act” (2000), the “Immigration Act” of 2005 was a third important political instrument on the way to recognising the Federal Republic as a country of immigration, leading to an improvement in the situation for people from other cultures and countries living here. Binding rules for immigration and integration were established for the first time in Germany and were officially approved.
For some years now, the integration of people of different ethnic origins, religious orientations and cultural traditions has been considered a central task of society and also in the cultural sectorCultural policy. Especially in recent years, the topic of diversity in its many aspects (ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, physical and mental abilities, age) has become more prominent and has gained a lot of importance – in discourses, cultural policy and cultural practice.
In a growing number of cities (e.g. Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Dortmund, Essen, Osnabrück) and Länder (for example North Rhine-Westphalia), there are interdepartmental integration concepts in which culture plays a not insignificant role and which are appropriately funded. In recent years, there has been a discussion about the necessity of a cultural policy that focuses more on the cultural interests and rights for the participation and self-organisation of ethnic minorities. Since 2006, the Federal Chancellor has organised integration summits in Berlin every one to two years (thirteen so far), at which, among other things, cultural and cultural policy issues were addressed. The result of the first integration summit was agreement on the creation of a national integration plan, which was then presented for the first time in 2007.
In addition to the integration summits, a number of nationwide conferences on interculture or diversity were held, including by the Federal Council for Cultural Diversity. Another actor is the Expert Council of German Foundations for Integration and Migration, which was founded by eight foundations as the as an independent, scientific body that adopts positions on integration and migration policy issues. Its current members are seven foundations: Stiftung Mercator, Volkswagen Foundation, Bertelsmann Foundation, Freudenberg Foundation, Bosch Foundation, Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft and Vodafone Foundation Germany. for Integration and Migration, which was founded by eight foundations as the
In recent years, many documents have been published on the topics of integration and “cultural diversity” or diversity, including, for example, “Cultural Diversity in the Urban Community” (German Association of Towns and Municipalities 2004); “Stuttgart Impulses on Cultural Diversity” (2006); the “National Integration Plan” of the Federal Government (2007), the “Cologne Appeal” (German Association of Towns and Municipalities North Rhine-Westphalia 2008), “Intercultural Integration Report. Munich lives diversity” (City of Munich 2010),
“Intercultural Cultural Work” (Kultusministerkonferenz 2011) and the “National Action Plan Integration” (2012). In May 2012, a study was published presenting the “State of Municipal Integration Policy in Germany”.
Special attention is currently being paid to the importance of schools and early childhood education in teaching transcultural competence and acceptance of cultural diversity. Concrete stipulations have been proposed in several educational plans for kindergartens and primary schools in the individual federal states. At all levels of cultural policy responsibility, there are special institutions, concepts and funding for the art and culture of national and ethnic minorities and for transcultural exchange. transcultural programmes are offered or promoted, among others, by the federally funded House of World Cultures, by the federally funded Fund for Socioculture, and by projects of individual Länder and numerous municipalities.
In 2005, the Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration was located in the Chancellery and upgraded to Minister of State for Integration. The current holder of the office since December 2021 is Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD) The tasks include, among other things, submitting a “Report on the Situation of Foreigners in Germany” (the so-called Integration Report) at least every two years.
In May 2015, the 10th report on the situation was published, focusing on education – from early childhood education to university studies – as well as the training and labour market. In it, it is noted quite self-critically: “The data situation makes it clear that we … are too hesitant to take the step towards an immigration society” and “that our education system does not always succeed in enabling people to achieve educational success that matches their potential, regardless of their social background”. In December 2019, the 12th report entitled “Germany can integrate. Promoting potential, demanding integration, strengthening cohesion” (12-integrationsbericht-data.pdf (integrationsbeauftragte.de).
In addition, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has produced the Federal Government’s Migration Report once a year since 2005. So far, 17 migration reports have been published, most recently in December 2020 for the reporting year 2019 (migrationreport-2020.pdf;jsessionid=33C3FFE47A7FCDF5794FC74917CFE396.intranet252 (bamf.de). There are also integration commissioners in the federal states and in some municipalities.
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