{{Short description|German pro immigration organization}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}{{Infobox organization | name = Pro Asyl | logo = Pro Asyl Logo.svg | type = Non-profit NGO | formation = {{start date and age|1986}} | founder = {{plainlist| * Jürgen Micksch * Herbert Leuninger }} | headquarters = Frankfurt, Germany | secretary_general = Beate Wagner | leader_title = Management | leader_name = Karl Kopp, Helen Rezene | fields = Lobbying, research, consultancy. | services = Protecting human rights | num_members = 25.209<ref name=AnnualReport>{{cite web |author=Pro Asyl |title=Tätigkeitsbericht 2022/23 |trans-title=Annual Report 2022/23 |url=https://www.proasyl.de/material/pro-asyl-taetigkeitsbericht-2022-2023/|format=PDF |language=de |year=2023 |accessdate=13 November 2023 }}</ref> | num_members_year = 2022 | affiliations = European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) | budget = {{currency|5,850,676|EUR}}<ref name=AnnualReport /> | budget_year = 2022 | website = {{URL|www.proasyl.de}} }}
'''PRO ASYL''' is Germany's largest pro immigration advocacy organization. Founded in 1986 by protestant pastor {{ill|Jürgen Micksch|de}}, Catholic priest Herbert Leuninger and others, the organization has over 25.000 members and an annual budget of more than {{currency|5.8 million|EUR}} (as of 2022). It supports asylum in Germany, in Europe and worldwide.<ref name=AnnualReport />
== Working fields == ''Pro Asyl'' helps refugees individually in situations in which they need support, including legal consulting and representation in the court, if necessary all the way up to Germany's Constitutional Court or the European Court of Human Rights.
The organization also does political lobbying for the rights of refugees by launching campaigns and taking part in panel and TV discussions. Politically, they strive for "a humane society, open towards foreigners."<ref>{{cite web |author=Pro Asyl |title=Friends of Pro Asyl |url=http://www.proasyl.de/en/about-us/friends-of-pro-asyl/ |accessdate=5 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151212024726/http://www.proasyl.de/en/about-us/friends-of-pro-asyl/ |archive-date=12 December 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 2004, ''Pro Asyl'' and partner organizations from seven Central European countries founded the European Refugee Fund-funded ''Information and Cooperation Forum'' (ICF), where ''Pro Asyl'' is Lead Agency for Medical Care and Therapy. The organization is a member of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) and closely cooperates with the UNHCR and other international human rights organizations. With their pan-European network of correspondents, ''Pro Asyl'' conducts analysis and surveys about refugees' situation both in their countries of origin and on their escape routes and intermediate stopovers.<ref>{{cite web |author=Pro Asyl |title=Cooperation |url=http://www.proasyl.de/en/about-us/foundation/projekte/icf/europ-network-icf/cooperation/ |accessdate=5 November 2015}}</ref>
== Positions ==
=== On the ''Residenzpflicht'' === In the past, ''Pro Asyl'' has waged nationwide campaigns against a legal requirement for refugee status applicants and those with a deportation deferment, the so-called ''Residenzpflicht'', requiring them not to leave their local office's district often for years, until in January 2015 it was limited to the first three months, and often altogether abolished.
=== On "safe origin countries" === The organization has always criticized the steady expansion of the government-designated list of "safe origin countries" as institutionalized discrimination, as it deprives citizens of more and more non-EU countries, including Kosovo, Senegal and Ghana, of their right to receive an individual evaluation of their individual protective rights.<ref>{{cite web |author=Katie Engelhart |title=While Welcoming Some Refugees, Germany Is Also Expelling Migrants Back to the Balkans |publisher=VICE |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/while-welcoming-some-refugees-germany-is-expelling-asylum-seekers-back-to-the-balkans/ |date=15 September 2015 |access-date=5 November 2015}}</ref> During the 2015 European migrant crisis ''Pro Asyl'' representative Marei Pelzer criticised the coalition member CSU party of diffusing "cheap propaganda at the expense of the refugees," that was "designed to put the wind in the sails of far-right populists," thereby contributing to the social climate that led to numerous xenophobic attacks on refugees and their shelters.<ref>{{cite web |author=Ben Knight |title=Bavaria under fire for Balkan migrant 'deportation camp' plans |publisher=Deutsche Welle |url=http://www.dw.com/en/bavaria-under-fire-for-balkan-migrant-deportation-camp-plans/a-18598237 |date=21 July 2015 |accessdate=5 November 2015}}</ref>
== Awards ==
The organization received a number of awards of national relevance, including the Bonhoeffer-Prize 1998, the Aachener Friedenspreis 2001, and the Theodor-Heuss-Medal 2008.<ref>{{cite web |author=Pro Asyl |title=Auszeichnungen für PRO ASYL |url=http://www.proasyl.de/de/ueber-uns/auszeichnungen-fuer-pro-asyl/ |language=de |accessdate=5 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107090903/http://www.proasyl.de/de/ueber-uns/auszeichnungen-fuer-pro-asyl/ |archive-date=7 November 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{official homepage}} {{in lang|de|en}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Human rights organisations based in Germany Category:Immigration to Germany Category:Political advocacy groups in Germany Category:Migration-related organizations Category:Refugee aid organizations in Europe Category:Immigrant rights organizations Category:Organizations established in 1986 Category:1986 establishments in Germany Category:Organisations based in Frankfurt