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A cyclist wearing a face mask is seen near the Brandenburger Gate in Berlin, Germany, March 28, 2020. /Xinhua
Editor's note: Stephen Ndegwa is a Nairobi-based communication expert, lecturer-scholar at the United States International University-Africa, author and international affairs columnist. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
In the ongoing furor in the United States and several cities globally in the aftermath of the brutal murder of black American George Floyd by police in Minnesota, Germany's capital state, Berlin, on Thursday passed its own liberal anti-discrimination law.
The law, which was passed by a majority of Berlin's lawmakers, prohibits both public authorities and the police from discrimination based on background, skin color, gender, religion, physical or mental disability, worldview, age and sexual orientation.
The Berlin law also bars discrimination based on a person's German language skills, chronic illness, income, education or occupation. Apparently, there is no category that one could be discriminated against that has not been criminalized. Moreover, the law places the burden of proof that discrimination has not occurred on law enforcers, while victims of prejudice based on these factors can actually be awarded compensatory damages.
Although the law had been tabled several weeks before the outbreak of the ongoing "Black Lives Matter" protests, the racial crisis in America seems to have hastened the process of ratification. Consequently, analysts have likened the law to a poisoned chalice,warning that it could compromise law and order in the state.
Since 2006, discrimination in the Federal Republic of Germany, particularly in employment and private relations, has been covered under the current General Equal Treatment Act. But a guide published in 2019 by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency says this law "does not apply to the areas governed by public law."
Still, the agency noted, discrimination is still prohibited under Germany's Basic Law, which protects citizens against discrimination both by and from the State. But Berlin's governing coalition felt that there is still a lot that the federal law does not protect to avoid disadvantage or rejection on the grounds of the stated factors.
As Germany's capital, Berlin could have been compelled to ride on the current crisis in proving the country's progressive thinking in as far as safeguards against all forms of discrimination is concerned.
Police in Berlin estimated that about 15,000 people gathered in the city center on Saturday in solidarity with the Floyd demonstrations. Riots were also witnessed in a couple of other German cities and smaller towns.
A woman lays flowers in front of a statue of a Soviet soldier at the Soviet Memorial in Treptower Park in Berlin, Germany, May 8, 2020. /Xinhua
About 75 years after the Jewish Holocaust when an estimated six million Jews were killed by the Nazi regime, Germany is still trying hard to shake off the stigma of racism it has suffered from the historical anti-Semitism infamy. Over the years, the country has also come up with various initiatives to outlaw different forms of discrimination.
These include the National Action Plan Against Racism, which also outlaws discrimination against homosexuals and transsexuals; Democracy Lives; Forum Against Racism; Anti-Discrimination Agency; and Live Democracy, the federal program against racism.
At the international level, the Federal Republic of Germany is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ratified on January 4, 1969.
Not everyone thought these were sufficient though. In March this year, the Council of Europe urged Germany to step up its anti-discrimination efforts, saying the country must do more to fight racism. This could have been a response to the 2015 Syrian migrant crisis that faced Germany and the European Union as a whole.
Critics of the new Berlin anti-discrimination law feel that with all the initiatives at the federal level, it adds no value in ensuring equity in German society.
Implying that the law is excessive, a commentator for one of the regional public broadcasters declared that "Berlin is not Minneapolis."
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer and police unions also argued that the new law placed authorities under unnecessary stress. Indeed, it will be a dangerous world if the police and other law enforcement agencies are forced to justify almost every other action based on whether it meets the non-discrimination threshold.
Indeed, people who feel marginalized or discriminated against for any reason are bound to rebel against established order more than those in mainstream society. Does this mean that the police should "understand" the unlawful behavior of such suspects on this account?
The law could also be criticized as creating the same disease it seeks to cure, by dehumanizing interpersonal relations. Unless in cases where discrimination is systemic, it is hard to prove where it occurs intrinsically.
Human beings are prone to being biased against things that are alien to their social, economic, religious, educational, gender and political beliefs.
Therefore, the Berlin anti-discrimination law could open a plethora of manipulative litigation that could escalate, rather than curb lawlessness.
In fact, this is a major dilemma faced by the police in the U.S., where many criminals usually play the racism card when confronted by law enforcement agencies.
It will also create a national crisis as different states and political parties take differing opinions on the definition of "discrimination," and the extent of its manifestation in the management of freedom in the largely liberal conservative country.
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