While this Helsinki Commission report on Germany’s implementation of CSCE human dimension commitments forms part of a series reviewing implementation in the formerly communist countries of East-Central Europe, it is necessarily unique and atypical. The Commision’s most recent review of human rights implementation, undertaken in 1988, examined the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) – at the time among the most repressive and ostensibly secure of the communist regimes – together with the other Warsaw Pact states. This current implementation review, intended to update the scenario in view of the dramatic changes that have occurred in Europe since 1988, will begin with the GDR as a communist state, describe its revolutionary transition to democracy and a market economy, and then examine the situation as it currently exists in the context of a unified Germany. In the process, the report will consider both the particular challenges in the five eastern Laender, or states, and the strains of unification felt throughout. It will also consider human dimension issues not directly related to unification – for example, the debate over the right to asylum and the ongoing, deeply disturbing violence against foreigners.
The human dimension challenges covered by this report fall into two general categories: those connected to the process of de-communization in eastern Germany, and those connected to the process of promoting tolerance and unity, not just among Germans, but toward all persons living within Germany’s borders. Both sets of issues are profoundly linked to the ongoing struggle to define status and identity in the vasty environment that Germany represents today.
