German Institute for Human Rights

Last updated
German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR)
AbbreviationDIMR
Formation8 March 2001
Legal statusregistered association
HeadquartersBerlin
LeaderBeate Rudolf
Website https://www.institut-fuer-menschenrechte.de/

The German Institute for Human Rights (DIMR) is a human rights organisation based in Berlin. It was established as a registered association on 8 March 2001. [1] As a national human rights institution, the DIMR works based on the United Nations Paris Principles. [2] In May 2002, the organisation had approximately 130 full-time employees. [3]

Contents

Basics

Headquarters of the institute in Zimmerstrasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg Berlin Mitte Zimmerstrasse Deutsches Institut fur Menschenrechte.jpg
Headquarters of the institute in Zimmerstraße in Berlin-Kreuzberg

The Act on the Legal Status and Tasks of the German Institute for Human Rights has been in force since 2015. [4] According to the law and the statutes, it is politically independent, but its funding depends on the client (Bundestag) or the federal budget. It is primarily financed by public funds from the federal budget, insofar as these are included in the budget of the German Bundestag, § 1 para. 1 sentence 2 DIMRG; third-party funds are raised for individual projects. [5]

The Board of Trustees sets the guidelines for the content of its work.

The Institute also supports and monitors the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. To this end, it set up a monitoring centre in May 2009 and November 2015. [6] The Federal Government has entrusted the Institute with independent national reporting on the Council of Europe Conventions on combating trafficking in human beings and the exploitation of the prostitution of others and on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). [7] [8]

Mission and activities

The mission is defined by the law and the statutes. [9] [10] The Institute conducts interdisciplinary and application-oriented research on human rights issues and monitors the human rights situation in Germany. It reports annually to the German Bundestag [11] and prepares statements for national and international courts (so-called amicus curiæ statements) and international human rights bodies. [12]

It works closely with the human rights bodies of the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Union. The Institute is also a member of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions. The Institute maintains a publicly accessible specialised library on human rights issues and publishes public relations work to promote human rights. [1]

Other tasks include political consulting and informing the public about the human rights situation at national and international level. [1]

Board of trustees

Members of the board of trustees include Caroline Ausserer, Jochen von Bernstorff, Elise Bittenbinder, Matthias Boehning, Julia Duchrow, Oliver Ernst, Elke Ferner, Jonas Geissler, Uta Gerlant, Deborah Hartmann, Anetta Kahane, Lisa Kretschmer, Nora Markard, Nivedita Prasad, Pierre Thielbörger, Derya Türk-Neubaur, Sophia Wirsching and Antje Welke. The non-voting members include Luise Amtsberg, Anke Domuradt, Jürgen Dusel, Natalie Pawlik, Sigrid Jacoby, Michael Maier-Borst, Johannes Sturm und Martin Wimmer. [13]

Related Research Articles

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Germany since 1 October 2017. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriage passed the Bundestag on 30 June 2017 and the Bundesrat on 7 July. It was signed into law on 20 July by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and published in the Federal Law Gazette on 28 July 2017. Previously, the governing CDU/CSU had refused to legislate on the issue of same-sex marriage. In June 2017, Chancellor Angela Merkel unexpectedly said she hoped the matter would be put to a conscience vote. Consequently, other party leaders organised for a vote to be held in the last week of June during the final legislative session before summer recess. The Bundestag passed the legislation on 30 June by 393 votes to 226, and it went into force on 1 October. Polling suggests that a significant majority of Germans support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. Germany was the first country in Central Europe, the fourteenth in Europe, and the 22nd in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide.

Same-sex marriage will soon be legal in Liechtenstein. In November 2022, the Landtag passed a motion calling on the government to introduce a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, with broad support from across the political spectrum. A bill legalizing same-sex marriage was introduced in February 2024 and passed its final reading in the Landtag on 16 May 2024 by a 24–1 vote. It received royal assent from Prince Alois on 9 July 2024, and is scheduled to enter into force on 1 January 2025. Polling suggests that a majority of Liechtensteiners support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Liechtenstein</span>

The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Liechtenstein have developed significantly over time. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1989, with an equal age of consent since 2001. Same-sex couples have had access to registered partnerships since 2011, and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has been outlawed in some areas since 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Network Agency</span> Federal Agency of Germany

The Federal Network Agency is the German regulatory office for electricity, gas, telecommunications, post and railway markets. It is a federal agency of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and headquartered in Bonn, Germany..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schleswig-Holstein Police</span> State police of the German state Schleswig-Holstein

Schleswig-Holstein Police is a state law-enforcement agency in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is subordinated to the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of the Interior, Municipal Affairs, Housing and Sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert Frankenhauser</span> German politician (1945–2020)

Herbert Frankenhauser was a German politician, born in Munich, Bavaria. He was a representative of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria and a member of the Bundestag.

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights is a Vienna-based research institute affiliated with the Austrian Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft, that specializes in the area of human rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heiner Bielefeldt</span> German philosopher and historian (born 1958)

Heiner Bielefeldt is a German philosopher, historian and Catholic theologian. He is Professor of Human Rights and Human Rights Policy at the University of Erlangen. From 2010 to 2016, he served as United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Menschenrechte is German for human rights.

The following drugs are controlled by the German Narcotic Drugs Act. Trade and possession of these substances without licence or prescription is considered illegal; prescription is illegal for drugs on Anlage I and II and drugs on Anlage III require a special prescription form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernd Fabritius</span> German politician (born 1965)

Bernd Fabritius is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) who has served as a Member of the Bundestag from 2013 to 2017 and again in 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Germany</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in Germany

Intersex people in Germany have legal recognition of their rights to physical integrity and bodily autonomy, with exceptions, but no specific protections from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics. In response to an inquiry by the German Ethics Council in 2012, the government passed legislation in 2013 designed to classify some intersex infants as a de facto third category. The legislation has been criticized by civil society and human rights organizations as misguided.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender rights in Germany</span> Rights of transgender people living in Germany

Transgender rights in the Federal Republic of Germany are regulated by the Transsexuellengesetz since 1980, and indirectly affected by other laws like the Abstammungsrecht. The law initially required transgender people to undergo sex-reassignment surgery in order to have key identity documents changed. This has since been declared unconstitutional. The German government has pledged to replace the Transsexuellengesetz with the Selbstbestimmungsgesetz, which would remove the financial and bureaucratic hurdles necessary for legal gender and name changes. Discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation vary across Germany, but discrimination in employment and the provision of goods and services is in principle banned countrywide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gyde Jensen</span> German politician

Gyde Jensen is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann</span> German politician

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament since July 2024. Before that she served as Member of the German Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2017 to 2024. She also had been the Chair of the Defence Committee of the Bundestag since 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bärbel Kofler</span> German politician

Bärbel Kofler is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz since 2021. She has been a member of the Bundestag from the state of Bavaria since 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Schwabe</span> German politician

Frank Schwabe is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2005.

The following list provides an overview of the minimum requirements that must be met in the respective federal state for an association of members of the corresponding state parliament to receive the status of either a recognized parliamentary group (Fraktion), a lesser group (Gruppe).

Barbara Unmüßig is a German political scientist and from 2002 to 2022 board member of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

The Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid has been a permanent Bundestag committee since its establishment in 1998.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Das Institut". Institut für Menschenrechte (in German). 2023-06-12. Archived from the original on 2024-09-12. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  2. ↑ "Internationaler Kontext". Institut für Menschenrechte (in German). Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  3. ↑ "Team | Institut für Menschenrechte". 2024-05-06. Archived from the original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  4. ↑ "DIMRG Gesetz über die Rechtsstellung und Aufgaben des Deutschen Instituts für Menschenrechte". www.buzer.de. Archived from the original on 2024-09-16. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  5. ↑ "DIMRG - Gesetz über die Rechtsstellung und Aufgaben des Deutschen Instituts für Menschenrechte". www.gesetze-im-internet.de. Archived from the original on 2024-06-02. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  6. ↑ "BMFSFJ - Manuela Schwesig eröffnet neue Monitoring-Stelle zur UN-Kinderrechtskonvention". www.bmfsfj.de. Archived from the original on 2023-05-19. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  7. ↑ "Bundesregierung verstärkt Kampf gegen Menschenhandel". BMFSFJ (in German). 2022-11-18. Archived from the original on 2023-12-11. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  8. ↑ "BMFSFJ - Start der unabhängigen Berichterstattungsstelle". www.bmfsfj.de. Archived from the original on 2023-05-19. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  9. ↑ "§ 2 DIMRG - Einzelnorm". www.gesetze-im-internet.de. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  10. ↑ "Rechtliche Grundlagen". Institut für Menschenrechte (in German). Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  11. ↑ "DIMRG - Gesetz über die Rechtsstellung und Aufgaben des Deutschen Instituts für Menschenrechte". www.gesetze-im-internet.de. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  12. ↑ "Stellungnahmen vor Gericht (Amicus Curiae)". Institut für Menschenrechte (in German). Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  13. ↑ "Kuratorium". Institut für Menschenrechte (in German). Archived from the original on 2024-09-13. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.