Germany's migration reforms will target African workers

The German government is expected to pass reforms to its migration law to make it easier for skilled African workers to migrate to Germany, according to the country's Labor Minister Hubertus Heil.

Heil told DW that the migration reforms in the new anticipated law will be designed for a modern working system in Germany. He added that he expected the law to pass this year, because Germany needed to "secure the labor force in Germany" and ensure "skilled migration for the future of our country."

It has always been difficult for African workers wishing to migrate to Germany to do so but, according to Heil, the new reforms would tackle several issues — including bureaucracy.

"The question [of] how to recognize qualification, the question [of] how fasten visa is very key to this," he explained.

"And so Germany is a modern migration country and if we organize it very good, it's also a triple-win situation, as I mentioned, for countries of origin, for us as an immigration country and for the labor migrants themselves."

The average age of Germany's population is 49 years old — compared to Ghana's average of 19, something Heil said showed that there are a lot of young people who would look for jobs in other countries.

"Germany needs skilled migration in the future because of our demographic structure," he said, adding that Germany must organize this in a fair manner.

Germany must not 'weaken labor force of other countries'

But Johann Ivanov, the director of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Ghana, told DW that Germany must not get carried away in its quest to tackle its skilled labor deficit by putting African countries at a disadvantage.

He warned that cooperation in that regard should only be pursued for mutual benefits and not to exploit other countries.

"I believe only if both countries can benefit from it then this makes sense," he said. 

"A lot of people who work in Ghana as experts for instance in the medical sector, they rather have to stay in Ghana because there is a lack of qualified health workers in the country. Of course, there is a lack of health workers in Germany, but this is not how the relation should look like."

He wants Germany to also find innovative ways of dealing with its labor crisis and not resort to weakening the labor force of other countries.

"Germany has to improve [its] problems by other means," he said. 

Heil and his colleague, Development Minister Svenja Schulze, are visiting Ghana this week as part of a tour that will end in neighboring Ivory Coast.

The two ministers also witnessed the opening of a Ghanaian-European center for jobs, migration and development in Accra. It was initially started by Germany but now has the backing of the EU. 

Schulze was pleased that an initiative started by Germany to encourage irregular Ghanaian migrants to repatriate has now been given support from the European Union.

The advisory center which began operating in 2017 has helped over 5,000 Ghanaian migrants to return to their homeland.

"A lot of dreams can be [brought] to reality [at this center]," she said while expressing excitement at the level of progress made in Germany's effort to streamline its migration policy.

Decent working conditions

Schulze and Heil visited some textile factories to interact with workers there and make a case for decent working conditions. 

Discussions with Ghanaian officials focused on adopting dignified working conditions for some of these workers and improving human rights of Ghanaian workers in the labor sector.

African countries like Ghana remain key supply chain destinations for Germany.

"Germany passed a law for due diligence of companies in global supply chains, taking care of human rights and for decent work," Heil said.

At Ghana's biggest second clothing market, Kantamanto, the two ministers also interacted with the traders there to understand their challenges and learn about new innovations to deal with the issue of so-called fast fashion— the trend of using garments for shorter periods before throwing them away.

Issues of child labor and how to curtail it while boosting Ghana's economy in the coming years also came to the fore during the ministers' visit to Ghana.

"And we talked with the ministers and the president here in Ghana about fighting child labor and boosting the economy in the next years," Heil said as he stressed the need for big companies not to put profit before the rights of workers.

The two ministers also pushed for better cooperation between Germany and Ghana, a country considered Germany's best destination in Africa for collaboration and partnership on key developmental agenda.

Edited by: Keith Walker

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