"The German government must immediately gain access to the US air force base in Ramstein and find out whether it is being used for the drone war in Asia and Africa, which is contrary to international law. We have been calling for this for years. I am glad that the Higher Administrative Court in Münster now also has doubts as to whether the deployment practice in Ramstein complies with international humanitarian law", explains Andrej Hunko, member of the Bundestag.
In the "Bin Ali Jaber v Germany" case, the Higher Administrative Court ruled in favour of three plaintiffs from Yemen on decisive points. The German Government must urge the USA to comply with international law when using its Ramstein military base. The Foreign Office had always rejected this obligation and declared that there was "no reason to assume that the provision of the Ramstein Air Force Base could be an aiding and abetting of an international crime or itself an international crime".
Andrei Hunko continues:
"We were held up by the Foreign Office and thrown with smoke screens. State Minister Michael Roth and State Secretary Emily Haber replied for years that no drones would take off and land in Ramstein, which has been assured by the then President Barack Obama. However, such an assertion was never made, instead it was about Ramstein's role as a relay station and the analysis of the drone images.
Emily Haber is now German ambassador to the USA. Before her departure, she had answered our parlamentarian questions and declared the critical debate about Ramstein to be over. The German Foreign Office was therefore content with the assurance given by the USA that it would respect German law in its activities in Ramstein. Following the Higher Administrative Court ruling, Haber must take immediate action and present the matter to the US government. The US base in Ramstein must be closed."
Answer of the Federal Government to the parlamentarian question regarding the provision of the air force base Ramstein (of 24 May 2018, in German): http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/19/023/1902318.pdf