Who we are

PRO ASYL is an inde­pen­dent voice rai­sed for human rights and refu­gee pro­tec­tion in Ger­ma­ny and Euro­pe. Its work is finan­ced sole­ly by mem­bers­hip fees, dona­ti­ons and grants from its foun­da­ti­on / from foundations.

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“Ever­yo­ne has the right to seek and to enjoy in other coun­tries asyl­um from per­se­cu­ti­on” (Uni­ver­sal Decla­ra­ti­on of Human Rights, Arti­cle 14). Pho­to: Pic­tu­re Alliance

PRO ASYL was foun­ded in 1986 by mem­bers of refu­gee coun­cils, church­es, tra­de uni­ons, wel­fa­re and human rights orga­ni­sa­ti­ons. They wan­ted to coun­ter­act the rightwing, racist inci­te­ment to ill fee­ling against asyl­um see­kers and to cam­pai­gn for the pro­tec­tion of vic­tims of per­se­cu­ti­on. The­se con­cerns are just as urgent today.

Our work is made pos­si­ble by our many spon­sors, donors and Foun­da­ti­on mem­bers. Thanks to their sup­port we are poli­ti­cal­ly and finan­cial­ly inde­pen­dent. It is important for PRO ASYL to main­tain clo­se con­nec­tions with a strong demo­cra­tic, huma­ni­ta­ri­an and human rights-ori­en­ted civil socie­ty. And every year more and more peop­le sup­port our work for refugees.

The work of PRO ASYL has recei­ved many awards: the Bon­hoef­fer Pri­ze in 1998, the Aachen Peace Pri­ze in 2001, the Theo­dor Heuss Medal in 2008, the spe­cial award of the Osna­brück Peace Pri­ze in 2011 and the Göt­tin­gen Peace Pri­ze in 2012.

An overview of our organisation

PRO ASYL e.V. is a public-bene­fit asso­cia­ti­on that finan­ces assi­s­tance for refu­gees and secu­res the inde­pen­dent work of PRO ASYL.

The PRO ASYL Advi­so­ry Coun­cil has exis­ted sin­ce 1986. It is made up of mem­bers of refu­gee coun­cils, church­es, tra­de uni­ons, human rights orga­ni­sa­ti­ons and wel­fa­re asso­cia­ti­ons for the pro­tec­tion of refu­gees and per­se­cu­t­ed per­sons. It foun­ded the sup­port asso­cia­ti­on in 1988.

The PRO ASYL Foun­da­ti­on enab­les tho­se sup­por­ting the work for refu­gees to place it on a sus­tainab­le basis through endowing it with sub­stan­ti­al gifts or legacies.

Refu­gee coun­cils are our coope­ra­ti­on part­ners at the level of the Ger­man federal sta­tes. They accom­pa­ny initia­ti­ves at the local level and keep in con­ta­ct with the per­sons concerned.

Bey­ond the work in our own orga­ni­sa­tio­nal struc­tures, PRO ASYL coope­ra­tes with other human and civil rights orga­niz­a­ti­ons, play­ing an acti­ve part in net­works and coali­ti­ons at the Ger­man and Euro­pean level.