The Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid has been a permanent

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...

committee since its establishment in 1998.

Tasks

The Bundestag Committee is dedicated to

human dignity Dignity is a human's contentment attained by satisfying physiological needs and a need in development. The content of contemporary dignity is derived in the new natural law theory as a distinct human good. As an extension of the Age of Enlighten ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

. Its agenda includes correcting domestic violations, safeguarding human rights in the fight against international

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

, prevention through

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and Humanitarian Logistics, logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homelessness, homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Th ...

and working on national, European and international instruments for the protection of human rights. To this end, the committee regularly works together with

non-governmental organisations A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

. With the ‘Parliamentarians Protect Parliamentarians’ programme, Member of parliament support threatened parliamentarians and

human rights defenders A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...

in other countries.

Members in the 20th legislative period

The 19 members of the committee in the 20th legislative period consist of six members of the SPD parliamentary group, five members of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, three members of the Green Party faction, two members each of the FDP parliamentary group and the AfD parliamentary group and one member of the Left Party parliamentary group. The chairperson is FDP MP Renata Alt, her deputy is CDU MP Norbert Altenkamp. * * Representatives * ** Speaker

Members in the 19th legislative period

The 17 members of the committee in the 19th legislative period consisted of six members of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, three members of the SPD parliamentary group and two members each of the Left Party parliamentary group, the Bündnis 90/Die Grünen parliamentary group, the AfD parliamentary group and the FDP parliamentary group. The chairperson was Gyde Jensen (FDP). {, class="wikitable" , + !CDU/CSU – full member !CDU/CSU – deputy member !SPD – full member !SPD – deputy member !Left Party – full member !Left Party – deputy member !Green Party faction – full member !Green Party faction – deputy member !AfD – full member !AfD – deputy member !FDP – full member !FDP – deputy member , - , Norbert Altenkamp , Carsten Brodesser , Josephine Ortleb , Lars Castellucci , Michel Brandt * , Christine Buchholz ,

Margarete Margarete is a German feminine given name. It is derived from Ancient Greek ''margarites'' (μαργαρίτης), meaning "the pearl". Via the Latin ''margarita'', it arrived in the German sprachraum. Related names in English include Daisy, ...

Bause */** , Luise Amtsberg , Jürgen Braun *** , Anton Friesen , Peter Heidt * ,

Lukas Köhler Lukas Köhler (born 22 August 1986) is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Bavaria from 2017 to 2024. Early life and education Born in München, Bavaria, Köhler pa ...

, - , Michael Brand ** , Astrid Damerow ,

Aydan Özoğuz Aydan Özoğuz (; ; born 31 May 1967) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009 and as its Vice-president of the German Bundestag from 2021 to 2025. In addition to her parlia ...

, Karamba Diaby , Żaklin Nastić ** ,

Ulla Jelpke Ursula "Ulla" Jelpke (born 9 June 1951) is a German journalist and politician. Jelpke is a member of the German Bundestag where she is domestic affairs spokesperson for the party Die Linke and represents the party in the internal affairs commit ...

, Kai Gehring , Filiz Polat , Waldemar Herdt , Markus Frohnmaier , Gyde Jensen , Alexander Graf Lambsdorff , - , Sebastian Brehm , Michael Kuffer , Frank Schwabe */** , Gabriela Heinrich , , , , , , , , , - , Frank Heinrich * , Katja Leikert , , , , , , , , , , , - , Martin Patzelt , Elisabeth Motschmann , , , , , , , , , , , - , Matthias Zimmer , Tankred Schipanski , , , , , , , , , , * * Representatives * ** Speaker * *** Deputy Chair

Committee chairs

* 1998–2001

Claudia Roth Claudia Benedikta Roth (; born 15 May 1955) is a German politician (Alliance 90/The Greens) and member of the Bundestag. In addition to her work in parliament, Roth served as Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in the go ...

(Green Party faction) * 2001–2005 Christa Nickels (Green Party faction) * 2005–2009 Herta Däubler-Gmelin (SPD) * 2009–2013 Tom Koenigs (Green Party faction) * 2013–2017 Michael Brand (CDU/CSU) * 2017–2018 Matthias Zimmer (CDU/CSU) * 2018–2021 Gyde Jensen (FDP) * since 2021 Renata Alt (FDP)

Weblinks

Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid at the German Bundestag

Chapter on the Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid in the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's Human Rights Manual (PDF; 3.6 MB)

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development: Human Rights and Development

Programme ‘Parliamentarians Protect Parliamentarians’ at the German Bundestag

References

Humanitarian aid organizations in Europe Judiciary of Germany 1998 establishments Human rights organisations based in Germany Bundestag Committees