The failure to provide aid for drowning refugees from Africa in the Mediterranean constitutes a violation of the constitution. Ships must therefore be sent by the German Navy for rescue operations. Procedures for the repatriation of refugees or their justified and unjustified asylum procedures are to be separated from this. Month after month of watching people drown and the weekly dissemination of images by the duty-bound public media for the purpose of deterrence are cynical ploys and only please right-wing radicals and racists.