mental rights protection under the Basic Law that fundamental rights are rights of the
individual.
2. German state authority is bound by fundamental rights even in relation to actions
taken vis-à-vis foreigners in other countries; this is also in line with Germany’s participation in the international community.
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a) In Art. 1(2) GG, the Basic Law acknowledges inviolable and inalienable human
rights as the basis of every community, of peace, and of justice in the world. The Basic Law thus places fundamental rights in the context of international human rights
guarantees that seek to provide protection beyond national borders and are afforded
to individuals as human beings. Accordingly, Art. 1(2) and Art. 1(3) GG build upon
the guarantee of human dignity enshrined in Art. 1(1) GG. Given this essentially universal nature of fundamental rights protection, in the codification of fundamental
rights the Basic Law deliberately differentiates between human rights and rights afforded only German citizens. However, this does not mean that human rights should
also be limited to domestic matters or state action in Germany. There is nothing in
the wording of the Basic Law to suggest such an understanding. In particular, such a
restriction cannot be inferred from the preamble of the Basic Law; its reference to the
“German people in the Länder” is not a reference to German territory, but is worded
from the perspective of the constitutional legislator and emphasises the responsibility
of the German people in a united Europe and in the world ([…]).
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Furthermore, the terminological distinction between “inviolable and inalienable human rights” in Art. 1(2) GG and the “following fundamental rights” in Art. 1(3) GG can
also not be used as an argument against the integration of fundamental rights into
the context of universal human rights. In this respect, too, nothing in the Basic Law’s
wording and systematic concept suggests that this differentiation ought to be interpreted as relating to territory or as indicating separate territorial scopes of application.
On the contrary, the fundamental rights of the Basic Law (Art. 1(3) GG) are all linked
to the guarantee of human rights; this is also shown by the Federal Constitutional
Court’s established case-law, according to which the fundamental rights of the Basic
Law must be interpreted in light of international human rights guarantees (cf. BVerfGE 111, 307 <317 and 318>; 128, 282 <306 and 307>; 128, 326 <367 and 368>;
142, 313 <345 para. 88>; 148, 296 <351 para. 128>; BVerfG, Order of the First Senate of 6 November 2019 - 1 BvR 16/13 -, para. 58 – Right to be forgotten I). Moreover, the principles enshrined in Art. 1(2) GG constitute an absolute limit, within the
meaning of Art. 79(3) GG, for restrictions of fundamental rights protection by the Constitution-amending legislator (cf. BVerfGE 84, 90 <120 and 121>; 141, 1 <15
para. 34>).
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This link between fundamental rights and human rights guarantees is incompatible
with the notion that the applicability of the fundamental rights of the Basic Law ends
at the national border, which would exempt German public bodies from having to adhere to fundamental rights and human rights when they act abroad vis-à-vis foreign-
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