REFUGEES IN GERMANY

AN ESSAY BY ELIZA MÜLLER

Robert Seegmüller, head of the Association of German Administrative Judges, said that he expected the number of refugee court cases in Germany to at least double again in 2017. That's the conservative estimate. Seegmüller told newspaper "Rheinische Post" that 2017 could also see as many as three times the asylum-related court cases brought before a judge in 2016.

 

North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) is the largest of Germany's 16 states in terms of population. It also has a high immigrant population in comparison with the rest of the country. So its perhaps not surprising that most asylum applications are registered there. Asylum seekers are more likely to be male then female, although the balance changes somewhat from year to year. Almost one in every four asylum applications lodged this year have been on behalf of children under the age of four. By contrast children aged 4 to 6 made up only 3 percent of all applications. In 2016 two in every three asylum seekers were male, while so far this year 38 percent have been female. In March 2016, the German government passed new asylum regulations. They included a new rule that granted many refugees from Syria subsidiary protection instead of  full asylum. Subsidiary protection is granted to those who cannot show that they have been personally persecuted. Germany won't send Syrians back to their war-torn country, but the German constitution only grants right of asylum to people who are politically persecuted. It doesn't apply to people fleeing general situations like civil war.

 

Eighteen percent of the crimes commited by migrants were assaults and robberies - with less than one percent sex crimes.

 

 

Refugees in Germany

 

In this essay we want to write about refugees in germany. After we learned in Italy in March, a lot about personal stories, culture and their daring escapes, we pay attention to the laws and the situation in our home country Germany.

 

Germany is open to immigration. With foreigners making up around nine percent oft the population, the Federal Republic is one of Europes highest ranked countries in this respect. Over the past three years more refugees have arrived in Germany than anywhere else in the EU.

 

They arrive in Germany for example by train from Hungary and Austria and they were greeted with spontaneous rounds of applause and songs, as well as sweets, pastries and toys, on station platforms across the country. Some human chains to pass bags of food, clothing and toiletries to the exhausted arrivals, whom they welcomed with banners and balloons. One problem is the cold weather in Germany, so the immigrants need warm clothes.

 

2015 and 2016 thousand of refugees apply for asylum in Germany. More than 476,000 asylum applyciations were submitted during 2015. The most percent of applyciation were lodged in Nordrhein Westfalen, on of Germanys 16 states. The country has the most refugees from Syria, Iraq and Yemen. With a record influx, the government has made a commitment to spend an additional six billion  euros to support them. Three billion euros to add with housing and a further for other expenses such as welfare benefits.

 

But there were 3,533 attacks on refugees and refugee hostels across Germany in the year 2016. The attacks left 560 people injured, among them 43 children.

 

Germany is a signatory to the 1951 refugee convention and is bound by the EU’s Dublin rules.

 

An agreement from Eu member states is controversial as it puts a disproportionate pressure on countries like Italy or Greece which have external borders while protecting countries like Germany which are surrounded by other Eu members.

An Essay by Jule, Lieke and Greta