Double violence against refugee women in Germany
Women asylum seekers take a very dangerous route to reach Germany. They also do not have sufficient security in the accommodation facilities in Germany after arriving. Experts are calling for increased security for women asylum seekers.
Ms. Inken Stern, a defense attorney active in Berlin, Germany, who works with refugees, believes that displacement and flight are especially dangerous for women, and many women face violence and sexual assault during the flight.
"Some women are forced to pay human traffickers by offering their bodies during their escape," says the Berlin lawyer. "Sex has become a currency in this arena."
Read more: Asylum seekers, daily victims of sexual assault
Ms. Inken-Stern says that many female asylum seekers are under great psychological pressure and have suffered serious psychological trauma, but they are reluctant to talk about their negative experiences during their escape because they think that describing the rape will have a negative impact on their asylum case.
Violence against migrant women in asylum accommodation
But it is not only the violence during the flight that severely affects women asylum seekers emotionally. In many refugee camps in Germany, there are also reports of clashes at least once.
Ms. Nivdita Prasad, a social worker who helps women who have suffered severe psychological trauma, has extensive experience in this regard.
"We often see women being assaulted and harassed by other male asylum seekers or by law enforcement officers," says the social worker, who works at the Hellersdorf refugee shelter in Berlin.
In such situations, women usually do not file a complaint because they fear that their actions will have a negative impact on the outcome of their asylum case. This violence also occurs in the family environment. Violent men take advantage of their wives' fear to report the violence, but women have no option to live apart from their husbands if their husbands are violent.
Criticizing the shortage of asylum accommodation, Heike Rabe, a member of the German Institute for Human Rights, is calling for safe living spaces throughout Germany to support refugee women facing violence from their husbands. "Such centers should provide a safe place to live for victims of domestic violence," Rabe says.
This request by Ms. Rabe has also been proposed by the European Union, but has not yet been implemented by the German government. Article 18, Note 4 of the European Union law on the residence of refugees states that member states must provide conditions in their refugee accommodation that prevent harassment and gender-based violence.
With the failure to implement this EU law, more difficult conditions await refugee women in Germany. In connection with the law requiring them to reside in a designated area, women do not have the right to leave their designated area of residence without official permission and must remain with their husbands and endure their violence.
