Nataliya Askerova legal status of syrian refugees in germany working Paper wp18/2017/01
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- Askerova, Nataliya I.
- Аскерова, Н. И.
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- Правовой статус сирийских беженцев в Германии
| Nataliya Askerova LEGAL STATUS OF SYRIAN REFUGEES IN GERMANY Working Paper WP18/2017/01 Series WP18 Human rights in the contemporary world Moscow 2017
A85 УДК 342.7 ББК 67.400.7 A 85
Editor of the Series WP18 “Human rights in the contemporary world” Alexey Ryabinin Askerova, Nataliya I. Legal Status of Syrian refugees in Germany [Text]: Working paper WP18/2017/01/ N. I. Askero- va; National Research University Higher School of Economics. – Moscow: Publishing House of the Higher School of Economics, 2017. – 20 р. – (Series WP18 “Human rights in the contemporary world”). – 70 copies. This paper analyses the peculiarities of legal status of refugees in a host country using the exam- ple of Syrian refugees in Germany. The author aims to identify the main features of legal conditions of Syrians in the German society and particularly examines such areas as the legal fi eld for refugees’ activities, integration into the labour market and the education system, social policy towards refugees and the problem of their socio-cultural adaptation. German migration and integration policy provides former citizens of Syria with a wide range of rights, however, in many areas a serious violation of refugees rights is evidenced. Providing refugees with decent living conditions in the primary accom- modation centres, the elimination of barriers to the involvement of migrants in economic activities, dealing with the lack of personnel for teaching refugees German language and basic values of the country as well as the need to integrate Syrian children into the education system have been remain- ing to be pressing issues, which have to be solved by the German government to ensure the protection of the rights of Syrian refugees in the country. Key words: refugees; asylum; Germany; migration policy; integration УДК 342.7 ББК 67.400.7 Askerova Nataliya, Research Assistant, Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies, National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow); E-mail: askerova.natalie@gmail.com © Nataliya Askerova, 2017 © National Research University Higher School of Economics, 2017 3 In the years 2014–2015 Germany faced a huge influx of refugees from the Middle East countries, of whom Syrian refugees constituted the majority. The Arab Spring and the ensuing civil war in Syria resulted in mass emigration of more than 3 mln Syrians, who flee to seek for asylum in a safer state. Around 1400 thousand refugees came to Germany, which proclaimed an open door policy towards those who flee from war. The arrival of such a big number of refugees posed a question on their legal stance in German society. Since these people are to become residents of the country, either on a temporary or on a permanent basis, the issue of the legal framework for refugees remains to be acute. Generally, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) distinguishes three types of those who flee to Germany: asylum seekers, asylum applicants and refugees. According to the Federal Office, asylum seekers are people who crossed the border of Germany, though have not yet applied for asylum and been registered whereas asylum applicants have already submitted their application to the Federal Office and are awaiting for the BAMF’s decision on their case. In case asylum applicants are acknowledged as refugees and are granted asylum, they get the permission to remain in the country and are provided with refugee protection by the German state. In order to receive asylum, people have to fall within the Geneva Refugee Convention definition of a refugee or, otherwise stated, “ be unable to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion” [Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951, p. 3]. Once asylum seekers meet the requirements stated in the Convention, they are entitled to protection and acquire certain legal rights. Basically there are two main normative acts that govern the stay of refugees in Germany. They are Asylum Procedure Act, which prescribes the procedure and requirements for granting refugee status, and Act on the Residence, Economic Activity and Integration of Foreigners in the Federal Territory, which establishes control over the placement and integration of refugees within the country as well as indicates economic and socio-cultural activities, which refugees are allowed to take part in. Regarding the legal rights of refugees, they get a residence permit for three years and once this period expires they may receive a settlement permit from three up to five years providing that 4 they have acquired sufficient knowledge of German language, which has to be proven officially, and are able to financially sustain themselves. Refugees also get free access to German labour market after they completed an integration course and can also bring their family members to Germany. Furthermore, they are entitled to privileged reunification with their families meaning that they do not have to prove their ability to financially support their family members. As for their location, the government is fully in charge of refugees movement inside the country and restrict refugees residence permit to a specific German state and municipality. This enables the government to monitor the process of migrants adaptation in the country and their integration into labour market and society. Generally residence permit allows refugees to be granted the same rights as Germans: free access to economic activities, integration programs and language training, child care and opportunities for the upbringing of children, social welfare and other forms of integration assistance. Some spheres of refugee support, however, are ineffective and face severe challenges in ensuring Syrian refugees rights protection in Germany. Identifying the gaps, in which German migration policy towards Syrian refugees needs to be overhauled and improved, seems to be of great importance at a present time and requires careful examination, so as to create better legal conditions for Syrians in Germany. Thus, this article aims to examine the current measures of German government in several spheres of migration and integration policy and to figure out the main gaps, where further improvement is needed to ensure refugees rights protection. In order to obtain the most objective results in the research the author will use the materials of the interviews that the author has conducted with Syrian refugees individually and will investigate the legal stance of Syrians in the labour market, educational facilities and society. One of the most substantial parts of the Germany’s integration program is refugees’ integration into the labour market. In accordance with the Act on the Residence, Economic Activity and Integration of Foreigners in the Federal Territory, those having been granted asylum have a full right to get involved in the economic activities in the host country. At the same time, refugees are required to accomplish an integration program, where they can acquire skills necessary for being employed in Germany, and are able to obtain employment only three months after being granted asylum. As far as young people aged 19 and over make up almost 52% among Syrian refugees, the majority of those who flee to Germany are workforce age [The UN Refugee Agency, 2016]. This evidence, therefore, can be a reasonable ground and prerequisite for refugees to be integrated into the labour market seamlessly enough. Additional
5 incentives, though, are created by German companies to ensure free and equal access of Syrian refugees in the labour market. In 2016, for example, more than 30 German companies established a business integration initiative called “Wir zusammen” (“We together”), which includes nearly 4 thousand internships and almost 500 permanent jobs for refugees to integrate them into the workforce and ensure their equal employment opportunities [Euronews, 2016]. Such companies as Siemens, Bosch, Daimler and Deutsche Post have already launched traineeships and work experience jobs for Syrian refugees. Moreover, in 2016 more than 20 million euros were invested in projects helping refugees get employment by the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry and 15 million euros more are to be invested in 2017 [Der Spiegel, 2017]. A Syrian refugee Ahmad Odeh, who fled to Stuttgart in 2015, said to the author in his interview that he managed to get a job in an automobile company eight months after his arrival to Germany. The forecasts of the Institute for Employment Research, based on the survey among 4800 refugees, showed that 22% of asylum seekers who came to Germany in 2014 are already employed as well as the 31% of 2013 arrivals [Der Spiegel, 2017]. The employment percentage among 2016 and 2017 newcomers is less, yet as far as all the refugees have to complete integration courses to be able to work, they will more likely get a job after several years. Generally, by the projections of the German Institute for Economic Research, 10% of refugees will be able to find work after one year in Germany, 50% – after five years and 75% after twelve to 13 years. Based on the predictions of experts and the analysis of the integration programs, one can assume that the German government takes necessary measures in order to make refugees rights as employees well respected and to ensure equal opportunities of refugees in the labour market. Although a lot has been done in the direction of refugees integration into the labour market, many issues of the employment opportunities for refugees remain to be pressing. The key fact to be understood is that refugees’ incentives to migrate are different from economic migrants’, those, who once migrated to Germany from Turkey, Italy and Yugoslavia to seek for better career opportunities. Those people already possessed professional qualifications, which they wanted to apply in the German labour market, and, hence, the process of their integration proved to be seamless and successful enough. Refugees, though, seek for a safer place and flee to Germany in order to be provided with support and protection, which they lack in their home country. It is the civil war and human rights violation currently taking place in Syria that enforce those people to migrate to a safer country. Thereupon, they may
6 not have sufficient educational and professional background to be able to get a job in a new country quickly and that is proven statistically. The UN Refugee Agency interviewed Syrian refugees arriving to Europe in 2016 on their educational level, which they obtained in their home country before flight. Primary and secondary school education appeared to be the most frequent level of education and made up nearly 45%, whereas only 20% of Syrian refugees studied in the universities and 6% had no educational level at all [The UN Refugee Agency, 2016]. Since the majority of Syrian refugees lack education to get a job in Germany, they require additional training to be able to find work in the host country. In most cases, however, refugees are provided with language and cultural courses only, being able to gain only basic professional knowledge during the integration programs. This trend results in refugees employment opportunities being significantly limited due to the biased attitude of German employers towards refugees qualifications. Thus, they should be trained additionally to be able to fit with the requirements of German employers. Otherwise it creates preconditions for employers to be biased against migrants’ qualification as a whole, which results in refugees rights abuse in the labour market. At the same time, even refugees with higher education do not have sufficient employment opportunities in Germany. The example of Nour Hal, a Syrian refugee, who fled from her home country to Germany in August 2014, illustrates the fact clearly. In the interview Nour said she is a qualified English language teacher as she studied pedagogics and English literature in the University of Damascus before she fled. Having been living in Germany for already 8 months and having accomplished the integration program successfully, she still has problems with getting a job as her qualification certificate is not acknowledged in Germany. The case of another Syrian refugee Nael Samman provides the same example as well. He has studied electrical power engineering and also completed a master’s program in business administration before fleeing to Germany in 2014. Having sent numerous applications to such companies as Bayer, BASF and ThyssenKrupp, he, however, received only rejections [Der Spiegel, 2017]. Despite the fact that Nael completed the integration program and acquired qualifications in the field of engineering that fit with the requirements of the German labour market, he still has no opportunity to get a job, which makes him feel “being discriminated against”. Apparently, there are difficulties for Syrians to get a job in a new country, which can be explained through the following reasons. First, German employers are looking for low-skilled foreign workers, who could occupy the niche which requires low-skilled work. As the majority of Syrian refugees
7 lack university education, this can be reasonable, however, those with higher education should also be taken into consideration and their rights have to be upheld. Currently one can assume that refugees with Arab names are considerably discriminated in comparison with non-Arab people, as the examples of Syrians have shown that even those, who have high education and qualifications, lack employment opportunities all the same. Discrimination against refugees means worse opportunities for them on the labour market, which is proven statistically. The data provided by the Federal Agency for Civic Education in Germany showed that the average index of employment among native Germans is 8% higher than that among Muslim migrants [Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2016]. The data illustrates the fact that refugees are currently facing discrimination, which results in their employment opportunities being significantly reduced. Second, there are low- skilled Syrians who cannot integrate into the labour market either because of the inability to complete language program or because of the complexity of professional training programs. According to the research provided by the newspaper Die Welt, 70% of refugees, who started getting professional education within the German courses, cancelled their studies because of its complexity. Furthermore, some business representatives and company executives complain that companies often lack opportunities to hire refugees as they have to face German bureaucracy, which makes the processes of examining asylum applications and getting refugees involved in the labour market quite challenging. The negative ramifications of the bureaucratic difficulties may also be expressed through the reluctance of German employers to hire refugees due to the amount of paperwork that the process of their employment entails. To solve these problems of refugees economic integration, German labour market has to become more flexible to occupy all the Syrian refugees who are able to work, respecting, thus, their right to work. This can be done, particularly, through more extensive integration programs that involve getting sufficient professional qualifications for all the Syrian refugees and through establishing additional working assignments for Syrians with higher education to get them involved as well. When considering the prospects for Syrian refugees to be employed in Germany, it is also important to take into consideration their involvement in the integration courses, the successful accomplishment of which is closely connected with their future employment opportunities. State authorities provide Syrian refugees with integration courses which include language training, professional education and lessons on history, values and traditions of the
8 German society. In average an integration course lasts 8–9 months and includes 600 hours of German lessons and 100 hours of social studies, which allows refugees to acquire basic knowledge on German language and culture. At the end of the course each migrant is required to take a language test and general exam to be able to stay in Germany on a long-term basis and gain career prospects. The successful accomplishment of the integration program facilitates the process of obtaining citizenship for refugees. Among the other benefits that integration courses can bring to refugees is acquiring the necessary foundation for Syrians to be integrated into the German society and live in the country alongside with German citizens. In the words of a Syrian refugee Allah Hud, who fled from Damascus in 2014, learning German language is crucial not only for gaining some fundament to live in the country, but also “to understand and be understood” [Deutsche Welle, 2015]. There are also social, cultural and entertaining projects for refugees, organized by both officials and volunteers. A lot of German volunteers attend concerts and cultural festivals with refugees to get them involved. Nour Hal, the interviewee, provided her own experience on integration: a group of German volunteers, in order to acquaint refugees with sightseeing attractions, organized a bicycle excursion trip round the town Castrop-Rauxel for refugees, where Nour lived alongside with other Syrians. In 2016 a project “Multaqa” was organized for Syrian refugees in Berlin, which included not only museum excursions, but also seminars, where refugees have an opportunity to communicate with German residents with migration background. A lot of effort aimed at integrating refugees into the society encourages Syrian refugees to participate in the courses and get involved. When in 2012 Syrians were a fringe group among all the participants of the integration program, in 2016 their proportion made up more than 46% becoming the most frequent group of participators [Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge, 2017]. Thus, as is seen from the data, Syrian refugees have sufficient educational opportunities to learn the language and the main foundations of the German society. While providing refugees with an opportunity to learn basic information about Germany, compulsory integration courses, however, pay less attention to the cultural background of refugees themselves. There are asylum seekers, who decided to return back to their country of origin having faced a challenge of a different cultural environment. A 51-year-old Syrian Abdullah Alsoaan, who came to Germany in 2016 to seek for asylum, decided to go back to Syria having realized that the German culture is too different from his own and he is not able to adapt and raise his daughters in a completely different environment
9 [Business Insider, 2016]. A Syrian refugee Ibrahim also had concerns regarding the upbringing of his children in the West society, which is far away from Arab and Islamic traditions and for that reason he decided to return back to Syria [Deutsche Welle, 2017]. The following trend is mainly cause by the inability of Syrians who came to Germany to maintain connection with their traditions and cultural background, because in the integration courses they are expected to accept German values only. Thus, the German government has to provide Syrian refugees with the opportunity to preserve their cultural identity within the German society. In particular, this can be achieved through the introduction of disciplines related to Islamic law and customs in German schools to provide Syrian children with an opportunity to stay connected with their cultural background and organizing cultural festivals devoted to Arab traditions. These measures would ensure the religious and cultural freedom of Syrians in the German society. A substantial part of the integration program takes educating refugee children. Concerning the opportunities of refugee children for getting language training and primary education, the German government apply certain measures for children’s integration into German school system as well. Specific “welcome classes” are created for all the Muslim refugees to acquire basic language knowledge necessary for daily communication. In addition to compulsory language classes, refugee children are also encouraged to participate in social and cultural activities organized by volunteer centres, which creates better environment for refugee children to learn German language at a faster rate. In many German schools there are a lot of children from families with migrant background, which means that the emergence of new migrant children is not going to pose a threat to creating friendly environment for refugees at schools. In Bremen, for example, a primary school has 95% of children coming from the immigrant families, which resulted in the school staff being prepared for dealing with migrants: the school has been offering preparatory language courses for migrant children since 2002 and also has 30 years experience in integrating the migrant children into the general school population. The school principle I. Mörk commented on the school capacities to integrate migrant children the following way: “Refugee children are no problem for us, they are additional subgroup in our already extremely diverse student society, which means they will be settled in properly” [Der Speigel, 2017]. In addition, most German states have found enough teachers for preparatory classes, where refugee children can learn German language after joining regular classes at 10 schools. For instance, Hesse hired 2000 specially trained teachers, North Rhine- Westphalia – 1200, Baden-Württemberg – 1160 [Der Speigel, 2017]. Although a variety of measures is taken to ensure that Syrian refugees children are well protected, however, there are specific problems with their legal stance in Germany. The social and educational prospects of refugee children at schools currently face a number of challenges. The German government estimates that circa 40% of those claiming asylum in Germany are school-age children [Foreign Policy, 2015]. At the same time, almost a quarter of respondents to the survey, conducted by the UNICEF in 2017, admitted that these school-age refugee children have no access to leisure, sports and cultural activities outside their accommodation [Der Spiegel, 2017]. Only 29% of staff workers indicated that children in the camps have the opportunity to attend schools on a regular basis during their initial admission whereas the majority of children stay at home never being provided with any psychological support from the state authorities. This means many children who are still living in camps and emergency shelters have limited access to getting education and have to wait an extended period of time before being able to attend a school in Germany. Moreover, there some states in Germany, where children are permitted to attend school classes after a refugee family has moved from camps or shelters and acquired housing on a permanent basis, which means that children rights for education are abused. There is also a problem with teaching staff for refugee children. Although several states possess multicultural schools and managed to hire special teachers for refugee children, there are no appropriate state teaching facilities for refugee children to learn German language and get prepared for primary education. According to the President of the German Teachers’ Association, J. Kraus, there is no proper nationwide regulations for teaching Syrian refugees German language and the hugest problem is a shortage of teachers of German as a second language, which results in the lack of opportunities to provide Syrian children with specific language courses [Goethe-Institut, 2015]. Despite the fact, that there are German schools, which allow children to attend “transitional classes” and be taught by teachers who have studied German as a second language, far from every school in Germany is able to provide children from Syria with such a tuition opportunity. Usual lessons, thus, need to be either merged or shortened in order to free up teachers and provide all the children with language classes, however, this results in the incomplete implementation of the educational programs for both native children and Syrian refugees children. So far, charity and volunteer organizations carry out additional classes for
11 refugee children to bridge the gap in language education, still those are not done on a regular basis and even when such they are available for children, classes for three or five hours per week are not sufficient to make Syrian children master their language at a higher level. Thus, recruiting new teachers for specific German language tuition is of high importance and more teachers of German as a second language need to be trained. Otherwise, refugee children would not be able to acquire sufficient language skills and, as a result, will be far behind their studies at school later. Such a trend is going to tantamount to the severe restrictions for refugees to get good quality education and have employment opportunities, which creates preconditions for the violation of their rights in daily living in Germany. Considering the importance of well timed language training for refugee children’s integration process, it is essential to train new specialists for teaching in refugee classes, which requires additional funding and efforts of the government. Social policy measures, which are heavily tied to the legal stance of refugees in a host country, take a substantial part of Germany’s migration policy and are also noteworthy. After a person is granted asylum, he or she gains access to the German social welfare system, including financial assistance, free medical support and additional social services. In particular, Syrian refugees receive social securities, which cover fees for accommodation, sustenance, health insurance and integration courses. Additionally, a refugee is given about 140– 150 euros pro month by the government for personal spending. Refugees continue receiving free social support until they get a job and become more independent, otherwise stated, until they complete the whole integration program and become full members of the society, who are able to support themselves independently. Before this time, the social expenditures are the responsibility of the German Federal Government and the governments of the Federal States. According to the Ministry of Finance, Germany’s costs for maintaining one refugee during the year are estimated at approximately 12– 20 thousand euros [Deutsche Welle, 2016]. Furthermore, in the foreseeable future the government plans to increase expenditures for at least 2–3 thousand euros and redistribute a substantial part of money towards social services for refugees. For instance, while in 2016 the proportion of social expenditures among all costs for migration policy made up less than 9,5%, in the year 2018 the government plans to expand social costs for refugees to more than 23%, and in 2020 – up to 46% [Deutsche Welle, 2016]. The statistical data shows that the German government measures are aimed at expanding social securities for refugees in order to ensure social protection for them in the country and
12 make their process of adaptation most seamless and unhampered. Both Syrian refugees, interviewed by the author, agreed that social policy in Germany is substantial enough to provide them with sufficient living conditions before they can get a job and financially sustain themselves. Thus, one can say that Syrian refugees in Germany are secure enough in terms of social protection. At the same time, taking into consideration the living conditions of asylum seekers and applicants is also crucial, as those deeply vary from the living conditions of refugees, who were already granted asylum and acquired some kind of a legal status in Germany. Fugitives, who live in refugees camps in the suburban area, experience poorer living conditions, as they often lack nourishment, health care and other social services. According to the survey, conducted by the UNICEF among the 447 volunteers and employees of refugee shelters and camps as well as among 18 families of Syrian fugitives in 2016, a significant number of asylum seekers are not provided with sufficient assistance [Der Spiegel, 2017]. A refugee from Damascus A. Kassem described the living conditions of asylum seekers in camps as following: “You cannot really interact with the German people. It is not closed, you can go out, but you feel like you are treated somehow differently. But after you are out of the camp, it is normal. Those feelings start to fade away” [Time, 2016]. Two asylum applicants from Aleppo, Abdul and Adman al-Wahab, who fled in 2016 and now live in one of the biggest refugees camps in Germany, in Tempelhof airport, said they can hardly eat food, experience bad treatment of the guards and always have to wait to wash themselves or go to the toilet [The Independent, 2016]. Nour Hal, a Syrian refugee interviewed by the author, admitted the living conditions in camps were a challenge to her, as she had to live for almost 8 months in a refugees camp in Burbach city, where she had to share her shelter with many other asylum seekers and experienced poor conditions for living. Another Syrian refugee Ibrahim, who moved to Germany together with his family and was located in a refugee centre in Berlin, said they there is no private life in the centre and they have to live in a narrow space with dozen of strangers [Deutsche Welle, 2017]. In many federal states refugee families spend in refugees camps up to twelve months instead of declared six months meaning that they have to experience poor living conditions for almost a year if not more. Asylum applicants also have limited prospects for participation in the integration program as far as they are banned from taking part in state-funded integration courses, which leaves them only the opportunity to attend language courses organized by volunteers. Although a lot of social and cultural activities including sports or excursions are organized
13 by the German volunteer centres for the purpose of refugees faster integration, a large proportion of them still have no access to the integration courses and leisure programs mainly because their accommodation is located in the remote area. What is more, there are frequent cases of violence and refugees rights violation in the camps as well. 22% of respondents to the UNICEF survey said that fugitives experienced violence during their stay in Germany. Poor conditions, violence as well as inability of the government to provide those people with at least minimal integration program often results in Syrians migrating back to their country of origin. According to the official statistics of the German government, almost 37 thousand asylum seekers, who came to the country in 2015, have decided to voluntarily return to their home countries after they faced poor treatment and violence in refugees camps [The Independent, 2016]. In 2016 the number reached more than 80 thousand refugees. A member of the refugee council foundation in Berlin M. Arslan said the phenomenon of Syrians returning home has been longstanding and warned that they should not travel back to the dangerous environment, which awaits them in Syria. No organizations in Germany, however, can prevent refugees from returning to their home countries. By now, though, the situation with living conditions for Syrians in refugees camps is gradually improving. States and municipalities started to replace open refugees camps with special buildings and lodgings, which have improved standards. This is due to the decrease in the number of refugees coming to Germany at the present time. When in 2014–2015 state authorities were caught off-guard by the huge influx of migrants, during the refugee crisis the country managed to better prepare for accepting refugees and accommodating them. In 2016 more than 10 thousand asylum applicants were relocated from emergency shelters to better accommodations [Der Spiegel, 2017]. The majority of them was moved because of the precarious situation in previous shelters meaning the poor conditions and the lack of privacy. A representative of the Berlin state authority E. Breitenbach also admitted that “the miserable state of living conditions” of asylum seekers in Berlin “has finally come to an end”, as Syrians receive better accommodation and also have opportunities to attend sport facilities while waiting for their applications to be examined. Volunteerism also helps to provide relief for refugees during their stay in refugees camps. A German psychologist F. Kiesinger organized a charity project called Albatros, which provides support for more than 40 thousand refugees in camps and also reequipped an empty hotel to accommodate there disabled refugees [The Economist, 2017].
14 Still the social support for Syrian refugees, who were already granted asylum and residence permit in the country, and that for asylum seekers and applicants, who wait for the decision of the government on their cases, differs drastically. While refugees are treated almost the same as German citizens having an opportunity to receive financial support from the government, to attend extensive integration programs and participate in other social and cultural projects, Syrians living in camps are mainly treated badly, not being able to acquire so much as the minimal provision for their living. Furthermore, they often face violence in the refugees camps. This means the German government as well as the European Union and the international organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or the International Organization for Migration have to pay a closer attention to the problem of accommodating Syrians in refugees camps in Germany because their rights are violated there a lot. In order to provide asylum seekers from Syria with social support, it is important to create social facilities in camps, so that Syrians would have free and full access to the basic public goods such as food, personal hygiene facilities and human comfort. Providing asylum seekers with appropriate living conditions in camps could be achieved through the effective collaboration between the German government, the EU and the international organizations in the way that through joint efforts they would be able to create additional facilities of social support for refugees. Apart from that, it is also essential to enhance the efficiency of asylum application procedure in Germany so as to shorten the time of application processing and, hence, to shorten the period of time spent in the refugees camps for asylum applicants. This measure would not only advance the asylum procedure as a whole, but also provide those whose application is likely to be accepted with an opportunity to get refugees rights and get involved in the German society quicker. This way the social rights of refugees in the German territory would be secured, which would create incentives for them to stay in the country and integrate rather than go back to their country of origin. Overall, as far as asylum is a fundamental right in Germany, which makes it a high priority for the government, German state authorities take a big number of measures in various areas in order to ensure equal opportunities of Syrians in Germany and protect their rights. Still, the results of the research indicate that the integration process of Syrian refugees into German society poses a lot of hurdles nowadays and some rights of Syrians are being abused and lack protection. There is an imbalance between qualifications of refugees and German requirements and a lot of bias against Syrians among the German
15 employers, which makes it difficult for them to be integrated into the labour market quickly. Regarding cultural and educational programs both for Syrians and their children, not all of them have full access to the integration programs. Social conditions for refugees in camps and shelters remain to be poor. Predominantly these hurdles are being created by the massiveness of migration – in accordance with the ‘open door policy’, Germany was to accept a big number of refugees at a time and provide them with equal opportunities and decent living conditions, which seems to be difficult and requires time for adjustment. Nevertheless, the following aspects of refugees adaptation process should be taken into consideration. It is essential to expand the opportunities for smooth adaptation and integration on all the refugees that receive asylum in Germany and to get all the refugees involved so that they will not create closed communities and diasporas, thus, laying the foundation for the potential conflicts in the society. Additionally, the procedure of registration of asylum seekers has to be improved and optimized in the way that applications for asylum have to be considered within the shortest period of time, which would relieve asylum applicants from the necessity to wait for years in refugees camps with uncertain legal stance and poor living conditions, but to acquire certain rights and proceed to the integration process more quickly. The problem of the economic integration of refugees is also to be noted. In order to integrate them into the labour market successfully, it is necessary to provide refugees with additional professional courses which would adjust the level of Syrians education to the German standards. What is more, the process of hiring refugees should become more open and flexible to ensure that refugees rights are not discriminated. As for cultural activities, refugees should have a right to maintain their belonging to the Islamic traditions and have this right acknowledged in the German society. To guarantee equal opportunities for education for refugee children, it is important to recruit additional teaching staff, able to integrate Syrian children into the German school community. More work needs to be done to improve living conditions for asylum applicants in shelters and camps so that they could have enough social facilities and better accommodation. 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18 Аскерова, Н. И. Правовой статус сирийских беженцев в Германии [Текст]: препринт WP18/2017/01 / Н. И. Аскерова ; Нац. исслед. ун-т «Высшая школа экономики». – М.: Изд. дом Высшей школы экономики, 2017. – 20 с. – (Серия WP18 «Права человека в современном мире»). – 70 экз. (На англ. яз.) В работе рассматриваются особенности правового положения беженцев в принимающей стране на примере современных беженцев из Сирии в Германии. Автор стремится выявить ключевые особенности положения сирийских беженцев в германском обществе, рассматривая такие сферы, как правовое поле деятельности беженцев, интеграция на рынок труда и в систе- му образования, социальная политика в отношении беженцев и проблема социокультурной адаптации. Миграционная политика и политика по интеграции беженцев в Германии обеспе- чивает бывших граждан Сирии широким кругом прав и полномочий, тем не менее во многих сферах наблюдается серьезное нарушение прав беженцев. Создание приемлемых условий про- живания в центрах первичного размещения, ликвидация барьеров на пути вовлечения мигран- тов на рынок труда, решение проблемы нехватки кадров для обучения беженцев языку и ос- новным ценностям страны, а также необходимость интегрировать детей сирийских беженцев в систему образования вплоть до сегодняшнего дня остаются главными проблемами, которые необходимо решить Германии для обеспечения защиты прав беженцев из Сирии на территории страны.
Ключевые слова: беженцы; политическое убежище; Германия; миграционная политика; интеграция. Аскерова Наталия Ильхамовна, лаборант Центра комплексных европейских и междуна- родных исследований (ЦКЕМИ) Национального исследовательского университета «Высшая школа экономики».
19 Аскерова Наталия Ильхамовна Правовой статус сирийских беженцев в Германии (на английском языке) Препринт WP18/2017/01 Серия WP18 Права человека в современном мире 20 Отпечатано в типографии Национального исследовательского университета «Высшая школа экономики» с представленного оригинал-макета Формат 60 × 84 1 / 16 . Тираж 70 экз. Уч.-изд. л. 1,4 Усл. печ. л. 1,2. Заказ № . № Изд. № 2061 Зав. редакцией оперативного выпуска А.В. Заиченко Технический редактор Ю.Н. Петрина Yüklə 488,98 Kb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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