Migration: better protection for women and girls from violence
The Refugee Council believes that refugee women and girls should be better protected, especially in accommodation facilities. There are considerable safety concerns in the initial reception facilities and so-called collective accommodation, said Meike Olszak from the Refugee Council on the occasion of the International Day to Combat Violence against Women on Saturday. There is no uniform, publicly accessible violence protection concept in Baden-Württemberg.
"In our reception facilities, we pay special attention to meeting the needs of women in particular. We do everything we can to ensure that they are safe here with us and that we also help those who have been severely traumatized by violence," said Justice Minister Marion Gentges (CDU).
According to Gentges, single men and women as well as families are regularly housed separately in different accommodation areas in the state's initial reception facilities, each with their own sanitary facilities. The spatial separation is monitored by the security service. "The state also operates two separate initial reception facilities exclusively for the separate accommodation of particularly vulnerable people, such as women traveling alone with or without children, pregnant women and women who have recently given birth."
According to Gentges, there are also a number of other measures in the initial reception facilities to protect particularly vulnerable people. These include, for example, the requirement for employees and volunteers to submit extended certificates of good conduct as well as additional background checks by the State Criminal Police Office on the staff employed.
"A very big problem, especially for women, is that they are not allowed to lock doors from the inside, for example, which makes them feel unsafe," said Olszak. Women should be supported from the outset in finding accommodation with relatives or in their own homes. The obligation to live in initial reception facilities and collective accommodation must be lifted.
According to Olszak, around 50 percent of all refugees worldwide are women and girls. Many of them have to leave their homes because of gender-specific persecution. Olszak cited examples such as genital mutilation in Chad and Ethiopia, forced marriage in Tunisia and Guinea, forced prostitution in Ukraine and persecution on the grounds of sexual orientation.
According to Olszak, the arrival center in Heidelberg has developed a protection concept. According to this concept, possible protection measures in individual cases could include special accommodation in the arrival center itself, prompt relocation, accommodation in a shelter and the selection of a suitable municipality. Effective protection against violence is the rapid separation of victim and perpetrator. If necessary, the victim should be able to stay in a women's shelter or a protection facility. The site management can also ban the perpetrator from the premises. "It must be ensured that the perpetrator does not become homeless, but is transferred to another facility."
According to the ministry, the number of female victims among asylum seekers and refugees recorded in the police crime statistics at asylum seeker accommodation was 451 victims in 2022 (2021: 272 victims). In 2022, the number of victims increased by 179 compared to the previous year, the Ministry of Justice reported. This corresponds to an increase of 65.8 percent. Compared to 2020, in which 574 victims were recorded, this represents a decrease of 123 victims. Vanessa Wind from Frauen- und Kinderschutz e.V. in Singen explains that numerous refugee women and their children have already found shelter in her women's shelter. In most cases, they only seek help there after several years, when, after a certain amount of integration, they realize that there is more freedom and that men and women are on an equal footing.
The rising number of violence against women in migration accommodations is a significant crime concern. To address this issue, the Refugee Council advocates for the implementation of comprehensive migration policies that prioritize the safety and protection of women.
The rise in reported cases of violence against women in asylum seeker accommodation underscores the necessity of implementing robust measures to combat crime and provide secure environments for all refugees, especially women and girls.
Source: www.dpa.com
