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.
Thus, despite the fact that a lot of action has been taken for refugees settlement
in Germany including the development and expansion of migration legislation
and the introduction of integration opportunities for refugees, more effort is
still needed to ensure the equal rights of refugees in the society and make their
legal stance in the labour market, education and social system equal to the
legal stance of the German citizens.
16
References
Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees // United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 1951.
Der Spiegel. Deutschland vernachlässigt Flüchtlingskinder. 2017. 21 March.
Available at: http://www.spiegel.de/lebenundlernen/schule/fluechtlinge-in-
deutschland-kinder-haben-es-laut-unicef-studie-schwer-a-1139711.html.
Der Spiegel. Germany’s ongoing projects to welcome its refugees. 2017.
12 May. Available at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/integrating-
refugees-in-germany-an-update-a-1147053.html.
Deutsche Welle. Syrian refugees in Germany contemplate return home.
2017. 27 January. Available at: http://www.dw.com/en/syrian-refugees-in-
germany-contemplate-return-home/a-37305045.
Deutsche Welle. Types of protection in Germany for asylum seekers. 2017.
1 June. Available at: http://www.dw.com/en/types-of-protection-in-germany-
for-asylum-seekers/a-39085481.
Deutsche Welle. Беженцы в Германии: цифры, суммы, факты. 2016. 31
August. Available at: http://www.dw.com/ru/беженцы-в-германии-цифры-
суммы-факты/a-19510550.
Deutsche Welle. Интеграционные курсы: фундамент для жизни
беженцев в Германии. 2015. 2 September. Available at: http://www.dw.com/
ru/интеграционные-курсы-фундамент-для-жизни-беженцев-в-
германии/a-18684420.
Ein Sozialbericht für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland // Bundeszentrale
für politische Bildung, 2016.
Euronews. Merkel tells German companies to speed up hiring of refugees.
2016. 15 September. Available at: http://www.euronews.com/2016/09/15/
merkel-tell-german-companies-to-speed-up-hiring-of-refugees.
Foreign Policy. Germany’s refugee crisis comes to the classroom. 2015.
15 September. Available at: http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/09/15/refugees-
german-schools-integration-language-assimilation-politics/.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Registrierung von Flüchtlingen. Behörden
im Handbetrieb. 2015. 10 October. Available at: http://www.faz.net/aktuell/
politik/fluechtlingskrise/registrierung-von-fluechtlingen-behoerden-im-
handbetrieb-13848196.html.
Geschäftsstatistik zum Integrationskurs // Bundesamt für Migration und
Flüchtlinge, 2017.
17
Goethe-Institut. Teachers need to be trained in German as a second language.
2015. November. Available at: https://www.goethe.de/en/spr/mag/20650534.
html.
The Economist. How Germany is integrating its refugees. 2017. 16
September. Available at: https://www.economist.com/news/europe/21728992-
it-seems-be-managing-how-germany-integrating-its-refugees.
The Independent. Refugee crisis: thousands are living in cramped conditions
in a former German airport waiting to be granted asylum. 2016. March.
Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/refugee-crisis-
thousands-are-living-in-cramped-conditions-in-a-former-german-airport-
waiting-to-be-a6950896.html.
Time. The other side: life as a Syrian refugee in Germany. 2016 (August).
Available at: http://time.com/4435594/the-other-side-life-as-a-syrian-refugee-
in-germany/.
Profiling of Syrian arrivals on Greek Islands // The UN Refugee Agency,
2016.
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».
Препринты Национального исследовательского университета
«Высшая школа экономики» размещаются по адресу: http://www.hse.ru/org/hse/wp
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
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Зав. редакцией оперативного выпуска А.В. Заиченко
Технический редактор Ю.Н. Петрина
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