Tag Archives: Central Europe

Nationality + Migration, Race + Color + Ethnicity

Germany News | Arab Immigrants

Germany prints constitution in Arabic for new arrivals
  • Germany has printed an initial 10,000 copies of an Arabic translation of the first 20 articles of its constitution to help support the integration of the more than 800,000 expected to find refuge in the country by year’s end.
  • Adopted in 1949, the “Basic Law” outlines the most critical political and social features of Germany’s democracy, including secular governance, freedom of religion, and other basic individual freedoms.
  • German Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel also noted refugees would have to accept the sexual and gender equality and the prohibition on anti-Semitism in the country.

Read more:
“Germany prints its constitution in Arabic for refugees” (Deutsche Welle)
“Germany prints its constitution in Arabic for refugees to learn” (Reuters)
Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany

(Image Credit: Lukas Barth/Reuters)

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Europe News | LGBT Refugees

European LGBT groups provide assistance to LGBT and other refugees
  • As Germany has become the destination for many refugees and migrants, the Lesbian and Gay Federation has opened a center in Berlin for LGBT refugees.
  • LGBT groups and individuals in Macedonia, Slovenia, Hungary, and elsewhere have also provided support and services to refugees passing through, including LGBT refugees fleeing violence in Syria and Iraq.
  • Syrian gay man Subhi Nahas spoke to ISIS’s persecution of gender and sexual minorities at a U.N. Security Council meeting in August, calling on more active response to provide escape for LGBT individuals from the region.
“For my compatriots who do not conform to gender and sexual norms, the 11th hour has already passed. …They need your help now.”
Read the full story at the Washington Blade.
(Image Credit: Jure Poglajen, via The Washington Blade)
Nationality + Migration

Czech Republic News | Refugees & Migrants

Missteps in the Czech Republic’s handling of migrants draw ire
  • Czech police have discontinued numbering migrants by pen at the Breclav train station after human rights and Jewish advocacy groups expressed outrage.
  • Authorities said the numbering, which critics said had resonance with Holocaust-era practices, had been an attempt to keep from separating families.
  • Despite having had only a fraction of the asylum requests received by larger European countries, the Czech Republic has experienced a surge in anti-immigrant (largely anti-Muslim) sentiment.

“This incident shows how certain countries in Europe have been hit completely off guard. … The image of labeling refugees brings historical images of the Second World War to mind, and the police and border guards should understand the requirement under international conventions to treat migrants with the dignity they deserve. Countries can’t punish people for being migrants.”

Read the full story at the New York Times.

(Image Credit: Igor Zehl/CTK, via Associated Press)

Nationality + Migration

Austria & Hungary News | Migrants & Refugees

Austria announces it will check migrants’ asylum status at border with Hungary
  • Hundreds of migrants discovered on an overcrowded train from Budapest at the Austrian border will have their status checked by Austrian authorities.
  • If migrants are discovered to have applied for asylum in Hungary, they will be barred from further movement and returned to Hungary.
  • Migrants with no asylum application in progress will be given two weeks to decide whether to apply for asylum in Austria, or be returned to their last country of transit.

Read the full story at Reuters.

Uncategorized

ClimateWatch: Europe

ClimateWatch periodically analyzes the security climates of the world’s regions, focusing on conditions and developments affecting the most vulnerable identity communities while highlighting meaningful political and social steps towards security and integration. This week’s European report summarizes developments in identity security from late July through mid-August.

Continue reading ClimateWatch: Europe →

Nationality + Migration

Germany News | Eritrean Refugees

1 Comment
Eritrean dissident advocates in Germany allege translators are contaminating the asylum process for refugees
  • The co-founder of Frankfurt-based dissident group United4Eritrea related stories of omissions and hostile environments with translators that increased asylum seekers’ insecurity.
  • Displaced Eritreans fear pro-regime agents in the diaspora who can derail the asylum process and send information back to Eritrea that leads to threats against family members, activities that a recent U.N. report acknowledged.
  • German officials responded that although they do not monitor possible relaying of information back to the Eritrean government, all translators are rigorously tested before being put to work.

“For example they tell them not to explain things the way they are, the political situation – they say ‘you can’t say this, you have to say it like this.’ They try to give as little information as possible, so then they leave the political things out. They want the refugees to arrive here to be recognized only as economic migrants.”

Read the full story at Deutsche Welle.

(Image Credit: imago/epd, via Deutsche Welle)

Ideology + Affiliation

Germany News | Journalists & Dissidents

1 Comment
Germany drops treason investigation against website
  • Germany’s former top prosecutor had been pursuing charges against Netzpolitik.org for allegedly leaking state secrets.
  • That prosecutor was recently replaced, and his acting replacement determined that the site’s posting of documents detailing government plans to ramp up surveillance of online communities did not constitute state secrets.
  • The case prompted worldwide response from journalists, who argued the investigation stifled press freedom in the democratic country.

Read the full story at Reuters.

Nationality + Migration

Germany Data | Immigrants & Refugees

1 Comment

Germany’s Record-High Immigrant Population

From Reuters:

Current number: ~11 million (20% of population)
Countries of origin: Mostly other European Union countries (including Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Romania)
Other sources: African and Middle Eastern refugees
Expected refugee numbers: 450,000 (up from 200,000 in 2014)

Source: Federal Statistics Office

(Image Credit: Michaela Rehle/Reuters)

Nationality + Migration

Germany News | Refugees & Immigrants

German anti-immigrant protesters and their opponents lock horns as anti-refugee violence continues
  • Far-right demonstrators clashed with opposition in Frankfurt an der Oder and Dresden, leading to injuries and multiple arrests.
  • Ongoing anti-immigrant sentiment has led to violence against refugees throughout Germany, including arson attacks on shelters.
  • In Frankfurt an der Oder, resources have been strained as authorities struggle to build shelters and expand schooling capabilities quickly enough to accommodate the intake of refugees.

Read the full story at Reuters.

Nationality + Migration

Germany News | Refugees

Aside
Rise in anti-refugee violence in Germany endangers efforts to provide safe havens for the displaced
  • In the first half of the year, 150 arson and other attacks were recorded by the government, putting 2015 on track for a significant increase over the 170 recorded in 2014.
  • One anti-immigrant demonstration in Rostock saw Albanian and Egyptian refugees attacked during a festival.
  • Germany is expected to provide shelter to 450,000 asylum-seekers this year, and at least one poll indicated 50% of Germans would like to see the country take in more.

“The right’s populist ideas are spreading like wildfire in the CSU [Christian Social Union] and it’s extremely dangerous.”

Read the full story at Reuters.

Sexual + Gender Minorities

Czech Republic Research | GLB

Nearly half of Czechs support same-sex marriage in their country
  • According to a new poll from the Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM), 49% of Czechs support the legalization of same-sex marriage, while 47% oppose it.
  • 75% support the establishment of some form of legal recognition for same-sex couples.
  • Despite the support for same-sex marriage, 49% still remain opposed to same-sex couples adopting children, although the 44% in support is an increase from 19% a decade ago.

Read the full story at PinkNews.

Nationality + Migration
German couple starts roommate-matching service for refugees in the country
  • In late 2014, Jonas Kakoschke and Mareike Geiling started Flüchtlinge Willkommen (Refugees Welcome), a platform where Germans can advertise open rooms in their homes available to refugees.
  • Provided for a set period of time, the room advertisements are reviewed by local NGO partners to find a suitable match and is provided free of charge to refugees, financed by either local governments or microfinancing.
  • So far, 52 matches in 11 towns have been made, with the service having recently expanded to Austria as well.

“We are not like the solution for many thousands of people. …We are more like an experiment and a political statement to say, ‘Hey, there are people here who want to welcome other people in a positive way.’”

More on this story at BuzzFeed.

(Image Credit: Facebook photo, via BuzzFeed)

Race + Color + Ethnicity, Religion + Belief
As German state expands its Holocaust education programs, the inclusion of Muslim Germans stokes debate
  • Bavaria has proposed that all 8th and 9th graders visit a former Nazi concentration camp or the Munich center on Nazi war crimes.
  • One lawmaker from the Christian Social Union, the conservative party in power in the state, has suggested that some Muslim students would need to be exempt from the requirement.
  • Muslim leaders and academics in Germany have indicated that Holocaust education is increasingly accepted in Muslim German communities, with most contentious debates centered instead on how to address discussion and education of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“You notice among the students that they say, ‘We stand for talking about Jewish history, and the crimes that were committed, but why don’t we talk about the Palestinians? Where is the justice here?’”

More on this story at The New York Times.

Sexual + Gender Minorities
Slovak LGBTI activists postpone Pride and turn to new initiatives to promote visibility and equality
  • Citing the hostile environment that has emerged following conservatives’ failure to generate sufficient turnout in the February referendum on same-sex marriage, adoption, and education rights, organizers have canceled this year’s Rainbow Pride in Bratislava.
  • In lieu of the event, nearly 40 NGOs are supporting the establishment of a platform sharing the stories of same-sex and unmarried heterosexual couples and children born outside of marriage.
  • The initiative comes as rights groups have become frustrated with the government’s lack of commitment to a timeline for the establishment of legal protections for same-sex couples.

“Slovakia needs to hear the life stories of LGBTI people, their parents, children, friends and colleagues. … Thus, we are going to collect your stories, in collaboration with the Life Partnership platform, which we will then be able to bring to all people in Slovakia.”

More on this story at The Slovak Spectator.

(Image Credit: The Slovak Spectator)

Religion + Belief

News

Hungarian PM dismisses multicultural society as something from which Hungary must be spared.
  • Viktor Orban denounces “mass-scale” intermingling of different faiths.
  • He has been outspoken in his opposition to the EU’s response to the Mediterranean migration crisis.

“Multiculturalism means the coexistence of Islam, Asian religions and Christianity. We will do everything to spare Hungary from that.”

More on this story at Reuters.