Other vulnerable groups 1 Background and general context

Pursuant to Article 21 of the European Reception Conditions Directive (Directive 2013/33/EU), vulner‑ able groups with special needs of protection include unaccompanied minors, accompanied minors, disa‑ bled people, elderly people, pregnant women, sin‑ gle parents with minor children, victims of human trafficking, persons with serious illnesses, persons with mental disorders and persons who have been subjected to torture, rape or other serious forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence, such as victims of female genital mutilation. While there is no reliable data on the share of particularly vulner‑ able refugees, there are estimates which assume that up to 15% of all refugees belong to one of the groups listed above (Deutscher Bundestag 2017j: 2).

It is the Länder which are responsible for housing and accommodating vulnerable refugees. They need to make sure that refugees are “housed in appro‑ priate accommodation, which provides adequate protection against violence, for example separate bedrooms which can be locked. This includes ad‑ equate training for the staff working at the facility” (Deutscher Bundestag 2017j: 11).

Specially‑commissioned case‑officers are involved in the handling of applications submitted by certain groups of asylum seekers (unaccompanied minors, persons persecuted on the grounds of their sex, vic‑ tims of human trafficking or of torture and trauma‑ tised asylum applicants). They have received special training concerning the special needs of individual vulnerable groups and concerning special legal, cul‑ tural and psychological issues. This enables them to handle the procedure carefully and put the asylum application into context. In addition, all decision‑ makers are required to “take potential impairments of the applicants into account (...). This applies to both bodily and psychological health, regardless of whether the impairments were caused by persecu‑ tion or flight or not” (Deutscher Bundestag 2017j: 9). Employees of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees themselves are not trained to diagnose ill‑ ness or impairment. If the question of whether or not the applicant is fit for the asylum procedure or if the decision on the application itself depends on whether or not the applicant has an illness or im‑ pairment, a medical assessment is taken into consid‑ eration, that may be commissioned by the applicant

him‑ or herself or by the Federal Office for Migra‑ tion and Refugees.

The Act on Benefits for Asylum Seekers contains provisions on medical treatment for particularly vulnerable asylum applicants. Section 4 of the Act on Benefits for Asylum Seekers guarantees basic medical treatment for all asylum seekers. Particu‑ larly vulnerable applicants will additionally receive necessary medical or other care (Section 6 subs. 2 of the Act on Benefits for Asylum Seekers). Other ben‑ efits may be granted “if they are necessary to secure the applicants’ livelihood or their health” (Section 6 subs. 1 of the Act on Benefits for Asylum Seekers). Asylum applicants who have been in Germany for 15 months are entitled to the same healthcare ben‑ efits as those who are members of the statutory healthcare system (see Section 2 subs. 1 of the Act on Benefits for Asylum Seekers; Deutscher Bundestag 2017j: 3).

Special integration courses exist for refugees with sensory or cognitive impairments including 900 units of language class (general integration courses contain 600 units of language class). “In addition, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees may re‑ imburse the course provider on application for spe‑ cial expenses incurred as far as they are necessary for enabling course attendance” (Deutscher Bunde‑ stag 2017j: 18).

5.2.2 National developments

Minimum standards for the protection of vulnerable refugees

In 2016, the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Sen‑ ior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ), UNICEF and other civil‑society organisations jointly launched the ’Initiative for the Protection of Chil‑ dren and Women in Refugee Accommodation Cen‑ tres’. In 2017, this project was renamed ‘Initiative for the Protection of Refugees in Refugee Accom‑ modation Centres’ (Deutsches Forum Kriminal‑ prävention, n.d.). Its scope was extended to LGBTI*66

refugees, refugees with impairments and other vul‑ nerable groups of persons (Bundesinitiative Schutz von geflüchteten Menschen in Flüchtlingsunterkün‑ ften, n.d.). Moreover, the number of civil‑society

66 LGBTI* is a German acronym for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, intersexual”.

62 Unaccompanied minors and other vulnerable groups

organisations which support the initiative has risen from 16 to 37 in 2017 (BMFSFJ 2017a).

In 2016, the initiative had already prepared and published “Minimum Standards for the Protection of Children, Juveniles and Women in Refugee Ac‑ commodation Centres”. An updated version of 2017 also includes guidelines on the treatment of refu‑ gees with impairments and LGBTTIQ* refugees67

(Deutsches Forum Kriminalprävention, n.d.). In addition, the BMFSFJ has been providing funds to establish coordination points for the protection against violence in reception facilities since 2016. Following a pilot phase at 25 facilities, the concept was extended to a total of 100 accommodation cen‑ tres in 2017. The coordinators are to develop con‑ cepts for the protection of refugees and serve as points of contact for a number of authorities and advisory centres as well as the police and closely co‑ operate with them (BMFSFJ 2017b). They are trained by UNICEF and supported “in providing child‑ friendly places and activities as well as in collecting data, monitoring and analysing the progress made” (Bundesinitiative Schutz von geflüchteten Men‑ schen in Flüchtlingsunterkünften, n.d.). According to Federal Minister of Family Affairs Katarina Barley, the initiative had considerably improved “protection for thousands of refugees, in particular children and women” (BMFSFJ 2017a).

“Moreover, the Federal Ministry for Family Af‑ fairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth and the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau group, jointly with Deutsches Forum für Kriminalprävention, have launched a programme to finance construction measures for the protection of women and chil‑ dren in refugee accommodation centres” (Deutscher Bundestag 2017j: 11 et seq.).

In 2017, Rhineland‑Palatinate was the first Land to draft a violence prevention concept for reception fa‑ cilities. Beyond concrete violence prevention meas‑ ures, the concept aims at “enabling staff to identify protection needs more quickly, for example in case of traumatisation” (Ministerium für Familie, Frauen, Jugend, Integration und Verbraucherschutz des Landes Rheinland‑Pfalz 2017).

67 LGBTTIQ* is a German acronym for “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersexual, queer”.

Act Strengthening the Rights of Children and Adolescents

In 2017, the Bundestag adopted the ‘Act Strength‑ ening the Rights of Children and Adolescents’ (Ger‑ man: Gesetz zur Stärkung von Kindern und Ju‑ gendlichen, KJSG). Among other things, this Act foresees changes to the supervisory structures of children’s homes and loosens doctor‑patient confi‑ dentiality rules if doctors suspect abuse. Moreover, it obliges the Länder to take appropriate measures to protect children, adolescents and women in refugee reception facilities. The operators of such facilities are obliged to develop prevention concepts or guar‑ antee minimum standards (BMFSFJ 2017c). At the time of writing, the bill had not yet passed the Bun‑ desrat (Bundesrat 2017b).

Project “Queer Refugees Germany”

In December 2017, the Lesbian and Gay Federa‑ tion in Germany (Lesben‑ und Schwulenverband Deutschland) started the project “Queer Refugees Germany”. It is centred around a multi‑language in‑ ternet portal68_{, which contains, among other things,}

a list of contact points for LSBTTIQ* refugees in Germany and information on asylum laws. The pro‑ ject aims to “provide a network for existing struc‑ tures and support them in their work. (...) In addi‑ tion, staff at reception facilities and advisory centres can receive training and advice for their work with LSBTI refugees” (LSVD 2018). Refugees are to be sup‑ ported in efforts to “organise themselves and create their own networks” (LSVD 2018). In addition, they can obtain advice on legal and social security mat‑ ters (LSVD 2018). The project is supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees, and Integration.

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Integration and anti-discrimination measures

Integration and anti-discrimination