Refugees Increasingly Finding Work in Germany
A growing proportion of refugees are entering the workforce in Germany, according to a government study.
A quarter of the 1 million refugees who have arrived since 2015 have found work, an increase of 60 percent compared to a year ago, according to the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), part of Germany’s Federal Employment Agency. Many of them have taken jobs in the service sector, including restaurants and hotels.
“If this trend continues, around half of all these immigrants will have work in five years’ time,” IAB’s Herbert Brücker said. The number of refugees taking apprenticeships more than doubled last year, the study found.
Kurdish Refugees Walk Out of Greek Camp After Violent Clashes
Hundreds of Kurdish refugees have left an overcrowded refugee center after violent incidents last week, saying they no longer feel safe there.
Fighting reportedly broke out between Kurdish and Arab refugees held at Moria camp over Kurds’ non-observance of the Ramadan fast. At least six people were injured.
Tensions have been exacerbated by poor conditions and overcrowding – more than 7,000 people are living in a facility meant for 3,000.
Around 800 Kurds marched out of the camp and rejected entreaties to return. Some have set up camp near another refugee center or sought shelter with a local NGO. Others are camping in squares and parks, to the chagrin of local authorities who are trying to contain local opposition to refugees being warehoused on the islands.
Rohingya Women Seek Justice at International Criminal Court
A group of 400 Rohingya women and girls have submitted a request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Myanmar for genocide.
The legal petition was signed with 400 ink thumbprints. The women formed the group Shanti Mohila, meaning “peace women” in Rohingya, in a refugee camp in Bangladesh after fleeing massacres and rape in Myanmar last year.
Their lawyers argue that while Myanmar is not a signatory to the ICC, and thus does not fall under its jurisdiction without a U.N. Security Council mandate, the crimes against the Rohingya continue while they are in Bangladesh, which is a signatory.
“If a person is illegally detained, the crime isn’t over until that person is released,” lawyer Wayne Jordash said. “Similarly, in this case, the crimes are ongoing. The Myanmar authorities are maintaining conditions for either the destruction of the group or so they can’t go home.”
According to the New York Times, legal scholars say it’s unclear whether the court will accept this argument when the panel of judges meets to discuss the case on June 20.
Recommended Reads:
- Center for Global Development: Migration Is What You Make It: Seven Policy Decisions That Turned Challenges Into Opportunities
- The Guardian: In Pain and in Limbo: The Nauru Refugee Denied an Interview for U.S. Resettlement
- CNN: At the Border, My Son Was Taken From Me
- Middle East Eye: ‘We’re Stuck’: The Syrians Stranded in Airports Around the World