fugees

[diekahvi]

demondoll2001 asked me about refugees from Irak coming to Europe many months ago. There was never much about the topic in the news since then. (part of the reason is, I guess, that Germany gets many refugees from all over the world each month) But I just stumbled over this article (in English) http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,507444,00.html

Comments

[demondoll2001.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this article.

I read it, and the situation of these refugees seems quite morose, to say the least. Fleeing to Europe must be hard, and some of them must be starving since they don't have any jobs, etc. It's all very sad. I'm sure it will be difficult for Germany to handle/support that many people.

[kahvi-elf.livejournal.com]

No, they won't starve, except they are illigeal and in hiding so that no one can help them. When you are granted asylum in Germany you are not allowed to work here but you get a small amount of money from the state that is about the same amount as the general welfare-money (that I'm getting, too, since I'm out of work for over a year). They also get a place to sleep, they can learn German and children can go to school.
But it's not so easy to get this status. You have to fullfill certain criteria (like really being in mortal danger in your country) and our country can only finance a certain amount of refugees although asylum is one of the prime rights for foreigners in our constitution. Last year 31000 people were given asylum in Germany. During. 500.000 refugees per year came here during the Balkan-War.(cause it was close and many had relatives living here)