Like all the groups in Brandenburg working with refugees, we are happy to welcome the new
decree of the state of Brandenburg on persons who are victims of racially motivated violence and are subject to deportations.¹ It is a first step to grant a right of residence to persons who were attacked by Nazis and who were able to prove it; who were seriously injured and will never fully recover from that attack. But what about the others?
Street racism, abuse and threats from neo- Nazis are still a daily occurrence for refugees. In one case, two women from Hennigsdorf were threatened by a man pointing a gun at them in a supermarket. But to prove such assaults is a complicated process that causes further stress and trauma to the victims who are forced to relive their traumatic experiences. Furthermore, many refugee women living in lagers experience physical and sexualized violence every day, both from inside and outside the lagers.
Added to this is the psychological violence of living in crowded, unsanitary conditions, in mixed gender camps, guarded by male security staff who control their movements. Another source of both psychological and physical violence is the new threat of unannounced deportations, often in the dead of night. These violences are perpetrated by the German state itself, which reenforces its system of oppression with police brutality. In recent cases of forced deportation in Hennigsdorf and Cottbus, women suffered severe injuries and ended up traumatized. We do not believe the state should wait until refugees are maimed or (re)traumatized before they are granted the right to stay!
Women in Exile and International Women’s Space have assisted refugee women who have been attacked outside and inside the lagers. Some of these cases have been reported to the police. Violence against women is violence, whether it is coming from fellow refugees, the police or neo-Nazis.
That is why we demand:
Right to stay for all!
Compensation for all victims of racist violence!
Fight racism on all levels!
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¹
http://bravors.brandenburg.de/verwaltungsvorschriften/erl_nr_8_2016