A campaign to reunite families separated between Germany and Greece(5)
In 2016, upon arrival to Greece, life in Moria was unbearable for the little family and their baby. They escaped to Athens where they stayed first homeless and then in a squat
A father in Greece – his wife and two small kids in Germany, one of whom he has never met
This family belongs to Frankfurt!
Waly* is a 29 year old father from Afghanistan. For a year and a half, he has been far from his family. His wife and his two sons live in Germany where they obtained residence permits. One of his sons was born there. Waly has never met him, he has only seen him on video calls.
When Waly’s wife escaped Greece, their elder son was still a baby. Now he is old enough to talk and he watches the aeroplanes in the sky over Frankfurt. His son asks him,
“Daddy is there a problem with the aeroplanes in Greece? Why aren’t you coming?”
The truth is that is is impossible for Waly to join his family in Germany legally, since they are categorised by authorities on both sides as a ‘separated family’ case.
Also, his wife’s asylum claim was first rejected in Germany, which is another of the most common arguments used in rejections issued by the Germans when asylum seekers in Greece apply for family reunification. After taking a private lawyer and appealing before a court his wife got a one year status called ‘Abschiebungsverbot’. With this national humanitarian status issued mostly to vulnerable persons whose deportation is not feasible, family reunion via Dublin or the German embassy is not possible. Waly’s wife has not even been able to obtain a travel document in order to at least visit her husband in Greece and let their kids see their father.
Life was unlivable for the family when they were together in Greece. They arrived on Lesvos and after six months of frequent experiences of violence in Moria they couldn’t bear it any more. They travelled together to Athens but as they had left the island with a geographical restriction stamp on their cards, they reached the mainland irregularly and could not progress their case.
Since March 2016, when the EU-Turkey Deal was implemented, asylum seekers are forced to stay on the Aegean Islands. Only upon identification of a vulnerability can they move to the mainland, or in cases of family reunification or if their asylum procedure has been concluded positively. Families with children where both parents are present, are not considered ‘vulnerable’ enough.
Upon arrival to the Greek capital, the family’s living conditions did not improve. They were homeless and they had no access to shelter. They couldn’t find support or even food. For two years the family lived in a squat together and eventually decided they had no choice but to use the little money they had left to escape these conditions.
As they did not have enough money to travel together as a family, Waly’s wife and their son were forced to move to Germany alone. After they left, the squat that the family had been staying in got evicted by riot police. Following that terrifying event, Waly has spent the last year and half in Athens in the same unbearable conditions, but now alone, far from his family.
Waly has been to many lawyers in Athens but they tell him they cannot help, because the 3-month Dublin deadline has passed and he separated from his wife and child ‘voluntarily’.
“How is something voluntary, when you have no other choice?? Being far from my family is no life. In Afghanistan we were always scared of dying, but there you die once. Here in Greece I feel I loose myself every day that I am without my wife and my kids. How is it that I have not even met my own child? Last year I tried many times to end my life. Today I understand I must try and stay strong.”
International Day of Families cannot be celebrated by those separated by borders!
copyright: Salinia Stroux
“My thoughts are dark. There are so many problems. I wouldn’t know it’s the International Family Day. I am feeling scared and worried inside the camp we stay in Greece. Even if I sometimes feel a second of happiness it gets lost in the manifold problems we face. Our kid is alone in Germany. He feels pain in his heart from the stress. He asks for help, but I am far. My wife’s situation gets worse day by day. She cries, she forgets, she loses control of her body. There is no light at the end of the tunnel, but I try not to loose hope.”
Morteza B.*, father and husband, whose story is here
In 1993, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed that the 15th May would be observed as the International Day of Families. While some families can celebrate this day, many others cannot. They are separated from each other, unable to live as one.
But what makes one family different from another? Nothing! A family is a family no matter what papers they have or don’t have. Families should not be separated by passports and borders! The International Day of Families should not just be for some families – it is for all families! In fact, every day should be family day.
Recently, the Infomobile started a campaign, sharing stories of families separated between Greece and Germany. We want to shed light on this issue and to struggle with people for their right to family life. Our demands are not exceptional. We do not ask governments do something extra, or out of kindness. We simply demand that European governments fulfil their legal obligations to reunite families, under the European Dublin III Regulation, national and international laws.
And we will not be silent. These are just four stories of hundreds and we will continue to publishing more:
A father is alone in Germany, fighting cancer away from his wife and their 8 year old boy in Greece. They lived in a tent on Samos while he was dying, he had to leave Greece but now he is alone. The family have been separated for 1 year and 4 months already.
A 12 year old boy is alone in Germany, his mother is dead and his father and three siblings are stuck in Greece. The boy got lost when the family tried to escape Greece together. They were trying to leave because they had suffered sleeping in a tent in Moria together, and then witnessed a terrible fire in the camp on the mainland they were sent to. Now the Greek Asylum Service will not allow them to apply for family reunification. The family have been separated for around 1 year already.
A 17 year old boy is alone in Germany, away from his parents and three siblings who are in Greece. They were violently pushed back to Greece when trying to escape together as a family. The Greek Asylum Service will not allow them to apply for family reunification. The family have been separated for 2.5 years already.
A mother is alone in Germany, fighting cancer away from her husband and four year old son who are in Greece. Their boat almost sank when they risked their lives to reach European soil. Now the mother can only watch her son grow on the phone. The family have been separated for 8 months already.
!The separation of these families, and any families, is unnecessary, unfair and unlawful!
Although an evident injustice, as we say in our introductory statement to the campaign, thousands of families remain torn apart and are kept actively separated by national authorities.
We must raise our voices together with those who are separated from their loved ones especially today and every day!
A psychological expert opinion published as part of our campaign´s introduction, clearly describes the damage that separating families causes. Having that in mind, we insist once more that the well-being of children must be prioritised and their best interests have to be upheld!
Hey governments! Hey politicians! These are real people, like you and I!
Kids should not be without family to look after them!
A campaign to unite families separated between Germany and Greece(2)
Massoud* (17): “When I was in Greece, we lived in a tent.”
A mum and a dad with three young kids in Greece – their 17-year-old son alone in Germany
This family belongs to Hannover!
Morteza B.* (37) from Afghanistan escaped his country after the lives of his family were threatened. He arrived to Greece with his wife and four children shortly before the EU-Turkey ‘Deal’ was implemented at the end of February 2016. After a few months feeling unsafe in a Greek emergency refugee camp near Athens, the family tried to continue their flight through the Balkans.
More than ten times they were intercepted and unlawfully pushed back to Greece. Once they finally reached Serbian soil, they were intercepted again and pushed back arbitrarily to Bulgaria, where they had never been before.
In winter 2016, after a week-long odyssey, they were finally returned from Bulgaria to Greece. Left with no money, they saw no option but to send their eldest son Massoud* (now 17 years old) to Germany, where they thought he would be safe, as he had been the one along with his father threatened most in Afghanistan.
Their family reunification application was never sent by Greek authorities despite repeated promises. Instead after two years in Germany and despite having claimed asylum there, Germany attempted to return the family’s minor son back to Greece. When Greek authorities refused to take him back, he was allowed to continue his asylum procedure in Germany. He finally received a one year national humanitarian status (Abschiebungsverbot). He is legally resident in Germany and goes to school there ever since. But he is alone.
“Our son was almost kidnapped in Afghanistan. Masked men were waiting for him in front of his school. After this terror, we had to take our kids from school to keep them safe. We fled to Greece. We tried for months to move onward all together through Macedonia and Serbia as we felt unprotected among the hundreds of other Afghans around us.
On our way, we got illegally returned more than a dozen times. We were beaten, pushed by border guards, soldiers and police; our phones got stolen. We were forced to cross through the freezing waters of a river and were kept detained in Bulgaria for two months in miserable conditions and without being able to even go out.
Back in Greece, after our son reached safety in Germany and when we informed the Greek Asylum Service that we wanted to apply for family reunification they just told us they would send it but we had to wait. Every time we renewed our papers, they’d say the same pushing our patience beyond its limits. Until that day I will never forget, when they suddenly said: “No! We will not send your family reunification request. You will have your asylum procedure in Greece.” I felt I was breaking.
Me and my wife still try to understand that we will have our asylum interview in Greece in one year, exactly five years after we reached Europe, when we will have been separated far away from our son for 3 1/2 years already.
We still live in this refugee camp, a container village in an industrial area. My wife is suffering from severe psychological problems for years, she has therapy and takes medicines. Her situation worsened after the violence we faced at Europe’s borders, but her health is devastated since our eldest child is so far from us.
We have a few neighbours that have been with us all the time in the camp – they have created little gardens on the dusty soil. But I cannot think of putting even one plant in this earth, as we cannot build anything like ‘home’ when one of us is missing.
Home is where your family is – together!”
On the other side of the continent, up in the North, the 17-year-old Massoud* is counting the days to see his family again.
“I miss my family. I wish they come here to live with me in a house. When I was in Greece, we lived in a tent. There was no language lessons, no school. I was very scared to go out alone. When my parents decided I had to move to Germany alone, I was only 13. They were scared to let me go and I was scared to travel alone, but I was more scared to stay in Greece.
I speak every day on the phone with my family. I want to give them strength. The good thing about Germany is that I am not afraid to go out and that I can go to school again. In my future I want to become a cook. I learned cooking by myself when I arrived in Germany and I had to take care of myself. My mum often cries when we talk on phone, but she is happy that I learned to cook, because she doesn’t need to worry about me being hungry. She knows I can fill my stomach now with tasty food.”
Alle Kinder haben das fundamentale Recht mit ihren Liebsten zusammen zu sein. Trotzdem ist es in Europa mittlerweile weitläufig akzeptiert, dass Familien Geflüchteter aufgrund der restriktiven Gesetzeslage und ihrer noch restriktiveren Auslegung durch die Mitgliedsstaaten getrennt werden und bleiben. „Das Wohl des Kindes […] [sollte] eine vorrangige Erwägung der Mitgliedsstaaten sein” – so steht es in der Dublin III Verordnung, die das primäre rechtliche Instrument ist, welches die Verteilung von Asylbewerber*innen innerhalb der EU regelt. Trotzdem werden tausende geflüchtete Kinder, die Europa erreichen, von ihren Eltern, Geschwistern oder anderen näheren Verwandten wie Tanten, Onkeln und Großeltern, die sich in anderen EU Staaten befinden, ferngehalten.
Im Rahmen des “langen Sommers der Migration” im Jahr 2015, haben tausende Menschen in Griechenland das erste Mal europäischen Boden betreten, bevor sie nach Nordeuropa weitergezogen sind. Viele Familienmitglieder sind später über die gleiche Route nachgekommen – mit dem Ziel, ihre Reise fortzusetzen, um in Deutschland in der Nähe ihrer Liebsten Schutz zu suchen.
Die letzten vier Jahren sind von der plötzlichen Rückkehr von einem kurzen Trend einer europäischen ‘Willkommens-Politik’ zu dem bekannten fatalen Ansatz der geschlossenen Grenzen geprägt. Diese Kehrtwende ist begleitet von einem Aufschwung rechter Regierungen in den EU-Mitgliedstaaten und setzte die grosse Mehrheit der nach 2016 Angekommenen Geflüchteten in Griechenland fest.
In einer Atmosphäre, die von repressiven, anti-migratorischen Politiken in ganz Europa bestimmt wird, kämpfen Graswurzelinitiativen und -Netzwerke auf dem ganzen Kontinent gegen Abschiebungen, illegale Push-Backs, Polizeigewalt, repressive Asylgesetze, verlorene Menschenleben an den Grenzen, die Kriminalisierung von Solidarität und den Anstieg rassistischer Angriffe. Obwohl tausende Familien auseinandergerissen wurden und weiterhin voneinander getrennt gehalten werden, herrscht eine gefährliche Stille über dieser Verletzung fundamentaler Menschenrechte.
In diesem Kontext möchten wir Geschichten von geflüchteten Familien teilen, die getrennt zwischen Griechenland und Deutschland leben müssen. Es ist nicht hinzunehmen, dass das Verpassen von Fristen, die Trennung einer Familie mit dem Wohl der Kinder als Ziel, das Getrenntwerden durch Grenzpolitiken, wachsende Zäune und intensivierte Frontexeinsätze und -kontrollen, valide Gründe sind, um die Trennung von Familien zu rechtfertigen. In den meisten Fällen können geflüchtete Familien die notwendigen Papiere, die ihre Verwandtschaft bestätigen würden, nicht vorweisen. Sie können keine übersetzten Pässe, Familienbücher und Geburtsurkunden vorzeigen – weil sie Krieg und Konflikten entflohen und aus und unter Umständen der Flucht, in welchen Menschen solche Dokumente eben nicht (mehr) besitzen, oder ihre Papiere verloren haben auf dem gefahrenvollen Pfad in die Sicherheit.
Wir haben uns entschieden, diese Kampagne für die Rechte aller Familien symbolisch am 15.03.2017 zu beginnen, dem Datum der Wiederaufnahme der Dublin-Rückführungen nach Griechenland, die der Empfehlung der Europäischen Kommission folgte, und auf der angeblichen Verbesserung der Bedingungen in Griechenland beruhte. Viele Länder des europäischen Nordens, insbesondere Deutschland, nahmen die Gelegenheit dankbar an, um zu versuchen Menschen zurück nach Griechenland zuschicken. Im Jahr 2017 hat Deutschland 1.887 Überstellungsgesuche an Griechenland gestellt (take-back requests). 2018 waren es 6.827 und im letzten Jahr 9.275 – und das trotz der anhaltenden systemischen Menschenrechtsverletzungen, die von zahlreichen Organisationen dokumentiert wurden und werden.
Schutzsuchende kämpfen an den Außengrenzen und in Griechenland ums Überleben
Heute setzt die rechts-konservative griechische Regierung des vergangenen Sommer gewählten Kyriakos Mitsotakis und seiner Partei, Nea Dimokratia, immer drastischere Methoden ein, um Geflüchtete ohne Rücksicht auf Verluste von den Grenzen fernzuhalten. Die führenden Politiker*innen des Landes bedienen sich nicht nur einer rassistischen anti-migratorischen Rhetorik, sondern propagieren zudem die lächerlichsten Maßnahmen, welche die Grenzen angeblich abriegeln könnten (z.B. schwimmende Zäune).
Die Ankündigung des türkischen Präsidenten Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, die Türkische Grenze nach Europa Ende Februar 2020 zu öffnen, führte zu einem rasanten Anstieg versuchter Grenzübertritte. Der griechischen Regierung schien es in der Folge logisch und gerechtfertigt, mit Gewalt gegen jene Personen vorzugehen, die versuchten, griechisches Territorium zu betreten. Geflüchtete an der Landesgrenze wurden mit Tränengas beschossen, verprügelt, ausgezogen bis auf die Unterwäsche, zurückgedrängt und sogar mit Gummigeschossen beschossen. Auf dem Meer wurden sie attackiert und beschossen, die Motoren der Boote wurden zerstört, Benzin gestohlen und die Fliehenden in Seenot zurückgelassen. In den vergangenen zwei Wochen wurden nachweislich zwei Personen an der Landesgrenze getötet. Ein Kind ist in der Ägäis ertrunken.
Die griechische Regierung empfindet es heute auch legitim, neu ankommende Schutzsuchende nunmehr zu kriminalisieren und droht ihnen mit Haftstrafen von bis zu vier Jahren und Geldstrafen bis zu 10.000 Euro für den bloßen irregulären Grenzübertritt. Gleichzeitig wurde entschieden, dass Menschen in die Türkei zurückgeschickt oder in Herkunftsländer abgeschoben werden können, ohne ein Asylverfahren zuzulassen. Die EU schweigt zu diesen enormen Verletzungen der Grund- und Menschenrechte und bietet der Türkei und Griechenland stattdessen finanzielle Unterstützung an.
Die Ende 2019 neu eingeführten Einwanderungsgesetze hatten bereits zu zahlreichen praktischen Hindernissen bei der Wahrnehmung der Rechte von Schutzsuchenden in Griechenland geführt. Eine steigende Zahl von Asylanträgen wurde willkürlich beendet und auch die Zahlen der Ablehnungsbescheide nimmt unaufhörlich zu. Für Asylbewerber*innen gibt es keine Sozialversicherungsnummer (AMKA) mehr, statt dessen neue Hindernisse bei der Beantragung einer Steuernummer (AFM), keine direkte Arbeitserlaubnis (erst sechs Monate nach der Registrierung), große technische Schwierigkeiten beim Zugang zum Asylverfahren (per Skype), lange Wartezeiten, um Sozialleistungen zu erhalten (Menschen warten mehrere Monate auf ihre ‘Cash-card’), eine Verlängerung der Wartezeit auf Einbürgerung für international Schutzberechtigte (von fünf auf sieben Jahre) und so weiter.
Mitte März 2020 bringt die Bedrohung der durch das Virus Covid-19 ausgelösten Pandemie nicht nur das öffentliche Leben in Griechenland zum Stillstand. Expert*innen warnen vor einem Anstieg der Infektionen im nächsten Monat, welcher die vulnerabelsten Gruppen am heftigsten treffen wird. Griechische Flüchtlingscamps, in welchen hunderte vulnerable Personen in nächster Nähe zusammenleben müssen, ohne dass grundlegende Bedürfnisse erfüllt werden, bergen ein besonders hohes Infektionsrisiko. NGOs rufen zur sofortigen Evakuierung der Camps auf den Inseln auf. Gleichzeitig führen Sicherheitsmaßnahmen für Mitarbeiter*innen zu einer stark eingeschränkten Präsenz der betreibenden Organisationen wie z.B. der Internationalen Organisation für Migration (IOM). Auch Mitarbeiter*innen der NGOs stellen nur noch ein Minimum an Angeboten zur Verfügung. Die nationale Asylbehörde hat ihren öffentlichen Betrieb vorerst eingestellt.
Auf den Ägäis-Inseln bleiben weiter tausende Geflüchtete in Zelten in und um die “Hotspots” eingesperrt. Viele von ihnen haben nicht einmal gesicherten Zugang zu Lebensmitteln, medizinischer Versorgung oder grundlegenden sanitären Einrichtungen. Alle, die nach dem 1. März 2020 angekommen sind, wurden unter unmenschlichen Bedingungen in Außenarealen der Hafenbehörden und auf einem Militärschiff im Hafen von Lesbos über zwei Wochen festgehalten. Nun wurden die Geflüchteten ans Festland gebracht.
Auf den Inseln suchen Schutzsuchende verzweifelt nach rechtlicher Beratung, um Zugang zu Informationen bezüglich ihrer Rechte und dem rechtlichen Ablauf des Asylverfahrens zu erhalten. Die meisten verbleiben ohne jegliche Hilfe und durchlaufen das Asylverfahren unvorbereitet. Das ohnehin schon geschwächte öffentliche Gesundheitssystem bricht zusammen und sowohl medizinische Hilfe als auch der Zugang zur Versorgung mit Medikamenten existiert faktisch nicht mehr. Währenddessen protestieren von Faschist*innen infiltrierte Gruppen von Inselbewohner*innen seit Wochen gegen die Pläne der Regierung, geschlossene Immigrationsgefängnisse neben den bereits jetzt schon bekannten und überfüllten Hotspots auf Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos und Leros zu errichten. Sie haben Geflüchtete, Aktivist*innen und Journalist*innen gleichermaßen attackiert und angegriffen.
Auf dem Festland leben immer mehr Menschen in marginalisierten Lagern, weit entfernt von jeglicher Hilfe und fernab jeglicher Zukunftsperspektiven. Integration unter diesen Umständen ist unmöglich. Die Anzahl der von Obdachlosigkeit betroffenen Personen steigt und mit dem angekündigten Ausschluss der international Schutzberechtigten von staatlich gefördertem Wohnen, werden zum Ende des Monats hunderte weitere auf der Straße landen. Menschen, die über die Landgrenze nach Griechenland gelangen und in die Städte kommen, haben keinen Zugang zum Asylverfahren oder Aufnahmebedingungen. Sie müssen unregistriert in Camps leben und haben monatelang keinen Zugang zu materiellen, sozialen und medizinischen Dienstleistungen, leben in Zelten und überfüllten Gemeinschaftsräumen oder provisorisch in Containern offizieller Bewohner*innen.
Kurz gefasst: Schutzsuchende riskieren ihr Leben um Europäischen Boden zu erreichen und sind nach ihrer Ankunft in Griechenland weiterhin gefährdet.
Seit 2017 verhindert Deutschland aktiv Familienzusammenführungen
Mit der Zunahme der Anträge auf Familienzusammenführung nach der plötzlichen Schließung der “Balkan-Route” und der Implementierung des EU-Türkei-Deals 2016, begannen die Deutschen Behörden eine restriktive Anti-Zusammenführungs-Politik zu verfolgen. Zuerst wurden hunderte bereits akzeptierte Familienzusammenführungen unrechtmäßig verzögert, wodurch Kinder monate- und sogar jahrelang von ihren Familien getrennt blieben. Zum Ende des Jahres 2017 stieg die Anzahl systematischer allgemein formulierter Ablehnungsbescheide zuerst von Deutscher und in der Konsequenz auch von Griechischer Seite, die rein administrative Begründungen verwendeten, um Familien auf unbestimmte Zeit zu trennen. Anstatt das sich die Behörden für die Zusammenführung der geflüchteten Familien einsetzen, liegt die Beweispflicht nun bei den Familien, die belegen sollen weshalb die Zusammenführung zu ihre Wohl sei. Heutzutage ist es eine alltägliche Erfahrungen vieler verzweifelter Kinder, Mütter und Väter, wenn ihnen die griechischen Asylbehörden oder NGOs mitteilen: “Du kannst keinen Antrag auf Familienzusammenführung stellen!” oder “Es ist sehr wahrscheinlich, dass dein Antrag von den Deutschen Behörden abgelehnt wird!”.
In den Jahren 2017 und 2018 gab es einen starken selbstorganisierten Widerstand geflüchteter Familien gegen die verspäteten Transfers nach Deutschland. Heute wird die extrem restriktive Auslegung der Dublin III Verordnung und des deutschen Einwanderungsgesetzes zum Familiennachzug als gegeben und nicht verhandelbar präsentiert – trotz der inhärenten Ungerechtigkeit. Die Stimmen der geflüchteten Familien verhallen ungehört.
Wir möchten diesen Stimmen eine Plattform geben. Wir stellen uns gegen die EU-Politik der geschlossenen Grenzen abzielen, die Kinder extremer Gewalt aussetzen. Wir fordern, dass Familien wieder vereint werden müssen. Grund- und Menschenrechte müssen über dem Einwanderungs- und Asylgesetz stehen. Das Wohlergehen der Kinder muss geschützt und das Kindeswohl aufrechterhalten werden. Behörden aller EU Mitgliedsstaaten müssen aufhören, das Kindeswohl in Gefahr zu bringen und stattdessen die Dublin III Verordnung einhalten, welche explizit besagt:
“Bei der Anwendung dieser Verordnung sollte das Wohl des Kindes im Einklang mit dem Übereinkommen der Vereinten Nationen über die Rechte des Kindes von 1989 und mit der Charta der Grundrechte der Europäischen Union eine vorrangige Erwägung der Mitgliedstaaten sein. Bei der Beurteilung des Wohls des Kindes sollten die Mitgliedstaaten insbesondere das Wohlbefinden und die soziale Entwicklung des Minderjährigen, Erwägungen der Sicherheit und der Gefahrenabwehr und den Willen des Minderjährigen unter Berücksichtigung seines Alters und seiner Reife, einschließlich seines Hintergrunds, berücksichtigen. Darüber hinaus sollten für unbegleitete Minderjährige aufgrund ihrer besonderen Schutzbedürftigkeit spezielle Verfahrensgarantien festgelegt werden.” (Paragraph 13)
„Um die uneingeschränkte Achtung des Grundsatzes der Einheit der Familie und des Wohl des Kindes zu gewährleisten, sollte ein zwischen einem Antragsteller und seinem Kind, einem seiner Geschwister oder einem Elternteil bestehendes Abhängigkeitsverhältnis, das durch Schwangerschaft oder Mutterschaft, durch den Gesundheitszustand oder hohes Alter des Antragstellers begründet ist, als ein verbindliches Zuständigkeitskriterium herangezogen werden. Handelt es sich bei dem Antragsteller um einen unbegleiteten Minderjährigen, der einen Familienangehörigen oder Verwandten in einem anderen Mitgliedstaat hat, der für ihn sorgen kann, so sollte dieser Umstand ebenfalls als ein verbindliches Zuständigkeitskriterium gelten.” (Paragraph 16)
Stoppt die Trennung von Familien!
Gleiche Rechte für alle Kinder und Familien!
Kontaktdaten zu den Familien, deren Geschichten innerhalb dieser Kampagne erzählt werden, genauso wie Details zu anderen getrennten Familien, können nach Absprache mit und in Zustimmung der betroffenen Familien geteilt werden, mit Ziel ihnen rechtliche Unterstützung zukommen zu lassen und sie mit ihren Liebsten zu vereinen. Kontaktiert uns über facebook: www.facebook.com/w2eu.gr oder schickt eine E-mail an: contact@w2eu.info
copyright: Salinia Stroux
EXPERTENMEINUNG
Psychosoziale Auswirkungen von nicht erfolgter Familienzusammenführung
Aus psychologischer Sicht ist es in einer durch die Fluchtumstände getrennten Familie nicht zu vertreten, den betroffenen Kindern die Wiederaufnahme der Beziehung und Bindung zu den Eltern und/oder Geschwistern, oder anderen nächsten Bezugspersonen, welche an Stelle der Eltern getreten sind (Großeltern, Tanten/Onkel) zu verwehren, es sei denn deren Verhalten ist an sich als kindeswohlgefährdend anzusehen.
Das Erleben von Kindern, die gemeinsam mit ihrer Familie eine oft sehr lange dauernde Fluchtgeschichte überstehen, ist geprägt von extremen Formen des Aufeinanderangewiesenseins. Es fehlt der gewohnte soziale Rahmen, der den Kindern ermöglichte, auch außerhalb der Kernfamilie Entwicklungsschritte zu machen. Stattdessen ist die Familie in einer fremden Umgebung auf sich selbst angewiesen. Es werden den Kindern enorme Anpassungsleistungen abverlangt, die sie oft in eine ungesunde Abhängigkeit von ihren Eltern, oder anderen erwachsenen Verwandten, die diese ersetzen, bringen. Auf der anderen Seite leisten die Kinder die Anpassung an die neue Umgebung und Sprache in der Regel schneller als die Erwachsenen, so dass sie aufgrund ihres schnelleren Spracherwerbs oft Übersetzungsleistungen für die Eltern übernehmen müssen. Auch erleben sie ihre erwachsenen Verwandten gegenüber Behörden und PolizistInnen hilflos, gedemütigt und teilweise auch misshandelt. Aus der früheren Kindheit erlebte Sicherheiten gehen so äußerlich wie innerlich verloren.
Wenn nach solchen Erfahrungen die Kinder dann durch die Fluchtumstände von ihren Eltern und/oder Geschwistern, oder anderen nahen Verwandten getrennt werden, verlassen sie den Familienrahmen unter ohnehin belasteten Umständen. Viele Familien haben neben Krieg und Gewalt bereits als Fluchtgründe massive Ausgrenzung erleben müssen. Durch die Flucht und deren traumatisierende Begleitumstände auch in Griechenland geraten die Familien unter zusätzlichen Druck und verlieren teilweise ihre alten Funktionsweisen, sind auf der anderen Seite aber der überlebensnotwendige Bezugsrahmen. Viele Kinder sind plötzlich ohne ihre gewohnte Familienumgebung, müssen sich ohne ihre Hauptbezugspersonen oft ganz alleine an eine weitere fremde Sprache in einer fremden Kultur und Umgebung anpassen. Die Kinder versuchen, sich nun an dem gegebenen Bezugsrahmen zu orientieren, bleiben aber innerlich und durch täglich mehrfache Telefonate mit der getrennten Ursprungsfamilie sehr eng, aber praktisch nicht lebbar, verbunden.
Bei von den Familien getrennten Kindern können unabsehbare Auswirkungen auf die psychische Entwicklung entstehen und insbesondere ihre emotionale Stabilität so stark belastet sein, dass durch die faktische Unmöglichkeit, die Herkunftsfamilie wiederzusehen, eine Kindeswohlgefährdung entsteht. Auch Kinder, die von einzelnen zentralen Bezugspersonen getrennt wurden (Mutter, Vater, Bruder, Schwester etc.) brauchen für ihre weitere Entwicklung den Kontakt zu diesen Personen. Wenn die Familie oder einzelne Familienmitglieder durch behördliche Versäumnisse unerreichbar bleiben, ist es hinreichend wahrscheinlich, dass ein Kind immer tiefer in psycho-somatische Symptomatiken abtaucht und diese quasi zu einer eigenen Welt entwickelt. Diese Kinder versuchen so auf dysfunktionale Weise, in Verbindung mit den getrennten Eltern, Geschwistern oder anderen nahen Verwandten zu bleiben, die diese ersetzen, wissend und spürend, dass es ihnen genauso schlecht geht. 0ft werden depressive und andere Symptome zu einem sich selbst bestätigenden Band, was die zerrissene Familie zusammenhalten soll. Wenn Kinder in der Phase des Bindungsaufbaus (bis 3 Jahre) getrennt werden, ist dies besonders wichtig, da sonst eine Störung der Bindungsmöglichkeiten wahrscheinlich wird.
Durch eine dauerhafte Trennung von der Familie entstehen zunehmende Risiken für die psychische Entwicklung aller betroffenen Kinder und diese gefährden folglich ihr Kindeswohl.
Dipl. Psychologe und Familientherapeut Reimer Dohrn
A campaign to unite families separated between Germany and Greece(1)
copyright: private
A single father with three minor kids in Greece – his 12-year-old son alone in Germany
This family belongs to Berlin!
Hassan H.* from Afghanistan arrived to Lesvos, Greece with his four children in August 2018. His wife had died in Iran shortly before they escaped from there. When the single father tried to leave Greece through the Balkans a year later, one of his sons got lost and he and his remaining three kids were pushed back to Greece. Later, his son contacted him from Germany, but the father was told by Greek authorities, that he could not apply for family reunification under the given circumstances.
“We stayed seven months in a tent in Moria. There were a lot of fights. I wouldn’t let my kids go out due to fear. I didn’t know how to protect them otherwise. When we were finally transferred to Athens in spring 2019, I was first very happy. From the port we were brought to Skaramangas camp. Upon arrival there I saw a huge village made of containers on a pier near the sea and in the middle, there were dozens of tents. We ended up again living in a tent without electricity in the cold darkness – again unsafe.
One night a tent caught fire and a family got burned. They nearly died. Refugees in the camp then held protests against the conditions. One of my sons got beaten by riot police in the turmoil. My kids were seeing nightmares every night from then on. That was when I decided we should try to leave Greece, because we weren’t safe at last.
I collected some money from friends and we decided to leave from the land border. One tragedy followed the next. My 12-year-old son got lost half way. I thought he had died or been kidnapped. We were arrested and sent back to Greece. … It was a happy day, when my son contacted me from Germany. I heard his voice and all my worries were gone for a moment. I went to the camp employees to ask how we could join my son in Germany. But they said it was too late and we were anyway a “separated child case” and we could not even apply for family reunification because we separated “voluntarily”. I don’t understand what they mean. Our choices are made in a state of emergency while trying to do the best for our family and our situation has not only been a result of our choices but also of our destiny.
How can it be too late for a family to be together?
Now my little boy is there and we are here. We live in a container now, but it is no life if you first lost your wife and the mother of your children, and then you lose a child. I dream every night of being with him again. And I hope until that day, when we can be together again in a better place, I can keep all my kids safe.”
All children have the fundamental right to be with their loved ones no matter what. Despite this fact it has been broadly accepted in Europe, that refugee families end up separated, due to limitations of laws and an even more restrictive interpretation of these laws by states. The “best interests of the child should be a primary consideration of Member States”, says the Dublin III Regulation, the primary legal tool within the EU to regulate the distribution of asylum seekers. Despite this fact, thousands of refugee children who reach Europe are held far from their parents, siblings or other close relatives such as aunties, uncles or grandparents, residing in other EU countries.
In the dawn of the “long summer of migration” in 2015, thousands reached Northern Europe entering the EU initially through Greece. Many of their family members arrived later through the same route to Greece actually aiming to continue their journey and find protection near their loved ones in Germany or elsewhere. The following four years are marked by a sudden return from a short trend of a ‘welcome refugees’ EU-politics to the states’ deadly ‘closed gates’ approach, which came into force parallel to a right wing upsurge in the governments of different member states and left the vast majority of newcomers after March 2016 blocked in Greece.
In an atmosphere ruled by repressive anti-migratory policies all over the EU, grassroots groups and networks across the continent are struggling against deportations, push-backs, police violence, repressive asylum laws, continuing border deaths, the criminalisation of solidarity and an increase in racist attacks. Silence persists despite the fact that thousands of families are torn apart and kept actively separated by national authorities.
It is in this context that we want to share stories of refugee families split between Greece and Germany. It should not be accepted that failing to meet deadlines, separating with the best interest of children in mind or being separated by border policies, growing fences and intensified Frontex patrols / controls is an acceptable reason to keep families apart. Refugee families can in most cases not submit the necessary documents to prove they are relatives. They cannot supply authorities in many cases with passports, family books, birth certificates – all translated properly, because they escaped war and conflict, they came from situations and escaped under such conditions where most people lack such documentation or lose it on the way to safety.
We chose to start this campaign on 15th March 2017, the date that marked the resumption of Dublin returns to Greece, following the European Commission’s recommendation that conditions had improved there. North European countries, most notably Germany, were keen to take the opportunity to force people back to Greece. Germany sent 1,887 take-back requests to Greece in 2017, 6,827 in 2018 and 9,275 last year, despite the ongoing systemic human rights violations documented by numerous organisations.
Protection seekers struggle to reach ‘safe’ territory and survive in Greece
Today, the right-wing government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Nea Dimokratia elected in Greece last summer is imposing more and more drastic measures to keep refugees out no matter what. Ruling politicians have re-introduced an anti-migratory, mostly racist rhetoric, offensively propagating even the most ridiculous measures that would supposedly seal the borders (i.e. floating fences). After a recent upsurge of attempted border crossings caused by Turkish Primeminister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s announcement that he would open the Turkish border to Europe at the end of February, authorities’ use of violence to stop people from entering Greek territory has been apparently justified. Refugees were teargassed, beaten, stripped naked, pushed-back and even shot with rubber-bullets at the land border. They were attacked and shot in the sea, their engines were broken and petrol stolen and they were left adrift in distress. In these two weeks, two persons were documented dead at the land border and one child drowned in the Aegean Sea. Greek officials have found it legitimate, to start criminalising newcomers in search of protection with prison sentences reaching four years and fines of up to 10,000 Euros for mere ‘irregular entry’. It has also been agreed that people will be returned swiftly back to Turkey or deported to their homelands without even being able to claim asylum. EU authorities have been silent on these breaches of fundamental human rights, instead offering Turkey and Greece more money.
New immigration laws introduced at the end of 2019 already had created numerous practical obstacles to protection seekers in Greece accessing their rights, with an increasing number of asylum claims being ended for arbitrary reasons and the number of rejections to asylum claims growing. No more social insurance number for asylum seekers (AMKA), new obstacles to get a tax number (AFM), no more direct right to enter the job market (only after six months from registration), big technical difficulties to access the asylum procedure through Skype, long waiting periods to receive social benefits for asylum seekers (people waiting for the cash-card for many months), increased periods to naturalize for beneficiaries of international protection (from five to seven years) and so on.
In mid-March 2020, the threat of the Corona virus pandemic has not only bought public life in Greece to a halt, but experts warn that an upsurge in infections is still to come next month and will hit the most vulnerable worst. Greek refugee camps where hundreds of vulnerable persons are living close to each other, usually without their basic needs being met are spaces of high risk of infection. NGOs have called for the immediate evacuation of the camps on the islands. At the same time, emergency measures for employees have limited the presence of site managing organisations such as IOM and NGO employees offering essential services to a minimum level. The Asylum Service has temporary halted its services to the public nationwide.
On the Aegean Islands, thousands of refugees remain trapped in tents in and around the ‘hotspots’, many of which do not even have access to food, medical aid or basic sanitary infrastructure. Those arriving after March 1sthave been held in dire conditions in outside areas of ports and a navy ship in Lesvos Island for many days. After two weeks trapped on the warship they have been transferred to the mainland. On the islands, protection seekers are searching desperately for legal aid, to access information on their rights and procedures. Most remain without any help and go through the asylum process unprepared. The already burdened public health care system is breaking down and medical aid as well as access to medication is in fact not existent. In the meanwhile, locals infiltrated by fascists are protesting since weeks against the government’s plans to build closed immigration prisons next to the already infamous and overcrowded ‘hotspots’ on Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros islands. They have attacked refugees, aid workers and journalists alike.
On the mainland, more and more people live in marginalised camps far from any possibility to find help, to integrate or to identify any future prospects for themselves. The number of people homeless is growing and with the announced exclusion of beneficiaries of international protection from state housing, hundreds more will be on the streets by the end of this month. People arriving from the land border to the cities do not have access to the asylum procedure. They cannot access reception conditions and have to stay unregistered inside camps without any social welfare and services for months while living in tents, overcrowded common spaces or other residents’ prefabs.
In short, protection seekers risk their lives to reach European soil and continue to be at risk even upon arrival to Greece.
Germany actively hinders families from being reunited since 2017
With the surge of family reunification applications after the sudden closure of the ‘Balkan Corridor’ and the implementation of the EU-Turkey ‘Deal’, the German authorities started developing a harsh anti-reunification policy. First, hundreds of family reunification cases which had already been accepted were unlawfully delayed, keeping children for months and even years apart from their families. By the end of 2017, systematic and generalised rejections of such applications increased suddenly first from the German side and as a consequence also from the Greek side, using administrative grounds to keep refugee families apart for indefinite periods. Instead of authorities deciding in favour of refugee families being united, the families now have the burden to prove why it is best for them to be together. Today, it is a common story of desperate children, mothers and fathers, that they are told by the Greek Asylum Service and NGOs: ‘You cannot apply for family reunification!’ or ‘It is likely that your application will be rejected by the German authorities!’
Before, there was strong self-organised resistance from refugee families against the delays of transfers to Germany throughout 2017 / 2018. Nowadays, the extremely harsh interpretation of the Dublin III Regulation and German immigration law when it comes to family reunion, is being presented as a given fact and seems non-negotiable, despite the inherent injustice. Refugee families’ voices have remained widely unheard.
We want to platform these voices. We stand against EU-policies that focus on closing borders and subjecting children to extreme violence, we demand families must be reunited. Basic rights are superior to immigration and asylum law. The wellbeing of children has to be protected and their best interest must be upheld. Authorities of all EU member states must stop putting children’s welfare in danger and instead comply with the Dublin III Regulation, which explicitly states:
„(T)he best interests of the child should be a primary consideration of Member States when applying this Regulation. In assessing the best interests of the child, Member States should, in particular, take due account of the minor’s well-being and social development, safety and security considerations and the views of the minor in accordance with his or her age and maturity, including his or her background. In addition, specific procedural guarantees for unaccompanied minors should be laid down on account of their particular vulnerability.“ (paragraph 13)
„In order to ensure full respect for the principle of family unity and for the best interests of the child, the existence of a relationship of dependency between an applicant and his or her child, sibling or parent on account of the applicant’s pregnancy or maternity, state of health or old age, should become a binding responsibility criterion. When the applicant is an unaccompanied minor, the presence of a family member or relative on the territory of another Member State who can take care of him or her should also become a binding responsibility criterion.“ (paragraph 16)
End the separation of families!
Equal rights for all children and families!
Contact details for the families whose stories are included in this campaign as well as other separated families can be shared with the consent of the families in order to support legal efforts to reunite them with their loved ones. Contact us on facebook: www.facebook.com/w2eu.gr or email to: contact@w2eu.info
copyright: Salinia Stroux
EXPERT OPINION
Psychosocial repercussions of the authorities’ practice of not reuniting families
From a psychological point of view, it is unjustifiable in a family separated by the circumstances of the flight, to deny the affected children to re-establish a relationship and bond with the parents and / or siblings, or other closest caregivers, who have taken the place of the parents (grandparents, aunts / Uncle), unless their behaviour is per se endangering the child’s well-being (‘Kindeswohlgefährdung’).
The experience of children who, together with their family, survive an often very long flight, is characterized by extreme forms of relying on one another. The habitual social framework is missing, which was enabling the children to take development steps outside of the core family. Instead, the family is dependent on itself in an unknown environment. The children are required to perform enormous adaption, which often puts them an unhealthy dependency from their parents or other adult relatives who replace them. On the other hand, children generally adapt to new environments and languages faster than adults, so that because of their faster language acquisition, they often have to carry out translations for their parents. They also experience their adult relatives helpless, humiliated and sometimes ill-treated by the authorities and police officers. Experiences of safety from earlier childhood are lost both externally and internally.
If, after such experiences, the children are separated from their parents and / or siblings or other close relatives, by the circumstances of the flight, they leave the family framework under circumstances that are already stressful. In addition to war and violence as reason for fleeing, many families have already experienced massive exclusion. As a result of the flight and its traumatizing circumstances – also in Greece, the families come under additional pressure and sometimes lose their old functions. On the other hand, they are the reference framework that is necessary for survival. Many children find themselves suddenly without their habitual family environment and often have to adapt to another foreign language in a foreign culture and environment without their main caregivers. The children are now trying to orient themselves on the given reference frame of the current place of residence, but remain very closely connected internally and through multiple phone calls every day to the separated family of origin – a family framework which is not practically liveable.
Children separated from families can have unforeseeable effects on their psychological development. In particular, their emotional stability can be so severely affected that the factual impossibility of seeing the family of origin again endangers the child’s well-being. Also, children who have been separated from individual main caregivers (mother, father, brother, sister, etc.) need contact with these people for their further development. If the family or individual family members remain unreachable due to authorities’ omissions, it is sufficiently likely that a child will dive successively deeper into psycho-somatic symptoms and develop them into a (virtual) world of their own. These children in a dysfunctional way, try to stay in touch with the separated parents, siblings or other close relatives who are replacing them, knowing and feeling that they are in a likewise bad psychological condition. Depression and other symptoms often become a self-affirming bond, which aims to keep the torn family together. This is particularly important if children are separated in the main phase bonding (up to the age of 3 years), as otherwise the bonding possibilities are likely to be disrupted.
A permanent separation from the family creates increasing risks for the psychological development of all affected children and consequently endangers their best interests.
Dipl. Psychologist and Family Therapist Reimer Dohrn
Call for refugee protest on Syndagma Square Wednesday 1st November 2017 at 11am
We are more than 4,000 refugees awaiting our transfer to Germany – most of which are families who are waiting already more than 18 months in Greece under deplorable conditions.
We escaped from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to find security and peace near our beloved.
Many of us have received the acceptance from Germany since more than 6 months, passing the maximum deadline for the transfer defined by European law due an unofficial and illegal deal between Germany and Greece.
Our waiting period has reached now in average nine months from the date of acceptance. Currently, people who get tickets issued have received their acceptance in January 2017. Everybody has to still pay his/her ticket by him/herself.
– We have been promised many things.
– We have heard these promises many times.
– We are tired to listen, tired to wait, tired to hope.
– We have not received at any point of time a clear answer on who is deciding how many people can leave in one month or who is putting numeral limits on transfers.
– We have not received at any point a clear answer on who is deciding which persons are considered vulnerable and can travel faster and based on which criteria this is decided.
– We just want to know now when we will go to our families. And we want to be treated all equally without any discrimination.
We therefore demand:
· from the Greek and the German government to respect the legal limit of six months to reunify our families from the date of acceptance.
· from the German and Greek authorities to immediately charter flights for all the refugees that have already been waiting more than six months.
· from the Greek authorities that the money for our tickets will be paid by the state as provided by law. The tickets are one more obstacle for our family reunifications.
For all these reasons, our struggle goes on Wednesday 1st November 2017 at 11am at Syndagma Square. Join us and raise your voices with ours!
We are protesting since four months against the limitation of transfers to Germany for family reunifications. We want to shout out against the cruel migration policy of deterrence that Europe imposes on us and our families; a system that is aimed to unnerve us and let us give up. But we will stand upright. We want to tear down the walls that stop us from being with our fathers, mothers and children. We will continue our struggle until we succeed.
No more discrimination!
We demand our right on family unity and a dignified life in peace now!
The right to stay and freedom of movement for all.
Refugees from different camps and places in Greece
We are more than 4,000 persons awaiting our transfer to Germany. Most of us are families who are waiting already more than 18 months in Greece under deplorable conditions. We escaped from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to find security and peace near our beloved. We applied for family reunification. Many of us have received the acceptance from Germany already since more than 6 months, passing the maximum deadline for the transfer as prescribed by law. The waiting period nowadays has reached nine months from the date of acceptance. Currently, people who get tickets issued have received their acceptance in January 2017. Everybody has to pay his/her ticket by him/herself.
We are protesting since more than three months against the limitation of transfers to Germany for family reunifications and we will continue our struggle until we succeed. As it was agreed on 17th of September during the last protest we held in front of the Athens Asylum Service near Katekhaki metro station, a refugee delegation consisting of four representatives visited the offices on October 5, 2017 in order to get the promised update on promised improvements from the responsible authorities. During the visit, representatives of the asylum service and the Dublin Unit specifically, informed us that the number of transfers had increased to over 70 persons per month since July and had reached approx. 300 in September. According to them, the Greek authorities had the will to further increase transfers to 600 per month. In the meantime, the Dublin office has reportedly employed three additional officers in order to fasten up procedures. Furthermore, they acknowledged the problem of the expenses forced upon us for the airplane tickets and expressed their will to improve the situation by hiring a number of charters only for family reunification transfers. Finally, and answering our demand on transparency, the exact numbers of transfers will be issued on the internet-page of the asylum service.
– We have been promised many things.
– We have heard these promises many times.
– We are tired to listen, tired to wait, tired to hope.
– We have not received at any point of time a clear answer on who is deciding how many people can leave in one month or who is putting numeral limits on transfers.
– We have not received at any point a clear answer on who is deciding which persons are considered vulnerable and can travel faster and based on which criteria this is decided.
– We just want to know now when we will go to our families. And we want to be treated all equally without any discrimination and according to law.
On Monday 16th of October 2017 we will meet the authorities again, as they promised us that until then they will be able to show us results of their promises. We are in expectation of a quick positive change with prompt transfers to destination countries for all separated families. Otherwise we will have to escalate our struggle for our fair demands.
Refugees from different camps and places in Greece
Germany has decided to hold off for a second consecutive year on sending asylum seekers back to Greece in an effort to relieve pressure on its European Union partner as it reforms its asylum system.
