The German government has pledged €200 million to combat the rampant sexual abuse of children and women in asylum homes.
The Ministry of Families, Seniors, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ) is making the sum available as of April 1st to fund projects designed to reduce the number of cases of sexual abuse committed by predominately male Muslim migrants in asylum homes across the country reports the Local.de.
In a statement Thursday the BMFSFJ said they would look at using the money to remodel existing migrant camps and asylum homes in order to create safe spaces for woman and children where they would have extra security measures to protect them.
Junior minister Ralph Kleindiekat said, “[U]nfortunately we know that children and women in the camps are not safe from abuse and sexual assault. That’s why we have to make sure that they’re protected,” and told of the challenges the government faces in preventing abuse saying, “not only measures regarding staff, but also structural measures need to be implemented such as lockable accommodation units and separate sanitary facilities.”
He also noted the vulnerability of children to sexual abuse in migrant homes calling for the need to have separate spaces for kids to be able to have a childhood rather than be in constant fear. “For the children and adolescents we also need designated rooms to enable play and learning,” he said.
The measures are in direct correlation to the criticisms leveled against the government by various groups who pushed for such measures in the two asylum packages proposed by the German government. A member of the Socialist Party went as far to say that the ruling coalition was preventing an improvement of conditions in case it attracted more migrants to come to Germany.
Migrant on migrant sexual abuse is now so rampant in Germany that Johannes-Wilhelm Rörig, German Federal Government Abuse Commissioner, said, “sexual assaults happen in all the refugee camps in Germany,” and some of the worst incidents often involve children.
BMFSFJ spokeswoman Verena Herb spoke to the allegations of widespread abuse saying, “so far, we only know about individual cases. But we assume that there is a number of unreported cases. Many of the women in the camps are scared to speak out about what is happening – many of them are for example scared to be sent back home because of it.”
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