Refugees and asylum
Good preparation and organisation are required to receive and accommodate the refugees and asylum seekers who have arrived in Chemnitz. It is also important to take the concerns of citizens seriously and ensure good co-operation. We have therefore compiled information on various topics and questions.
Figures, data and facts on the subject of asylum are updated monthly here at www.chemnitz.de.
Security
A great deal of attention must and will continue to be paid to the aspect of security. The Chemnitz Police Department is responsible for security outside the accommodation, and is in constant dialogue with Chemnitz City Council to objectively analyse the security situation. The Free State of Saxony is urgently required to respond to the increase in tasks by increasing personnel. In order to improve the subjective feeling of security, it is planned to increase the presence of the city police in the vicinity of accommodation centres.In the facilities themselves, sufficient security for residents must be ensured in accordance with the Saxon VwV accommodation and care regulations. In the shared accommodation centres in Chemnitz, this is ensured in the following way:
The facilities have technical structural or organisational requirements that enable the responsible police station, the fire brigade, the emergency doctor and the lower accommodation authority to be alerted. This is made possible by appropriate technical alarm systems or the staff working on site. There is also a round-the-clock security service on site in the shared accommodation centres.
To ensure safety, residents are also informed about relevant safety precautions, including fire protection, the escape route plan and the house rules in multilingual materials during the admission interview.
In addition, a security concept is drawn up for each facility which, following consultation with the police, contains relevant data and information on the facility, occupancy, staffing and suitable prevention and protection measures for all facilities.
As the accommodation centres are located in residential areas, it is important that citizens of different religions, languages and cultures live peacefully together and side by side. Asylum seekers are bound by the same legal regulations as all citizens. The vast majority of asylum seekers try to integrate into the host society. Only a very small proportion of asylum seekers cause conflict. The reasons for this are varied and cannot be generalised. It is important to take the concerns expressed by citizens regarding these conflicts seriously. These concerns were also made clear in the residents' and neighbours' meetings.
Health
Asylum seekers registered by the BAMF in Chemnitz are examined by the Office for Health and Prevention on the basis of the Joint Administrative Regulation of the Saxon State Ministry of Social Affairs and the Saxon State Ministry of the Interior on the health care of asylum seekers by the Offices for Health and Prevention in the Free State of Saxony (dated 24 January 2008). January 2008) An amendment came into force on 29 July 2015.
The initial examination includes in particular
- Physical examination for signs of a communicable disease
- Examination to rule out tuberculosis of the respiratory organs
- Blood test (for persons over the age of 15) to rule out infection with hepatitis A, hepatitis B,
- Stool examination on suspicion of a gastrointestinal infection caused by bacteria, viruses or parasites
Since November, the refugee outpatient clinic in the former rescue centre of Klinikum Chemnitz gGmbH has been available to asylum seekers for acute treatment of pain, health problems and vaccinations.
Language support
Children and young people seeking asylum are required to attend school or vocational school. They receive language support as part of their schooling in mainstream schools. After admission, children and young people of school age are referred to the Saxon Education Agency for language assessment and placement in an integration class (VKA classes). With German as a second language and support from mentoring teachers, these so-called DaZ classes work with the pupils step by step and individually on their integration into mainstream classes.After attending the special language support programme for up to one year, they can transfer to a school near their home.Unaccompanied children and young people are referred to the "Socio-educational support for unaccompanied minor foreigners (umA)" project run by the AGIUA e. V. association. As part of the project, they take part in a language module to prepare them for school and receive help with their initial orientation in Germany.
Depending on availability,young adults are given the opportunity to attend a language support class at a vocational school centre and are placed there.
Foradult asylum seekers, language support courses are offered in all shared accommodation centres, run by volunteers. In addition, as of 31 December 2015, 17 free and five fee-based language courses are offered by various organisations and initiatives in the city of Chemnitz. The programmes are updated regularly. The overview is available to all social workers who advise and support asylum seekers, as well as the asylum seekers themselves.
An immediate action programme initiated by the Federal Employment Agency has enabled over 300 people to take part in language courses from October 2015 to March 2016, which can be completed at language level A1.
In order to further integrate asylum seekers, the language skills, educational level and existing vocational training of each new asylum seeker arriving in Germany have been determined by the host organisation (social welfare office) since the beginning of 2015. This information is used in the form of a potential analysis as part of a cooperation agreement between the Employment Agency and the Social Welfare Office in order to provide the Employment Agency with individual counselling and develop measures for professional integration in accordance with SGB III.
Employment
Asylum seekers can be placed in work opportunities in accordance with the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act. In addition to the existing agreements on work opportunities in accordance with SGB XII, capacity expansions have been prepared for the integration of asylum seekers in community service measures in accordance with Section 5 AsylbLG.
There are currently 45 places at municipal and non-profit organisations for asylum seekers to carry out community work. In addition, around 30 places for employment have been created in shared accommodation centres.
The Federal Employment Agency has launched a pilot project in the Chemnitz initial reception centre for asylum seekers. Under the title "Early skills assessment for asylum seekers", the refugees' existing qualifications are assessed during their stay in the facility and their suitability for the labour market is determined. This should help to ensure that efforts to place refugees in jobs or apprenticeships can begin as early as possible.
To support the labour market integration of asylum seekers, various working groups and networks have been formed in the city of Chemnitz, e.g. the contact group for labour market admission, where asylum seekers are referred to the Federal Employment Agency according to their skills in order to speed up their admission to the labour market.
The network for the federal programme "Stark im Beruf - Mütter mit Migrationshintergrund steigen ein" (Strong at work - mothers with a migration background enter the labour market) under the auspices of CBZ Bildungszentrum Schmitt e. K. with the network partners Jobcenter Chemnitz, the migration officer and NeLe e. V. aims to empower mothers for the labour market, among other things.
Leisure activities
In 2013, the Chemnitz City Council decided to participate in the "Save me - a city says yes to refugees" campaign.
The Chemnitz Save me group paved the way for this decision and has been organising and arranging regular sponsorships for newly arriving refugees since 2013. The idea behind this is that social participation for refugees is made possible in particular through interpersonal encounters. Personal sponsorships between Chemnitz citizens and refugees help to make it easier for refugees to settle into city society, to master everyday life and to overcome small hurdles in their living environment. In addition, sponsorship provides sponsors with intercultural experience and learning opportunities.
Cooperation with the Save me Group's sponsorship programme is to be further stabilised and expanded. Within the scope of the group's possibilities and the needs of the refugees, each family in rented accommodation will be assigned a sponsor.
Further information and contact details:
Unaccompanied minor aliens (umA) are children or young people who enter Germany without their parents.
They currently come mainly from war and crisis zones in the Middle East. The largest proportion are children and young people from Syria, followed by Afghanistan and Iraq. Unaccompanied minors also come from Pakistan and Eritrea.
What happens when unaccompanied minors enter Germany?
Children and young people are allocated to the federal states, municipalities and districts according to a quota. If unaccompanied minor refugees arrive in Germany, they are temporarily taken into care by youth welfare offices at the place of initial reception in accordance with the Child and Youth Welfare Act (SGB VIII). This means that the responsible youth welfare office places the children and young people in a suitable youth welfare centre and carries out a so-called clearing procedure. This involves, for example, determining the age, checking whether their state of health allows them to be distributed and checking whether they have relatives in the Federal Republic of Germany or other host countries. Distribution can then take place.
If the young person remains at the initial reception centre, they are taken into the care of the youth welfare office. The young person will then be assigned a guardian who will assist them in clarifying issues relating to immigration and asylum procedures and in reunification due to family or other social ties.
If family reunification is not possible, the young people are looked after in a child and youth welfare centre until they reach the age of majority.