It is mainly women, children and the elderly who have fled Ukraine. In order to make it easier for them to arrive in Germany, tailor-made offers are needed.
In addition to accommodating and caring for the refugees from Ukraine, around two months after the start of the war, their integration is now becoming a greater focus.
At a refugee summit in the Chancellery, the federal, state and local governments agreed that, above all, childcare and schooling must be improved. Because a large proportion of the refugees are women with children. Many refugee Ukrainian women have an education, but very few speak German.
“The cities, together with the federal states, have started to organize childcare and lessons for Ukrainian children – we need significantly more capacity here,” said the President of the German Association of Cities, Mayor Markus Lewe (CDU), on Monday at the beginning of the conversation Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and other cabinet members attended. The federal government should contribute to the costs, the city council demanded. Fast recognition procedures for teachers and educators from Ukraine are also needed.
Many want to go back quickly
However, the authorities, aid organizations and volunteers who have been looking after the arrivals since the beginning of the Russian attack on Ukraine report the difficulty of preparing for a situation that depends on the course of the war and is therefore difficult to plan. “Many want to go back as soon as possible. Some already are. But if we look at Mariupol or Donbass, a quick return is not possible for everyone,” said the federal government’s integration officer, Reem Alabali-Radovan (SPD), with a view to the great destruction in these areas. That is why they now need prospects and opportunities for participation in Germany.
By Monday, the federal police had determined that 379,123 war refugees from Ukraine had entered the country. Since Ukrainians can enter the country for 90 days without a visa and there are usually no stationary controls at the internal EU borders, the exact number of war refugees is likely to be significantly higher. Ukrainians only have to register after 180 days or if they apply for state benefits beforehand. By the end of last week, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) had registered around 180,000 people seeking protection from Ukraine and processed them for identification purposes. According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, there are around 7,500 people with non-Ukrainian citizenship among them.
69 percent are female
According to the information, about 69 percent of the registered Ukrainian nationals are female. Around 39 percent of the Ukrainian people seeking protection known to Bamf are children. “There must be a central registration of the unaccompanied minor refugees from Ukraine as soon as possible,” said the managing director of Save the Children, Florian Westphal, after the meeting of the German Press Agency. A number of minors were also accompanied by “distant acquaintances”. It is important that the local youth welfare offices are also informed about this group – even where these children and young people are housed privately. In his view, it would be desirable to set up safe places where children could play and be looked after wherever new refugees arrived. There is also an opportunity to identify possible problems and the need for care.
According to participants, the chairman of the Prime Ministers’ Conference, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), said it was important to promote Ukrainian culture in Germany. Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “wipe out the Ukrainian people and their identity” and this must be counteracted.
Alabali-Radovan thanked the countries for housing so many people in such a short time. She said that the federal government would provide financial support and that the cabinet would decide on a supplementary budget this Wednesday.
Non-public meeting afterwards
“From the moving encounters with refugees, we can only guess what incredible suffering the Russian troops are doing to the civilian population,” said Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). According to participants, there were also emotional moments at the non-public meeting in the Chancellery, to which representatives of several Ukrainian clubs had been invited.
In contrast to the refugee crisis of 2015, this time there are also numerous old people with care needs among the refugees. Around 60 people in Germany are being cared for by the elderly survivors of the Holocaust, who were brought to safety via an evacuation organized by the Jewish Claims Conference.
Source: Stern
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