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Mental Health of Refugees in Germany

  • Writer: KBFC
    KBFC
  • Dec 1, 2023
  • 4 min read

By Simon Holin


Alice Weidel, co-chairwoman of the German far-right party ‘Alternative for Germany,’ (AfD) is no stranger to controversy. In a recent budget-crisis debate in the German Bundestag, Weidel addressed Chancellor Scholz’s coalition government with an array of criticisms – one of them directed at its immigration policy and associated spending. According to the AfD, Germany’s welfare spending is unfair to native Germans and acts as a migrant-magnet. This rhetoric has been echoed by far-right parties throughout Europe and has significantly increased the tension between refugees and host populations. Granted, higher welfare benefits and wages do make Germany an attractive destination for refugees. At the same time, state spending directed at improving the mental health of migrants plays a vital role in fostering social cohesion between different ethnic and religious groups within German society. In the following, this article will therefore give some insight into what the German government should do to improve its approach to refugee mental health.

Background on Refugees and Asylum seekers in Germany

Let me first differentiate the terms refugee and asylum seeker. A refugee, according to the Geneva Convention, is a person who has a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” and who fled their country because of this fear. Asylum seekers on the other hand did not just flee, but also formally apply for the protection of another country and plan to stay in said country permanently.

Germany is notorious for its convoluted bureaucracy and rules, but there are indeed some of the rules that apply to all of Germany. For example, upon arrival, refugees must register with the local authorities. They are then sent to a reception center where they will be initially housed and from where they can make a formal application. Whether an individual may permanently stay in Germany is determined by many factors, such as the proof they present to justify their fear of prosecution in their home country. Germany currently deems all EU states, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ghana, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Senegal, and Serbia as safe countries of origin. This means that people from these countries can be rejected faster, as it is assumed that they do not have to fear prosecution based on the factors mentioned above. Considering the current influx of refugees, the largest opposition party CDU as well as parts of the coalition government (FDP) have started to call for an expansion of this list to include Moldova, Georgia, Tunesia, Marocco, Algeria, and India, but so far this proposal has been rejected.

Why Mental Health Matters

The mental health of refugees matters not just for its own sake but also because it leads to higher social cohesion, which effectively translates to lower crime rates and a more peaceful society. Integrating asylum seekers whose applications have been accepted, should therefore be desirable to both sides of the political spectrum – not just in Germany, but anywhere. It is safe to say the majority of refugees face a multitude of stressors that negatively affect their mental health. One of the factors impacting mental health is having experienced traumatic events in the form of “unmet needs for survival, such as regular access to water and food, shelter and medicine; fearing for one's life, the death of a loved one, and forced separation from family” both at home and on their way to Germany. But it doesn’t stop there. On arrival, refugees are often faced with a great amount of uncertainty and discrimination – especially as the discourse around immigration is getting more divisive.

Additional factors that are especially impactful for the mental health of refugees are housing, overcoming bureaucracy, and obtaining German language skills. Housing is so important for mental health because it acts as the spring pad for building social connections with other refugees and the native population. These social connections open the door for refugees to further acquaint themselves with the German language and culture. According to the Eduard Pestel Research Institute, however, there is currently a shortage of more than 700,000 apartments in Germany, especially affordable ones. This means that refugees are effectively competing for affordable accommodation with other low-income groups such as students, elderly people, and young families. To combat this and to prevent overcrowding in reception centers and shelters, Germany needs to invest in affordable housing on a big scale and expedite allocation processes. Bureaucratic complexities including paperwork, legal processes, and language barriers are equally as stressful for refugees and make many feel helpless. Asylum seekers often endure long periods of uncertainty regarding their status, creating a constant state of limbo that takes a toll on their mental well-being. Since the number of applications is so high, many take a whole year to be processed.

Under former chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany embraced a domestically controversial ‘welcome culture’ and processed ~1.2 million asylum applications in 2015/6 alone. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these numbers went down considerably as migration around the world was heavily restricted; but with the outbreak of conflicts and crises worldwide, the number of refugees arriving at Germany’s borders has recently shot up to a record high of ~2.6 million. This has made many pensive about whether resources would be better used to more quickly identify who has long-term prospects of living in Germany instead of spending them on short-term integration measures.

One such proposal includes standardized psychiatric screenings of refugees upon arrival to identify how well the individual is coping with their new environment. However, this is exactly the kind of vague and unrealistic proposal that only adds to the stress and uncertainty that refugees face. A much better solution would be to establish clear criteria and fast-streamed application processes for asylum seekers. If there were clear and universal criteria, (1) the state would not spend money on integration measures for people who will ultimately be refused asylum, and (2) the refugees themselves would have certainty about their future destination faster. Streamlining bureaucratic processes and clearly communicating asylum criteria internationally would not just reduce the anxiety associated with the asylum application journey, but also foster fairness and consistency in decision-making, ensuring that individuals are treated equally.

Sources:

Number of asylum applications in Germany over time: https://www.statista.com/statistics/911527/number-first-asylum-applications-germany/

 
 
 

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