Class Refugees: Afghan Asylum-Seekers Stuck in Limbo

GERMANY’S SECOND- CLASS REFUGEES: AFGHAN ASYLUM-SEEKERS STUCK IN LIMBO

LAM THUY VO

Zabi Hashemi stands in a German field.

ÜHLTAL, Germany—Zabi Hashemi has lived in Germany for over a year, and for one month, he was allowed to work. In July, Hashemi volunteered at a kindergarten for children with special needs in LAM THUY VO THUY LAM Mthis town of about 15,000 people in the state of Hesse. The kids loved him, and he loved them back, Hashemi told me. His colleagues said the children would immediately smile when they saw him.

But now, Hashemi, a 33-year-old philoso- But those numbers may not be up-to-date phy graduate is back to spending much of the and therefore may not capture those like Hash- day alone in his sparse bedroom. When I met emi who, alongside roughly 1.1 million refugees him in August, his wall decoration consisted of from Afghanistan and various other countries, a framed stock image of shells and a white piece came to Germany in 2015 after years of sus- of paper scribbled with German words he’s try- tained instability in their home countries. Ger- ing to teach himself. He was eager to point out man authorities received 476,649 applications photos of himself alongside the kindergarten- for asylum in 2015—up from 173,100 the year ers, looking at them longingly. He just wants to before. The majority were submitted by Syr- work again. ians, followed by Albanians and Kosovars. Af- The problem is Hashemi is unauthorized to ghans were the second-largest Middle Eastern do so. Unlike most of the other refugees in the group to apply for asylum in Germany in 2015. converted hotel where he lives, Hashemi fled Af- While Syrians, Eritreans, and Iraqis had ghanistan—not Syria. As an Afghan migrant, his their asylum applications approved in 2015 at wait for a legal status that would allow him to rates of 96 percent, 92 percent, and 89 percent take a job takes months longer than for a Syrian respectively, that number was under 50 percent refugee. He’s also barred from enrolling in state- for Afghans. In 2015, it took an average of 3.2 sponsored German integration and language months to process applications submitted by courses; they’re for those who have received Syrians, according to Germany’s Office for -Mi some form of government permission to stay. gration and Refugees. For Afghans, it was 10.2 Hashemi fled his native Kabul, fearful that months, which explains Hashemi’s long wait. the Taliban would murder him for being an One reason why the acceptance rate of atheist. He has applied for asylum, but finds Afghans is so much lower than that of Syr- himself stuck in a long and uncertain queue. He ians is because Afghanistan is now considered and seven other Afghans in his building must a country with “safe and unsafe” regions. A make a temporary life in small-town Germany, spokesperson for Germany’s Federal Office with only basic language skills and little to do. for Migration and Refugees wrote in an email that decision-makers are “briefed on the cir- THE LONG WAIT cumstances in the country of origin.” Thus, Afghans have left their country in several though asylum-seekers must prove that their waves since the late 1970s. They fled the Sovi- lives would be in danger back home, a special- et invasion of the late 1970s and early 1980s, ized division of the migration agency analyzes Taliban rule in the 1990s, and conflict that their stories against a database of country con- intensified with the deployment of American ditions, based on information provided by the troops in the 2000s. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the German Em- In the past 15 years, of the tens of thou- bassy in Afghanistan, UNHCR, and other NGOs, sands of Afghans entering Europe, 54,000 have the spokesperson said. obtained German citizenship, according to a Yet, the conflict is ongoing, and Afghanistan report by Pro Asyl, an organization that pro- is an increasingly dangerous war zone. In 2015, vides legal aid to migrants. By the end of 2015, there were 11,002 civilian casualties in Af- 131,000 Afghan nationals lived in Germany, ghanistan—3,545 deaths—the largest number the report said. since 2009. An Asia Foundation survey of Af-

LAM THUY VO is a Buzzfeed OpenLab fellow.

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ghans also showed that more than two thirds napped, or can demonstrate physical harm. of respondents, 67.4 percent, feared for their To make matters more complex, Germany has safety, the highest percentage in a decade. sent both military and humanitarian aid to Af- Still, many Afghan refugees can’t tell the ghanistan, trying to make the country safer. kinds of stories of state persecution that would To acknowledge the country’s instability is to help their legal case. According to German acknowledge the failure of the Germany-sup- law, asylum is granted to anyone fleeing po- ported coalition government to create even litical persecution, and in general this means pockets of safety. government-sanctioned violence. But not ev- Germany’s home secretary, Thomas de ery Afghan refugee has been attacked, kid- Maizière, of the ruling Christian Democratic

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Union, has led the push to repatriate Afghan Germany’s ministry of foreign affairs refugees and prevent would-be Afghan emi- launched an ad campaign urging Afghans not grants from leaving in the first place. “There to leave and promoting the hashtag #Rumor- are safe regions in Afghanistan,” said de sAboutGermany. Posters were hung all over Maizière in February during a visit to Kabul Kabul, asking Afghans, “Are you leaving for designed to dissuade Afghans from traveling Germany? Are you sure?” The ministry also to Germany. “There’s no ‘Welcome to Germa- organized a Facebook group to warn of the ny’ money, there aren’t jobs and apartments lies smugglers tell to “lure” Afghans to Ger- readily available. There won’t be any language many. “Myths” include the idea that Germa- and integration courses. … The chances [for ny would provide jobs to Afghan refugees or Afghans] to stay in Germany are slim.” that Afghans would receive asylum simply by

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traveling to Germany, according to the min- ground in local elections, by campaigning on istry’s website. slogans like “asylum needs borders.” If immigration policies toward Afghans are German Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted strict now, in the coming months they’ll likely the government could have been better prepared be tightened even more. Germany has seen a in handling the refugee crisis after her Christian rightward political shift, and with it, a declin- Democrats suffered a defeat in local elections in ing support for programs that help immigrants. Berlin. “If I could, I would turn back time many, While many Germans welcomed newcomers many years, to better prepare myself, the federal last year, there is now vocal discontent. The government and all those in positions of respon- Alternative für Deutschland, a populist, Euro- sibility for the situation we were rather unpre- skeptic right-wing party, has gained significant pared for in the late summer of 2015,” Merkel

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98 WORLD POLICY JOURNAL AFGHANS IN GERMANY

said during a press conference in September. seven Afghan asylum-seekers per day, as com- The following month Merkel advocated for a pared to one per week just three years ago. His quicker deportation of those who are denied court had to hire 32 additional judges in the asylum or any other kind of protection. past two years to handle the enlarged docket. In October, Europe pledged about $1.5 If Hashemi’s application is rejected by the billion in development aid annually to Af- Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, he ghanistan, and at the same time, European will likely make his case again in front of a Union and Afghan leaders struck a deal that judge like Göbel-Zimmermann. Only about a would allow for the unlimited deportation of third of rejected Afghan asylum-seekers even- rejected Afghan asylum-seekers. The num- tually appeal, Göbel-Zimmermann estimates, ber of people sent back to Afghanistan isn’t but Hashemi said he would do whatever it yet known, but the agreement is designed takes to avoid going back to Afghanistan. “The to expedite the deportation process. “Both Taliban would kill me,” he said through a sides will explore the possibility to build a friend and fellow asylum-seeker, Samim Ra- dedicated terminal for return in Kabul air- souli, 20, who translated for him. port and express their willingness to carry out Two of Hashemi’s friends were recently nonscheduled flights at the best convenient ordered to leave the country within the next times,” the deal read. month. They are hoping to consult a lawyer Ralph Göbel-Zimmermann—a judge in Wi- and appeal, though it would mean more time esbaden, Hesse’s capital, who has heard peti- waiting, unable to work and afraid of the fu- tions for asylum and refugee status for more ture. According to Göbel-Zimmermann, this than three decades—told me, “Every time the process typically takes six to seven months. number of a [specific] migrant group rises, “I don’t feel well. I am very worried about rules get tighter, and the number of rejections whether I get to stay or not,” said Hashemi. rises, too.” Since the spike in the number of “It’s very, very difficult for me here, and it’s migrants last year, he said, he has seen up to dreary.” l

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