Musicians protesting the bad situation in Horst
Musicians and activists came from all over Germany to allude to the unacceptable conditions in the camp in Nostorf / Horst: isolation, which is reinforced by insufficient transport connections, inadequate medical treatment, inadequate legal advice, nightly room searches, regular deportations , no access to school education for children of all ages.
The Ministry of the Interior took a position on the press release of the Lebenslaute in the NDR article linked above. Unfortunately, we can only react – again – with a shake of the head, because it shows that the Ministry of the Interior knows its contracts and concepts, but doesn’t want to take a look at the real conditions.
Since PRO BLEIBERECHT is on site together with other initiatives with regular manifestations, we would like to respond to the statements of the Interior Ministry and show why it is still necessary to take to the streets against the warehouse operations – and finally: to close Horst!
Ministry of Interior thesis # 1
“The asylum seekers are not locked up, but can move freely.”
If this statement allows conclusions to be drawn about what the Ministry of the Interior means by “freedom”, we can dress warmly. The fact is: yes, residents can leave the fenced area.
The residents have recently received a ticket for some regional bus routes – for this, 22 euros are deducted from each person’s pocket money, even if there are already reductions or they cannot / do not want to use the bus. There are no buses on weekends. This form of isolation is strategic and prevents people from making contacts outside of the camp.
The second question is: what are the consequences? Because: Sanctions lurk on every corner. For every day outside the camp, money is deducted from pocket money, which is already too low. In addition, the operator is entitled to vacate and reassign the room if a resident was not in the warehouse in a few days at a time.
Ministry of Interior thesis # 2
“The medical treatments are contractually secured through the Boizenburger clinic.” & “The residents would be cared for in the same way as the local population.”
Yes, this contract seems to exist. However, the bottleneck of the transfer to the clinic is the “medical service” on site in the camp or outside of the operator’s office hours. There is no doctor on site. Nurses provide medical care for residents.
The statement that “the residents would be cared for in the same way as the local population” makes angry, because it not only paints a wrong picture of reality, but is simply a lie. Medical supply takes place on the basis of the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act (AsylbLG) and this means by definition: emergency care, “treatment of acute illnesses and pain conditions” (§4 AsylblG).
As an example, we recently reported on the situation of pregnant women in the camp. Not only that they are not allowed to prepare their own food, even with medical indications, they also do not receive any additional supply from food supplements or vitamin supplements.
Ministry of Interior thesis #3
“Children would go to school in intercultural learning workshops.”
It is astonishing how the Ministry insists on the “Intercultural Learning Workshop”, a voluntary offer in which children are teached because the country refuses to provide them with regular schooling. What educational concept is the offer based on? What qualifications do the employees have? You don’t find any information about it.
As with all children and adolescents, the individual needs in Horst are extremely different: schoolchildren can be highly gifted, have learning difficulties, be particularly creative / musically / mathematically gifted, etc. None of these requirements can be met in the camp. Refugee children cannot go to school until they are distributed to the community.
With the “Orderly Return Law”, the period of accommodation in reception camps for children and their families is limited to a maximum of 6 months. How it looks in Dublin cases is a matter for the country. For a change, we would appreciate a concrete statement instead of the general ministry of the Interior Ministry as you intend to regulate this.
The right to education is enshrined in law: in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the EU Admission Directive. You can read that this is actually being implemented in other federal states in this nationwide overview of the German Institute for Human Rights.
Ministry of Interior thesis # 4
A myth that is constant around Horst. The Ministry of the Interior sees itself confirmed by the disappointing judgment of the VG Schwerin regarding the admission suit of the Hamburg Refugee Council. The reality continues to be as follows: Asylum law advice from the refugee councils takes place in the containers in front of the camp. Residents who want to visit them must leave the camp and hand in their house ID. The advice is therefore not anonymous.
Since the signing of the contract, which makes Horst and Stern Buchholz anchor centers, the BAMF itself has carried out so-called “independent state advice”. Many associations had asked for independent advice for years, they rate the new regulation as follows: “Despite this finding, a further pilot project” Asylum Procedure Advice “has been implemented by the BAMF since August 2018, in which BAMF employees provide general information on the asylum procedure, but no advice in Regarding the individual reasons for persecution and explicitly not offering any legal advice. From the associations’ point of view, this project neither corresponds to the asylum procedure advice that has been offered by the associations for a long time, nor to the basic ideas of the positive pilot project mentioned above.
Responding to another article
We also want to give another point of view on the article “Protest gegen Flüchtlingsheim im Wald. Das Lager im Wald soll weg“ in taz Nord.
Ministry of Interior thesis # 5
The hands that you see in the picture belong to residents of the camp. On the left in English: “Stop killing me”, the statement refers to the lack of psychological care. Right: “Close Camp Horst!” In turkish.Ministry of Interior thesis # 6
In the online Duden, which can be viewed by everyone, it is written under the keyword > Lager <: “for a temporary stay of a larger number of people furnished [provisional] living or overnight accommodation”. So yes: Horst is a camp.
Of course, we do not only use the term Lager in the sense of the Duden, but also deliberately in a political sense. The federal government’s “ANKER” centres and camp policy is part of a global phenomenon: right-wing agitators are creating Lager for migrants and refugees all over the world because they think that barracking can make it easier for people to be stopped and controlled. Horst is certainly not the worst camp in the world, which we do not claim.
But unworthy of the possibilities that this rich country would have. In our view, these relationships should serve as a deterrent to people who are in need of protection and who usually have a lot of traumatic experiences behind them. The pressure, constant observation and control, the feeling of not living safely and independently – this is deliberately caused and used as a deterrent. This violates the fundamental right in Article 1 of the Basic Law.
If the Christians from the CDU / CSU do this to their fellow human beings with their political decisions, then we say: Stop talking nicely, denying it and selling it as “humanity and order”!
Ministry of Interior thesis # 7
There actually seems to be a hairdresser, we already heard that from past manifestations by residents. However, we were told that residents cut other residents their hair there, not external hairdressers.
We live in capitalism. The operation of collective accommodation is no longer exclusively a service to the common good through kind Samaritans. The award is primarily based on the “cheap” criterion. The content-based support concept of the operating associations, gGmbHs or GmbHs is also included. Cleverly made by the operators to combine both: A “care offer” for which you do not have to hire a social worker, financed by the social welfare office.
Ministry of Interior thesis # 8
In fact, the BAMF is also on site in Stern Buchholz. It conducts hearings and revocation procedures there and takes fingerprints as part of the identification process. Stern Buchholz is listed on the BAMF website as “Stern-Buchholz – branch in the arrival center”, Horst simply as “branch”.
Ministry of Interior thesis # 9
The special concerns of individuals (who, in turn, as women, as children, as victims of human trafficking, torture and / or violence, as politically persecuted, as poor, as rich, as Europeans, as Arabs, as sociable people, as shy people, as a computer scientist, as a welder, or, or, or again each have different needs) cannot be adequately considered in a collective warehouse.
“There is only one thing waiting for me in my country: death.
I am considering going back to my country. Because here I die every day new. “
– Description of an inhabitant of Horst, translation from English
Lorenz Caffier, head of the ministry spokesman quoted, has repeatedly made it clear that it is precisely this psychological disruption of asylum seekers that is his concern – in order to deter and increase the pressure to leave the country. He may never have spoken to anyone who had to live in Horst for 3 months or 2 years. It would do him good.
Concepts that make the difficult situation in reception centers easier for asylum seekers are commendable. But they always ignore the basic need: decentralized accommodation, where people can determine their own lives. And especially in the context of flight and asylum: in the context of which mental wounds can heal and the view can be directed to the future.
Conclusion
Come to our manifestations!