Aqlam Publications in 2017
A Refuge Reduced: How Changes in German Asylum Laws and Practices Impact Syrian Women Refugees
Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, over one million Syrians have come to Europe seeking asylum, with over 450,000 applications have been filed in Germany alone. The earlier migrants were overwhelmingly male, but as the war continues, the number of women seeking refuge steadily increased. Syrian women refugees not only fleeing war, but are also victims of gender-based violence. In addition, women who have traveled alone or with children, pregnant and nursing women, adolescent girls, and elderly women are more vulnerable to violence, abuse, and rights violations along their route to Europe and once in their destination country. Recent changes in European and German asylum laws and procedures exacerbate these vulnerabilities and have put many women and girls at greater risk, have separated families that could act as support, cause greater psychological trauma, and threatened women’s ability to find refuge from the violence in Syria and their own homes.