Managing the Arab Refugee Crisis with a German Approach

-        3-11-2018

-        When the Syrian and Iraqi refugees who fled the wars that broke out in their countries arrived in Europe, and especially Germany, in large numbers — via convoys of ships and across the land borders with Turkey — Germany was among the first European countries to welcome them. According to what the press and global media reported, it did not return any refugee to the borders or airports to deport them to where they came from, as some European countries did. At the same time it was urging other European countries to absorb numbers of them according to agreed quotas among the member states of the European Union. Germany continuously established camps and shelters and made all the arrangements to integrate these refugees into European society in Germany. And because the majority of refugees come from cultures different from German society and because of differences in culture and living standards, the German authorities faced many problems with these refugees, due to language. So they established language centers to teach refugees so that this would help find them jobs in German society. As for the practice of religious rites, it facilitated for them the observance of their religious rites; since the majority of the refugees are Muslims, it facilitated access to the many mosques established there through guidance to the locations of such mosques, which were also established by the millions of Turks who became German citizens years ago.

-        Many incidents occurred between refugees and German citizens. At the end of one year during the Christmas holidays some young people from the newly arrived refugees, most of them male, caused a series of incidents and sexual assaults against German girls in nightlife venues and parties held to celebrate New Year’s and Christmas. The German government, as a result, decided to solve such problems, and in order for the German authorities to integrate these refugees into German society and resolve all cultural conflicts, it opened schools for refugees and provided them health insurance. And to accelerate the integration of these refugees into the melting pot of West German society, the German government determined that it was necessary to provide information related to health and sexual culture for refugees, especially the newly arrived, and scientifically despite cultural differences, via the Internet through a website aimed at providing sexual education called: Zanzu, in which information about sexual culture is provided in 13 languages including Arabic. That was in cooperation with the Belgian government and civil society organizations there.

-        This educational program prepared by the German authorities after consulting German citizens of Turkish origin, some Muslim clerics, and some imams in Germany, is a website displaying programs about sexual culture in Germany and how to deal with the German woman, how to choose a girlfriend or boyfriend, and what the methods are for that — programs that did not lack scientific clarity and full publicity for such culture. The program used signs and images, since most refugees feel modest about public exposure to such culture, which of course they know some of, but in a shy, secretive, and non-public way. The programs also explained the places that can be visited to find a German girlfriend to go out with. They clarified the language that can be used with European girls and women to enter a preliminary conversation and how such relationships develop and evolve, what the costs of such steps are, what phrases can be said, and what signals can lead to acquaintance, and what limits a young man must stop at when he finds no response — without causing any shock. The Germans deployed every scientific and specialized capability in this program and cooperated with German civil society organizations to facilitate the delivery of the program’s materials to arriving refugees, while they did not deport any of the young men who had committed earlier incidents with German girls, as the German government felt its humanitarian responsibility and that it must play a primary role in such matters. This is how the Germans discussed it in their municipal and parliamentary councils, social specialists, and civil society organizations — the topic of humanitarian responsibility on their shoulders — on their own initiative.!!
The site is distinguished by its easy browsing, and the information provided is not limited to sexual culture only; in addition it provides information about the health system in Germany and how to obtain medicine and the applicable laws, in addition to warnings about the possibility of transmitting diseases related to repeated sexual relations and the ways to treat such matters — in an open program supervised by specialists and professionals from physicians and sociologists, etc.

-        The German authorities aimed with this program to achieve the integration of refugees into society naturally and to proceed with the steps of the cultural formation prepared for the younger generations of refugees, starting from childhood and youth.

-        There were some objections from some specialists to these programs and to the possibility that refugees would not respond to such frankness that refugees do not favor in their religious teachings. Some noted that these refugees are in camps far from places of amusement and sexual enjoyment. Nevertheless some Muslim clerics and some imams joined German specialists to deliver the program to facilitate the integration of such groups into German society while at the same time preserving their traditions and religious rites.
This topic fascinated me, how a major state takes steps and provides programs to solve logical problems arising from the presence of refugees with cultures different from the culture and language of German society.

-        By contrast, Arab countries did not make any significant efforts to receive Arab refugees, especially Syrians and Iraqis, and even Palestinians, whose countries were afflicted by the spread of external wars on their lands as well as internal armed conflicts. Although these refugees share with Arab countries the bonds of language, religion, fate, history, geography, customs, and traditions, it is astonishing that there are Muslim countries with large material and geographic capabilities that qualify them to solve all the problems of Arab refugees. No Arab country presented any official programs to help the refugees while they watched thousands of their refugee brethren fleeing the hell of war and drowning in the high seas to escape that war, which some of these Arab countries had caused and driven, displacing millions of their Arab brethren — except Jordan primarily, Lebanon to a lesser extent, Egypt, and some other Arab countries but in small numbers. Some problems occurred between refugees and some citizens of the host Arab countries; some refugees were exploited, extorted, and not treated properly socially and humanely.!!! Yet official and popular Jordan bore the responsibility of sheltering these refugees, whose number was estimated at more than one and a half million refugees in camps established in this regard in cooperation with the United Nations, despite Jordan’s limited capabilities.!!
What amazed me in Germany was the level of humanity that appeared in most sectors of the German people toward the Syrian and Iraqi refugees, some of whom were Palestinian. Not only humanity, but taking all measures and facilitation that ensure the integration of all arriving refugees into German society to avoid their feeling estranged — so that every refugee could take his chance and rely on himself with the help of the German authorities, which estimated the amounts it has spent and will spend until 2020 on its refugees at about 93 billion euro.!!!

-        The provision of sexual education programs for refugees arriving in Germany via the website, supervised by specialists, doctors, sociologists, and other professionals, demonstrates the refinement of German society and state in dealing with refugees with special responsibility. Addressing such problems arising from cultural differences and involving Muslim clerics in such bold civilizational ways should be acknowledged to the Germans. As for the compatriots of the refugees, they fell far short in their duty to the refugees, to Arabism, to religion, and to humanity........!!

-        All praise to Germany for this civilizational level, from which we must learn. There is no shame in that....!!