– ‘Appalling racism’ –
Local authorities at Burbach said they had ended the contract with the private security company Ski, a subsidiary of European Homecare which runs the facility, while police have begun questioning all of the roughly 700 people living in the centre.
“It’s terrible to imagine that people who have already suffered violence in other countries and come here looking for protection are then exposed to such a situation,” said the chief prosecutor of the nearby city of Siegen, Johannes Daheim. “This only reinforces their trauma.”
Refugee rights group Pro Asyl said the brutal attacks were signs of “appalling racism” committed by unqualified guards.
It accused the state agencies of outsourcing the accommodation of refugees – whose numbers have spiked this year in Germany – to the “lowest bidder”.
“There is no control on whether contractors employ personnel that are qualified and trained in intercultural communication, or violent thugs,” the group said, condemning that “the plight of refugees is turned into a business for profit”.
As outrage grew among lawmakers and in the media, more allegations have emerged in North Rhine-Westphalia, including in the city of Essen, where asylum seekers also said they had been beaten and verbally abused, reported local public broadcaster WDR.
And in a third refugee centre in the western state, in the town of Bad Berleburg, two guards from a separate company were also being investigated for assaulting a refugee about two weeks ago, the national news agency DPA reported.
For two years now, Germany has been Europe’s leading destination for asylum seekers, especially from war-torn Syria and Iraq as well as the Balkans.
Last year asylum requests jumped 64 percent to over 127,000, according to German government data, making up 29 percent of the EU total. This year Germany expects the arrival of 200,000 refugees.
The influx has strained the resources of many state and local governments, some of which employ private contractors such as European Homecare which runs about 40 centres across Germany.
The German Police Union called for changes in privacy laws to allow for full background checks of private security guards employed at the centres.
“Current laws prevent police from adequately checking the employees of security companies. This must change quickly,” union deputy leader Ulf Kuech told the daily Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung.
Opposition Greens party leader Simone Peter questioned whether private security companies should be employed at all at refugee centres, and said about the alleged cases: “I hope that they aren’t the tip of the iceberg.”
About The Author
