Disrupted families: The gendered impacts of family reunification policies on Syrian refugees in Germany

As of the end of 2016, an estimated 5 million Syrian citizens became internally displaced and more than 8 million Syrians fled to neighboring countries. About half of refugee Syrians and refugee Syrians are female, but about three quarters of the estimated 550,000 Syrian asylum seekers who arrived in Germany since the time of the conflict are men. This gender imbalance is mainly due to the dangerous route to Germany and the high cost of smugglers.

Syrian families who are planning to meet in Germany due to German asylum policies and practices, long procedures and changes in bureaucratic obstacles are still over two to three years apart. Other people were forced to live apart after arrival

In this article we will explore the influence of the change in the family unity and the internal communication policy on the experience of German women asylum seekers in Syria. It is based on a German ethnographic magazine field survey from 2012 to 2016. Through analysis of women's stories and policies and measures, how refugees recognized as asylum seekers of Syria can handle before arrival, during long-term separation, after the reunification in Germany or after the arrival of individuals I will clarify.

This article was created for the UN Women's Flagship Report "Advancement of Women in the World 2018" and has been published as part of the UN Female Discussion Paper series.

Target areas: access to basic services, access to justice and legal protection, economic empowerment, governance and national planning, human rights, institutional mechanisms, etc.

In the EU asylum policy, the waiting time for refugees whose family reunification was approved is set as a maximum of six months, but less than 25% of refugee family reunification was actually resolved last year. The 14 hunger strikers controlling the constitution represent more than 4,000 refugees waiting to see their families for more than 6 months. Refugee's hungry striker Farwas from Syria said this morning: "We are the people who escaped Syria for bombing and war, we are here now, we are accepting our request We endanger our life until March This year we have been reunited with family members and have appealed to the Greek asylum service, but it is said that this is due to Germany There is no work - until we leave Greece. "

In this article we will explore the influence of the change in the family unity and the internal communication policy on the experience of German women asylum seekers in Syria. It is based on a German ethnographic magazine field survey from 2012 to 2016. Through analysis of women's stories and policies and measures, how refugees recognized as asylum seekers of Syria can handle before arrival, during long-term separation, after the reunification in Germany or after the arrival of individuals I will clarify.

Family breakdown: Gender of family reunification policy against German Syrian refugees