Human rights for migrants and refugees!

Right to self-determination -
against forced marriage

Sometimes, young women from migrant backgrounds are forced to marry against their will. As a penalty for refusing, the girls are threatened with being ousted from the family they love, being ostracized, or even being killed.

agisra e.V. Cologne supports
women affected:

by offering psychosocial counselling for girls and young women
by providing information on their rights
by supporting the expansion of their individual scope of action, strengthening their self-esteem and self-determined decision-making

However, many issues remain to be discussed: What choice does the woman want to make? Will she lose her family home if she refuses marriage? What are her priorities, and what is the most important thing for her own self? agisra e.V. Cologne supports them:

in some cases also by allowing the young woman a separation from her family, at least temporarily. agisra helps her to find own accommodation and secure her livelihood.
through representation at government offices. Welfare offices must often be convinced - not without difficulty - of not sending the parents a questionnaire, so as not to reveal the women's whereabouts.

Counselling concept: Joo-Schauen, Jae-Soon/Najafi, Behshid:
For the right to self-determination - against forced marriage. Approaches to counselling work. Published in: „Zwangsverheiratung in Deutschland“, Band 1 der Schriftenreihe des BMFSFJ. Nomos, Baden-Baden 2007, pp. 289-298, in pdf file.

Joo-Schauen_u._Najafi.pdf

pdf, 68.1K, 01/14/09, 5013 downloads

We demand
that people who grew up in
Germany can return at any time.

In order to strengthen the self-determination of migrant women, improvement of their legal position is a necessary prerequisite. Therefore agisra demands the following:

We demand that forced marriage, as a cause for particular hardship, should be included in § 31, section 2 of the Residence Act.
The right of return, in § 37 of the Residence Act, provides that returnees prove, among other things, that they can secure their livelihood in Germany. This impossible requirement must be deleted.
Sustainable support for women's counseling needs to be ensured in order to warrant appropriate counselling and help for girls and women affected and threatened by forced marriage.
Equally necessary is the setting up and secure funding of adequate shelter spaces.
Young women up to 21 years of age should have the right to youth welfare services without bureaucratic hurdles.