A wave of sexual assaults on women during New Year's eve, coupled with rising criticism over the government's no-limit policy on accepting refugees from North Africa, are causing Germany to restrict the flow of asylum seekers from that country. Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia have been declared 'safe havens,' and refugees from these countries could very well be either repatriated or have their requests for entry rejected. Plans have been called for to separate refugees with dubious status from the rest by placing them in repatriation hubs.
A report filed by RT shows the dramatic increase of refugees from the affected countries. Asylum seekers from Algeria rose from 847 to 2,296 from June to December of last year, while Moroccan refugees jumped by 900% from 368 to 2,896. The article also cited strong statements made by Germany's economic Sigma Gabriel who chastised the governments of these nations for maintaining a double standard; he alleged that they were all too willing to accept aid from Germany, but were reluctant to receive back spurious claimants of asylum who did not qualify for the status.
Yahoo News gives the reasons why the German governemt designated Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco as safe countries. German Chancellor Angela Merkel from the conservative party the Social Democratic Union pointed out that "unrest", as opposed to "full-scale conflict," is forcing many of its inhabitants to leave. Apparently, "unrest" may still merit a homegrown solution that can convince these people to live, while "full-scale contlict" makes habitation in these war-raved areas impossible.
Setting a cap on the asylum seekers from these three North African countries can also grant a significant measure of relief to Germany, whose resources have been straining since its acceptance of 1.1 million refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq in 2015.
News 24 adds that the Cologne incident fueled more fears over refugee-related violence. Authorities believed that asylum seekers from North Africa were responsible for the 660 ciminal complaints filed by German citizens that day; half of those cases were sexual assaults committed against women.
To expedite both the investigation as well as the repatriation of dubious asylum seekers, Merkel proposed the creation of designated locations where these people could be housed and contained prior to their return to their native countries.
