Somalis in Germany are citizens and residents of Germany who are of Somali descent. According to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, as of 2016, there are a total 33,900 Somalia-born immigrants living in Germany. Of those, 7,985 individuals were granted asylum status.[1]
 Distribution of Somali citizens in Germany (2021) | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 33,900[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Berlin · Kassel · Frankfurt | |
| Languages | |
| Somali, German | |
| Religion | |
| Islam |
History edit
Between 1969 and 1991, the flow of Somali refugees to Germany was steady, but it increased quickly after 1991. Many of these later arrivals subsequently moved on to other countries, including the United Kingdom.[2] UNHCR data suggests that 15,000 people from Somalia claimed asylum in Germany between 1990 and 1999.[3] In March 2019, together with the International Organization for Migration, Germany started to run a resettlement programme for refugees in Ethiopia. A first group of 154 Somali refugees were resettled in Germany under the programme in October 2019.[4] According to German Census data, Kassel has the highest share of Somali migrant and has a Somali cultural association. Other cities like Berlin and Frankfurt have also few numbers of Somali population.
Social issues edit
In a BKA report on statistics from 2017, migrants to Germany from Somalia constituted 1.7% of all migrants and 2.9% of all migrant crime suspects.[5]
Female genital mutilation and gender-based violence edit
According to the BMFSFJ, of the 5,797 women from Somalia living in Germany in May 2016 without German citizenship, 5,681 (98%) were victims of female genital mutilation.[6]
According to research with 20 Somali refugee women living in shared reception facilities in Germany, many travelled to the country alone, with fear of sexual violence, forced marriage, honor killings or FGM being cited as gender-specific reasons for having fled Somalia.[7]
Radicalization edit
In the 2010-2012 Somalia became one of the main jihadi destinations for German foreign terrorist fighters. A significant portion of these Somalis belonged to a group of al-Shabaab sympathizers in Bonn, along with German converts to Islam.[8] Andreas Martin Muller, who has the alias Abu Nusaybah, is alleged to be one of the gunmen who attacked a military base in Lamu county Kenya from Somalia.
There were also several mass stabbings made by Somali migrants, including the mass stabbing in Würzburg (2021) where 3 women were killed and few others were injured and other mass stabbing in Ludwigshafen (2022) where 2 men were killed. Both stabbings were rumoured that these incidents were motivated to radicalized religious background.
References edit
- ^ a b "Ausländische Bevölkerung und Schutzsuchende nach Regionen und Herkunftsländern". Statistics Germany. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
- ^ Schlee, Günther (2011). "Afterword: An Ethnographic View of Size, Scale, and Locality". In Glick Schiller, Nina; Çağlar, Ayşe (eds.). Locating Migration: Rescaling Cities and Migrants. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pp. 235–242. ISBN 978-0801476877.
- ^ Day, Kate; White, Paul (2002). "Choice or circumstance: The UK as the location of asylum applications by Bosnian and Somali refugees". GeoJournal. 56: 15–26. doi:10.1023/A:1021700817972. S2CID 155051130.
- ^ "First IOM international charter flight from Ethiopia brings 154 refugees to new homes in Germany". International Organization for Migration. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
- ^ "Kriminalität im Kontext von Zuwanderung - Bundeslagebild 2017". BKA. 2018. p. 13.
- ^ "Eine empirische Studie zu weiblicher Genitalverstümmelung in Deutschland (PDF download) / Tabelle 4". Netzwerk INTEGRA - Deutsches Netzwerk zur Überwindung weiblicher Genitalverstümmelung (in German). p. 23 (Tabelle 4). Archived from the original on 20 February 2017. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ Jesuthasan, Jenny; Sönmez, Ekin; Abels, Ingar; Kurmeyer, Christine; Gutermann, Jana; Kimbel, Renate; Krüger, Antje; Niklewski, Guenter; Richter, Kneginja; Stangier, Ulrich; Wollny, Anja; Zier, Ulrike; Oertelt-Prigione, Sabine; Shouler-Ocak, Meryam (2018). "Near-death experiences, attacks by family members, and absence of health care in their home countries affect the quality of life of refugee women in Germany: A multi-region, cross-sectional, gender-sensitive study". BMC Medicine. 16 (1): 15. doi:10.1186/s12916-017-1003-5. PMC 5793395. PMID 29391012.
- ^ ""Deutsche Schabab:" The Story of German Foreign Fighters in Somalia, 2010-2016 – Combating Terrorism Center at West Point". Combating Terrorism Center at West Point. 2018-05-24. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
Further reading edit
- Utteh, Hassan Adam (1997). "The plight of the Somali refugees in Europe, with particular reference to Germany (1993)". In Utteh, Hassan Adam; Ford, Richard (eds.). Mending Rips in the Sky: Options for Somali Communities in the 21st Century. Lawrenceville, NJ: Red Sea Press. ISBN 1569020736.