Germany
Recent stories
Integration and education
Education initiative aimed at promoting values excludes religious groups
16 May 2006 (315 words)
National uniform citizenship test debated and rejected
Various German states have introduced citizenship tests.
9 May 2006 (264 words)
Integration summit focuses attention on leading culture
In June, the Chancellor hosted an 'integration summit' as to how Germany could transform its immigrant population into better Germans.
9 May 2006 (117 words)
Action plan against violence in schools
The government has announced a national plan of action to counter violence in schools.
8 May 2006 (307 words)
Poor results for far-Right in local elections
The far-Right polled poorly in regional and municipal elections on 26 March.
1 May 2006 (192 words)
'Honour killing' fuels integration debate
Ayhan Sürücü, 19, brother of Hatun Sürücü , 23, who was shot several times at a bus stop in a Berlin suburb, has been sentenced to nine years in jail for her 'honour killing' in February 2005.
19 April 2006 (680 words)
Obligatory language tests for pre-school children
Jürgen Rüttgers, leader of North Rhine-Westphalia, wants children with inadequate German to take language courses before they start school.
6 April 2006 (168 words)
Baden Württemberg: discriminatory citizenship test introduced
The state of Baden-Württemberg, governed by the Liberal FDP, has introduced rules for citizenship applicants from fifty-seven Islamic countries (candidates from other countries will be subjected to the procedures in exceptional cases).
22 March 2006 (976 words)
Hesse citizenship test introduced
Hesse interior minister, Volker Bouffier, has put forward a six-point programme for citizenship, requiring applicants to have sufficient knowledge of the German language, to confirm their loyalty to the country and to complete an extensive questionnaire.
22 March 2006 (491 words)
Forced marriages increasingly highlighted in integration debate
The German interior ministry has drafted changes to the law on aliens to make forced marriages, prostitution and people smuggling more difficult.
15 March 2006 (330 words)
Debate on forced marriages condemned by political scientists
On 2 February, the weekly Die Zeit published a statement 'Justice for the Muslims' signed by fifty-eight scientists, including migration experts, accusing female authors of populist non-fiction books on Islam of having written works which make social generalisations from personal experience and individual cases.
15 March 2006 (196 words)
Berlin school bans foreign languages in playground
The Herbert-Hoover Realschule, located in Berlin's impoverished Wedding district, has banned its students, 90 per cent of whom are of non-German origin (mainly Turks, but also Arabs, Croats, Russians and Pakistanis), from speaking anything but German on school grounds and excursions.
24 February 2006 (205 words)
Bavaria: citizenship applicants probed on political affiliation
A questionnaire in Bavaria has aroused controversy as applicants for German nationality are to be asked whether they sympathise with a list of 193 organisations.
17 February 2006 (109 words)
Integration, education and migrant languages
There is a general agreement that children from immigrant families should be given extra help in schools to help them develop language skills.
13 February 2006 (223 words)
Lower Saxony proposes citizenship course
Uwe Schünemann (CDU), interior minister of Lower Saxony, wants applicants for German citizenship to have to take a course in citizenship.
2 February 2006 (65 words)
Integration and the language debate
Language content of courses criticised
31 January 2006 (127 words)
Bavarian interior minister demands forced integration
The authorities in Bavaria have announced that the immigration law will be tightened in order to force foreigners to integrate.
1 January 2006 (86 words)
Government prioritises integration
Maria Böhmer, chair of the CDU's Union of Women, in the new federal government commissioner of integration.
1 January 2006 (94 words)
Police break sanctuary
The police in Peine (Lower Saxony) have infringed church sanctuary by forcing their way into St Jacobi to arrest the Vietnamese Van family, asylum seekers who have lived in Germany for thirteen years.
12 December 2004 (49 words)
Round-up from the press Oct-Dec 2004 on racial incidents
Trial of neo-Nazis who attacked and seriously injured a punk on 17 April and beat him with iron bars while shouting 'White power' and 'Sieg Heil'. Prosecutor's office does not recognise any intent to kill or rightwing motivation.
8 December 2004 (504 words)
Related links
Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration
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