Study on Female Refugees – A Representative Research Study on Refugee Women in Germany

IntroductionGermany is one of the European countries that receive the highest number of refugees for the last years, with around 468 thousand asylum seekers in the first half of 2016. However, the increase in the speed of short-term procedures regarding refugees may at the same time overlook the risks regarding specific populations. Moreover, women and children constitute the most vulnerable groups during war and conflicts and the worst effects, in terms of physical, mental and social consequences, develop on these groups.ObjectivesTo understand deeply the psychosocial situation of female refugees that have arrived in Federal German Republic, to assess their challenges and resources before, during and after the displacement and to propose recommendations for policy changes.MethodsThe study consists of two modules, taking place in five states in Federal German Republic, including Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Bayern, Hessen und Mainz. In the first step, a representative stratified sample of female refugees from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Somali and Eritrea are recruited. The quantitative study instrument include a socio-demographic question form and HSCL-Hopkins checklist, Harvard Trauma questionnaire, Beck depressions inventory, EUROHIS–QOL and SCL-14. In the second step, a qualitative in-depth analysis of focus group meetings is conducted.Results and conclusionsThere is an urgent need to take action for the mental health problems of refugees. This study constitutes one of the most extensive researches, especially on a subpopulation of refugees that requires specific attention. Challenges faced throughout the protocol and detailed results will be shared as presentation.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Lost Information and Competing Interests in Restoring Germany's Dispossessed Property – The Recent Decision of the German Federal Administrative Court

With the progressive “accession” of the German Democratic Republic to the Federal German Republic after the reunification in 1990, Germany had to deal with a number of impediments emanating from the attempt to reconcile different political, social and legal models that developed during the forty years of separation between East and West Germany. Among these was the issue of how the property order in Germany would be influenced by seeking to integrate two such different socio-political and legal systems. As the discussion below indicates, the demands placed by this issue on the courts, legislature and administration of the newly reunified Federal German Republic still cause repercussions.

Do we survive with Survival Suits?

The availability of immersion suits on board merchant ships is recommended in 1983 Amendments to the international convention for the safety of life at sea, 1974 (IMO). Suits approved by the Federal German Republic were tested in a wave tank using an immersible dummy. Extra buoyancy in the head region was required to correct the horizontal floating position. Buoyancy from a life-jacket was preferred to other sources. At 1 m wave height, flooding time of the face varied from 0.3% for one suit to 100% for another. Suits lined with non-absorbent material gave the best results.

Development of Routing in Coastal Waters

Traffic separation schemes and other routing measures have now been established in the coastal waters of many countries and new schemes are being introduced each year. Traffic separation was originally intended to reduce the risk of collision between ships proceeding in opposite directions but this paper explains how routing measures are now being used mainly for coastal protection. Improvements in navigational aids may lead to more extensive routing schemes in the future with increasing restriction on the movement of shipping.The first traffic separation schemes adopted by IMCO (now IMO) in 1965 and 1968 were based on proposals made by the Institutes of Navigation of France, the Federal German Republic and the United Kingdom. In the report submitted to the Organisation by the Institutes in 1964 it was stated that ‘the object of any form of routing is to ease the congestion and lessen the likelihood of end-on encounters by separating opposing streams of traffic …’.