31 E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 Violence Against Women in Germany and Immigrants: a Mediatized Political Communication? http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.11.18957 Titty Varghese, Ligita Sarkute Kaunas University of Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities/Institute of Public Policy and Administration, A. Mickevičiaus g. 37, LT-44244, Kaunas, Lithuania titty varghese@ktu.edu, ligita.sarkute@ktu.lt Submitted 04/2017 Accepted for publication 08/2017 European Integration Studies No. 11 / 2017 pp. 31-43 DOI 10.5755/j01.eis.0.11.18957 © Kaunas University of Technology Violence Against Women in Germany and Immigrants: a Mediatized Political Communication? EIS 11/2017 Abstract Introduction Violence against women is experienced by all ages and social classes, all races, religions and nation- alities. It is estimated that at least one in three women were subjected to some type of inter-personal violence over their life time (UN Security Council Resolution 1820). The European Union Agency for Fun- damental Rights found that in EU one in 10 women experienced some form of sexual violence since the age of 15 and, one in 20 has been raped. This article seeks to find out the role of media on portraying the reports of violence against women in Germany which are carried out by men with immigrant background. The tasks include analysing the different violence incidences against women which are reported by media in Germany and also observes the role of policy mechanisms and punishments for such crimes. Research methods employed in this study encompass document analysis of different aspects of violence incidenc- es by observing news reported from July 2016 till February 2017 by two e-newspapers in English. Also secondary data analysis of different statistics such as crime statistics from Germany, migration reports from Eurostat, violence reports by European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA)etc. were used in this paper. The primary interpretation can be made in such a way that there is an alarming increase in violence against women by certain group of men with immigrant background in Germany despite of the fact that German mass media tries to obscure such reports while the international newspaper do not try to hide. The lack of successful integration of refugees can be identified as a big barrier to prevent such incidences and minimal punishment for crimes against women should be evaluated and modified by respective governance bodies for preventing such incidences. KEYWORDS: violence against women; migration; refugees; media; public policy. Violence against women include any physical or sexual act against a woman (or girl) which meet or surpasses a minimum level of force, including pushing, hair pulling, hitting, smacking, slap- ping and being held down by a man. Due to the increasing number of immigrants as refugees to Europe various countries faces challenges on governance, economic and social security of the immigrants, their settlements etc. One of the rising issue due to influx of immigration can be seen in the form of violence against women which are perpetrated by men with immigrant background, towards the European and non-European women in countries. Since Germany is one of the country which accept and receive high number of refugee various crimes has been in- creased here in the last years. Hence there occurs the necessity of attention towards such crime E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 32 and media plays a major role in giving much focus on such incidences. So that it is necessary to identify the underlying truth behind the mediatized approach towards reporting violence crimes against women by men with immigrant background as the scientific problem and this article trying to figure this aim. Due to this features this article is very relevant and novel in the research arena. It analyses mainly two English news portal available online, one is from Germany and an- other is an international e-new portal. This article observes how the mediatization of such news has been carried out by these two new portal in the duration from from July 2016 till February 2017. The tasks covers analysing the different violence incidences against women from Germany which are reported by two e-news portals and also observes the role of policy mechanisms and punishments for such crimes. Research methods employed in this study encompass document analysis of different aspects of violence incidences by observing news reported from July 2016 till February 2017 by two e-newspapers in English. Also secondary data analysis of different sta- tistics such as crime statistics from Germany, migration reports from Eurostat, violence reports by European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA, 2014) etc. were used in this paper. The primary findings can be seen in such a way that there is an alarming increase in various crimes committed by men with immigrant background especially with refugee status in Germany and the violence against women by these group of men is increasing across years, despite of the fact that German mass media tries to obscure such reports while the international newspaper do not try to hide. The lack of successful integration of refugees can be identified as a big barrier to pre- vent such incidences and minimal punishment for crimes against women should be evaluated and modified by respective governance bodies for preventing such incidences. In any society media plays an important role in the culture and social development. Krotz (2007) and Schulz (2004) views mediatization as a social and cultural process. Mediatization has influ- ence on political communication and other aspects of politics. Mazzoleni and Schulz (1999, p.249) say that ‘mediatized politics is politics that has lost its autonomy has become dependent in its central functions in mass media, and is autonomously shaped by interaction with mass media’. Thompson (1995) sees that the media development plays as an integral part of the development of modern society. Mass media significantly influences society and enabled communication and interaction over long distances and among larger numbers of people. In another words medi- atization can be understood as a postmodern concept in which media has emerged as an inde- pendent institution on its own stand surpassing and overriding other social institutions. Media become an integrated part of the institutions such as politics, work, family, and religion as varied forms of mass communication is playing a greater role in forming and expressing opinions. Me- diatization not only about the role of media on determination but that they at once have attained the status of independent institution and provide the means by which other social institutions and actors communicate. It is also clear that media intervene into the activities of other institutions such as family, politics, organized religion, etc. and they also provide ‘common’ for society as whole in virtual shared form which are used by other institutions widely to make their activities more reachable to public. So that mediatization and institutional activities are closely depen- dent each other (Hjarvard, 2014). In the sphere of violence against women mediatization plays a greater role in both the developed and developing world even though the magnitude and the role played are different. In the developing world, mediatization helps in women empowerment like beyond women’s organization for women education, women right for job, propaganda against child marriage and against domestic violence and rape. Since 1970’s women’s approach towards inequality changed across world however it remains s unequal in the realm of media. The new reporting regarding violence against women influences political attention on such issues and the respective government required to adopt new prevention mechanisms to tackle the issue. 33 E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 Migration can be seen as a one of the significant human phenomenon which the human com- munity has practiced and continuing from ancient till modern times. The concept of migration assumes great significance in modern times mainly due to the current migration crisis and influx of refugees and migrants to Europe and America due to the war and crisis in Middle East and Africa. It can be seen that the 9/11 attack on the United States and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq to combat global terror leads to the displacement of the existing dictatorial regimes in these countries which led to the instability and anarchy in the Middle East and South East Asia. Also the recent democratic uprisings in the sub Saharan and African regions with the Arab spring led to the fall of dictatorial regimes in Syria, Morocco, Libya and other non-democrat- ic countries which led to the political, economic and social instability. Apart from the normal EU procedure of annual refuge intake, these global issues lead to mass illegal immigration through loose borders in Europe. The current data shows that the trend is alarming as more than 1 million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015 whereas it was just only 280,000 in 2014. It can be seen than the crisis is getting worsen only as more than 135,000 has already arrived with the first two months of 2016. It can be seen than more than 80% of the refugees are form the worst affected states and the non-democratic regimes of the world which are well known for human rights violations i.e. Syria under Assad, Iraq under former dictator Saddam Hussain and Libya under Gadhafi and Afghanistan under the rule of Taliban. The rest is coming from countries like Pakistan, Iran, Somalia, Eritrea etc. in the search of a peaceful livelihood. In the recent time in order to reach to Europe in the hope for a better life people are taking risky ways by crossing through boats in the Mediterranean and through land borders of Greece. According to UN Refugee agency (UN4RefugeesMigrants) in the first eight months of 2016, about 281,740 people crossed sea to Europe and about 4176 people died or gone missing on the Mediterranean Sea. It can be seen that there is a current sharp rise in the illegal immigration with a sharp increase with regard to Syrian refugees due to the ongoing crisis in Syria. It is to be noted that the EU policies with regard to border (Schengen area) as less restriction on border crossing and mobility, the illegal immigrants who are entering the Europe through sea and through the Mediterranean route are able to freely across the borders and to reach to the most preferred destinations. This is leading to an outcry in many European states and even negative public opinion about immigration policies. This can even lead to lack of consensus in the EU with regard to migration policies and programs. Immigration crisis in Europe The Scope of Violence Against Women in Germany Violence against women has been used to describe a wide range of acts, includes murder, rape and sexual assault, physical assault, emotional abuse, battering, stalking, prostitution, genital mutilation, sexual harassment and pornography. Crowell et al (1996) views intimate partner violence or battering, the coercive control by physical violence, psychological abuse, sexual vio- lence and denial of resources took place. When considers violence against women in the South Asian countries women and girls facing different forms of violence. In the opinion of Solotaroff et. al. (2014) violence in childhood and later stages affects negatively women and girls to participate in different actions such as getting education and employment. Due to the suffering they failed to get good career and prospects. Also it points that the violence against women and girls un- dermines countries achievements and deteriorate developments. Kelly (1998, cited by Dobash, 1998, p.53) defined violence as ‘any physical, visual, verbal, or sexual act that is experienced by the women or girl at the time or later as a threat, invasion, or assault that has the effect of hurt- ing her or degrading her and /or takes away her ability to contest an intimate contact’. It can be perceived from the statement that the issue of alcoholism and drug abuse are major cause of violence among relationships and will lead to sexual, verbal and physical violence, and leads to the situation of the lack of confidence and trauma for the women. Also in the conflicting areas, “increase in dowry related violence against women has been associated with the demand for E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 34 higher dowries in order to replace processions that have been destroyed during civil upheavals” (Njovana, 1994, cited by Dobash, 1998). In Europe violence against women seems to be high according to EU wide survey report (FRA, 2014). The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights conducted an interview with 42000 women across 28 member states of EU, and found that one in 10 women experienced some form of sexual violence since the age of 15 and, one in 20 has been raped. Over one in five women faced physical and or sexual violence from current partner or previous partner, and one in 10 women revealed that before the age of 15, they faced some form of sexual violence by an adult. When it comes to reporting only 14% of women re- ported their most serious threat to police and only 13% report their most serious injurious by non-partner to police. All these data show that in EU many women did not try to report incidence to authorities and due to this majority of incidences becomes hidden. Figure 1 Physical and/or sexual violence against women by a partner or a non- partner since the age of 15 (FRA, European Union Fundamental Agency for Human Rights, 2014) Figure 2 Number of asylum applicants in EU-28 (Eurostat, February 10, 2017) 33 35 32 32.5 33 33.5 34 34.5 35 35.5 EU Average Germany The above given figure 1 shows the percentage of physical or sexual violence by partner or non-partner faced by women in EU and Germany. An average 33% of women from EU and 35% of women from Germany faced such violence from the age of 15 in their life time. The below given figure 2. show the number of asylum and first asylum applicants in EU-28 countries from 2010-2016 (Eurostat, February 10, 2017). According to this figure we can identify that during 2010 about 259400 refugees applied for asylum across EU and when it is 2015 the numbers has been increased dramatically to 1322825. According the Eurostat report in the year 2016 about 1010885 number of people applied for asylum. 259,400 1,010,885 0 500,000 1,000,000 EU-28 Total 30 72 0 32 55 85 48 73 70 17 73 0 1 50 05 0 25 58 70 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6 The below given figure 3 shows the number of asylum and first asylum applicants in Germany by total male and female applicants from 2010-2016 (Eurostat, February 10, 2017). It is very visible that the number of male applicant who have applied for asylum in Germany and in Sweden out- numbered female applicants from 2010 to recent study in 2016. 35 E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 According to the BBC news on December 9, 2016 in 2014 122 of the 2760 murders and man- slaughters were carried by immigrants in Germany and in 2015 it was 233 out of 2721 killing. In 2014 about 949 immigrants are responsible for assaults including rape. The below given figure 2 shows the total number of crimes happened in Germany in 2014 and 2015 by German Police Re- cords Bundeskriminalamnt (BKA, 2015). According to the BKA explanation on ‘immigrant’ here it refers to the ‘people who are asylum applicants or on exceptional leave to stay or quota or civil war refugees or irregulars’. The figure 4 shows the total number of all forms of crimes happened in Germany in 2014 and in 2015. The total number of crimes has been increased about 4.10% in whole Germany and the suspected Germans rate has been fallen down to -4.90% in 2015 than it was in 2014. While there is a remarkable growth in the number of suspected people with non-German background to 47%. It is very visible that the suspected people on various crimes with immigrant background has been increased from 2014 to 2015 as 26%. There were hundreds of reports on women being undergone for groping and sexual violence during New Year eve in Cologne in Germany on 2015 and some media tried to cover the perpetrators origin as immigrants. All these scenarios created tension and worries over European society on the safety of women in Europe and the dangerous increasing violence by immigrants to women. As an after- math of this influx of refugees and immigrants, the mainstream media and European society has been started to re-think on taking refugees to their country. Since Germany and Sweden have the most welcoming nature on refugees, it’s important to analyse the issue of violence in this society since the news media have been come up with different atrocities and frightening violence inci- 30 72 0 32 55 85 48 73 70 17 73 0 1 50 05 0 25 58 70 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 5 2 0 1 6 Figure 3 The number of asylum and first asylum applicants in Germany (Eurostat, February 10, 2017) Figure 4 Number of crimes in Germany, 2014-15 (BKA Police Crime Statistics, 2015, p.8) 6082064 1532112 617392 179563 6330649 1457172 911864 463889 -20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Total crime Suspected Germans Suspected Non-Germans Immigrants 605 645 599 949 1683 2790 0 1000 2000 3000 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 7345 7022 1911 1952 31.00% 33.10% 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 2014 2015 Total Rape and Sexual Coercion Non-German Suspects E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 36 dences over women in these countries. For the analysis of violence incidences, we cover the media reports on sexu- al violence against women in Germany and in Sweden during the 2015-2016 year in both countries. Looking at the given below figure 5. It is noticeable that there is drastic change in the number of sex- ual crimes by immigrants in Germany from 2011-2016 pe- riods. In the year 2011 it was only 605 cases, in 2012 645, in 2013 599, in 2014 it was 949, in 2015 it was 1683 and in 2016 it was 2790 cases. Since violence against wom- en becomes an increasing is- sue in Germany it is import- ant to identify the rape and 6082064 1532112 617392 179563 6330649 1457172 911864 463889 -20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Total crime Suspected Germans Suspected Non-Germans Immigrants 605 645 599 949 1683 2790 0 1000 2000 3000 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 7345 7022 1911 1952 31.00% 33.10% 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 2014 2015 Total Rape and Sexual Coercion Non-German Suspects 6082064 1532112 617392 179563 6330649 1457172 911864 463889 -20% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Total crime Suspected Germans Suspected Non-Germans Immigrants 605 645 599 949 1683 2790 0 1000 2000 3000 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 7345 7022 1911 1952 31.00% 33.10% 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 2014 2015 Total Rape and Sexual Coercion Non-German Suspects related sexual offences against women. Below given figure 6 shows the number of rape and sexual coercion occurred in 2014 and 2015. In 2014 about 7345 cases have been registered and in 2015 it was 7022. The suspected immigrants were 31% (1911) in 2014 and in 2015 immigrant suspects increased to 33.10% (1952). For the purpose of analysing the incidences of violence against women especially rape crimes in Germany, two different news portal reports have been used. One is www.thelocal.de named The Local German, which is an online news portal publishes all main news from whole Germany and another is an international online news edition www.express.co.uk from UK. This article observes news from these two news portals in a duration of July 2016- February 2017. It iden- tifies the news published in these portals such as violence against women in the form of sexual abuse, rape and other molestation in Germany. According to the findings there have been almost 11 sexual offences has been published in www.thelocal.de and 40 incidences of sexual offences has been published by www.express.co.uk from Germany in the given period. The below given Table 1. Identifies the sexual offences news published in www.thelocal.de from July 2016-Feb- ruary 2017. In May 2, 2016 the news portal local.de published that one senior police officer instructed other police officer to prevent reporting the New Year evening rape incidences in media. From the above table we can identify that about 11 news reports have been published by news portal www. thelocal.de from July 2016 till February 2017. Among this news only 2 cases show that the sus- pects are German citizens and one is another from EU. All other 8 crimes against women have been conducted by immigrant men with refugee background. Which means about 73% crimes are carried out by immigrants, 18% by German and 9% non-German. The below given Table 2. Identifies the sexual offences news published in www.express.co.uk from July 2016-February 2017. From the table it’s is understood that in between July 2016- February 2017, over 45 sexual Figure 5 Number of sexual crimes by immigrant in Germany in 2011-2016 (BKA, Police Crime Statistics, 2015, p. 14) Figure 6 Number of suspects in rape and sexual coercion crimes in 2014-2015 (BKA, Police Crime Statistics, 2014 & 2015) Analysis of the Media Reports on Violence Against Women in Germany 37 E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 Date News 1. 8 February 8, 2017 Two asylum seekers charged with abusing young girls in swimming pool 2. 7 February 7, 2017 Police arrested Syrian ISIS suspect accused or rape in Germanys 3. 2 February 2, 2017 Suspect confess rape in Munich University toilet 4. December 15, 2016 Moroccan man raped women in Hamburg club who was ordered to leave country in April 2016 5. December 4, 2016 German government arrested teen Afghan boy over rape and murder of girl 6. November 25, 2016 German couple arrested over rape and murder of Chinese student 7. November 15, 2016 Dutch citizen who was an asylum home manager arrested over rape of refugee women 8. November 14, 2016 Seven refugee men arrested over raping Iranian refugee women in asylum homes 9. October 24, 2016 14 year old German girl gang raped my young men from Germany 10. July 15, 2016 Cologne women reports pregnancy after NYE rape 11. July 7, 2016 Iraqi refugee arrested over two rape incidences in Bochum Source: www.thelocal.de. Table 1 Incidents of Violence against Women in Germany reported by www.thelocal.de in July 2016-February 2017 Table 2 Incidents of Violence against Women in Germany reported by www.express.co.uk in July 2016-February 2017 Date News 1. February 21, 2017 Iraqi migrant raped 13 year old gild at train Germany fled to Hungary 2. February 17, 2017 Berlin police in hunt for Libyan man accused of rape of women 3. February 12, 2017 Elderly women on her way to work raped by foreigner 4. February 8, 2017 Five girls including 12 year girl sexually assaulted by immigrants in German pool 5. February 7, 2017 Migrant breaks girls nose for refusing sex with him 6. January 21, 2017 Migrant tried to sexually assault teenage girl in train station 7. January 19, 2017 Police dropped case over migrant who is suspected of two sex attacks on new year 8. January 13, 2017 Migrant arrested for raping girl in class room and said he had high sex drive 9. January 13, 2017 School girl 13, trapped immigrant man who tried to rape her 10. January 10, 2017 Father saves daughter from Syrian refuge who tried to rape her 11. January 10, 2017 Germany post wanted photo of suspect after 4 months of sexual crime against German girl 12. January 9, 2017 Afghan refugee who were allowed to sleep in German women’s home raped her 13. January 9, 2017 Manhunt is underway after African or Arab looking man tried to rape German girl after following her in train and bus in September 2016 14. January 9, 2017 Libyan migrant arrested for sexually assaulting German girls aged 13 and 14 in train station 15. January 9, 2017 Nursed lured to park by fake cries for help and sexually abused by African men. 16. January 6, 2017 Integration of migrants continues to fails and sexual violence against women increases 17. January 5, 2017 24 year old Refugee raped pensioner in Germany 18. January 4, 2017 Asylum seeker overdue for deportation rapes teenage girl in migrant centre toilet. E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 38 Date News 19. January 4,2017 German police in search for Mediterranean boy who rapes 69 year old pensioner in Germany 20. December 23,2016 Migrant accused of rape crime said it’s hard for to get a girlfriend as a refugee. 21. December 16,2016 Only 18 convictions from 1310 victims a year after Cologne attack by migrants. 22. December 14,2016 Afghanistan migrant arrested for rape and murder of German girl, was also a suspect of sexual attack in Greece and gets a punishment of 10 years in now. 23. December 10,2016 Immigrant serial killer ordered to leave Germany arrested for rape 24. December 8, 2016 Syrian born political scientist says migrant see German women as ‘fair game’ to be raped 25. December 8, 2016 Cologne sex attacks video emerges 26. December 7,2016 Iraqi asylum seeker arrested for sexually assaulting students 27. December 3,2016 Migrant sexual assaults teen girls and says he has sexual compulsion 28. November 24,2016 Middle East looking man dragged girl out of street and raped in German town 29. November 2,2016 German police officials forced teenage girl from giving complaint over sexual assault by refugees 30. October 31,2016 17 asylum seekers sexually assaulted two women in church square 31. October 20,2016 Serbian gang raped 14 year old girl and walked freed from court. 32. October 17,2016 90 year grandmother raped by 19 years old Moroccan migrant on the way back from church 33. September 28, 2016 Police dead shot refugee who tried to avenge daughter’s sexual assault who was also another immigrant in the same camp. 34. September 27, 2016 Teenage girl grabbed by 3 men in famous German beer festival Oktoberfest. Heroic teenage boy saves 18-year-old girl grabbed by gang of men at Oktoberfest. 35. September 18, 2016 Afghan refugee raped migrant toddler in asylum centre in Germany gets a punishment of only 2 years. 36. September 9,2016 200 migrant sex attack only in one German town 37. August 26, 2016 Teenagers sexually assaulted by Iraqi migrant in German pool 38. August 17, 2016 Afghan asylum seeker arrested for sexually assaulting 4 year boy dragging him to toilet 39. August 3,2016 Cologne sex attack investigators told to delete the word ‘rape’ from reports by minister 40. August 3,2016 Smuggler arrested for forcing young girls into prostitution 41. July 31,2016 Several Iraqi men arrested for sexual assaulting a number of women in Berlin 42. July 27,2016 Refugee arrested for raping 79 year old women 43. July 19,2016 Migrant men assaulted girls in Ga German festival 44. July 15,2016 18 year old girl had abortion after mass Cologne migrant sexual assault 45. July 12,2016 Sexual abuse victims in Cologne attack has been raised to 1200 by Police report 4610. July 11,2016 Another German region reported sex attack by immigrants in German pool 47. July 11, 2016 Iraqi arrested for ‘licking’ women’s face in Cologne attack 48. July 5, 2016 German women lied about the description of immigrant sexual attacker to avoid racism Source: www.express.co.uk 39 E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 violence in the form of rape or aggravated rape has been published by mass media. Among this news it is clear that almost all news has been focusing refugee/immigrant background men as the suspect of the crime. So based on the below given figure 7 we can identify that the major crimes are committed by people with refugee background including minors who are asylum or asylum seekers. Among 48 reported news 45 were related with violence against women and in 38 cases immigrants are the suspects, 4 were German citizens and other 3 were perpetrated by non-Germans. 38 immigrants are categories as refugees or asylum seekers in Germany, hence the issue of refugee integration and active policies to solve this issue is an increasingly important domain which needs efforts by authority. Since in both news report cases majority of the suspects are immigrants with refugee background it is important to analyse the integration policies of Germany. Figure 7 News reports on violence against women with the suspect’s background in express.co.uk 3 38 4 0 10 20 30 40 Other Immigrant Refugee German After understanding the issue of violence against women especially committed by the refugees shows the lack of proper orientation and integration of these immigrants in these respective countries. It is to be noted that before the arrival and after reaching the respective countries they should be educated and oriented about the cultural differences between their home coun- tries and their destination countries. They should be made understand about the various legal measures that are in place if crimes are committed and the punishment which will be imposed if such acts are committed as most of the immigrants are coming from different social and reli- gious background and having the notion that only women belonging to their religion should be taken care and others can be seen and utilized as a means of disposable sexual pleasure. This needs to be corrected through proper orientation and exemplary legal acts which will be seen as a bench mark for future offenders. Also with regard to media, they should act more respon- sible and highlight such incidences and should create awareness regarding the need to contain these acts. With regard to the above analysis it can be seen that the German local news media are hiding most of the incidents in the fear that there will be clashes between the locals and the immigrants. Such acts will lead only to the worsening of the situation as if not properly contained it will grow to such an extent that it won’t be controllable in the future and will affect the notion of migration in itself. Thus the media and politicians should show more enthusiasm in preventing these issue and the policy makers should evaluate the current legal measures and if not suffi- cient enough should reframe for the current circumstances. Different punishments for violence against women in Germany (The German Federal Law Gazette). Below given table 3. Shows the different sexual crimes against women in Germany and the subsequent punishment (Federal Law Gazette, p.3799). E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 40 Table 3 Punishments for sexual violence in Germany Section 177 Sexual assault by use of force or threats; rapes 1. Whoever coerce another person 1.1. By force 1.2. By threat of imminent danger to life or limb 1.3. By exploiting the situation which the victim is unprotected and the mercy of the offender Imprisonment of not less than 1 year • Serious case (rape) –if the victim forced to engage in physical abuse with other offenders Imprisonment of not less than 2 years 2. Offender uses dangerous weapons during the violence / carrying instruments which prevents victim to resist / offence places the victim in serious injury Imprisonment of not less than 3 years 3. Offender keeps and uses dangerous weapons during the violence and the victim gets very serious injuries or dies. Imprisonment of not less than 5 years 4. Less serious cases (under 1) Imprisonment of 6 months to 5 years 5. Less serious cases (under 3 &4) Imprisonment of 1 to 5 years Section 178 Sexual assault by use of force or threat of force and rape causing death 1. If the victim dies due to the negligence of offender due to rape Imprisonment for life or not less than 10 years Section 179 Abuse of person who are incapable of resistance 1. Incapable 1.1. due to mental illness or addiction or consciousness disorder 1.2. physically incapable 1.3. allowing a third person to abuse the incapable victim Imprisonment of 6 months to 10 years 2. sexual violence to incapable victim /offence is jointly by more than one people / victim is in dangerous injury to physical or emotional development Imprisonment of not less than 2 years Section 180 Causing minors to engage in sexual activity 1. whosoever encourage a minor, below 16 years old to engage in sexual activity alone or with a third person 1.1. by acting as an intermediary 1.2. by creating opportunity Imprisonment of not more than 3 years or fine 2. whosoever encourage a person under 18 years old to engage in sexual activity alone or with a third person for financial reward by acting as an intermediary Imprisonment of not more than 5 years or fine 3. whosoever encourage a person under 18 years believed to be an entrusted person for the victim as carer or employer or responsible for upbringing and education to engage in sexual activity alone or with a third person Imprisonment of not more than 5 years or fine 41 E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 As from the above mentioned legal frameworks it can be seen that the punishments for com- mitting crimes like rape and its consequent acts are very low and even negligible when com- pared to the punishment applied in various countries including the United States where having strict legal measures to combats these kinds of incidences. Also the police should maintain an updated list of the incoming immigrants and both police and border force should contain illegal immigration to its roots as it will be difficult to keep a record of the illegal immigrants and will be difficult to identify in cases of crimes committed by them. In order to successfully integrate refugees/immigrants in the country there are several integra- tion programmes implemented. Anthias et al (2013, p.3) defines integration as ‘the process by which individuals become members of society and their multilevel and multiform participation within it, integration is a process related to different forms of participation, in the neighborhood, at work, school, family’. International Organization for Migration (IOM, 2014) defines migrant integration as ‘the process of mutual adaptation between host society and migrant’. The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has given numerous integration and cultural adaptation ins- tructions for immigrants and refugees. It covers various aspects regarding everyday concerns, language learning, joint civic commitment opportunity for integrating with local and foreigners, leisure and sports programmes, enhancing skill programmes for increasing self-esteem, equal opportunities in work and school, and support for prevent crime and violence. Then the ‘identity and Integration PLUS’ programme which is for the integration of people among societies under Federal Expellees Act (Bundesvertriebenengesetz) which is in the form of 200 lessons which covers all the basic information such as issues dealing with their identity till information regar- ding the healthcare, educational facilities for immigrant children. It also gives special focus on women and their improvement so that they provide such courses for women also. All the above mentioned facilities are available by Migration Advisory Service for Adult Immigrants and the Yo- uth Advisory Service, migrant organizations and voluntary welfare organizations. The language course is a free course with 600 hours and 60 hours of orientation course. Both will be delivering for over 2 years. Language course enables the communication skill in German while orientation course explains about German culture, norms, regulations, rights etc. As a refugee people get free meals at the reception centers and 143 Euro per month for basic needs in the first 3 months and then later 216 Euro per month. Also 92 Euro per child depending on their age are allocated by Germany. After the approval of the asylum application or after 15 months of stay in Germany they will be able to get 400 Euro/month for expenses and additional cost for rent and heating. Since there are mainly three main form of refugee categories such as, _ Asylum seeker- individual who intend to file an asylum application but have not been yet been registered by the Federal office as asylum applicant _ Asylum applicant – asylum applicant whose asylum proceedings are pending and whose case has not yet been decided on _ Persons entitled to protection and persons entitled to remain- individuals who receive an enti- tlement to asylum, refugee protection or subsidiary protection, or who may remain in Germa- ny on the basis of a ban on deportation (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees). Based on the assumptions German government has been issued certain guides and manuals according to the EU instructions for refugees and immigrants along with NGO’s. One of the im- portant such publication has been carried out by Refugee guide online in 17 different languages and it contains all basic information that should be followed by immigrants. It elaborates on the public life, personal freedom, community life, equality, environment and ecology, food, drinks and smoking, formalities, and the necessary guidelines for in case of emergency are given. The Social Integration Policies by Germany for Immigrants E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 42 main points which are noticeable for immigrants are, same sex relationship is legal, staring at men or women is prohibited and even if they are in T-shirt or in short skirts, FKK denotes the swimming areas textile free and in sauna and swimming pools, men and women have equal rights, cannot urinate in public, men and women drink and smoke in Germany. Apart from this br.de one of the leading online news has been published Kulturguide, 14 cartoon guidelines for immigrants on Germany which again contains images showing on how to behave to women, do not touch women’s body, do not fight each other, if you fight you won get asylum or residence in Germany etc. Another website zanzu (My body in words and in images) has published many instructions to immigrants with the support of Federal Centre for Health Education Ministry in Germany, on how to behave to women, how to keep hygiene, sex education etc. Also if entered illegally if not able to accommodate should be sent back to their respective countries and if not should be properly integrated into the local system through language and skill training so that they won’t engage to crime and criminal activities thus preventing a lot of these kind of incidenc- es. Also the recent regulation imposed by the United States, European Union should also review whether to take immigrants from the worst affected and terrorized countries as these will have a long standing implication for the respective countries. Thus it can be concluded that a proper co- ordination between the policy makers, impartial media, judiciary in framing strict legal measures and a vigil public needs to tackle the issue of immigrant violence. If effectively coordinated this can reduce these incidences to a great extent and can lead to long standing peace. It is evident that media influences the agenda setting in politics and the concentrated policy responsibility and creates sensational issues like crime and environment are more prone to media effects. Political communication is largely mediated communication, transmitted through the print and electron- ic media. Political communication affects elections process. Each party attempts to shape the agenda so that the media reflects its views on favorite topics. Public opinion is monitored through opinion polls. Societies have changed dramatically since the time of course. Mediatization influ- ences the agenda setting process in public policy. _ The increasing number of violence against the women an important area whch needs proper policies by respective givernmen to prevent. Mass immigration causes various social and eco- nomical changes in the hosting countries and in tthe case of Germany, it accepts high number of asylum applicants and hence there is variation in the living conditions. In Germany there is noticable increase of violence against women. Medi and its startegies plays major role in order to decide what the readers sould know or not on any incidences. One of the significant finding of this article shows that such offences were committed by asylum men along with native Germans. _ It can be seen that even though in most of the cases the perpetuators are immigrants or peo- ple seeking asylum in Germany, the media tends to be submissive with regard to the incidenc- es as the fear of making unrest in the country. In order to avoid the tension between immigrant people and natives, German media is trying to hide certain violence incidences against women which are perpetrated by immigrants. _ The low level of security or background check on asylum seekers and immigrants led to increase criminal activities by individuals and groups and has been widely highlighted and crit- icized by the international media. Also the lack of proper punishment for heinous crimes like rape and sexual violence leads to increased acts of violence against women as it can be seen that the punishment ranges from six months to maximum of 10 years and no punishment like life imprisonment or hang until death. Also it can be evident by the careful observation for the past 8 months that there is a clear notion of mediatized political communication within the local German news paper with regard to the publishing of news and events which can cause tensions and clashes between locals and immigrants. Conclusions 43 E u r o p e a n I n t e g r a t i o n S t u d i e s 2 0 1 7 / 1 1 Bundeskriminalamnt (BKA), German Police Crime Statistics 2014, 2015. Retrieved from, https://www. bka.de/EN/CurrentInformation/PoliceCrimeSta- tistics/2015/pcs2015.html?nn=39580. Bundesvertriebenengesetz. Go ahead from the Bundesrat Integration Act to support and challenge. Retrieved from, https://www.bundesregierung.de/ Content/EN/Artikel/2016/07_en/2016-05-25-in- tegrationsgesetz-beschlossen_en.html. Crowell, N. A., & Burgess, A. W. (1996). Understand- ing Violence Against Women: Panel on Research on Violence Against Women. Washington, DC: Nation- al Research Council. National Academy of Scienc- es. https://doi.org/10.1037/10204-000 Dobash, R. E., & Dobash, R. P. (Eds.). (1998). Re- thinking violence against women (Vol. 9). Sage Publications. Eurostat. (2017). Asylum and first time asylum ap- plicants by citizenship, age and sex. Retrieved from, http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show. do?dataset=migr_asyappctzm&lang=en Express Home of the daily and Sunday Express, Retrieved from, www.express.co.uk Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. The Stages of the asylum procedure. Retrieved from, http://www.bamf.de/EN/Fluechtlingsschutz/Ab- laufAsylv/ablauf-des-asylverfahrens-node.html. FRA, EU. Violence Against Women: An EU-Wide Survey. Main Results Report. (2014). Hjarvard, S. (2014). From mediation to mediatiza- tion: the institutionalization of new media. In Me- diatized Worlds (pp. 123-139). Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137300355_8 International Organization for Migration. Migrant Integration (2014). Retrived from, http://www.iom. int/cms/en/sites/iom/home/what-we-do/mi- grant-integration.html. VARGHESE TITTY MSc Public Policy Kaunas University of Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities/Institute of Public Policy and Administration Fields of research interests Public Policy, Administration, Mediatized Politics, NGO, Violence Against Women Address A. Mickevičiaus g. 37, LT-44244, Kaunas, Lithuania Tel. +37067469498 SARKUTE LIGITA PhD Kaunas University of Technology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities/Institute of Public Policy and Administration Fields of research interests Public Policy, Decision Making, Political Parties, Governments, Text Analysis Address A. Mickevičiaus g. 37, LT-44244, Kaunas, Lithuania Krotz, F. The meta-process of mediatization as a conceptual frame. Global Media and Communica- tion 3.3 (2007): 256-260. https://doi.org/10.1177/1 7427665070030030103 Kulturguide. Retrieved from, Mazzoleni, G., & Schulz, W. (1999). Mediatization of politics: A challenge for democracy?. Politi- cal communication, 16(3), 247-261. https://doi. org/10.1080/105846099198613 My body in words and in images. Retrieved from, www.zanzu.de. Refugee guide online. Retrieved from, www.refu- geeguide.de Schulz, W. (2004). Reconstructing mediatizati- on as an analytical concept. European journal of communication, 19(1), 87-101. https://doi. org/10.1177/0267323104040696 Solotaroff, J. L., & Pande, R. P. (2014). Violen- ce against women and girls: lessons from so- uth Asia. World Bank Publications. https://doi. org/10.1596/978-1-4648-0171-6 The German Federal Law Gazette. Retrieved from, https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_ stgb/englisch_stgb.html. The Local German. Retrieved from www.thelocal.de. Thompson, J. B. (1995). The media and modernity: A social theory of the media. Stanford University Press. UN4RefugeesMigrants, UN refugee agency: 2016 is de- adliest year for refugees crossing to Europe via Central Mediterranean, Retrieved from, https://refugeesmi- grants.un.org/un-refugee-agency-2016-deadliest-ye- ar-refugees-crossing-europe-central-mediterranean. UN Security Council Resolution 1820 (2008, pream- ble). Retrieved from, http://www.securitycouncilre- port.org/atf/cf/%7B65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3- CF6E4FF96FF9%7D/CAC%20S%20RES%201820.pdf. References About the authors