Within the first week of the new year, over 100 women in Cologne, Germany have filed complaints of assault, theft, or rape in public squares on New Year’s Eve. Many victims described their assailants with Arab or North African background, and thus far, the police confirmed that 18 of the 31 suspects are refugees seeking asylum in Germany. The attacks raise many issues for Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose open-door policies welcomed over a million refugees into Germany in 2015 (as shown in the chart below). Merkel is now heavily pressured to tighten restrictions on asylum-seekers entering the country.

The New Year’s attacks left Germany deeply embroiled in debates of safety, deportation, and women’s rights. The police’s response only fueled public tensions, as the media has accused the investigating police force of withholding information about the suspects' identities. The police are also criticized as not competent enough to handle the recent influx of refugees, as more officers overseeing refugee-concentrated areas may have left busy cities less protected. Police chief Wolfgang Albers has since been suspended from his job.

Yet there are greater issues at hand that must be analyzed in the refugee debate. In terms of the police’s unsatisfactory response, officials have cited the desire to avoid inflammatory language that would worsen refugees’ reputations and undermine Merkel’s policies. The police delayed reporting that most suspects were refugees because there is a public stigma that refugees bring violence and chaos with them from their war-torn nations. Attacks like Cologne’s exacerbate these prejudices; people use such events to reinforce their xenophobic beliefs that immigrants can only bring harm to a nation.

It is poignant that the police force acted with such stigmas in mind; the prejudices they considered definitely exist in Germany, shown by opponents of refugee migration who claim the attacks show the threat of refugees to the West. The two German and one American suspects do not represent their entire nations; rather, they are anomalies both in terms of the total suspects and the value of their countries. But this is not true of the Algerian, Moroccan, Syrian, Iranian, and Iraqi suspects. They are all grouped together, whether as Arabs or Muslims or asylum-seekers. They represent the value and trustworthiness of every person of their ethnicity seeking refuge in western countries. The New Year’s attacks encourage Merkel’s opponents because they support the claim that foreign refugees only endanger other countries. With this flawed logic, critics claim that the Cologne sexual assaults demonstrate how all male refugees will rob and rape women simply because they are from the Middle East. This kind of fear-mongering can only foster harmful, xenophobic viewpoints.

However, Merkel’s pro-refugee supporters must also analyze the importance of most suspects being refugees. In many ways, the current debate involves an intersection of women's rights and human rights. Men who immigrate from Islamic countries were raised in cultures starkly different from the West. They are trained to repress sexuality and regard women as inferior, bolstering their nations’ patriarchal and misogynist systems. They bring these conservative mindsets with them to Germany and view comparably liberal Western women through a highly sexist lens. This is no way excuses the Cologne attacks, or any behavior that violates or depreciates women, but it does add a layer of complexity to the assaults. Refugees are not inherently dangerous – their patriarchal and sexist systems are.

Furthermore, such sexist systems are not absent even in Germany. Since the New Year’s attacks, women in Germany are encouraged to not go out alone and to avoid certain urban areas at night. Mayor Henriette Reker even advised women to “keep a certain distance that is longer than an arm’s length” from potential harassers to help protect themselves. As if women should be responsible for preemptively preventing a theft or sexual assault; as if women, not the men committing the crimes, must adopt safer behavior. These suggestions reflect a patriarchal and sexist society that focuses on how women must defend themselves, instead of addressing the causes and prevention of men committing theft and rape. This is a problem that cannot be blamed on an influx of refugees, a problem that has plagued women for years and is now exacerbated by the conservative mindsets of Arab refugees.

Sign: “Against sexism, Against racism”

So what should happen to the suspects of the assaults, or to other refugees in Germany, or to people currently travelling west to seek asylum? The debate rages on, augmented by protests focused on sexual assault prevention. There are cries from all sides for deportation, border closure, or jail time. In response, Merkel has agreed to stricter regulations on her refugee policies, which she says will support both German citizens and migrants seeking asylum. Criminals must be punished for their actions, but the border will not be closed.

Nothing about Germany’s refugee situation is simple. There are myriad aspects, from danger to sexism to federal policies. But in the wake of the New Year’s attacks, public outcry diminishes these layers of complexity. The nation is polarized, a middle ground obscured as right-wing supporters use the attacks to bolster fear of refugees, and left-wing supporters downplay the refugees’ role by ignoring the impact of conservative Muslim backgrounds. But the last thing Germany needs right now are extremists, whether outside its borders or in its government.

Perhaps the debate should be redirected. Instead of endlessly deliberating if refugees should be allowed to enter the country, attention must be directed to the methods of establishing new lives in Germany. Focusing on cultural and religious differences is crucial to improved integration and future peace. It is also vital to remember the women victimized in Cologne and the women who live every day fearing assault. Women’s rights and human rights inherently intersect, and their overlap in Germany’s refugee debate is undeniable. Not only must Merkel reevaluate her open-door policies, but Germany as a whole must also reform the treatment of women and harmful patriarchal attitudes.