During the New Year's celebrations in Cologne, Germany, and other German cities, mass acts of sexual and violent assault against women took place. So far, 170 complaints have been filed, 120 of which concerned sexual assault. Acts from groping to rape to even gangrape occurred during the festivities. Some of the perpetrators even stole the women's phones and/or bags and wallets while they were "distracted" by the assault.
Initially, the German media hid the attacks and ignored them, leading to protests, claiming that the night had a "relaxed atmosphere." The German police were reportedly overwhelmed and understaffed in the face of the number of attacks going on at once. Estimates of up to one thousand men were reported to be involved in the attack. Many of these men were described to be of Middle Eastern and African descent. In the past year, Germany alone has accepted 1.1 million refugees from Syria. However, it should be noted that only four of the 34 current suspects are Syrian.
"Out of the 34 suspects, 21 were asylum seekers — and the majority of those, the spokesman said, arrived this past year. The 34 reportedly include 10 Algerians, 10 Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans, one American, one Serbian and one Iraqi." — The Washington Post
The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, is now considering tighter border control and more focused vetting procedures when allowing further refugees. Certain strategies include deporting refugees who serve jail time for German crimes and random security checks.
What should one take from these incidents?
1. This does not mean that refugees should be denied.
One must understand the culture of certain Middle Eastern and African countries that denounce the status of women. There exist ideologies where women are expected to cover up and keep quiet. When people are raised in such a culture for generations, it is a culture shock for them to live in a country where women are equal to men an are allowed to expose skin. While this does not excuse nor justify their actions, this calls for education programs for refugees, informing them of what is expected, allowed or not in the countries where they seek asylum.
2. This is not characteristic of all Muslims.
Do not associate these attacks with the entire Muslim population. Many Muslims live in first-world countries where women proudly take on Muslim customs without being oppressed. There are Muslims who spread peace and love in the name of Allah just as there are Christians who spread peace and love in the name of God. On the other side of the coin, there are both Christians and Muslims who spread hate and terror in the name of their respective deity.
3. Anyone is capable of crime.
One should not glorify the guilty refugees as innocent and pure because they are refugees. They have committed foul crimes and must be faced with the proper consequences. However, do not misconstrue rape as something that only is committed by people from countries deemed barbaric. Rape occurs everyday in developed nations as well. Every 107 seconds, someone is a victim of sexual assault in the United States alone; four-fifths of victims knew their rapist previously and 47 percent of rapists were friends or acquaintances with their victims.
4. We are all human.
Remember that we are all human. We are all capable of being convinced to think that women are worthless, to be sexually or violently assaulted and / or to assault someone else. In the same breath, we are all capable of helping one another and uniting as a race. We must accept our fellow humans and aid them.
If you or someone you know are / is a victim of rape ... report it.
