_GERMANY SLIDER

Organisations representing people with a migration background are calling for radical legislative solutions to improve their representation in public institutions. They have now presented a draft for a federal participation law …… The Federal Conference of Migrant Organisations (Bundeskonferenz der Migrantenorganisationen, BKMO) has called on the next federal government to enforce the equal participation of immigrants in society by law. …

The population in Germany is stagnating and the number of workers is decreasing. To avoid a labour shortage in the future, Germany needs about 400,000 immigrants per year, according to Detlef Scheele, head of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit). Due to demographic developments, the number of potential workers of typical working age is already decreasing by almost 150,000 …

Saturday, 21 August was a historic day in the African community in the Berlin district of Spandau. For the first time members of the community invited candidates for a general election to address them and listen to their views. The event, organised by the Afro-Deutsche Group Spandau, provided a unique opportunity for African residents to interact with candidates running on …

As the general elections in Germany draw nearer, different groups in the polity are mobilising their members to support their preferred parties and candidates. Africans are not left out of the trend as some of them will gather on Saturday 21 August to interact with SPD candidates in Berlin Spandau and present their wish list. —– A group is mobilising …

ANNOUNCEMENT Nigerians In Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) Germany has kicked off its familiarization tour of Nigerian businesses, social enterprises and cultural organisations in Germany. Accompanied by our Project Officer, Mazi Obiora Nweke, the President, Mr Femi Awoniyi, on Monday called on Bruder Hilfe Social Development Initiative e.V., whose founder and director is a long-time member of NIDO Germany and a current …

Train drivers will go on a three-day strike from Wednesday (11 August), the German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) has confirmed. The strike will affect regional and long-distance trains all over the country. The GDL is demanding a wage increase of 3.2 per cent for employees and a 600-euro corona bonus for the current year in the collective bargaining dispute with …

Maisha – African Women in Germany e.V. has launched an information and awareness campaign on Covid-19 in Germany’s African community. The campaign ‘Information and Awareness Raising on Covid-19 – Model Project for African Migrants in Germany’ was launched on Sunday (8 August) in Frankfurt. The event took place at the New Covenant Assemblies after the Sunday worship session of the …

Very soon, digital fingerprinting will be mandatory in German ID cards. The question is: Will it make the cards more secure? Or is it an invasive threat to our freedom? Nina Werkhäuser and Esther Felden of DW examine the issue in this special report —— “It was a really creepy feeling,” says data protection activist Leena Simon, describing the moment …

Every month there are new laws and other legal changes. July 2021 is no different. Whether minimum wage increase, single-use plastic ban, compulsory measles vaccination or digital Covid-19 vaccination card: We have all the relevant changes at a glance! ——- Statutory minimum wage increases From July 2021, the minimum wage will increase by 10 cents from 9.50 euros to 9.60 …

The German chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation (NIDO) has elected a new executive committee. The election was part of the body’s annual general meeting, which took place virtually on Saturday, 26 June. Femi Awoniyi was elected unopposed to lead the NIDO Germany as President for the next two years at the event. He replaced Dr RosaLyn Dressman who …

A TV production about the death of the African Oury Jalloh in a Dessau police cell over 17 years ago has been awarded the German Podcast Prize 2021 for “Best Journalistic Performance”. The production, by the public broadcaster WDR and entitled Oury Jalloh und die Toten des Polizeireviers Dessau (“Oury Jalloh and the dead of the Dessau police station”), received …

The Nigerian community is in shock over the gruesome, cold-blooded killing of Hamburg-based Oguchi Unachukwu while visiting his home country. According to Nigerian press reports and the accounts of his relations in Nigeria, Mr Unachukwu was shot by a soldier in Owerri, Imo State, on Monday. The Nigerian, who was on his way to the Owerri airport to catch his …

The number of naturalisations in Germany declined significantly last year. Around 109,900 foreigners took German citizenship in 2020, as the Federal Statistical Office announced in Wiesbaden recently. That is a decline of 19,000 cases (minus 19 per cent). The decline is to a large extent due to the reduced naturalisation of Britons. At the same time, the number of Syrians …

Chancellor Angela Merkel has been awarded the European Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma for her advocacy against antiziganism. “We must outlaw antiziganism just as we outlaw anti-Semitism,” Romani Rose, chairman of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, said in his address at a ceremony which took place in Mannheim on Wednesday. He pointed to the …

The so-called rent cap has been in force in Berlin for more than a year. Now the Federal Constitutional Court Bundesverfassungsgericht has overturned the controversial law causing apprehensions for tenants in Germany’s biggest city The Federal Constitutional Court has declared Berlin’s rent cap null and void. According to the decision of the Karlsruhe-based highest court on constitutional matters, Berlin was …

Chancellor Angela Merkel and state and civic leaders have finalised a plan to improve the integration of immigrants into society, the education system and the job market. It outlines a road map for the coming decade. Kathleen Schuster/DW reports Getting a job might have been once been considered enough to be successfully integrated into society as a foreigner. For Germany, …

Follow the rules, work with us, His Excellency Thomas Amolo appeals to Kenyans in Germany The African Courier interviewed Kenya’s new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Germany, His Excellency Thomas Boniface Amolo, after he presented his Letter of Credence to President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin on Thursday, 11 March. In the exclusive chat, Ambassador Amolo, who is also concurrently accredited …

Germany’s population of African descent is estimated at over a million. A big community which needs to communicate with itself as well as with others. Sam Atsu Nove, who died on 9 March 2020, was the pioneer networker of the Black community in Germany.His observation of the difficulties of Africans navigating their community challenged the communications specialist to publish the …

His Excellency Thomas Boniface Amolo of Kenya has presented his Letter of Credence to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, marking the beginning of his ambassadorship in Germany. Accompanied by his wife, Mrs Iris Matlhodi Kekana-Amolo, Ambassador Amolo handed over his credentials at a ceremony which took place at the Schloss Bellevue, the seat of the German presidency, on Thursday (11 March). …

“We the Yoruba diaspora living in Germany, had long been watching and monitoring with great concern, the onslaught on lives, properties and existence of our families in the whole of Yorubaland. The onslaught continued unabated with more killings, raping, maiming and destruction of livelihood of our people, perpetuated by Fulani herdsmen and bandits."