A 51-year-old Dutch man who headed a refugee shelter in Finnentrop-Heggen is accused of raping a 23-year-old Syrian asylum seeker at least four times, German media reported on Monday.
“Fundamentally it is of course the case that people in such facilities are particularly at the mercy of the local staff, who are often not adequately trained or qualified, or were not adequately reviewed before – as is the case in the present case, but also in many other cases,” Marie Frank from advocacy group Pro Asyl told The Local.
“So far, we only know about individual cases. But we assume that there is a number of unreported cases,” family ministry spokesperson Verena Herb told The Local in March.
“Many of the women in the camps are scared to speak out about what is happening – many of them are for example scared to be sent back home because of it.”