Non-Governmental Organization

Networking of asylum and refugee policy initiatives

The Heinrich Böll's institute Schleswig - Holstein offers services for the political education, mainly in the most northern federal state. We consider us as an independent part of the worldwide green movement. Our events and other educational projects are aimed to further clarify "green" discussions and proposals and to spread them through society. We want to stimulate democratic processes and enable people to become active independently and to take part in forming society and politics.

Here, we relate to subjects, discussions and questions which are of particular importance for the "green project" and its programmatic advancement. We love the dispute and the common research of new knowledge and answers. Our events are places of the political discussion, considered as the serious and heated dispute about important present and future subjects. The authentic representation of different positions, the dialogue between people from different social spectra and the "learning of each other" are characteristics for our events and projects.

medico works ... with partners
The help which is performed by medico is more than the supply of auxiliary goods in emergency situations. We understand our work as a part of a comprehensive social action which has the realization, the aim and the right on health. Besides, it is not about short-term »interventionist's broad auxiliary missions «, but about a united and trusting cooperation with people who are independent partners, on no account, however, bare auxiliary receivers for us. Starting points are the political and social aims which we divide with our partner organizations in the south. Besides, the continual exchange of views, the openness in dealing with the partners and the continual reflection of existing dependence and our own interests belong to these aims too.

medico works ... in context
The ones, who do not understand the causes for the misery of people are fading out important political and cultural connections, can also not react appropriately to this misery. Wars and predicaments do not fall from the sky. They have reasons, and they need to be asked for those. medico sticks to a help oriented  context, even if the media public currently and especially  immediately grabbing help is celebrated which does not stay long with political questions. The aim of our endeavors is not only the relief of humanitarian crises, but their lasting overcoming.

medico works ... for change
Every help for people leaves tracks which stretch beyond the moment of the intervention. Therefore, the help which wants to overcome the status quo a society-political vision of another fairer world needs. It has to develop strategies which indicate the ways there. For humanitarian crises there are no humanitarian solutions. For us help is a part of a social action which argues for democracy, social justice and the respect of the human rights – and this together with the victims of need and dictatorship.

With the sales of fairly traded goods we would like to draw the attention to unfair world market structures and create an alternative to customary commercial methods.We are an honorary team and see the world store as a learning place which is also open to interested new employees. We organize school class visits for fair trade, products and their producers and we also organize informational events on global subjects. We are acknowledged as an application place for the federal Voluntary Service.

PRO ASYL was founded in 1986 with the aim of establishing an effective voice for the rights of refugees in Germany. We are a national association of people working for federal refugee councils, churches, trade unions, welfare and human rights organizations. PRO ASYL is a non-profit association and finances itself with membership-fees and donations.At present the support association has 12.000 members.

PRO ASYL

• promotes the rights of refugees,
• publishes leaflets and information sheets about causes for flight and integration of refugees in Germany,
• performs educational work by organizing events and symposia.,
• supports exemplary court cases and law suits in order to secure justice for refugees,
• promotes regional associations of refugee councils and collaborates with refugee initiatives,
• makes proposals for the annual Day of the Refugee.

One of PRO ASYL´s current emphases is the campaign "Hier geblieben – Recht auf Bleiberecht" (the right of asylum). It campaigns for more than 150.000 people who are living in Germany and who are apparently are often well-integrated in society, but are in fact merely "tolerated" and even after many years have to face the possibility of deportation. A broad basis of linked organizations supports PRO ASYL in demanding liberal asylum laws. Basic initiatives promote the campaign within the federal states and communities. PRO ASYL has created posters, flyers, and background brochures for this purpose. PRO ASYL keeps a critical eye on the refugee policy in Germany and Europe and consistently gets involved in current political debates.

All Weltladen shops in Germany are members of the Weltladen parent organization which has its headquarters in Mainz. It coordinates joint efforts as well as publicity campaigns and provides continuing education for employees and current information on Weltladen shops. The Weltladen parent organization sees itself as an organisation dedicated to serve its members.

Its most important goals are:

• to promote the idea of fair trade and to bring the Weltladen shops to the attention of the public and policy-makers.
• to give the public a clear and coherent idea of Weltladen shops and their philosophy.
• to establish Weltladen shops as specialized shops of fair trade and to systematically improve and support their work.
• to further develop the work of the Weltladen shops under today´s changing conditions.

Accordingly, one main focus lies in the organisation of political activities, like our "Weltladen Days", which traditionally take place in May. The Weltladen parent organization promotes fair play in world trade through activities that attract public attention. Another principal concern of its work is to become known to a broader public. Currently the Weltladen parent organization is cooperating closely with youths on the subject of global learning. The Weltladen parent organization is a member of the Forum for Fair Trade, a union of the most important players in fair trade in Germany.

Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research (HIIK) at the Department of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg

The HIIK is a registered charitable organization which devotes its work to research, documentation and analysis of national and international conflicts. The HIIK was founded in 1991 to continue the work of the research project entitled "Conflicts since 1945" headed by Prof. Dr. Frank R. Pfetsch at the Department of Political Science at the University of Heidelberg.

The HIIK publishes a report called Conflict Barometer every December. This report describes the recent trends in global conflicts. It is divided into five world regions and shows all the current conflicts in detailed tables combined with short descriptive text elements. In addition it includes global trends in the conflict behaviour of the different states, as well as the measures that were taken for conflict resolution in the respective year. Coups d'état, attempted coups d'état, acts of international terrorism as well as new measures of conflict resolution are also recorded.

In their Cosimo database, the HIIK records information about the political conflicts that have taken place since 1945. Since 2003, a relational database system has been in use that has revised, updated and expanded the entire set of data of the 1.3 version of the Cosimo conflict database. Today, Cosimo 2.0 contains information about more than 500 conflicts with more than 2,500 instances that have complicated their resolution. The new version enables a delineation of the detailed conflict development in its violent and non-violent phases with the help of the systematic recording of the individual phases of fighting. Furthermore, the database includes extensive details about the structure of governmental and non-governmental participants in the conflict recorded by years.

The HIIK creates regional and global abstracts, counts, and analyses from the Cosimo data base for journalists, researchers, institutes, public institutions, and everyone who is interested in conflict management.

The OeVA - Oecumenical Planing-Comittee for the Intercultural Week in Germany (ÖVA - Ökumenische Vorbereitungsausschuss) prepares the annual intercultural week (IKW) which is taking place all over the country. It recommends content focuses, suggests a theme, carries out the annual, nationwide preparatory conference  offers materials available for the preparatory groups and organizes a central nationwide inaugural event.In the EPC 15 members are appointed from the churches. Up to six additional members are coopted from institutions, organizations and socially important areas.

What is the intercultural week?
The annual intercultural week (IKW) is an initiative of the German bishops' conference (DBK - Deutschen Bischofskonferenz), the Protestant church in Germany (EKD - Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland) and the Greek-orthodox Metropolie that takes place throughout all Germany. The intercultural week is held ince 1975 at the end of September and is supported by churches, local authority districts, welfare associations, trade unions, integration advisory boards and commissioned, migrant's organizations and initiative groups. In 2016 about 5,000 events were carried out in more than 500 towns and municipalities. The Refugee Day is a component of the intercultural week.