9. Oct 2023
Policy paper on refugees: Community shelters violate human rights
Here you find the doctoral student’s profile of Jakob Junghans. He published results of his doctoral studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and shared the research more widely with a press release.
About the author:
- Jakob Junghans ORCHID , ResearchGate
- Research area(s): Legal theory, Common European Asylum System, Human Trafficking, Assembly and Police law
- Faculty of Law, MLU
Field(s) of expertise during doctoral studies:
- German and European Asylum law
- Access to law, Rule of law
- Push-Backs
- Doctoral thesis: The relationship between political and juridical control in migration law using the example of push-backs
Curriculum Vitae
- Now working at MLU
- Doctoral studies in the group Lehrstuhl für öffentliches Recht of Prof. Dr. Winfried Kluth at MLU
- Master in Business Law and Economic Law (LL.M.oec.) at MLU in 2021
Challenges, rewards and contribution
Q: What was your most important contribution to the publication?
A: I conducted interviews in different German federal states with refugees and compared their experiences on the different refugee accommodations in Germany. Our policy recommendations emerged from these findings and against the background of my legal framework analysis of the German asylum and reception system.
Q: What was challenging and what was a rewarding moment during your work presented in the publication?
A: It was particularly difficult to gain access to refugee accommodations and thus to find interview partners who were currently subject to compulsory accommodation. This was exacerbated by the restrictions in the context of the pandemic.
A very rewarding moment during the research was going into the field after the desk research and talking to people about their experiences to get a sense of how the law is applied in practice.
Significance of publication
Housing refugees in large shared accommodations disregards their human rights and at the same time prevents effective migration management. This is the conclusion reached by migration researchers at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in a new policy paper published in the “Zeitschrift für Ausländerrecht”. In it, they describe how current practices can contribute to psychological and social problems among residents while preventing better integration. The researchers call for a comprehensive reform of the asylum system and make concrete recommendations for action to this end.
from press release no. 87/2023 of July 17, 2023 (in german)
Related publication
W. Kluth, J. Junghans
Die kommunale Unterbringung von Geflüchteten in Gemeinschaftsunterkünften missachtet ihre Rechte und verhindert ein effektives Migrationsmanagement.
Zeitschrift für Ausländerrecht 5-6, 209 (2023)
https://beck-online.beck.de/Bcid/Y-300-Z-ZAR-B-2023-S-209-N-1
About this profile
Doctoral students contribute significantly to publications highlighted by the MLU press office in many cases. These early stage researchers and their work in connection with the publication are in the focus of these profiles. Please check further doctoral student’s profiles.
Are you interested in science communication and have an interesting story to tell? Get in touch with MLU’s press office at