Male refugees stigmatised across Europe: ‘This kind of stuff really hurts’

Ahmed, who is softly spoken over the phone, is in his last year of high school in Germany and hopes to be able to go to university this coming summer. But he speaks of the stigma he has faced as a young male.

“I experience discrimination simply for being a young refugee man,” he said. “My housing applications are ignored because of my name. In society, I hear the tired, hurtful refrain that we are taking jobs and houses, and that the government should pay for their people and not for us. They tell us we should go back where we came from. They also say that we are all the same – dangerous. Sometimes they use irony, saying, ‘Don’t take your knife out; I’ll give you everything you want.'”

He added, “This kind of stuff really hurts because, at least I can speak for myself, I am trying to begin a new life here where I feel safe. We experienced a lot of horrible things in the wars in our country and on the way here … [We’re] not really accepted by society, even though you try your best. This happens simply because your name is Ali or Mohammad and you are seen as a threat.”