NATIONAL REPORT 2016 Introduction In 2015, the German refugee reception system collapsed due to the rapid increase in refugees seeking protection. The influx was far higher than originally projected. To cope with this, all political will and voluntary commitment was concentrated on the provision of basic needs, including shelter, food, clothing and necessary medical care. Vulnerable refugees with special needs, such as victims of torture, were consequently left with very limited access to adequate treatment. The overstrained system – dramatically demonstrated by the images of hundreds of people crammed together in sports halls – only made the situation worse for refugees with torture trauma who lived through horrific circumstances in their home countries, often exacerbated by dangerous journeys to seek safety in Europe. Germany has ratified several human rights treaties and as a Member State of the European Union (EU), has a legal obligation to implement the Common European Asylum System encompassing all its regulations and directives. This includes the EU Asylum Procedures Directive and the EU Reception Conditions Directive – both of which came into effect in July 2015 – introducing new obligations on states to identify victims of torture through individual vulnerability assessments and provide them with special reception needs and procedural guarantees. In practice, however, there are serious flaws with the implementation of these rights for victims of torture. As the European Commission has made evident through infringement proceedings, Germany has not yet effectively transposed the Asylum Procedures Directive or the Reception Conditions Directive. There is currently no procedure to identify victims of torture even though the EU Reception Conditions Directive clearly mandates it. As a consequence of the lack of identification, there is no system in place to provide adequate medical help to those who suffer from mental illnesses. Some NGO pilot projects in several Bundesländern employ early-identification models for vulnerable asylum seekers1. However these best-practice models of serving the needs of a large number of victims are not able to meet all the demand, consequently leaving many victims of torture without much needed support. Over 1,200,000 people sought protection in Europe in 2015 page 4