The right is too exclusive. This is the opinion of Natali Gbele, 24. In and of itself, that sounds absurd at first – precisely because it’s about something that applies to everyone. “But being clear about your rights is anything but a matter of course,” says Natali. This realization became clear to her during a viewing of an apartment in Munich. The landlord there rejected her because she was studying law. She knows her way around too well, he accused her. “I thought to myself: A landlord should have this fear of everyone,” she says. “Everyone should be able to read their rental agreement and notice: Something is wrong here. But you have to recognize the problem at all.”
It is precisely this set screw that your club wants to turn “Know Your Rights Initiative”- abbreviated to Kyri. This is the name of the association that the prospective lawyer founded in December 2021 with six other students from the Ludwig Maximilian University. Why is? Kyri wants to make the law more accessible. The initiative focuses on people who are marginalized in our society. People with a history of escape. People who don’t yet feel safe here. people with language barrier. People to whom Natali once felt a part.
Natali remembers: “Suddenly I was holding a yellow card in my hand,” says the law student today. It’s been four years now, it was on a cold February day in London. Natali was visiting, and at the time she had no idea what impetus this little object would provide. At the time, demonstrators had gathered in front of the British Home Office, and Natali was also part of this group. All those gathered had one thing in common: they were outraged – outraged at the way the British government was treating refugees.
And the yellow card? On the front was written in capital letters: “Legal Advice – Arrest.” Below that was the phone number of a nonprofit organization that can help if the police arrests you. But the inspiration for the law student’s own project was on the back. “The police are allowed to do this, but not that,” says Natali. “I thought to myself: This is an accessible idea, something physical, I carry it in my pocket.”
Back in Germany: How do I behave in the event of identity checks or house searches? How can I fight back? Not even many Germans know that. If there are language difficulties as well, that doesn’t make things any easier.
Ultimately, the Kyri association has to overcome two intercultural thresholds: first of all, bridge the language barrier and then create access to the elitist official German. Last fall, the association put together a series of lectures that addressed the following questions: What are the police allowed to do? What are my rights?
But it should not stop with lectures. The young members distribute flyers with tips on how to behave in simple language – their own yellow cards, if you will. “People seeking help shouldn’t have to rely on coming to us,” says Natali. The organization “Translaid” is currently helping them to translate the flyers into ten different languages.
“I was completely overwhelmed with the official German.”
“I see myself as a target group,” says the young founder about her own club. When the native Palestinian came to the Federal Republic in 2017, she did not yet speak a word of German. A year later and meanwhile fluent in German, she applied for her residence permit to study law in Munich. Natali remembers the bureaucratic undertaking: “It was far too complicated for me, I was completely overwhelmed with the official German,” she says. A memory you won’t get out of your head anytime soon. The founding of her association is the strongest proof of this.
Natali has known since the second semester of her law studies at the latest that there can be no excess when it comes to supporting refugees. That’s when she began her involvement with “Refugee Law Clinic” – legal advice that supports displaced persons in the asylum proceduret. “Of course, I never had to flee my homeland,” she says, “but the Palestinian people are the largest group of displaced people in the world. Arabic cultures are collective cultures. That’s very pronounced in me, too. I ask myself: what What is the point of my studies if I can’t use them for my environment? In a way, I wanted to help my sisters and brothers.”
The Kyri association wants to help if the situation has not yet escalated
Her time at the Refugee Law Clinic also showed her how much an improved understanding of the law can influence people’s fates. That is why her association Kyri has made it its task to help when the situation has not yet escalated. Offer help for self-help. Investigate before an infringement occurs. Prevention instead of repression.
But how does the student association ensure that its offer of help leaves the academic sphere and arrives where it is needed? “The most effective way to reach our target group is through social services,” explains Natali. “When you have a history of flight, it can be difficult to build trust. We have to convince people that we’re on their side first.” That is why she actively approached organizations that are already trusted. In order to draw attention to her lecture series last fall, the founder criss-crossed the city of Munich and put up posters in 20 different social institutions.
The trouble was worth it. One of the lectures was attended mainly by non-citizens. “Participants felt safe telling their personal stories,” says Natali. “It was an incredible vote of confidence.”
Not everyone was immediately convinced of the basic idea of the association. Much of the content can be googled, was the criticism that Natali initially had to listen to. “The inquiries we receive show the complete opposite,” the law student can now say with certainty.
She gets her passion for her project from her own life story. “I wanted the help a bit for myself,” says the Kyri founder, touching the golden ring from her homeland. That connects her past with her present – a statement that can also be made about the yellow card from London. She has kept it to this day.
Young people
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