E/CN.4/1996/72/Add.2 page 9 V. PROBLEMS WITH THE INTEGRATION OF FOREIGNERS 45. Beyond the steps taken to put an end to racist and xenophobic violence, there remains, in the medium term, the burning question of the integration of foreigners, since the highest German authorities (including Chancellor Helmut Kohl) continue to say that Germany is not a destination for immigration despite the presence of some 6.5 million foreigners (8 per cent of the population) including 1.5 million refugees. 12 46. Between 1955 and 1970, the Federal Republic of Germany used foreign labour to rebuild its economy, recruiting workers from Mediterranean countries in particular (Turks, Italians, Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese, Moroccans, Tunisians and Yugoslavs) which it called “guest workers” (Gastarbeiter), because the intention was that they would return home in the fullness of time. 47. Today Germany has 1,850,000 Turks (28.6 per cent of the foreign population); 916,000 people from the former Yugoslavia (14.1 per cent); 558,000 Italians (8.6 per cent); 346,000 Greeks (5.3 per cent); 286,000 Poles (4.4 per cent); 168,000 Romanians (2.6 per cent); and 134,000 Spaniards (2.1 per cent). 48. About 60 per cent of these foreigners have lived in the Federal Republic for 10 years or more. More than two thirds of the foreign children and teenagers were born there. While Europeans, particularly those from the European Union, are relatively well integrated, the same is not true of the Turks, Poles and Romanians (gypsies) who face discrimination in housing, employment, the provision of services (insurance companies often refuse to ensure vehicles and other property belonging to Turks), and access to public places (young immigrants are refused access to restaurants and discothèques). 13 49. The Government's current policy on integration is of recent date and suffers from ambiguity since Germany, despite the facts, does not consider itself to be a destination for immigrants. The policy has three parts: “- integrating the foreigners who have lived (in the country) for a long time, including foreign workers; - stemming continuing immigration from countries outside the European Community; - granting assistance for voluntary return and reintegration into the home country.” 14 50. Efforts to stem immigration require caution, in particular in the case of people from the southern hemisphere, since they have not migrated spontaneously but rather as the result of imbalanced, not to say chaotic, international relations. Witness the thousands of Vietnamese (60,000), Mozambican and Angolan workers taken on by the German Democratic Republic under the heading of cooperation among “fraternal” socialist countries, who were not properly taken into account during reunification. The only prospect open to them is repatriation, although their links with their home countries have weakened with time. Under an agreement on financial assistance between