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| The German Federal Parliament has decided to scrap cash benefits for migrants and instead send them via payment cards. (Source: DPA) |
On April 12, the German Federal Parliament voted in favor of providing payment cards to migrants and refugees to prevent them from transferring money to human traffickers or family and friends abroad, DPA news agency reported.
Thus, in the coming time, refugees in Germany will receive living allowance from the states through payment cards, instead of being provided with cash as at present.
Payment cards can be used to buy everyday goods and services, such as groceries, but cross-border money transfers and payments will not be possible, Interior Secretary Nancy Faeser said.
Cash withdrawals are restricted, taking into account individual cases and local realities. This regulation will apply uniformly throughout Germany.
* On the same day, the United Nations Migration Organization (UN) said that 45 migrants were missing and feared dead after their boat sank in the central Mediterranean two days earlier, while they were trying to reach Europe from Tunisia.
In another shipwreck on April 10, the Italian coast guard said it had found the bodies of nine people and rescued 22, of whom 15 were believed missing.
The survivors were taken to the nearby island of Lampedusa, the first port of call for many migrants seeking to reach the European Union (EU).
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