Addressing the diversity of asylum-seekers’ needs and aspirations: A report to the Volkswagen foundation (original) (raw)
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Addressing the diversity of asylum-seekers’ needs and aspirations
Since the Autumn of 2015, Germany has received over one million asylum-seekers from a wide variety of origins. In response to this massive influx of people, the Federal Republic has exceptionally engaged in the task of accommodation (providing housing and sustenance, financial support, healthcare, legal services, and language training). It is widely recognized that the next task – and one of perhaps greatest public and policy concern – is that of facilitating asylum-seekers’ “integration” (albeit a contested term referring to a broad set of social processes). Yet integration – however defined – already begins during the stage of accommodation. It is the nature of specific institutional arrangements – created during the process of accommodation – that is decisive for conditioning and channeling subsequent processes of integration. Further, integration can only proceed successfully if asylum-seekers’ own diverse needs and aspirations are addressed. Accommodation through the creation of institutional arrangements for large numbers of asylum-seekers have necessarily entailed complex organizational measures, requiring a range of actors, perspectives, strategies, and resources at various levels and scales. These intricate measures are further complicated when necessarily considering another complex set of factors: those posed by the sheer socio-cultural diversity of asylum-seekers themselves. Their extensive human diversity presents a manifold range of needs and aspirations beyond the immediate necessities of food and shelter. Recognizing the required interplay of both sets of complexities (institutional arrangements together with diverse needs and aspirations), in February 2016 a one-year pilot project was launched at the Max-Planck-Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity (MPI-MMG) (see http://www.mmg.mpg.de/project/asylum-seekers-needs/about/). The project “Addressing the diversity of needs & aspirations of asylum-seekers” has been undertaken through the auspices of a grant from the Volkswagen-Foundation. Within the project, three post-doctoral researchers – a sociologist, an anthropologist and an urban planner – supervised by the Institute’s Director and supported by research and student assistants – have employed a range of social scientific methods. The project was prepared and initiated expediently because of the urgency of the situation and the need to gather quickly and tactically a range of information in order to assess and understand best the significant processes currently unfolding across Germany. The research location, the city of Göttingen (population 116,891), was chosen not only for expediency but because – as a mid-sized German city that has received a substantial number of asylum-seekers since Autumn 2015, and which accordingly set up a wide variety of institutional responses – it represents a highly appropriate context within which to examine the issues at hand. Our approach has been premised on the observation that contemporary asylumseeker diversity – from which individuals’ distinct needs arise – is comprised of variable combinations of categories. These include: nationality, ethnicity, language(s), religion/sub-tradition, age, gender, health condition or disability, education/training, parental status, pre-migration social position (embracing class, political activity, experience of persecution), and migration history (including mode of travel, channel, duration, and institutional handling prior to arriving in a Flüchtlingsunterkunft or refugee accommodation center in Germany). It follows that, what each asylum-seeker immediately requires or requests from local institutions (concerning, for instance, family care, language acquisition, education, job placement, legal processes, health, information, communications and mobility) will vary according to the combination of these categories. The project accordingly examined: (a) how highly dissimilar, local institutional arrangements for accommodating asylum-seekers condition the nature of services and information available to them; and (b) how the variety of needs and aspirations among asylum-seekers (reflecting a range of social traits and cultural/religious backgrounds) are differentially addressed, met or unmet through the variety of institutional arrangements in the city.
Frontiers in Sociology
Asylum seekers are in an extraordinary situation as their future life depend on decisions made by authorities in a bewildering, bureaucratic system, with excessive waiting and unpredictable timeframes. Those that are not granted asylum, and not able to return to their country of origin, can neither spatially nor temporally visualize if, when or how a potential change is going to occur. This paper is part of a larger study based on narrative interviews with asylum seekers and refugees in asylum centers in Norway, exploring their experiences before, during, and after flight. As we found that the life circumstances for those being refused asylum, were highly different from other participants in the project, we chose to address this particular group in a separate paper. The participants in this part of the study consisted of 21 individuals (of a total of 78 participants) in the age range 18–44, of whom eight were female and 13 males. Trough qualitative interviews and participant observa...
Asylum Interview as a Fork on the Road – from Asylum Seeker to Irregular Migrant
Psychological Applications and Trends 2019
Many asylum seekers have encountered various types of violence in their lives including physical and verbal harm, but also emotional violence. This paper evaluates yet another type of violence, namely epistemic violence, which asylum seekers may encounter when they arrive to a country seeking asylum. Epistemic violence is a failure of hearers to understand and acknowledge the speech of speakers in linguistic exchanges causing a negative impact on the speaker. Thus, epistemic violence is indirect and non-physical, yet it might have extremely severe legal and psychological consequences, such as a negative decision on an asylum request and the trauma caused by the decision and the situation in which person encounters the fork on the road: "Should I stay in Finland, or should I go?". In 2015, Finland received an eightfold number of asylum applications compared with the previous years. Finnish authorities were not well prepared for the increase and in 2016 laws and regulations regarding immigration and legal aid were amended. According to the amended law, the legal assistance in the asylum interview is in practice no longer possible unless there are particularly serious reasons. In this paper we report findings from interviews with 70 former asylum seekers regarding their experiences of their asylum interviews. We illustrate that many former asylum seekers did not experience to have been able to tell their story in such a way that their realities would have been understood and now they are irregular migrants. Irregular migration is a timely phenomenon. Furthermore, it is highly multidisciplinary phenomenon requiring a holistic evaluation and discussion gathering academics from various disciplines including (but not being limited to) psychology, geography, sociology and law. Epistemic violence needs to be avoided as much as possible in European immigration and social policies as it might increase irregular migration. Moreover, most importantly, it increases unnecessary agony and psychological stress for individual asylum seekers. Epistemic violence, as any other violence, has significant psychological effects through the negotiation of individual's self-esteem on a moment in which many experience to have lost the direction of the life. Consequently, we stress that the decision makers ought to acknowledge the possible side effects of the chosen social policies as those side effects such as an increase in experienced epistemic violence, might have extensive impact on living conditions and the quality of life of people in the society.
Beneath the Surface: how asylum seekers understand and evaluate their well-being
2017
I fight (laughs) I had many problem, I had many problem… but experience I just I try to be strong, sometimes yes I feel stress, sometimes I cannot…I feel I want to die I want… but sometimes you know I say, no, I have to carry on, to do my…because I am strong" Client M "So in terms of whatever situation you find yourself in, you are not going to be there forever and for the fact that you are not going to be there forever, be grateful within that situation where you are because while you are grateful you will see a bright light" Client D ISBN 978-0-9560514-1-7 Table of Contents Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….3 Origins and aims of research .
Asylum Seekers in Sweden - Thoughts, plans and feelings
2016
The study was conducted from November 2015 through May 2016. THE CHOICE OF SWEDEN ✓ The main reasons that the asylum seekers stated for choosing to come to Sweden, is that this country has been at peace for a long time, and that it is a good country for children to grow up in. ✓ The respondents least stated reason to choose Sweden (around 6 %) is due to the country’s generous economic subsidy to refugees. ✓ Most respondents are not aware of which the economic subsidy functions for those with a residence permit are. ✓ Every fourth respondent believes that their expectations in Sweden have been exceeded, and as many believe they have not been fulfilled. ✓ 95 % in the study state that they plan on remaining in Sweden once they obtain their residence permit. ✓ There exists a concern about not getting the residence permit, this being seen as the assurance of safety and security. ✓ Experiences of warm welcoming, especially initially, mixed with more dull experiences of not being welcomed in Sweden. ✓ When asked to grade the democracy in Sweden, four out of ten give it the highest mark, and one out of ten grade it as non-sufficient. WHERE TO LIVE IN THE FUTURE ✓ Half of the respondents want to continue living where they are now, and half want to move to another part of Sweden whenever they get an opportunity. ✓ The treatment received by locals and management at the asylum accommodation seems to play a central role for this inclination. ✓ The respondents state that access to jobs is the most important thing about their future neighborhood. ✓ They also state that the least important thing about their future neighborhood is the environment, what the neighborhood looks like, and whether there are other inhabitants that share the same origins as themselves. ✓ Two thirds of the respondents feel that they are able to access the Swedish community as well as Swedish social contexts. ✓ Every fifth respondent claims that they have been exposed to racism from staff at the asylum accommodations and other public institutions, or civilians in Sweden. ✓ The asylum seekers state that they have gotten the best reception from the staff at the Swedish Migration Agency and at their children’s school. ✓ They also state that they have received the worst treatment from the staff at the asylum accommodation and the public employment office, which in Sweden also is responsible for introduction services. WORK AND STUDIES ✓ Seven percent of the respondents are employed. ✓ Three out of four have started to plan for how to find a job once they receive their residence permit. ✓ Three out of four want to complete their studies or continue studying more in Sweden. ✓ One out of four believe that their current education will be enough to find employment. ✓ With a few exceptions, all respondents believe that learning Swedish is crucial for their possibilities to get a job. This includes people who speak English. ✓ The respondents are open to take any job, regardless of it corresponding to their competence or education. ✓ Still, most of the respondents feel that it is important to be able to have a job that corresponds with their skills further on. ✓ A recurring testimony is that they are approached by employers at the black market, often being offered jobs at restaurants and cleaning services. ✓ Of those who have children in schools, 4 out of 5 are content with their children’s’ schooling. HEALTH AND FAMILY ✓ Every other asylum seeker have had problems with their physical health. In turn, every other of these have received treatment for their conditions. ✓ Every third respondent wants to see a psychologist, but no one gets the opportunity. ✓ Recurrent themes causing weariness and malaise are created by loneliness, being far away from their family members, worries about these and their situation in the country of origin, pressure at the asylum accommodation and worries about their future in Sweden, often a general concern about the upcoming decision on their asylum application, and often with added concern as the waiting time gets prolonged. ✓ Every third respondent have left family in their home country, and plan on reuniting with them in the future. These want to take along, on average, 1.5 adults and 1.5 children per person to Sweden.
welfare challeneges of Asylum seekers in a hIgh Modern society- A case study of Norway
ABSTRACT This research was an attempt to learn and understand the welfare challenges faced by Asylum Seekers in Sogndal, Norway with a view to contribute to the knowledge base for future researchers, create tentative questions and hypothesis to the subject and for academic purposes. The specific objectives of the evaluation were: (1) To outline the challenges faced by Asylum Seekers in Norway; (2) To analyse the types of social services provided and determine their impact on Asylum seekers by the government; (3) To learn other coping strategies at the disposal of Asylum seekers other than services provided by the government; and, (3) To ascertain the legalities and procedures of an Asylum seeker being granted resident permit in Norway. This therefore meant that the research required a Literature review, Observations and Interviews, and meeting informants. These were undertaken. This called for professionalism and openness on the part of both the research team and respondents. The research project used a qualitative management and operational research study methodology that engaged interview guides and Observation whose output was expected to provide anticipated results. The study for the research was focused on Sogndal Asylum Seeker Reception Centre and covered a period of 1 year from 2011 to 2012. The study findings showed that there are some welfare challenges that the Asylum seekers face while waiting for the approval of the resident permit. The findings were presented in tabular form according to research objectives. They included Psychological trauma due to uncertainty responses from the UDI, lack of economic coping strategies such as acquisition of jobs before resident permit is given, social and cultural barriers due to a non interactive way of life and the difference in norms and values, numerous strict rules and regulations that limit their integration into society; and the de-motivation as a result of welfare bureaucracies in responding to their asylum application among others. The research was a success in that it unearthed a lot of welfare challenges as evident in the report which are being faced by asylum seeker in Sogndal. The research report drew up a discussion and had made some recommendation that can help in assisting sort out some of the key challenges faced by asylum seekers. This then does not entail that our findings are final assessment of the subject under study, there can still be improved upon by future researchers provided the report is given due consideration.
2019
Social inclusion of asylum seekers and refugees in Western countries is an issue that requires great attention to understand the psychological aspects underlying their relationships with receiving communities and to plan suitable services for them. The proposed research explored the features of facilities for temporary reception (CASs) and of the System for the Protection of Asylum Seekers and Refugees (SPRAR) currently implemented in Tuscany (Italy). Semi-structured interviews were carried out to investigate asylum seekers’, refugees’ and professionals’ perceptions. Thematic analysis showed that the reception system appears to be characterised by both significant strengths and weaknesses: The system’s strengths consist of the peculiar features of the reception in Tuscany (small facilities in small towns with the involvement of local communities). Nevertheless, the time required to obtain asylum and the issues with local public services might produce weaknesses. The SPRAR is perceiv...
Institut für Demographie - VID
In late 2015, a survey called DiPAS (Displaced persons in Austria survey) was carried out in and around Vienna to study the socio-demographic characteristics, values and attitudes of asylum seekers arriving in Austria in 2015. In that year, the number of persons seeking refuge in Europe was substantially high, with Austria being the fourth largest receiving country of asylum seekers in Europe. This data collection is the first of its kind in Austria and to our knowledge the first in Europe focusing on the recent arrivals of Syrian, Iraqi, and Afghan asylum seekers. First results on human capital and attitudes of DiPAS respondents have been published recently. The current paper presents the methodological approach of collecting these data, experiences from survey preparation, and insights from the field phase. Findings address four key challenges faced by surveys of the highly mobile and vulnerable group of asylum seekers, namely (1) representativity, (2) language barriers, (3) ethical considerations, and (4) cultural diversity. We discuss concrete solutions and recommendations for similar (inter)national, cross-cultural surveys, and provide insights for planning longitudinal studies on displaced persons who recently arrived in Europe.