Language Analysis in the Context of the Asylum Process: Procedures, Validity, and Consequences

Abstract

In 1993, the language section of the Swedish Migration Board initiated the production of documents they called "language analyses" to aid in the processing of asylum seekers. Today, 11 years later, 2 privately owned companies in Stockholm produce these documents. These companies have produced language analyses not only for the Swedish Migration board, but also for the Department of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs in Australia, the Immigration Authority in Austria, the National Police Departments in Denmark and Finland, the Home Office in Great Britain, the Ministry of Justice in the Netherlands, the Migration Authority in Norway, the National Board for Refugees in Switzerland and the Refugee Status Branch in New Zealand. There are also government departments in other European countries (including Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands) that produce language analyses. Very little information about Language Analysis in the Asylum Process (LAAP) is readily available to the public. Questions concerning how it is done, how it is used, what its purpose is, the consequences of its use, and, finally and perhaps most important, how successful it is in fulfilling the requirements of those who make use of it have not yet been fully answered. The aim of this article is to shed as much light as currently available resources permit on these questions. It also argues that research into this field is essential to answer the questions more fully, and thereby allow governments and police authorities to make informed decisions about their use of such documents in the asylum process.