Applicants For International Protection Research Articles

The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem in the Relationship Between Perceived Ethnic Discrimination and Continuance Commitment of Migrant Workers.

This study aims to examine the relationship between perceived ethnic discrimination by migrant workers (applicants for international protection) and continuance commitment, and to analyze whether this relationship is mediated by self-esteem. In addition, it aims to contribute to the literature on the organizational outcomes of perceived ethnic discrimination. This research was conducted through a questionnaire survey of 411 migrants who applied for international protection in Turkey. As a result of the study, perceived ethnic discrimination was found to be a predictor of continuance commitment and self-esteem. In addition, it was observed that self-esteem has a mediating role in the relationship between perceived ethnic discrimination and continuance commitment. The results offer important implications for organizations and organization managers on how migrant workers should be managed and which issues require specific attention. The application of the study on migrant workers and the examination of these variables provide important contributions and practical implications to the literature. In addition, this is a rare study that examines the mediator model with the variables specified in the model using social identity theory, which has not yet been widely covered in existing literature.

At the EU Borders – Between the Use of Information Systems in Migration Procedures and Refusal of Entry into The Country

The reason for writing this article is the fact that the migration crisis that has been ongoing in Europe since 2015 is one of the greatest challenges that the European Union (EU) has faced since its establishment. It requires Member States to fulfill their obligation to ensure the security of the EU’s external and internal borders, while respecting common values, which include solidarity and human rights. The aim of the article is to analyze and evaluate the currently functioning migration policy, especially in the context of the use of EU IT systems in the face of the phenomenon of refusal of entry into the territory of the receiving country. This combination of two research areas fills a certain gap in the current literature on the subject. De lege lata comments and de lege ferenda demands will be presented, focusing primarily on criticism of the current system. The research used two research methods typical of legal sciences: the formal-dogmatic method and the comparative method. As a summary of the findings, it can be noted that investments are actually being made in new IT systems, the potential of which is still unused, and on the other hand, it is clear that basic human rights are not fully respected in the form of allowing applications for international protection. There is a need to reform migration management at the national level of Member States to be as consistent as possible with EU law and, in particular, its fundamental values.

W kierunku państwa przyjaznego migrantom – polityka imigracyjna rządu SPD, FDP i Zielonych

The aim of the article is to examine the actions taken by the government of the SPD-FDP-Greens in Germany as part of the migration policy towards foreigners, both arriving in and residing in the country. The work is intended to clarify whether these decisions were part of the multicultural model of immigration policy. The article analyzes the activities of the government, the intention of which was to regulate the stay and introduce facilitations in terms of coming to Germany, and points to the consequences of this policy. The government’s actions included, among others: continuation of the voluntary resettlement programme, joining the group of countries voluntarily accepting migrants, easing the requirements in the procedure of granting citizenship, introducing the right of occasional residence for tolerated persons, shortening the duration of the asylum procedure and not introducing regular border checks on sections of the border that were exposed to high migration pressure. They resulted in an increase in migration pressure to Germany and a large number of applications for international protection.

Nationality Status Determination in Asylum Procedures under the CEAS and the Potential Impact of the ‘New Pact on Migration and Asylum’

Abstract The determination of asylum seekers’ nationality, or lack thereof, is a key component of assessments of applications for international protection, and can prove difficult when asylum seekers do not submit any valid identity or travel documents, or are stateless or at risk of statelessness. This article investigates how nationality status determination is relevant and how it is regulated in the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and in the ‘New Pact on Migration and Asylum’ (the Pact), that is currently under negotiation in the European Union (EU). Under the CEAS, the determination of nationality is not only critical to assessing whether the applicant qualifies for international protection, but can also determine the type of procedure through which their application is examined, and accordingly the level of procedural guarantees to which they are entitled. Under the Pact, with the introduction of a pre-entry screening and the obligation to process asylum applications lodged by individuals from countries with low recognition rates through border procedures, the determination of the applicant’s nationality becomes even more critical. In fact, the Pact institutionalizes the channelling of asylum seekers into substandard procedures based on their nationality, a practice that has been widely used in ‘hotspots’ in Greece and Italy. This is even more problematic considering that the Pact, like the current CEAS, provides only very general rules relevant to establishing a claimant’s nationality status. This article sheds light on an overlooked aspect of asylum procedures, and calls for the development of specific guidance on nationality status determination in asylum procedures at the EU level.

El arraigo social como alternativa legal para los solicitantes de asilo de larga duración en la Unión Europea

This article analyzes the application of a regularization mechanism for immigrants, typical of Spanish law and directly linked to integration measures, as a possible legal solution for thousands of asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected or remain unresolved in any of the European Union Member States. The revision of the regulations and directives of the Common European Asylum System reform focuses on the extension of integration measures to these people. The article provides a new approach to the figure of social ties in the field of applicants for international protection, concluding that if such a mechanism were incorporated into the planned reforms, this would give them the possibility to renounce their immigration status and opt for an administrative residence and work authorization, causing a huge impact on the entire system.

Asylum adjudication system: A new frontier of legal culture

Over the last 15 years, Italy has faced an exceptional migratory surge which brought the Italian asylum system into the limelight. Previously, asylum applications were rare, and the control of irregular migration dominated the political and legal debate. The growing number of applications for international protection put the asylum system under pressure and it was reformed in 2017 and in 2018. This article aims to understand the asylum adjudication system in Italy through the lens of the concept of legal culture. In particular, the concept is used as an approach (Nelken 2004) that focuses on reconstructing and analysing the changes that have taken place in the area of the international protection in Italy and the institutionalization process affecting the asylum adjudication procedures. Migration as a phenomenon, and in particular the system of recognition of international protection, has a deep impact on legal rules and specifically on judges, who are obliged to face the limits of their knowledge and of a formalistic approach to law. The article reports the results of a research conducted in an Italian tribunal and will try to answer some key questions on how asylum cases have impacted on the legal system, making this topic one of the new frontiers of the legal culture.

Victimization of Applicants for International Protection Residing in Belgium: Sexual Violence and Help-Seeking Behavior.

Background: Sexual violence (SV) literature on applicants for international protection (AIPs) shows that they are at high risk of victimization. The study objectives are to provide an exploratory overview of the occurrence of SV in AIPs in Belgium and their help-seeking behavior (HSB). This overview is crucial to develop prevention strategies and care paths focusing on providing adequate care to AIP SV victims in Belgium. Methods: Quantitative data from structured interviews with AIPs (n = 62) triangulated with qualitative data from in-depth interviews with AIP SV victims (n = 11) served to explore the nature and impact of SV in AIPs in Belgium and their HSB. Results: A total of 83.9% of respondents have experienced SV. A total of 61.3% were victimized within the past year. Victimization seems more gender-balanced than in the general population. AIPs link SV to their legal status and their associated vulnerable situation. HSB upon SV was very limited in this sample. Help-seeking barriers interfering with the decision-making process to consult (in)formal resources were identified. Conclusions: AIPs in Belgium are at high risk of SV. Despite the impact of SV on AIPs’ lives, HSB upon SV is rare. The provision of age-appropriate sexual education and development of policies that will reduce help-seeking barriers is needed.

Mediated disclosure in asylum encounters

Abstract Discursive input functions as the core decisive element in answering the legal dilemma of whether someone is eligible for international protection. This pleads in favour of strengthening the narrative-discursive component in migration studies by offering a micro-sociolinguistic analysis of interactional data from diverse legal encounters with applicants for international protection. This article adopts a case study approach, bringing together two different data sets collected in a Belgian context. In focusing on asylum claims based on reasons of sexual orientation and gender identity, the article foregrounds discursive tensions emblematic for the treatment of disclosure in and around the asylum procedure. The first part of our article draws on data from the guidance and counselling side of the asylum procedure in examining legal consultations which took place in the lawyer’s office. The second part of our article turns to the communication that takes place during asylum interviews between applicants and asylum officers. Juxtaposing both analyses, reveals how disclosure is complicated by the different stakeholders that mediate the situated interaction as well as by the legal-administrative categories that govern the asylum procedure. The way in which institutional actors and assumptions are deeply implicated in the creation of asylum narratives, is not only at odds with the government’s evaluation premises about how stories come into being in isolation, it also entails a certain level of vulnerability as mediation holds the potential to obscure the indexical load of the asylum seeker’s testimony.

Ireland's White Paper to End Direct Provision (2021): Migrant Accommodation and Control

This IMR Dispatch engages with Ireland's White Paper to End Direct Provision (2021) - the Government of Ireland's most recent policy statement on the provision of settlement services for migrants seeking asylum in Ireland. The actions outlined in the White Paper promise to reorder the provision of accommodation and support for such migrants. A range of positive inputs are included, the most significant of which is the proposed discontinuation of Ireland's current system of dispersed ‘camp-like’ communal accommodations for International Protection applicants and its replacement with a new person-centered system of ‘own room’ and ‘own door’ accommodations in the community. A wide range of personal supports are envisaged as well. At first glance, this White Paper shows that the Government of Ireland has engaged with the concerns of organizations active in Ireland's social protection sector in general, and with the needs of applicants for international protection in particular, to provide a more humane system of International Protection. However, tensions are discernible, and we contend that there is ample evidence of the Government of Ireland's impulse to retain command and control of its migration management processes in the White Paper, even against the background of its new, more human-rights-based approach. We suggest that the spatialities inherent in the proposal point to a potential rearticulation of state control rather than to any diminution of same.

A stage of limbo: A meta‐synthesis of refugees' liminality

AbstractThe asylum regime encloses tens of millions of applicants for international protection in camps and different types of reception centres, to wait even decades for their cases to be resolved. Simultaneously both within and outside the nation state, asylum seekers and refugees occupy a social space outside the natural order of things, a stage of limbo. By incorporating the classical anthropological concepts of limbo and liminality to the methodological possibilities of meta‐ethnography, we conducted to our knowledge the first meta‐synthesis of 17 scientific peer‐reviewed articles with the aims of defining what constitutes the concept of a stage of limbo and investigating refugees' and asylum seekers' agency as they cope when navigating in it. By dissecting detailed descriptions of forced migrants' experiences of liminality, our synthesis identified four key concepts involved in negotiations of agency in a stage of limbo: process of eligibility, spatial–temporal inconsistency, ontological insecurity and actions.

Research in Hard-to-Reach Populations: Challenges and Strategies for Conducting Sexual Violence Studies in Applicants for International Protection Beyond the European General Data Protection Regulation.

Conducting research in hard-to-reach populations such as applicants for international protection (AIPs) brings along a number of research challenges. This is especially true for sexual violence (SV) research. We developed a study design with the intent to reach AIPs in a randomized and anonymous manner including potential illiterate respondents as well, while avoiding as much bias as possible. However, this method was developed just before the entry into force of the new European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), upon which important new research challenges emerged. This paper describes the original study design developed to estimate SV prevalence in AIPs in Belgium. We discuss the impact of the GDPR on the recruitment strategy applied to conduct a survey on SV in a randomly selected sample of AIPs, the adapted approach to conduct the study beyond GDPR and lessons learned for future research on sensitive topics in hard-to-reach populations such as AIPs. To achieve reliable prevalence numbers and provide high-quality data on SV in AIPs while respecting the GDPR regulations, studies will require an approach that has become significantly more time consuming and resource-intensive to implement.

Exclusion, Minimization, Inaction: A Critical Review of Ireland's Policy Response to Gender-Based Violence as It Affects Migrant Women

This critical review of Ireland's policy response to gender-based violence as it affects migrant women contributes to recent literature that focuses on how states' legal and policy regimes can be part of the problem, in this case adding to rather than reducing GBV related vulnerabilities experienced by migrant women. Through a review of key policy, law and NGO documents, the report foregrounds the significance of context-specific framing and interpretation of influential ideas in shaping the horizons of possible policy action. The review is contextualized in relation to developments in Ireland concerning migration, citizenship and racialisation and more broadly vis-a-vis the nexus of migration governance and gender based violence. The authors trace the development of dominant ideas that shape policy practice with a focus on their interpretation in the Irish context—namely, vulnerability, intersectionality, and interculturalism. Four particular areas of policy response are identified, which reveal a pattern of policy failure on the part of the Irish state characterized by exclusion, minimization, and/or inaction. These relate to assessment of vulnerability of applicants for international protection; addressing gender-based violence in the context of direct provision accommodation; identification and referral of trafficking victims; and response to domestic violence linked to dependent migration status. The authors find that the pattern of failure identified is linked to the current dominance of an ever narrowing and individualized framing of vulnerability found in EU migration regulations, a lack of application of an intersectional gender perspective, the diminished influence of indivisible human rights norms requiring attention to economic, social and cultural rights, as a well as a wider national context of declining resource allocation to addressing gender-based violence and integration, including anti-racism initiatives, for over a decade.

Stuck in Reception: How Refugees in Austria and Germany Experience Long-Term Reception Constellations

The year 2015 was exceptional in terms of arrival of refugees both in Austria and Germany. About 600,000 persons crossed Austria on their way to Germany and other EU-destinations, about 90,000 filed an application for international protection in Austria and more than 476,000 asylum applications were made in Germany. In both countries, the regular accommodation system could not handle the high numbers of refugees and emergency camps were hastily put up, often aligned with an outstanding engagement of the civil society. Since then, most emergency shelters have been closed down and the public mentality has turned from enthusiasm to skepticism. Many refugees have also made sobering experiences as they found themselves ‘stuck in reception’: While both Austria and Germany aim at quick decisions and seek to keep the liminal period of reception as short as possible, in practice administrative and legal procedures often take more time. Against this backdrop, the article analyses the experiences of refugees whose asylum application has been pending for more than six months or who found themselves in a prolonged state of reception as they cannot return to their countries of origin. Departing from a comparative overview of the politics of dispersal as well as the multilevel systems of reception in Austria and Germany, the article sets out to examine how refugees deal with their long-term reception constellation and the lack of capabilities that it entails.

Direct Provision in a Time of Pandemic

Direct Provision in a Time of Pandemic Patricia Brazil Introduction Direct provision was introduced in April 2000 as a system for meeting the basic welfare needs of asylum seekers by providing full bed and board in designated accommodation units and a weekly financial payment of €19.10 per adult and €9.60 per child. While it was not mandatory to live in direct provision, under the Refugee Act 1996 asylum seekers were prohibited by law from working while their applications were being processed. This meant that many had little choice but to live in the direct provision system, unless they had significant funds available to cover their accommodation and living expenses for the often lengthy duration of their asylum applications. From the time of its introduction, the system of direct provision was the subject of criticism across a range of areas. There were concerns about the living conditions in some direct provisions, including lack of privacy, overcrowding in some shared rooms, food quality, social isolation, and lack of access to services. Other issues included the length of time spent by some people living in direct provision and the impact of extended stays on people’s mental and physical health. Particular concerns were expressed about the impact on children of living long-term in direct provision. The McMahon Report in 20151 made a number of recommendations for reform of the direct provision system including in relation to living conditions in designated centres, improvements in supports available for protection applicants, and speeding up the determination process. Two high-profile court cases also impacted on the direct provision system: the High Court decision in CA v Minister for Justice2 led to the introduction of an independent complaints mechanism for persons living in direct provision, while the decision of the Supreme Court in NHV v Minister for Justice3 struck down the absolute prohibition on the right to work for asylum seekers. The Supreme Court decision in NHV ultimately led to Ireland’s decision to opt into the Recast Reception Conditions Directive, which sets out minimum standards for the reception of applicants for international protection. Despite some improvements to the direct provision system as a result Studies • volume 110 • number 440 407 of these developments, many criticisms remained. The weekly financial payment to those living in direct provision was not increased at all between 2000 and 2017, which meant that the value of the already minimal payment had actually decreased when inflation was taken into account. A report by NASC in 20174 highlighted that not all of the McMahon recommendations were implemented, including measures to address the backlog in processing protection applications and improvements in physical conditions in some direct provision centres. The Ombudsman’s Annual Report for 20195 noted a number of complaints related to the use of emergency accommodation as part of the direct provision system, sometimes in remote locations with limited access to services and supports. Direct provision and the pandemic As of March 2020, there were approximately 7400 people living in direct provision and emergency accommodation in Ireland. Concerns were quickly expressed about the impact of the pandemic on those living in direct provision, including the ability to maintain social distancing guidelines in light of the sometimes overcrowded living conditions. Direct provision was described by one infectious disease specialist as a powder keg for COVID-19, with calls from NGOs, including the Irish Refugee Council, to move people in at-risk categories to alternative locations in order to enable self-isolation and cocooning. The HSE extended access to temporary accommodation for healthcare workers living in direct provision, and the Department of Justice introduced a number of measures in light of the pandemic, including off-site self-isolation facilities. Nevertheless, MASI (Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland) issued a statement criticising the department’s response on the basis that the measures did not adequately address the situation of asylum seekers having difficulty observing social distancing. These concerns were brought into sharp relief when it emerged in April 2020 that a number of residents at the Skellig Star Hotel in Cahersiveen, a recently opened direct provision facility, had tested positive for COVID-19. There were reports that residents at the Skellig Star were...

Implementation of standards of the european convention on human rights regarding forced removal of aliens in the European Union law

Implementation of standards of the european convention on human rights regarding forced removal of aliens in the European Union law

If the dolphin come to help: Education and Health without Boundaries for transversal competences

Abstract Aims Italy is a veritable bridge to the Mediterranean that peoples, civilizations and cultures pass through. The exchange, confrontation and interaction are key element that could lead to greater well-being of the communities. The project called: “If the dolphin come to help: Education and Health drive the orientation path for transversal competences toward reception and integration with the aim to promote the educational development and cultural growth of students and, at the same time, to provide schools with the opportunity to enhance their educational offerings. Methods The geographical position leads our country to a particularly heavy task: to provide in a timely and appropriate way for the reception and livelihood of a very large number of people. Question assessed were.” Who are the migrants and what happens when they land in Italy? Where are they detained and for how long? What are the reception services that take care of migrants? The first step was to clarify the subject starting from the difference between asylum seekers, refugee, beneficiary of humanitarian protection / applicants for international protection, illegal immigrant, going through the process of entry in Italy at one of the four hotspots. The students worked in 3 groups creating one short story. The second step it was to encourage students, through the role playing tool, to reflect on what it feels like to be a migrant and what feelings you feel in front of a migrant. The third step was to ask to the student to describe with only one word the feelings. Results The stories were synthesized in a word cloud, through a string analysis algorithm in which the semantic fields of integration, acceptance and empathy prevailed. Immigration is perceived not as a problem but as a resource Conclusions Educational and health projects shared with high schools may be a useful tool to promote integration, acceptance and social cohesion beyond the limits of fear. Key messages Immigration today in our country is a very complex subject that is difficult to address in a few lines. Italy is on the route of the migratory flows of Africa and the Middle East. The project may be a trigger to create a place where everyone is equal and can access education, health and knowledge, not being denied because of the origin.

The Common European Asylum System: Balancing Mutual Trust Against Fundamental Rights Protection

AbstractThe Common European Asylum System constitutes one of the principal areas in which the fundamental rights of individuals are essentially placed in competition with the core principle of mutual confidence and the need to preserve the effectiveness of EU law. That competitive relationship becomes particularly evident when applicants for international protection rely on alleged violations of their fundamental rights in order to contest their transfer to the Member State that is normally responsible for examining their asylum request according to the criteria of the Dublin III Regulation. The balancing process that needs to be carried out in this respect and the measure of the monitoring obligation that EU law imposes on the receiving Member State regarding the protection of the fundamental rights of asylum seekers are well exemplified by the preliminary ruling in Jawo. That case provides additional clarification regarding the circumstances in which the protection of fundamental rights may introduce exceptions to the principle of mutual trust. At the same time, it illustrates the inherent tensions that exist between the protection of fundamental rights and the application of the principle of mutual confidence.

¿La noción de «país seguro» es segura? Un análisis a la luz de la jurisprudencia del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos

The Directive 2013/32/EU contemplates three concepts of safe country. First, the application of the concept of “safe country of origin” allows the Member State to process an application for international protection by a national of that country through an accelerated procedure. Second, the application of the concept of “safe third country” makes it possible for the Member State to reject an application for international protection. And third, the application of the concept of “European safe third” country allows the Member State not to carry out, or at least not to do so completely, the examination of the application for international protection. Some Member States have adopted national lists of safe countries of origin, and even the Commission has proposed that a common European list of safe countries of origin be adopted. In any case, both the legislative, administrative and judicial practice of the Member States, as well as the application of readmission agreements signed by the EU, must comply with Directive 2013/32/EU, the ECHR and the ECHR jurisprudence. The study of the ECHR jurisprudence that interprets and applies Arts. 2 and 3 of the ECHR, demonstrates the need for a complete and ex nunc examination of both the prevailing circumstances in a given State and the specific circumstances of the person subject to expulsion, before proceeding with the expulsion. Otherwise, the establishment of a timeless and depersonalized list of safe countries of origin can come into conflict with the ECtHR jurisprudence. In this regard, the jurisprudence of this Court provides criteria that allow the development of those set out in Directive 2013/32/EU, in order that the classification of a country as safe is based on the effective respect of human rights, one of the values on which the EU is founded.

La Seguridad Nacional y la excepción en el Sistema Europeo Común de Asilo (SECA)

Desde los ataques terroristas del 11 de septiembre de 2001 hasta las recientes crisis de refugiados en la UE, las distintas fases del Sistema Europeo Común de Asilo (SECA) han propiciado continuas excepciones radicadas en seguridad, limitando gravemente los derechos de los solicitantes de protección internacional. Las políticas de seguridad nacionales en el ámbito del asilo se han ido conectando cada vez más al procedimiento de tramitación y, en su caso, de reconocimiento del estatuto de protección internacional. A priori, este nexo causal puede criminalizar a un colectivo especialmente vulnerable, desvirtuando el “mínimo denominador común” de la normativa comunitaria, lo que ha generado que el actual marco jurídico resulte especialmente fragmentado, incoherente e incluso, contrario al propio espíritu del SECA cuando la efectividad del mismo pivota en torno a la seguridad nacional.La inminente reforma del SECA pretende proporcionar verdaderas mejoras en la relación seguridad nacional y protección internacional. Se prevé una progresiva traslación de los problemas competenciales relativos a la seguridad desde el seno de los Estados miembros hacia el ámbito comunitario abordando estas cuestiones “por defecto” no solo gracias a un mayor perfeccionamiento del régimen competencial sino también en virtud de una actuación mejorada de los nuevos organismos y agencias que aseguran un efectivo control de las fronteras exteriores de la UE. Ahora bien, esta no ofrece respuestas adecuadas a nuevos retos como la radicalización o reclutamiento de solicitantes de protección internacional y refugiados y que exige, el diseño de un novedoso “marco proactivo o preventivo” que permita afrontar por parte de los Estados miembros imprevistas acciones terroristas o de delitos de especial gravedad.

FREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE AS AN INSTRUMENT IN PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF FOREIGNERS IN THE REPUBLIC OF POLAND – A CONTRIBUTION TO THE DISCUSSION

The article addresses the issue of free legal assistance as an instrument in the protection of the rights of foreigners in the Republic of Poland against the background of basic legal and international standards. In particular, the grounds for the protection of foreigners’ rights arising from the Constitution of 2 April 1997, as well as the provisions of the Act of 10 September 2015 amending the Act on granting protection to foreigners on the territory of the Republic of Poland and some other acts, were taken into account. This Act introduces a number of solutions aimed at providing foreigners with free legal assistance. Its purpose was to implement into the Polish legal order the provisions of Directive 2013/32 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on common procedures for granting and withdrawing international protection, as well as Directive 2013/33 / EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on establishing standards for the reception of applicants for international protection. The purpose of this act was also to adapt national law to the provisions of Regulation (EU) No 604/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013. These acts are part of EU law creating the 2nd generation Common European Asylum System, i.e. „Asylum package”.