Asylum Centres Research Articles

‘Inappropriate and incongruous’: opposition to asylum centres in the English countryside

Recent plans to accommodate asylum seekers in a number of rural locales have fuelled debates about the ability of the countryside to accommodate difference. In this paper, I explore these debates by examining community opposition to the proposed development of asylum centres in Nottinghamshire and Oxfordshire (UK). Herein, a rhetoric of rejection is revealed that stresses asylum seekers would feel isolated in the English countryside and could be more appropriately settled in an urban context. While this argument enjoys some support from asylum welfare groups, it is suggested here that it serves to reaffirm the boundary between a rurality regarded as unsullied, sexually pure and white, and urban environments imagined as multicultural, permissive and spoiled. Accordingly, it is suggested that rural communities’ anxieties about the arrival of asylum seekers can only be understood by exploring the connections between rhetorics of displacement and (deeply rooted) rural fears of racialised and sexualised difference.

Refugee families during asylum seeking

The mental health of refugee families with children during the asylum period is a neglectedresearch area in psychiatry. The present paper describes the situation of 10 refugee familiesresiding at an asylum centre in Finland. Case vignettes are presented to illustrate the situationsof these families. The study shows a high rate of depressive and post-traumatic stress disorderrelatedsymptoms among adult refugees. The case vignettes suggest that during the asylumperiod, many children and adult members of the family are not in a post-traumatic situation, butthey live constantly in a distressing situation. The foremost distress amongst the asylum seekersappeared to be fear of deportation and separation from family members. Most of the adults andall children had not received any psychiatric or psychotherapeutic assessment or treatment. It islikely that current procedures for dealing with the asylum seekers contributes to the level ofstress, family confusion and psychiatric problems in already traumatized refugee families.

Uledsagede flygtningebørn med særlige omsorgs- og behandlings-behov i Danmark: En pilotundersøgelse af uledsagede mindreårige asylansøgere på Dansk Røde Kors børnecentre i perioden januar 1997-december 1997

Danish Red Cross Asylum Department runs 2 asylum centres for unaccompanied minors. During 1997 246 minors have attended these two centres for a period. A retrospective pilot study has been performed in order to identify children with special needs. 24% of these minors are registered as having special needs for care or/and treatment. The actual number of such children is probably higher as children who have extended need for contact to paedagoges, teachers or nurses are not included. Unaccompanied children with special needs are significantly younger than the whole group of unaccompanied minor asylum seekers, also waiting time before having a decision about asylum status is significantly longer for this group. This group have experienced a series of potentially traumatizing events, 37% imprisonment, 29% torture, and 31% had taken part in military activities. These children have few severe physical problems at arrival to Denmark, but many psychological symptoms such as sleeping problems (46%) psychosomatic ...

Asylym Seekers in Europe: Entitlements, Health Status, and Human Rights Issues

AbstractThe political asylum system in Western Europe is under strain. High numbers of people are applying for political asylum as the only possibility of living legally in Western countries, while governments are trying to prevent access to their territories and to discourage applicants. It is very difficult to foresee an equitable and timely solution of the root causes of many displacements, either extreme poverty or human rights abuse. In the meanwhile, many of those who are genuinely persecuted are rejected before their cases can even be considered.The entitlements to health care of different categories of refugees and asylum seekers have been reviewed. While convention refugees and de facto refugees have the same right to health care than the citizens of the country of asylum, asylum seekers and persons who are offered temporary protection tend to have restricted access to health care, although there is a great variability across countries. The available reports on the health status of asylum seekers in Western European countries document a quite difficult psychological and social adjustment. It is unclear whether this situation, which is caused by the stress of leaving their own country and family, by uncertainty over the future, and by possible exposure to violence is intensified by restriction to work, unsuitable organization of day to day life in asylum centers, and limited access to health care. A major effort is urgently needed to evaluate the health needs of asylum seekers, and to improve standards of reception and care in European countries.

"Race related illness in Vietnamese refugees".

The author worked for six weeks in September 1982, as a Medical Practitioner and Psychiatrist at the first Asylum Centre Puerto-Princessa, Palawan, Philippines. This paper relates relevant aspects of Mental Health needs of Vietnamese refugees related to racism, aftermath of war, leaving home-land without preparation, perilous escape, prolonged stay in cramped refugee camps, and move on to unsettled, unsure future in another country with alien culture and environment. Changes of life situation, loss of business, property or occupation, loss of loved ones, separation from friends, disruption of family relationships are related to racism and persecution elements in 'Boat People'. The most frequent psychiatric illnesses among the refugees are: depression, anxiety state, psychosomatic disease and psychosis. A special mental health project is needed to train health workers, provide service and consultation and to organising research activities. On the preventive aspects, primary prevention may be achieved by less stress on rapid assimilation and the reduced likelihood of discrimination, hostility and prejudice. Secondary prevention consists of early detection of the disease and early initiation of treatment and tertiary prevention consists of the elimination or reduction of residual disability after an illness.