Integration Of Asylum Seekers Research Articles

Community integration, quality of life, thriving, and mental health among refugees and asylum seekers. A London service provider perspective.

This article explores how systemic injustices and social inequalities affect refugee and asylum seeker integration, thriving, and mental health in London. This is pertinent as the United Kingdom currently operates a 'broken' asylum system with unfair policies and a 'tough' immigration rhetoric which makes it extraordinarily difficult for asylum seekers and refugees to achieve community integration, have a good quality of life, be able to thrive, and have good health including mental health. Paradoxically, the United Kingdom Home Office also features an Indicators for Integration Framework to provide practical ways to design more effective strategies, monitor services and evaluated integration interventions. This study employed a qualitative research design including semi-structured interviews with 19 mental health and psychosocial support service providers working in third-sector organizations in London. The study results show that the current asylum system severely undermines efforts to support asylum seekers and refugees with their integration. All participants highlighted that asylum seekers and refugees lacked experienced poor quality of life and faced structural challenges to build meaningful social connections; to have access education, fair employment and good work; to achieve good mental health and wellbeing; and to be able to thrive. To improve community integration, quality of life, thriving, and mental health for asylum seekers and refugees in London and, beyond, the United Kingdom, four recommendations are made on structural and service-levels: (1) reform of the current asylum system by centering human rights; (2) implement and carry out needs assessments among asylum seekers and refugees focussing on key social determinants; (3) ensure asylum seekers and refugees benefit from the NHS Inclusion Health framework; and (4) extend the NHS Patient and Carer Race Equality framework beyond England. To be effective, all four initiatives need to be grounded in a participatory approach that meaningfully involves diverse groups of stakeholders including asylum seekers and refugees.

Vulnerability governance as differential inclusion: the struggles of asylum seekers in Marseille

ABSTRACT Concerns with ‘vulnerability’ increasingly proliferate in global and regional pacts, international and domestic legislations, and policy discourses and practices regarding migration and international protection. Also in France, vulnerability governance has made its inroads, and policy documents hail vulnerability considerations as a strengthening of the politics of reception and integration of asylum seekers and a means to improve accommodation and care. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Marseille, I argue that vulnerability governance, situated within the context of securitization of migration and budget constraints in the reception system, leads to a ‘differential inclusion’, which is partial, conditional and precarious. By examining the understanding and operationalization of vulnerability within French migration legislation, policies, and governance practices, the study exposes how normative constructs of gender and sexuality inform the identification and hierarchization of vulnerable persons. Ethnographic evidence illustrates how these norms are perpetuated by governance actors, including civil society, and sometimes strategically mobilized or internalized by asylum seekers in their quest for recognition and assistance. In conclusion, the article highlights how protection-seeking migrants also contest the authorities’ understanding and operationalization of vulnerability. Through protests and legal actions, they expose the state’s role in producing and differentially distributing vulnerability through abandonment and destitution.

Migrants’ mental health recovery in Italian reception facilities

BackgroundForced migration leaves deep marks on the psychological well-being of migrants, with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological conditions being prevalent among them. While research has clarified the extent to which pre-migration trauma is a predictor of mental health outcomes, the role of post-migration stressors in the settlement environment are yet to be fully characterized.MethodsWe monitored mental health of a cohort of 100 asylum-seekers during their 14-day COVID-19-related quarantine in reception facilities in Rome, Italy, through the administration of six questionnaires (a demographic survey, the WHO-5 well-being index, the Primary Care PTSD Screen for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5), the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, the Trauma and Loss Spectrum—Self Report, and the LiMEs—Italian version). Through the combination of statistical analysis and supervised learning, we studied the impact of the first contact with the reception system on asylum-seekers’ mental health and sought for possible risk and shielding factors for PTSD.ResultsWe find that sheltering in refugee centers has a positive impact on migrants’ mental health; asylum-seekers with PTSD reported more traumatic events and personality characteristics related to loss and trauma; life events are predictors of PTSD in asylum-seekers.ConclusionsWe identify past traumatic experiences as predictors of PTSD, and establish the positive role the immediate post-migration environment can play on migrants’ psychological well-being. We recommend for host countries to implement reception models that provide effective protection and integration of asylum-seekers, similar to those in the Italian system.

Asylum seekers feel more welcome in counties with more foreign-born residents

European countries are struggling with the largest inflows of asylum seekers since World War II, with ongoing debates about how best to promote asylum seeker integration. This article presents evidence from Germany which suggests asylum seekers feel more welcome when living in counties with more foreign-born residents. This relationship is stronger when asylum seekers and foreign-born residents have similar origins. Among Syrian asylum seekers, larger percentages of co-national residents are especially important. These findings have numerous implications that broaden our understanding of asylum seeker integration and engage debates about how to design asylum seeker reception policies. This article also contributes to broader debates about the relationship between geographic context and social and political attitudes.

Civil Society and Social Integration of Asylum Seekers: The ‘Strength of Weak Ties’ and the Dynamics of ‘Strategic Action Fields’

The dramatic increase of asylum seekers entering the EU in 2015 profoundly changed migration politics in many EU countries. Not least in Sweden which accepted more migrants per capita than any other EU country but then swung abruptly to become among the strictest recipient countries. We use Sweden as a critical and extreme case to argue that the rapid shift in asylum politics and public opinion towards migration is not profoundly shared in society. Based on a local media analysis of three types of purposively selected rural municipalities followed by the analysis of a survey of civil society organizations sent to all 290 municipalities in Sweden, we find strong civil society support and willingness to both receive migrants and facilitate their integration into society. Despite increasing votes for political parties with anti-migration policies, we also find remarkably positive attitudes towards migrants in civil society organizations and among citizens in the EU27 barometer for Sweden. The upshot is optimism that civil society can balance the anti-immigration governance imposed by both left and right political regimes and that populism will succeed only if it has the capacity to thoroughly transform civil society attitudes—which we doubt.

Children’s Well-Being as the Cornerstone of a Child-Centred Asylum Policy: The (In)visibility of Underage Asylum-Seeker Needs in Poland

The focus on children’s well-being is fundamental to any child-centred policy. Hence, migrating children’s interests are usually considered in a migrant context rather than in the best interests of the child, highlighting the challenges of implementing child-centred asylum policies in practice. Based on this observation, the paper focuses on the discrepancies between the legal provisions for the reception of minor asylum seekers in Poland and practice on the ground: how they serve the education opportunities for such children, as the only social area where the child-centred approach is detectable. The paper discusses the extent to which the legal provisions of the Polish migration law are suitable for adopting a child-centred approach in the asylum procedure to enable children to continue their education. It is further explored in connection to the Micreate fieldwork study with asylum-seeking children. The paper analyses specific institutions to assess their potential for implementing child-centred management in the reception and integration of asylum seekers and to highlight the obstacles in this direction. Finally, the paper formulates recommendations for necessary changes and shifts in practice to recognise the children-friendly practices in asylum procedures.

Ukrainian refugee crisis: the experience of the Roman Local Health Authority “ASL Roma 1”

Abstract Problem On February 24th, 2022, Ukraine was invaded by Russian forces, forcing many Ukrainians to flee from their homes as refugees. More than 55,000 Ukrainians have since arrived on Italian territory. In response to the humanitarian crisis, the Roman Local Health Authority “ASL Roma 1” provided socio-sanitary assistance through first reception centers to more than 7700 refugees, prioritizing people with high social vulnerability. Ukraine’s vaccine hesitancy and different epidemiological landscape represented a major hurdle to be overcome. Practice ASL Roma 1’s practice served to ensure infectious diseases prevention and control, as well as continuity of care for non-communicable diseases and mental health issues. It consisted of repurposing resources, such as COVID-19 Hubs and their personnel, stipulating Public-Private Partnerships and collaborations with the local Ukrainian community, massive training, creating a centralized multidisciplinary team (with Ukrainian members) and a dedicated database/IT system. Results ASL Roma 1 empowered local Ukrainian communities by providing equipment, medical and administrative staff and socio-sanitary assistance. Ukrainian volunteers helped bridge the cultural gap for essential service provision, such as COVID-19 screening, enrolment in the NHS, health and social orientation, vaccinations and a tailored care pathway. Thus, more than 7700 refugees were assisted, with 1830 COVID-19 vaccinations administered and 170 in critical conditions promptly receiving specialized care. Lessons The multidisciplinary and cross-cultural interaction between doctors, nurses, cultural mediators, social workers, and other key actors was essential in ensuring a holistic care pathway. Services catered to Ukrainian refugees need complete integration between primary and centralized care. Flexibility and resilience are fundamental to foster an ecosystem of innovation and optimization of healthcare provision on all levels, from local to supranational. Key messages • The multidisciplinary and cross-cultural interaction between all medical and non-medical key actors is essential in ensuring a holistic care pathway and complete social integration of asylum seekers. • Health system flexibility, resilience and an ecosystem of innovation and optimization of healthcare provision on all levels are fundamental components of preparedness for future refugee crises.

How does team diversity relate to the willingness to collaborate with asylum seekers? It depends on the diversity dimensions investigated and boundary conditions.

The successful integration of asylum seekers into the labor market is among the most pressing issues of refugee-receiving countries. We construe co-workers’ willingness to collaborate with asylum seekers as a crucial factor for integration and investigate its antecedents. Linking Allport’s contact theory with team diversity theories, we propose that a work team’s diversity affects team members’ willingness to collaborate with asylum seekers. We thus investigated the effects of different facets of objective (national, migration background, age, and gender) and perceived diversity in work teams on team members’ willingness to collaborate with asylum seekers. In doing so, we also tested whether asylum seekers’ status in the team hierarchy (superior vs. colleague), task interdependence, and pro-diversity team norms moderate these effects. Multi-level regression analyses based on 470 participants nested in 106 teams showed that, overall, team diversity played a small role in explaining the willingness to collaborate with asylum seekers. Age diversity was negatively associated with the willingness to collaborate with asylum seekers, especially when asylum seekers were considered to take a post as a superior rather than a colleague. In teams with high task interdependence, migration background diversity and willingness to collaborate with asylum seekers were positively associated. Pro-diversity norms did not moderate team diversity effects. Overall, our findings demonstrate that team diversity can have beneficial, harmful, and no substantial consequences for the willingness to work with asylum seekers, depending on the considered type of diversity and boundary conditions.

“Seeing like integration”: an exploratory study of Bergamo’s integration model, Italy

ABSTRACT The “refugee crisis” has drawn attention to the role of cities (local authorities) in asylum seekers and refugees' reception and integration processes, with many developing creative and innovative policies. The article explores the integration outcomes of the asylum seekers who participated in a peculiar local experimental integration model, “l'Accademia per l’Integrazione” [Integration Academy], in a somewhat “progressive” mid-sized city of Bergamo (Italy). Using a “scout/militaristic” approach, the model seeks to lay the foundation for asylum seekers’ successful integration upon arrival through obligatory “socially useful” work, language acquisition and civics, traineeships and possible employment placement. The results indicate questionable integration outcomes. This exploratory study shows that the national migration legal framework stifles the city’s conceptualization of integration of asylum seekers starting from arrival. The findings have implications for migration and local integration policy.

Heritage as an affective and meaningful information literacy practice: An interdisciplinary approach to the integration of asylum seekers and refugees

AbstractInformation studies have identified numerous needs and barriers to the integration of asylum seekers and refugees; however, little emphasis has been placed thus far on their need to keep their own culture, values, and traditions alive. In this work, we use ethnographic constructivist grounded theory to explore the place of heritage in the information experience of people who have sought asylum in the United Kingdom. Based on our findings, we propose to conceptualize heritage as an affective and meaningful information literacy practice. Such conceptualization fosters integration by allowing people to simultaneously maintain their own ways of knowing and adapt to local ones. Our research approach provides scholars with a conceptual tool to holistically explore affective, meaningful, and cultural information practices. This study also reveals implications for policymakers, third sector organizations, and cultural institutions working toward the more sustainable integration of asylum seekers and refugees.

Lives in limbo: Migrant integration and rural governance in Sweden

Two long-term trends characterized the response to the influx of asylum seekers in rural Sweden in 2015. First, current integration policies with an increasing focus on the individual migrant, especially in relation to education, employment and housing, provided the framework for the response. Second, the shift of rural governance from state control to collaborative arrangements with nonstate actors, enabled the unprecedented involvement of civil society in the reception and integration of asylum-seekers in rural areas. The consequences of the confluence of these two approaches are most visible in rural areas. In this paper, we explore the new landscape of collaborative governance in relation to migrant reception and integration and ask: what kind of space for maneuver might be available for migrants in the context of collaborative governance of integration in rural Europe? We argue that the new context of rural governance in tandem with integration policies focusing on individual migrants/ families rather than also considering group and ethnic belongings can leave newcomers at the mercy of an informal and unknown institutional terrain of collaborative governance, one that can exacerbate their vulnerability and lead to a situation of “double isolation”- from co-ethnic networks as well as from local society.

Migration, culture contact and the complexity of coexistence

This paper covers a part of a larger qualitative and participatory study on the integration of asylum seekers and refugees hosted in the Province of Lecco, Northern Italy. Their embodied experience as newcomers and the daily relationships with space, with others, and with the public discourse is the main focus of the paper. The notion of coexistence, its struggles, constraints and possibilities, is addressed following Bateson’s work on culture contact and a systemic theoretical framework. The discourse of integration is deconstructed and challenged, re-imagining the outcome of culture contact as the unpredictable effect of complex, relational, and entangled processes of interaction. Newcomers’ movements in the physical and symbolic space are studied with aesthetic and generative methods, inspired by the spatial and sensory turns in social sciences. The methodology is multiple and layered: interviews, focus groups, narrative aesthetic workshops and sensobiographic walks are used to chronicle and interpret narratives of coexistence, at a micro, meso, and macro level.

Evaluation of a food safety training intervention in an asylum-seeking population in Rome

Abstract The integration of asylum seekers is a public health issue in various contexts, including food, where they often work. According to European legislation, every food operator is obliged to follow training courses on food safety knowledge in order to prevent food-borne diseases. This study aims to evaluate a food safety training intervention in a population of asylum seekers in Rome through the use of a specific tool validated by the WHO, to introduce them in of catering. The 'Five Key Points for Safer Food' manual was used to deliver the course. An evaluation test for participants to assess the impact of the food safety training is included, divided into 4 categories: General Information, Knowledge (11 items), Attitudes (10) and Behavior (10). The involved food handlers received the same test before and after training. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the training intervention, the difference in the average of correct pre and post-test answers, overall and by category, was analyzed. Overall, the 69 food handlers comprised 34 (49.3%) females and 35 (50.7%) males, from different continents (36.2% from Africa, 30.5% Central-South America and 33.3% Asia). The 57.3% has previously worked as cook or waiter. The average age was 36.6 (±12.5) with 11.4 (±3.9) years of education. Overall, the average of correct answers increases of 11.6% (from 76.4% to 88.0% correct answers pre and post-test; p < 0.0001). Knowledge pre test was 7.7 (±1.4), while post test was 8.9 (±1.7) (p < 0.0001). Attitude pre test was 8.3 (±2.2), post test was 9.6 (±0.9) (p < 0.0001). Behavior pre test was 7.7 (±2.2), post test 8.8 (±1.9) (p < 0.0001). Despite cultural and linguistic differences, our training intervention has been effective in improving knowledge, attitudes and behaviors on food safety in the target population. The food safety in these contexts cannot be understood only as the fulfilment of a regulatory obligation, but also as an opportunity for aggregation and social integration. Key messages Food cooking represents a social integration tool: asylum seekers from the most disadvantaged countries could prepare safe multi-ethnic dinners based on the typical courses of their country of origin. WHO training intervention on food safety was effective in improving knowledge, attitudes and behaviors in the target population.

Reception Centres Above.The Mountain, Emblem of the Paradox of the Integration of Asylum Seekers in Switzerland

This article analyses “what the mountain does” to people seeking asylum in Switzerland. It focuses on their experiences while they are accommodated in collective reception centres at high altitudes. At the level of Swiss society, asylum seekers are subject to an « integration » injunction, despite the uncertain outcome of their application. When the waiting and uncertainty imposed by the asylum procedure is experienced at an altitude of more than 1300 metres, the feeling of being kept away from life in urban centres is reinforced and the emotional burden exacerbated.The specific experiences of collective accommodation in the mountains, experienced by asylum seekers - and by the professionals or volunteers accompanying them - are expressed in their story telling of the place. Far from the tourist and romantic representations of the mountains, the oppositions between the top and the bottom (the valley and the plain), between the periphery and the centre (the mountain and the town) run repeatedly through the collected narratives. They maintain a representation of the mountain as a non-place of social life, an isolated place, as opposed to cities on the plain. When the reception above lasts, it sustains a process of social effacement « below» which makes the injunction to integrate into Swiss society eminently paradoxical.

Are asylum seekers more likely to work with more inclusive labor market access regulations?

In the face of recent refugee migration, early integration of asylum seekers into the labor market has been proposed as an important mechanism for easing their economic and social lot in the short as well as in the long term. However, little is known about the policies that foster or hamper their participation in the labor market, in particular during the important initial period of their stay in the host country. In order to evaluate whether inclusive labor market policies increase the labor market participation of asylum seekers, we exploit the variation in asylum policies in Swiss cantons to which asylum seekers are as good as randomly allocated. During our study period from 2011 to 2014, the employment rate among asylum seekers varied between 0 and 30.2% across cantons. Our results indicate that labor market access regulations are responsible for a substantial proportion of these differences, in which an inclusive regime increases participation by 11 percentage points. The marginal effects are larger for asylum seekers who speak a language that is linguistically close to the one in their host canton.SummaryInclusive labor market access regulations substantially increase the employment chances of asylum seekers, in particular if the language distance is short.

A first assessment of the electronic health insurance card for asylum seekers in Berlin

Abstract Background Healthcare provision for asylum seekers differs across Germany. Most states use treatment vouchers as proof of eligibility; i.e., asylum seekers must first obtain a voucher from the welfare office to access healthcare. Since 2016 several states have introduced an electronic health insurance card (EHIC) for asylum seekers that enables access to care akin to statutory insurance. The EHIC has reanimated an old debate about asylum seekers’ health benefits. Opponents claim that medical costs will rise if control over healthcare access is eased. Proponents argue that the EHIC reduces costs through the cutback of administrative workloads and improves access to care. Evidence for either position is scarce. Goal The study goal was to assess the 2016 EHIC introduction in Berlin to enable evidence-informed decision-making. Methods We analyzed claims data that were retrieved from the Berlin Senate Administration and ten semi-structured in-depth interviews with key informants. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis using ATLAS.ti software. Ethical clearance was obtained. Results Our study found an overall positive evaluation of the EHIC. Although the introduction implied extra efforts and total administrative workloads remained unaltered, the EHIC was said to have the following advantages as compared to treatment vouchers: 1) It simplifies certain work processes and 2) allows for unprecedented financial transparency and control. 3) It eases access to care with 4) no increase in medical costs. Finally 5) the EHIC signifies equality and integration for asylum seekers. Conclusions In light of our study results the common economic arguments against greater inclusion of asylum seekers into public healthcare systems appear unfounded. On the contrary, the example of the EHIC shows that inclusion can create win-win-situations by improving healthcare access, whilst keeping medical costs constant and advancing financial transparency. Key messages In Germany there is a long-standing debate whether easing access to care for asylum seekers will increase health costs. Our case study shows that, on the contrary, the introduction of an electronic health insurance card for asylum seekers can both improve access and have organizational and economic benefits.

Refugee crisis in Finland: Challenges to safeguarding the right to health for asylum seekers

In 2015 Finland received an unprecedented number of asylum seekers, ten times more than in any previous year. This surge took place at a time the Finnish Government was busily undergoing a wide-range health and social care reform amid growing nationalist and populist sentiments. Our aim is to explore the governance of a parallel health system for asylum seekers with a right-to-health approach.We concentrated on three right to health features most related to the governance of asylum seeker health care, namely Formal recognition of the right to health, Standards and Coordination mechanisms. Through our qualitative review, we identified three major hurdles in the governance of the system for asylum seekers: 1) Ineffectual and reactive national level coordination and stewardship; 2) Inadequate legislative and supervisory frameworks leading to ineffective governance; 3) Discrepancies between constitutional rights to health, legal entitlements to services and guidance available.This first-time large-scale implementation of the policies exposed weaknesses in the legal framework and the parallel health system. We recommend the removal of the parallel system and the integration of asylum seekers’ health services to the national public health care system.

A prospect of staying? Differentiated access to integration for asylum seekers in Germany

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the normative permissibility of differential inclusion policies, taking Germany as a case study. In the face of mounting asylum applications, Germany introduced new administrative rules differentiating access to integration for asylum seekers. The paper normatively examines whether this practice is consistent with two conventional liberal concepts: special obligations grounding the moral commitments of the liberal state towards its own citizens and the principle of legal certainty grounding its moral commitments towards everyone under its jurisdiction, including asylum seekers. Combining these two usually separately employed perspectives, it argues that while differential inclusion is in principle consistent with these liberal principles, the crude criterion of the country of origin does not comply with both perspectives. The paper contributes to the debate on the ethics of immigration by scrutinizing this real-world instrument of differential inclusion from a political philosophy perspective.

The Asylum Seekers in Non-Metropolitan Areas in France: Between Temporary Integration and Leading to Autonomy. The Case of the Ambertois Territory

This article focuses on the integration process of people seeking asylum in non-metropolitan areas in France. It conceptualizes the reception of asylum seekers involving two interrelated approaches: the utilitarian approach and the humanitarian approach. This article is based on surveys, participatory and sensitive cartography, and participant observation conducted in the Ambertois territory between 2017 and 2018. I find the Ambertois territory can be considered a “fragile space,” particularly in terms of demographics, with difficulties in maintaining public services. These difficulties are risks for asylum seekers, and are impacting the urban space. These risks are intensified by the national and regional level policies like the recent reform of the asylum and immigration act on the one hand, and the suffering they experienced throughout their migratory journey on the other. Faced with these risks, local synergies, which facilitate the integration of asylum seekers, are emerging from local actors. This integration is temporary and is considered by local actors as leading to the autonomy of asylum seekers.

Os Desafios da Integração para Solicitantes de Refúgio e Portadores de Visto Humanitário no Brasil

O processo de migração forçada é uma experiência muitas vezes traumática para os indivíduos que migram. O objetivo deste artigo é refletir sobre a integração dos solicitantes de refúgio e portadores de visto humanitário no Brasil à sociedade brasileira, especialmente considerando a condição temporária desses dois grupos. Para a realização das reflexões propostas, o trabalho apoia-se em revisão bibliográfica, análise de instrumentos jurídicos, ações do Estado e organizações da sociedade civil. O Brasil tem avançado em questões relacionadas à legislação e ao acolhimento, porém há outros fatores que precisam ser considerados no processo de integração que ainda não estão bem resolvidos por parte do Estado e nem por parte dos brasileiros. Como conclusão aponta-se: o país, que teve um avanço na legislação e nas políticas migratórias pode passar por uma fase de retrocesso; a integração é uma via de mão dupla que depende dos esforços da sociedade e do próprio migrante.