Integration Of Refugees Research Articles

Resilience: The key for Colombian refugees to integrate into New Zealand

Objective: This study explores the role of resilience in facilitating the integration of Colombian refugees in New Zealand. Due to the lack of research on this specific population in New Zealand, this study was conducted to address the gap in academic literature. Methodology: This study used ethnography and oral history as its methodological approaches, conducting 12 oral history interviews with the participants. Additionally, four participants presented written personal diaries, resulting in a total of 13 Colombian refugees participating in the study. Findings: The findings showed that resilience has been the key factor enabling Colombian refugees to achieve successful integration in New Zealand. Conclusion: This study demonstrates how resilience has been instrumental in empowering Colombian refugees to navigate and overcome the challenges of integration in the country, including lack of English proficiency, mental health problems, discrimination, and unemployment.

Gender employment gap at arrival and its dynamics: The case of refugees in Germany

In recent years, refugee women’s experiences have received considerable attention in the academic discourse on immigrant labor market integration. Taking a dynamic perspective, we investigate gender differences in the labor market integration of refugees who arrived in Germany between 2013 and 2019. We examine refugees' trajectories in the early post-arrival period and explore a number of conditions that have been proposed to influence gendered labor market outcomes. Using panel data from the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Refugee Sample, we find initially narrow gender differences among refugees that gradually widen over time. While initial differences in human capital and care responsibilities contribute significantly to the gender gap in employment in the first year after arrival, our study shows that the gap widens primarily due to refugee women experiencing lower returns to their human and social capital and health, as well as bearing a heavier burden of childcare responsibilities. These findings highlight the compounded disadvantages that refugee women face in the host country due to their limited ability to fully utilize their labor market resources, coupled with their primary responsibility for childcare. Moreover, our findings suggest that existing theoretical explanations in the literature are insufficient to fully explain the barriers refugee women face when entering the labor market.

Integration and urban citizenship: A social‐psychological approach to refugee integration through active constructions of place attachment to the city

AbstractThe current research explores refugee integration through the analysis of active constructions of everyday life in Greek cities. It draws from critical social and political psychology literature that explores spatial aspects of intergroup relations and developments in citizenship and migration studies. For the purposes of the study, 25 walking interviews with refugees from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, and Syria were conducted in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki. Interviews were analyzed with tools and concepts of critical discursive social psychology. Analysis indicated three main repertoires related to corresponding space nuclei: “city squares and surrounding areas as minorities' spatial nuclei,” “political spaces as urban enclaves of belonging,” and “neighborhoods as un/familiar places.” Each of these broader compounds represented different people–place dynamics and presupposed different citizenship constructions and claims. These constructions entailed different ways of positioning oneself and others and constituted the ground for redefining integration based on local experiences and multilevel connections with urban networks. Drawing on these findings, the article proposes to reconsider integration through the concept of urban citizenship to explore everyday politics of intergroup relations in contexts of migration.

First time around: Local conditions and multi-dimensional integration of refugees

We study the effect of local unemployment and attitudes towards immigrants at the time of arrival on refugees’ multi-dimensional integration outcomes. We leverage a centralized allocation policy in Germany where refugees were centrally assigned to live in specific counties. To measure sentiments of native residents towards immigrants, we use geo-coded Twitter data, which provides our “negative sentiment index”. Our results show that attitudes towards immigrants are as important as local unemployment rates in shaping refugees’ integration outcomes. A one standard deviation increase in unemployment or in the negative sentiment index predicts five percentage points lower probability of refugees being employed in 2016 to 2018. In additional robustness check, we present an analysis that uses far-right vote share as an alternative measure of sentiments of native residents.

Public discourse on refugees in social media: A case study of the Netherlands

Social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are starting to become places where people present and evaluate various events. Moreover, these websites influence value perception of their users and readers. The article discusses the refugee crisis in Europe and initiatives like ‘Refugees Welcome Netherlands’ and ‘Refugees Not Welcome Netherlands’ that have been launched to help or oppose refugees. It aims to analyse the formation of the discourse on refugee integration in social media in the Netherlands and its impact on individuals’ attitudes towards refugees. The article uses statistics, images and social media posts to provide deeper insights on the topic. The study also highlights Dutch government’s approach to refugees and their integration and Government’s concern about growing intolerance towards immigrants. The study is relevant to shed light on how political decisions and public opinion condition refugee integration processes in the host society.

‘One step forward, two steps back’: labour market integration paths of highly-skilled refugees in Sweden

ABSTRACT This article explores the labour market integration of highly-skilled refugees seeking employment by comparing the structural landscape that refugees encounter with their degree of knowledgeable agency. The material analysed comprises informational texts and videos, observations, and interviews with labour market integration actors in Sweden. The structural landscape and its complex web of actors create opportunities to obtain employment, but also create constraints. Although refugees can exercise agency on their labour market path, it is difficult to acquire the knowledgeable agency needed for making informed decisions. The policy implications of these findings are significant because labour market integration paths for highly-skilled refugees in Sweden are often unclear and vary across time and space, leading to path gaps and career changes that could be avoided through more knowledge about their options.

Research on the Strategies of Human Rights Governance to Promote Refugee Integration and Social Stability

This paper aims to explore the strategy of human rights governance to promote the integration of refugees and social stability, and put forward relevant research conclusions. The integration of refugees and social stability have become the focus of attention of governments and the international community. As an important political and legal mechanism, human rights governance has the functions of safeguarding human rights and promoting social justice. This paper analyzes the key issues and challenges of refugee integration, including education, employment, housing and so on. In addition, this paper also discusses the influence of human rights governance on social stability. By safeguarding refugees' basic rights and social justice, human rights governance can reduce conflicts and inequalities between refugees and local residents, thus promoting social harmony and stability. Finally, this paper puts forward some strategies to promote the integration of refugees and social stability, including strengthening international cooperation, improving laws and regulations, providing social support and establishing multicultural exchanges. These strategies aim to provide reference for the government and the international community, so as to better deal with the refugee problem and promote their integration and social stability.

Labour market integration of refugees in Sweden – Analysing the interactions of CSOs at different levels

ABSTRACT There has been a gap in knowledge regarding how civil society organisations (CSOs) interact at different levels when working to integrate refugees into the labour market—its causes and limitations. To contribute to filling the gap, this study employs both a rational choice perspective and sociological institutionalism to analyse how and why CSOs in Jönköping municipality in Sweden interacted with other relevant actors, both other CSOs (horizontally) and the public sector (vertically), to integrate refugees into the labour market after the refugee crisis in 2015 and what challenges they faced. It analyses different forms of interaction, that is, not only the relationship between the state and the civil society but also the one between different civil society organisations, which brings a new analytical dimension to the concept of coproduction to support refugees. By analysing the organisations’ interactions at different levels, the study identifies four themes: Striving to be flexible and service-minded organisations; between rational choice and institutionalisation of horizontal interactions; obstacles to horizontal interactions; and difficulty of measuring goal attainment.

Ukrainian refugees struggling to integrate into Czech school social networks

We provide a brief insight into the integration of Ukrainian refugees in school social networks in the Czech Republic following the mass migration caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Our sample contains twelve classrooms with a total of 266 students in grades 5 to 9; 21.05% of the students were of Ukrainian origin. We employed multiplex exponential random graph modelling to assess the level to which Ukrainian refugees were integrated within peer networks, capturing both friendship and exclusion ties. We then employed a meta-analytical procedure to aggregate the results from the individual classrooms and a meta-regression to study the relationship between classroom ethnic composition and the level of integration of Ukrainian refugees. We found social networks to be formed heavily along ethnic lines with strong ethnic homophily in friendship ties and a propensity of the Ukrainian students to both send and receive fewer friendship ties than their Czech classmates. We found no evidence that the Ukrainian students sent or received more exclusion ties than their Czech classmates, suggesting that the Ukrainian students did not face explicit rejection from classmates; rather, we saw a tendency of the Ukrainian students to be neglected. Our findings stand in contrast to reports from school headmasters who asserted that the social integration of Ukrainian students was seamless. We further found a higher proportion of Ukrainian students in classrooms to be related to stronger homophilic behaviour and a lower tendency of Ukrainian students to make friends. Our results therefore imply that increased classroom diversity may negatively influence the integration of refugees in social networks.

POSSIBILITIES OF INCLUSION OF NEWCOMERS IN GENERAL SCHOOLS OF LATVIA

At the time when Russia is conducting military operations in Ukraine, Latvia provides all possible political, financial, military and humanitarian support to Ukraine, including hosting Ukrainian residents fleeing the war in Latvia. Education plays a vital role in the economic, social and cultural integration of migrants and refugees in the host country. Education is a key tool for transitioning from humanitarian to development and integrating those granted asylum into society. The aim of study: to study the possibilities and threats of inclusion of newcomers in general education schools and to analyze the experience of students included in general education schools of the city of Rēzekne and Rēzekne district.

Komunikasi Antarabudaya Pelarian Rohingya di Malaysia: Peranan Pekerjaan dan Pendidikan dalam Akulturasi dan Integrasi

Intercultural adaptation is a process of adjustment that involves communication between individuals and the host environment. This process occurs as long as there is "interaction" with the host environment. In Malaysia, the Rohingyas are the largest refugee population as of May 2023. This population migrated forcibly and experienced intercultural adaptation upon their arrival in Malaysia. Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. Moreover, Malaysia does not have a specific legal or administrative framework to regulate the status and rights of refugees in this country. This makes it difficult for them to get job opportunities and access to education. This study aims to delve into the intercultural adaptation experiences of Rohingya refugees in accessing employment and education in Malaysia; and applying Ager and Strang’s (2008) conceptual framework of integration. A total of 15 male Rohingya refugees residing in Klang Valley were interviewed. Data analysis found that the experience of Rohingya refugees in Malaysia in accessing employment and education is indeed challenging. Although they are having difficulties securing a job, they are able to support themselves, their families, and send money to family members abroad. In addition, employment also acts as a platform for them to learn Bahasa Melayu through communication at the workplace. Despite facing challenges in accessing education, they are still hoping their children will receive proper education. This study also found that employment and education are crucial to support intercultural communication especially related to acculturation and integration of Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. Keywords: Rohingya refugees, employment, education, acculturation, integration.

From family to university: Best practices for inclusive tertiary education

This article investigates practices and integration strategies implemented by a European network of universities with regard to refugees and international students, in particular, integration practices at two levels: governance and policies, regarding the institutional initiatives used and their relative success; second, the experience of such policies by international students. Our study revealed that in relation to refugee integration there is an overall lack of organisation, with too little, scattered information with respect to a bottom-up policy. In contrast, with regard to international students the system works fairly well, due to the top-down policy promoted by the EU. We propose that the EU put in place a specific program for refugee integration, such as ERASMUS+, focused on strengthening links with refugee families and schools with a high proportion of refugees.

Education for what? The politics of education for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

AbstractThe massive influx of Rohingyas has become one of the world's worst humanitarian and human rights crises. The Bangladesh government does not have any domestic or international regulations to set up an administrative process to address the issue of Rohingya refugees. Recently, Bangladesh and Myanmar initiated the repatriation of around 3000 Rohingyas. Yet, the repatriation process has not been successful as none of the Rohingya agreed to return to Myanmar without citizenship rights and security. Against this backdrop, this study explores whether education can act as a solution to integrate Rohingya refugees into mainstream society in Bangladesh. Applying purposive sampling, primary data was collected through semi‐structured interviews, key informant interviews, and telephone interviews. Data analysis was performed through conversation analysis. The findings reveal that the integration of Rohingya refugees through education is a far‐reaching dream as refugee management and education policies do not permit the integration of Rohingya refugees into mainstream society in Bangladesh. Rohingya refugees have demanded education as their right to develop their self‐respect and dignity. In contrast, the Bangladesh government viewed education as a relief program rather than development and integration. This article supports the claim of academics that the Bangladeshi government should provide education to Rohingya refugee children from a development perspective to protect and ensure their self‐respect and dignity.Related ArticlesByrne, Jennifer. 2016. “Contextual Identity among Liberian Refugees in Ghana: Identity Salience in a Protracted Refugee Situation.” Politics & Policy 44(4): 751–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12169.Harel‐Shalev, Ayelet. 2009. “Lingual and Educational Policy toward ‘Homeland Minorities’ in Deeply Divided Societies: India and Israel as Case Studies.” Politics & Policy 37(5): 951–70. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2009.00206.x/abstract.Ravi, Chaitanya. 2021. “The 1971 Bangladesh War and Policy Lessons for Climate Refugee Management in South Asia.” Politics & Policy 49(1): 248–74. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12392.

The social and health protection of migrants in Chile: qualitative analysis of civil society proposals for constitutional change

BackgroundA sustained period of social, economic, and political unrest took place during October of 2019 in Chile. As an institutional solution, the “Agreement for Social Peace and the New Constitution” was signed. In this document, most political parties committed to reestablishing peace and public order in Chile, agreeing on the initiation of a constitutional process. To promote participation of civil society actors, the “Popular Initiative for Norms” was enabled. This was a platform where civilians could submit proposals for constitutional norms to be discussed by the Constitutional Convention. We aimed to analyze proposals related to migrants and migrant health.MethodsWe conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of the proposals. Sixteen of them were related to migrants, and we analyzed their association to health. We also evaluated their link to the Health Goals 2030 set out by the Chilean Ministry of Health and the Global Action Plan 2019–2023 for Promoting the Health of Refugees and Migrants by the World Health Organization.ResultsFour main thematic categories were identified: 1) Humans rights of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers; 2) Nationality and regularization of migrants and refugees; 3) Political participation and cultural integration of migrants and refugees; and 4) Specific regulations on slavery and human trafficking. These resonated with broader frameworks established in the Health Goals 2030 (Chile) and the Global Action Plan 2019–2023 for Promoting the Health of Refugees and Migrants by the World Health Organization.ConclusionsThe ‘Popular Initiative for Norms’ was a non-binding participatory mechanism. Although the proposals sent through were not guaranteed to be included in the constitutional draft—and despite the final draft being rejected last September 2022—the platform allowed to gain insights into civilian opinions. Our findings showed that there is an incipient yet weak recognition of the rights and situation of migrants in Chile. There was no direct mention of health nor an explicit contemplation of social determinants of health. Despite there being an urgent need to define strategies for migrants’ health in Chile, this study demonstrated that civil awareness and interest are still insufficient.

Old and new differences: social (re)integration after the war

This article examines the issues of social (re)integration in Ukraine, which were actualized during the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014-2022. The first part of the article is devoted to the consideration of theoretical issues related to the conceptualization of social integration in the social sciences and the role of the state in reproducing social relations. The author assumes that during the last decades, ideas about the role of the state in these processes have changed significantly, which was caused by the departure of the governments of developed democratic countries from the policy of the welfare state. This caused a reorientation of the state towards policies of inclusion, that is, targeted support and assistance to the most vulnerable social strata. The second part of the article is devoted to the consideration of the processes of social integration of migrants and refugees during the war in Ukraine. The author concludes that during the first full-scale invasion, processes of rethinking one's own national identity intensified in Ukrainian society. The armed confrontation and the catastrophic consequences caused by it contributed to the nationwide consolidation of Ukrainians and neutralized socio-cultural differences, which for a long time became the cause of political opposition and electoral divisions. Instead, the long stay of part of the territory and citizens of Ukraine under occupation under conditions of repressive and propaganda pressure, violent mobilization to the armed forces of the self-proclaimed republics and participation in the armed confrontation on the side of the occupiers revealed new divisions between Ukrainians who were on different sides of the front line. These divisions will obviously become an obstacle to the successful reintegration of Ukrainians after de-occupation, which will require a balanced and careful integration policy from the state authorities during the post-war reconstruction.

From loss to involuntary liquidity: refugees’ relationships to possessions

ABSTRACT This paper explores refugees’ relationships to consumption and possessions while they resettle in a Nordic country. The results of the empirical study (one-on-one photovoice interviews and micro focus group interviews with 32 Iraqi, Turkish, and Syrian refugees living in Finland) elucidate that the loss of possessions caused by forced displacement thrust refugees to prolonged liminality and alter their relationships to material possessions, pushing them from solid consumption to seek stability through temporary liquid consumption. The study contributes to consumer research by highlighting the role of liquid consumption during imposed long-term liminality and precarity and by exploring the temporal boundaries and characteristics of involuntary liquid consumption. The results improve our understanding of how people relate to consumption and possessions when navigating extreme and arduous life transitions and offers implications for NGOs working with refugee integration.

A positive psychology intervention to foster economic integration of Syrian refugees in the Netherlands

AbstractResearch shows that the labour market integration of refugees is often problematic. Little is known about what kind of measures are effective to help them integrate into the labour market. In the Netherlands, a positive psychology intervention “Mosaic” for Syrian refugees was developed to support their economic participation. This study aims to assess the effect of “Mosaic” on the economic participation and work‐related attitudes of Syrian refugees. “Mosaic” was implemented in six municipalities by conducting an RCT with a waiting list control group. The results show that in the short term, the intervention group realizes a significantly larger increase in hours spent on an internship as well as substantially larger gains in confidence to find work in the future. In the long term, the intervention group experiences larger confidence gains related to finding a job that fits their education and experience.

Long-term effects of the 1923 mass refugee inflow on social cohesion in Greece

After the 1919–1922 Greco-Turkish conflict, 1.2 million Greek Orthodox were forcibly displaced from Turkey to Greece, increasing the host population by 20 percent within a few months. Refugees were provided with farmland, new houses and schools, and were granted the Greek citizenship. This paper analyses the social integration outcomes of refugees from the first and second generations, as well as the long-term effect of their resettlement on the social cohesion of receiving communities. Combining historical and modern population censuses and surveys, I find that, by the 2000s, refugees display a high rate of intermarriage with Greek natives, report levels of trust in others and in institutions similar to natives, vote for similar political parties, and exhibit higher political and civic engagement than natives. The integration of refugees was notably fostered by the construction of new schools which helped close the literacy gap with native children shortly after refugees’ arrival in Greece. At the local level, places with higher share of refugees in 1928 display greater participation in voluntary associations 80 years later. I find no evidence that refugees either reduced voter turnout, increased political fragmentation, or led to higher levels of crime in places of resettlement. These results may suggest that early investments in inclusion policies can be effective at fostering refugees’ assimilation, at least when newcomers and locals have similar cultural profiles.

Labor market integration, local conditions and inequalities: Evidence from refugees in Switzerland

The paper examines the patterns of economic integration of refugees in Switzerland, a country with a long tradition of hosting refugees, a top-receiving host in Europe, and a prominent example of a multicultural society. It relies on a unique longitudinal dataset consisting of administrative records and social security data for the universe of refugees in Switzerland over 1998–2018. This data is used to reconstruct the individual-level trajectories of refugees and to follow them since arrival over the life-cycle. The empirical analysis exploits the government dispersal policy in place since 1998, which consists of the exogenous allocation of refugees across cantons, to identify the effects of the local initial conditions. The study finds that higher unemployment rates at arrival slow down the integration process, whereas the existence of a co-ethnic network does not consistently lead to a faster integration. It is shown that a change toward more restrictive attitudes over time in a canton (relative to attitudes in other cantons) leads to higher employment rates of the successive refugee cohorts. These effects persist over the refugees’ life-cycle. Together these results, highlight the importance of taking a longer run perspective when examining the effectiveness of policies, as the effects may vary over time and different complementary interventions may be needed in the short vs. long-run.

Welfare Benefit Generosity and Refugee Integration

This study examines how welfare benefit generosity impacts refugees’ integration into their new country. The effects of welfare benefit generosity are identified from a policy reform that reduced welfare benefits, first for newly arrived refugees, and second for those who had been in the country for at least 10 months. The results suggest that refugees respond quickly to the benefit reduction, but men and women react on different margins. Male refugees enter employment faster when they experience a benefit reduction, whereas no effect on the labor market is found for female refugees. Even though some men succeed in finding a job, both men and women experience a drop in disposable income of 20 percent. This seems to adversely affect women as they seek more health care, are more often hospitalized, and are more often charged with property crimes. No such unintended effects are found for men.