Migrant Camp Research Articles

“Regard” at the lilies of the fields: The relational dimension of care and the migrant detention camp

The present article aims to analyze the political dimension of the context of care and protection of precarious migrants. In this sense, we will first turn to the works of Judith Butler e Giorgio Agamben to understand how care is positioned as a political process of managing and preserving the lives of vulnerable groups. Later, we will address the relational dimension of care, conceived in a political framework of recognizing the lives of migrants in the sphere of social justice. With this, we will critically examine the biopolitics of migrant detention camps considering the contributions of Giorgio Agamben, considering how care can be practiced in this context. To elucidate Agamben's thesis on the camp beyond Judith Butler's reflections on care, we examine Kakuma's camp not to expose demographic data, but primarily to analyze the political undertaking that places numerous migrants and refugees in an inhuman condition.

Epidemiology of asylum seekers and refugees at the Mexico-US border: a cross-sectional analysis from the migrant settlement camp in Matamoros, Mexico

BackgroundThe number of migrants and asylum seekers at the Mexico-US border has increased to historic levels. Our objective was to determine the medical diagnoses and treatments of migrating people seeking care in humanitarian clinics in Matamoros, Mexico.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study of patient encounters by migrating people through a humanitarian clinic in Matamoros, Mexico, from November 22, 2019, to March 18, 2021. The clinics were operated by Global Response Medicine in concert with local non-governmental organizations. Clinical encounters were each coded to the appropriate ICD-10/CPT code and categorized according to organ system. We categorized medications using the WHO List of Essential Medicines and used multivariable logistic regression to determine associations between demographic variables and condition frequency.ResultsWe found a total of 8,156 clinical encounters, which included 9,744 diagnoses encompassing 132 conditions (median age 26.8 years, female sex 58.2%). People originated from 24 countries, with the majority from Central America (n = 5598, 68.6%). The most common conditions were respiratory (n = 1466, 15.0%), musculoskeletal (n = 1081, 11.1%), and skin diseases (n = 473, 4.8%). Children were at higher risk for respiratory disease (aOR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.61–2.10), while older adults had greater risk for joint disorders (aOR = 3.35, 95% CI: 1.73–6.02). Women had decreased risk for injury (aOR = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.40–0.63) and higher risk for genitourinary diseases (aOR = 4.99, 95% CI: 3.72–6.85) compared with men. Among 10,405 medications administered, analgesics were the most common (n = 3190, 30.7%) followed by anti-infectives (n = 2175, 21.1%).ConclusionsIn this large study of a migrating population at the Mexico-US border, we found a variety of clinical conditions, with respiratory, musculoskeletal, and skin illnesses the most common in this study period which encompassed a period of restrictive immigration policy and the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Covid-19 case management in a Greek migrant camp: The Hellenic Red Cross Mobile Health Unit intervention in Nea Malakasa temporary accommodation center

IntroductionSince the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic the scientific community had expressed its concerns about increased transmission of the virus within asylum seeker accommodation centers due to substandard living conditions and poor sanitation. Studies regarding management of Covid-19 cases in such facilities are urgently needed in order to guide international strategies on future pandemics within the humanitarian setting. Our study's paradigm of Covid-19 case management in a Greek migrant camp aims to add on existing data. Data and MethodsA retrospective analysis of epidemiological and demographical data collected as part of a healthcare intervention in a Greek migrant camp during three Covid-19 epidemic waves is presented in this study. Descriptive statistics were generated using STATA 12. ResultsDuring the first wave, the camp's administration adopted a 2-month strict lockdown strategy and no positive cases were recorded. During the second wave, suspected coronavirus cases were referred for PCR testing and, in case of positivity were hospitalized. 3% (n = 28) of the camp's population were referred for PCR, with 1% of the population (n = 10) being tested positive for Covid-19 and admitted to hospital. Close contacts of positive cases were encouraged to comply with non-pharmaceutical interventions and were offered medical care if symptoms developed. During the third epidemic wave, in-camp management was decided by on-site operators, with rapid antigen testing of symptomatic individuals, daily monitoring of positive cases by the medical team and mass screening of their closed contacts. 4% (n = 33) of the camp's residents were tested positive, while none was hospitalized. 19% (n = 148) of the camp's population were considered close contacts, were advised to self-isolate and were offered mass screening with rapid antigen test, from which another 21 positive cases emerged. In total, 7% (n = 54) of the camp population, (n = 21) female adults, (n = 24) male adults and (n = 9) children, were infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the third epidemic wave, with no deaths being recorded. During the study period, only 50 residents had received one dose of Covid-19 vaccines. ConclusionWe recommend an in-camp Covid-19 response featuring regular follow up of positive cases and prompt referral to tertiary centers based on clinical criteria, while overemphasizing the need for equitable access to primary healthcare for asylum seekers in Greece, primarily during the current pandemic. Prolonged camp lockdowns should be avoided as they pose substantial health risks for their vulnerable population.

EasyRights: Information Technology Could Facilitate Migrant Access to Human Rights in a Greek Refugee Camp

This paper aims to describe the context for the migrant camp in a small municipality, and it discusses the challenge of adopting the easyRights information technology (IT) to make it easier for migrants to exercise their human rights. The easyRights project “Enabling immigrants to easily know and exercise their rights” (https://www.easyrights.eu/) is an ongoing European Horizon 2020 project that addresses the challenge of migrant integration through IT-enabled solutions. This project aims to combine co-creation and intelligent language-oriented technologies to make it easier for migrants to understand and access the services to which they are entitled. The easyRights IT–enabled solutions and toolkits for the implementation of inclusion policies can facilitate the management of the integration of migrants, and improve their autonomy and inclusion. Initial interviews with two stakeholders and one migrant in the city of Kavala (in northern Greece) were conducted. Aspects of the information described in this study are intended to be utilized within the Work Package WP7 of the project, which is with regard to the communication and dissemination plan. We recommend for the easyRights IT tools to be adopted in Kavala, so as to facilitate migrants’ exercise of their human rights, and alleviate the tasks of public administrations and local authorities. Possible solutions to avoid migrant marginalization within Kavala’s municipality include adoption of the easyRights IT solutions and investigation of stakeholders’ and migrants’ use of these technology tools.

Health and safety concerns of female asylum seekers living in an informal migrant camp in Matamoros, Mexico.

Whilst increased numbers of people worldwide exercise their human right to seek asylum, the US has greatly reduced the number of asylum seekers able to enter its southern border, resulting in informal encampments. Women and children are uniquely vulnerable to violence and other health risks. To describe the health and safety concerns of female asylum seekers living in an informal migrant camp, with a particular focus on the risks of violence against women and children. For this qualitative descriptive study, female asylum seekers were purposively recruited in an informal tent encampment in Matamoros, Mexico (n=43). Semi-structured interviews were conducted in January and February 2020. Qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis. The themes identified were constant vigilance, the effects of constant vigilance, lack of resources, and uncertainty. Women's unrelenting fears about their own safety and that of their children impacted their ability to access the camp's meagre resources and exacerbated negative effects on women and children. Applying established guidelines and best practices for health and safety in humanitarian settings could mitigate threats to women and children. Additionally, camp conditions represent human rights violations. Nurses have an ethical duty to advocate for an end to the US policies creating and maintaining this humanitarian crisis. As a result of changes to the United States immigration policy, individuals seeking asylum at the Southern border of the US have been largely prevented from entering the US since early 2018. Asylum seekers living in an informal encampment on the border awaiting entry describe a public health, humanitarian and human rights crisis. Women in this already vulnerable group lacked necessities, such as housing, food security, potable water, protection against gender violence and other forms of physical threats to themselves and their children. This created a heightened sense of vigilance and fear, with implications for their mental health and well-being and that of their children. These findings highlight the need for governmental and international organizations to implement the best health and safety practices for humanitarian settings to ensure equity in relation to the social determinants of health. Nurses have an ethical obligation to be strong human rights advocates. One member of the research team has extensive experience as an advocate for recently immigrated women experiencing intimate partner violence. The study procedures were reviewed with advocates providing direct services to migrant women and children.

We don't remember the O‐Platz protest camp for the sake of it. Collective memories and visibility of migrant activism in Berlin

AbstractThe activists opposing border regimes in Berlin still vividly remember the migrant protest camp on Oranienplatz (O‐Platz), a square in the neighborhood of Kreuzberg, a decade after its establishment in 2012. For them, the protest camp is the ideal type of mobilization against border regimes; the opportunity for racialized migrants to engage in politics and formulate grievances based on their own experiences of border regimes. O‐Platz is remembered as a visible migrant grassroots protest in the backdrop of a history of invisibility of migrant struggles in Germany. In contrast, activists frame their mobilization after O‐Platz as invisible and fragmented, despite the emergence of new networks and alliances, which, however, are not led by migrant activists. Collective memory bridges different movement phases and emphasizes the importance of visibility achieved by collective action centered around the experiences of subaltern groups, specifically racialized migrants with precarious legal status. I argue that memory work is crucial for countering the invisibility and erasure of grassroots migrant struggles in Germany. Memory work has an aspirational function as it transforms characteristics of past mobilization into aspirations for the present, especially in a phase where new players emerge, and the role of grassroots migrant activism seems fading.

Depicting the Black African Refugee in The Jungle by Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson

This paper explores the depiction of black African refugees in The Jungle, a 2017 play by two young British playwrights, Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson. The Jungle is a theatrical recreation of the lives of refugees from the migrant camp in Calais, from which hundreds of refugees made – and still make – often fatal attempts to enter the UK through the Channel Tunnel. The graphic images of the squalid living conditions of its residents – many of them from Africa – dominated the news, as did the dramatic manner in which the camp was dismantled in 2016. This paper is interested in the textual gestures and representational decisions of the playwrights in the written play that provide clues to the possible ways in which black Africans are thought of and constructed in the minds of Europeans. In this way, this inquiry contributes to analysing literary engagements with contemporary African migration to Europe provided from European points of view.

Refugee Theater and Its Transgressions: Acts of Suspension in Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson’s The Jungle

Following a summary account of the principal challenges faced by theatrical representations of the immigrant’s plight, this article provides a close-reading analysis of Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson’s play The Jungle and its attempts to recreate a restaurant that existed in the refugee and migrant camp in Calais by the same name. It questions how theatrical representation can rise to the task of self-disavowal while retaining its urgency. By focusing on the myriad obstacles to be overcome both in the use of theatre within refugee workshop settings and upon major-venue stages, this approach highlights theater’s extraordinary double-bind in these contexts, offering a reading of The Jungle that foregrounds theater’s transgressive capacity to stage its own renunciation, thus freeing representation from many of its self-inflicted limitations.

Digital sexual and reproductive health resources for women living in a migrant camp in Serbia

Prior to Covid-19 (C19), I delivered sexual and reproductive health (SRH) educational workshops to refugee/migrant women in a migrant camp in Belgrade, Serbia. SRH education and access are key to the public health for all but specifically this vulnerable population. C19 and a national lockdown meant an alternative, none face to face delivery method was required. Migrant camps exist throughout Europe, and restrictions due to C19 continue across the world increasing the applicability of this practice in many settings. My previous experience informed my knowledge for course content, however not suitable delivery methods. Most women had mobile phones, however barriers to accessing online content included intermittent internet access, low computer literacy, inadequate privacy, and need for translation. Following research into alternative formats, over a number of months we piloted; texts +/- attachments, voice messages, video streaming, online videos to download. The questions posed were 1. Which format was the most accessible/acceptable to the women? 2. When the format was decided, how many women would access the content and was this number comparable to the workshops? The feedback showed texts with links to unlisted YouTube videos with burned subtitles were best, enabling download when internet access/privacy allowed and requiring minimal computer skills. We created an SRH programme of 5-minute videos with feedback obtained via text. Each video has 4-21 views (averaging 8 and continuing to increase) at time of submission, comparable or more than the workshops. This innovative practice delivers SRH information to women in this migrant camp. It doesn't replace workshops but when access is restricted it can be used independently, or ordinarily as a supplementary tool to workshops. It is applicable in any setting when access is restricted. Benefits include; choice of when/where/how to access; repeat views; potential for wider reach/scaling to reach larger populations.Key messages These carefully designed digital resources have allowed non-English speaking migrant women in a migrant camp to continue accessing sexual and reproductive health education during Covid-19 lockdowns.This innovative practice of delivering information to vulnerable, hard to reach groups is applicable in many settings when face to face access is restricted.

Sexual and reproductive health education for women in a migrant camp in Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract Serbia borders the European Union (EU). It hosts 18 migrant camps for migrants/refugees blocked from entering the EU. A camp in Belgrade, houses 450 people, most residing there for over a year. The women are vulnerable due to no/low education, early marriage, multiple children, perilous journeys travelled, shared basic accommodation, and uncertain status/futures. The UN sustainable development goal 3 highlights the importance of improving sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in humanitarian settings. SRH education empowers women to plan/prevent pregnancies, prevent spread of sexually transmitted infections, and to know when to see a doctor. Many migrant camps exist across Europe housing similarly vulnerable women who would benefit from SRH education. The objectives were to 1. Create a safe space for sharing SRH concerns; 2. Assess knowledge and needs; 3. Develop and deliver a bespoke SRH programme in collaboration with the women; 4. Assess impact on knowledge. I facilitated SRH discussions and built rapport, the women then completed an anonymous questionnaire assessing knowledge/needs. I developed a series of monthly SRH workshops delivered over a year. The questions posed were 1. Was SRH education needed/desired? 2. Would women attend? 3. Would SRH knowledge improve? The discussions and questionnaire demonstrated the need and desire for SRH education. 4-10 women (average 8) attended each workshop, with open discussions generated. The women's knowledge increased, extrapolated from workshop activities and qualitative feedback. These migrant women had an unmet need for SRH education, which was addressed via this programme. It demonstrated an increase in SRH knowledge, enabling informed SRH decision making and ultimately improving public health. Migrant women reside in camps across Europe, and would benefit from this programme. Creating a collaborative, bespoke SRH programme with migrant women in transit across Europe is both innovative and important. Key messages Vulnerable female migrants residing in a migrant camp in Belgrade had an unmet need/desire for sexual and reproductive health education which was addressed via a bespoke programme of SRH workshops. Migrant camps exist across Europe housing vulnerable women who urgently require access to good quality sexual and reproductive health education and care in order to improve overall public health.

A cross-sectional survey of sociodemographic characteristics, primary care health needs and living conditions of asylum-seekers living in a Greek reception centre

BackgroundIn 2019, a migrant camp on the Greek island of Samos designed for 650 people was home to a growing population of over 5500. We aimed to quantitatively describe living conditions and health needs in the camp.MethodsA questionnaire was designed with reference to international humanitarian standards, following a consultative process with the asylum-seeker population. Domains assessed included demographics, living conditions, safety/vulnerability, and health. The questionnaire was piloted and then conducted in June 2019 on a sample of asylum seekers.ResultsFive hundred participants, predominantly from Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Of these, 79.4% lived in tents. Respondents cared for a total of 570 children; 20.6% of women were pregnant, 35.4% had experienced violence, 83% psychological distress, 71% skin disease, 66% diarrhoea and vomiting, and 64% respiratory disease. Accommodation, sanitation, and nutrition fell below internationally recognised standards, and poor access to water was significantly associated (p < 0.001) with respiratory disease, diarrhoea and vomiting, skin disease ,and psychological distress.ConclusionsLiving conditions in the Samos camp fall below basic humanitarian standards and are associated with poor health status. Further research is imperative to analyse and monitor the diverse, varying needs of asylum-seekers and inform policies to improve conditions.

Active case finding of pulmonary TB in a European refugee camp: lessons learnt from Oinofyta hosting site in Greece.

To report on an active case finding (ACF) intervention that took place in the migrant camp of Oinofyta, Greece, upon suspicion of active TB transmission. Upon diagnosis of 3TB cases among camp residents, an ACF intervention among contacts was implemented. All camp residents were offered two-step screening, that is tuberculin skin testing (TST) followed by chest X-ray in case of positive TST (defined as ≥5mm). 336 of 379 (89%) camp residents underwent TST testing, of whom 110 (33%) exhibited a positive skin reaction. The rate of positive TST results was particularly high in the elderly and significantly higher in adults than in children. Differences by sex or nationality were not observed. Of the 110 cases with positive TST, only 75 underwent chest X-ray, resulting in the detection of one pulmonary TB case in an adult woman. In the given intervention context, two-step ACF proved to be operationally cumbersome, with many residents lost to follow-up and a high Number Needed to Screen. Simpler ACF designs should be pilot-tested in similar settings in the future, and blanket screening of all camp residents should be reconsidered. Conclusions drawn by these exercises should pave the way for adopting a comprehensive, context-specific and evidence-based national strategy on TB in migrants.

Music in migrant camps as a medium creating non-narrative human relationships

A migrant camp is a ‘non-place’ where personal identity is put at risk. Music is a means of personal adaptation in camps, even if it means allowing little place for the real reasons for displacement of the very people shaping these new hybridizations of music. The present power of music in such a place is to create strong relationships, ‘shortcutting’ both narration and the longer time needed in order to create relationships. The kind of personal advantage it is for someone to be a musician is a topic surprisingly forgotten, obscured by theoretical habits of seeing music essentially as an expressive activity directed to an audience, or as being a communicative activity. Music has a performative power different from language, as a non-verbal art having a strong and direct relationship to the body. Musical interactions on the field give migrants the ability to balance their problematic situation of refugees, shaping a real present.

Writing back to Brexit: Refugees, transcultural intertextuality, and the colonial archive

ABSTRACT This article deals with the role of transcultural intertextuality in writing refugees and Brexit, arguing that refracting the colonial archive has served contemporary accounts of refugee migration to interpret current scenarios, revise lingering colonial imaginaries, and forge new bonds of solidarity. It draws on recent work in transcultural memory studies to explore how emergent bodies of refugee writing have remembered and actualized canonical works by engaging and adding to their relational mnemohistories. A multilateral account of the transcultural travel of memories, including of literary texts, relational mnemohistory allows one to rethink the constellation of source-text and actualization in intertextuality theory. While by no means reducible to writing back to Brexit and the canon, recent literature of the Calais “Jungle” migrant camp, such as the play The Jungle (2017), as well as works like the multi-volume Refugee Tales, performs important cultural work, retrieving historical entanglements and envisioning a much-needed relationality for the present.

Making a familial care worker: the gendered exclusion of asylum-seeking women in Denmark

The Nordic universalist welfare states place great value on promoting gender equality among immigrant minorities. Yet, as this article demonstrates, there is a tension in the Danish asylum regime between the gender mainstreaming objective that is prominent in the integration discourse and policy and the actual practices of migrant camp employees tasked with activation and preparing asylum seekers for integration into Denmark. Based on four extracts from a qualitative study of the Danish ‘activation’ program for adult asylum seekers, this study identifies the lack of structural and social support for familial care work as the main barrier to the equal access of women to the program’s activities (education and vocational training). I find that the objective of gender equality is thwarted by two primary frames: exceptionalism and bureaucratization. These intersect to reinforce ‘traditional’ gender roles and exclude asylum-seeking women with dependent relatives from out-of-home activities. The findings add to our understanding of how migrant women are excluded from citizenship through subtle and complex forms of power at play in cross-cultural encounters between migrant women and welfare state employees who are individualizing the responsibility for women’s success or failure.

The Challenge of Migratory Flows in the Mediterranean Sea to Psychology: A Single Case Study from a Social Constructionist Perspective

The involuntary migratory flows from Africa to Europe have raised new theoretical and methodological challenges for psychologists who find themselves managing the critical situations of migrants at the borders. Among other factors, the psychological distress experienced by some of them appears to be strongly conditioned by religious beliefs which, in turn, makes it difficult to diagnose and treat them properly according to the tradition of Euro-American psychology. Indeed, the risk is to apply western medical and psychiatric categories to the mental health issues of migrants, missing the meaning that the expressed distress could be acquired within a different cultural framework. The present contribution describes a clinical case developed in a migrant camp in Italy, initially framed as “hallucinatory psychosis”. After the deconstruction of this diagnostic label, a few therapeutic practices will be outlined. These are derived from the Dialogical Self Theory and from the social constructionist concept of Multi-Being, which are considered particularly suitable for understanding psychological distress in a multicultural setting and for planning interventions in troubled situations of involuntary migration.

Health for all? A qualitative study of NGO support to migrants affected by structural violence in northern France.

France hosts approximately 368,000 'persons of concern' (e.g. refugees, stateless, people in refugee-like situations, asylum-seekers). Northern France has become a focal area, due to its proximity to the Dover entry-point to the UK and larger numbers of migrants. This study used a structural violence lens to explore the provision of health services to migrants in Calais and La Linière in northern France, to contribute to discourse on the effects of structural violence on non-state service providers and migrants in precarious conditions and inform service provision policies. Our qualitative study design used semi-structured key-informant interviews, conducted in summer 2017 with 20 non-governmental service-providers, 13 who had worked in Calais and 7 in La Linière migrant camp. We analysed interviews thematically, using inductive coding. Themes from analysis were: (i) power dynamics between NGOs and the state; (ii) resource allocation and barriers to accessing services; and (iii) effects of structural violence on social determinants of health. NGO service provision varied due to tense power dynamics between state and NGOs, shifting state requirements, and expanding roles. Interviewees described ongoing uncertainties, and inherent disempowerment associated with humanitarian aid, as negatively affecting migrant health and wellbeing, increasing illness risks, and providing unequal life chances. Structural realities including violence appeared to negatively affect migrant social determinants of health, reducing healthcare access, social inclusion, and sense of empowerment. The role of NGOs in providing migrant health services in northern France was complex and contested. Structural violence negatively affected migrant wellbeing through restricted services, intentional chaos, and related disempowerment. The violence exerted on migrants appeared to diminish their life chances while being an ineffective deterrent, indicating better approaches are needed.

Addressing needs in a liminal space: the citizen volunteer experience and decision-making in the unofficial Calais migrant camp – insights for social work

ABSTRACT This paper examines transferable knowledge from the work of citizen volunteers addressing migrant needs in Europe, relevant to social work with migrants at border hotspots. The discussion is based on a case study conducted in the unofficial Calais camp in June 2016, which included semi-structured interviews with long-term volunteers; participant observation; and field and reflective notes. The inductive analysis examined volunteer experience, and mechanisms and values underpinning their decision-making at critical moments in the camp’s history. Starting from the observation that the circumstances at the border were a liminal, ‘in-between’, space in which migrants lived in limbo between leaving and arriving, and between cultures, life styles, and identities, we examined the implications for workers who experienced this environment by proxy, and how they developed a service infrastructure in these conditions. A horizontal, contribution working model emerged in the context of a strong bond between workers, shared human experience with camp residents, and powerful intrinsic motivation informed by a sense of duty to care. Implications for social work are discussed in the context of the profession’s search for clarity of its role in addressing grand global challenges, including forced migration.

Refusing Shame and Inertia: A Mobile Heterotopia in a Migrant Camp

Refusing Shame and Inertia: A Mobile Heterotopia in a Migrant Camp

Refusing Shame and Inertia

Abstract In this paper, mobile communication is examined in the context of forced migration from an affective perspective using the case study of an informal migrant camp that was established in 2015 at Budapest’s Keleti train station. Drawing on concepts of migration, affect and media, I examine various news reports and social media commentary about the camp as well as the makeshift Wi-Fi network that was established there in relation to Hungarian populist politics. I posit the station as a site of contestation between migrants, the Hungarian government and non-governmental actors that speaks to the politicisation of communication technology. The conclusion points to how mobile communication provides a way for forced migrants to create a heterotopic space in extreme conditions as the migrant community is affectively moored by media practices that enable feelings of familiarity and security. These practices not only constitute a kind of refuge for migrants but also offer a form of refusal, however small, towards the shaming and inertia they experience.