Refugee Accommodation Research Articles

Surgical Health Needs of Minor Refugees in Germany: A Cross-Sectional Study.

There has been a substantial rise in refugees entering Germany over the past years, of which approximately one-third are underaged. Many end up in pediatric surgical care, and little is known about the health of these individuals. Our study was designed to assess the surgical-related health status of underage refugees based on a large sample cohort. After ethics board approval, we used a structured questionnaire to collect demographic information and surgical health-related elements in three large refugee accommodation centers. A total of 461 minor refugees were included. The majority were boys (54.5%) with an average age of 8 years. Out of the eight recorded countries of origin, most children came from Syria (33.6%) followed by Afghanistan (23.2%). Previous operative interventions were recorded in 42.2% of participants. Among girls, 11% suffered genital mutilation. Trauma was common and the most common mechanism was a fall from bicycle (38%) followed by burn injuries (7.4%). Up to 20% of them experienced physical violence during the flight or in the accommodation facility. Vaccination rates varied widely according to origin. Of the participants, only 63% were vaccinated according to schedule. Chronic diseases were found in only 13% of the study cohort, anemia being most prevalent at 4%. Minor refugees have specific health-related problems that must be considered to ensure appropriate medical care. Many refugee children were victims of physical violence and many girls suffered genital mutilation. Vaccination status is unreliable; therefore, tetanus vaccination should always be considered when these patients seek pediatric surgical care. Tailored anticipatory guidance should be provided to this patient population.

“Us and Them” – Approaching the Refugee Other? Cultural Anthropological Rethinking of the Fieldwork Experience in Slavonia

In this paper the author rethinks her experience of volunteering and interaction with refugees at border crossings, as well as in temporary accommodation centers, in Slavonia. The paper is mainly based on the author’s experience of participant observation conducted on several occasions between September and December of 2015, while volunteering for the Welcome Initiative. The author draws attention to the problems with two of the most common discourses on refugee crisis, securitization on the one hand, and humanitarianism on the other, which although seemingly diametrically opposed, share the very same starting point of refugees as radical Others. Furthermore, the last part of the paper deals with the question of power inscribed into the spaces of temporary accommodation of refugees. Here, the author argues that the spatial and functional organization of the temporary accommodation centers was not a coincidence, but was rather deliberately designed so that the power relations of those who managed and monitored over the centers, and those who temporarily stayed in them, remained clear at any time. humanitarian and securitarian discourse, Us-Them, approaching refugees, Slavonia

Finding Places: HCI Platform for Public Participation in Refugees’ Accommodation Process

This paper describes the conception, development and deployment of a novel HCI system for public participation and decision-making. This system was applied for the process of allocating refugee accommodation in the City of Hamburg within the FindingPlaces project (FP) in 2016. The CityScope (CS) – a rapid prototyping platform for urban planning and decision-making – offered a technical solution which was complemented by a workshop process to facilitate effective interaction of multiple participants and stakeholder groups. This paper presents the origins of CS and the evolution of the tangible user interface approach to urban planning and public participation. It further outlines technical features of the system, including custom hardware and software in use, utilization in real-time as well as technical constraints and limitations. Special focus is on the adaptation of the CS technology to the specific demands of Hamburg´s FP project, whose procedures, processes, and results are reflected. The final section analyzes success factors as well as shortcomings of the approach, and indicates further R&D as well as application scenarios for the CS.

One-sided Violence in Refugee-hosting Areas

Previous research demonstrates that refugee populations can threaten the security of receiving countries. This study, in contrast, seeks to examine the physical security challenges refugees face in host states. It utilizes a new, geographically referenced data set on subcountry refugee demographics to test the hypothesis that locations home to larger refugee populations are more likely to experience one-sided attacks by conflict actors. Results demonstrate that refugee accommodation is a significant predictor of one-sided violence in Africa. In particular, combatants commit significantly more acts of violence against civilians in locations home to larger numbers of self-settled refugees compared to other locations. These findings suggest that scholars and practitioners account for possible dangers presented by refugee flows and threats to refugees simultaneously.

Endless Escape: From Syria to Turkey, Then to Europe

AbstractThis article provides a critical analysis of the state of services that refugees – specifically Syrians – encounter in Turkey after they have fled their home countries but before they set out for Western Europe. Highlighting both the legislation passed by the state and the work conducted by non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) on the issues of accommodation, health care, education, and employment of refugees in Turkey, this article depicts the legal and actual situation in Turkey, which exacerbates the desire to get to Western Europe.

Sexual and gender-based violence against refugee women: a hidden aspect of the refugee "crisis"

The current refugee “crisis” in Europe has created multiple forms of vulnerability and insecurity for refugee women including various forms of sexual and gender-based violence. Increasing numbers of women, either alone or with family, are attempting to reach Europe to seek protection from conflict and violence in their countries, but these women are subject to violence during their journey and/or on arrival in a destination country. The lack of adequate accommodation or reception facilities for refugees and migrants in Europe, as well as the closure of borders which has increased the need for smugglers to help them reach Europe, acts to exacerbate the violence and insecurity.

Exposure to Refugees and Voting for the Far-Right: (Unexpected) Results from Austria

An important concern about the surge in the number of arriving refugees in Europe is increased support for far-right, nationalist, anti-immigration parties. This paper studies a natural experiment in an Austrian state to identify the causal effect of exposure to refugees in the neighborhood on the support for the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPOE). In the state elections in September 2015 the FPOE doubled its vote share with a fierce anti-asylum campaign. Since only 42 percent of Upper Austrian communities hosted refugees at the time of the election, direct exposure to refugees varied at the local level. To account for the potential endogeneity in the distribution of refugees, I use pre-existing group accommodations as instrumental variable. To cope with the sudden inflow of large numbers of refugees, these buildings were used for refugee accommodation and thus strongly increase the probability of refugee presence in the community. In line with the contact hypothesis I find that hosting refugees in the community dampens the positive overall trend and decreases FPOE support by 4.42 percentage points in state elections. Further analysis using exit poll data reveals a positive effect on the optimism in the population that the integration of refugees can be managed. Placebo tests show that there were no effects in elections prior to 2015.

Refugee Geography and the Diffusion of Armed Conflict in Africa

Why are refugee populations associated with the spread of conflict? Do refugees upset local dynamics by increasing the mobilization opportunities of rebels? Work on rebel motivation predicts that the strategic impact of a location influences armed actors' decisions to fight there; thus, I identify two strategic aspects of refugee geography which may influence where conflict takes place in the host country – refugee mass and refugee accommodation type. I examine the influence of these factors using a new, disaggregated dataset on refugees in 26 African countries engaged in armed conflict during the period 2000–2010.

No longer tracking greenery in high altitudes: Pastoral practices of Rupshu nomads and their implications for biodiversity conservation

Nomadic pastoralism has thrived in Asia’s rangelands for several millennia by tracking seasonal changes in forage productivity and coping with a harsh climate. This pastoralist lifestyle, however, has come under intense transformations in recent decades due to socio-political and land use changes. One example is of the high-altitude trans-Himalayan rangelands of the Jammu and Kashmir State in northern India: major socio-political reorganisation over the last five decades has significantly impacted the traditional pasture use pattern and resources. We outline the organizational transformations and movement patterns of the Rupshu pastoralists who inhabit the region. We demonstrate the changes in terms of intensification of pasture use across the region as well as a social reorganisation due to accommodation of Tibetan refugees following the Sino-Indian war in 1961 to 1962. We focus in particular on the Tso Kar basin - an important socio-ecological system of livestock herding and biodiversity in the eastern Ladakh region. The post-war developmental policies of the government have contributed to these modifications in traditional pasture use and present a threat to the rangelands as well as to the local biodiversity. In the Tso Kar basin, the number of households and livestock has almost doubled while pasture area has declined by half. These changes have potentially negative consequences for the long-term resilience of nomadic pastoralism as well as for the survival of rare local wildlife. To increase the pastoralist standard of living, having fewer pastoralists may be the only solution, and alternative livelihood options may bring this about. Development programmes should concentrate on enhancing opportunities for herders so that there is a greater diversity of employment opportunities and potentially better chances for the persistence of biodiversity.

東日本大震災における高齢者施設の被災と事業継続の実態に関する研究

The aim of this study is to clarify the damages and the Business Continuity caused by The Great East Japan Earthquake about facilities for the elderly through visiting and interview survey. The results are as follows; 1) Residents in community-based facilities evacuated from tsunami were using cars. Those in large-scale facilities evacuated to the upper floors using the staircases being carried by care staff. 2) Residents in facilities, their rooms' windows or sprinklers were broken caused by the earthquake, were forced to evacuate to another floors or buildings. 3) Even in the facilities with no or less damaged, the care system had to be changed and the residents were forced to move to another room in the same facilities for a certain period of time. This was caused for providing accommodation for refugees in the area, lifeline cutoff and staff shortages.

Creative Design on Portable Emergent Building after Earthquake

Following with the Wenchuan Earthquake of 2008 in China, the Haiti Earthquake of 2010 and so forth, a series of geologic hazards occur all around the world, and they are becoming more disastrous. Measures should be taken to prevent and reduce the disasters; however, providing accommodation for the refugees is an emergent issue after earthquake as well. Compared with the traditional temporary dwellings, the newly designed ones, whose properties, as contingent, portable, functional, humanized and periodical, can meet all needs in the new environment. The authors conduct a careful research on the design of this temporary dwelling, and later strengthen and develop its portable advantage in order to provide new choice for the accommodation for the refugees and other applications in future.

Competing Priorities, Ambiguous Loyalties: Challenges of Socioeconomic Adaptation and National Inclusion of the Interwar Bulgarian Refugees

From the estimated ten million refugees in interwar Europe, more than 250,000 were ethnic Bulgarians who found their way in the Bulgarian Kingdom following Bulgarian defeats in the Second Balkan War and World War One. For a country with a population of five and a half million in the mid-1920s, this refugee flow constituted a significant challenge from economic, political, social, and cultural viewpoints. Similarly to Germany, Hungary, and Austria, the refugee presence served as a constant reminder of national failure because Bulgaria lost territories, perceived as a part of the national homeland, to all of its neighbors. The Bulgarian state received refugees from the Ottoman Empire, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Romania, and the interwar governments were compelled to deal with a large and diverse population that suffered harsh socioeconomic problems and psychological traumas. Due to the Convention for Emigration of Minorities between Greece and Bulgaria of 1919 as well as the Greek-Turkish War of 1921–1922 and the obligatory population exchange it initiated in the period 1922–1924, refugee flows in the Balkans lasted well into the mid-1920s. Hence Bulgarians were on the move throughout 1924 and 1925. Despite these strenuous circumstances, interwar politicians boasted the successful integration of the refugees. Immediately after World War One, the government provided temporary assistance to the newcomers. In 1926, an international loan allowed the agricultural settlement of the most destitute new arrivals, and all refugees were granted the rights of Bulgarian citizens. A second loan in 1928 guaranteed the continuation of vital infrastructure projects. By the end of the 1930s, both domestic and international agencies involved in the refugee accommodation viewed the process as a successfully completed mission.