Paraprofessionals in Refugee Resettlement

The increased demands of refugee resettlement have directed attention to the role and function of indigenous paraprofessionals, who share a common background experience with the client population. With training and supervision, such paraprofessionals can bridge cultural and linguistic barriers, and serve as role models. This article examines this topic from the experience of the recent Soviet Jewish refugee resettlement program in Boston.     

Žumberak: A Sixteenth-Century Refugee Settlement Zone

This article examines the movement of Orthodox Christian refugees from Bosnia to the Habsburg Monarchy in the 1530s and their settlement in a district called ?umberak. The movement of these Uskoks has never been examined in the context of refugee studies. This study of a refugee movement and settlement over a five-century period offers the possibility of reaching a better understanding of the long-term outcome of refugee movements. Ultimately, this article suggests that the refugees affected the land they settled as much as the settlement zone affected them, and that, in this case, the refugees were able to define their own outcome.     

Democratizing the Refugee Regime Complex

This article considers how civil society organizations (CSOs) may be understood in relation to the global refugee regime complex. It describes how several leading scholars have conceptualized refugee/internally displaced person (IDP) governance and explores how the neoliberal cognitive frame is impeding the possibility of democratic agency among IDPs/refugees. It argues that CSOs can play essential roles in encouraging democratization of the refugee regime complex by working to reshape their prevailing frame or orientation. Civil society organizations can also work to foster critical reflexivity among the parties that govern refugees and within that population as well. As an example of one such effort, the article employs Fraser’s (Scales of justice: reimagining political space in a globalizing world. Columbia University Press, New York, 2010) democratization framework in a brief case analysis of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Deshodaya initiative in Sri Lanka that has sought to enable IDPs in that nation to embrace critical reflexivity to reimagine themselves as governing agents who can redefine state and international organization-based definitions of refugee protection. Overall, the analysis suggests that civil society organizations can act successfully and intentionally to open democratic spaces in which refugees/IDPs may find possibilities to exercise their innate agential possibility.     

Constructing Humanitarian Selves and Refugee Others

Contributing to ongoing debates about what happens when feminism is institutionalized in global governance, this article examines how gender equality is given meaning and applied in humanitarian aid to refugees, and what the implications are with regard to the production of subjectivities and their positioning in relations of power. Drawing on Foucauldian and postcolonial feminist perspectives, the analysis identifies two main representations of what it means to promote gender equality in refugee situations. Gender equality is represented as a means to aid effectiveness through the strategic mobilization of refugee women's participation, and as a project of development, involving the transformation of “traditional” or “backward” refugee cultures into modern societies. The subject positions that are produced categorically cast refugees as either passive or problematic subjects who need to be rescued, protected, assisted, activated, controlled and reformed through humanitarian interventions, while humanitarian workers are positioned as rational administrators and progressive agents of social transformation. In effect, gender equality is used to sustain power asymmetries in refugee situations and to reproduce global hierarchies.     

Refugee integration and social media: a local and experiential perspective

The refugee crisis has spurred the rapid development of creative technology and social media applications to tackle the problem of refugee integration in Europe. In this article, a qualitative study with 18 refugees from Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan is presented in order to investigate the uses and purposes of social media associated to the different areas of refugee integration in the Netherlands. The results indicate that social media networking sites were particularly relevant for refugee participants to acquire language and cultural competences, as well as to build both bonding and bridging social capital. Another important finding concerns the role of government, host society and the agency of refugee actors in determining the way refugees experience social media. Building on these results, a theoretical model for analyzing refugee integration through social media is demonstrated.     

Factors Affecting Australia's Refugee Policy: The Case of the Kosovars

This article seeks to explain Australia's refugee policy and to identify the various objectives and factors that influence the development of that policy.
Australia's refugee programme seeks to: provide a humanitarian response and protection to individual refugees; participate responsibly in the international community; honour its Convention obligations; further the interests of the people of Australia; meet high standards of administration and; acknowledge as much as possible changes in refugee populations.
In fulfilling these objectives, Australian governments must weigh and balance various competing factors. These include: humanitarian responsibility, international obligations, social, political, economic and foreign policy factors, as well as efficient administration.
In balancing the relative importance of these factors, the Federal government hopes to fulfil all its refugee and humanitarian objectives. However, the pluralistic nature of Australian society and the often conflicting ideals associated with protection of Australia's interests and the preservation of the rights of refugees, means that fulfilment of these objectives is difficult.
This article examines the Australian government's response to the Kosovar conflict, to assess the relative success Australia had in fulfilling its refugee policy objectives and identifying the various factors that produced the final result.     

Lessons Learned from Programs for Unaccompanied Refugee Minors

SUMMARY

A policy for priority admissions and subsequent care of unaccompanied refugee entrant minors was established in 1978 in response to the influx of Southeast Asian refugee minors. This article describes the child welfare system's response and workers' experiences in meeting the needs of this population. Lessons learned can be applied to permanency planning for children from varying cultural backgrounds.     

Schools and Refugee Children: The Case of Syrians in Turkey

Education is the most effective tool for migrant and refugee integration. When successfully provided, it is particularly useful for eradicating the traces of trauma among refugee children, offering means to social mobility and enhancing social and structural integration into society. This article introduces schooling options for Syrian children in Turkey and deals with how school types shape experiences of these students through the accounts of their parents with attention to the notion of institutional habitus. Drawing on a comparative qualitative case study of refugee children in Temporary Education Centres and Public Schools in Turkey, it specifically investigates how schools with their practices, organization, and regulations contribute to or hinder the integration and adaptation of Syrian refugee children to school and society in Turkey.     

Culture,Structure, and the Refugee Experience in Somali Immigrant Family Transformation

This analysis suggests a theoretical refinement of migrant acculturation theories to deal specifically with refugee acculturation experiences. Using the case of family dynamics among Somali refugees in Minnesota, we find that the same factors that are theorized to affect voluntary migrants are also important for refugees. Specifically, the nature of exit from the sending society, the reception in a new location, and group characteristics all appear to be important. However, within the category of exit from the sending society, there are specific concerns that will be more relevant to refugees than to “voluntary” migrants. Specifically, the ongoing condition of the sending society and the effects of any transitions on transnational ties are critically important in the refugee context. We demonstrate how the societal upheaval that created the Somali refugee community also affected culture and connections within Somalia, and how this has an ongoing impact on the US Somali refugee community. We argue that it is valuable to refine the acculturation framework when considering refugees.     

Refugee Women in Europe: Some Aspects of the Legal and Policy Dimensions

This article presents an overview of the legal and policy issues affecting refugee and asylum-seeking women in European host societies. First, it explores the unique types of persecution experienced by women and shows that the asylum determination process, along with the status of women relative to men, mitigates against the effective protection of women. The legal basis for asylum, the evidential requirements and the procedural norms all reduce the protection which is likely to be conferred upon asylum-seeking women. Second, the article provides an overview of responses to female refugees and asylum-seekers in European countries of asylum. Although there are differences between countries, there is also a large degree of uniformity. For example, there is a lack of recognition and understanding of the diversity and the range of experiences which refugees bring with them, including different social and cultural norms. Moreover, European policies do not provide special provisions to facilitate the settlement of refugee women and instead place barriers to their social and economic participation. Third, the article examines policies for family reunion in different countries and shows that such unfavourable and unsympathetic policies mitigate against the settlement of refugee women. Finally, the article argues that if refugee and asylum-seeking women are to have their cases recognized and to be successfully settled, then there needs to be a complete rethink of legislation and policy in Europe.     

Fifty Years of Refugee Studies: From Theory to Policy

This article reviews the growth of the field of refugee studies, focusing on its links with, and impact on, refugee policy. The last fifty years, and especially the last two decades, have witnessed both a dramatic increase in academic work on refugees and significant institutional development in the field. It is argued that these institutions have developed strong links with policymakers, although this has often failed to translate into significant policy impacts. Areas in which future policy‐orientated work might be developed are considered.     

Negotiating Boundaries of Refugee Resettlement: A Study of Settlement Patterns and Social Support*

This article analyses aspects of the bureaucratie process of negotiating placement and social support by and for resettled refugees in Canada. Theoretical issues addressed include refugee resilience and effects of power structures on migrant networks. The article describes a qualitative study of underlying reasons for government‐assisted refugee secondary migration to Ontario. The study demonstrates that refugees seek social support by moving from initial settlement sites to join extended family and analyses how the resettlement bureaucracy, driven by political as well as humanitarian interests, attempts to control the process, in contradiction to refugees' preferences. The negotiation of placement and definitions of relevant social supports by bureaucrats and refugees are discussed. In conclusion, greater attention to refugee self‐determination is suggested to improve settlement outcomes.     

Refugee resettlement: models in action

"A model of refugee resettlement containing two axes is proposed: volume of refugee intake and emphasis on economic or cultural adaptation." The refugee resettlement practices of Canada, France, and the United States are then described. The author notes that France and Canada favor a moderate intake of refugees with emphasis on economic adaptation, although the emphasis in Quebec is on cultural adaptation. In contrast, the United States accepts a large volume of refugees, with a similar emphasis on economic adaptation.     

The Adultification of Refugee Children

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of a study that examines the social and emotional adjustment of adultified Cuban refugee children from the 1994-1995 Guantanamo wave. It also discusses how changes in family roles affect intergenerational relations and family well-being, and how the migration and resettlement experience affects parent/child roles and disrupts the refugee family.     

Resilient and Self‐reliant Life: South Sudanese Refugees Imagining Futures in the Adjumani Refugee Setting,Uganda

Resilience and self‐reliance have become central in humanitarian responses to refugee situations. Based on a two‐year longitudinal qualitative study, this article explores how South Sudanese refugee youngsters in Uganda imagine and act towards their futures, and questions what resilience and self‐reliance can mean in the temporary space of the refugee camp. Youngsters need to become accustomed to a future without substantial progress, or be ready to play the game of chance. As such, a resilience and self‐reliance policy not only reveals the powerlessness of refugee youth, but also the limits of a humanitarian project to seek actual solutions to refugee situations.     

Refugee movements and Turkey

There has been a long tradition in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic of receiving refugees. There were Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, Hungarians and Poles fleeing revolts in 1848-9, and those of Turkish descent and usually from the Balkans. Concurrent with this trend is the history of refugees and immigrants leaving Turkey, such as many Armenians, Greeks and Jews leaving at the turn of the century, and after 1923 and the Treaty of Lausanne. Little is currently published on the topic. This article defines a refugee; provides an overview of the refugee problems of the 1980's due to Bulgarian, Kurdish, and Turkish refugees; and the legal and political aspects. As a country of origin, there is discussion of the political and economic aspects of Turkish asylum seekers in Europe. The potential refugee flows to and from Turkey are also examined. I) For this study, refugees are victims of political violence and are persecuted for political or religious beliefs, ethnic or racial background, or war. In Turkey, there are national refugees, international refugees outside the Convention, and UNHCR Convention refugees. During the 1980's all 3 groups were arriving: from eastern Europe, Iranian Kurds, Iraqis, and ethnic Turks from Bulgaria and Afghanistan. The Turkish restricted acceptance of the 1951 Convention on Refugees creates serious humanitarian and security consequences for refugees other than those from eastern Europe and of Turkish ethnicity. Political considerations play an important role in treatment where security threats outweigh humanitarian need. The case is given for Kurdish refugees. II) Asylum seekers from Turkey in Western Europe was determined between 1986-90 to be 185,000 from applications. These figures have risen steadily due to the political instability and military activity of areas bordering Iraq and Syria, the Emergency Region. In addition there are economic and employment problems, and there has been a suspension of human rights. Europe in return has tightened legislation and procedures to differentiate economically motivated refugees from authentic political asylum seekers. Further research is needed to investigate refugee problems. Further refugees may come due to the promotion of a Black Sea Cooperation Region and easier crossings of borders to the former Soviet Republics. Ethnic Turks in Moldavia or Romania or Bulgaria may leave due to unrest. Factors affecting asylum seekers are improvements in Turkey's human rights record, repeal of bans of the Kurdish language, completion of the South Eastern Development Project, and the European government policy on asylum.     

A Theoretical Understanding of Refugee Trauma

The effects of trauma on refugees are long-lasting, both physically and mentally. The primary objective of this paper is to broaden the scope of theoretical knowledge on refugee trauma by building on refugee, Post-Colonial, Trauma and Feminist theories, and emphasizing refugee trauma as a consequence of multiple historical, social and political constraints which are embedded in the personal experiences of refugees. By incorporating these various theories, the author proposes an integrated model to aid service providers in identifying the various trauma factors associated with refugees, as well as to facilitate the development of efficient service delivery mechanisms for this population.     

Refugee resettlement,social media and the social organization of difference

Social media platforms allow refugees separated by distance to share information, provide support and exchange resources across borders. This connection has the potential to transform resettlement experiences as people maintain significant and ongoing relationships with transnational networks. Yet, since refugee resettlement programmes generally only scale up to the national imagination, integration remains a normative framework in most policy spheres. This article presents a 12‐month digital ethnography of 15 refugees settled in New Zealand with a view to examining their transnational practices of social media and its influence on integration and belonging. Drawing on a conceptual framework based on the social organization of difference, it contains a discussion on how online global networks increasingly inform the domains of encounters, representations and configurations. The role of social media for refugee resettlement futures and its implications for integration at times of rapid political, technological and social change concludes the article.     

New Big Men: Refugee Emasculation as a Human Security Issue

Academics and policymakers have conducted a significant amount of research on the physical security and integrity of refugee populations, especially of refugee women and children. That on refugee women has focused on gender‐based violence. This study expands on previous research by employing a human security approach to analyse not only the physical security and integrity of refugees, but also their socio‐psychological well‐being. Specifically, I argue that poor socio‐psychological well‐being actually explains the manifestations of violence against women in refugee camps. To make this argument, I document and explain the emasculation of Burundian refugee men living in Kanembwa camp in western Tanzania.     

Posttraumatic Psychological Distress and Resettlement: The Need for a Different Practice in Assisting Refugee Families

Social work practitioners are increasingly confronted with couples and families who have come from war-torn countries. Refugees may have experienced genocide, organized violence, ethnic wars, displacement, and losses of various kinds. Such experiences will often be carried through the post-migratory period and obscure legitimate individual and family processes that are often evaluated through a psychopathology lens. In this context, there is a pressing need to be attentive to refugee situations around the world and to issues related to forced migration and its impact on families. In an attempt to fill the gap in the literature on intervention with refugee families, this article presents two of the most compelling aspects of the refugee experience that can have a lasting impact on families and couples: premigration traumatic events and their potential impact on the refugee resettlement experience, and postmigration social and psychological experiences. The concept of “trauma” is presented within the context of resettlement of asylum seekers and refugees. Key stressors documented as having an impact on the long-term well-being of individuals, families, and communities who have been touched by war and conflict are outlined. Multiple-family group intervention is discussed as one of the promising approaches for helping families cope with pre- and postmigration trauma.