Looming struggles over technology for border control

Abstract

New technologies under development, capable of inflicting pain on masses of people, could be used for border control against asylum seekers. Implementation might be rationalized by the threat of mass migration due to climate change, nuclear disaster or exaggerated fears of refugees created by governments. We focus on taser anti-personnel mines, suggesting both technological countermeasures and ways of making the use of such technology politically counterproductive. We also outline several other types of non-lethal technology that could be used for border control and raise human rights concerns: high-powered microwaves, armed robots, wireless tasers, acoustic devices/vortex rings, ionizing and pulsed energy lasers, chemical calmatives, convulsants, bioregulators and malodurants. Whether all these possible border technologies will be implemented is a matter for speculation, but their serious human rights implications warrant advance scrutiny.     

“If you don’t ask … you don’t tell”: Refugee women’s perspectives on perinatal mental health screening

ProblemNational guidelines recommending mental health screening in pregnancy have not been implemented well in routine maternity care. Women of refugee background are likely to have experienced traumatic events and resettlement stressors, yet are not often identified with mental health issues in the perinatal period.BackgroundGlobally, perinatal mental health conditions affect up to 20% of women. Many difficulties in accessing mental health care in pregnancy exist for women of refugee background including stigma, and cultural and language barriers. Technology can provide an efficient and effective method to overcome some of these barriers.AimTo determine if a digital perinatal mental health screening program is feasible and acceptable for women of refugee background.MethodsThis qualitative evaluation study used focus group and semi-structured telephone interviews with refugee and migrant women from four communities. Interpreters were used with women who spoke little or no English. Data were analysed using both an inductive and deductive approach to thematic analysis.FindingsUnder the three key themes: ‘Women’s experiences of perinatal mental health screening in pregnancy’; ‘Barriers and enablers to accessing ongoing mental health care’ and ‘Improvements to the program: the development of audio versions’, women found the program feasible and acceptable.DiscussionScreening using a mobile device offered women more privacy and opened up discussions with midwives on emotional health. Improvements in service coordination and access to further mental health management for women is required.ConclusionPerinatal mental health screening is an acceptable and feasible option for women of refugee background. Integrated models of care, case management, and patient navigators are options for improvements in uptake of referral and treatment services.     

Patchwork of promises: A critical analysis of immigration policies for unaccompanied undocumented children in the United States

In 2014, the United States saw a greater than 50% increase in the number of unaccompanied children from Mexico and Central America arriving at the U.S./Mexico border, and unaccompanied children continue to migrate to the United States in consistent numbers. The dramatic increase of 2014 exposed gaps in policies aimed at supporting unaccompanied children as they await legal adjudication. This paper begins with a historic review of immigration policies in the United States aimed at supporting unaccompanied migrant children. An analytic review is provided of existing immigration policies in the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Refugee Resettlement, highlighting the competing paradigms created by missions of security‐focused policy versus child‐centred policy. A close examination of the values that influenced policy development in this area is included, along with a discussion of how social work practice can infuse elements of social justice into immigration policy reform. Areas for future research to reform immigration policy focused on supporting unaccompanied undocumented minors are highlighted.     

The social services response to unaccompanied children in England

In England, social services departments have a duty to provide care and protection to unaccompanied asylum seeking children from the point they arrive in the country. In recent years, research studies have identified a number of practice and policy issues of concern regarding the social services response to unaccompanied children. This paper focuses on three broad issues that emerge from the literature. The paper explores research concerns associated with (i) the referral and assessment process, (ii) the use of the child welfare legislative framework, and (iii) a number of issues arising from the provision of placements and other support offered to unaccompanied children. The findings of the research reviewed demonstrate that there are indeed clear grounds for concern. However, this paper argues that the evidence base is relatively weak and that as a result we know very little about the nature and context of the social work response to this group of children and young people.     

Social work with African refugee children and their families

This article explores the issues and dilemmas that arise when social workers attempt to work with African refugee and asylum seeking children and their families. There is a complex interplay between social workers’ skills and knowledge in this area and the prevailing social attitudes towards these groups of service users. By initially setting the context of mass movement of peoples from situations of danger in their countries of origin, the discussion highlights the key issues and shows the tensions of practice intervention in this area. Drawing on a small‐scale research study with social workers and discussions with immigration officers and workers in voluntary agencies working with refugees and asylum seekers, the article draws some conclusions about the lessons that can be learnt in order to improve practice.     

The Sound Of Silence: Listening to What Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children Say and Do Not Say

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are noted at times tobe silent or circumspect about their origins and circumstanceswhen faced with authority figures, including social workers.Using some key ideas from ethnography and narrative therapy,this article examines existing literature on silence in thelives of unaccompanied minors, and on how the choices they makeabout talking and not talking can hinder or facilitate resettlement.It then describes a small research study within which interviewswere undertaken with local authority social workers to elicittheir responses to unaccompanied minors in such circumstances.These revealed that practitioners understood the children’ssilence in varied ways, and that they could be practically helpful,therapeutically minded and reliable companions, accompanyingthe young people towards resettlement, with or without knowingthe detailed ‘truth’ about their past     

Asylum, children's rights and social work

Although it is only a minority of displaced and persecuted people globally who seek refuge in ‘Western’ countries, they meet an increasingly hostile reception. This paper focuses on the situation facing children seeking asylum with or without their families in Britain and Australia, and the implications for children's rights and for social work. The policy background and its racist foundations in both countries are outlined. Despite geopolitical differences, there are unnerving parallels. Legislative changes and policy complexity signal increasingly punitive attitudes towards asylum seekers. The situation of children and families in the community is discussed in terms of the exclusion of asylum seekers from basic rights, and specific issues for separated children. Even more damaging is the incarceration of children and families in detention centres, and the emerging research is explored. In both countries there is widespread flouting of children's rights, and children also feature as pawns in ideological contests. However, they also act autonomously and illustrate an inclusive model of citizenship. The role of social workers in the statutory and voluntary sectors is considered, and the paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges for social work of avoiding collusion with repressive policies and actively promoting human rights.     

PRODUCING EPISTEMOLOGIES OF IGNORANCE IN THE POLITICAL ASYLUM APPLICATION PROCESS 1

The granting of political asylum is implicated in other often competing agendas and discourses, including national security, the obligation to provide safe haven, the histories of past immigrants and asylum seekers, and the criminalization of people who cross borders illegally, for whatever motive. Political asylum serves two sometimes contradictory ends: protection of the state and refuge for the applicant. This contradiction is at the root of the production of ignorance in a process that overtly seeks to generate knowledge. Restricted access to knowledge is part of persecution both as a form of control, and in the classification of knowledge as illicit, covert, or traitorous. We examine the conditions for producing knowledge and ignorance in the political asylum process in which the stories presented by applicants are evaluated by bureaucrats to determine whether they are credible and whether they meet the criteria of a well-founded fear of return to the homeland. We discuss narratives told by both asylum seekers in the United States and the United Kingdom and those who help them through the asylum process.     

Refugees and asylum seekers living in the Australian community: the importance of work rights and employment support

While Australian legislation allows for the mandatory detention of asylum seekers arriving without a valid visa, in recent years the Australian Government has released thousands from immigration detention prior to their protection claims being finalised. This article outlines the results of interviews with eleven men who had been released into such community‐based arrangements after long periods of immigration detention. The major challenge for most of the men who had been granted the right to work upon their release was securing employment, while being denied the right to work was the major challenge for those released without this right. This article explores the social and personal benefits that employment can offer asylum seekers and refugees and the implications it has for integration into their host country.