Technologies of control: Asylum seeker and volunteer experiences in Australian immigration detention facilities

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Peterie
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Volunteer Experiences ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Detention Facilities

This article documents the experiences of volunteer visitors to Australia’s onshore immigration detention facilities, and considers what they reveal about the operation of power within this detention network. While immigration detention systems (including Australia’s) have received considerable academic attention in recent years, few scholars have examined the experiences of volunteers. Further, while the existing scholarship points to the negative impacts of immigration detention on detainees, the question of how these outcomes are produced at the level of daily institutional life has gone largely unanswered. The testimonies presented here provide a valuable window onto daily life in Australia’s onshore immigration detention centres, highlighting the opaque and capricious mechanisms through which they produce emotional distress in both asylum seekers and their supporters. In documenting these mechanisms and their effects, this article shows how ‘deterrence’ is enacted through the small and seemingly innocuous details of institutional life.

scholarly journals Asylum Seekers Living in the Australian Community: A Casework and Reception Approach, Asylum Seeker Project, Hotham Mission, Melbourne

Refuge ◽  
2004 ◽  
pp. 119-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grant Mitchell ◽  
Sara Kirsner
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Viable Alternative ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Mode Of Entry ◽  
The Status ◽  
Australian Community

In Australia, asylum seekers either are detained in immigration detention centres or, depending upon their mode of entry into Australia and the status of their application for protection, live in the community, often in a state of abject poverty. Hotham Mission’s Asylum Seeker Project (ASP), a Melbourne-based non-governmental organization (NGO), is unique in Australia in its comprehensive work in housing and supporting asylum seekers in the community, particularly those released from detention. The work of the Asylum Seeker Project illustrates that it is possible, through the application of a comprehensive reception casework system, to adequately support asylum seekers in the community with their welfare needs and to prepare asylum seekers for all immigration outcomes. The Project thus provides a compassionate model of reception support and a viable alternative to immigration detention.

scholarly journals Australian Media and Islamophobia: Representations of Asylum Seeker Children

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tejaswini Vishwanath Patil ◽  
Helen Jacqueline McLaren
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Australian Society ◽  
Media Reporting ◽  
Muslim Children ◽  
Risk Framing

Australian media invests considerable attention in asylum seekers and their children, especially those arriving by boat. In this paper, we provide an analysis of Australian newsprint media published during the term of Australia’s Gillard’s government (2010–2013). This period is critical as it coincides with rising numbers of boat arrivals to Australian shores, fear towards Muslims, and growing Islamophobia. At the time, there were government promises to move children from offshore immigration detention into community-based detention, that would involve living among mainstream Australian society. A data set of 46 articles from major Australian newspapers articles was subject to a discourse analysis of representations of children in both the written texts and in silences. Manipulative tactics of ‘risk framing’ and ‘dispersed intentionality’ were identified as discursive acts aimed to confuse compassion and deviancy with respect to asylum seeker children presumed to be from Islamic backgrounds. We argue that this was achieved through binary characterizations in which Muslim parents and people smugglers were constructed as deviant alongside intentional silences, that may have otherwise elicited compassion for asylum seeker children. We propose that this period of media reporting is foundational to understanding the rise of Islamophobic discourses and the implication of Muslim children in Australia.

scholarly journals The People’s Inquiry into Detention: Social work activism for asylum seeker rights

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 100-114
Author(s):  
Linda Briskman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Movements ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Professional Groups ◽  
Professional Advocacy ◽  
Policies And Practices

In 2008, findings from the People’s Inquiry into Detention were published as Human Rights Overboard: Seeking Asylum in Australia. The People’s Inquiry, led by social work academics in Australia, exposed injustices within Australia’s privatised detention network for asylum seekers and interrogated policies and practices that ensued since mandatory immigration detention was introduced by legislation in 1992. With reference to the global context, the article presents a snapshot of policies and practices revealed by the People’s Inquiry that were considered antithetical to human rights and discusses this extensive undertaking within a broader context of asylum seeker social movements and professional advocacy endeavours that continue as harsh policies escalate. The article speaks to the resilience of the asylum seeker movement, often against the odds, a movement that includes responsive and tenacious professional groups.

Escaping accountability: a case of Australia’s asylum seeker policy

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 947-984 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken McPhail ◽  
Robert Ochoki Nyamori ◽  
Savitri Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Policy Network ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Private Corporations ◽  
The Way

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to address two questions: first, what contracts, instruments and accounting activities constitute Australia’s offshore asylum seeker processing policy in practice? Second, how are notions of legitimacy and accountability mediated through the network constituted by this policy? Design/methodology/approach – The paper is located in the critical interpretivist approach to accounting research. It is based on an exhaustive documentary analysis. Policy documents, contract documents, records of parliamentary inquiries (Hansard) and legislation were analysed drawing on a network policy perspective. Findings – The paper finds that the Australian Government has sought to escape its accountability obligations by employing a range of approaches. The first of these approaches is the construction of a network involving foreign states, private corporations and non-government organizations. The second is through a watered down accountability regime and refusal to be accountable for the day-to-day life of asylum seekers in offshore processing centres through a play with the meaning of “effective control”. Yet while the policy network seems designed to create accountability gaps, the requirement within the network to remain financially accountable undermines the governments claims not to be responsible for the conditions in the detention camps. Research limitations/implications – The paper focuses largely on the period starting from when Kevin Rudd became Prime Minister to the death in Papua New Guinea of asylum seeker Reza Barati on 17 February 2014. Earlier periods are beyond the scope of this paper. Practical implications – The paper will result in the identification of deficiencies inhuman rights accountability for extra-territorialized and privatised immigration detention and may contribute towards the formulation of effective policy recommendations to overcome such deficiencies. The paper also provides empirical data on, and academic understanding of, immigration detention outsourcing and offshoring. Social implications – The paper will inform debate regarding treatment of unauthorized maritime arrivals and asylum seekers generally. Originality/value – The paper provides the first detailed and full understanding of the way Australia’s offshore asylum seeker processing policy is practiced. The paper also provides an empirical analysis of the way national policy and its associated accountability mechanisms emerge in response to the competing legitimacy claims of the international community and national electorate.

scholarly journals Learning to Detain Asylum Seekers and the Growth of Mass Immigration Detention in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Smita Ghosh ◽  
Mary Hoopes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Cognitive Dissonance ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
The United States ◽  
Critical Component ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Important Shift

Drawing upon an analysis of congressional records and media coverage from 1981 to 1996, this article examines the growth of mass immigration detention. It traces an important shift during this period: while detention began as an ad hoc executive initiative that was received with skepticism by the legislature, Congress was ultimately responsible for entrenching the system over objections from the agency. As we reveal, a critical component of this evolution was a transformation in Congress’s perception of asylum seekers. While lawmakers initially decried their detention, they later branded them as dangerous. Lawmakers began describing asylum seekers as criminals or agents of infectious diseases in order to justify their detention, which then cleared the way for the mass detention of arriving migrants more broadly. Our analysis suggests that they may have emphasized the dangerousness of asylum seekers to resolve the dissonance between their theoretical commitments to asylum and their hesitance to welcome newcomers. In addition to this distinctive form of cognitive dissonance, we discuss a number of other implications of our research, including the ways in which the new penology framework figured into the changing discourse about detaining asylum seekers.

scholarly journals “Do you understand (me)?” negotiating mutual understanding by using gaze and environmentally coupled gestures between two deaf signing participants

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Sivunen ◽  
Elina Tapio
Keyword(s):  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
The State ◽  
Mutual Understanding ◽  
Multimodal Analysis ◽  
Semiotic Resources ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Language Competencies ◽  
Unrealistic Expectations ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractIn this paper we explore the use of multimodal and multilingual semiotic resources in interactions between two deaf signing participants, a researcher and an asylum seeker. The focus is on the use of gaze and environmentally coupled gestures. Drawing on multimodal analysis and linguistic ethnography, we demonstrate how gaze and environmentally coupled gestures are effective semiotic resources for reaching mutual understanding. The study provides insight into the challenges and opportunities (deaf) asylum seekers, researchers, and employees of reception centres or the state may encounter because of the asymmetrical language competencies. Our concern is that such asymmetrical situations may be created and maintained by ignoring visual and embodied resources in interaction and, in the case of deaf asylum seekers, by unrealistic expectations towards conventionalized forms of international sign.

scholarly journals Coronavirus and Immigration Detention in Europe: The Short Summer of Abolitionism?

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 226
Author(s):  
José A. Brandariz ◽  
Cristina Fernández-Bessa
Keyword(s):  
Late Summer ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Immigration Enforcement ◽  
Racial Justice ◽  
Immigration Detention ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Detention Facilities ◽  
Unexpected Consequences

In managing the coronavirus pandemic, national authorities worldwide have implemented significant re-bordering measures. This has even affected regions that had dismantled bordering practices decades ago, e.g., EU areas that lifted internal borders in 1993. In some national cases, these new arrangements had unexpected consequences in the field of immigration enforcement. A number of European jurisdictions released significant percentages of their immigration detention populations in spring 2020. The Spanish administration even decreed a moratorium on immigration detention and closed down all detention facilities from mid-spring to late summer 2020. The paper scrutinises these unprecedented changes by examining the variety of migration enforcement agendas adopted by European countries and the specific forces contributing to the prominent detention decline witnessed in the first months of the pandemic. Drawing on the Spanish case, the paper reflects on the potential impact of this promising precedent on the gradual consolidation of social and racial justice-based migration policies.

scholarly journals Exploring the Use of Hip Hop-Based Music Therapy to Address Trauma in Asylum Seeker and Unaccompanied Minor Migrant Youth

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Salih Gulbay
Keyword(s):  
Music Therapy ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Therapeutic Interventions ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Intervention Models ◽  
Migrant Youth ◽  
Trauma Informed

There are numerous young asylum seekers and unaccompanied migrant minors around the globe. A comprehensive literature review revealed that post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the most common disorder that affects the asylum seeker youth and migrant minor populations. Many of these individuals struggle with PTSD and show resilience in their daily lives while also learning, discovering, and surviving. Accordingly, therapeutic interventions directed to them must be trauma-informed, phased, engaging, empowering, and impactful to support the needs of these young people. A seven-month-long music therapy intervention experience that was applied to young asylum seekers in Spain, and found that the most effective intervention tools were Hip Hop Therapy-related interventions. This study resulted in a new intervention model, The Integral Hip Hop Methodology. This paper highlights the importance that intervention models be engaging and considerate to the necessities and preferences of the addressed population and presents The Integral Hip Hop Methodology as an example.

scholarly journals Lay therapist delivered low intensity psychosocial intervention for refugees and asylum seekers (PROSPER): protocol for a pilot randomised controlled trial.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Rawlinson ◽  
Rabeea’h Aslam ◽  
Girvan Burnside ◽  
Anna Chiumento ◽  
Malena Eriksson-Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Psychosocial Intervention ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Asylum Seekers And Refugees

Abstract Background Asylum seekers and refugees (AS&Rs) experience impaired mental health and wellbeing, related to stresses in their country of origin, experiences in transit and reception on arrival, including significant barriers to accessing mainstream services. Their contact with healthcare is often crisis-driven and mediated through non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Problem Management Plus (PM+) is a psychosocial intervention recommended by the World Health Organization to address distress experienced by adults affected by humanitarian crises. We are investigating its application for the first time in a high income country. Methods In a pilot randomised controlled trial, PM+ will be delivered to AS&Rs in contact with NGOs in Liverpool City Region, UK, by lay therapists who have lived experience of forced migration. Following systematic review and stakeholder engagement, PM+ has been adapted to the local context, and lay therapists have been trained in its delivery. We will assess the feasibility of conducting a three-arm RCT of five 90-minute sessions of PM+, delivered individually or in groups by lay therapists to AS&Rs experiencing emotional distress and functional impairment, compared with each other and with usual support offered by local NGOs. Distress and impairment at baseline will be measured by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and WHO Disability Assessment Schedule (WHO-DAS). We aim to recruit 105 participants, 35 per arm. Primary health outcomes are anxiety and depressive symptoms at 3 months, measured by HADS. Secondary outcomes include subjective wellbeing, functional status, progress on identified problems, post-traumatic stress disorder, depressive disorder and service usage. Longer term impact will be assessed at 6-months post baseline, on the same parameters. We will assess the feasibility of conducting a full RCT in relation to the following elements: recruitment and retention of lay therapists and study participants; fidelity of delivery of PM+; and suitability of the study measures, including any linguistic or cultural barriers. Discussion We will use these findings to specify the parameters for a full randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of PM+ in reducing emotional distress and health inequalities, and improving functional ability and wellbeing, amongst asylum seekers and refugees.

scholarly journals Body Politics: Positioning the Pregnant Researcher Amongst Asylum Seekers

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
Ailbhe Kenny
Keyword(s):  
Music Education ◽  
Asylum Seeker ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Body Politics ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Trust Relationships ◽  
The People ◽  
High Level

AbstractResearcher positionality has gained increased attention in recent years, and music education is following suit. Carrying out research that addresses diversity in music education demands a high level of reflexivity and a problematising of one’s own position as researcher. This chapter offers critical insights into the complexity of such a positioning and how research practices might reflect, confirm and/or disrupt the existing ‘body politic’ that our bodies signify. Researcher positionality is here examined in terms of pregnancy within a research project based at an asylum seeker accommodation centre. Applying a Butlerian lens to the examination, the chapter uncovers how the researcher’s pregnant body was ‘performed’ and became the main focus of ‘recognition’ amongst the people encountered at the centre. These processes of ‘performing’ and being ‘recognised’ as a ‘pregnant researcher’ manifested in various ways such as gaining access, credibility, trust, relationships, ethical considerations and power. Thus, the chapter opens a space to reflect critically on researcher positionality and specifically its influence on the research process in sites that seek to understand diversity in music education.

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