Is there a rural penalty in language acquisition? Evidence from Germany’s refugee allocation policy

Emerging evidence has highlighted the important role of local contexts on integration trajectories of asylum seekers and refugees. Germany’s policy of randomly allocating asylum seekers across Germany may advantage some and disadvantage others in terms of opportunities for equal participation in society. This study explores the question whether asylum seekers that have been allocated to rural areas experience disadvantages in terms of language acquisition compared to those allocated to urban areas. We derive testable assumptions using a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) which are then tested using large-N survey data (IAB-BAMF-SOEP refugee survey). We find that living in a rural area has no negative total effect on language skills. Further the findings suggest that the ‘null effect’ is the result of two processes which offset each other: while asylum seekers in rural areas have slightly lower access for formal, federally organized language courses, they have more regular exposure to German speakers.

Geografia sociale dell’integrazione. Le voci dei migranti forzati nella Città metropolitana di Milano

The paper deals with the Italian system of second reception for asylum seekers and refugees, specifically focusing on the case of the Milan Metropolitan Area. Through a series of in-depth interviews with guests of the SAI Project (Sistema di Accoglienza e Integrazione), the research aims at assessing opportunities and obstacles encountered by forced migrants during their integration process. Particular attention is also paid to the socio-territorial characteristics of the municipalities examined, in order to outline some lines of development for the construction of an inclusive urban space.

Security Net and Ambassadors for Social Inclusion? The Role of Intermediaries in Host–Refugee Relationships in Homestay Programs

In response to refugees’ social marginalisation and lack of appropriate housing, homestay programs have emerged as a new approach to refugee accommodation. However, caring relationships between asylum‐seekers and refugees and locals are prone to reproduce power imbalances. As a countermeasure, flatshares initiated by the organisation Refugees Welcome are created within a three‐fold network of hosts, social workers, and volunteers. The volunteers serve as intermediaries and provide refugees with personalised support to become more rooted in society. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and thirty in‐depth interviews with hosts, refugees, intermediaries, and social workers in Catalonia (Spain), this article explores the responsibilities and struggles of intermediaries in the hosting networks. Results show that intermediaries give refugees and hosts a sense of security during the flatshare and keep social workers informed, yet their role varies considerably.

Causes and Risk Factor of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Adult Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Objectives: To assess the causes and risk factors of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adult asylum seekers and refugees. To explore whether the causes and risk factors of PTSD between male and female adult refugees/asylum seekers are different. Study design: Systematic review of current literature. Data Sources: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar up until February 2019. Method: A structured, systematic search was conducted of the relevant databases. Papers were excluded if they failed to meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Afterwards, a qualitative assessment was performed on the selected papers. Results: 12 Studies were included for the final analysis. All papers were either case studies/reports or cross-sectional studies. Traumatic events experienced by refugees/asylum seekers are the most frequently reported pre-migration causes of PTSD development, while acculturative stress is the most common post-migration stressor. There were mixed reports regarding the causes of PTSD between both genders of refugees/asylum seekers. Conclusions: This review’s findings have potential clinical application in terms of helping clinicians to risk stratify refugees/asylum seekers for PTSD development and thus aid in embarking on earlier intervention measures. However, more rigorous research similar to this study is needed for it to be implemented into clinical practice.

THE RESPONSIBILITY IN PROTECTING THE ROHINGYA REFUGEES IN ACEH PROVINCE, INDONESIA: AN INTERNATIONAL REFUGEES LAW PERSPECTIVE

The coast of western Indonesia (Aceh province) has been the entrance for Rohingya refugees since 2012. At the beginning of 2020, the Rohingya refugees continued to arrive, although some of them have been resettled and transferred to the third countries. The Indonesian government rejected a large number of Rohingya refugees because there were no lex specialis in the Indonesian immigration arrangement related to asylum seekers and refugees. Historically, Indonesia was a country with commitment and experiences in dealing with refugees, however to date, Indonesia refused to become a party to the 1951 International Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol on Refugees. Hence, there is no legal standards of the refugee management in Indonesia, and thus it complicates the management of the incoming Rohingyas. Responding to such issue, the government has issued the Presidential Regulation Number 125 of 2016 concerning the foreign refugee management to provide a temporary legal standard for all forms of refugee protection in Indonesia. However, such regulation has yet to comprehensively settled the management of the Rohingya people in Indonesia, particularly in Aceh province. This paper strongly advocates the Indonesian government to ratify the 1951 International Refugee Convention as to protect and settle the refugee under the non-refoulment principle which is fundamentally referred to humanitarian values.

Italy’s Reception System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees A System with Many Shadows and Little Light

Since 2011 the increasing arrivals of asylum seekers forced the Italian State to organise a wider and more widespread reception system for refugees and asylum seekers. This paper aims to highlight some of the shadows and few lights that characterize this system, showing its social effects on the population hosted. The analysis proposed is based on the study of official documents, laws and statistics produced by Italian state, interviews with some migrants that lived in reception centres and the participation of the author in the campaign ‘LasciateCIEntrare (Let us in)’ as an activist. After the analysis, some suggestions are proposed about possible policies able to overcome this reception system, also through a radical change in the Italian housing policy oriented to guarantee housing access as a universal social right.

Wonderful World House From Exclusion to Intercultural Relations in the Aftermath of Law Decree 113/2018 (Immigration and Security Decree)

This chapter offers an overview of the role of social relations in reception practices towards asylum seekers and refugees, updating these considerations in the framework of the Immigration and Security Decree (3). The experience of the Wonderful World House in Parma is described as a reaction to the exclusionary policies enacted at the national level (4) and it is analysed as a space offering emplacement opportunities both to migrants and Italians (5). The final part confronts the Wonderful World experience with the concepts of direct social action and social innovation, in order to foreshadow its medium- and long-term impact in asylum policy making (6).

Queer asylum seekers in Belgium:

While Belgium is viewed as one of the most LGBTQ-friendly countries in Europe, its asylum system operates on problematic assumptions, compelling forced queer migrants to be out in a particular way and rejecting those who do not conform. By applying a qualitative case-study and intersectionality-informed methodology, this study investigates the key factors that influence queer asylum seekers and refugees’ decision to come out (or not), and how they negotiate the closet within an environment that is often experienced as hostile. In doing so, this article shows that to both stay safe and receive protection, queer asylum seekers in reception centers in Belgium have to navigate a complex context where they need to constantly balance between their hypervisibility at the very individual level – as ‘queer’ – and their invisibility at the more structural level – within the asylum system itself.