Refugee blues: a UK and European perspective

In this paper, the numbers of refugees travelling to the European Union are set in a global context. It is argued that the increasing restrictions placed on asylum seekers from the 1980s onwards in the UK and the associated culture of deterrence and prohibition have had the perverse effect of suppor...

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Published inEuropean journal of psychotraumatology Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 29328
Main Author Turner, Stuart
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Taylor & Francis 28.10.2015
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Co-Action Publishing
Taylor & Francis Group
Subjects
Asylum
Colleges & universities
Conflicts of interest
Conventions
Decision making
deterrence
Funding
Human rights
Immigration
Mental health
Political asylum
Proceedings Paper
Protocol
Refugees
Smuggling
Trauma
University colleges
United Kingdom > UK
Western Europe
deterrence
refugees
Asylum
decision making
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Summary:In this paper, the numbers of refugees travelling to the European Union are set in a global context. It is argued that the increasing restrictions placed on asylum seekers from the 1980s onwards in the UK and the associated culture of deterrence and prohibition have had the perverse effect of supporting the economic market for people smuggling. It appears that these restrictions were initially designed to deter people, most of whom would have been granted humanitarian assistance had they managed to arrive in the UK, so as to prevent them from accessing the decision-making process on asylum. Policy changes concerning travel, benefits, and other pressures on asylum seekers are also considered in the context of deterrence. The problems facing asylum seekers do not end with their arrival in a safe country. The current methods of determining refugee status are alarmingly weak. Indeed there is evidence suggesting that those who are most traumatised before arrival face systematic disadvantage. The focus of this paper is on the United Kingdom but its conclusions apply to most Western European countries. The paper concludes with some tentative suggestions for change.
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For the abstract or full text in other languages, please see Supplementary files under ‘Article Tools’
Responsible Editor: Marit Sijbrandij, VU University, Netherlands.
This paper is part of the Special Issue: Trauma occurs in social contexts. More papers from this issue can be found at www.ejpt.net
ISSN:2000-8066
2000-8066
DOI:10.3402/ejpt.v6.29328