Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T11:00:19.568Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Why do people seek asylum? The global context

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2022

Get access

Summary

Why do people leave home and seek asylum? Conflict, war, and persecution, living in fragile states, being trafficked, and climate change may all play a part.Global statistics of forced displacement are reviewed.

Types of journeys and attendant experiences are considered, and reasons for how and why people may come to the United Kingdom.

We then review developments in international refugee policy and law, and problems with the current approach, including the role of socioeconomic status, the difficulties in how initiatives are funded, and the lack of long-term perspectives.There are barriers to resettlement in wealthier third countries.Restrictive and punitive asylum policies have a high human cost.There are limits to international cooperation.

This all matters to health professionals because understanding someone’s context explains much about individual behaviour.It enables relevant enquiries to be made, and appropriate help offered. Some possible misapprehensions are considered.

Type
Chapter
Information
Seeking Asylum and Mental Health
A Practical Guide for Professionals
, pp. 1 - 28
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further resources

The Migration Data Portal, developed by the IOM’s Global Migration Data Analysis Centre – https://migrationdataportal.org/ [website]

Global Trends – Forced Displacement in 2019. UNHCR (2020). www.unhcr.org/5ee200e37.pdf [report]

Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System, by Alexander Betts and Paul Collier (2017; Penguin Books) [book]

Hostile Environment, by Maya Goodfellow (2020, Verso) [book]

Violent Borders, by Reece Jones (2016; Verso) [book]

The Migrant Diaries, by Lynne Jones (2021; Fordham University Press) [book]

The Lightless Sky, by Gulwali Passarlay (2015; Atlantic Books) [book]

Home, by Warsan Shire: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI9D92Xiygo [poem]

What They Took with Them, Jenifer Toksvig (2016); UNHCR – www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS-Q2sgNjl8 [spoken word poem]

Desperate Journeys, Khaled Hosseini (2018); UNHCR – www.youtube.com/watch?v=njvcX0NXRh8 [documentary film]

Human Flow – Ai Weiwei (2017; Altitude Film Distribution) [documentary film]

References

Amnesty International (2021). Torture. www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/torture/ (last accessed 23 May 2021).Google Scholar
Arendt, H. (1943). We Refugees. Menorah Journal. 31(1): 6977.Google Scholar
Betts, A. and Collier, P. (2017). Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Bonin, H. (2017). Education of Migrants: A Social Investment. EENEE Policy Brief 3/2017, European Expert Network on Economics of Education (EENEE). www.education-economics.org/dms/EENEE/Policy_Briefs/PolicyBrief3-2017.pdf (last accessed 23 May 2021).Google Scholar
Crawley, H. (2010). Chance or Choice? Understanding Why Asylum Seekers Come to the UK. London: Refugee Council. www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Chance-or-choice-2010.pdf (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
Crawley, H. and Hagen-Zanker, J. (2018). Deciding Where to Go: Policies, People and Perceptions Shaping Destination Preferences. International Migration. 57(1): 2035.Google Scholar
European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) (2015). Aida Asylum Information Database. Common Asylum System at a Turning Point: Refugees Caught in Europe’s Solidarity Crisis. Annual Report 2014–2015. Belgium: ECRE. https://ecre.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/aida_annualreport_2014-2015_0.pdf (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
Goodwin-Gill, G. S. (2001). After the Cold War: Asylum and the Refugee Concept Move On. Forced Migration Review. 10, 1416.Google Scholar
Home Office (2019). National Statistics: How Many People Do We Grant Asylum or Protection To? Published 24 May 2019. www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-march-2019/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
Home Office (2020a). National Referral Mechanism Statistics UK, End of Year Summary, 2019. Home Office Statistical Bulletin 08/20. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/876646/national-referral-mechanism-statistics-uk-end-of-year-summary-2019.pdf (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
Home Office (2020b). National Statistics: How Many People Do We Grant Asylum or Protection To? Published 27 February 2020. www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-year-ending-december-2019/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Global Protection Cluster Working Group and IASC Reference Group for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (2012). Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings: What Should Camp Coordination and Camp Management Actors Know? https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/mental_health_2013.pdf (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
International Organisation for Migration (IOM) (2021). Missing Migrants Project. https://missingmigrants.iom.int/ (last accessed 23 May 2021).Google Scholar
Jones, R. (2016). Violent Borders: Refugees and the Right to Move. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Khosravi, S. (2010). ‘Illegal’ Traveller: An Auto-Ethnography of Borders. London: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koehler, C. and Schneider, J. (2019). Young Refugees in Education: The Particular Challenges of School Systems in Europe. Comparative Migration Studies, 7(28). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-019-0129-3.Google Scholar
Lee, C. (2010). Humanitarian Assistance as Containment: New Codes for a New Order. Refugee Studies Centre Working Paper. University of Oxford. www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/files/files-1/wp72-humanitarian-assistance-containment-2010.pdf (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
Nay, O. (2013). Fragile and Failed States: Critical Perspectives on Conceptual Hybrids. International Political Science Review, 34(3): 326–41CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2016). States of Fragility 2016: Understanding Violence. Paris: OECD Publishing. www.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/states-of-fragility-2016_9789264267213-en (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2018). States of Fragility 2018. Paris: OECD Publishing. www.oecd-ilibrary.org/development/states-of-fragility-2018_9789264302075-en (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
Pestrova, K. (1995). The evolution of international refugee law: A review of provisions and implementation. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 9(2): 3659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sturge, G. (2020). Asylum Statistics. House of Commons Library, Briefing Paper Number SN01403. http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01403/SN01403.pdf (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
UN General Assembly (1951). Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951, United Nations Treaty Series, 189. https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetailsII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V-2&chapter=5&Temp=mtdsg2&clang=_en.Google Scholar
UN General Assembly (1984). Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 10 December 1984, United Nations, Treaty Series, 1465. www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading.Google Scholar
UN General Assembly (2000). Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 15 November 2000. www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/protocol-prevent-suppress-and-punish-trafficking-persons.Google Scholar
UNHCR (1992). Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. HCR/IP/4/Eng/REV.1. www.unhcr.org/4d93528a9.pdf (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
UNHCR (2020). Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019. UNHCR. www.unhcr.org/5ee200e37.pdf (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
United Nations Committee against Torture (2019). Concluding Observations on the Sixth Periodic Report of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. CAT/C/GBR/CO/6. www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/ENACARegion/Pages/GBIndex.aspx (last accessed 23 May 2021).Google Scholar
Walsh, P. W. (2019). Migration to the UK: Asylum and Resettled Refugees. Migration Observatory briefing, COMPAS, University of Oxford. https://barrowcadbury.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Briefing-Migration-to-the-UK-Asylum-and-Resettled-Refugees.pdf (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar
Wilkins, H. (2020). Refugee Resettlement in the UK. House of Commons Library Briefing Paper Number 8750, 6 March 2020. http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8750/CBP-8750.pdf (last accessed 1 November 2020).Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×