Yes / Purpose Perinatal depression is one of the most commonly diagnosed mental health conditions in the general maternity population but whilst the prevalence is thought to be much higher in asylum seeking and refugee (AS&R) women, it is less frequently identified and diagnosed by health care professionals. Method A systematic review was undertaken to address ‘what factors influence help-seeking behaviours in asylum seeking and refugee women with symptoms of perinatal depression’. The review focussed on women accessing care in high income countries. 12 studies met the eligibility criteria and a narrative synthesis was undertaken resulting in two main themes: women's perceptions of depression and access to healthcare and support services. Results Findings indicated that many of the influences on help-seeking were also present in the general population and women from ethnic minority populations, with the exception of migration experiences; but that women from a AS&R may experience more of these barriers, exacerbating inequality in access to and engagement with healthcare. Conclusion Further research is needed to provide more detailed insight into the experiences of asylum seeking and refugee women to identify ways that barriers in help-seeking can be addressed.

The subject matter of my thesis is the Dublin system which includes the Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 of 18. February 2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national and the Council Regulation (EC) No 2725/2000 of 11 December 2000 concerning the establishment of 'Eurodac' for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Dublin Convention. The aim of this thesis is to acquaint its readers, point out the shortcomings and benefits of the existing regulation and evaluate the application of both regulations. I was trying to explain the functioning of this system with the help of the cases of ECHR and CJEU. My thesis is divided into five chapters. In the first chapter, I focused on the development of a common European asylum system before the adoption of the Regulation and then also at the Regulation itself and the objectives it observes. The second chapter is devoted to the principles and criteria for determining the responsibility of the Member State to examine an asylum application. After I mentioned the general principles set out in the Regulation, I have dealt with the actual procedure of determining the Member State. There is also...

Germany was, is and will be an immigration country. We talk about an asylum policy since the reunification of Germany in 1990. Germany needed immigrants during the whole 21st century, on the other hand struggled with fear of their negative impacts on the economy and society. One hundred and thirty years since the recruitment of seasonal workers from abroad in the German Empire and 50 years from the recruitment of Turkish guest workers undoubtedly indicates a good (and necessary) time to create a more effective immigration and asylum policy. The integration of foreigners, especially Turks, is nowadays the main goal. As the social climate of German society has never been characterized by diversity, the main task of current German government is to create an opened German society towards foreigners and their integration.

The aim of the study was to examine collaboration and professional perspectives on the best interest of the child in regards to working with unaccompanied asylum seeking children. Firstly, our result show that counselling is available for the unaccompanied children from case workers, staff, school counsellors and emergency psychiatric care. All of the participants in this study describe the need for long-term counselling for unaccompanied children, however, providing the long-term counselling is not the primary purpose of the organisations in question. Therefore an additional service-provider working with counselling is a necessity. Secondly, the study explores the participants’ professional perspectives on the best interest of the child. The participating professionals work with the best interest of the child in accordance with their level of education and professional role. At the same time, they stress the fact that time, resources and other factors have an influence on their ability to keep the best interest of the child in focus. Finally, the study addresses collaboration between the service providing organisations. Collaboration does exist, but the participants wish for a development and transparency in the collaboration in order to clarify the responsibilities of each organisation. / Studiens syfte var att undersöka samverkan och professionellas perspektiv på barnets bästa i arbetet med ensamkommande barn genom besvarandet av tre frågeställningar. Den första frågeställningen rör de möjligheter till psykosocialt stöd som finns för ensamkommande barn. Vårt resultat visar att möjligheter finns i form av stöd hos handläggare, personal och skolkurator samt BUPs akutmottagning. Verksamheternas primära syfte är dock inte långsiktigt behandlande stödsamtal, vilket är något som samtliga respondenter anser att många ensamkommande barn är i behov av. Det behövs alltså ytterligare en aktör vars syfte är att arbeta med psykosocialt stöd för dessa barn. Den andra frågeställningen undersöker hur respondenterna ser på begreppet barnets bästa utifrån sitt professionella perspektiv. Samtliga respondenter har uppgett att de arbetar efter bästa förmåga i relation till sin yrkesroll och utbildningsnivå. Respondenterna påtalar samtidigt att tid, resurser och andra omgivningsfaktorer påverkar deras möjligheter att arbeta för barnets bästa. Studiens sista frågeställning berör samverkan mellan de verksamheter som tagit del i studien. Resultatet belyser att samverkan mellan verksamheterna existerar, men att respondenterna önskar en utveckling och transparens i samverkan för att tydliggöra samtligas uppgifter.

Titeln på denna studie är Internalisering av kategoriella par i form utav homosexuella asylsökande. Studiens syfte är att undersöka om och hur föreställningar utifrån ett heteronormativt synsätt, hos handläggaren på Migrationsverket, påverkar asylprövningen av homosexuella. Studien berör hur diskursen i samhället formar föreställningar av den homosexuelle mannen och hur dessa föreställningar blir gällande inom myndighetsutövningen vid Migrationsverket. Studien utgår från teorier av Michel Foucault, samt är kompletterad och avgränsad med hjälp av andra teorier, bland annat Queerteorin. Studien bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer av sju handläggare vid Migrationsverket, verksamma vid två olika kontor i Stockholm. Undersökningen visar att föreställningar om homosexuella förekommer inom Migrationsverket och att detta kan påverka utfallet av asylprövningen. Migrationsverket arbetar själva med dessa frågor genom utbildning av sin personal, vilket tyder på en insikt kring problematiken. Denna studie är en del av min kandidatexamen på Södertörns Högskola inom Socialt arbete med storstadsprofil. / The title of this study is The internalization of categorical pairs in the form of gay asylum seekers. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether and how the preconceived view of homosexuals from a hetero normative perspective, by desk officers at the Swedish Migration Board, affects the asylum trial of homosexuals. The study addresses how the discourse in society forms perceptions of the gay man, and how these perceptions become effective within the exercising of authority at the Swedish Migration Board. This study relies on several theories of Michel Foucault and it is supplemented and delimited by other theories, including Queer Theory. The study is based on interviews with seven desk officers at the Swedish Migration Board, active at two different offices in Stockholm. The investigation shows that perceptions of homosexuals occur at the Migration Board and that this may affect the outcome of the asylum trial. The Swedish Migration Board is working with these matters through education of their personnel, suggesting an awareness of the problem. This study is a part of my bachelor´s degree at Södertörn University in Social Work with urban profile.

The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of how asylum-seeking refugees manage their lives in the situation they are in, a situation in which they are dependent and have to wait for decisions on whether or not they will get to stay in the country in which they have made their application for asylum.  The elaboration upon these questions and the purpose of the study is approached through a field study of asylum-seeking refugees from Afghanistan in Sweden. The thesis presents a background of international migration, refugee migration, refugee migration from Afghanistan and the reception of asylum seekers and refugees in the EU and Sweden, which tells us both that asylum seekers and refugees are not welcome in the countries of the ‘North’, where policies of containment and repatriation are the most common features of treating the refugee ‘problem’ and that the long period of waiting and uncertainty creates a situation of passivity and ill-health among the asylum seekers. Employing grounded theory methodology in different forms based in data from fieldwork, including participant observations and informal conversations, the study applies a constructionist grounded theory approach in the analyses of the situation and the management thereof. Steered by this constructionist grounded theory approach, strengthened by a situational analysis, the thesis presents a situational frame pointing to the situation for the asylum-seeking refugees as temporal and dependent on Swedish national discourse, racism and paternalism. With this background and frame and generated by data from the field study, the thesis goes on to present the situation as disempowering. The disempowering processes are illustrated through looking at dependence and inhospitality, and are characterised by the asylum-seeking refugees’ oscillation between feelings of hope and despair. It becomes, however, also evident that the asylum-seeking refugees take action and that they are supported by latent empowering processes. The actions taken are categorised as actions of empowering in opposition to the processes presented as disempowering. The actions of empowering are connected to keeping oneself occupied, searching for and maintaining social contacts and in the asylum-seeking refugees’ representations of themselves. From the presentation of the situation as disempowering and the actions taken by the asylum-seeking refugees in response to this situation as actions of empowering, a process characterised as seeking empowerment is presented. In this process empowerment is discussed as the establishment of power to resist. During the discussion of the concept of seeking empowerment it is shown how the asylum-seeking refugees in this study, through their actions of empowering, try to resist the disempowering situation. By seeking to establish power to resist, they are seeking empowerment.

Univ., Diss.--Eichstätt, 2001.

The purpose of this study is to highlight the work of asylum case- and executive officers at the Swedish Migration Agency. It focuses on the oral investigation that is conducted by the Swedish Migration Agency with an asylum seeker in Sweden, how the case- and executive officers assess if an asylum seeker is credible, and if there are any difficulties with this process. The aim of this study has not been to investigate how the credibility and reliability assessments should be conducted; instead, it has been to understand the complexity of these assessment and how the case- and executive officers experience the same. The study is ethnographic, and the empirical material consists of interviews with individuals who work as case- and executive officers at the Migration Agency's asylum units in Sweden. The study has a qualitative approach since the interest lies in individual experiences. The analysis is based on extracts from the interviews and is linked to existing research and theories. Theoretically, the thesis is inspired by Michael Lipsky's concept of street-level bureaucracy. In addition, we have also built up a theoretical chapter presenting the legal framework. The study shows that the assessment of an asylum seeker is a complicated and abstract process. And in the end, it all comes down to an overall assessment.

In recent years, the field of queer asylum studies has slowly been expanding in different contexts across the world, with numerous methodologies and various topics of focus. In Sweden, the academic work in this area has mainly focused on legal perspectives. Providing a different perspective, this thesis examines the situation and experiences of LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees in Linköping, Sweden through a community-based collage project. It examines how collages can be used as a method for research and a tool for community building within this context, and explores the experiences of LGBTQ asylum seekers and refugees in Linköping, Sweden, using individual and group collages. Using the concept of bricolage, the thesis ties together various artworks with short narratives and analytical interpretations. Together, they form a fragmented, in itself collage-like insight into this community. Through these fragments, the thesis reflects on the themes of migration, belonging, survival, and identity. Additionally, it explores questions of home, family, refugeeness, mess, homonormativity and representation. I argue that commonly used narratives of migration often do not fit this group, as they face highly complex forms of oppression based on their intersecting identities. Furthermore, the thesis examines the use of collage as a method by looking into the ways collage can negotiate methodological issues like accessibility and researcher accountability, how it can function as a tool for community building, and how it can be used to allow a community researcher to negotiate their positionality in an easier way. I argue that the use of collage has many benefits and that the use of the collage method in this thesis has enriched the research.

De senaste åren har världen upplevt den största flyktingkrisen sedan andra världskriget. Inom EU har fördelningen av asylansökningar varit ojämnt fördelad mellan medlemsländerna trots gemensamma asylpolicyer. Genom paneldataanalys undersöker vi i denna studie hur ekonomiska, nätverksrelaterade, attitydrelaterade och policyrelaterade pullfaktorer har påverkat det relativa asyltrycket hos medlemsländerna i EU-25 mellan 2005 och 2014. Resultaten visar att länders pullfaktorer har en påverkan på dess relativa asyltryck. Vi finner stöd för vad tidigare studier dokumenterat men även resultat som pekar i andra riktningar. Låg arbetslöshet, hög lön, migrantnätverk, attityder och att vara ett land som ligger längs de vanligaste flyktvägarna in till EU visar ett signifikant positivt samband med relativt asyltryck. I kontrast till tidigare forskning hittas ett signifikant negativt samband mellan beviljningsgrad och relativt asyltryck. Resultatet kan förklaras med att länder antingen reagerar på högt asyltryck genom att minska andelen asylbeviljningar, eller att asylsökande med låg sannolikhet att få beviljad asyl väljer länder med liberalare asylpolicyer. Inget samband hittas mellan ekonomisk jämlikhet och relativt asyltryck. Det ojämna asyltrycket i EU beror till viss del på faktorer som länder själva inte kan påverka och därför kan politiska regeländringar krävas för en jämnare fördelning. / During the last years the world has experienced the largest refugee crisis since the Second World War. Within the European Union, the asylum shares have been uneven distributed even though member countries share common asylum policies to a certain degree. Using panel analysis, this study examines how policy related, attitude related, economical, and network related pull factors have affected the asylum shares in the EU-25 countries between 2005 and 2014. The results show that pull factors do have an effect on countries asylum shares. Low unemployment, high salaries, network effects, attitudes and countries bordering the most common smuggle routes into EU have a significant positive relationship with asylum shares. We find a significant negative relationship between recognition rates and asylum shares, which is in contrast to previous research. This result can be explained either by countries reacting to a large number of asylum applications by lowering their recognition rates, or by asylum applicants with a low probability of approval choosing countries with more liberal asylum policies. No relationship was found between economic equality and asylum shares. The uneven distribution of asylum shares depend to a certain degree of factors that countries themselves cannot control for and thereby policies might be required to reach an even distribution.