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Yes

Yes

Yes / Pregnant women seeking asylum in the UK may be particularly vulnerable with poor underlying health, more complex pregnancies and an increased risk of maternal and perinatal mortality. Studies have shown that some women seeking asylum have poor experiences of maternity care. This is despite the implementation of NICE guidelines to improve care for women with complex social factors. This article reports on a phenomenological study undertaken in West Yorkshire, aiming to explore the maternity care experiences of local pregnant asylum seeking women, to inform service development. Six women were interviewed over a three-month period. The findings focused more broadly on their experiences of living in the UK whilst being an asylum seeker and pregnant rather than focusing on maternity care, although this was included. Five key themes emerged: ‘pre-booking challenges’, ‘inappropriate accommodation’, ‘being pregnant and dispersed’, ‘being alone and pregnant’ and ‘not being asked or listened to’. These findings could be used as the basis for training midwives to understand how the difficulties women experience can impact on their health and social needs.

Yes / In this chapter we explore issues of psychosocial resilience and risk related to asylum seeking and refugee women during the perinatal period, drawing on experiences from three diverse European countries; the United Kingdom (UK), Malta and the Netherlands. First we define the terms asylum seekers and refugees to allow us to focus on the issues that pertain specifically to women experiencing this form of migration. We also note the prevalence of migration in contemporary society. We explore recent research on asylum seeking and refugee women in the perinatal period to identify; the barriers women face in accessing care in their reception countries and their experiences of perinatal care. Through this work, the challenges faced by healthcare professionals to provide culturally appropriate and high quality care to these women who face a range of psychosocial challenges are also highlighted. We suggest possible ways to address some of these challenges including how health professionals can actively build on the resilience of asylum seeking and refugee women to improve their perinatal experiences. We conclude by focusing on the implications of these findings; drawing on examples of good practice from the UK, Netherland and Malta to provide recommendations for practice and service development.

Yes / In this report we focus on refugee and asylum seekers views on receiving, understanding and improving messages about public health advice. Refugees and asylum seekers as a group have incomplete access to television and WIFI or data to access the information they need in they way they prefer. Refugees and asylum seekers have constructive suggestions on how to improve key messages so they can be better understood. There is an ongoing risk to refugee and asylum seeker health, and population health if people are unable to receive official messages in a way that is relevant to them. / University of Bradford, NHS England

Yes / Community-based peer volunteer interventions are increasingly used with people who are asylum seekers and refugees accessing health services. There is a dearth of evidence evaluating the benefits of volunteering for asylum seeking or refugee volunteers. Volunteers may have poor mental health and feel socially isolated due to their experiences as refugees and asylum seekers and may struggle or be unable to obtain paid employment. Volunteering in other contexts has been found to be beneficial to the health and well-being of the volunteer. This paper reports on an aspect of a wider study evaluating the community-based Health Access for Refugees Project, with the aim of exploring the impact of volunteering on the health and well-being of the peer (asylum seeker or refugee) volunteer. In 2020, we conducted qualitative semistructured interviews by phone with 15 volunteers who were asylum seekers or refugees. The interviews were audio recorded, data were transcribed verbatim and the data set was thematically analysed. We found that the positive relationships which developed and the training received through volunteering boosted volunteers' mental well-being. They felt motivated and confident in helping others, felt a sense of belonging and this reduced their social isolation. They also believed they benefited personally, helping their access to health services, and preparing them for future education, training or a career. In light of the beneficial nature of volunteering identified in this study, establishing more volunteering opportunities for this population and other marginalised groups with poor mental health is recommended. However, more research is needed to assess both the long-term impact of the role in terms of the peer volunteer's health and well-being, and the societal benefit of people moving on, integrating and contributing to society. / Refugee Council

Yes / Evidence demonstrates that people who are seeking asylum and refugees face individual, institutional and system-level barriers when accessing health services. Health Access for Refugees’ Project (HARP) is a UK initiative increasing access to health care within this community through a series of interventions. This study explored the impact of HARP on health service access, experiences and outcomes for clients, and how volunteers and staff addressed institutional and system-level barriers. Methods: In summer 2020, we conducted qualitative telephone interviews with four HARP clients, eight clients who became volunteers, seven further volunteers and three staff members. Results: The educational aspect of the interventions supported clients navigating the complex UK health care system while promoting independence in accessing health care. Advocacy by volunteers and staff was important in challenging barriers at individual and institutional levels. Staff challenged the asylum system, by improving information around entitlement to health care and addressing barriers to registering with a General Practitioner (GP). Conclusions: Interventions such as those provided by HARP can address different levels of barriers to support people accessing health care provision. This can be achieved through training health professionals and working with peers to support access to care and to develop self-advocacy. However, stable long-term funding is essential to ensure the sustainability of these initiative. / The Big Lottery via the Refugee Council, UK.

This thesis describes, conceptualizes and analyzes local reactions to the establishment of a refugee center in a small, remote mining community in Malmliden, rural Sweden, in the early 1990s. The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the local and wider contexts in which the reactions took place and to understand reactions in relation to these contexts. The study combined qualitative interviews, participant observation and the analysis of texts from different sources: daily press, historical and policy documents. Twenty-seven persons were included in the interview study (nineteen respondents and eight key infor-mants). Interviews with the nineteen respondents (nine men and ten women) were based on a semi-structured interview manual and were carried out during the winter of 1993 and the spring of 1994. Theo-retical frames and concepts were chosen in an elaborative way that was suitable for the empirical findings that gradually developed. In short, theoretical considerations that focus on social and political processes of inclusion and exclusion, ethnic relations and categorizations and the interplay between the social and the individual frame the analysis. The analysis is more closely informed by perspectives on how the atti-tudes toward the asylum seeker (as an immigrant but also as a welfare-state client), as a representation of “the other”, are socially produced. This study revealed that the inhabitants had dual reactions to the localized refugee center in Malm-liden. The reactions could neither be characterised as positive nor negative. They were summarized as ambivalent and were expressed spatially and socially. The spatial aspects include a number of inhabitants’ positive experiences of the refugee center as something that brought vitality to the slumbering neighbor-hood, while others thought of the refugee center as something disturbing and displaced. The social aspects involved a number of inhabitant’s embrace of the refugee center and the asylum seekers, whereas others distance themselves from the center and the refugees. While some inhabitants were enriched by the con-tact with asylum seekers, others dissociated themselves from the refugees and other inhabitants who were involved with the refugee centre. Some of the reactions were expressed as resistance. These reactions were mostly expressed latently, toward the authorities or local Policy makers and not directly toward the refugees or the refugee center The inhabitants blamed the establishment of the refugee center and those employed there for the poor state of things because they represented symbols of change and uncertainty. Therefore, initially the resistance could not be understood as rooted in emotional antipathy toward refu-gees as a (ethnic) group or as individuals, but rather as resistance against a perceived intrusion into the neighborhood autonomy. However, the strategies of the inhabitants were avoidance of contact with the refugee center and the stigmatization of the refugees. Therefore, the actions of resistance resulted in a racialization of place and ethnic segregation. The dual reactions of the inhabitants were contextual, and in which local as well as national circumstances played a considerable role in shaping the inhabitants’ experiences. At both national and local levels, the attitudes and practices directed toward asylum seekers and refugees were ambivalent. The reasons for the local acceptance of asylum seekers were ambivalent, and in which both actions of solidarity and economic considerations came into play. An external circum-stance influenced expectations and reactions to the refugee center was an ambivalent refugee policy which aimed to integrate the asylum seeker with a normalized habitat but with an institutional framing, which clearly made the asylum seeker into a client. Another external factor was the welfare state position of the asylum seeker, as he or she was positioned in an ambivalent juridical, social and political position. The overall conclusion is that the positions of the asylum seekers in the neighborhood of Malmliden were further stressed as welfare state clients and not as ordinary neighbors. A concluding image is that the contextual ambivalent positioning of the asylum seekers was reflected in the way the inhabitants regarded the asylum seekers as others in the neighborhood community.

of the thesis This thesis deals with the institute of administrative detention according to the Czech legal system. The term administrative detention is used to designate deprivations of liberty under administrative law for the reasons that are directly linked to the immigration policies of the state. In the context of migration law the detention may be basically used for two purposes. First purpose is to ensure the realization of administrative deportation of the foreigner. Second purpose is to prevent the foreigner from an unauthorized entry into the country. Both irregular migrants and asylum seekers fall under the scope of this work. Although different norms are applicable to each of these categories, both of them are subject to detention on the same ground - the lack of state authorization for their presence on national territory. The purpose of this paper is to detail the legal framework with which deprivation of liberty of migrants must comply in particular for what concerns the fundamental principle of international law that no one should be subjected to arbitrary detention. International human rights norms, principles and standards define the content of that principle. Such norms, principles and standards apply both to criminal and administrative proceedings including migrants and asylum...