The thesis revolves around the question of whether state and non-state actors’ responses to the refugee crises are restricting the rights of refugees by introducing privatization of security. The thesis studies the experiences of refugees in offshore immigration detention centres of Australia and the UN operated refugee camps, which are highly privatized or are in a process of privatization. The thesis rests on the theoretical framework provided by Hannah Arendt which explains why human rights are failing refugees in this context, and how they remain meaningless until the 'right to have rights' is incorporated as a basic right. The thesis argues that privatization of security is harmful and results in increased human rights violations and that the private military and security companies are a way of delegating as well as deflecting responsibility that state actors and non-state actors have towards refugees. The thesis also raises the possibility of private resettlement programs as one of the solutions to ensure the right of belongingness is translated practically by giving refugees a community. / Graduate

The current study explores the experiences of mental health care professionals in Sweden who conduct therapy with the assistance of an interpreter. Seven participants took part in semi-structured interviews that were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith, 1996). Three main themes emerged from the analysis of the interview transcripts: (1) communication and translation - highlighting the communicative challenges and benefits that arise when using an interpreter, (2) the interpreter as a person and as a professional - describing the variation of interpreters in terms of behavior, personality, roles, and professionalism, and their impact on psychological treatment, and (3) dynamics and relations - featuring the interpreter’s impact on the dynamics and the process of building a patient-therapist alliance. The results show that all participants find it difficult to determine the accuracy of the translation, and several techniques used by the clinician to ensure a correct translation were pointed out. Moreover, findings highlight the essentiality of non-verbal cues and body language in communication and that the role and the behavior, in addition to several personal factors of the interpreter has an impact on the patient-therapist alliance and therapy dynamics. In addition, the study illuminates the patient’s impact on the interpreter as many interpreters themselves have been through traumatic experiences, which in turn may affect the therapeutic process. The findings of the current study show how important it is for clinicians, mental health services, and interpreting services to take the interpreters’ impact on the clinician, the patient, and the therapeutic outcome  into account. The study aims to contribute to a better understanding of clinicians’ experiences of working with interpreters to improve the use of - and collaboration with - interpreters and thereby raise the standard of psychological treatment for refugees and asylum seekers.

We investigate the effect of migration policy reforms on the number of asylum applications into 22 EU countries. This is done by using the Determinants of International Migration Policy, DEMIG policy index as a proxy for policy reforms in EU countries and the number of asylum applications from UNHCR. We perform OLS regressions with destination country fixed effects with HAC clustered standard errors. We contribute to the existing literature by using the DEMIG policy index which, to our knowledge, has not been used in earlier literature. We also thoroughly investigate the effect of migration policy, including both more restrictive and less restrictive policy. Through the investigation of the destination fixed effects, we find robust empirical evidence that migration policy does have an effect on asylum flows, which suggests, in addition to earlier literature, that migration policy is an important factor to have in consideration. Furthermore, we explore whether the push and pull factors examined in previous literature are consistent with our results. We find that the results vary, but are consistently in line with most of the earlier literature. In addition, we find that when other determinants of migration are included, the effect of migration policy diminishes.

The goal of this thesis is to provide a deeper understanding of the controversial issues surrounding the offshore asylum policy by concentrating on the political debates and arguments that are for and against the policies' activation. This will be done by  following the structure of a Political Discourse but applying an Argumentation Analysis to the study. Furthermore, the thesis critically examines the application of liberal norms in the offshore policy of Denmark and the United Kingdom and explores the tensions that occur when liberal principles such as human rights, humanitarianism, and the rule of law overlap with the nation's concerns of immigration and border control. This will be done by analysing the historical changes, legal framework, and the implementation of the policy in Denmark and United Kingdom. Using a comparative case study approach, the thesis analyzes the Rwanda Asylum Plan in relation to similar offshore asylum policies implemented in other countries such as the Australian offshore processing policy.

This thesis aims at exploring the role of organizations in asylum seekers' access to volunteering in Wallonia, Belgium. In Belgium, volunteering has been allowed for asylum seekers since 2014. Studies made after 2014 in Wallonia have shown that volunteering can benefit asylum seekers. However, research on volunteering in other contexts has found that, while volunteering is often depicted as an inclusive practice, valuable for volunteers and society, inequalities restrict access to volunteering. Research on volunteering tended to focus on the individual characteristics and resources that make certain groups less likely to volunteer, but at the meso level, organizations also have a role in determining who can access volunteering. Based on semi-structured interviews with members of organizations, the analysis examines the management of volunteering for asylum seekers in Wallonia to understand how the organizations' practices facilitate or restrict access to volunteering. Findings show that a network of sending and receiving organizations, reception centers and volunteering organizations, shapes access to volunteering for asylum seekers. This network aims at creating links between asylum seekers and other parts of the population through volunteering. Throughout the promotion of volunteering and the selection of volunteers and volunteering opportunities, organizations adopt strategies to enhance asylum seekers' participation in volunteering and to lift obstacles restricting access to volunteering. However, some organizational practices, including this selection, lead to the exclusion of asylum seekers from volunteering.

The issues surrounding asylum seekers in host countries like Sweden are severe concerns that need immediate attention, issues ranging from daily stressors constitute major problems to their mental health. There is therefore a need for both governmnet and non-government organizations to provide services that will upkeep the mental health status of these people. Notwithstanding, this study aimed to have a holistic view on the services provided by Soulidarity and Human Rights and Svenska Kyrkan organizations in Sweden. Through semi-structured interviews conducted with represntatives from these organizations based on the research questions that target the perception of their services, challenges, and recommendations. The empiricial data collected were analyzed using the theoretical framework of social support theory. The empricial result from this study shows that; asylum helped organizations provided a dimension of services ranging from individual, counseling, and leisure support services. Also, the services provided by these organizations were impactful to; build the self-confidence, abilities to perform tasks and build the self-esteem of these traumatic stress asylum seekers who came for help.  Furthermore, the workers in these organizations encountered challenges with working under complex migration and intergration policies that do not favor these asylum seekers, financial challenges, language difficulties, and internal problematic behaviors displaced from traumatic stresses asylum seekers. Finally, the workers in these organizations recommend that; changes in policies, financial improvement, and recruitment of more staff, strengthening sensitization, and empowerment of group rights are better ways of improving their services.

Yes / Asylum-seeking and refugee (AS&R) women living in the UK often have complex health and social care needs, with poor underlying mental and physical health and an increased risk of negative pregnancy outcomes. Despite this, AS&R women are less likely to attend for timely maternity care and when they do, care may be poor, with staff not understanding their specific needs and displaying poor attitudes. This article discusses the Maternity Stream of the City of Sanctuary and how this charity aims to work with statutory and voluntary sector maternity-related services and groups to develop services that are inclusive for AS&R women and meet their specific needs. Volunteer AS&R women are central to the activities of the Maternity Stream and this article discusses how they engage with midwives and other maternity workers to facilitate the development of services that may ultimately improve pregnancy outcomes for AS&R women.

Yes / The mental health benefits of physical activity and exercise are well-documented and asylum seekers who may have poor mental health could benefit from undertaking recommended levels of physical activity or exercise. Digital mobile applications are increasingly seen as feasible to precipitate behaviour change and could be a means to encourage asylum seekers to increase their levels of physical activity and exercise. This paper reports on a study that aimed to assess the feasibility of asylum seekers using the digital animation as a tool to change behaviour and increase their physical activity and exercise levels. A feasibility study underpinned by the principles of the COM-B behaviour change model was undertaken in West Yorkshire, UK, in 2019. Thirty participants were purposively recruited and interviewed. Peer interpreters were used as necessary. Deductive thematic analysis was undertaken to analyse the data. Overall, participants were positive about the feasibility of asylum seekers using the application as a behaviour change intervention. All expressed the view that it was easy to follow and would motivate them to increase their physical activity levels. Participants identified facilitators to this as the simplicity of the key messages, the cultural neutrality of the graphics and the availability of the mobile application in different languages. Identified barriers related to the dialect and accents in the translations and the over-simplicity of the application. This study has identified that a targeted digital animation intervention could help asylum seekers change their behaviour and hence improve their health and well-being. In designing such interventions, however, researchers must strongly consider co-design from an early stage as this is an important way to ensure that the development of an intervention is fit for purpose for different groups. / University of Bradford Research Development Fund

Bakgrund: Sverige tar emot många asylsökande vilket har medfört att arbetsbelastningen för distriktssköterskor inom primärvården har ökat. Några av de svårigheter som distriktssköterskan ställs inför när det gäller omvårdnaden och omhändertagandet kring asylsökande är bland annat, att bemöta dem med vänlighet och respekt och att försöka lindra deras lidande. Syfte: Syftet med studien var att beskriva asylsökandes upplevelser av bemötande från distriktssköterskor och övrig vårdpersonal på en flyktinghälsa och vårdcentral. Metod:Kvalitativ design med en induktiv ansats valdes till denna studie. Semistrukturerade intervjuer utfördes med hjälp av professionell telefontolk med 12 asylsökande. Materialet analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys med fokus på det latenta innehållet. Resultat: Bemötande har många dimensioner som kan ge upphov till många olika känslor. Asylsökande har i vårdmötet upplevt bemötande som orsakat dem otrygghet och vårdlidande men även bemötande som har gett dem trygghet och känslan av att vara betydelsefulla som människor. Slutsats: Upplevelser kring varje vårdmöte är individuella och unika. Vårdlidande kan uppstå genom att asylsökande upplever otrygghet i det vårdande mötet. Om asylsökande däremot upplever trygghet i vårdmötet kan deras lidande lindras. / Background: Sweden receives many asylum seekers which implies that the workload of district nurses in primary care has increased. Some of the difficulties that the district nurse face when it comes to the nursing care and the specific care of asylum seekers is, among other things, to treat them with kindness and respect and to try to lessen their suffering. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the asylum seekers' experiences of nurse-patient encounters with the district nurses and other health professionals at a refugee health clinic and health center. Method: Qualitative design with an inductive approach was chosen for this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the help of professional telephone interpreters’ with 12 asylum seekers. The material was analyzed using qualitative content analysis focusing the latent content. Results: Treatment (nurse-patient encounters) have many dimensions that can cause many different feelings. Asylum seekers have in the health care encounter experienced treatment that caused them a sence of insecurity and suffering due to care but also the nursing staffs’ attitude has given them increased confidence and a feeling of being an important person. Conclusion: Experiences of each nurse-patient encounter is individual and unique. Care suffering can be caused by that asylum seekers are experiencing a sence of insecurity in the encounter with health care. But if they experience security in the encounter with health care staff, their suffering lessened.

Current literature has indicated a concern about standards of maternity care experienced by pregnant asylum seeking women. As the next generation of midwives, it would appear essential that students are educated in a way that prepares them to effectively care for pregnant asylum seekers. Consequently, this study examined the way in which midwifery students constructed a pregnant asylum seeker's health and social needs, the discourses that influenced their constructions and the implications of these findings for midwifery education. For the duration of year two of a pre-registration midwifery programme, eleven midwifery students participated in the study. Two focus group interviews using a problem based learning (PBL) scenario were conducted. In addition, three students were individually interviewed and two students' written reflections on practice were used to construct data. Following a critical discourse analysis, dominant discourses were identified which appeared to influence the way that pregnant asylum seekers were perceived. The findings suggested an underpinning discourse around the asylum seeker as different and of a criminal persuasion. In addition, managerial and medico-scientific discourses were identified, which appeared to influence how midwifery students approach their care of women in general, at the expense of a woman centred, midwifery perspective. The findings from this study were used to develop 'the pregnant woman within the global context' model for midwifery education and it is recommended that this be used in midwifery education, to facilitate the holistic assessment of pregnant asylum seekers' and other newly arrived migrants' health and social needs.