This is a thesis about the changing internal security conceptualizations and the new border management model of the European Union (EU), its effects on third countries and resultant power relations. Although migration is a fact as old as human history, the way the issue is represented varies in time. Especially after 1970s, with the influence of recession experienced in Europe, migration has been formulated as a tool that should be managed well, which otherwise would pose a serious problem for the host countries. Indeed, lately it has evolved to being a security &bdquo / problem

The purpose of this study is to describe and understand how the principle of the child’s best interest in the asylum process for families with children is interpreted and implemented in practice by the asylum bureaucrats at the Swedish Migration Agency. Our questions are: “How is the best interest of the child in families with children interpreted by the asylum bureaucrats at the Swedish Migration Agency?” "How are asylum bureaucrats at the Swedish Migration Agency reasoning about the implementation in practice of the child's best interest in families with children? The essay rests upon semi-structured interviews with eight asylum bureaucrats at three different asylum units. The interviews are based on an interview guide together with a vignette, which purpose was to see how the interviewees are implementing the best interest of the child in a specific case of a potential application. We are analyzing our results by using Lipsky’s theory of street-level bureaucrats and their professional discretion. We are also using Roine Johansson’s (2007) interpretation of Lipsky and Svensson et al., (2008) and their perspectives about professional discretion. Our main findings and conclusions in the study are showing that the asylum bureaucrats interpretations of the best interest of the child are statutory. According to the asylum bureaucrats, the main definition of the principle is related to the importance of talking with the children. These statements in the interviews also reflects how they look upon the implementation in practice of the child's best interest. The asylum bureaucrats felt they have a wide discretion in their everyday work.

Bakgrund: Asylsökande löper större risk att drabbas av psykisk ohälsa än den generella befolkningen, på grund av traumatiska händelser och förlusten av kultur och stöd. Sjukvårdspersonal behöver kunskap om asylsökandes specifika vårdbehov för sin psykiska hälsa och inneha en kulturell kompetens för att kunna ge en personcentrerad vård. Syfte: Studiens syfte var att undersöka hur distriktssköterskor skattade sin egen förmåga att identifiera, bedöma och hantera psykisk ohälsa hos asylsökande. Metod: En kvantitativ tvärsnittsstudie med enkät som datainsamlingsmetod har utförts. Enkäten besvarades av 53 distriktssköterskor. Deskriptiv statistik har använts för att analysera data. Resultat: Det visade sig att flertalet av distriktssköterskorna (55,8 %) i ganska hög grad ansåg sig kunna identifiera psykisk ohälsa hos asylsökande. Däremot ansåg 53 procent av distriktssköterskorna att de i låg grad kunde tillgodose de asylsökandes psykiska och sociala omvårdnadsbehov. Distriktssköterskorna i studien skattade sin egen kulturella kompetens som bristfällig. Slutsats: Distriktssköterskorna anser sig behöva mer kunskap om asylsökandes rättigheter till vård för att kunna ge dem den vård de är berättigade till för sin psykiska ohälsa. Distriktssköterskors kulturella kompetens behöver förstärkas genom möjligheter till utbildning. / Background: Asylum seekers are more likely to suffer from mental illness than the general population, due to their experiences of traumatic events and the loss of culture and support. Healthcare professionals need to have knowledge about asylum seekers specific health care needs of their mental health and possess a cultural competence in order to provide a person centered care. Aim: The study's aim was to investigate how primary care nurses rated their own ability to identify, assess and manage the mental health of asylum seekers. Method: A quantitative cross-sectional study with questionnaires as data collection method has been carried out. The questionnaire was answered by 53 primary care nurses. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. Result: The result showed that most of the of primary care nurses (55,8 %) in fairly high degree felt able to identify mental illness among asylum seekers. In contrast 53 percent of the primary care nurses considered that they in low extent were able to meet asylum seekers care needs. The primary care nurses in the study hade a lack of cultural competence. Conclusion: Primary care nurses consider themselves to need more knowledge about the asylum seekers´ right in health care, in order to give them the care they are entitled to for their mental illness. The cultural competence of primary care nurses need to be improved, by giving them access to education.

The aim with this study is to examine and analyze how the employees at two residential care homes for unaccompanied refugee children work with the children during their pending decision for asylum in Sweden. The purpose is to gain insight into the employees’ daily work with the target audience and how they handle decisions with the children. The method to collect data is to carry 6 interviews with the employees at the residential care home. The interviews were semi-structured with purpose of letting the interviewee lead the content of the interview. The results of the interviews show that the employees have very varied types of duties within their profession. The employees must also maintain many different roles, for example family, teacher and friend. The employees do often have to face very difficult situations with the children during their wait for a residence permit decision. The result was analyzed with theories as Integration Theory and Coping theory. The conclusions of this study are that the employees at the residential care homes for refugee children have very multifaceted work tasks with a very important target group. The increased amount of unaccompanied refugee children and adolescents escaping to Sweden has led to a situation that the Swedish society haven’t had time to adjust to. Clarifying how the employees work and treat the unaccompanied children can contribute to spreading this knowledge to other community stakeholders.

Despite the fact that the United States spends more per capita than any other nation on healthcare for its citizens, the quality of American health outcomes lags well behind every other developed country in the world. This paper proposes that it is no coincidence that the United States is also the only developed nation that does not guarantee the right comprehensive coverage of medical services for its citizens. Instead, we rely on a fee-for-service system which functionally denies quality health care to those without the means to pay for it. In this paper I document the experiences of various clients and staff of the Center, a torture survivor treatment and support agency, the majority of whose clients are or were refugees or political asylees, with the healthcare systems in the United States and elsewhere. I also analyze documented differences in the efficiency, efficacy, and levels of satisfaction with these foreign health care systems to that of the United States. The barriers to good quality health care experienced by the participants in this research are systemic, rather than individualistic, in nature. I therefore argue that the American ideology of health as a commodity to be bought and sold directly contributes to the inferior health outcomes of the United States health care delivery system, as compared to other nations whose ideology of health holds it to be a universal human right.

Bakgrund: Barn och ungdomar har immigrerat ensamma i flera decennier. Antalet ensamkommande flyktingbarn har ökat de senaste åren i Europa och främst i länder som Storbritannien, Sverige, Österrike och Norge. År 2008 immigrerade 13 400 barn/ungdomar utan föräldrar till Europa och ca 80 % av dem ansökte asyl. Sverige tog enskilt emot ca 3 578 ensamkommande flyktingbarn år 2012 och det väntas öka de närmsta åren. Det har även rapporterats om att ensamkommande flyktingbarn har en ökad risk för psykisk morbiditet. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att kartlägga faktorer som inverkar på ensamkommande flyktingbarns psykiska hälsa. Metod: Denna studie är en allmän litteraturstudie baserad på åtta kvantitativa och två kvalitativa studier. Resultat: Fem teman identifierades: Traumatiska upplevelser, Migrationsprocessen, Miljön, Ålder och Genus. Traumatiska upplevelser var den mest övervägande faktorn som bidrog till den ökade risken för utveckling av psykisk ohälsa. Vidare spelade migrationsprocessen och miljön i det nya landet stor roll för dessa barn/ungdomars välbefinnande. Ytterligare identifierade faktorer var kön och ålder. Slutsats: Resultatet i denna litteraturstudie visade på att dessa barn/ ungdomar har råkat ut för olika traumatiska upplevelser och att detta var den största bidragande faktorn till att de hade högre risk att utveckla psykisk ohälsa. Vidare framkom det att migrationsprocessen och miljön i det nya landet bidrog till den ökande risken för att utveckla psykisk ohälsa.  Klinisk betydelse: Denna studie ska ge ökad förståelse om ensamkommande flyktingbarns psykiska hälsa och belysa faktorer som inverkar på deras mående. Genom att ha kunskap om dessa faktorer kan sjuksköterskan lättare identifiera dessa barns omvårdnadsbehov. / Background: Children and young adolescents have been immigrating alone for decades. However the number of unaccompanied refugee children has increased in recent years in Europe, mainly in countries such as Britain, Sweden, Austria and Norway. In 2008, 13.400 children and young adolescents, immigrated without their parents to Europe and about 80% of them applied for asylum. Sweden alone received about 3,578 unaccompanied refugee children in 2012 and it is expected to increase in coming years. It has also been reported that unaccompanied refugee children have an increased risk of psychiatric morbidity. Aims: The aim of this study was to highlight factors affecting unaccompanied refugee children's mental health. Method: This study is a literature review based on eight quantitative and two qualitative studies. Results: Five themes were identified: Traumatic experiences, the Migration Process, Environment, Age and Gender. Traumatic experiences were the most predominant factor that contributed to the increased risk of developing mental illness. Furthermore the migration process and the environment in the new country had a big impact on these children/adolescents well-being. Additional identified factors were gender and age. Conclusion: The result of this study showed that these children / adolescents have suffered from various traumatic experiences highly contributing to an increased risk of developing mental illness. It was also found that the migration process and the environment in the new country contributed to the increased risk of developing mental illness. Clinical significance: This study can provide a better understanding of unaccompanied refugee children's mental health and illuminate the factors affecting their psychological well-being. Having knowledge of these factors, may help the nurses to identify these children's care needs.

In 1816 a group of white, affluent women in Natchez, Mississippi founded the Female Charitable Society, one of many ladies' associations in the early republic devoted to the care of poor and orphaned children. Born during a pervasive evangelical awakening, the Society established a charity school then, after a few years, constructed an orphan asylum. In doing so, benevolent women created not only a shelter for parentless boys and girls but a "civic household" of which they served as a collective head. Supported by charitable contributions rather than tax revenue, the orphan asylum functioned as a model environment, one that would rear prepubescent white children to be moral and industrious in trades that befit their born condition. The asylum also represented an opportunity for personal spiritual renewal on the part of donors as well as a landmark of municipal refinement. By promoting themselves as the natural caretakers of poor young children and fostering a culture of sympathy for them, benevolent women challenged the primacy of the statutory system of juvenile relief, which dated back to the earliest days of colonial settlement. Gradually, the Female Charitable Society raised the standard of relief for prepubescent indigent minors, diverted them from bound apprenticeship, wrested jurisdiction over them from male county officials, and gathered them into the household. The female-run orphan asylum largely supplanted apprenticeship as the preferred system of juvenile relief in Natchez, mirroring developments in other cities around the country. This study investigates why and how the orphan asylum emerged as a prominent form of juvenile relief in the United States. Using Natchez as a case study, this work underscores the role of benevolent women in effecting concrete transformations within the community as well as the impact of changes in domestic familial relations on child welfare. This study also expands the notion of "republican motherhood" to include "civic motherhood," that is, the public cultivation of maternal authority over poor children. Members of the Natchez Female Charitable Society positioned themselves as the rightful guardians of white, indigent boys and girls and was eventually granted legal authority over them by the State of Mississippi. / text

This paper explores the application of human rights in the EU asylum policy. The prevention of terror and the strengthening of the area of Justice, Freedom and Security require tighter border controls, which consequently reflect negatively on asylum seekers and their human rights. Therefore this paper sets the aim to explore the application of human rights for EU asylum policy in respect to international obligations. There are three main objectives to be attained in the paper: to determine if the treatment of asylum seekers, Conventional Refugees and persons granted Subsidiary Protection in the EU corresponds to human rights obligations; to explore how certain rules regarding asylum are used for the purpose of migration controls; to assess the impact of such policies for the people in the need of international protection. The research has to determine the correctness of the hypothesis claiming that the application of human rights in the EU asylum policy is often oriented to migration controls rather than humanitarian obligations. The research is based on a theoretical analysis and uses primary as well as secondary data sources. The research determines that the hypothesis has been approved. Theoretical analysis based on the social-constructivist neo-institutionalism indicates the need for the incorporation of human rights into the EU asylum rules, the application of which is currently very vague. A remarkable part of the rules related to the EU asylum policy does not... [to full text] / Šiame darbe nagrinėjamas žmogaus teisių taikymas ES prieglobsčio politikoje. Terorizmo prevencija bei Teisingumo, laisvės bei saugumo erdvės stiprinimas reikalauja griežtesnės sienų kontrolės, kas neigiamai atsiliepia prieglobsčio prašytojams bei jų žmogaus teisėms. Ryšium su tuo, šio darbo tikslas – ištirti žmogaus teisių taikymą ES prieglobsčio politikoje tarptautinių įsipareigojimų atžvilgiu. Darbe siekiama įgyvendinti tris pagrindinius uždavinius: nustatyti, ar elgesys su prieglobsčio prašytojais, konvenciniais Pabėgėliais bei asmenims, kuriems suteikta Papildoma apsauga, atitinka tarptautinius žmogaus teisių įsipareigojimus; ištirti, kaip tam tikros su prieglobsčiu susijusios taisyklės yra naudojamos migracijos kontrolės tikslais; įvertinti atitinkamos politikos poveikį asmenims, kuriems reikalinga tarptautinė apsauga. Tyrimu siekiama patvirtinti arba paneigti hipotezę, teigiančią, jog dažnais atvejais žmogaus teisių taikymas ES prieglobsčio politikoje yra orientuotas ne į humanitarinius įsipareigojimus, bet į migracijos kontrolę. Darbas paremtas teorine analize, naudojant pirminius bei antrinius šaltinius. Tyrimu nustatyta, jog iškelta hipotezė pasitvirtino. Teorinė analizė, paremta socialkonstruktyviuoju neoinstitucionalizmu, identifikavo poreikį į ES prieglobsčio politikos taisykles įtraukti žmogaus teises, kurių taikymas šiuo metu yra labai vangus. Ženkli su ES prieglobsčio politika susijusių taisyklių dalis neatitinka žmogaus teisių įsipareigijimų. Non-entré... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

The number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) has increased significantly in Sweden since the summer of 2006. Due to Sweden’s high rate of asylum application approvals, it has become a main destination country. Concurrently, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have decreased in other more traditional European destination countries, such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway. The majority of the UASC come from Afghanistan and Somalia. There is insufficient knowledge regarding these children’s reasons and patterns for the migration to Sweden. This is a case study based on semi-structured interviews with key informants that have been strategically chosen for this study. The Migration System theory, which is based on key mechanisms of the globalization theory, is used in this study. Restricted asylum regulations in Western countries have created a “migratory industry” with human smugglers, which facilitate and expand the irregular migration. The migratory industry greatly influences the children’s choice of destination. Without the assistance of human smugglers, a migration would be impossible for these children. The conclusion of this study demonstrates the importance of informal social networks that are the reason behind the increase of UASC in Sweden.

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