The interrelation between gender and the asylum-seeking process has received increasing attention within academic as well as political discussions in the past decade. Looking specifically at the case of Sweden, this paper hopes to add to existing knowledge through the consideration of how tensions and contradictions regarding migrants and asylum-seekers affect women’s experiences of the asylum-seeking process. The analysis builds on the idea that the European Union Member States, Sweden included, have cultivated a “securitized” migration discourse which considers refugees and asylum-seekers as a threat to national security and stability. This has resulted in reinvigorated internal and external controls on migration and asylum, with particular structural and gendered implications for those seeking asylum in the EU. The aim of the study is to explore how these implications affect women’s experiences of seeking asylum in Sweden. It finds that women, and especially women belonging to ethic minority groups in their home-countries, are particularly vulnerable to the effects of securitization due to lack of social and economic resources, increased exposure to gender based violence (GBV) during the migratory journey, insecurities related to male-dominated and overcrowded asylum accommodation centers, and insecurities related to family fragmentation.

This study explores the roles of religious organizations in the refugee movement “Lampedusa in Hamburg”, in Hamburg, Germany during 2013 and 2014. “Lampedusa in Hamburg” consisted of approximately 300 refugees who had come from Libya, and decided to fight for their right to stay in Germany. Early on, religious organizations became important supporters to the movement, by providing the members food and shelter. By analyzing archival material and interviews with two religious representatives, this thesis investigates the involvement of religious organizations, their collaborations, and the outcomes produced by their work during the protests, using theories connected to secularization and religion and migration. The analysis shows that the involvement of religious organizations in the “Lampedusa in Hamburg”- movement is an example of how faith-based actors in the West are standing up against authorities and objecting migration policies. Their work, collaborations and impact were clearly shaped by national ties with the German state and their position in society.  Further, local dynamics formed the roles of the religious organizations, especially in the case of the St. Pauli church – one of the most central religious actors – located in St. Pauli, a block with a long history of protests. During the Lampedusa in Hamburg-movement, processes operating at global, national, and local scales met, exposing the complexities of the roles that religious organizations take on, as they become involved in migrant processes in Western Europe today.

The research focus of this study is to investigate the ways in which the so-called European refugee crisis has been socially constructed as number one urgent matter for the European community in the years between 2015-2017. Noting the unprecedented rise of the public support for far-right parties in the European polls, the goal of this study is to understand and conceptualize the ways in which the refugee crisis has been presented as an existential threat by the right-wing political leaders in the Netherlands, France and Germany, three core European members, which held elections in 2017. This has been done by utilizing the theoretical framework, composed of the Copenhagen School, as well as the categorization framework which builds upon the results from previous literature on the topic of the securitization of migration. In addition, by utilizing critical discourse analysis this study probes the hypothesis that regardless of the magnitude of the crisis, the securitizing discourses are largely revolving around four overarching realms: the identity, criminological, political and economic realm. The findings infer that the securitizing discourses of the right-wing leaders in the Netherlands, France and Germany in relation to migration are identical and are revolving around the aforementioned domains, regardless of the countries’ political landscape.

Refugee camps, mostly located in the Global South, host millions of human beings and mirror the overburden and incapacity of humanitarian response. If these places were once supposedly created to aggregate asylum-seekers temporarily, now they have become the norm for prolonged stays where future generations grow.This thesis explores the viability of the UNHCR’s durable solutions for Rohingya Refugees- local integration, resettlement, and repatriation. Moreover, it questions the role of non-state actors when it comes to decision-making in refugee governance. The analysis is conducted through a critical interpretive synthesis. The selected literature was scrutinized and linked to theoretical concepts such as human security, securitization of migration, legal pluralism, and complex interdependence.In summary, the literature analyzed shares a unanimity that, although conditions in the camps are unsustainable for permanent stays, efforts to build better futures for refugees are not being explored enough. This is mainly due to a reluctance of States to accept refugees on behalf of their integrity and security, in the sense that refugees are perceived as threats to their sovereignty. In this sense, potential efforts by non-state actors to provide a sustainable future for refugees fall behind: in a scenario where national security prevails, keeping refugees in the camp seems to be the safest choice.

We live in an era of advanced technological innovations and it is therefore difficult to acquire a proper overview of the different surveillance techniques deployed for the purpose of enhancing and administrating migration control. The intent of this paper is to disseminate one of the new technologies on the market: the biometric technology that is an identification and verification system based on measurements of biological traits. Different approaches are used to explore and investigate the technological functions, social structures and political justifications for their validity and their role in the implementation of the biometric technology. The paper also provides an overview of the different areas of political and social management that are affected by the implementation of the biometric techniques.The principal aim of this work is to examine how the implementation of the biometric techniques will affect privacy for all people, taking both information privacy and personal integrity into consideration. The second question deals with migration management, as the current implementation mainly involves travel documents. It focuses on the consequences of the so-called war on terror and its call for prevention of terrorism and irregular migration. The dilemma between national security and the right to privacy, public good and private interests, and the realms of state and individual rights are also discussed and analysed.Hence, the framework and the fundamental structure of this thesis are based on three core issues pertinent to the implementation of biometrics in the EU: threats posed on the right to privacy, securitization of migration, and intensification of surveillance and state control. The findings are used to identify the threats posed on right to privacy and the way this right is compromised, and the consequences of practices and policies in the field of migration that are discriminatory and exclusory. Lastly, by employing different theories, this paper examines why state seeks technological control over citizens and why individuals comply with state control and surveillance.

This master thesis deals with the current issue of immigration within the EU while applying the social constructivist theory. It seems that the humanitarian, human rights and economic dimension of the European immigration policy is disappearing and immigration is increasingly viewed through the lens of security. The aim of this thesis is to apply the constructivist concept of securitization (constructing an object as a threat) to the current phenomenon of immigration to the EU in order to see the ways of securitization of immigration at the European level and identify its impact and related problems. The first theoretical part of the thesis introduces the links between immigration and security and also thoroughly explains the theoretical and methodological concept of securitization which is then used in the context of the current EU migration policy. The final chapter is devoted to the negative impacts of successfully securitized immigration and it suggests some alternative ways for the EU migration policy which should be seen through other (not only security) dimensions.