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Themed Issue: The Reception of Asylum Seekers in Europe

Themed Issue: The Reception of Asylum Seekers in Europe Editorial Charles Watters Director,The European Centre for the Study of Migration and Social Care, University of Kent The issue of asylum reception has been central to debates concerning the appropriate treatment of asylum seekers and refugees in industrialised countries. Within the European Union attempts have been made to harmonise asylum processes, and a significant aspect of this was the introduction of the EC Asylum Directive in 2001. This document laid down minimum standards for reception, with specific reference to health and social care needs and the particular needs of vulnerable groups including children, pregnant women, the elderly and victims of torture. Despite significant strides in policy developments to harmonise reception, practice on the ground across Europe can be very variable. There are concerns that, in developing broadly agreed policies, there may be a tendency to move matters to the lowest common denominator rather than to promote the highest possible standards.This variability has been analysed as resulting in four distinct models of practice: a ‘Northern Model’ that is very centrally organised and that places a strong emphasis on bureaucratic procedures and centralised organisation, a ‘Southern Model’ in which the state often plays a less significant role in reception than international NGOs, an ‘Eastern Model’ representing recent attempts by new members of the EU to provide services, often in former military camps, and a ‘Western Model’, which offers more ‘bottom up’ approaches by engagement, for example, with refugee community and voluntary organisations. The papers assembled here offer an insight into the contemporary nature of asylum reception in Europe. They include the accounts of service providers from one country whose task was to examine the services in another. As such, they reveal the value of looking at services as an outsider, albeit one skilled in the delivery of services to asylum seekers in another country. The authors here have developed what may be described as a ‘critical reflexivity’ that enabled careful analysis of the situations in other countries and also acted as a tool for reflection on the situation in their own countries.These papers proceed from an overview from the co-ordinator of the project to a series of individual case studies.They have been edited by Rosa Hossain, the academic researcher who worked on the project.The papers offer a critical insight into both the treatment of asylum seekers in the early 21st century and the roles of service providers in delivering health and social care. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care Volume 4 Issue 3 November 2008 © Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care Pier Professional

Themed Issue: The Reception of Asylum Seekers in Europe

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Publisher
Pier Professional
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 by Pier Professional Limited
ISSN
1747-9894
eISSN
2042-8650
Publisher site
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Abstract

Editorial Charles Watters Director,The European Centre for the Study of Migration and Social Care, University of Kent The issue of asylum reception has been central to debates concerning the appropriate treatment of asylum seekers and refugees in industrialised countries. Within the European Union attempts have been made to harmonise asylum processes, and a significant aspect of this was the introduction of the EC Asylum Directive in 2001. This document laid down minimum standards for reception, with specific reference to health and social care needs and the particular needs of vulnerable groups including children, pregnant women, the elderly and victims of torture. Despite significant strides in policy developments to harmonise reception, practice on the ground across Europe can be very variable. There are concerns that, in developing broadly agreed policies, there may be a tendency to move matters to the lowest common denominator rather than to promote the highest possible standards.This variability has been analysed as resulting in four distinct models of practice: a ‘Northern Model’ that is very centrally organised and that places a strong emphasis on bureaucratic procedures and centralised organisation, a ‘Southern Model’ in which the state often plays a less significant role in reception than international NGOs, an ‘Eastern Model’ representing recent attempts by new members of the EU to provide services, often in former military camps, and a ‘Western Model’, which offers more ‘bottom up’ approaches by engagement, for example, with refugee community and voluntary organisations. The papers assembled here offer an insight into the contemporary nature of asylum reception in Europe. They include the accounts of service providers from one country whose task was to examine the services in another. As such, they reveal the value of looking at services as an outsider, albeit one skilled in the delivery of services to asylum seekers in another country. The authors here have developed what may be described as a ‘critical reflexivity’ that enabled careful analysis of the situations in other countries and also acted as a tool for reflection on the situation in their own countries.These papers proceed from an overview from the co-ordinator of the project to a series of individual case studies.They have been edited by Rosa Hossain, the academic researcher who worked on the project.The papers offer a critical insight into both the treatment of asylum seekers in the early 21st century and the roles of service providers in delivering health and social care. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care Volume 4 Issue 3 November 2008 © Pavilion Journals (Brighton) Ltd

Journal

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care – Pier Professional

Published: Nov 1, 2008

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