Lost in the System? Disabled Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Britain
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This short paper calls for greater awareness of disabled refugees and asylum seekers living in Britain. Currently, policy makers, many refugee communities and the disability movement fail to consider disabled refugees and asylum seekers, perhaps because they constitute a minority about whom data are rarely available. Focussing on the particular combination of circumstances affecting disabled refugees and asylum seekers, this paper presents recent changes in support arrangements for refugees and asylum seekers. The paper also calls for greater involvement in refugee issues by the disability movement.Keywords:
Disabled people
Arrangements that were made to receive and support Kosovan refugees in the United Kingdom should be applied to asylum seekers arriving in the country.
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This is the second in a series of three articles
People who are seeking asylum are not a homogeneous population. Coming from different countries and cultures, they have had, in their own and other countries, a wide range of experiences that may affect their health and nutritional state. In the United Kingdom they face the effects of poverty, dependence, and lack of cohesive social support.1 All these factors undermine both physical and mental health. Additionally, racial discrimination can result in inequalities in health and have an impact on opportunities in and quality of life.2
Refugees' experiences also shape their acceptance and expectations of health care in the United Kingdom.3 Those from countries with no well developed primary healthcare system may expect hospital referral for conditions that in Britain are treated in primary care. This can lead to disappointment for refugees and irritation for health workers, who may also feel overwhelmed by the many and varying needs of asylum seekers, some of which are non-medical but nevertheless affect health. Addressing even a few of these needs may be of considerable benefit.
Previous studies in the United Kingdom have found that one in six refugees has a physical health problem severe enough to affect their life and two thirds have experienced anxiety or depression. 4 5 Disentangling the web of history, symptoms—which may be minimised or exaggerated for a range of reasons—and current coping mechanisms requires patience and often several sessions. Medication should be as simple as possible.
#### Summary points
Asylum seekers and refugees are not a homogeneous group of people, and have differing experiences and expectations of health and of health care
Symptoms of psychological distress are common, but do not necessarily signify mental illness
Trained interpreters or advocates, rather than family members or friends, should be used wherever possible …
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Abstract The Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA), adopted in Geneva in June 1989, aimed at resolving the long‐standing problem of the Vietnamese Boat People (VBP) in South‐East Asia. It was a unique arrangement which dealt with all aspects of the VBP situation. It instituted individual status determination of asylum‐seekers in the countries and territories concerned, changing the position which hitherto recognised all arriving VBPs as refugees. First‐asylum countries in South‐East Asia had no existing refugee legislation and were introduced to the refugee criteria of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol thereto, with emphasis on other international instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and on the special circumstances of the asylum‐seekers. There is merit in comprehensive approaches to refugee problems and other successful examples exist in the contexts of Central America, Southern Africa, and Europe. These experiences should be utilised in formulating solutions to refugee problems in other parts of the world.
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This article is written by a social scientist, a sociologist, who is concerned about Australia’s current treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. The previously welcoming attitude of politicians, policy makers and people has changed considerably and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Services ‘keep Australia safe’: no maritime arrivals will be processed in Australia nor will they ever can settle in Australia. Asylum seekers arriving by boat at Australia’s shores have been transferred to Manus Island or Nauru. These so called ‘processing centres’ are closed, however, during a recent Australian Senate Estimates Committee hearing, the deputy commissioner of the Department of Home Affairs, Mandy Newton, provided figures for asylum seekers on Nauru: there were 652 asylum seekers on the island as of October 22. Of those, 541 (or 83%) have been granted refugee status; 88 people (13%) were still subject to the ‘refugee status determination’ process; and 23 were considered ‘failed asylum seekers’ [1]. This is a challenging issue because these people, young men, have been there for more between five and seven years. Although the detention centers are now officially closed and the ‘detainees’ have open access to the outside, these young men are in a state of fear and uncertainty and their health, especially mental health, is of concern.
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Part 1 - An Overview of Asylum Seekers, Refugees and Irregular Migration in Australia Immigration, Refugees and Australian Nationhood Compassion and Common Sense: Refugees and Immigration Control The Essence of Control: Australia's Experience of Irregular Migration and Asylum Seekers People Smuggling and People Trafficking Part 2 - Asylum and Refugee Status Seeking Asylum: Refugee Status Determination Procedures Who is a Refugee? The Refugee Definition and Protection Protecting Australia: Border Control and the Deflection of Asylum Seekers Refugee Outcomes: Temporary Protection, Permanent Settlement and Removal or Return Part 3 - Immigration Detention Enforcing Australia's Immigration Laws: Arrest, Detention and Removal Australia's Mandatory Detention Regime: The Legal Issues Mandatory Detention: Conditions of Detention World's Best Practice: Asylum in Other Countries Part 4 - Conclusion Imagining the Future: Control and Compassion Index
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The Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA) was adopted in response to continued refugee exodus from Vietnam and the resulting political consequences of what had become a protracted international dilemma. The approach inherent in the CPA was to address in a comprehensive manner all aspects of the problems relating to the Vietnamese Boat People (VNBP), including the causes of their flight. Unlike most other refugee situations, this required the co-operation and participation of the country of origin. Many of the features of the CPA required the participation of the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR), most notably its active involvement in refugee status determination in countries which had no previous experience in this regard. The objectives of the CPA were to end the flow of non-refugees, determine on an individual basis the refugee status of all VNBPs arriving in first asylum camps, resettle refugees to third countries and return non-refugees to the country of origin. Mass information campaigns in Vietnam were used to explain the CPA and the possibility of legal departure under the Orderly Departure Programme. The main feature, on which all the other elements rested, was the Refugee Status Determination (RSD) of asylum seekers who arrived in first asylum countries after an agreed cut-off date (March 1989). Previously, Vietnamese fleeing their country were resettled under an arrangement agreed by governments participating in the 1979 Geneva Conference. The adoption of the CPA in 1989 brought an end to automatic resettlement and required that all VNBPs arriving after the cut-off date be screened to determine their individual refugee status. Many found this extremely difficult to accept, particularly the Vietnamese Boat People themselves, given the previous fifteen years' practice. It was critical to the success of the CPA that Refugee Status Determination proceedings be fair and that the special historical circumstances of the VNBPs were taken into account. The political environment in which the CPA was drafted recognized that the refugee definition contained in the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol would guide the RSD proceedings, but that account should also be taken of other international instruments relating to refugees. It was furthermore acknowledged that humanitarian consideration should be given to the particular situation of the Vietnamese, and that there be respect for maintaining family unity. Interpretation regarding the weight given to each of these factors dictated the screening process and created controversy among the various interested parties. Non-governmental organizations, in particular, felt that increased weight should be given to the humanitarian aspects of the CPA. Others, particularly resettlement countries, were concerned about a too liberal interpretation of the refugee definition and an elastic application of the principle of family unity. In addition, positive changes in Vietnam made it necessary to put increased weight on the requirement to show a well-founded fear upon return. UNHCR was given the task of monitoring the procedures and training the government officials who were to screen the asylum seekers. This paper examines the factors contributing to the RSD process, analyzes their significance and assesses the results of the RSD exercise.
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This article examines the politics of urban refugees in South Africa. It shows that despite South Africa’s adoption of an encompassing rights-regarding legal framework that has the potential to be inclusive towards asylum seekers and refugees in the country and afford them basic human rights and protection, asylum seekers and refugees nonetheless remain “internally excluded,” predominantly as a result of practices adopted by a nationalist Department of Home Affairs to implement refugee legislation and by the UNHCR in its quest to prioritize the safeguarding of the institution of asylum. The article also shows how the adoption of these practices has been facilitated by a construction of asylum seekers and refugees as “bogus” claimants who have no place in post-apartheid South Africa.
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There are several places in Indonesia which is found that accepted the asylum seeker and international refugees, one of them is the Government of South Sulawesi to the asylum seeker/Rohingya Refugees. The arrival of international asylum seekers and refugees is due to a threat to the life and security of themselves and their families in their home country. On the other hand, the South Sulawesi Provincial Government has practiced good treatment of asylum seekers and internally displaced persons resettled in its territory. In the handling the international asylum seekers and refugees, the Government of South Sulawesi always coordinates well with the district/city government, central government and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offices both in Jakarta and Makassar, is intended not only in terms of locating international asylum seekers and refugees in South Sulawesi, but also coordinating in the settlement of any issues involving such asylum seekers and refugees. Keywords : Coordination, Local Government, Asylum Seeker, International Refugee.
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When refugees and asylum seekers move out of closed immigration detention and into the community, they are joining a society that holds preconceived ideas about them and their journey to Australia. Studies have identified a range of myths and misunderstandings within Australian public attitudes to refugees and asylum seekers, which may be shaped by government policy and political language.
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During 1989, despite continuing and widespread refugee problems in the world, there were encourging developments in relation to certain longstanding situations. The single most notable of these was in Namibia; the emergence there of an independent State was preceded by the successful repatriation of more than 43,000 Namibians. The International Conference on Central American Refugees formulated in May a special plan of action to facilitate the return and rehabilitation of refugees and displaced persons and to benefit local populations as well. The Comprehensive Plan of Action, adopted at the International Conference on Indo-Chinese Refugees in June, set out measures to deal with asylum-seekers in the South-East Asian region.
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Internally displaced person
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