why are refugees treated differently

The Century Foundation. Asylum-seekers must not be forced back to the trauma and violence that theyre so desperately fleeing. Since it was first implemented in March 2020, more than 1 million migrants and asylum-seekers have been turned away. What does Turkey get in return for taking care of Europes deported lot? One of the many things that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not expect when he launched his gratuitously stupid invasion of Ukraine was international resolve. Given the risk of deportation, many also avoid the system altogether and work informally instead. It especially from Asia and Africa, to understand that Lebanon has a racism problem that goes beyond the discrimination of refugees. Compared to college students in previous samples, these participants reported perceiving even stronger threats and experiencing more hostility toward refugees. This stark contrast epitomizes Europes unequitable treatment of different refugee populations, with Ukrainians topping the refugee hierarchy. Many more Haitians trying to avoid this fate are being detained in Del Rio, Texas. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Reportedly, some of the perpetrators behind the Paris attacks had exploited the asylum system to enter Europe, giving migration skeptics ample opportunity to call for border closures. Barbed political rhetoric both reflects and exacerbates these trends among Europeans. The EU report challenges her statement by showing that, rather than signifying asylum seekers lack of desire to work, the slow inclusion of asylum seekers into the labor market is a result of poor implementation: Many employers in Sweden are simply not aware that asylum seekers are allowed to work. That convention requires the country that first registered an asylum seeker to administer the application and provide housing. Since Russia invaded Ukraine one month ago on Feb. 24, nearly 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine, and should the conflict continue, an additional 5 million more refugees will likely flee from the country within a year a rate that is nearly five times as fast as the flow of refugees from Syria and North Africa, says Stanford immigration policy scholar David Laitin. As of March 4, Canada has only resettled 8,580 of . In addition, we should remember foreigners culture will change, particularly with intergroup contactjust as cultures of European immigrants to America have changed, as history shows. The way the system is in place, most of the burden falls on groups like us, in terms of housing and transportation, says Chuevang Xiong, Director of Refugee Services at the International . MAHDIS KESHAVARZ: I always kind of think this imagery of, like, this pearl clutch of being just aghast that something can happen in your backyard, where things are happening in other people's backyards all the time. Ukrainian nationals are oftentimes allowed to board evacuation transportation ahead of foreign nationals, who also face more difficulties entering countries like Poland and acquiring suitable accommodations. Syrians are careful to disassociate themselves from the refugee identity. | king5.com. Why are some refugees treated differently than others? Millions of Ukrainians are living in unimaginable terror; but thankfully the countrys refugees will face a more accommodating Europe than did those who sought similar protection a decade earlier. They have received medical screenings and access to vaccinations upon their arrival. This was shown in the behavior of newly certified French civil servants, who were more likely to reject Muslim applicants for refugee status; it was shown in the behavior of Swiss voters denying citizenship to Muslim applicants in direct democratic votes at higher rates than comparable Christians; and it was shown in the behavior of French citizens in experimental protocols fearing and discriminating against increasing numbers of Muslims in their midst more than Christians, even though both groups were from Senegal. Refugees, for instance, pose an economic threat because they need jobs, low-cost housing, access to health care, etc. Furthermore, it is important to help the public understand immigrants do not have to give up the core of their identity (in terms of cultures and traditions) to be able to follow the law, find jobs, contribute to society, and make friends with people of the host country. And if you zoom way, way out when talking about refugees and displacement, countries in the Middle East, Africa and the global South have taken in more than their fair share of refugees. Palestinians, who have for decades lived in UN-assisted camps in the region. Syrian Palestinians have always been treated differently to their Syrian counterparts; whereas Turkish authorities have given Syrian refugees a "temporary protection" status using a specific regulation (which has become increasingly precarious over time), Palestinians (including Syrian Palestinians) have had to apply for visas to enter and stay . Masses of refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, and elsewhere have faced racially motivated hostility in. The Ukraine refugee crisis revealed deep-seated racism as racialized and Black refugees from Ukraine were treated differently. Refugee The United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) defines refugees as those who have fled from conflict and persecution to seek protection in another country. CHARLIE D'AGATA: You know, this is a relatively civilized, relatively European - I have to choose those words carefully, too - city where you wouldn't expect that LIMBONG: The phrasing rankled enough people that he issued a clarifying apology a day later. The UNHCR has warned that the conflation of refugees and migrants has politicized humanitarian work, but the distinction was political at the onset, as it prioritizes victims of physical violence over victims of structural and economic violence. Kotada Al-Younes, a young Syrian journalist who has found exile in Sweden, told me that many Syrians in Sweden share this frustration with being confined and labelled as refugees: People want to keep their identity and their profession when they go abroad. ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: On Friday, CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D'Agata framed the fighting in Kyiv like this. attempting to cross the Syria-Turkey borderis only the latest stark example of Turkeys inability to protect incoming migrants. They also found that eligible voters favored refugees with higher employability. 90 RB 0022). In both the United States and Europe, the inevitability of multiculturalism and diversityand the resulting decay of white dominanceprompts nativism, racism, and xenophobia from the right. It took a heroic act at great political cost by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for Germany to take responsibility for many of these asylum seekers. We need to demystify refugees cultural practices so they appear less threatening. Contrarily, due to racial, religious, cultural, and ethnic differences, Europeans feel less sympathy for other refugees. The Refugee Act is a federal immigration law that was adopted in 1980. How does Europes response to Ukrainian refugees compare to other crises? Those seeking security at our southern border should not be treated any differently. Moreover, they were not permitted to work until their asylum application was approved. In the wall-to-wall coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, a certain pattern has sometimes emerged that positions Ukrainians as different from other victims of conflict. Six threat types emerged from the analysis of the responses:1. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stipulates that while refugees are humanitarian subjects primarily seeking protection, migrants are economic subjects, seeking better lives. While this study indicates anti-Muslim bias among government officials, a similar 2016 study suggests that regular citizens exhibit similar tendencies. Melissa De Witte, Stanford News Service: mdewitte@stanford.edu, The researchers created maps showing where warmer weather has left trees in conditions that dont suit them, making them more prone to being replaced by other species. Witnessing how Palestinian refugees have become caught in a state of permanent displacement, many Syrians are careful to disassociate themselves from the refugee identity. Turkey, a crucial political ally in the region already overburdened with hosting almost three million Syrian refugees and managing a failing security sector, is not well-fit to host additional people.Sundays incidentwhen Turkish security guards shot and killed eleven Syrian refugees attempting to cross the Syria-Turkey borderis only the latest stark example of Turkeys inability to protect incoming migrants. Refugees, for instance, pose an economic threat because they need jobs, low-cost housing, access to health care, etc. Since anger and hostility toward refugees might be related to the perception of injustice as well, we need to address feelings of injustice related to the obligation of accepting refugees and foreigners. Many Central and Eastern Europeans are empathising with. While the two categories are treated differently by law, in practice they are both asylum seekers. Describing them as 'refugees' would draw in a governance apparatus that today includes development actors. Furthermore, immigrants pose an identity threat, especially if they have a different cultural identity, religious identity, and value system than members of the host community. Perceptions of threat, according to previous research, are one of the most important predictors of attitudes and prejudice toward immigrants and other outgroups(p. 82).2. The world is currently experiencing the largest refugee crisis since World War II. the population growth among the working age has increased while unemployment has decreased. In this post, I discuss new research by Helen Landmann and colleagues in Germany, which has examined the reasons people use to justify anti-refugee hostility. Even though refugees are always victims of conflict, the civil war in Syria is more difficult to fit into this binary of right versus wrong, which may affect the EUs perceived political expediency of aiding Syrian refugees. Psychology Today 2023 Sussex Publishers, LLC. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(7), 1401-1420. "Countries that had been really negative on the refugee issue and have made it very difficult for the EU to develop coherent refugee policy over the last decade, suddenly come forward with a much . Ibrahim. HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP/Getty Images. Both direct and indirect threats were related to unfavorable attitudes toward refugees, so there may be a bidirectional relationship between peoples attitudes and their perception of threat: The perception of threat gives rise to negative attitudes toward outsiders, and negative attitudes also cause greater threat perception. She and her daughters then found themselves on a bus back to Guatemala, the place where they had fled violence in the first place. KESHAVARZ: And I think one very dangerous thing that we're seeing is - and it bears asking the question - is, have journalists become so desensitized to the suffering of different peoples of color, specifically people that are in war zones, that we're no longer seeing on the same level playing field? "But instead, it really is night and day if we talk about the programs for Afghanistan's refugees.". Why Are So Many Young Men Single And Sexless? Meanwhile, the Maslovas, a family from Ukraine, enjoy warm welcomes. Similarly, as many EU members have already acknowledged, it is neither fair nor sustainable to let Mediterranean frontier states such as Greece and Italy, already crumpling under financial debt, host the bulk of the incoming asylum seekers. The Century Foundation takes your data security and privacy seriously. While a federal judge on Thursday blocked the Biden administration from enforcing Title 42 for migrant families, the administration still has 14 days to implement the court ruling, and in any case is appealing the decision. Eastern Europe is treating Ukrainians better than Syrians and Afghansbut giving people the means to resist is the only way to prevent future crises. March 3, 2022. Does a Dog's Head Shape Predict How Smart It Is? The 2014-15 asylees from Syria and North Africa were mostly Muslim and faced higher degrees of discrimination than will the Ukrainians, who are largely of Christian heritage. She holds an MA in Near Eastern Studies from New York University and will be a PhD candidate in social anthropology at Columbia University in the fall. They are unable to return home unless and until conditions in their native lands are safe for them again. He's the host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast and a frequent host on Life Kit. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Broadly, what does your research reveal about the publics attitude toward refugees? The act allowed approximately 190,000 refugees, escapees, and expellees to arrive in the United States before the legislation . Unlike Ukraine, the Assad regime in Syria was authoritarian, corrupt, and violent. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkelwidely hailed as a champion of refugee rightsfunded Turkeys refugee camps so that President Erdoan would hinder the passage of refugees into Greece, an EU member. International law and practice addresses refugee and internal displacement emergencies differently. While we do not know the specific educational and skill profile of the now over 3 million Ukrainians who have fled, urban Ukrainians tend to have higher skill levels than other middle-income countries. While the two categories are treated differently by law, in practice they are both asylum seekers. Reviewed by Ekua Hagan. NPR's Andrew Limbong has more. LIMBONG: Keshavarz points to Poland accepting Ukrainian refugees when not that long ago, the country was telling scores of Afghans, Syrians and Iraqis, no, the country's full. LIMBONG: The Nigerian statehouse issued a statement today denouncing reports of Nigerians being denied entry to the Polish border. Author Kate Zernike dissects the years-long fight for gender equality at MIT, NASA made history by knocking an asteroid off course. Here are some suggestions: To understand the real effects of migration on us and our country, we must rely on data (e.g., economic indicators and crime rates), not ideology. Germany, for example, has suffered fromzero population growth for years and is in acute need of young, able-bodied workers to feed its massive industrial economy. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Reporters have documented dehumanizing treatment against international students from Africa, South Asia and the Middle East in Ukraine. The European Parliament stresses in a report that even though Sweden offers low working restrictions for asylees, their labor market is inflexible and poorly adaptable to employees with different skills. More than half - nearly 548,000 - have fled to Poland which shares a 500km border with Ukraine. The Century Foundation An anchor for Al-Jazeera English called Ukrainian refugees, quote, "middle-class people," in comparison to refugees from the Middle East and North Africa. Chief among these is the so-called " jewelry law " - a measure which allows the government to seize asylum seekers' assets, including their jewelry, to fund their stay in the country. show that asylum centers tend to isolate residents. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Health Services. PostedFebruary 21, 2020 Albagir, a male refugee from Sudan, and one of his co-travelers struggle to cross into Poland. When it comes to these refugees being treated differently during their time of need, Abdelaaty's research shows that the labels used to describe those fleeing their homelandrefugees and migrantsimpacts how countries respond, including the actual definitions of who is a refugee and who is a migrant. Why are asylum seekers treated differently to other refugees? : 'Labours Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper struggles to justify why refugees fleeing war in Ukraine should be treated differently to refugees fleeing war in Afghanistan. The other hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of girls and young women who survived the journey are still in Kakuma Refugee Camp. As Abdelaaty describes, welcoming refugees [condemns] the government that caused their flight and can help further discredit that government in the eyes of the world, as well as its own people. Therefore, welcoming Ukrainians is politically expedient for the EU. When I called the Swedish immigration authorities (Migrationsverket) to verify this, their press person acknowledged that not many asylum seekers are working, but indicated that only few asylum seekers make use of the temporary work permits in the first place. As more refugees entered Europe, detention increased, and former European Council President Donald Tusk even called for 18-month detention periods. The Venezuelan crisis parallels the Zimbabwean exodus of the early 2000s. The way we talk about conflicts can impact those who are already most directly affected by war, refugees. With fewer resources invested in non-Ukrainian refugees, it may take longer for their asylum cases to be processed, prolonging unemployment, living precarity, and limited access to resources. This has meant that asylum-seekers have been expelled in violation of the United Nations 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, which prevents countries from returning people to places where they face threats to their lives or freedom without providing them the opportunity to apply for asylum. "Many nations today are spending much more money and energy on finding ways to prevent refugees and asylum seekers from ever crossing their border than they are in protecting people who have been. Albagir is given beatings, and the Maslovas are given bread. In 2016, Hungarian leader Viktor Orbn described migration as a poison, yet he recently exclaimed that Ukrainians are welcomed by friends in Hungary. 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