EUROPEAN REFUGEES AND MIGRANTS’ RESETTLEMENT DIFFICULTIES AND COPING STRATEGIES
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Executive SummaryThe report focuses on the plight of European refugees and migrants. Specifically, the report intends to explore how their resettlement faces difficulties and then recommend some coping strategies to improve their situation. In the research and analysis part, using recent events in Europe, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the author studies the experience of refugees and migrants in their efforts to resettle and cope within the European social structures. Further, incorporating the situation on Syrian and African refugees as they attempt to socially integrate within various host nations in Europe, the report offers a key point of analysis. Using qualitative secondary research design, the paper argues that policy issues and recent global development such as COVID-19 have negatively affected the resettlement and coping strategies of refugees and migrants in Europe. Solutions provided include better and open policy standards that are bias free. The findings point to evidence of flawed policies in Europe’s integration of refugees and involuntary migrants into the society. There is also evidence of double standards as some nations like Italy and Greece welcome refugees of European decent while turning away millions of Syrian and African refugees.
Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc109317575 h 2CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION PAGEREF _Toc109317576 h 41.1 Research Background PAGEREF _Toc109317577 h 41.2 Research Problem PAGEREF _Toc109317578 h 41.3 Research Aims PAGEREF _Toc109317579 h 41.4 Research Objectives PAGEREF _Toc109317580 h 41.5 Research Questions PAGEREF _Toc109317581 h 5CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW PAGEREF _Toc109317582 h 62.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc109317583 h 62.2 Refugees in Europe PAGEREF _Toc109317584 h 62.3 Challenges Faced by Refugees in Europe in Settling and Coping PAGEREF _Toc109317585 h 72.4 Refugee and Migration Crisis in Europe PAGEREF _Toc109317586 h 7CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY PAGEREF _Toc109317587 h 93.1 Research Design PAGEREF _Toc109317588 h 93.2 Comparative Qualitative Studies PAGEREF _Toc109317589 h 9CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION PAGEREF _Toc109317590 h 114.1 Refugees and Involuntary Migrants Situation in Europe PAGEREF _Toc109317591 h 114.2 A Refugee Crisis Merged with Mass Migration PAGEREF _Toc109317592 h 114.3 A Report on Problems Facing Asylum-Seekers PAGEREF _Toc109317593 h 124.4 A Looming Crisis PAGEREF _Toc109317594 h 12CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION PAGEREF _Toc109317595 h 145.1 Summary PAGEREF _Toc109317596 h 145.2 Future Studies PAGEREF _Toc109317597 h 14References PAGEREF _Toc109317598 h 15
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1.1 Research BackgroundIt is difficult for refugees to integrate socially in their new countries. The social integration of refugees is also in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16. For sustainable development, SDG 16 aspires to promote inclusive and peaceful societies, guarantee that everyone has access to justice, and build inclusive, efficient, and responsible institutions at all levels (Denaro & Giuffré, 2022). Target 16.10 of the SDGs calls for an emphasis on preserving fundamental rights and facilitating public access to information in accordance with regional legislation and international agreements (Denaro & Giuffré, 2022). Refugees’ pre-migration experiences, mode of departure, and post-arrival circumstances are only a few of the variables that affect their degree of integration and adaptation.
1.2 Research ProblemSome refugees and migrants resettle well and quickly. However, for others, entry, settlement, and coping into a new environment becomes very hard. Policy issues and related complications derail their efforts to become restructured into the new societies. Refugees’ health and social integration are significantly impacted by the causes and circumstances of forced migration. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression are two mental health issues that are often present in migrants who are escaping violent conflict or persecution in their home countries (Schein et al., 2019). Using recent events in Europe, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it is critical that the experience of refugees and migrants in their efforts to resettle and cope within the European structures be explored. Further, incorporating the situation on Syrian and African refugees as they attempt to socially integrate within various host nations in Europe will be a key point of analysis. The paper argues that policy issues and recent global development such as COVID-19 have negatively affected the resettlement and coping strategies of refugees and migrants in Europe.
1.3 Research AimsThe aim of this research paper is to show how policy issues and recent global development such as COVID-19 have negatively affected the resettlement and coping strategies of refugees and migrants in Europe.
1.4 Research ObjectivesThe objective of this paper is to explore the idea of refugees and migrants resettlement and coping strategies in new societies within Europe. The research paper will also highlight the issues that affect the refugees and migrants and the policy directions that make it harder or easier for others to cope within these new social structures.
1.5 Research QuestionsHow is experience of refugees and migrants in their efforts to resettle and cope within the European structures?
Why do some refugees and migrants resettle and cope easily than others in new societies within Europe?
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW2.1 IntroductionSince the beginning of 2015, there have been around one million people who have illegally entered the European Union via one of its borders (Kien et al., 2019). These people were either looking for a better life overseas or escaping violence and unrest in their own nations. Either way, they were forced to leave their homelands. Since the conclusion of World War II, Europe has been confronted with a number of significant challenges; but, the current surge of migrants is rapidly becoming the one that is posing the greatest and most serious challenge. Although neither its origins nor its causes are unique, it has nonetheless become a highly sensitive political issue, sparking a heated public and political debate and exacerbating existing weaknesses in Europe’s immigration policy.
2.2 Refugees in EuropeArmed conflict in the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia has led to many refugee crises around the world in the past ten years. But in the last few months, there has been a new migrant crisis, and Europe is once again the center of attention around the world. At the start of this year, the Russian military began to move into Ukraine. Since then, millions of Ukrainians have left their homes to find safety. Most of them went to Poland, Romania, and Russia, which are nearby countries. More than 10 million people have been forced to leave their homes, making this the worst refugee crisis in the European Union (EU) since World War II (Aalto et al., 2022). In a show of solidarity with refugees that has never been seen before, a recent report by Chaaya et al. (2022) found that European governments and people have opened their borders and homes to people seeking asylum in the area.
Even though everyone is focused on Ukraine, the Greek coastguard continues to turn away asylum seekers trying to enter the country from Turkey (Rahimi and Abadi, 2022). In Melilla, the Spanish police are using force to stop people from climbing the wall, a majority of them being asylum seekers. The big difference shows that the EU treats migrants differently based on different criteria (Cai et al., 2022), one that can only be termed as preferential and double standards. Because of its troubled past, Europe has always had strict rules for refugees. It is unlikely that other people seeking asylum in Europe would be treated the same way as Ukrainians (Choudhary et al., 2022). The EU’s help for Ukrainians who had to leave their homes is an example of how the process of giving asylum to refugees is highly political and often biased.
2.3 Challenges Faced by Refugees in Europe in Settling and CopingThe refugee crisis demonstrates the insurmountable divide that exists between the idea of universal human rights, which includes the right to inclusion, and the power that national governments have to exclude those they judge to be unwanted. In point of fact, the image of the refugee serves as an instance of the tension that exists within a state-centric system as a reaction to the aspirations of modern global society members for justice and a sense of belonging (Whittaker, 2006). In addition to this, it sheds light on the fact that our mechanisms for safeguarding the weak and disadvantaged are inadequate since they are predicated on the fictional idea of national communities that are separated by national barriers.
When a community gets forced migrants, it is unprepared to take in more citizens because it has to conserve the limited shared resources it has within its territory, such as land, water, housing facilities, natural resources, and mineral resources. These resources include land, water, natural resources, and mineral resources (asylum seekers and refugees) (Kang, 2021). People who are attempting to escape domestic persecution are included among these travels. It is not uncommon for communities in which migrants settle to have difficulty accepting newcomers. Immigrants often face challenges in a variety of aspects of day-to-day life, including social integration, peaceful living, trade, cultural practices, religious views, language obstacles, agricultural practices, economic activities, pastoralism, and other facets. Every time there is strife between immigrant populations and their host communities, social cohesion suffers, which in turn leads to a range of different forms of societal collapse.
2.4 Refugee and Migration Crisis in EuropeThe current refugee crisis that is spreading through Europe is a manifestation of the continent’s insecurities and its inability to adequately manage forced immigration in the here and now. Despite being the location where the concept of human rights and the right to political asylum were first articulated, Europe is governed by the same security-focused paradigm that is used everywhere else in the world (Kadir et al., 2019). This position holds contradictory beliefs. As a result of the largest flood of migrants and refugees seen in Europe since the conclusion of World War II, the continent has shown the arbitrary nature of both its internal and external boundaries.
One area where communitarianism has made significant progress is in the formation of an EU-wide response to a problem that was traditionally the responsibility of individual states. Despite the fact that this has led to an increase in national interests and national egoism, communitarianism has made significant progress in this area. The community building process has made tremendous headway in a number of areas, including the regulation of immigration for humanitarian reasons (Kiselev et al., 2020). It is essential to take notice of the fact that the many ardent requests to Europe often revolve on the question of how to divide the costs associated with housing migrants, rather than the desire to accept responsibility for overcoming this huge challenge.
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY3.1 Research DesignThis study makes an effort to incorporate a wide range of methods into its examination of the process of refugee resettlement. Comparative research is a field that looks at particular problems in two or more countries at the same time, taking into account the diverse sociocultural contexts of each of these societies. In order for individuals to have a better understanding of the process of resettling refugees, the goal of the study is to present an all-encompassing portrayal of the procedure. In order for research to be carried out in state and public administration, the study also suggests developing a research technique that is more suited to and more thorough for refugee studies. This would allow for research to be carried out. The study of the refugee crisis presents the researcher with a number of unique challenges, all of which need to be conquered in order to be successful. However, there are many other alternatives that may be used as models at each stage of the study process. An exhaustive review of previous research that was carried out and published in a number of academic journals serves as the main piece of evidence for this investigation. The purpose of this investigation is to provide the outcomes of a thorough literature review of scenario and prediction studies about refugees and migrants that were carried out in Europe between the years 2014 and 2022. The study was carried out by applying two different approaches to the collection of information in order to get the most exhaustive and impartial evaluation of the literature in both the realms of migration scenarios and projections. These different approaches of searching were used throughout the writing of the report. The investigation included three stages: a thorough search of all websites, an examination of all scenario study bibliographies, and a qualitative investigation of the findings obtained from the previous two procedures.
3.2 Comparative Qualitative StudiesFor instance, in the research that was recently published by Kiselev et al. (2020), it was found that Syrian women migrants who were in a vulnerable (legal) situation were forced to seek shelter in Turkey and Greece due to the gender-based violence that they encountered in their home country. This was discovered to be the case in the context of the migrant women’s experience of the situation in their home country. However, some studies use a more inclusive meaning of the word “migrant” and include both types of people within its scope. When discussing migration in relation to asylum, Kang (2021) differentiates between refugees, asylum seekers, economic migrants, and involuntary migrants in the same way as she does when discussing involuntary migrants. According to Kang (2021), the similar tendency can be seen in the case of Italy as well as in the situation of other European countries. The qualitative dataset is comprised of research studies that were carried out after 2014 and primarily investigate the reasons that prompted migrants to decide to leave the country from which they originated. These studies were carried out with the goal of acquiring further knowledge on migrants. They have identical methodological qualities, such the same administration procedures, and they don’t include any sample tactics in their research. The administration procedures and sample collection methods described here are not used in these research studies. In the great majority of the research, focus groups, in-depth face-to-face interviews, and/or anthropological observations were carried out. The number of people who took part in the investigations ranged from nine to a maximum of three hundred, and the interviewers made use of an interview guide rather than a standard questionnaire.
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION4.1 Refugees and Involuntary Migrants Situation in EuropeDespite the fact that neither its origins nor its causes are unique, it has nonetheless become a highly sensitive political issue. In spite of the fact that neither its beginnings nor its drivers are especially novel, it has developed into a politically contentious matter of great complexity. As a result of the inability of EU governments to respond in an appropriate manner, the situation for thousands of refugees and other migrants is becoming more precarious. After leaving everything behind in one life and beginning a new one in a new country with different laws, education and health systems, other languages, and different cultural expectations, an adjustment period is necessary (Kang, 2021). It will be far more difficult for these persons to make an application for asylum and protection because of the circumstances surrounding their departure from their country of origin. After arriving in a new country, those who have a history of being refugees are entitled to assistance from their previous nation’s government in the form of housing, medical treatment, and educational possibilities. On the other hand, this does not hold true in all circumstances.
Significant pre-migration trauma has been experienced by a large number of refugees and asylum seekers, including mental and physical torture, mass murder and genocide, witnessing the deaths of family members and friends, sexual assault, kidnapping, theft and destruction of personal property, malnutrition, and a lack of water and shelter (Turrini et al., 2022). Leaving is a challenging endeavor that often carries a risk to one’s life. Finding a safe haven could seem energizing at first, but as new challenges emerge—such as family division, language barriers, legal snags, unemployment, homelessness, or a lack of access to healthcare and education— Duszczyk et al. (2020) note that unhappiness might increase.
4.2 A Refugee Crisis Merged with Mass MigrationAs a result of the continuing worldwide situation, a greater number of refugees and asylum-seekers from countries in crisis were and will be treated in Europe. More than one million people entered Europe in 2015, marking a significant milestone in the movement of people who had been displaced from their homes. The actual move might have a negative impact on both the emotional and physical welfare of an individual. Because of this, the organization of clinical attention for misfits and tourists is pretty problematic for the frameworks of medical services in Europe. According to the findings of Kang (2021), the majority of refugees arriving in Europe were likely fleeing persecution, conflict, or famine. More than eighty percent of those who showed up in 2015 were from countries such as Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, which have all endured conflicts that have resulted in significant population loss. There are around a million refugees and migrants who have arrived in Europe as of today, according to the estimations, which represents an increase of approximately 95 percent when compared to the same time period last year. And according to the figures, the vast majority of the refugees came from Syria, which accounts for around 55 percent of the total number (Kang, 2021).
4.3 A Report on Problems Facing Asylum-Seekers
If a migrant, voluntary or involuntary, is unable to communicate with other people and speak English because of a language barrier, this will need a significant amount of extra work on your part. Many often, children who have been displaced from their homes have symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (Kang, 2021). However, individuals are less inclined to seek the guidance of a qualified expert owing to the cultural stigmas associated with the issue as well as hurdles to communication. The refugees were confronted with a number of primary and immediate challenges, including a scarcity of food, housing, and medical care; apprehension regarding the possibility of contracting or passing on the disease; a reduction in income; worries regarding the wellbeing of their families; anxiety; and apprehension regarding the future. In addition to this, they run the risk of the community responding to them with hostility and provocations.
4.4 A Looming CrisisThe increase in the number of members of the European Union from 25 to 28 happened concurrently with the deployment of a concerted policy to manage border crossings in order to reduce immigration (Kadir et al., 2019). This has resulted in an increasing desire to eliminate internal border restrictions. However, in the present day, the most significant obstacle to the implementation of the idea of a European Union is the need to safeguard the continent’s borders. This is shown by the increasing trend to restore local constraints and hurdles while delaying the implementation of unrestricted movement throughout Europe. Given that a governance system centered on states, which has inherent limits, is required to manage a problem such as forced migration, which by its very nature exceeds the bounds of individual states, the resulting paradox strikes at the very core of the global system of protection. This is due to the fact that migration under coercion is a phenomenon that occurs beyond national lines. Ironically, desperation has led to a degree of cooperation among European states, although a very minor one, which these countries were previously unable to achieve. One is able to scale barbed wire barricades as well as hurdles built by laws and regulations when despondency is present. The notion of universal human equality, which is one of the guiding principles upon which European civilisation is formed, and the concept of boundaries, on the other hand, are in conflict with one another, and so Europe has to reevaluate both concepts. In order to find a solution to this problem, Europe has to reconsider the idea of a border.
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSION5.1 SummaryThe study claims that policy difficulties and recent global developments like COVID-19 have had a detrimental impact on the resettlement and coping mechanisms of refugees and migrants in Europe. One example of a recent global development is COVID-19. Some displaced people are able to adapt successfully and rapidly to their new environments. On the other hand, for some people, adapting to new environments, settling in, and entering them might be quite challenging. Their attempts to get reorganized into the new societies are thwarted by policy concerns and other obstacles relating to these issues. The reasons for and conditions of forced migration have a substantial influence on the health of refugees as well as their ability to integrate into society (Geuijen, Oliver, & Dekker, 2020). Both post-traumatic stress disorder and depression are examples of mental health conditions that are often seen among migrants who have fled their home countries as a result of violent conflict or persecution.
5.2 Future StudiesIn light of current happenings in Europe, such as the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, it is of the utmost importance that the experiences of refugees and migrants in their attempts to reestablish themselves and make do within the structures of Europe be investigated. In addition, the position of Syrian and African refugees who are attempting to socially integrate within different host countries in Europe will be a crucial topic of study, and this issue will be included into the research.
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