ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: On Friday, CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D'Agata framed the fighting in Kyiv like this. Many cultures and religions have survived for hundreds and thousands of years partly because they are flexible enough to adapt and evolve. Compared to college students in previous samples, these participants reported perceiving even stronger threats and experiencing more hostility toward refugees. Addie Esposito is a staff writer and Senior Editor at the HIR. 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. People fleeing war-torn Ukraine arrive on a train from Poland at Berlins main train station on March 6, 2022. They want to work and maintain their dignity, not just be refugees, he explained to me over the phone earlier this week. The global refugee crisis: Empirical evidence and policy implications for improving public attitudes and facilitating refugee resettlement. Palestinians, who have for decades lived in UN-assisted camps in the region. It took three. Contrarily, due to racial, religious, cultural, and ethnic differences, Europeans feel less sympathy for other refugees. For example, Ukrainians and Poles are fast-tracked across the border near Medyka, Poland, while everyone else must wait 14 to 50 hours to cross. The Guardian, 2 set. But the Venezuelans are being labelled as 'migrants' and that is shaping the governance response and the degree of engagement by UNHCR and others. RANA KHOURY: We certainly do see it play out in terms of the politics of refugee reception in the idea of whose burden should it be to take refugees who are from the global South, the Middle East, Africa, versus, you know, who is welcome and who can be brought in here. The impact of racism on refugee treatment is evident in how African, Middle Eastern, and Asian refugees fleeing Ukraine are treated. Black asylum-seekers from Africa face unique challenges in the U.S. African immigrants arriving in Texas are finding a litany of unique racial, cultural and practical challenges to becoming legal . 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. Instead. Unlike Ukraine, the Assad regime in Syria was authoritarian, corrupt, and violent. Andrew Limbong, NPR News. In a strategic attempt to halt irregular migration while maintaining her principle of a generous domestic asylum policy, Merkel has facilitated an EU agreement with Turkey. For more information, see our full Privacy Policy. The Ukraine crisis may serve as a reminder that migration policy should be based on more careful collection of data. U.S. authorities are dedicating extra resources to pick up the rate of flights in order to remove them more quickly, saying six to eight flights a day will depart starting Tuesday. That's less likely to be true for people who decide to leave in the coming weeks, said Steve. For example in Germany and Sweden, so-called priority reviews specify that asylum seekers can only be employed if there are no suitable national or EU-citizens available for the job. As such, refugees are generally asylum seekers who have been granted the right to asylum in another country (refugee status). She and her daughters then found themselves on a bus back to Guatemala, the place where they had fled violence in the first place. In the first of these investigations, they used a sample of 55 male and 121 female psychology students (average age of 32 years). Whether the threat is true or imagined, immigrants might be perceived as threatening in a number of ways. infect themselves with deadly diseases to gain protection as HIV-positive patients. 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. This led to a disorganized and desperate re-migration throughout Europe, with refugees under continued fear of being repatriated. The consequences are devastating, as reports of violence and insecurity in their countries of origin, along transit routes and in Mexico abound. Contrarily, due to racial, religious, cultural, and ethnic differences, Europeans feel less sympathy for other refugees. By welcoming Ukrainian refugees and imposing economic sanctions on Russia, the EU has demonstrated its support for Ukrainian sovereignty and opposition to Russian aggression without direct military intervention. attempting to cross the Syria-Turkey borderis only the latest stark example of Turkeys inability to protect incoming migrants. Many asylum applicants who technically fall under the refugee-protection category have been deported back to their home countries, where they are at great risk of torture or prosecution. The Refugee Act is a federal immigration law that was adopted in 1980. We need to demystify refugees cultural practices so they appear less threatening. The Refugee Act of 1980 amended the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 and the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act, standardizing the process for admitting refugees into the United States. How to Handle People Who Are Eternally Evasive, Mass Shooters and the Myth That Evil Is Obvious, Transforming Empathy Into Compassion: Why It Matters, No Dr. Spock for Black Parents: Lessons From Tyre Nichols, Research Shows Why Attractive People Are More Narcissistic. While the two categories are treated differently by law, in practice they are both asylum seekers. This clear binary extends to Zelensky and Putin. 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. Many more Haitians trying to avoid this fate are being detained in Del Rio, Texas. The Italian government has at times closed its ports to foreign boats carrying rescued migrants. : '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 act allowed approximately 190,000 refugees, escapees, and expellees to arrive in the United States before the legislation . Stanford News is a publication of Stanford University Communications. Work permits alone do not guarantee refugees employment, though. This crisis requires countries that are accepting refugees to have . That flow increased the worlds refugee population by about 9 million over the next decade, according to data from UNHRC, the United Nations Refugee Agency. To counter this trend, employers and NGOs in Sweden and Germany offer asylum seekers apprenticeships, training courses and special-track employment to help them adapt to the national labor requirements and enter the labor market faster. It is not enough for them simply to stay alive. 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. With blanket news coverage of the dire situation in Ukraine, Europeans are observing the situation of Ukrainians through this humanitarian lens and thus express greater support for them. Here, Laitin discusses how the experience of Ukrainian refugees compares to those fleeing other conflicts and difficulties, such as those escaping civil war in Syria and economic hardship in North Africa. The asylum program works to provide refugee protection to people in Canada who: have a well-founded fear of persecution or. The other hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of girls and young women who survived the journey are still in Kakuma Refugee Camp. He has also done graduate work in clinical psychology and neuropsychology in U.S. Get the help you need from a therapist near youa FREE service from Psychology Today. RANA KHOURY: We certainly do see it play out in terms of the politics of refugee reception in the idea of whose burden should it be to take refugees who are from the global South, the Middle East, Africa, versus, you know, who is welcome and who can be brought in here. Landmann and colleagues in Germany conducted a series of four related studies to examine hostility toward refugees. Barbed political rhetoric both reflects and exacerbates these trends among Europeans. Central American and Mexican refugees ask why they aren't being treated at the same level as . The United States has been consumed with the mass evacuation and resettlement effort for vulnerable Afghans in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. 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. 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. Al Jazeera journalist Virginia Pietromarchi notes, Bloody conflicts in Syria, Somalia, and other places have not received the wide-reaching international media coverageor urgent international government actionthat the invasion of Ukraine has inspired." 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. According to new research, many asylum seekers experience discrimination on the Swedish labor market. Currently, Ukrainians benefit from the unprecedented implementation of the Temporary Protection Directive, which allows Ukrainian refugees to reside, seek employment, and attend school in the EU for three years, no official asylum approval necessary. They can even enter Slovakia and Poland without papers, countries displaying potent anti-refugee sentiments during the 2015 Syrian refugee crisis. KESHAVARZ: So as journalists, I think it's really critical that we look at that duality, and we question why that is. The death of Alan Kurdi: one year on, compassion towards refugees fades: Toddler's death opened European hearts and policy towards refugees, but 12 months on those changes have proved temporary. Among those were27.1 million refugees, half under the age of 18 (21.3 million refugees under . At least 660,000 people have fled Ukraine in the five days following the start of Russia's invasion, the United Nations refugee agency U.N.H.C.R. Several studies suggest the increase of an active work force will benefit the EUs GDP. Are Zoomies a Sign of a Happy Dog or a Crazy Dog? An anchor for Al-Jazeera English called Ukrainian refugees, quote, "middle-class people," in comparison to refugees from the Middle East and North Africa. (Capacity would be determined by population, GDP, unemployment rate and other factors.) Its an undertaking thats demonstrated the ability of the U.S. government to bring tens of thousands of refugees to safety in America and marshal local resources to help them resettle in their new home. That's what makes it so shocking. The United Nations refugee agency has expressed concern over these expulsion flights, noting that those impacted are being sent back to the very dangers they have fled in their countries of origin. Indeed, these asylum-seekers should instead be welcomed just like Afghans are being welcomed all refugees deserve protection, not just our allies. The arrival of Afghan refugees, including some whose status is not materially different from asylum-seekers, proves this. are at risk of torture, or cruel or unusual punishment in their home countries. The Century Foundation. As they work out where to go next, it's not clear they'll find refuge in Europe. A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her home because of war, violence or persecution, often without warning. Governments and civilians around the world have vocalized their support for Ukraine and opposition to Russia; therefore, the EU risks international backlash if it fails to absorb and aid millions of Ukrainian refugees. 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. You know, looking and seeing why African migrants aren't allowed to cross into Hungary is just as valid as just asking why Ukrainians are. The EU had to support Ukrainewhich included a commitment to aiding Ukrainian refugeesor risk international condemnation; in contrast, it is more politically risky for the EU to commit to one side of the Syrian civil war (a perceived choice between a tyrannical government or jihadists). The Ukraine refugee crisis revealed deep-seated racism as racialized and Black refugees from Ukraine were treated differently. 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. In 2012, at the onset of the current refugee crisis, I interviewed young Afghan and African asylum seekers in Denmark who expressed frustration with their confinement in asylum centers in remote areas, which they felt prevented them from integrating with their host community. Only a very small number of asylum seekers arrive in New Zealand each year - and fewer than half of them are successful in their claims for refugee status. The U.S. has an opportunity to build off of its strong response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis. Every threat type was correlated with unfavorable views of migration and refugees and with favoring more restrictive control of migration. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. Moreover, they were not permitted to work until their asylum application was approved. Refugees, defined by international humanitarian law as people in need of protection, are entitled to a privileged status. Does a Dog's Head Shape Predict How Smart It Is? The reports advocate for lifting labor restrictions and preventing discrimination against asylum seekers. "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. While finding ways to address legitimate security and integration concerns, Europe could not only win skilled workers, but also hearts and minds of young people in the Middle East by accepting more asylum seekers from the region into their societies. Snohomish County couple providing relief to Ukraine amid Russia conflict. All rights reserved. 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. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Why are refugees treated differently? The 2014-15 refugees had no such rights. The Detail asks why they are treated differently to refugees coming in through the quota system? This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. There were 89.3 millionpeople forcibly displaced world-wide at the end of 2021. She said she told U.S. officers that she was a victim of violence in her home country and requested asylum at the U.S. border. The majority of Afghans evacuated to the U.S. arrive without visas as humanitarian parolees, yet have been welcomed in the U.S. Diplomas and qualifications have to be recognized by the national labor system, which depending on the level of education can take years. Ukrainian refugees will not be as burdened by systemic failures in European migration policy as were the Syrians and North Africans in 2014-15. ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: On Friday, CBS News senior foreign correspondent Charlie D'Agata framed the fighting in Kyiv like this. 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. Please submit a letter to the editor. But we need to remember that Europeans were impressively generous to the first wave of Syrian refugees, but as the numbers increased, attitudes quickly became exclusive. Khoury, the researcher, says race plays a part in all of this but also proximity and geopolitics, too. 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. In contrast, non-Ukrainian refugees have been physically assaulted by Polish and Belarussian patrolmen; left to freeze in the winter; detained in unhygienic camps in Greece; trapped in limbo between Poland and Belarus; assaulted with tear gas and water cannons near the Greece-Turkey border; and bombarded with xenophobic and anti-migrant rhetoric, especially in Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia. The Russian incursion has sparked the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II, forcing more than 2 . The Century Foundation takes your data security and privacy seriously. record-high 65 million people have been displaced, one million people who crossed borders into the European Union, face the same challenges in seeking asylum, labor, and housing, European asylum system has effectively broken down, efined by international humanitarian law as people in need of protection, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stipulates, refugees and migrants apply for the same asylum. Meanwhile, Poland erected a border fence, started to build a wall, passed legislation to make entry more difficult, and only accepted about 5.7 percent of asylum applications in 2020. He's the host of NPR's Book of the Day podcast and a frequent host on Life Kit. | king5.com. This absence of a commitment to a particular side may have reduced the reputational incentives to help affected refugees. Stanford, California 94305. 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