The Rejected Children
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Lund University Department of Sociology THE REJECTED CHILDREN A POLICY ANALYSIS OF REJECTED ASYLUM-SEEKING CHILDREN’S WELL-BEING IN DANISH DEPARTURE CENTERS Author: Nadia Bejer Printz Steinicke Course: SOCM04, Master’s thesis, 30 credits Date: Spring semester 2021 Supervisor: Alison Gerber Words: 20,277 Abstract Author: Nadia Bejer Printz Steinicke Title: The rejected children – a policy analysis of rejected asylum-seeking children’s well- being in Danish departure centers Course: Master’s Thesis SOCM04, 30 Credits, Spring 2021 Supervisor: Alison Gerber Department: Department of Sociology, Lund University This thesis explores the interplay between government policy and rejected asylum-seeking children's well-being in deportation processes in Denmark. Central is how political discourses shape specific ways of governing rejected asylum-seeking children, opening and closing specific ways of enhancing their well-being. The conditions and well-being of rejected asylum-seeking children have received much public and political attention in the recent past in Denmark. Framed by a tension between immigration policy and political frameworks on child rights, rejected asylum-seeking children have stipulated public and political concerns over their welfare and conditions and the maintenance of incentive measures to encourage the voluntary return of the families. The political memoranda' Fair direction for Denmark' and 'The children must move out of Sjælsmark and have better living conditions' from 2019 led to changes for the children and their living conditions at departure centers. The objective is to examine how modes of governance, discourses, and rationales shape state interventions aimed at rejected asylum-seeking children. The memoranda supported by related documentary sources to the policy process and interviews with practitioners who negotiate government policies through their everyday interactions with the children form the basis of the analysis. Building on Carol Bacchi's WPR approach, the thesis shows that rejected asylum-seeking children are trapped between two political discourses; that of childhood and that of migration management. The latter seems to become the established way of governing rejected asylum- seekers, creating a perception of the children as first and foremost 'illegal residents' and secondary 'children'. Keywords: Rejected asylum-seeking children, departure centers, migration, childhood, policy, well-being 1 Popular science summary In 2015, a large influx of asylum-seekers, including children, entered Denmark to seek security and protection. It led to a demand for urgent response and policies to ensure the safety of the Danish borders. As a result, a number of restrictions were made to the Aliens Act to control the influx and encourage unwanted asylum-seekers to leave the country. Among other things, it became mandatory for rejected asylum-seeking children and their families to reside at a departure center until their approaching departure. Since then, the well-being of rejected asylum-seeking children has been under national and international scrutiny. Dominant arguments in the debate claim that it is the parents who take their children hostage in an attempt to be granted asylum, while alternative arguments claim that it is the politicians who take the children hostage for an unworthy and inhumane symbolic policy. In 2019, the Social Democrats, the Danish Social Liberal Party, the Socialist People’s Party, and the Red- Green Alliance agreed to relocate the children and alter their material living conditions. This agreement was formulated in the two memoranda of understandings ‘Fair direction for Denmark’ and ‘The children must move out of Sjælsmark and have better living conditions’. Together with documents related to the policy process and interviews with practitioners, the memoranda shed light on how different political agendas and government perceptions intervene and influence the conditions of rejected asylum-seeking children. It can be argued that the recently implemented initiatives stated in the memoranda reflect a doubled-sided agenda. On the one hand, the government seeks to enhance better conditions for children to safeguard an image of Denmark as a promoter of a safe and developing childhood. On the other hand, the government entered reservations to the extent to which the conditions can be improved. The improvements must not compromise the government’s work with encouraging the voluntary return of rejected asylum-seekers. The integrity of the asylum system takes precedence over the children’s well-being, effectively creating a distinction between the government’s responsibility to rejected asylum-seeking children and other children in Denmark. 2 Table of contents 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Background: The rejected children at Sjælsmark ............................................................................ 1 1.2. The Danish asylum system .............................................................................................................. 3 1.3. The political landscape of asylum policy in Denmark ..................................................................... 4 1.4. Aim and research question .............................................................................................................. 5 1.5. Outline ............................................................................................................................................. 6 1.6. Definition of central laws, asylum terms and core concepts ............................................................ 6 2. Previous literature ............................................................................................................................ 9 2.1. Trapped between child rights and migration management policies ................................................. 9 2.2. Children’s experiences of being institutionalized .......................................................................... 11 2.3. Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 13 3. Theory ............................................................................................................................................. 14 3.1. Conceptualizing the asylum center ................................................................................................ 14 3.2. Problems, problematiozation and problem representation ............................................................. 15 3.3. Modes of governance .................................................................................................................... 16 3.4. Discourse ....................................................................................................................................... 17 3.5. Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 19 4. Methods ........................................................................................................................................... 21 4.1. Choice of method and data collection ............................................................................................ 21 4.1.1. Documentary sources ................................................................................................................. 22 4.1.2. Semi-structured interviews ......................................................................................................... 25 4.2. Data processing in NVivo ............................................................................................................. 27 4.3. Data analysis through the WPR methodology ............................................................................... 28 4.4. Reflections on the researcher role .................................................................................................. 31 4.5. Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 33 5. Analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 34 5.1. The art of enhancing the children’s well-being without encouraging the parents to stay ............... 34 5.2. Childhood and the best interest of the child ................................................................................... 37 5.3. Migration management: motivational advancement ...................................................................... 40 5.4. They must leave but they can or will not leave .............................................................................. 43 5.5. Placing responsibility: The hostage-taken children ....................................................................... 45 5.6. Creating an us/them relationship: Rejected asylum-seeking children as ‘illegal residents’ and ‘vulnerable children’ ............................................................................................................................ 48 5.7. Reducing well-being to a matter of material living conditions ...................................................... 51 5.8. A consolation? The relocation from Sjælsmark to Avnstrup ........................................................