Men and Women Asylum Seekers in European Reception Facilities
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Gender in Waiting: Men and Women Asylum Seekers in European Reception Facilities Giorgia Demarchi and Sara Lenehan January 2019 This paper is a product of the staff of The World Bank. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors or the governments they represent. 1 Acknowledgments This paper was prepared by Giorgia Demarchi and Sara Lenehan, from the World Bank Poverty and Equity Global Practice. It is part of a World Bank work program on “Building the evidence base on asylum seekers in the European Union”, financed by the Trust Funds from the Fragility, Conflict, and Violence Cross-Cutting Solutions Area (FCV CCSA) and the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE). The overall work program was led by María E. Dávalos, Giorgia Demarchi and Quy-Toan Do, under the leadership of Arup Banerji, Carolina Sanchez Paramo and Luis-Felipe Lopez-Calva. The project was conducted in close collaboration with the FCV CCSA, the Country Management Unit for the EU countries and the External and Corporate Relations Vice-Presidency. The team received useful guidance and valuable support from Caroline Bahnson, Julia Barrera, Christian Bodewig, Ana Maria Munoz Boudet, Jo De Berry, Nora Dudwick, Nandini Krishnan, Marta Mueller, Dirk Reinermann, Nikolaos Schmidt, Stavros George Stavrou, Paolo Verme and Tara Vishwanath. The qualitative field research this note relies on was based on the methodology developed by Giorgia Demarchi, with substantive inputs by the World Bank team and the field team who piloted the instruments (Rima Al-Azar, Daniele Bolazzi and Sara Lenehan). Two local teams conducted the qualitative field work and provided useful insights into the local context of each country. In Greece, the fieldwork was conducted by Rima Al-Azar, Daniele Bolazzi, Rawaa Harati, Sara Lenehan and Taies Nezam. In Italy, the fieldwork was led by the Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale CESPI, under the leadership of Sebastiano Ceschi, Anna Ferro, Petra Mezzetti and Marco Zupi; the team included: Sofia Araia, Lavinia De Ranieri, Silvia Fregoso, Kaius Ikejezie, Iyho Ikhuenbor, Valentina Mutti, Francesca Rodriguez, Tenin Sanogo, Ali Sheik Shukri and El Sayed Youssef. The fieldwork would not have been possible without the support of the Ministry of Interior of Italy (Department for Civil Liberties and Immigration) and the Ministry of Interior of Greece (General Secretariat of Migration Policy) and the management and staff of reception centers. The team is grateful to the men and women who shared with us their experiences and hopes. 2 Abstract This paper explores how men and women experience their time waiting for a response to applications for international protection, in asylum seekers’ reception centers in Italy and Greece. The experience of waiting in camps can be characterized as one of extended uncertainty, during which women and men live lives in a new environment, with limited physical and social interactions with local communities. Qualitative data collected in early 2017 reveals that these prolonged waits generate various vulnerabilities, some compounding those already caused by trying journeys, which include gender-specific vulnerabilities. In addition, the paper provides an overview of the aspirations men and women asylum seekers hold as they look at the future. These aspirations are informed by pre-existing gender and social norms, but their development appears to be influenced also by the time in waiting. Specifically, aspirations seem constrained for all by the high levels of uncertainty and duration of the legal process, as well as by limited information, and barriers to interactions with local communities. Thus, men and women miss out on opportunities to qualify or broaden their aspirations, as they wait. Taking into account the different challenges and opportunities men and women asylum seekers face may be helpful in devising more targeted and thus effective policies with regards to asylum seekers during this period in waiting. 3 Table of Contents PART I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 5 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................................. 5 A GENDER LENS ON TIME WAITING IN RECEPTION CENTERS ....................................................................... 6 RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND CONTRIBUTION ............................................................................................. 8 STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER .................................................................................................................. 9 PART II. RESEARCH DESIGN ......................................................................................................... 10 PART III. MEN AND WOMEN ASYLUM SEEKERS IN GREECE AND ITALY ......................................... 12 WOMEN AND MEN ASYLUM SEEKERS IN GREECE ................................................................................... 12 WOMEN AND MEN ASYLUM SEEKERS IN ITALY ...................................................................................... 14 PART IV. GENDERED VULNERABILITIES OF WAITING .................................................................... 17 COMMON STRUGGLES IN EUROPE ...................................................................................................... 17 GENDERED ENCOUNTERS IN CENTERS AND LOCAL COMMUNITIES ............................................................... 19 RUPTURE AND CONTINUATION IN GENDER ROLES .................................................................................. 22 PART V. GENDER NORMS AND ASPIRATIONS WHILE WAITING .................................................... 26 GENDERED HORIZONS ..................................................................................................................... 27 PROSPECTS FOR CHANGE ................................................................................................................. 30 THE DIFFICULTY OF IMAGINING THE FUTURE ......................................................................................... 31 PART VI. CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................. 33 METHODOLOGICAL ANNEX ........................................................................................................ 35 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................... 38 4 Part I. Introduction Background In 2015 and 2016 migration flows in and out of countries bordering the Mediterranean increased dramatically compared to previous years. In 2015 alone, more than one million people arrived in the European Union (EU) irregularly by boat, mostly landing in Greece and Italy.1 Over 850,000 landed in Greece from Syria, followed by Afghanistan and Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children crossed the borders of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYR Macedonia) along the Balkan Route, most often headed to Germany and Northern Europe. The dramatic inflow, fueled by the Syrian crisis, resulted in a temporary suspension of the Dublin Regulation,2 an EU law establishing that asylum seekers apply for asylum in the country where they first enter the EU. Asylum seekers were thus temporarily able to travel to Central and Northern Europe and to apply for international protection there. The inflow slowed after March 2016, following the EU-Turkey agreement and the closure of the Western Balkan corridor. According to the joint action plan between the EU and Turkey, the EU committed financial and humanitarian assistance, while returning to Turkey those crossing irregularly to Greece.3 This plan limited the number of arrivals into Greece to 173,000 in 2016 and to small magnitudes in 2017. Over the same period (2015-2016), many people from Sub-Saharan Africa crossed the Mediterranean, mostly from the Libyan shores, to Italy. Over 153,000 landed in Italy in 2015 and over 181,000 in 2016, slowing to about 119,000 in 2017. In 2016, the year arrivals peaked, UNHCR data shows that approximately 71 percent of new arrivals to Italy were adult men and 13 percent adult women. In Greece, women comprised a third of adult arrivals in the same period and men approximately forty percent; together, adult arrivals in Greece accounted for 63 percent of the total arrivals. Close to all arrivals applied for international protection upon arrival, becoming asylum seekers. They did so either in Italy, Greece or in the EU country of final destination if successful in migrating further north after landing. Amongst them were also asylum seekers eligible to apply for relocation to other European countries, mostly on one of two grounds: family reunification, or the EU relocation program introduced in 2015.4 A number of nationalities highly likely to receive international protection were included in this program (e.g. Syrians, Iraqis, Eritreans). The rapid inflow has tested asylum and reception systems across Europe. Asylum seekers often waited several months and up to two and a half years for a final decision on their claims. In Italy, with the exception of Eritreans, those entering the asylum process in 2015 or 2016 would typically only receive a final response over a year (and often close to two years) later. They waited several months for their