Being a helping professional in a transnational context: A framework of practice with forced returnees

Abstract

In 2015, the European Union experienced a 51% increase in asylum requests. Kosovars constituted the fourth largest group of these asylum seekers, yet only 4% were granted asylum. Rejected applicants continue to be forcefully returned to Kosova partly because repatriation, or the right to return to one’s country of origin, is the EU’s preferred solution to migration crisis. This despite a significant body of research which substantiates that repatriation is largely involuntary and not a durable solution. To address the discrepancy between existing evidence and the adoption of repatriation as a sustainable solution, my study employed Critical Discourses Analysis to explore the involuntary repatriation of rejected asylum seekers from Kosova. Findings from semi-structured interviews with rejected asylum seekers suggest that this population employ discourses which construct EU countries as superior to Kosova and migration to these countries as an opportunity for a better life. These discourses contribute to how returnees approach repatriation, as well as inform the practice of helping professionals. Responding to calls for models of practice which guide the work of helping professionals with forced returnees, this paper builds upon study findings centering dominant discourses to develop a framework across micro, mezzo and macro levels of practice.

Notes

1 Addressing the circumstances which pushed Kosovar leaders to ask asylum seekers to come back gives insight into how discourses operationalize power. Within the first two months of 2015, approximately 50,000 Kosovars applied for asylum in EU countries (Eurostat, 2017). Despite this sizable number, Kosova’s leaders did not react until the EU threatened that an increase in the number of illegal migrants from Kosova did not reflect well on the country’s development and created barriers in its EU integration path. Upon this threat, Kosova’s leaders went to Berlin and agreed to take back all rejected asylum seekers. On this occasion, Kosova’s Prime Minister Mustafa spoke at the Council of EU integration:

Regardless of the actual migration data in the European Union countries, especially from Kosovo [sic], which do not show particular growth in this year compared to other years, because we have a process that continues for years, the fact of leaving of a great number of our citizens is very concerning for us. We are aware that this may affect the processes of integration and visa liberalization as very important processes for Kosovo [sic]. (Office of the Prime Minister, 2015, n. p.)

Mustafa specified that migration is of concern for Kosova because it affects the EU integration process, without mentioning the well-being of rejected asylum seekers.