The right to stay: challenging the policy of detention and deportation

Abstract

The aim of this article is to shed light on the situation of refugees (formally designated as asylum seekers) and undocumented migrant workers, who are among the most vulnerable inhabitants of Europe. Both groups face the threat of detention and deportation. The normative framework, which consists of legal standards and residential institutions, will be critically examined. Despite international standards for respecting the human rights of refugees and undocumented workers, policies of detention and deportation and the mass rejection of asylum claims leave little hope for the empowerment, autonomy and social inclusion of these persons. Instead of a straight-forward argument for closing down all detention centres and putting an end to forcible deportations, the article investigates small scale structural possibilities for inclusive – non-selective – responses to these non-citizens.

V članku obravnavamo politiko pridrževanja oziroma zapiranja in prisilnega vračanja beguncev (torej iskalcev zatočišča) in delavcev brez dokumentov za bivanje in/ali delo. Kritično predstavimo normativni okvir njihove obravnave: mednarodne pravne standarde in institucionalno namestitev v Azilni dom in Center za tujce. Navkljub mednarodnim pravnim standardom, ki zahtevajo spoštovanje človekovih pravic tudi, ko gre za brezdokumentne nedržavljane, pa ukrepi pridrževanja in vračanja znatno zmanjšujejo možnosti za njihovo opolnomočenje, avtonomijo in družbeno vključenost. Namesto gole zahteve po ukinitvi vseh centrov za pridrževanje in deportiranje, poskušamo identificirati konkretne prakse vključevanja teh oseb v skupnost. Opolnomočenje razumemo kot večplastni koncept, ki lahko zajema tako posameznike (begunce) kot širšo družbo. Opozorimo na možnost, da so emancipirane družbe/skupnosti tiste, ki so bolj pripravljene izvajati vključujoče prakse onstran osebnih pravnih statusov. Avtorica poudari, da zgodovinsko gledano pravice niso dane, ampak izbojevane.

Keywords:

• human rights
• detention
• deportation
• Slovenia
• inclusion
• asylum seekers
• undocumented migrants
• racism

Ključne besede:

• človekove pravice
• pridrževanje
• deportiranje
• Slovenija
• vključevanje
• prosilci za azil
• brezdokumentni delavci
• rasizem

Acknowledgements

I would like to use this opportunity to thank Beth Humprhies for her assistance with the organisation of interviews with employees at non-governmental organisations in Manchester and Salford. I would also like to thank Iain Ferguson for his hospitality at the Department for Applied Social Science at the University of Stirling and for his help in organising research interviews with various protagonists in the field of refugee rights and social movements in Glasgow.

Notes

1. My major ethnographic research consisted of seven months of intensive participant observation in the Asylum Home (from October 2001 to April 2002) and Detention Centre (from February 2002 to April 2002) (Zorn 2003). The main portion of participant observation (approximately 50 visits, each lasting from five to ten hours) was conducted in the Asylum Home due to easier access and more liberal rules for outsiders. Field-work diaries were the result of the participant observation research method. Also, 24 in-depth interviews with asylum seekers were conducted, including failed asylum seekers in detention. Five interviews were conducted with employees. This research was the more structured part of longer-term engagement in the field of asylum and migration. Since 2000, I have been involved in an activist anti-racist movement in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This includes a more sporadic exchange of opinions and experiences with asylum seekers, migrants, researchers, social workers and the activists of the Network for Permanent Visit of the Detention Centre. My involvement with anti-racist movement has enriched the experience gained through the 2002/2003 research. In 2005, post-doctoral research was conducted on a smaller scale; it consisted of semi-structured interviews with employees at the Asylum Home (two employees), Detention Centre (two employees), Clinic and Counselling Centre for Persons without Health Insurance (one employee), and an employee of a non-governmental organisation. A portion of this research was also conducted in the UK, in Manchester and Glasgow (Zorn 2006, 2007b).

2. Information collected at a workshop held by Slovenska filantropija, 23 November 2005, and on the basis of an interview conducted with Irena Štrus, a social worker at the Asylum Home, 15 October 2007.

3. However, the UK is also familiar with government proposals for reducing rights to health care services for undocumented migrants and refused asylum seekers (Ginn 2007).

4. The NGO sector is active in the asylum and migration area. However, here I lack the space to discuss these organisations’ role and impact. They deliver services such as language courses, children's workshops, activities with adult asylum seekers and detained immigrants etc. Their permanent efforts to influence the bottom negative aspects of asylum and detention practices result in positive change of living conditions, but leave the gross structure of refusal, detention and deportation more or less intact.