The Early-Morning Phonecall: Remittances from a Refugee Diaspora Perspective

Abstract

Remittances are an important strand in the relationship between migration and socio-economic change in migrants’ countries of origin and there is growing interest in their role in conflict and post-conflict countries. Yet little is known about remittances from the diaspora perspective, and much less about refugees remitting. This paper makes three contributions, based on analysis of survey and ethnographic evidence on the remittance experiences of Somali refugees in London. First, it argues that the diaspora perspective is a critical element in understanding remittance processes, and that remitting can have substantial repercussions for migrants. Second, it argues that, just as migrants are not ‘just labour’, remittances are not ‘just money’, pointing to the importance of analysing the social texture of the remittance process. Third, it argues that the nature of forced migration may shape remitting in ways which merit further exploration.

Keywords:

• Remittances
• Refugees
• Forced Migration
• UK
• Somalia

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Fatuma Abdullahi, Leah Bassel, Stephen Castles, Nicholas Van Hear and the anonymous JEMS reviewers for comments on earlier drafts; and to Ayan Mohamud Mohamed, Dahabshiil, the UNDP, Horn Stars, Dadihiye and Oxford House for assistance with the research.

Notes

1. Research participants included people of different political positions and people with mixed feelings on the future of the Somali regions.

2. Minimum estimate based on a combination of sources, detailed in an earlier version of this paper published by the Oxford COMPAS unit as Centre on Migration, Policy and Society Working Paper No. 47.

3. For practical reasons, 30 questionnaires were administered in a second, smaller office.

4. These were 17 per cent of the customers at the outlet during the month in question; 19 per cent of those initially approached refused to participate, mainly giving time pressure as a reason, but there was no evidence that this led to the under-sampling of people with particular characteristics.

5. Findings on the incidence of remitting in UK migrant communities vary. In a survey of black and minority ethnic households, over one quarter had sent remittances in the previous year (ICM 2006). In a survey of 396 low-paid migrant workers in London, 80 per cent of the sub-Saharan Africans sent money home (Datta et al. 2007).

6. As the money is transferred in US dollars, respondents found it easier to remember how much they had sent in dollars and they usually say how much they want to send in US dollars, then the cashier calculates the cost in pounds (of buying the dollars and paying commission of around 5 per cent) Dollar amounts are rounded to the nearest five. The $3,000 figure corroborates other estimates (Lindley 2007a).

7. A green leaf popularly chewed in the Horn of Africa.

8. While the Census has limitations when it comes to reaching non-English speakers and inner-city, transient and economically marginalised populations, it remains the most comprehensive and robust source of data on the Somali-born population.

9. Due to the time constraints, detailed information was collected only on remittances to personal contacts that the respondents considered to be ‘regular’. Only a handful of senders classified remittances sent three or fewer times in the last year as ‘regular’, while many recorded transfers sent four times a year as ‘regular’, so the former were reclassified as irregular in the data analysis.

10. It was deemed too sensitive to collect information on income in the survey.

11. Income support for a single person over 24 years old was £56.20 per week (£2,922.40 per year)—see www.rightsnet.org.uk

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anna Lindley

Anna Lindley is Research Officer at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford