Asylum Policies and Forced Labour among Asylum Seekers and Refugees: The Results of a Two-Phase Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

There is ample empirical evidence of destitution, or social exclusion of asylum seekers and refugees (ARs) in host countries. Still, few studies document their negative working experiences. Therefore, this review combines refugee studies with research on forced labor. The aim was to understand the relationship of forced labor among ARs, with migration and asylum policies. We undertook a two-phase systematic review, i.e., systematic mapping and in-depth synthesis. We screened 4241 records from 10 databases, mapped 73 publications and synthesized 22 studies. Most of the research was exclusively qualitative. A frequent shortcoming was poor methods reporting. Publications rarely considered ethical issues and limitations. Common themes identified included: vulnerability and precarity generated by migration and asylum policies, forced labor through the lens of socio-legal status, and exploitation as a continuum. Another finding is the problem of overly broad and superficial questions that do not provide detailed data on forced labor among ARs. We refer to this as the detail deficit. This systematic review addresses the U.N. Sustainability Goal 16.2 to end abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children.

KEYWORDS:

• Systematic review
• asylum policy
• refugee
• forced labor
• the detail deficit

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2023.2258690

Notes

¹ We consider asylum seekers and refugees, as those who have at least applied for asylum (whether or not it has been granted), and all beneficiaries of various forms of international protection, including refugee status, subsidiary protection, or humanitarian protection.

² We also consider The Forced Labor Protocol and Recommendation, adopted by the International Labor Conference at its 103rd Session in June 2014, which complements the 1930 and 1957 Protocols and pays particular attention to the vulnerability of persons on the move.

³ We understand Asylum seekers and Refugees (ARs) as people who made a claim for asylum and: are awaiting determination of their case, have been granted some type of international protection (e.g., humanitarian protection) or have been granted refugee status, or asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected and who are still in the host country.

⁴ In addition, we are following the ILO’s indicators of forced labor.

⁵ Grey literature is understood here as: literature stored in informal areas, not controlled by commercial publishing organizations. These can be internal reports, working papers, newsletters, etc. (Adams et al., 2016).

⁶ The main objectives of systematic mapping are to describe the nature of a research field, to inform the conduct of the synthesis and to interpret and ground the results of the synthesis (Gough & Thomas, 2016).

⁷ Some of the publications met the quality criteria, but we did not include them in the synthesis, because they did not answer the review research questions (among others: Pascoal, 2020; Tervola, 2020).

⁸ See more: TIP Report 2022 (U.S. Department of State, 2022).

⁹ For example, Hynes (2017) refers to interviews from Afghanistan, Brazil, China, Jamaica and Nigeria and Kurds from Turkey, Iran, and Iraq; also eight European countries included in Oliveira et al. (2018).

¹⁰ The time needed for preparation and review extends the process and may have resulted in later publication. This corresponds with the figure showing an increased number of publications in subsequent years.

¹¹ UK with 6,993 victims, France 2,819, and Italy with 1,373 victims.

¹² The TIP Report is the U.S. Government’s tool to engage foreign governments in anti-trafficking efforts. It is also one of the most important comprehensive sources of information on countries’ efforts in this area.

¹³ A list of all publications with their description is included in Online Appendix 3.

¹⁴ There is an ongoing debate in the scientific literature regarding the binary nature of concepts such as forced labor, unfree labor, and exploitation. Several relevant publications in this field include works by O’Connell Davidson (2015, 2021) and LeBaron (2013, 2018). O’Connell-Davidson questions the new abolitionist interpretations of slavery and the very concept of ‘modern slavery.’ Her work emphasizes the need to analyze systems of domination and to consider broader limiting factors such as class, caste, gender, and race. One of her conclusions is that by focusing on different types of unfree/forced labor, forced and economic migrants, etc., we may divert attention from the broader structures that constrain the choices of people on the move. LeBaron’s conclusions are consistent with this approach. In her work, LeBaron analyzes the contemporary spectrum of unfree labor relations, using social reproduction theory (Gore & LeBaron, 2019) among other methods.

¹⁵ For details the details, see Online Appendix 3.

¹⁶ Among others, the following were pointed out: Immigration Act 2014, Immigration Act 2016 in UK, and the Salvini Decree in Italy.

¹⁷ Park (2015) refers to the works of Foucalt, including Society Must Be Defended Lecture Series, 1976.

¹⁸ The sponsorship system adapted in Lebanon (previously for third-country migrants and domestic workers, and today for Syrian refugees) means that the employer takes full responsibility for the person. The sponsor bears the Syrian refugee’s living expenses and is responsible for his misdemeanors. He or she is obliged to certify for him or her with the Central Security Office (Janmyr, 2016).

¹⁹ We refer to these later in Table 4.

Table 4. Recommendations for Further Research.

²⁰ Recommendations for policy makers and actors such as NGOs or international organizations, local governments, etc.

²¹ Risk of bias is the probability that features of the study design or conduct will provide misleading results. A selection bias: introduced during the collection of primary resources for the review. If it is not exhaustive, this can lead to over or underestimation of the results. A coding bias concerns the coding reliability, and it is suggested (based on ‘evidence-based’ practice) – to use multiple coders (rather than a single one). A risk of bias in included studies: evaluation of all included studies for risk of bias (for example, results may be consistent between studies, but all studies may be flawed).

^a The Zimmerman’s model defines contemporary migration as “a multi-stage cycle that can be entered multiple times, in different ways, and that can take place within or across national borders”. It includes several stages of migration: pre-departure, travel, destination, interception; and return.

^b NLR assumes that new research “should be aimed at answering evidence gaps based on a systematic review and the needs, priorities from users and society” (Ormstad et al., 2021).