Poverty and Social Exclusion of Refugees and Asylum Seekers - Essay Example

Almost every developed country from the world is facing the problem of refugees. The rehabilitation of refugees and the asylum seekers has become the necessity as well as it is a great challenge before these developed nations. Poverty and Social Exclusion are the two different terms inter related to each other but they are not at all synonymous. So it is required to study them differently. Both are the social phenomenon and exist in every part of the world and in every period, right from the ancient civilization. Both of these concepts have a dark shade and it is the stigma to the human culture and civilization, yet they still exist in every society in different forms. Our actual discussion is on the poverty and social exclusion of refugees and asylum seekers in United Kingdom. The refugees and the asylum seekers is the community of those human beings which has migrated from their home land and settle down in some another country. Poverty and social exclusion is the major problem among these people. Before actually discussing about the problem of the poverty and social exclusion lets discuss about the term poverty and social exclusion. Poverty can be defined in the following way The concept of poverty While discussing about poverty emphasis is given on socio economic structural condition. Poverty researchers commonly define poverty “as having insufficient resources to meet socially recognized needs and to participate in the wider society.” [1] Other definition is set up by UK government is that poverty means ‘lack of income and access to good quality health, education and housing, and the quality of local environment’ (DSS, 1999:23) Thus in UK the person is called poor if his total income is less than 60% of the national average. The term poverty is divided into two different categories, first is pathological poverty and second is structural poverty. Pathological poverty is that type of poverty which has to face the person because of his characteristic or his attitude and his approach. If the person is not able to grasp any skill necessary for employment or if he or she has chosen some wrong path in the life he has to face poverty. Pathological poverty is individual oriented and it is totally individual and not the society who is responsible for the poverty. Structural poverty is that types of poverty in which the social factors are responsible for the poverty of the people. It is the poverty of the entire community and not a particular person. Generally certain community has to face the poverty because of social problems or we can call it social stigma. For example the community which is excluded from the society gets very less opportunity for the development of its people and a certain group of the society becomes poor. Thus by the definition we can collect some major points such as the people living in poverty cannot meet their basic needs due to the lack of sufficient resources. The concept poverty includes the underclass people. While arguing the underclass people Frank Field informs that the underclass is produced by the post world war trend which comprises three groups: Long term unemployed, single parents and elderly pensioners. The non poor people call the poor people others and thus through the word ‘other’ the concept of exclusion takes birth. [2] The term social exclusion was born in France in 1970s. It referred to “a range of marginalized group who had fallen through the net of the “French Social Insurance Systems.” [3](Lister Pg 103) The excluded people are not allowed to participate in any activity of the society. According to Levitas in the process of social exclusion the society is divided into two different groups, one is the group of majority included people and the other is the group of minority excluded people. Thus the minority excluded group is kept far away from the opportunities of the progress and development. They are denied the opportunity of employment. Thus poverty is the major cause to the social exclusion. If compared with poverty the concept social exclusion is more comprehensive. Poverty is the term which is related only to the income of the people. Here your income, your money matters a lot to decide the quality of your life so the person who is not having sufficient income is called a poor. On the other hand social exclusion focuses on the social status, social relations of the person. Poverty is the concept which blames the poor for not having the money while social exclusion focuses on the role of the society in excluding particular group or community from the entire human population. There are different types of socially excluded groups such as adult children with physical disability, People with mental problem, ethnic minority groups, single parents family, ex offenders, isolated older people, people with HIV AIDS, people who are consuming alcohol or drugs, the homeless sleepers, and the refugees and asylum seekers. Refugees and asylum seekers are the people who leave their homeland and stay in some another country. But there is a slight difference between the refugees and the asylum seekers. Refugees are the people who have been granted the status of refugees and thus they can live in the country and make homes with the same rights as the common citizens of that country enjoy. But for proving the status of refugee, the person has to convince the host government that he is not at all free and secure in his country. On the other hand, asylum seeker is the person who has applied for the refugee status and waiting for the decision of the host government about his approval of the status. Before giving him the refugee status, the new government have to find out whether the asylum seeker is really in a dangerous situation in his own country. Most of the asylum seekers in Britain have come from the war and conflict affected countries. The top ten countries from which the refugees generally flee to United Kingdom are Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Iran, FR Yugoslavia, Pakistan, China, Former USSR. There are at least 2,80,000 refugees living in poverty. [4] Most of the asylum seekers coming to UK are living below the poverty threshold. They are not provided proper health care and some of them have gone underground. These people have no money. It also causes a great threat to their health. They flee from their own country due to many reasons. The causes behind leaving their homeland are natural as well as man made. Drought, famine, earthquake, tsunami, cyclones are the major natural disasters which force the people to leave their land and to migrate somewhere where they find shelter and security. Man made disasters include war, violence terrorism etc. In United Kingdom actual condition of the refugees is very bad. Many people were brutally tortured by the regime in Iran and so they fled to UK. Forty years old mother of two children was raped repeatedly by the soldiers. After that also, she was trying to live a normal life but her house was raided and her husband disappeared. In such circumstances she had no option but to leave her country and take shelter in some another country and so she came to UK.[5] All of the refugees are not poor by born. Some of them are educated, cultured and from financially sound family. And such people are living a life of a beggar in United Kingdom. Here is the statement by one of the refugee from Iran who tells about his tragedy after arriving in UK as a refugee. He says, "I was not poor in Iran – I did not come here for your money but I was seeking refuge. I would never have believed that one day I would be starving for food, and I would never have imagined that people would get this kind of treatment in this country. We're human beings. You signed the [European] Convention on Human Rights: do you not respect your own signature?"[6] Forty seven years – teacher Ibrahim Zukrya who was caught and tortured in prison because he was trying to photograph a bomb site at Darfur. He escaped during the prison transfer and fled to United Kingdom. (as above) I specifically gave all these examples to describe the different causes of migrating of the refugees to United Kingdom. Assess local and national strategies and projects aimed at combating poverty and social exclusion. The problem of refugees is really very acute. United Kingdom is committed to assist the refugees according to the UN 1951 convention. United Kingdom along with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is taking strong initiative in combating the poverty and social exclusion of the refugees and asylum seekers. They are trying to improve the condition of the refugees and the process of Refugee Status Determination which is proving an ideal model for motivating the other countries to take the same steps. The British Red Cross is involved in assisting the asylum seekers and refugees. It gives the refugees practical and emotional support. Red Cross is a leading humanitarian organization which provides emergency provisions to the refugees who are suffering hardship. They give orientation support as well as friendly advice to the refugees and asylum seekers. The orientation program of Red Cross helps the refugees to understand the culture of United Kingdom and guide them to adjust themselves in this culture. During the orientation program, if the refugees are facing any language problem, the printed material is provided to them in their own language. The agency is also active in the process of destitution and makes them aware about the limited resources available to them. The Red Cross helps the refugee women and children by building their confidence and making them aware of their rights. Red Cross Organization is involved in the process of rebuilding the families in which the members are separated from each other. The Red Cross also provides the first aid assistance, transport, medical assistance, and health care. [7] Apart from this, the major question before the refugees of United Kingdom is finance. They are very poor and cannot afford the basic necessities and needs. They are in need of financial assistance. UNHCR is the agency which constantly takes efforts for the rehabilitation of the refugees. The agency is fully dependent upon the donations which are not sufficient for the assistance of the huge number of refugees. UK is one of the active participants in resettlement program of UNHCR. Other countries are USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, Argentina, Benin, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, Iceland, Ireland, and Spain. The Refugee Council is the agency in United Kingdom is constantly fighting against the unjust and unfair treatment given to the refugees of the country. The major aim of this agency is to challenge government’s unjust policies, the hostile attitude of the people towards the refugees and asylum seekers. The goal and mission of the agency is to make United Kingdom a safer and healthy place for those destitute people who have left their motherland due to torture, oppression, war and persecution. The attempt of this agency is to provide the decent treatment to the homeless people come from another land. The assistance is given to them to work and earn in UK [8] The Government scheme of refugee settlement started in 2004 in UK The scheme aims at identifying the refugees who are desperately in need of a long term protection. The support given to the refugees includes housing, help in finding employment, volunteering opportunities, and provisions of English classes. The refugee Council in United Kingdom also helps to improve the life of those refugee children who are separated from their families. Around 3000 such children arrive in UK every year. The Supporting and Mentoring in Learning and Education (SMILE) project has been launched specially for the refugee children which aims at imparting a quality education to the refugee children as well as other things which are necessary for their physical and mental development.[9] Poverty, Refugees and social Work Practice: The problem of refugees and asylum seeker is a universal problem and so it is very necessary to step to fight against this problem. Around 20 million dislocated persons have located in Asia, Europe. They are constantly being the victim of torture, trauma imprisonment which is against the human rights. The rape on woman refugee is the very common thing and they are raped because they are refugees and women. Generally the women in the refugee camp become the victim of sexual attack. Thus irrespective of their age, ethnicity and political beliefs they are being raped. Particularly in host country, the military people, local residents, immigration officials often make target to the refugee women whom need to stop. There are incarceration took place in United Kingdom which forced the people to end their life. The Socialist Worker online has given the news of the incarceration in United Kingdom. Bereket Yohannes is the name of a person who ended his life while he was in incarceration. He is the seventh person to commit a suicide while his stay in detention camp. The reason was that the condition of the detention center was so horrible that it compelled other refugees also to end their lives. The British Government has gained a power to detain asylum seekers and migrants while their applications are in process. The UK government can detain the asylum seekers Apart from UNHCR, many other organizations are involved in the resettlement of the refuges, among them are “World Food Program,” “World Health Organization or International Committee of Red Cross. It is not just a matter of international agencies but the national and social agencies are also expected to participate in the campaign of resettling the refugees. Social workers are also taking initiatives to assist the refugees and asylum seekers. They are involved in many worldwide activities related to the rehabilitation of the refugees which include counseling to the refugees, providing them protection and disaster aids etc. Social workers have also joined the Red Cross and assist it in developing, managing, staffing the service related programs for the refugees. The social workers are also involved in providing the standard amenities to the refugees and thus improving their life and they raise the voice against the injustice happening with these refugees. The UN agencies and International NGOs work in the area where the large population of the refugees is settled. They provide the basic food water, shelter and elementary medical assistance to the refugees and asylum seekers. Not only physical or social settlement but the psychological settlement is also a major issue while rehabilitating the refugees. More than one third of total 1 million asylum seekers have come to UK in the past decade from about 35 countries and most of them have been settled down in London and the South East. They feel insecure and they find it difficult to adjust the new environment and culture of the host county. Many social organizations on local, national or international level are trying their best to cope with the problem of refugees but they have limitations. Financial assistance is the major hindrance. All the social agencies have to rely upon the money they get in forms of donation. The donation is very inadequate to meet the requirements of the refugee rehabilitation. Funding is thus the major problem without which one cannot help. Thus the funding crisis has a very serious impact on the refugees’ population. In 2002 it was quite difficult for UN to cope with the problem while rehabilitating the Afghan and Iraq refugees. Due to the lack of funding nearly half of the 2 million refugees have not even got the food. The larger group Afghan refugees came in Europe and United Kingdom is one of the countries in Europe who have the remarkable number of Afghan refugees. As far as the Afghan refugees are concerned only half of the 1 million refugees will receive the housing reconstruction assistance from UNHCR it is because of the budget fall. In Western Sahara also the condition was very worse. Because of the financial constrains the project of the provision of clean and safe water to 80.000 refugees had to postpone. Because of the small budge and lack of sufficient funds the UNHCR is not able to provide the basic amenities such as food, shelter, sanitation, good and clean latrines and other facilities. The women refugees has to face the sexual violence and to stop it the UNCHR also has taken initiatives and proper steps but again due to the lack of funds it has been postponed. (Funding Crisis in Refugee Assistance: Impact on Refugees, source: United States Committee for Refugees (USCR) It is the attempt of United Nations with the social workers’ agencies to help the refugees and provide them all the necessary basic amenities. Leaving our own nation, our culture, and settling down in some unknown land and merge in that culture is really very difficult task for human beings. The refugees have no future and they are living their life in the darkness. It is the responsibility of every nation on the earth to help them out who are physically and mentally collapsed. The United Nation’s machinery is not effective because of financial reason as well as the scarcity of human force to help the refugees. In fact now it is the time for United Nations to take initiatives in assuring the refugees security, shelter and resettlement in their homeland. United Nations has to find out the causes behind the migration of the refugees and try to develop the machineries in the homeland of the refugees so that they will not migrated to any other country for shelter and security. Because the host nations also have to face the refugees’ problem and it is really difficult for the host nations to accommodate the new population in their countries. On our above discussion we can conclude the essay with some major factors. The rich countries don’t seem to take interest in caring the refugees. The UNHRC are providing assistance but its sources are very limited and they cannot reach to all the refugees. The developed countries are not ready to accommodate the refugees and they think the refugees hindrance to the development of the country. Refugees always become prey in the hands of smugglers, sexual molestations and many of them die. The United Nations and other multilateral institutions were established with the purpose of to create economically and politically stable world. There is need to develop the entire world free of violence and war and at least the people should be given assurance of a safety and stable life. The problem of refugees cannot be solved until the world would take any action against tyrannical regimes, economic crises and conflict which create refugees in large number. [1] pg4, “Poverty by Ruth Lister, Published by polity, publishing year 2004 [2]Joseph Rowntree Foundation [3]Lister Pg 103, “Poverty” by Ruth Lister, Published by polity, publishing year 2004 [4] [5] [6] Asylum-seekers 'are left to starve' in Britain By Emily Dugan, Monday, 22 October 2007The Independent UK) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/asylumseekers-are-left-to-starve-in-britain-397576.html [7] www.redcross.org. The site is specially for the work of Red Cross, the humanitarian organization in the world. Focus is on the refugees of Britain. [8] Refugee Council Online is the site of information about the information of refugees and asylum seekers and the work done for their rehabilitation http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/) [9] http://www.smileproject.org.uk/ Read More