As a result of the refugee reception crisis in 2015 the advocacy for increasing resettlement numbers in the overall refugee protection framework has gained momentum, as has research on resettlement to the EU. While the UNHCR purports resettlement as a durable solution for the international protection of refugees, resettlement programmes to the European Union are seen as a pillar of the external dimension of the EU’s asylum and migration policies and management. This paper presents and discusses the literature regarding the value transmissions taking place within these programmes. It reviews literature on the European resettlement process – ranging from the selection of refugees to be resettled, the information and training they receive prior to travelling to their new country of residence, their reception upon arrival, their placement and dispersal in the receiving state, as well as programs of private and community sponsorship. The literature shows that even if resettlement can be considered an external dimension of European migration policy, this process does not end at the border. Rather, resettlement entails particular forms of reception, placement and dispersal as well as integration practices that refugees are confronted with once they arrive in their resettlement country. These practices should thus be understood in the context of the resettlement regime as a whole. In this paper we map out where and how values (here understood as ideas about how something should be) and norms (expectations or rules that are socially enforced) are transmitted within this regime. ‘Value transmission’ is here understood in a broad sense, taking into account the values that are directly transmitted through information and education programmes, as well as those informing practices and actors’ decisions. Identifying how norms and values figure in the resettlement regime aid us in further understanding decision making processes, policy making, and the on-the-ground work of practitioners that influence refugees’ lives. An important finding in this literature review is that vulnerability is a central notion in international refugee protection, and even more so in resettlement. Ideas and practices regarding vulnerability are, throughout the resettlement regime, in continuous tension with those of security, integration, and of refugees’ own agency. The literature review and our discussion serve as a point of departure for developing further investigations into the external dimension of value transmission, which in turn can add insights into the role of norms and values in the making and un-making of (external) boundaries/borders.
xv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSPrimero, mi más sincera gratitud va dirigida a todas las, y los, participantes en esta investigación. Me gustaría agradecerles a todas individualmente, honrando sus nombres, pero por razones evidentes de ética tendrá que ser suficiente expresar que esta tesis no existiría sin ustedes. Gracias por su trabajo y por compartir conmigo sus vidas, historias, risas, danzas, y lágrimas. Gracias por invitarme a compartir sus espacios, sus hogares, sus comidas y bebidas. Me han enseñado tanto, no sólo sobre los temas investigados acá, sino también sobre nosotres les humanes y las vidas que vivimos. Con todo lo que me trajo la vida durante el tiempo en que esta investigación se desenvolvía, estoy muy agradecida de que fue con ustedes como compañeras de camino.[My sincerest gratitude goes, first of all, to all the participants in this research. I would single out every one of you and honor your names, but for obvious ethical reasons it must suffice to say that this thesis would not exist without you. You have taught me so much, not only about the topics that this book explores, but about myself, humanity, and about the lives we lead. Thank you for welcoming me into your lives, tell me your stories, host me in your homes, dance, eat, drink, laugh and cry with me. The years it took to do this research has entailed so much change for all of us -losses and gains -and I am very thankful I got to go through it with you in my life.] xvi Second, thank you to everyone in the academic world who have contributed in different ways to making this thesis happen:To my supervisors Pieter Bevelander, Russell King, and Anne Marie Ejdegaard Jeppesen for their support through all of this, both academically, and personally. Thank you for reading my texts, for listening, and for letting me explore my material in so many different ways, always with your encouragement and advice. Thanks especially to Pieter for helping me across bumps in the road on the way, to Russell for your sound academic guidance and for showing me the ropes of the academic world, and to Anne Marie for your epistemic empathy and shared passion for knowledges hailing from Latin America(ns).
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