Between Control and Assistance: The Problem of European Accommodation Centres for Asylum Seekers

Abstract

Accommodation centres are much more than means of securing asylum seekers’ housing needs. They are an embodiment of asylum and immigration policies. To understand these policies and their effects on asylum seekers, we need to ask what interests different institutional actors have in keeping asylum seekers in the centres. Based on the study of accommodation centres in the Czech Republic, in this paper I argue that the centres serve as tools of migration control. The prolonged confinement of a highly diverse group of people produced by the interconnectedness between asylum and immigration policies leads to asylum seekers’ disillusionment about the asylum procedure and nourishes various illicit activities. The centres enable state institutions to determine the nature of assistance available to asylum seekers, including legal aid provided by non‐governmental organizations. By actively promoting the image of accommodation centres as benign places, the state also controls the dominant representation of refugee reception. In everyday practices in the centres, control and assistance are closely intertwined and produce an oppressive environment that engenders asylum seekers’ dependency.

“We are all brothers here”: The making of a life by Chechen refugees in Poland

“…Polish reception and accommodation centres for asylum seekers serve as effective tools of assistance and migration control, as is the purpose of such facilities (Malkki, ; Szczepanikova, ). Because of low administrative expenses, Polish authorities use either owned or rented former military bases, former prisons, and bankrupt hotels to accommodate refugees (Lukasiewicz, ; Menz, ).…”

“…Polish reception and accommodation centres for asylum seekers serve as effective tools of assistance and migration control, as is the purpose of such facilities (Malkki, 2002;Szczepanikova, 2013).…”

Control and Abandonment: The Power of Surveillance on Refugees in Italy, During and After the Mare Nostrum Operation

“…In Italy, the different policies for handling irregular migrants (reception, transit or expulsion) are closely related to the status of regularity/irregularity attributed to them. The migrants who are judged eligible for asylum procedures when they first arrive by sea embark on a trajectory that is equally characterized by experiences of “prolonged spatial confinement and social segregation” (Szczepanikova :1). The term “encampment” (Agier ) describes the condition of being placed in a camp as a deliberate political process of subjecting refugees and asylum seekers to extended segregation; at the same time, it also illustrates the ambiguous position of the humanitarian agencies that manage the camps.…”

“…What guaranteed the effectiveness of control measures in these structures was neither the law enforcement personnel, nor a security regime explicitly manifested. Rather, it was a pervasive, rigid disciplining of daily life performed by the social service workers who, established humanitarian and bureaucratic relations with refugees (Agier ; Malkki ; Ong ; Szczepanikova ; Turner ), and monitored their movement in and out of the camp, and hence dictated the forms of freedom and moral behavior considered appropriate.…”

Asylum seekers' experiences in Australia between 2012 and 2014: The Structural-Personal Interaction Process

“…In the Czech system, asylum seekers' rights to work are denied for the first twelve months following application for refugee status (Szczepanikova 2013). …”