In defiance of the reception logic: The case for including NGOs as human rights monitors in the EU’s policies of first reception of irregular migrants.

Abstract

The first reception system for irregular migrants taking the Mediterranean route into the European Union (EU) is dictated almost solely by border control and security concerns. There is no recognition of the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) as human rights monitors in first reception, and access is limited, controlled, and dependent on local authorities. Newly arriving migrants are at their most vulnerable during first reception. Traumatization and retraumatization brought by violations of human rights, or alternatively, care and welcome within the first reception system will pave the way for subsequent integration processes, by ensuring migrants' well-being, decreasing hostility, diffidence and subjugation, and peaceful relations with European host communities. By critically assessing the current system, backed by the author's long-term ethnographic fieldwork, this article explores the links between policy, practice, and mental health consequences for migrants. It shows that there are multiple risks of human rights violations of a vulnerable group of people. The article is critical of the absence of an official role for NGOs 1 as human rights monitors arguing that NGOs have a unique role to play. The article suggests that the dignified conduction of first reception could have a positive influence on integration processes, and concludes that first reception should not be designed within a security framework but within a reception one. Public Significance Statement This article explores the social and political factors of irregular border crossing into the EU.

Refugee integration: Research and policy.

“…DeBono (2018) argues that policies taken regarding the Mediterranean crossing of asylum seekers into Europe have heightened perceptions of asylum seekers as a threat to security. In 2015, when the European Union developed a “hotspot” approach to processing migrants with irregular entry pathways, the approach emphasized using a crisis framing and criminal processes (e.g., detention, fingerprinting).…”

“…DeBono (2018) argues that the processes of crisis framing and criminalization facilitate the dehumanization of migrants (Esses, Veenvliet, Hodson, & Mihic, 2008; Esses, Veenvliet, & Medianu, 2012; Haslam & Loughnan, 2014). Dehumanization is a process whereby individuals or groups are perceived as lacking human attributes, such as complex emotions, morality, or warmth, and are thus deemed to resemble animals, or machines (Haslam, Loughnan, Reynolds, & Wilson, 2007).…”

“…DeBono (2018) and others (e.g., McKay et al, 2012), however, raised concerns about how public discourse and policies are compartmentalizing refugees into those who are, and are not, deserving of empathy. DeBono argued that policies around the Mediterranean arrivals aimed at protecting the vulnerable serve to separate migrants into those who are vulnerable and thus deserving of special protections and processes (e.g., minors or those with disabilities) and those who are not, and who are therefore deemed not to need of protection.…”

Nurses’ experiences of emergency care for undocumented migrants who travel by boats

“…UMs require psychological support for fear or trauma suffered, although this differs depending on the culture or country of origin (Granero-Molina et al, 2019;Jiménez-Lasserrotte et al, 2020). Nurses confirmed that there continue to be problems in coordinating police and healthcare providers (Chiesa et al, 2019); continuity of care implies separating emergency care from the legal status of UMs (De Bono, 2018). As with other studies, participants face administrative obstacles, communication issues and social and professional stigma (Drewniak et al, 2017;Puchner et al, 2018).…”

“…UMs are often affected by chronic diseases, malnutrition, parasitosis, sexual violence and human trafficking (Jiménez-Lasserrotte et al, 2019), as well as dehydration, burns, injuries, myalgias, infectious diseases and urinary retention (Eonomopoulou et al, 2016). After being rescued, the emergency care team provides liquids, food, thermal blankets (De Bono, 2018) and first aid. They also diagnose and treat minor illnesses, and screen for infectious diseases (López-Domene et al, 2019).…”