“It was the photograph of the little boy”: reflections on the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme in the UK

Abstract

This article examines the 'Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme' (SVPRP) as a specific British response to the 'European refugee crisis'. Based on an analysis of media reporting (2014-17) and empirical evidence from agencies and volunteers tasked with implementing the programme, this essay reveals the ethical and political ambiguities at its heart. By focusing on the notion of 'vulnerability' I argue that the humanitarian configuration of a refugee worthy of care is implicated in two significant practices: exceptionalising a small group of Syrians as legitimate targets for compassion and constructing compassion itself as a rationed resource in a climate of anti-immigrant hostility, austerity and Brexit.

Who Deserves Compassion? The Moral and Emotional Dilemmas of Volunteering in the ‘Refugee Crisis’

“…I think they are more vulnerable' (Interview 3, woman, 58 years old). As this example shows, vulnerability is perceived as 'situational' (Armbruster, 2019(Armbruster, : 2686 and can be produced by different circumstances at different moments of the lives of the refugees. From this perspective, the Home Office is frequently considered as the major source of refugee suffering once in the UK, both because of the uncertainty of the asylum process and because of the lack of support after getting the refugee status.…”

“…More generally, as observed by Armbruster (2019Armbruster ( : 2693, volunteers who focus on the execution of practical tasks risk becoming a '"to-be-managed" group whose contact with refugees [is] subject to training and regulation'. By doing so, they might reinforce a view of charities as 'agents of professionalism' (Armbruster, 2019(Armbruster, : 2693, that have the power to establish a moral economy of vulnerability and independence through which the refugees' worth is assessed. Therefore, they risk leaving unchallenged the role of decisionmakers (charities and the state more generally) that act as disciplining bodies both towards the volunteer population and the refugees (Armbruster, 2019(Armbruster, : 2693; see also Fassin, 2010).…”

“…The vast movement of refugee support that has emerged across Europe as a result of the 2015 ‘refugee crisis’ has been the subject of growing scholarly attention (Agustín and Bak Jorgensen, 2019; Armbruster, 2019; Della Porta, 2018; Feischmidt et al, 2019; Fontanari and Borri, 2017; Youkhana and Sutter, 2017). The literature has focused on the emergence and nature of this volunteer-based movement (De Jong and Ataç, 2017; Sandri, 2018; Zamponi, 2017), its relationship to political action (Fleischmann and Steinhilper, 2017; Vandevoordt and Verschraegen, 2019) and the role of emotions in mobilising participants (Armbruster, 2019; Doidge and Sandri, 2018; Karakayali, 2017; Sirriyeh, 2018). In particular, these studies show how compassion is a central emotion that motivates a variety of actors to participate in the movement, as well as how this emotion shapes the nature of civil society response to the ‘refugee crisis’ (Armbruster, 2019; Kleres, 2018; Sirriyeh, 2018).…”

“…Since the 'long summer of migration' in 2015, individuals and charities across Europe have participated in an unprecedented wave of support towards refugees. 1 In particular, the picture of Alan Kurdi, the Syrian boy who died attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in September 2015, laid bare the lack of compassion and care in government policies (Armbruster, 2019). As a reaction, individuals and charities started engaging in a broad and diverse volunteer-based movement epitomised by highly visible campaigns such as Refugees Welcome and the Twitter hashtag #CompassionCrisis.…”

“…However, only a few studies have explored this idea from the point of view of the individual actors who engage in volunteering. 2 Also, notions of compassion and humanitarianism have been largely investigated in relation to governing discourses and policies (Fassin, 2010; Sirriyeh, 2018; Ticktin, 2017) as well as charity or non-governmental organisation (NGO) discourses (Armbruster, 2019; Fassin and d’Halluin, 2005; Hyndman, 2000; Redfield, 2013). Nevertheless, they have remained relatively under-explored at the scale of personal engagement and practices (see Harrison, 2013), which instead constitute the subject of this article.…”