The Migration and Settlement of Refugees in Britain

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1 The Migration and Settlement of Refugees in Britain

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3 The Migration and Settlement of Refugees in Britain Alice Bloch Goldsmiths College University of London

4 Alice Bloch 2002 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act First published 2002 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bloch, Alice, 1964 The migration and settlement of refugees in Britain/Alice Bloch p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Refugees Government Policy Great Britain. 2. Refugees Government policy European Union countries. I. Title. JV7682.B dc

5 Contents List of Tables List of Figures Acknowledgements ix xii xiii 1. Introduction 1 Theoretical and thematic concerns 1 The categorization of forced migrants 6 Refugees 8 Asylum seekers 9 Exceptional Leave to Remain 10 Temporary protection 11 The case study and the research basis 12 The London Borough of Newham 13 Newham s ethnic minority communities: demography and geography 14 The case study groups 15 Content of the book Migration to Britain and Policy Responses 21 Early migrants 21 Migration: 1800 until Migration: 1914 until Migration: 1945 until Eastern European displaced persons and European Volunteer Workers 29 Migration from Commonwealth countries 31 Controlling migration: 1962 until Demography and geography of ethnic groups at the end of the twentieth century 38 Race relations 39 Summary Current UK and European Policy 43 Refugee migration at the end of the twentieth century 43 v

6 vi Contents Policy responses to refugees at the end of the twentieth century 44 Detention 47 Immigration legislation in the 1990s 47 Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act, Asylum and Immigration Act, Immigration and Asylum Act, The policy of dispersal 51 The EU context 54 Harmonization of asylum policy 56 Provisions for asylum seekers in European countries 59 Summary Theories of Refugee Migration and Migration to Britain 64 Theories of migration 65 Neo-classical economic equilibrium perspective 65 Historical-structuralist approach 66 Migration systems approach 68 Refugees: a unique type of migrant 70 Trafficking and smuggling 73 Refugee migration to Britain 74 Seeking asylum in Britain 74 Reasons for coming to Britain 75 Preferred asylum destination 76 Summary Theories of Migrant Settlement 80 Theories of migrant settlement 80 Policies of receiving countries 82 Citizenship 84 Social networks 88 Economic integration 91 Migration, aspirations and settlement: the links 95 Summary Language, Education and Training 99 The Urban Programme 100 Newham: the economic context 101 Language and literacy skills 102 Language and literacy skills in the first language 102 English language and literacy skills on arrival to Britain 103

7 Contents vii English language skills and language learning 104 Learning English as a second language: provision 104 Attendance at English language courses 105 Finding out about ESOL and getting on a course 107 Views about English language courses 108 Education and qualifications 111 Education and qualifications on arrival to Britain 111 Study in Britain 112 Training 115 Summary Labour Market Participation in Britain 120 Ethnic minority employment 120 Refugee employment 124 Employment before coming to Britain 124 Employment in Britain 125 Working hours and pay 127 Barriers to employment 129 Past employment in Britain 130 Labour market aspirations 132 Unused skills and barriers to employment among those seeking work 133 Methods of job seeking 133 Sources of information and advice about job seeking 135 Areas where training was wanted 138 Summary The Social Settlement of Refugees 142 Perceptions of Britain as home 142 Aspirations for return migration 145 Living in Britain: areas of residence, housing and households 147 Areas of residence 147 Housing tenure 152 Household composition 153 Language spoken at home 154 Life in Newham: social interaction 155 Meeting people and making friends 157 Summary Refugee Community Organizations and Volunteering 161 The role of refugee community organizations 161 Refugee community organizations in Newham 162

8 viii Contents Using refugee community organizations 163 Information and advice 164 Community organizations and the statutory sector 166 Participation in community activities 168 Differences in community association 169 Voluntary activity 172 Volunteering 172 Type of voluntary work 173 Summary Conclusion 177 Key findings: economic settlement 178 Language, training, education and employment 178 Skills base 180 Key findings: social settlement 181 Refugee migration 181 Structural barriers in the country of asylum 183 Factors affecting settlement 184 Factors that affect settlement: the views of refugees 187 Factors that affect settlement 187 Ways of improving life in Britain for refugees 191 Policy recommendations and the 1999 Act 194 Structural barriers to settlement 194 Social settlement: community and dispersal 196 Economic settlement: language, education, training and employment 197 The implication of European harmonization 199 Summary 201 Appendix: Methodology 202 Bibliography 205 Index 218

9 List of Tables Table 1.1 Decisions on asylum applications: Table 1.2 Resident population by ethnic group Great Britain and Newham, 1991 Census 14 Table 1.3 Proportion born in the UK by ethnic group, 1991 Census, Newham 15 Table 1.4 The ethnic composition of ward areas in Newham, 1991 Census 16 Table 2.1 Foreign born population of England and Wales, 1861 and Table 2.2 Main refugee groups arriving in the UK, Table 2.3 Estimated net immigration from the New Commonwealth, Table 2.4 Main refugee groups arriving in the UK, Table 2.5 The ten local authority areas with the highest proportion of ethnic minority residents in England, 1991 Census 39 Table 3.1 Countries with the most asylum applicants to the UK, Table 3.2 Asylum applications, Table 3.3 Asylum seekers and their dependents allocated support by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) until the end of May Table 3.4 Number of asylum applications to countries of the EU by year of application, Table 3.5 Ten European countries with the most asylum applicants, Table 3.6 Indicative numbers of refugees and asylum seekers by region, Table 3.7 Monthly income of asylum seekers in European countries Table 4.1 Origin of major refugee populations and main countries of asylum, 31 December Table 4.2 Three stylized levels of migration analysis 70 ix

10 x List of Tables Table 4.3 Immigration status by length of residence in Britain 77 Table 4.4 Preferred asylum destination, by country of origin 78 Table 4.5 Reasons for preferred asylum destination by country of origin 78 Table 6.1 Level of spoken English by country of origin and sex 104 Table 6.2 Level of spoken English on arrival to the UK by attendance at English language classes 106 Table 6.3 Number of hours attending English language classes each week 108 Table 6.4 Satisfaction with different aspects of English language provision 109 Table 6.5 Ways of improving English language provision 110 Table 6.6 Training courses taken in Britain 116 Table 6.7 Job outcome by white/non-white and whether English is first language 117 Table 7.1 Unemployment rate of ethnic communities in the boroughs covered by LETEC 122 Table 7.2 Total percentage unemployed in Newham by ethnic group and sex 124 Table 7.3 Main activity before coming to Britain by country of origin and sex 125 Table 7.4 Number of hours worked by take home pay 128 Table 7.5 Average hourly earnings of the workforce, in pence 129 Table 7.6 Average hourly earnings of full-time employees by ethnic group and sex 129 Table 7.7 Numbers of those working, stating different barriers as preventing them from getting a more suitable job 130 Table 7.8 Reasons for leaving last job 131 Table 7.9 View about schemes designed to help people into work 136 Table 7.10 Kind of help with job seeking thought to be most useful 137 Table 7.11 Numbers wanting different types of training 139 Table 7.12 Training that could be done to help get job 140 Table 8.1 All the reasons why Britain is either seen as home or not seen as home 144

11 List of Tables xi Table 8.2 Whether or not respondent would like to return home by country of origin, length of residence, employment status, immigration status and perceptions of Britain as home 145 Table 8.3 Whether or not respondent would like to return home, by grounds for asylum 146 Table 8.4 Proportion of those born in Sri Lanka living in each ward in Newham, 1991 Census 148 Table 8.5 Number giving main reason for living in Newham, by refugee community 150 Table 8.6 The ease or difficulty with which respondents met British people, by country of origin 158 Table 9.1 Help making a social security claim, by level of spoken English 166 Table 9.2 Attendance at social, religious, cultural or political groups, by country of origin 169 Table 9.3 Type of voluntary work carried out (past and current volunteers) 174 Table 10.1 Factors that affect settlement for different communities 188 Table 10.2 Most frequently mentioned ways of improving life for refugees in Britain, by country of origin 192 Table A1 Organizations acting a gatekeepers and the number of successful interviews carried out via each organization 203 Table A2 Survey sample by year of arrival, age and sex 204

12 List of Figures Figure 1.1 Applications for asylum received from Somali, Sri Lankan and Congolese nationals between 1990 and Figure 1.2 London Borough of Newham 17 Figure 3.1 Principal asylum applicants by area of origin, Figure 4.1 Reason why Britain was country of asylum 75 Figure 6.1 Highest level of education by country of origin and sex 111 Figure 6.2 Highest academic qualifications 112 Figure 7.1 Main employment characteristics of men (aged 16 64) and women (aged 16 59) in Newham, Figure 7.2 Main activity before coming to Britain and main activity in Britain 126 Figure 7.3 Barriers to employment 134 Figure 7.4 Whether wants training by employment status 138 Figure 8.1 Whether respondents saw Britain as home by basis of asylum claim 143 Figure 8.2 Main reason for living in Newham 149 Figure 8.3 All and main languages spoken by respondents at home 154 Figure 8.4 A model of ethnic association 156 Figure 9.1 Different reasons for contacting refugee organizations in Newham 165 Figure 9.2 Percentage attending a social, religious, cultural or political group, by sex and country of origin 171 xii

13 Acknowledgements I would like to thank those who participated in the research and the survey interviewers. Also thanks to Stratford Development Partnership and the European Commission for their financial support for the fieldwork and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of East London and the London Borough of Newham for their assistance. I am grateful to family, friends and colleagues, too numerous to mention, who have provided support, help and guidance at different stages of this work. In particular, thanks to Liza Schuster, John Solomos, Les Back, Amal Treacher, Jill Enterkin and Rita Davies. xiii