Paper details

Paper authors	Clea Kahn
In panel on	Understanding Voluntary and Dignified Return in a Rapidly Changing World
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Many countries limit asylum seekers' access to employment and education and restrict avenues to integration. increasingly, these are deliberate strategies to deter people from claiming asylum or discourage them from putting down roots. New research demonstrates that these strategies are likely to result in long-term harm to individuals and frustrate prospects for either return or integration. Introducing the concept of Institutional Disempowerment (ID), this research draws on well-established and well-evidenced theories such as the theory of learned helplessness and self-determination theory to understand the mechanisms by which policies and processes designed to thwart human agency cause this harm. Conducted in the United Kingdom and working with three experts-by-experience, the study used situational analysis, a qualitative methodology, to explore multiple dimensions of people's experience of the asylum process. The findings make a compelling case for states to re-think what are ultimately self-defeating policies that fail the requirement to 'do no harm'.

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