Periodic Reporting for period 1 - JustAsylum (Geographies of asylum justice: the lived realities and spaces of the Danish asylum procedure)
Reporting period: 2022-01-01 to 2023-12-31
This research project addressed the contemporary transformations in asylum provision, by using Denmark’s asylum system as a case study. The principle of providing asylum to people in need is an essential part of the modern state system and liberal democracy. However, because of ongoing global refugee crises, the institution of asylum is coming under great pressure. Countries across the world are growing increasingly reluctant to provide asylum to people in need. While asylum remains in force in national and international laws, it is being subverted in practice through a complex web of border enforcement practices and bureaucratic interventions. Scholars have long warned that asylum as an ethical principle is at risk of collapsing entirely. Yet, to date there has been limited knowledge about how states’ receding commitment to refugee protection is re-shaping the asylum procedure itself. More specifically, there is a lack of knowledge about what happens in the spaces where state officials interrogate asylum seekers and assess their claims.
This is an important problem for our society because the institution of asylum ensures that people who escape their country of origin due to war and persecution can obtain protection in another country. Furthermore, a lack of transparency and accountability surrounding the determination of a person’s right
to state protection threatens to undermine the institution of asylum and person’s access to due process.
Responding to this empirical gap, the research project has interrogated the socio-political geographies of the asylum procedure by exploring it as a lived, material space. It did so through an in-depth study of the asylum procedure in Denmark, a country that has long been at the forefront of reducing the EU’s commitment to asylum and the protection of displaced people. It did so by achieving the following Research Objectives (RO):
RO1: To advance a theoretical framework for understanding the first instance of the asylum procedure as a site of juridical border work. Through the feminist lenses of situated knowledges and intersectionality, this project advanced the conceptualization of border work as a lived socio-spatial reality.
RO2: To analyse the socio-political geographies of contemporary refugee governance by mapping the spaces, relations, and materials at work in and produced through the asylum procedure, examining the first instance of the Danish asylum system.
RO3: To provide a detailed empirical account of how different actors (caseworkers, interpreters, and asylum seekers) experience and make sense of the asylum procedure. This helped to locate the juridical border of asylum as a lived reality and contested political space.
RO4: To develop methodological innovation by developing a socio-spatial mapping method that helps to uncover the ways in which juridical borders are materialized and experienced through the situated encounters between different actors as well as the materials involved in the asylum procedure.
RO5: To produce policy recommendations on how the asylum procedure can be carried out in a transparent, accountable, and ethical way consistent with the spirit of asylum.
This is an important problem for our society because the institution of asylum ensures that people who escape their country of origin due to war and persecution can obtain protection in another country. Furthermore, a lack of transparency and accountability surrounding the determination of a person’s right
to state protection threatens to undermine the institution of asylum and person’s access to due process.
Responding to this empirical gap, the research project has interrogated the socio-political geographies of the asylum procedure by exploring it as a lived, material space. It did so through an in-depth study of the asylum procedure in Denmark, a country that has long been at the forefront of reducing the EU’s commitment to asylum and the protection of displaced people. It did so by achieving the following Research Objectives (RO):
RO1: To advance a theoretical framework for understanding the first instance of the asylum procedure as a site of juridical border work. Through the feminist lenses of situated knowledges and intersectionality, this project advanced the conceptualization of border work as a lived socio-spatial reality.
RO2: To analyse the socio-political geographies of contemporary refugee governance by mapping the spaces, relations, and materials at work in and produced through the asylum procedure, examining the first instance of the Danish asylum system.
RO3: To provide a detailed empirical account of how different actors (caseworkers, interpreters, and asylum seekers) experience and make sense of the asylum procedure. This helped to locate the juridical border of asylum as a lived reality and contested political space.
RO4: To develop methodological innovation by developing a socio-spatial mapping method that helps to uncover the ways in which juridical borders are materialized and experienced through the situated encounters between different actors as well as the materials involved in the asylum procedure.
RO5: To produce policy recommendations on how the asylum procedure can be carried out in a transparent, accountable, and ethical way consistent with the spirit of asylum.
This project was organized according to five work packages: Project management; Training; Research & Analysis; Communication; and Dissemination. I undertook multiple training courses and actively participated in seminars at Newcastle University. I developed a socio-spatial mapping method for uncovering the lived experiences of the asylum procedure. I carried out fieldwork in Denmark, conducting more than 50 interviews with former asylum seekers, interpreters, caseworkers, as well as representatives from refugee rights organizations. Bringing together literatures on situated knowledges and intersectionality, I also developed a feminist approach to advance the conceptualization of border work as a lived socio-spatial reality. In terms of dissemination, I have organized multiple conference sessions and participated in national and international events, including reading groups, workshops, seminars, film screenings, and conferences. I have authored and co-authored various journal articles, book chapters, and a book manuscript, which are either published or currently under review. I have also taught guest lectures on geographies of asylum to post-graduate students at Newcastle University. I have been invited to participate in international research seminars and give guest lectures at world-leading institutions. Finally, I have successfully applied for additional funding from Newcastle University to design and carry out an impact project, which will exploit the findings from this project and ensure long-term societal impact.
This MSCA research project on asylum adjudication is making a significant impact beyond the state of the art and academia. First, it has already helped to make visible the procedure and practices surrounding the legal process of determining a person’s right to asylum. It has thereby helped to address the issue of transparency as well as some of contemporary legal and practical issues related to asylum determination, including the physical set up, interpretation, and lack of information about an asylum seeker’s rights and obligations. Second, the findings from this project are directly influencing my new impact project ‘Navigating asylum: towards a rights-based approach”, funded by Newcastle University. Building on the findings of JustAsylum, this project will co-develop an interactive website, providing end-users with accurate, actionable knowledge about the Danish asylum procedure, asylum seekers’ rights, and advice about actions that they can take. Third, this project has also positively impacted the research participants as they have been able to share their knowledge about a complex legal procedure. Fourth, this project has had a significant impact on my own professional development. I have been able to carry out an original research project, advance the state-of-the-art scholarship on asylum, and benefited from being based at a world-leading research hub on migration at Newcastle University. Together, this has enabled me to secure a highly prestigious NUAcT fellowship at Newcastle University, where I lead a new research programme on geographies of displacement.