Mono-cultural communities and the effect on asylum / immigration seekers in Humberside

Aims

The research aimed to explore if the dispersal of refugees and / or asylum seekers to relatively ‘mono-cultural’ communities, such as those in Humberside, can work.

Methodology

The research, undertaken between August and September 2000 in Hull, analysed secondary sources and undertook 11 semi-structured interviews with statutory, private and voluntary sector representatives, six interviews with refugees and asylum seekers, one focus group with ‘local’ people and five with refugees and asylum seekers.

Key issues

The report considers refugee and asylum seekers’ attitudes about measures within the Immigration and Asylum Act [1999]; experiences of and responses to the communities refugees and asylum seekers make and inhabit; and whether dispersal to mono-cultural communities can work. The report argues that dispersal to Humberside is unlikely to work due to lack of employment opportunities; lack of existing ethnic and national social networks; lack of appropriate legal support with asylum applications; and lack of established institutionalised structures of support tailored to the needs of refugees and asylum seekers.

Conclusions

The resettlement of refugees and asylum seekers to contexts such as Humberside is unlikely to work for a number of reasons.