ABSTRACT
"There`s only beauty if there is an interlocutor. The beauty of the lagoon is always someone” (Mãe, 2017, p.40). Valter Hugo Mãe expresses our desire in the making of this paper to share our experience of meeting refugee children, as part of an ongoing research project dedicated to exploring the conditions in which they live in Baixada Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the influences they bring with them from their birth countries. In the process of conducting this research, we were surprised by a group of children who belong to the Warao ethnic group, and who have been welcomed by the municipality of Nova Iguaçu, which is part of Baixada Fluminense. The Warao are indigenous peoples from the North of Venezuela and their name means "canoe,” given their close relationship with water. A group of displaced Warao children and their families arrived in Nova Iguaçu after having "camped” out in the surroundings of Novo Rio bus station for a few weeks, followed by a sojourn in a public shelter, where the differences between them and the existing members of the institution led to conflict. Through a religious institution's initiative, the families then found shelter in a small farm in the city of Japeri. They stayed there for six months, but once again were threatened by the prospect of eviction, after which they were finally welcomed in the city of Nova Iguaçu. The families–five interconnected units–expressed the wish to remain together and a social service institution found them a closed school building, which was modified to accommodate the group. When the Covid pandemic struck, the research and study group GEPELID began following the daily routine of these children at the shelter school and at the Marambaia welfare center. In their meetings with the Warao, the researchers were struck by their references to the Buriti tree as the "tree of life,” and the depths of its implications for their identity. In exploring this concept, the research group's experience of radical cultural difference revealed the extent to which research in the human sciences is always a meeting with the other, and the relation between researcher and subjects an occasion for dialogue. © 2022 State Univ of Rio de Janeiro - Center of Childhood and Philosophy Studies. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
All children have the right to education without discrimination, but half of refugee children are out of school, far worse than global averages. Obstacles to education for refugee and migrant children include poverty and overstretched resources in host countries, and humanitarian donors and agencies have important roles and should ensure the right to education. However, policy barriers to education are key drivers of the education crisis facing displaced children. These policy barriers are internationally unlawful, but the children affected often lack standing under domestic law to demand a remedy. Countries with laws enshrining migrant, asylum-seeking, and refugee children's rights to education and the European Union's response to Ukrainian refugee learners provide examples that advocates can use to help raise the global floor for displaced children's right to education. Advocates should press all countries to grant all children, including migrants and refugees, the enforceable right to education in domestic law.
ABSTRACT
Children's socio-emotional adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic could depend on their pre-pandemic risk of heightened socio-emotional distress and available resources. In a sample of elementary school-aged children from low-income neighbourhoods in Germany, we examined children's socio-emotional adjustment throughout two pandemic-related school closing periods of 5 months each and explored possible determinants of their adjustment. On three occasions before and after school closing, home-room teachers reported on the distress of 365 children (Mage = 8.45, 53% female) and provided information on their family backgrounds and internal resources. We studied child pre-pandemic risk of low socio-emotional adjustment based on low basic care by families and group membership (i.e., recently arrived refugee, deprived Roma family). We studied child resources regarding families' home learning support during school closings and selected internal resources of the children (German reading skills, academic ability). Results showed that children's distress did not increase throughout the school closings. Instead, their distress remained at constant levels or even decreased. On pre-pandemic risk, only low basic care was linked to higher levels of distress and worse trajectories. On child resources, home learning support, academic ability, and German reading skills were inconsistently linked to less distress and better trajectories depending on the school closing period. Our findings suggest better-than-expected socio-emotional adjustment of children from low-income neighbourhoods during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Firstly, there has recently been a progression from understanding displaced, refugee and migrant children in isolation ([8];[13];[14]) to viewing children and young people as embedded in the social ecologies of their family, friends, community and culture ([2];[12]). A number of papers in this Special Issue show how refugee children and young people engage in trajecto-making ([3]) and act on their circumstances in the "here and now". This Special Issue on I Crisis, (Im)mobilities and Young Life Trajectories i examines the intersections of developmental trajectories and (im)mobility amidst crises, with a focus on ruptures, transitions, disruptions and continuities in the life course of children and young people who have been forced to move due to various man-made and natural crises. This is, for instance, the case for the financial crisis of 2008, the refugee crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic ([4]);civil war, natural disasters, and the pandemic ([10]);and displacement and the pandemic ([6]). [Extracted from the article]
ABSTRACT
In this paper we analyze the contemporary ambivalence to child migration identified by Jacqueline Bhabha and propose a developmental relational approach that repositions child refugees as active participants and rights-bearers in society. Ambivalence involves tensions between protection of refugee children and protection of national borders, public services and entrenched images. Unresolved ambivalence supports failures to honor the rights of refugee children according to international law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. There is failure to protect and include them in national public services and in international coordination of public health and wellbeing. We identify misrepresentations of childhood and refugeeness that lie behind ambivalence and the equitable organization and delivery of public services for health and wellbeing. With illustrative studies, we propose a developmental relational framework for understanding refugee children's contributions in the sociocultural environment. Contrary to the image of passive victims, refugee children interact with other people and institutions in the co-construction of situated encounters. A developmental relational understanding of children's 'co-actions' in the social environment provides a foundation for addressing misrepresentations of childhood and refugeeness that deny refugee children protection and inclusion as rights-bearers. We point to directions in research and practice to recognize their rights to thrive and contribute to society.
Subject(s)
Refugees , Child , Family , Humans , OrganizationsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Sleep disorders are very common in migrants and refugees, often as a comorbid disorder to different somatic or psychiatric diagnoses and psychological disturbances such as metabolic syndrome, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety disorders. OBJECTIVES: To review published prevalence rates as well as possible predictors for sleep disturbances in these vulnerable groups, including pre-migration stress, acculturation, and trauma before, during, and after migration, integration, and lifestyle in the host country with implications for predictive, preventive, and personalized medical approach (3PM). DATA SOURCES: Electronic databases PubMed, PsycInfo, and Web of Knowledge were searched using (combined) search terms "migrant," "asylum seeker," "refugee," "sleep disturbances," "sleep disorder," "insomnia," and "sleep wake disorder." STUDY ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: Peer-reviewed studies from 2000 to 2018 reporting data on prevalence and/or predictors of any measure of sleep disturbance were included. PARTICIPANTS: Studies on international migrants and refugees, as well as internally displaced populations, were included. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review on the topic of sleep disorders in migrant and refugee populations. Only published articles and reviews in peer-reviewed journals were included. RESULTS: We analyzed five studies on sleep disorders in migrants, five studies on adult refugees, and three on refugee children and adolescents. Prevalence of sleep disorders in migrants and refugees ranges between 39 and 99%. In migrant workers, stress related to integration and adaptation to the host society is connected to higher risks of snoring, metabolic diseases, and insomnia. Sleep disturbances in refugees are predicted by past war experience. Sleep difficulties in adult and child refugees are strongly correlated to trauma. Torture of parents and grandparents can predict sleep disorders in refugee children, while being accompanied by parents to the host country has a protective effect on children's sleep. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Considering the differences in risk factors, vulnerability, and traumatic life events for different migrant populations, origins of sleep difficulties vary, depending on the migrant populations. Effects on sleep disturbances and sleep quality may be a result of integration in the host country, including changes of lifestyle, such as diet and working hours with implication for OSAS (obstructive sleep apnea) and insomnia. Compared with migrant populations, sleep disturbances in refugee populations are more correlated with mental health symptoms and disorders, especially PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), than with psychosocial problems. In juvenile refugee populations, psychological problems and disturbed sleep are associated with traumatic experiences during their journey to the host country. Findings highlight the need for expert recommendations for development of 3P approach stratified in the following: (1) prediction, including structured exploration of predisposing and precipitating factors that may trigger acute insomnia, screening of the according sleep disorders by validated translated questionnaires and sleep diaries, and a face-to-face or virtual setting and screening of OSAS; (2) target prevention by sleep health education for female and male refugees and migrant workers, including shift workers; and (3) personalized medical approach, including translated cognitive behavioral treatment for insomnia (CBT-I) and imagery rehearsal therapy for refugees and telehealth programs for improved CPAP adherence in migrants, with the goal to enable better sleep health quality and improved health economy.