Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie

Lora Benoit; Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz; Deena Mikbel

doi:doi:10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19

| Peer-Reviewed

Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie

Lora Benoit, Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz, Deena Mikbel

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 10, Issue 5)

Received: 26 September 2022 Accepted: 21 October 2022 Published: 30 October 2022

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

This article demonstrates that the Universal Human Right to asylum is not uniformly guaranteed to all asylum seekers pursuing refuge in Western countries. Specifically, many Western countries accept fewer asylum seekers than might be expected based on their population size. Moreover, there are a number of Western countries that demonstrate a clear bias against asylum seekers originating from Africa and the Middle East; people who are attempting to escape extremely dire circumstances. To arrive at these conclusions, a tripartite approach was implemented. First, elaborations were made on the existing theoretical foundations used by the West that frame the refugee as not "Our Kind of People" or "Our Kind of Color." Second, a mathematical assessment was applied to quantify the forcibly displaced persons from around the world using data extracted from the UNHCR that factually evidences this bias. Lastly, qualitative assessments were made that examined the policy and practices that govern the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in select Western countries, including Australia, Türkiye, Palestine, the European Union, Canada, and the United States. These three lines unequivocally demonstrate the influence of institutional racism on the mass migration of people seeking asylum in Western Countries.

Published in	Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 10, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19
Page(s)	332-349
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Refugees, Asylum Seekers, ‘Not Our People’, ‘Not Our Color’, Western Countries Policy and Practice, Institutional Racism

References

[1]	Graham, Lawrence, Otis (January 6, 1999). Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class (First ed.). Harper. ISBN 0060183527.
[2]	Crul, Maurice, Steinmetz, Carl H. D. and Lelie, Frans (2020). How the Architecture of Housing Blocks Amplifies or Dampens Interethnic Tensions in Ethnically Diverse Neighborhoods. Social Inclusion (ISSN: 2183–2803)2020, Volume 8, Issue 1, Pages 194–202DOI: 10.17645/si.v8i1.2109. Link: https://ap.lc/eeSJ9
[3]	Wallace III, Luther, C. (2005). Our Colour Our Kind: A Male Bedside Reader Paperback. AuthorHouse. ISBN-10: 1420865099. ISBN-13: 978-1420865097.
[4]	Steinmetz, Carl H. D. and Salim, Dliman, S. C, (2022). Belonging a Key Concept to Explain Success in Higher Education in the Netherlands. Humanities and Social Sciences 2022; 10 (2): 48-52. http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/hss. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20221002.11. Link: https://ap.lc/k38Ya
[5]	McAuliffe, Marie and Triandafyllidou, Anna, editors (2022). World Migration Report. OIM, UN Migration.
[6]	Liempt, van, Ilse & Staring, Richard (2021). Homemaking and Places of Restoration: Belonging Within and Beyond Places Assigned to Syrian Refugees in the Netherlands, Geographical Review, 111: 2, 308-326, DOI: 10.1080/00167428.2020.1827935.
[7]	Anderson, Leticia, Cumings, Rob, and Gatwiri, Kathomi (2019). ‘I’m a Local’: Negotiating Belonging with Former Refugees in Regional Australia through Inclusive Partnerships. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5130/ccs.v11i2.6665
[8]	Ubayasiri, Kasun (2019). Framing statelessness and ‘belonging’. Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s The Daily Star newspaper. PACIFIC JOURNALISM REVIEW 25 (1 & 2).
[9]	Steinmetz, Carl H. D. (2021). Coping with Incidents: A first Step Towards a Thorough Overhaul. International Journal of medical Science and health Research, Vol. 5, No. 02. Link: https://ap.lc/qsAt4
[10]	Mawson, Anthony, R. (2005). Understanding Mass Panic and Other Collective Responses to Threat and Disaster. Psychiatry 68 (2) Summer 2005.
[11]	Kağıtçıbaşı, Çiğdem (2007). Family, Self, and Human Development Across Cultures. Theory and Applications. Second Edition. Psychology Press. Taylor and Francis Group. New York London.
[12]	Wanjiru, Joyce, Kiige, Prof. S. Selvam and Dr. Lucy Njiru (2019). Correlation between African Hospitality and Human Flourishing among Young African adults in Kenya. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Volume 9, Issue 9, September 2019. DOI: 10.29322/IJSRP.9.09.2019.p9327. http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.9.09.2019.p9327.
[13]	Gordon, Lewis, R. (2021). Freedom, Justice and Decolonization. Routledge, Taylor & Francis.
[14]	Berry, J. W. (1997). Immigration, Acculturation and Adaptation. Applied Psychology International Review, 46, 5-34.
[15]	Warkins, Eli and Phillip, Abby (2018). Trump decries immigrants from ‘shithole countries’ coming to US. CNN politics. https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/11/politics/immigrants-shithole-countries-trump/index.html
[16]	Howell, Jayne, Altamirano, Deborah, R., Totah, Faedah and Keles, Fethi (2018). Porous Borders, Invisible Boundaries? Ethnographic Perspectives on the Vicissitudes of Contemporary Migration. A Publication of the Committee on Refugees and Immigrants Society for Urban, National, and Transnational/Global Anthropology American Anthropological Association.
[17]	Haidt, Jonathan (2012). The Righteous Mind. Why good people are divided by politics and religion. Pinguin Books Ltd.
[18]	Pawlicka, Pauline, Kazmierczak, Maria and Jagiello-Rusilowski (2019). Empathy and social closeness toward refugees from Syria: The mediating role of cultural intelligence. Wiley Community Psychology. DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22169.
[19]	Benhabib, S. The End of the 1951 Refugee Convention? Dilemmas of Sovereignty, Territoriality, and Human Rights. Jus Cogens 2, 75–100 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42439-020-00022-1
[20]	Terry, Kyilah (2021). The EU-Türkiye Deal, Five Years on: A Frayed and Controversial but Enduring Blueprint. Migration Policy Institute. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/eu-Türkiye-deal-five-years-on
[21]	Stanicek, Branislav (2020). EU-Türkiye relations in light of the Syrian conflict and refugee crisis. EPRS \| European Parliamentary Research Service. PE 649.327 – March 2020.
[22]	Ozduzen, Ozge (2021). ‘Refugees are not welcome’: Digital racism, online place making and the evolving categorization of Syrians in Türkiye. new media & society. 2021, Vol. 23 (11) 3349–3369. DOI: 10.1177/1461444820956341.
[23]	Udah, Hyacinth and Singh, Parlo (2018). Ít still matters’: The role of skin colour in the everyday life and realities of black African migrants and refugees in Australia. Australasian Review of African Studies, 2018, 39 (2), 19-47. http://afsaap.org.au/ARAS/2018-volume-39/. https://doi.org/10.22160/22035184/ARAS-2018-39-2/19-47
[24]	Bajaj, Simar, S., and Stanford, Fatima, Cody (2022). The Ukrainian refugee crisis and the pathology of racism. BMJ 2022; 376: o661. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o661. Published: 11 March 2022.
[25]	Cook, Jonathan (2008). Disappearing Palestine. Israel’s experiments in human despair. Zed Books. London & New York. ISBN 978 1 84813 649 6.
[26]	Callamart, Agnès (2022). Israel's apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity. Amnesty International. Link: https://ap.lc/SsOns
[27]	Zhang, Sheldon X. and Ko-lin Chin (2002). The Social Organization of Chinese Human Smuggling-A Cross National Study. San Diego, CA: San Diego State University.
[28]	Nowrasteh, Alex (July 27, 2022). U.S. Labor Demand Explains Most of the Rise in Illegal Immigration. Cato at Liberty. Link: https://ap.lc/HJLdC
[29]	Mayard, Robyn (2019). Black Life and Death across the U.S. – Canadian Border. Border Violence, Black Fugitive Belonging, and a Turtle Island View of Black Liberation. Link: https://ap.lc/jUBe0

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Lora Benoit, Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz, Deena Mikbel. (2022). Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie. Humanities and Social Sciences, 10(5), 332-349. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Lora Benoit; Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz; Deena Mikbel. Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2022, 10(5), 332-349. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Lora Benoit, Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz, Deena Mikbel. Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie. Humanit Soc Sci. 2022;10(5):332-349. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19,
  author = {Lora Benoit and Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz and Deena Mikbel},
  title = {Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {10},
  number = {5},
  pages = {332-349},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20221005.19},
  abstract = {This article demonstrates that the Universal Human Right to asylum is not uniformly guaranteed to all asylum seekers pursuing refuge in Western countries. Specifically, many Western countries accept fewer asylum seekers than might be expected based on their population size. Moreover, there are a number of Western countries that demonstrate a clear bias against asylum seekers originating from Africa and the Middle East; people who are attempting to escape extremely dire circumstances. To arrive at these conclusions, a tripartite approach was implemented. First, elaborations were made on the existing theoretical foundations used by the West that frame the refugee as not "Our Kind of People" or "Our Kind of Color." Second, a mathematical assessment was applied to quantify the forcibly displaced persons from around the world using data extracted from the UNHCR that factually evidences this bias. Lastly, qualitative assessments were made that examined the policy and practices that govern the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in select Western countries, including Australia, Türkiye, Palestine, the European Union, Canada, and the United States. These three lines unequivocally demonstrate the influence of institutional racism on the mass migration of people seeking asylum in Western Countries.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie
AU  - Lora Benoit
AU  - Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz
AU  - Deena Mikbel
Y1  - 2022/10/30
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 332
EP  - 349
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19
AB  - This article demonstrates that the Universal Human Right to asylum is not uniformly guaranteed to all asylum seekers pursuing refuge in Western countries. Specifically, many Western countries accept fewer asylum seekers than might be expected based on their population size. Moreover, there are a number of Western countries that demonstrate a clear bias against asylum seekers originating from Africa and the Middle East; people who are attempting to escape extremely dire circumstances. To arrive at these conclusions, a tripartite approach was implemented. First, elaborations were made on the existing theoretical foundations used by the West that frame the refugee as not "Our Kind of People" or "Our Kind of Color." Second, a mathematical assessment was applied to quantify the forcibly displaced persons from around the world using data extracted from the UNHCR that factually evidences this bias. Lastly, qualitative assessments were made that examined the policy and practices that govern the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in select Western countries, including Australia, Türkiye, Palestine, the European Union, Canada, and the United States. These three lines unequivocally demonstrate the influence of institutional racism on the mass migration of people seeking asylum in Western Countries.
VL  - 10
IS  - 5
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Lora Benoit

Math, Sciences, and Engineering Division, Reedley College, State Center Community College District, Reedley, United States
Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz

Expats & Immigrants B. V., Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Deena Mikbel

Agriculture and Environmental Science, University of California, Davis, United States

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Lora Benoit, Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz, Deena Mikbel. (2022). Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie. Humanities and Social Sciences, 10(5), 332-349. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Lora Benoit; Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz; Deena Mikbel. Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2022, 10(5), 332-349. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Lora Benoit, Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz, Deena Mikbel. Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie. Humanit Soc Sci. 2022;10(5):332-349. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19,
  author = {Lora Benoit and Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz and Deena Mikbel},
  title = {Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie},
  journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
  volume = {10},
  number = {5},
  pages = {332-349},
  doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20221005.19},
  abstract = {This article demonstrates that the Universal Human Right to asylum is not uniformly guaranteed to all asylum seekers pursuing refuge in Western countries. Specifically, many Western countries accept fewer asylum seekers than might be expected based on their population size. Moreover, there are a number of Western countries that demonstrate a clear bias against asylum seekers originating from Africa and the Middle East; people who are attempting to escape extremely dire circumstances. To arrive at these conclusions, a tripartite approach was implemented. First, elaborations were made on the existing theoretical foundations used by the West that frame the refugee as not "Our Kind of People" or "Our Kind of Color." Second, a mathematical assessment was applied to quantify the forcibly displaced persons from around the world using data extracted from the UNHCR that factually evidences this bias. Lastly, qualitative assessments were made that examined the policy and practices that govern the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in select Western countries, including Australia, Türkiye, Palestine, the European Union, Canada, and the United States. These three lines unequivocally demonstrate the influence of institutional racism on the mass migration of people seeking asylum in Western Countries.},
 year = {2022}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Institutional Racism and Refugee Policies of the West: The Numbers Do Not Lie
AU  - Lora Benoit
AU  - Carl Hermann Dino Steinmetz
AU  - Deena Mikbel
Y1  - 2022/10/30
PY  - 2022
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19
DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19
T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
SP  - 332
EP  - 349
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2330-8184
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20221005.19
AB  - This article demonstrates that the Universal Human Right to asylum is not uniformly guaranteed to all asylum seekers pursuing refuge in Western countries. Specifically, many Western countries accept fewer asylum seekers than might be expected based on their population size. Moreover, there are a number of Western countries that demonstrate a clear bias against asylum seekers originating from Africa and the Middle East; people who are attempting to escape extremely dire circumstances. To arrive at these conclusions, a tripartite approach was implemented. First, elaborations were made on the existing theoretical foundations used by the West that frame the refugee as not "Our Kind of People" or "Our Kind of Color." Second, a mathematical assessment was applied to quantify the forcibly displaced persons from around the world using data extracted from the UNHCR that factually evidences this bias. Lastly, qualitative assessments were made that examined the policy and practices that govern the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in select Western countries, including Australia, Türkiye, Palestine, the European Union, Canada, and the United States. These three lines unequivocally demonstrate the influence of institutional racism on the mass migration of people seeking asylum in Western Countries.
VL  - 10
IS  - 5
ER  -

Copy | Download