Life on hold

Monday 05 July 2010

- Asylum seekers waiting for a decision in their case describe the waiting as ‘directionless’. The time spent waiting is particularly challenging for young asylum seekers in a phase of defining their own identity, says Jan-Paul Brekke.

Brekke has studied asylum seekers’ experiences of waiting. His findings are published in a recent special issue of the German journal Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung on young refugees.

- The uncertain future of the asylum seekers cast a shadow over their present. One version of this was the challenge this represented to their identity. In order to know “who one is”, one needs to know “who one will be”, writes Brekke.

- The need to reduce the time spent waiting has been acknowledged by researchers and policy makers for years, with little impact on policies. It may be just as important to provide the asylum seekers with “way points” in their waiting period, says Brekke.

The analysis draws on interviews with young asylum seekers in Sweden. Brekke has previously published on the same topic in the report While we are waiting: Uncertainty and empowerment among asylum-seekers in Sweden.