Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe - Multiple Choices

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Refugees in Central and Eastern Europe
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quently they hide away from members of the problematic
groups with whom they have become involved, or they just
disappear. A weakened family looses its source of livelihood
and becomes an easy target for those elements in society
who take advantage of other’s misfortune. This can lead to
threats, intimidation, forced labour in order to pay outstanding
debts or sexual violence. It is no wonder women are
usually the initiators of migration; a family incurs a debt,
a customary law is breached (e.g. marriage with a foreigner),
or people with different sexual orientation are stigmatised.
It is important to take into consideration the circumstances
under which immigrants left their homes. Disintegration of
social structures effects families and forces their members,
who might become a target of dangerous activities, to
leave. They consider their departure as definitive because
their return would have fatal consequences. The door is
definitely closed and the hope that the situation would
improve is negligible.
Unsupported immigrants do not perceive their
strategy of settlement as a final anchorage; they know that
their idea of permanent haven is false, and might change
quickly. Whether they flee individually or disperse, they are
exposed to that permanent risk. They labour hard to avoid
such a risk. They have been thrown into the wider world
and so they temporarily use the asylum welfare network to
deal with the massive upheaval in their lives. This network
does not provide any solutions for them, because often the
life stories of the asylum seekers are so similar, consequently
it is difficult to prove the validity of their stories. The network
also fails to support those whose reasons to flee their
homeland do not fall under any article of the Geneva
Convention. The immigrants' strategies are escapist; each
settlement is considered as temporary. In addition, they
do not have relatives or friends in the country to help them.
A bad experience with the criminal world would force them
to avoid any more contact with this world, which appears
as treacherous and destructive. That is why they accept
temporary solutions and so initiate the asylum process.
When an entire family departs, it shrinks
traditional relationships into a nuclear space. Family
members choose one out of two strategies: either they
dissipate to various countries and maintain the prospect
of reunification while inquiring into and evaluating possibilities
of reunification; or they settle within one country and
come together through the asylum procedure either at the
same time or one-by-one. The choice of strategy is often
related to various circumstances. For instance a pregnant
daughter enters first, the mother follows and the son enters
last because he has been taking care of housing outside
the asylum centre. In doing so, the asylum claim can have
a different significance for each of them – health protection
for the daughter and her infant, safety for the mother and
legalisation of the stay and gaining of social contacts for
the son.
Asylum proceedings also provide an escape for
people with alternative sexual orientations if they are
experiencing negative consequences as a result of revealing
their sexuality. The great strategies are escapist, whilst the
small strategies reflect day-to-day life. With regards to
people with different sexual orientations, an asylum facility
either provides them with a hideaway from stigmatisation
or with the first opportunity to “come-out” freely. It is no
wonder that camouflage practices are notable parts of
escapist strategies. Their goals are to gain the protection
provided by the asylum facility's employees; by diminishing
contacts with other room-mates, concealing their stories
and, if necessary because of health reasons, avoiding new
sexual contacts. Tolerance and sympathy are expected
only outside the space where potentially endangering
countrymen are still to be found.
Asylum seekers devote their time of stay in
facilities to inquire about the possibilities the Czech Republic
has to offer. Costs and energy needed for domestication are
also estimated. The behaviour of asylum officials, shop
assistants or children going to school are generalised and
taken as a pattern of the whole society. Asylum seekers
consider what they can expect from society and to what
degree the majority's behavioural traits will impact upon
them. When taking into account their past experiences,
it is unsurprising that asylum seekers undertake these
evaluations.
CONCLUSION
It is obvious from the mentioned strategies that
the image of a passive refugee is not in accordance with
the complex reality. The strategies refer to a number of
experiences and desires which are typical for many asylum
seekers. Life goals are mostly situated outside asylum
facilities, nevertheless, they influence prospectors' actions
on the inside, suggesting that life goals may be of more
significance than the daily reality of survival. Prospectors
will undoubtedly remain set in their ways. This paper is
unlikely to change the procedures prospectors carry out
in order to select, explore or develop preferences. The vast
and complex processes involved in claiming asylum, such
as co-operation of various social partners, political influences,
the minimum standards of service provided, flexibility, the
extent of integration and the implementation of the Geneva
Convention all understandably lead to many dilemmas with
which the prospectors, as active participants in the asylum
procedures, have to cope.
Migration Processes in Central and Eastern Europe: Unpacking the Diversity