How long are refugees in camps for

Temporary facilities built to provide immediate protection and assistance to people forced to flee. Once a person becomes a refugee, they are likely to remain displaced for many years. It is a life in limbo. Refugee camps are temporary facilities built to provide immediate protection and assistance to people who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, persecution or violence.

While camps are not established to provide permanent solutions, they offer a safe haven for refugees and meet their most basic needs - such as food, water, shelter, medical treatment and other basic services - during emergencies. In situations of long-term displacement, the services provided in camps are expanded to include educational and livelihood opportunities as well as materials to build more permanent homes to help people rebuild their lives.

These services are also offered to host communities. The reality is that the majority of asylum seekers who have fled persecution will, by practical necessity, register with UNHCR for protection, assistance, and if necessary and if deemed eligible resettlement to another country. Though refugees may be assessed by UNHCR as eligible for resettlement, in reality they face a potentially indefinite waiting period for a resettlement country to offer them a resettlement place depending on the urgency of their individual needs.

This process has been likened to a hospital triage system in which needs are constantly reassessed in order to prioritise the most acute cases. Despite the iconic image of refugees living in white tents in a sprawling emergency camp, the reality is that over 60 per cent of the world's Refugee resettlement is a voluntary scheme coordinated by the UNHCR which facilitates burden and responsibility sharing amongst countries that are party to the Refugee Convention.

Significantly, UNHCR emphasises that resettlement should complement and not be a substitute for the provision of protection to persons who apply for asylum under the Convention for example, spontaneous arrivals such as asylum seekers arriving by boat.

As the following table indicates, the number of offshore refugee category visas granted since has varied greatly, the highest number being in the early s under the Fraser Government when Australia granted 20, visas mostly to Indochinese , and the lowest being 1, ten years later under the Hawke Government.

From onwards, the Government has slightly increased the annual quota of refugee visas to its current level of around 6, visas—where it has remained for the last ten years with one notable exception. The most dramatic increase was under the former Labor Government in when the number of offshore refugee visas granted doubled to over 12, in one year in response to the recommendation of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers.

It is relevant to note that family members included in the application of a refugee who has successfully applied for an offshore refugee visa subclass will generally also be granted the same visa. Australia has been involved in the UNHCR resettlement program since and has consistently ranked as one of the top three resettlement countries in the world. Permanent migrants enter Australia via one of two distinct programs—the Migration Program for skilled and family migrants or the Humanitarian Program for refugees and humanitarian entrants.

In fact, the number of visas currently allocated to UNHCR assisted refugees is the lowest percentage of the Migration Program for more than twenty years only 3. The following table compares the number of permanent visas granted to refugees resettled from overseas with UNHCR assistance with the number of permanent visas granted to migrants under the Migration Program over the last twenty years:. In early May each year, when announcing its annual Federal Budget, the Government traditionally reveals how many permanent visas will be granted in the forthcoming financial year under its Humanitarian Program.

However, at the end of , section 39A was inserted into the Migration Act Thus, the number of visas to be made available under the Humanitarian Program for the next three years to mid has already been revealed. In the financial year, the Government has maintained the annual intake quota under the Humanitarian Program at 13, places.

Places available to SHP visa entrants currently 5, should be distinguished from places allocated to refugees. The SHP visa is for people who are subject to substantial discrimination amounting to gross violation of human rights in their home country— not for refugees fleeing persecution for a Convention reason.

It might involve:. Visa applicants under the SHP must also be supported by a proposer an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, or an organisation that is based in Australia who is responsible for their settlement. This could include airfares for them to travel to Australia, providing accommodation upon arrival, assisting them to find permanent accommodation, and providing information and orientation assistance. The Government does not pay the travel costs for people who are granted an SHP visa.

Traditionally, most of the places available under the SHP are taken up by family members of refugees and humanitarian entrants already in Australia. The following table compares the number of visas granted to refugees resettled from overseas with UNHCR assistance with the number of visas that have been granted under the Humanitarian Program over the last 20 years:.

Successive governments have made ad-hoc announcements that specific groups of refugees are to be resettled to Australia. Often these announcements are in response to mounting public pressure for humanitarian intervention. In contrast, on 9 September , the Australian Government announced that it would make 12, visas available in response to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq.

While these places are in addition to the annual Humanitarian Programme intake currently 13, places , they are not technically an increase to the annual Humanitarian Programme. Rather, these additional 12, places are being offered under a parallel initiative to supplement the annual Humanitarian Programme quota.

The number of permanent visas available under the Migration Program for skilled and family migrants has been steadily increasing in recent years to , visas per annum. In contrast, the number of visas available under the Humanitarian Program has been maintained at a relatively steady number between 12, and 13, since The most significant departure from this trend was in — when the former Labor Government, acting on a recommendation of the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers, increased the Humanitarian Program to 20, visas with 12, being specifically allocated to the resettlement of overseas refugees.

In making this recommendation, the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers considered that there were a number benefits in increasing the Humanitarian Program:.

However, within six months of coming into power in , the current Coalition Government announced that, acting upon an election commitment, it had reduced the number of refugees that would be resettled in —14 from 12, to 7, Over the last few years, there have been consistent calls for the Humanitarian Program to be increased.

From the viewpoint of the host country, it requires willingness for communities to be welcoming and responsive to refugees and for public institutions to meet the needs of a diverse population. This study explores the quantitative relationship between the incidence of acute mental health crises and the length of stay in the camp.

A cross-sectional study was conducted using routinely collected data on consultations of different patients during 90 nights at an emergency clinic in Moria camp. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore whether the length of stay in the camp was predictive of the occurrence of an acute mental health crisis. This study offers quantitative support for the notion that the adverse conditions in Moria camp deteriorate the mental health of its inhabitants as suggested in qualitative research.

Although this study does not provide evidence of causality, it is likely that the poor and unsafe living conditions, challenging refugee determination procedures, and a lack of mental health services in the camp are significant contributing factors.

Peer Review reports. Over the last decade, millions of refugees have arrived in Europe, often by crossing the Mediterranean by boat or by traveling by land via Turkey, through Greece and the Balkans to Western Europe [ 1 ]. In efforts to reduce immigration through the EU border-states, EU member states implemented various measures, notably the closure of the Balkan routes and the implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement in March [ 3 ].

While immigration via Greece substantially decreased following the EU-Turkey agreement, the length of stay for a refugee at the Greek entry locations drastically increased due to a prolonged administrative process [ 1 ]. Upon arrival, refugees generally reside in camps, which, even though originally designed as short-stay provision, became long-stay facilities.

Some of these camps have detention-like characteristics and dire living conditions [ 4 ]. In accordance with the EU-Turkey deal containment policy, refugees are confined to the island on which they arrive until their asylum claims are adjudicated.

Those who are deemed vulnerable e. However, the lack of accommodation on the mainland and delays in the vulnerability assessment procedure leave thousands of eligible individuals and families trapped on the island [ 5 ].

The island of Lesbos or Lesvos was, and still is a key entry point in Greece for refugees [ 6 ]. Hence, Lesbos houses several refugee camps, one of them being Moria camp, which has been repeatedly reported for being overcrowded, unhygienic, and unsafe [ 7 , 8 , 9 ] despite EU funding and the efforts of privately-funded non-governmental organizations [ 10 , 11 ]. In Moria camp, few refugees feel safe and well-treated [ 13 ]. Psychological problems are omnipresent, and rates of attempted suicide are high [ 14 ].

Health care access is poor, especially for mental health care, and services are mostly provided by a changing group of medical volunteers [ 15 , 16 ].

Multiple aid organizations have raised concerns about what they describe as a mental health crisis [ 7 , 17 ]. They have pressed the EU member states and the Greek government to improve living conditions and decongest the island, arguing that the camp conditions negatively affect the mental health of its inhabitants [ 18 ]. The claim that the camp conditions like those in Moria adversely affect mental health has some empirical support.

It has been well established that, compared to the general population, the prevalence of mental health conditions in particular PTSD, anxiety, and depression is higher in refugees and other conflict-affected populations [ 19 ] due to pre-migration stressors [ 20 ].

However, a growing number of studies in recipient countries found that imposed conditions of adversity, including prolonged detention or living in institutional accommodation, uncertain residency status, challenging refugee determination procedures, restricted access to services, and a lack of opportunities to work or study, combined in a way that compounded the effects of past traumas in exacerbating symptoms of PTSD and depression in this population [ 21 , 22 ].

In a series of studies, Miller et al. In a study in two Rohingya refugee camps, it was found that, while PTSD symptoms were associated with both prior trauma exposure and environmental stressors problems with food, lack of freedom of movement, and concerns regarding safety , depression symptoms were associated with daily stressors only [ 26 ]. Studies that focus on the relation between the length of time spent in the asylum procedure be it in immigration detention, a refugee camp, or another institutional accommodation and mental health find a cumulative adverse effect [ 27 , 28 , 29 ].

In turn, release from detention or being granted a permanent visa improves mental health [ 30 , 31 ]. Two qualitative studies examining the link between Moria camp conditions and mental wellbeing both suggest that camp conditions lack of safety and proper living conditions, institutional abuse, slow and constantly changing asylum procedure, lack of mental health service provision, lack of functional and supportive networks lead to a deterioration in mental health [ 32 , 33 ].

This effect, however, has never been quantified. This study aims to establish the relationship between the length of stay in Moria camp and mental health by using quantitative data provided by Moria Medical Support MMS , a Dutch-registered medical NGO. As expected, working conditions were challenging because of limited resources and a lack of safety. See Table 1. We hypothesized that given the prevailing stressors lack of safety, challenges in access to water, food, shelter, and healthcare, inability to produce income, lack of supportive networks, institutional abuse, and uncertainty regarding the length of the asylum procedure , a longer length of stay in the camp would negatively impact mental health.

Restricted by the nature of clinical activities at the MMS clinic and the healthcare situation in the camp, we focused on the relationship between length of stay and the incidence of acute mental health crises rather than mental health conditions in general. This will further be clarified in the Methods section. Data used for this study were collected over this period. During this period, the camp population size fluctuated between and people [ 34 ]. An anonymized database was provided by MMS, comprising the routinely collected information on clinical consultations with unique visitors on 90 different days.

For some patients, relevant data were missing, meaning that the final sample comprised consultations from unique patients. Categorization of raw medical data was done in retrospect by the first author of this article.

Footnote 1. In this cross-sectional study, in addition to descriptive analysis, logistic regression analysis was performed using the length of time in the camp in days as an input variable, together with age in years , gender dichotomous variable, one if male , and country of origin as possible confounders.

Demographic age and gender and displacement characteristics country of origin were described, as well as a general overview of the mental health consultations. The analysis considered the average, minimum, and maximum for continuous variables age and length of stay and the percentage distribution for categorical variables country of origin and causes of consultation.

Trying to understand the importance of each of our demographic characteristics, in our first set of regressions, we conducted a bivariate analysis, including each of these variables independently. We then regressed our displacement characteristics, a set of dummies for the country of origin.

Footnote 2. It can be seen as the manifestation of an exacerbated mental health condition or of the sudden collapse of an unstable psychological balance. The focus on the relationship between the length of stay and the incidence of acute mental health crises rather than on mental health conditions in general has two main reasons.

First: the number of mental health conditions identified at the MMS clinic could not be expected to be indicative of the incidence of mental health conditions in the camp population for various reasons. Help-seeking behavior depended on many factors such as demographic variables like gender and age [ 40 ], on cultural background [ 41 ], and on safety as experienced during the nightly opening hours of the clinic.

Patients who were not in crisis were sensitized to visit psychosocial programs by other NGOs during the daytime. As a result, non-urgent patients might not have been inclined to revisit the clinic unless they were close to being in crisis. A second reason to focus on mental health crises as the dependent variable was the fact that few of the volunteer medical staff at the MMS clinic were qualified in psychiatric diagnosing and even if they were, there was simply no time for a comprehensive assessment.

In addition, using acute mental health crises as the dependent variable comes with advantages. A total of individuals presented with mental health problems. Some individuals presented more than once with mental health problems, whether or not acute.

There was no significant difference between included and excluded consultations in terms of incidence of acute mental health crises. Table 4 presents the results of a logistic regression analysis we performed with each of our demographic and displacement characteristics independently, showing that the male gender is significantly associated with increased odds of acute mental health crises, whereas age does not seem to increase these significantly. The last column shows that refugees from DRC are less likely to suffer acute mental health crises, with the opposite being true for those from Iran, Iraq and Syria.

In Table 5 , the multivariate analysis includes all of our demographic and displacement characteristics. The results are consistent with the univariate analysis. There are still decreased odds with DRC as a country of origin and increased odds with Iran, Iraq, and Syria as the country of origin. The factor of gender lost its significance, and age is still not significantly associated with the odds of an acute mental health crisis. This cross-sectional study among refugees in Moria camp on Lesbos, Greece, examined the incidence of acute mental health crises and their relationship with the length of stay in the camp.

The data used were collected from consultations during 90 nights at an emergency night clinic in the camp. We failed to find a significant association between acute mental health crises and age You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Search Search for:. Photos of refugee camps always look like this: the subject of a future post Seventeen years: the average length of stay in a refugee camp.

Here are a selection of international sources quoting this figure, which I turned up with a bit of cursory googling in English and an even briefer bit in French: A article on TakePart. The info page for the Ideas Box , a Libraries Without Borders initiative and toolkit for providing education in refugee camps.

A Radio France news article about the above, including an interview with the designer, Philippe Starck yup, that Philippe Starck. At all. It states the situation in Click images for source. Share this: Twitter Facebook. Like this: Like Loading Previous Article Streamline Moderne. Next Article Women, children, and baby dragons first. Many thanks for your comment, Emily. This is a great study!