Abstract
This chapter discusses how and at what costs the Danish governments since the 2015 “refugee crisis” (2015) have managed the inclusion of refugees in the labor market and celebrated it as successful integration. However, refugees have become a cheap labor reserve for private companies and fear that they might risk being deported to Afghanistan if they do not fulfill the integration program. Drawing on a qualitative research and presenting an emic perspective, we explore how the different internship programs are experienced among recently arrived Afghan refugees. This chapter contends that the statistical representation of successful integration in the Danish labor market is a simplified representation of complicated realities. Further, it may be counterproductive and create a new precarious subclass of insecure, underpaid workers with constrained mobility.
Keywords
- Precarity, Inclusion, Integration, Afghans, Refugees, Denmark
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Notes
- 1.
This agreement states that a job is the key to integration, making it essential to introduce refugees to the labor market so they become a resource instead of a burden upon society. (See http://www.stm.dk/_p_14312.html; https://www.kl.dk/kommunale-opgaver/integration/politiske-aftaler/)
- 2.
The numbers refer to refugees between ages 21 and 64. The 43% covers both “real” jobs and jobs subsided by the welfare state. https://integrationsbarometer.dk/aktuelt/7
- 3.
The data was collected as part of an interdisciplinary research project in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark exploring the opportunities available for recently arrived Afghans (see https://snis.ch/project/engendering-migration-development-and-belonging-the-experiences-of-recently-arrived-afghans-in-europe/). We thank the editors and our colleagues Zachary Whyte, Anja Simonsen, Michala Clante Bendixen, Martin Lemberg-Pedersen, Nicholas Van Hear, Carolin Fischer, Anna Wyzz and Esra Kaytaz for reading and commenting upon the chapter. Earlier versions were presented in the conference “Exploring Dimensions of Afghan Migration to Europe: Experiences, Discourse and Politics” at Moesgaard Museum, Aarhus University, in February 2019, and at the annual IMISCO-conference in Malmö, June 2019.
- 4.
Interviews were conducted by Narges Ghandchi in different regions of Denmark. Interviewees were informed of the study objects as well as of their rights to participate, be anonymized, leave uninterested questions unanswered, and withdraw their consents during and/or after the interviews.
- 5.
In 2015, Denmark started deporting rejected asylum seekers from Afghanistan. In 2015, 56 individuals returned voluntarily while 34 were deported. In 2016, 36 individuals returned voluntarily while 16 were deported. In 2017, 147 individuals returned voluntarily and 14 were deported (see https://www.ecre.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Returns-Case-Study-on-Afghanistan.pdf.; NOAS 2018).
- 6.
- 7.
- 8.
- 9.
Generally, the minimum wages are negotiated every second or third year between the Confederation of Danish Employers and the Unions. This arrangement is often referred to as “The Danish Model.” Normally the Unions will protect the minimum wages, but the Unions are now happy to compromise in this area to help refugees gain a foothold on the labor market.
- 10.
The current Danish integration program is also part of a broader policy of deterrence at the state level. In 2015, Inger Støjberg, Minister for Foreigners and Integration, representing the Liberal Party (V), published commercials in Arabic in Lebanese newspapers to inform potential asylum seekers about the new strict rules and the reduction in state benefits in Denmark. See https://www.altinget.dk/artikel/stoejbergs-flygtninge-annoncer-indrykket-i-libanon
- 11.
The Danish involvement in Afghanistan since 2002 has ranged from military engagement and the training of Afghan national and security forces to the development of infrastructural projects and demining programs, social contributions like support for democracy and civil society, economic growth and employment, the settlement and protection of returnees and internally displaced refugees, and good governance. More recently, an anti-corruption program has also been introduced (openaid.um.dk, fmn.dk). According to the Danish Armed Forces, 9500 Danes had been deployed in Afghanistan by the time Denmark withdrew in 2014 with 43 Danish soldiers losing their lives in this period (Jessen and Fenger-Grøndahl 2013).
- 12.
- 13.
See “Danmark i strid med Afghanistan om afviste flygtninge” (Berlingske Tidende, Ole Damkjær, 20. March, 2015) and “Rejse ind i natten” (Information, Carsten Jensen, 20. October, 2016).
- 14.
Amnesty International, Afghanistan: “Forced back to danger” Asylum-seekers returned from Europe to Afghanistan, October 2017 (p. 41).
- 15.
- 16.
Trampoline House is a volunteer-based community center where refugees, asylum seekers and other citizens meet, network and participate in social and cultural activities. (https://www.trampolinehouse.dk/press-and-videos/)
- 17.
A grassroots organization set up to assist refugees to network and give them opportunities for life, work and social engagement (the actual name has been anonymized).
- 18.
It is legal caseworkers in Udlændingestyrelsen that, based on criteria defined by the Folketing (Parliament), assess every single case and decide whether a refugee’s residency permit should be extended or terminated.
- 19.
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Rytter, M., Ghandchi, N. (2020). Workers for Free: Precarious Inclusion and Extended Uncertainty Among Afghan Refugees in Denmark. In: McKowen, K., Borneman, J. (eds) Digesting Difference . Global Diversities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49598-5_9
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