Be Relevant to Intercultural Diversity Generation in Europe Integration Team 510101-LLP-1-2010-1-IT-GRUNDTVIG-GMP
Intercultural communication in a Dutch refugee centre Interactions between a professional and a migrant Hilde van Schaeren and Katharina Kucher
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Intercultural communication in a Dutch refugee centre Interactions between a professional and a migrant Hilde van Schaeren and Katharina Kucher This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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In the Netherlands refugees and asylum seekers experience in the Dutch Central Agencies for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (AZC) one of their first experiences with institutional bureaucracy. In these centres international cultural interactions take place between authorities and immigrants. This means that these interactions are connected with power, politics and policies, hierarchies, departments, territories, traditions , role and status differences (Holliday, Hyde & Kullman, 2010, p.231). Professionals in these AZC centres are employed by the Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) which is responsible for reception, supervision and departure (from the reception location) of refugees and asylum seekers coming to the Netherlands. COA is an independent administrative body which works (2010‐2011) under the political responsibility of the Minister for Immigration and Integration and Asylum of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Regulations. COA gives account for its operations to the Ministry (www.coa.nl/en/about‐coa). One of these AZCs is an associated partner in BRIDGE‐IT. This centre, located in Sweikhuizen (Netherlands), is actually one of the first Dutch centres who had to close their doors in 2012 (Invulling Krimp en Taakstelling, COA, 21 September 2011). A reorganization policy at national level combined by a reduction of immigrants led to this closure. In this centre three Social Work students (two of them were themselves once refugees; see BRIDGE‐IT Newsletter 3 and 4) finalized in June 2011 their BA thesis graduation research. In order to get an impression of the atmosphere in the centre, these three students researchers organized two focus group meetings with refugees and asylum seekers (20 participants) (Hendrix, 2011 in BRIDGE‐IT newsletter 3), they examined real life interactions at the counter of the centre, they recorded interactions with phone interpreters, migrants and professionals and they interviewed COA professionals and a nurse. Between October 2010 and April 2011 these students worked in the centre. They recorded fully five interactions, wrote them out using the SPICES guidelines for sociolinguistic transcriptions (Klein, 2007) and made an intercultural communication analysis based upon the TOPOI model of Edwin Hoffman (2009). This article reflects some of their outcomes. The focus is put on interactions between a COA professional, a phone interpreter and an adult migrant, when a temporary permit for staying is given and the migrant has to prepare departure from the AZC. It has the objective to give insight in intercultural communication bias in an institutional bureaucratic environment.
An insight into life and work in the centre Meanwhile the workload in the centre is high, there lived many people (approximately 2001 clients) and resources and staff (7) were limited. Students met professionals who showed insight in diverse cultural orientations and could cope with differing values and norms. Students described professionals with empathic, friendly behaviour towards their clients. It all seemed to be the best practice! The procedures and regulations, however, are for both sides demanding. The COA professionals are responsible for the daily life in the centre, they assist clients in their process and they facilitate meetings 1
The amount of clients changed due to the departure of asylum seekers and refugees because the forthcoming closure of this AZC Sweikhuizen in 2012.
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with authorities as the Immigration and Naturalization service (IND) and foreign police, but also with employees of municipalities, medical care services and volunteers. At work COA professionals meet refugees and asylum seekers who possibly survived dreadful situations. It is obvious that being in a refugee centre is an unfamiliar situation for both sides. Migrants are extremely vulnerable because their uncertain future perspectives. At the moment of their staying in the centre they are not allowed to participate fully in society. Some are extreme powerless because of the lack of a legal status. Asylum seekers and refugees are longstanding the asking party, some of them are victim of trauma (in their home country/during their flight and possibly even during and after their staying in the centre). Even the fact not being welcome in the new arriving country must be stressful. Professionals in the centre are expected to have insight in procedures and ever changing legislation, regulations and rules. Besides this a professional should have excellent communicative skills, psychological insight in trauma and PTTS, in acculturalization problems, in working mechanisms of exclusion and poverty in order to be able to understand the perspective of their clients. In August 2011 an asylum seeker set himself on fire in a neighbouring AZC centre at Echt (Stichtingsraad omroep Limburg, L1, 2nd August 2011) after a meeting with the immigration service (IND). This authority comes to the centre to talk with the asylum seekers and refugees. The procedure of asylum includes in the Netherlands “discouraging conversations” with Immigration officers. Although at that given moment a decision about the possibility of a legal entrée was still not taken, procedures determine that at the entrée process asylum seekers are to be informed about the possibility that immigration refusal is an option.
Differences in cultural practices Asylum seekers and refugees have two options, staying or leaving. If they choice for leaving it is obvious that they must be able to return to their country of origin or to another one, in the other case they must obtain a temporary permit (or life illegally in the country). Once they get a temporary permit, they must be able to adapt themselves quickly to the new environment, this is especially difficult if a migrant is illiterate, or has limited or no experience with technocratic organized societies. Western norms and values and cultural bound practices are experienced as “neutral” and “ normal” by dominant layers of society (Wekker, 2002). Many problems the students saw in the centre were related to being on time at appointments. In the Netherlands people have to be on time when asking a service. This is probably due to the Dutch policy of client related financing of care and services. Also in daily life refugees and asylum seekers, even if they just came over from rural, poor and undeveloped area they are expected to be able to plan their appointments and income. At the very start they get a card on which they can note their appointments. They also get a money card (kind of bankcard). They must be able to buy tickets for public transport in automats in railway stations to travel alone to their appointments. In the Netherlands public transport is also cheaper if you can use digital travel cards (OV‐card/travel card). The use of internet is recommended if you want services at governmental or semi governmental level. At the municipality you will get written instruction to login with a personal digital code (DiGid) which gives entrée to a lot of services. Health service requests to arrange a health insurance. Much information is available on internet. Digital forms are to be filled in and sent by electronic mail. Once in the possession of a temporary permit for staying, migrants are obliged to learn Dutch to integrate into society. They can apply for favourable loans to finance these L2 course. For many immigrants these demands are a real challenge. In the Schaeren, van & Kucher
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Netherlands an organization as the Dutch Council for Refugees (an NGO ) assists migrants to cope with these difficulties. About 7000 volunteers and 500 staff members throughout the Netherlands help them with their integration process (www.vluchtelingenwerk.nl). They work in close cooperation with IND, AZCs, COA and municipalities.
The bias in intercultural communication – four examples In the centre in Sweikhuizen student researchers detected bias in intercultural communication at three levels: the linguistic/conceptual/, order/relational and organizational/procedural level (Hoffman, 2009). At relational level the unbalance in power and the dominant representation of professionals is obvious. Professionals were certainly willing to help their clients and their approach was very friendly, but it stays questionable how migrants perceive COA professionals who represent Dutch government. Here below we present extracts of the interactions out of the bachelor thesis (translated from Dutch into English for the purpose of this article). These extracts reflect relational, organizational and linguistic bias. Extract 12: location: AZC Sweikhuizen/NL ‐ Date: 2011/Transcriptions: SPICES guidelines, Klein (2007). Context: A female asylum seekers is invited for a meeting with a COA professional to discuss procedures to leave the centre. The migrant received a temporary permit for staying. A phone interpreter is invited to translate the conversation. The professional speaks Dutch; the phone interpreter translates from Dutch into Russian and vice versa. The migrant speaks Russian, she comes originally from Kirgizstan. ACM AM : NOT UNDERSTANDABLE ACM AM yes/ ACM yes\ AM I*uh* also read* in russian\ ACM AM ACM
What's the case? A female migrant got her temporary permit for staying and has to leave the centre. The factor of power is reflected in the utterance of the professional: “We know to find people”. The 2 Extract 1, 2, 3 and 4: fragments out of bachelor thesis of Marlot Horbach, Social Work Zuyd university of applied sciences (NL), 2011: interaction between asylum seeker (AM) and professional in AZC Sweikhuizen (ACM).
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professional will come over to the migrant’s room, if the migrant does not show up at the appointment. Cultural differences in time orientation can be found in the request to appear on time at the appointment. In the transcriptions we frequently noticed a humming “mmm” reaction of the migrant and a lack of an assertive verbal response (in contrast to what is seen as normal in the Netherlands). This makes us presume that despite the helpful and friendly behaviour of the professionals, the institutional bureaucratic environment of the refugee centre and the COA representation of the professional played a decisive role in the attitude of the migrant. It could be interesting to investigate how both sides COA professionals and migrants perceive this aspect. In another example, a female East African refugee tried to formulate her question in English. It happened before the official audio recording started. The professionals said: “Say it in Dutch!” – from the perspective of the refugee, it was extremely difficult to formulate her question in Dutch (third language?), from the perspective of the professional, a migrant should speak Dutch, this is imposed by the Dutch government. In the given example, the women had just got her temporary permit to stay in the Netherlands. Professionals have to follow procedures, but these procedures have always to be examined critically. In the below following interaction linguistic concepts for living accommodation is discussed. Extract 2: Bias on linguistic level. ACM the concept housing* is a term for different kind of houses* ACM dat kan zijn een eensgezinswoning, een portiekwoning, of een tweekamerappartement (translated into English) ACM this can be a single family house, a flat with a shared stairway, or a flat with two rooms ACM interpreter (describes this concept in Russian) AM mmm
In extract 2 the interpreter needed a long time to translate typical Dutch concepts for housing (portiekflat/eensgezinswoning). There were no synonyms available in the target language. The asylum seeker said ”mm”, the professional did not check if the migrant understood the message. If a migrant is not in the position to participate in society, it is impossible that realities, linguistic concepts which are only relevant in the new arriving country are fully understood. Therefore the use of linguistic concepts which are only relevant in one context (here Dutch one), must be avoided. I cannot imagine that employees, who are composing these letters, do realize how difficult it is for phone interpreters to translate the content of these letters correctly. Procedures can help to maintain justice, but they can also provoke exclusion. In the following example (extract 3) the Dutch value to take self responsibility and to be active is communicated to the migrant. To take self responsibility and take an active attitude is a Dutch value. It appears that the migrant does not fully understand what is asked for, and the professional seems not to see what the problem is. When explanation is asked by the migrant, the professional repeats only the Schaeren, van & Kucher
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sentence. In the last example (extract 4) the risk to use the COA internet code is explained to the migrant. This message is inconsistent to the former message which stimulates the migrant to act independently. Extract 3: bias on procedural level related to the Dutch value of self responsibility. 7
ACM AM ACM AM mmm
Extract 4: bias on procedural level related to financial risks. ACM yeah** anyway I will have it in my computer* when we uh* end this conversation* I will put all this in the computer and then it can be that the code comes very fast* if it succeeds today* we both can see together how it works * uh* through internet uh* to look at housing AM mmm ACM uh* I want to mention about this code* do nOt just use it\* let someone first* uh uh uh* help * you* I prefer to do it myself but perhaps there is if it succeeds not today * a colleague who can do it* because if the code will be used uh* and** you accidentally press a key on an accommodation and uh* then it is a sign for the COA that you accepts the living accommodation or that you would have the living accommodation * and then you have to take it so if you respond to the supply model from the computer you are also required to take the living accommodation upon which you have responded
… ACM ACM ACM ACM Interpreter ACM ACM ACM Interpreter yes
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ACM
Dutch procedure requests that letters, before they are undersigned, are to be read aloud and translated into the language of the migrant if the migrant is illiterate or does not understand Dutch. This is certainly a good practice. Also, if a person does not understand the language, a phone interpreter is invited to translate the latter. Both are examples of good procedural practices. The problem was underneath, the letter contained linguistic concepts and values which are realities and relevant within Dutch context and culture. If you want to avoid exclusion and you want to safeguard rightness in the procedures, this is a point for improvement. The procedural rule was read aloud in which was explained that migrants were allowed to make their own choices for housing (using a special code at the COA internet website) but if they want to undo a previous choice, COA has to start a procedure where their legal department must decide whether they agree or disagree with the migrant’s argumentation. If they do not agree with it, the migrant must pay up to 2000 euro to undo his/her previous choice. These financial implication are possible justifiable if taken into account that in the Netherlands there are long waiting list (also for Dutch residents) for social (economic affordable) living accommodation, but it is difficult understandable from the perspective of the asylum seeker, especially if financial means are limited.
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Conclusion After the students had finalized their bachelor thesis, national Dutch media reported that the general manager of all the Dutch centres was temporary fired. National media communicated a negative climate on the work floor (NRC, NOS, 18 September 2011). During their research assignment no negative climate on the work floor of this AZC centre was reported to the students by the professionals, nor noticed by the student researchers. They, however, were aware of a negative discourse in society about non western immigration. And they realized that COA professionals represent the government and that in institutional bureaucratic environments as AZCs an unbalance of power is certainly present. If COA professionals follow strictly the given procedures, no explanation has to be given about possible alternatives to avoid these risks. A motivated professional however, as we saw in the centre, is willing to help and is certainly able to reduce bias in intercultural communication. It is recommendable that procedures and letters take intercultural differences into consideration. It needs critical reflection about each step of the procedure and the interaction. Is the forwarded information clear? Can the migrant understand the message? Is there enough attention for cultural differences and value orientations? The answer to these questions are possible subject for a next research. The given examples show the complexity of the work of the COA employee. We underline explicitly that the human factor (friendly helpful approach as we saw in the centre) is most important. Thanks to all the refugees and asylum seekers and the professionals of the AZC in Sweikhuizen, who cooperated intensively in this EU BRIDGE‐IT project. We hope being able to contribute to improve intercultural communication in bureaucratic institutions, especially when vulnerable people meet authorities and when good practices still can be improved.
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Literature BRIDGE‐IT http://bridge‐it.communicationproject.eu/ consulted 16th October 2012. COA a.: Central Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (COA) (www.coa.nl/en/about‐coa) consulted 16th October 2012. COA b.: Invulling krimp en taakstelling COA gedeeld. 21 September 2011. www.coa/nl/nieuws/invulling‐ krimp‐en‐taakstelling‐coa‐gedeeld consulted 16th October 2012. DiGid: https://www.digid.nl/index.php?id=1&L=1 consulted 16th October 2012. Dutch council for Refugees in the Netherlands – (www.vluchtelingenwerk.nl/english/english.php) 16th October 2012.
Vluchtelingenwerk
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Hendrix, Ankie (2011). In Newsletter 3 BRIDGE‐IT. http://bridge‐it.communicationproject.eu/Newsletters‐ 2.htm consulted 16th October 2012. Holliday, A. Hyde, M. & Kullman, J. (2010).2nd Ed. Intercultural Communication. An advanced resource book for students. London and New York: Routledge. Hoffman, E. (2009). Interculturele gespreksvoering. Theorie en praktijk van het TOPOI model. Bohn Stafleu en van Loghum. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (IND) http://english.ind.nl/ consulted 16th October 2012. Klein, G.B. ed. (2007). SPICES GUIDELINES. A training methodology for intercultural communication in institutional settings. Perugia: Key & Key Communications (with contributions by Gabriella B. Klein, Sandro Caruana, Koffi M. Dossou, David Lasagabaster, Galya Mateva, Nataša Pirih Svetina, Johannes Schwitalla). Stichtingsraad Omroep Limburg L1 news: http://www.l1.nl/nieuws/asielzoeker‐steekt‐zichzelf‐brand‐echt consulted 16th October 2012. NOS, 18th September 2011 http://nos.nl/artikel/273814‐coabaas‐albayrak‐herkent‐kritiek‐niet.html consulted 16th October 2012. NRC, 18th September 2011 http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2011/09/18/coa‐personeel‐luidt‐noodklok‐over‐ bedrijfscultuur/ consulted 16th October 2012. Wekker, G. (2002). Nesten bouwen op een winderige plek. Denken over gender en etniciteit in Nederland. In: Tijdschrift voor genderstudies, ISSN 1388‐3186. Vol. 5 (2002), afl. 3 pp.24‐33.
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