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Key dates
26 June
UN Charter Day
21 February
International Mother Language Day |
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49 Practical Activities and Methods for Human
Rights Education > The language barrier |
The language barrier
Can you answer these questions? Would your
asylum application be acceptable?
Themes |
Discrimination and Xenophobia,
Human Security, Education
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Complexity |
Level 2 |
Group size |
Any |
Time |
30 minutes |
Overview |
This is a simulation of the difficulties that refugees face
when applying for asylum. Issues raised include:
- The frustrations and emotional factors refugees have
to face
- Overcoming the language barrier
- Discrimination during the application procedure
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Related rights |
- The right to seek and enjoy asylum
- The right not to be discriminated against on the basis
of ethnicity or country of origin
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Objectives |
- To raise awareness about discrimination by immigration
authorities in relation to asylum applications
- To demonstrate the importance of both language and
intercultural education
- To develop empathy through being aware of the frustrations
refugees face when applying for asylum
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Materials |
- Copies of the "Asylum Application" handout,
one for each participant
- Pens, one per person
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Preparation |
- Arrange the room so you can sit behind a desk and role-play
the formality of a bureaucratic official.
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Instructions
- Let people arrive but do not greet anyone or acknowledge
their presence. Don't say anything about what is going to happen.
- Wait a few minutes after the scheduled start time and then
hand out the copies of the "Application for Asylum"
and the pens, one to each participant.
- Tell them that they have five minutes to complete the form,
but don't say anything else. Ignore all questions and protests.
If you have to communicate speak another language (or a made-up
language) and use gestures. Keep all communication to a minimum.
Remember that the refugees' problems are not your concern, your
job is only to hand out the forms and collect them in again!
- Greet any latecomers curtly (for example, "You are late.
Take this form and fill it in. You have only got a few minutes
left to do it.")
- When five minutes are up, collect the forms without smiling
or making any personal contact.
- Call a name from the completed forms and tell that person
to come forward. Look at the form and make up something about
how they have filled in the form, for instance, "you didn't
answer question 8" or "I see you answered 'no' to
question 6. Asylum denied." Tell the person to go away.
Do not enter into any discussion. Go straight on to call the
next person to come forward.
- Repeat this process several times. It is not necessary to
review all the applications, only continue for as long as necessary
for the participants to understand what is happening.
- Finally break out of your role and invite participants to
discuss what happened.
Debriefing and evaluation
Start by asking people how they felt during the activity and
then move on to discuss what happened and what they have learned.
- How did the participants feel when they were filling out
an unintelligible form?
- Was this a realistic simulation of an asylum-seeker's experience?
- Do you think that in your country asylum-seekers are treated
fairly during their application for asylum? Why? Why not?
- What could be the consequences for someone whose asylum application
is refused?
- Have the participants ever been in a situation where they
could not speak the language and were confronted by an official,
for instance, a police officer or a ticket-controller? How did
it feel?
Tips for facilitators
This is a fairly easy activity to facilitate: the main thing
required from you is to do be "strong" in your role
and you must be serious, tough and bureaucratic. The plight of
the refugees is not your concern; you are here to do your job!
The point is that many people do not want refugees in their country.
Immigration officers are under orders to screen the refugees and
to allow entry only to those who have identification papers and
who complete the application forms correctly. The refugees frequently
have a poor command of the other country's language and find it
very difficult to fill in the forms. Also, they are in a distressed
and emotional state. It is especially hard for them to understand
what is happening because their applications are frequently denied
and they do not understand the reasons.
Suggestions for follow up |
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If you want to look at the arguments
for accepting or denying refugees entry into a country, look at
the activity "Can I come in?".
You will find more ideas for activities about refugees on the
UNHCR website: www.unhcr.ch
You may like to ask the group about their own personal experiences
of discrimination because of language. One way to start off might
be to read out the critical incident about a foreigner who is
unable to defend himself during a police investigation in "Adaptation
– integration – tolerance…Examples from everyday
life" Alien 93 section C/15.
Perhaps you would like to go on to discuss stereotyping of,
and discrimination against refugees or others who are marginalised
in society. The activity, "What
do you see?" in the all different all equal education
pack looks at the use and misuse of images both to provoke and
to evoke emotive responses.
Ideas for action
The group could invite an immigration officer to come and talk
about the challenges of the job. Alternatively, arrange to visit
an immigration office and see how the procedure for application
for asylum works. Group members could also interview asylum-seekers
and immigration officers to find out their views on the situation
and to raise any issues about injustices and/or irregularities
of the procedure. The information could be used for refugee awareness
campaigns, or fed back to the immigration department or to organisations
such as the UNHCR.
Further information
Information and data about refugees can be found in the section
of further information with the activity "Can
I come in?". |
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