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Socio-legal status and experiences of forced labour among asylum seekers and refugees in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2020

Peter Dwyer ,
Stuart Hodkinson Open the ORCID record for Stuart Hodkinson [Opens in a new window] ,
Hannah Lewis  and
Louise Waite
Peter Dwyer*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York, York, UK
Stuart Hodkinson
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Hannah Lewis
Affiliation:
Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Louise Waite
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
*
*Corresponding author. Email: peter.dwyer@york.ac.uk
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Abstract

Socio-legal status determines the differential rights to residence, work and social welfare that accrue to migrants depending on their particular immigration status. This paper presents analysis of original empirical data generated in qualitative interviews with migrants who had both made a claim for asylum and experienced conditions of forced labour in the UK. Following an outline of the divergent socio-legal statuses assigned to individual migrants within the asylum system, early discussions in the paper offer a summary of key aspects and indicators of forced labour. Subsequent sections highlight the significance of socio-legal status in constructing such migrants as inherently vulnerable to severe exploitation. It is concluded that immigration policy and, more particularly, the differential socio-legal statuses that it structures at various stages of the asylum process, helps to create the conditions in which severe exploitation and forced labour are likely to flourish among asylum seekers and refugees in the UK.

Keywords

forced laboursocio-legal statusasylum seekersrefugees
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , October 2016 , pp. 182 - 198
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

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