Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees
Projects
The Centre for Trauma, Asylum and Refugees is involved in several
international projects.
Enhancing Vulnerable Asylum Seekers’ Protection (EVASP)
The background of the project is based on the ‘Green
Paper on the Future of the Common European Asylum System’ (2007) that, inter
alia, asserted that ‘it is imperative to take account of the special needs of
vulnerable people’ as ‘it appears that serious inadequacies exist with regard to
the definitions and procedures applied by Member States for the identification
of more vulnerable asylum seekers and that Member States lack the necessary
resources, capacities and expertise to provide an appropriate response to such
needs’ (emphasis retained). The full report can be found on the
EVASP website.
Setting up psychosocial services in Yemen
CTAR was invited to assess and recommend steps to improve psychosocial
provision for refugees in Yemen on behalf of the United Nations and the Danish
Refugee Council.
CTAR was invited to undertake an assessment of the existing psychosocial
provision for refugees in Yemen and submit a report that would provide a
framework for establishing improved services; moreover, CTAR was asked to
oversee the implementation of such services as well as the ongoing supervision
and monitoring of them. The great majority of refugees in Yemen are Somalis who
cross either the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden. The existing services have gaps
and are overstretched. The United Nations (UNHCR) subcontracted the Danish
Refugee Council (DRC) to set up such services and they invited CTAR to undertake
this project. On the last day of his visit, Professor Papadopoulos presented (in
the UNHCR office in Aden) the preliminary findings and recommendations of the
CTAR report to DRC and staff from other involved agencies and it was very well
received. The intention is to develop a coherent strategy as well as concrete
measures to address the problem. An important element of this project is CTAR's
hallmark, i.e. the introduction of a therapeutic element in the work of staff
across various disciplines and services. Moreover, this training will be based
on Renos' 'Trauma Grid' that, whilst respecting the negative consequences of
trauma, also includes more positive responses, e.g. resilience and
Adversity-Activated Development.
Leonardo Da Vinci programme
CTAR works with five other European partners on the European Commission's
"Inter-Culture" module.
The phenomenon of immigration has been very common in the framework of the
European Union, but especially in the last two decades. Immigrants and/or
refugees have come to Europe from Asiatic countries and from Eastern Europe
countries, seeking a new way of living. The population movement to the inner
E.U. (increased with the enlargement of the Union) has already created several
problems for the European Union, mainly connected to xenophobia and racism. For
that reason the European Commission decided to fund a project under the
Leonardo Da Vinci
programme with the title “Material / Module for the training of specialized
Executives in the approach to problems of intercultural communication in the
field of local community (neighbourhood, municipality, prefecture)" shortened to
"Inter-Culture". CTAR was one of the six European partners that worked
intensively on this project over a period of four years and finally developed a
training module that will soon be made available on the internet.
Consulting at the Dadaab Refugee Camps in Eastern Kenya
CARE International invites CTAR twice to review, deliver training and make
recommendations on the psychological assistance that is offered to refugees in
these camps.
In 1991, following a huge influx of refugees from Somalia, as a result of the
civil war, the United Nations established, as a temporary measure, three refugee
camps in Eastern Kenya next to the village of Dadaab. The highest number of
refugees living in the camps reached 800,000 and now there are about 200,000. In
2007 CTAR was invited by CARE International (the main implementing partner of
the UN agencies that run the camps) to consult to the camp authorities focusing
on reviewing the psychological assistance that is offered to refugees, provide
suitable training to staff, and then submit a report with recommendations.
Following the report (Papadopoulos, Ljubinkovic and Warner, 2007), CTAR was
invited again in 2008 to review the recommendations, to offer further training
and consultation.
The
2007 report is available to read online. You can also read about
an incident
which occurred during the second visit.