Persuasive Report 2000 Words - Academic Writing

Student Name CUC100 Assessment 4

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Due to war, terrorism and environmental issues, the refugee flow in Europe has during the last

few years resulted in significant increased populations in the hosting countries. While many

countries have refused to accommodate refugees, Sweden on the other hand, has welcomed

these people in need with open arms, and in 2015 alone, almost 163 000 refugees sought

asylum in this northern country (Swedish Migration Agency, 2016a). This essay will discuss

the issues with accommodating large numbers of refugees, and how in order to ease the

pressure on all three pillars of sustainability due to high intake of refugees in Sweden, remote

areas must offer attainable opportunities and attract refugees. This is in order to create a more

equal distribution of resources and services. Firstly, a definition of sustainability and a

description of the issue will be provided, followed by the sustainability issues concerning the

environmental, social and economic pillar. Lastly, the possible outcomes for the issues

mentioned earlier in the essay will be discussed.

The word sustainability can be defined as processes and systems and their ability to continue

for a long time, and also, to be able to adapt to change and development (Robertson, 2014).

The three pillars of sustainability, or the triple bottom line, describes the underpinnings of

sustainability and how the environment, the economic and the social factors all need

addressing in order to reach a sustainable future. The increased populations that follow

refugee flows is a serious challenge for the hosting countries regarding sustainability and the

capacity to provide enough resources may not be possible if solutions are not found within the

near future (Robertson, 2014). In Sweden, where the accommodation of refugees is extreme at

the moment, all pillars of sustainability are being affected. However, if a comparison is made,

the economic pillar is probably the one in need of the most attention given that economic

benefits and welfare payments are costing Sweden substantial amounts of money and are

impacting on other factors (Swedish Government Office, 2015).

The high intake of refugees in Sweden has led to a significant increase in population and

especially in the bigger cities where most refugees prefer to settle in the wait for asylum

(UNHCR, 2013). The reason for this is reported by UNHCR (2013) to be the desire to be

close to already migrated family members and friends who are living in these cities, but also

the higher likehood of finding work and other services. As a result, already large and urban

cities become even more overcrowded followed by increased strains on resources (UNHCR,

2013).

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Research suggests that more people also means an increased demand of transport, housing,

water, waste management and electricity (Price & Feldmeyer, 2012; 2011;), all major

contributions to negative impact on the environment. On the other hand, the study by Price

and Feldmeyer (2012; 2011) proposes that immigration does not necessarily mean higher

pollution of the air, in contrast, many immigrants have a smaller ecological footprint and

therefore do not contribute as much to environmental harm as native citizens of well-

developed countries such as America and Sweden.

Arguably, the most significant threat to the environmental pillar due to refugee flows is the

fact that no decrease of these high flows is predicted in the near future. Both the Swedish

Migration Agency (2016b), as well as the Migration Policy Institute (2015), are forecasting an

increased stream of refugees to Sweden. According to UNHCR (2016), the reasons why

people have to leave their homes are greater than ever and Banulesco-Bogdan and Fratzke

(2015) report that little effort has been made in solving the situation in Syria, where most

refugees flee from. Furthermore, the refugees arriving in Sweden at this point often still have

families in the affected areas, waiting to join their family members in the hosting countries

when asylum has been granted (Banulesco-Bogdan & Fratzke, 2015). For these reasons, a

continuing increase of refugees seems possible and will remain to pressure the Swedish

systems.

From the point of view of the social pillar of sustainability, one of the more important social

issues with accommodating refugees is the possible loss of culture the host country might

experience due to a more multicultural society that develops from the increased population

(Traub, 2016). Sweden has always, and still is, striving for a multicultural society (Eastmond,

2011), however, studies have shown that many Swedish citizens hold negative attitudes

towards refugees and immigrants (UNHCR, 2013). The nationalist party Swedish Democrats

(SD) has gained more support than ever before during the crisis and many refugees are met

with discrimination and xenophobia (Traub, 2016). Additionally, Hjerm and Nagayoshi

(2011) discuss xenophobia in the aspect that the majority group sharing the same territory

may feel threatened by larger minority groups. The large amount of Muslim refugees now

living in Sweden often become the target for racist actions, such as burning of mosques

(BBC, 2015) and according to the earlier mentioned hypothesis, could possibly be caused by

fear of Islamic groups taking over the country.

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Another major social concern is, the often poor living conditions refugees experience,

especially during the time spent in temporary and short-term accommodation, which can

negatively affect both a person’s mental and physical health (UNHCR, 2013). According to

the United Nation Refugee Agency (2013) many refugees share houses with family and

friends because of Sweden’s shortage of housing, resulting in overcrowded apartments which

in turn can lead to compromised health.

The economic pillar is the one that has been affected the most by the increased population that

has occurred in Sweden. There is a reason why Sweden has become such a popular country

for refugees looking to resettle. The Swedish Government provide services and welfare

payments to people seeking asylum nearly equal to the Swedish citizens (Swedish

Government Office, 2015). According to the Swedish Government Office (2015) refugees

and asylum seekers are, besides a daily allowance, entitled to parental benefits, income

support and free health care. Education is also free of charge for everyone, from primary

school up to university level (UNHCR, 2013). Consequently, an addition of almost 165 000

people entitled of all these benefits puts substantial strains on the national economy and the

Swedish Migration Agency has estimated a need for 420 million Swedish crowns – almost 65

million Australian dollars- to cover its service costs in 2016 (Swedish Migration Office,

2016b). Moreover, the government reports that as a result of the high refugee influx the need

for more housing is both crucial and acute (Swedish Government Office, 2015) and the

building of these will add further costs to an already tight budget.

Lastly, there is a challenge in providing employment for the new immigrants so they can start

building a new life in Sweden (UNHCR, 2013). Lundborg (2013) points out how important

employment is for a successful integration in society, and how it positively affects language

skills, eases the understanding of Swedish culture and in establishing social networks, reduces

the economic challenges affecting the social pillar as well. An additional economic challenge,

is the fact that many refugees experience a long time of unemployment (Lundborg, 2013) and

therefore must rely on welfare payments and as a consequence the sustainability of the

economic pillar suffers even more.

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If the population of refugees were more equally distributed over Europe, the challenges with

accommodating such a big number of refugees would not be as acute and serious in Sweden.

Political decisions will decide the future for Sweden and continuing flow of refugees

(Swedish Migration Agency, 2016b) but until then the current tasks need to be addressed. The

fact that many refugees choose to settle in the large urban cities of Sweden has resulted in

negative effects on all three pillars.

A possible solution to this problem would be to encourage refugees to settle in more remote

and rural areas of Sweden. As seen in the Ames and Deloitte Access Economics report (2015)

about the Karen refugees settling in a rural town of Australia, the success is a fact. The

increased population that was a result of the influx of refugees, led to a boost for this small

town which had lately seen a decrease in both population and businesses. The report discusses

the positive chance for employment in smaller communities where jobs are available after

many young people have left for more urban cities, as well as the possibility of new and

additional jobs due to the increased demand of services that comes from the expanded

population. Moreover, accommodation is usually less expensive in remote towns and villages

and refugees can therefore afford a better standard of living than in big cities, and also,

because of the reclined population there is a larger availability of housing (Ames & Deloitte

Access Economics Report, 2015). Likewise, UNHCR (2013) also discuss the advantages of

encouraging resettlement in rural areas, such as the better possibilities of affording housing.

Although they discuss the possible lack of work, as seen in the report by Ames and Deloitte

(2015) earlier mentioned, a flow of refugees to a small town can actually instead create more

employment opportunities.

In the same way that encouraging refugees to choose remote cities over urban cities would

have positive opportunities for work and housing, other advantages with living in a smaller

town can be found to positively affect all three pillars of sustainability. From a social and

cultural point of view, living in a smaller community makes it easier for refugees and

immigrants to interact with local community members since everything is within a close

distance, and to create the important social networks that are necessary for the feeling of

inclusion and relatedness (UNHCR, 2013). Similarly, the sense of community is easier

developed in a smaller, remote community, where immigrants and locals work together

towards unified goals, and along the way enrich each other’s lives (Labrianidis & Sykas,

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2013). Furthermore, social groups as described in the report by UNHCR (2013) and

conversation clubs represented in the article by Sorgen (2015), are other ways of aiming to

interact local communities with refugees, and to reduce the prejudice and discrimination, as

well as facilitating a sense of belonging for refugees. Although initially there might be an

issue of small remote and normally mono-cultural communities being less tolerant of

“outsiders” from other ethnicities, research has shown with careful community governance

and liaison these problems can be avoided (Labrianidis & Sykas, 2013).

The Swedish Government Office (2015) is also suggesting several solutions to different

challenges caused by the refugee crisis. Firstly, the payments and benefits must be reduced to

cut down on the massive costs for refugee welfare. Secondly, the importance of the ability to

know the Swedish language is recognised, and suggestions to start language tuition, with

possible vocational training, should be started as soon as possible to help ease the search for

employment and integration with society (Swedish Government Office, 2015). The

government also says the shortage of housing could be addressed with temporary relaxations

on regulations concerning planning and building, however, this is yet a time-consuming

solution and may not solve the housing issue in the bigger cities where land shortage is a

problem.

In conclusion, Sweden faces many challenges in accommodating the large amount of refugees

who are seeking support and help. All three pillars of sustainability are clearly negatively

affected by the increased population, and effects can particularly be seen in the urban Swedish

cities. In other words, if refugees were encouraged to move to more remote places in Sweden,

many of the problems would not be as serious as they are today. However, while much

research points out the benefits with resettlement in rural areas, some also question the

possibilities for refugees to find work, but this could in turn be disproved in showing that an

increased population will create a demand for more services, leading to new jobs. While there

are clear positive and negative perceptions about the impact of refugees, nevertheless,

refugees will keep entering Sweden and the need for sustainable solutions is crucial to avoid a

national collapse. Encouraging refugees to settle in remote communities may be the most

viable solution to many of the sustainability issues raised by increased refugee flows.

2023 words

Student Name CUC100 Assessment 4

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References

Ames Deloitte Access Economics (2015). Small towns, big returns: Economic and social

impact of the Karen resettlement in Nhill. Retrieved from

http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/au/Documents/Economics/deloitte-au-

economics-small-towns-big-returns-nhill-resettlement-270415.pdf

Banulesco, N., & Fratzke, S (2015, September, 24). Europe’s migration crisis in context: Why

now and what next? Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from

http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/europe-migration-crisis-context-why-now-and-

what-next

BBC. (2015, January, 2) Sweden protest after three mosque fires in one week. BBC.

Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30658482

Eastmond, M. (2011) Egalitarian ambitions, constructions of difference: The paradoxes of

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295. doi: 10.1080/1369183X.2010.521323

Hjerm, M., & Nagayoshi, K (2011). The composition of the minority population as a threat:

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Labrianidis, L., & Sykas, T (2013). Social construction of community and immigration

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Lundborg, P (2013). Refugees’ employment integration in Sweden: Cultural distance and

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Student Name CUC100 Assessment 4

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Sorgen, A (2015). Integration through participation: The effects of participating in an English

conversation club on refugee and asylum seeker integration. Applied Linguistic

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