Yumi So - Refugee Resettlement

Research Overview 

The aim of my research was to find out what Japan, which launched a refugee resettlement program in 2010, could learn from Australia’s long experience of resettling accepted refugees (as opposed to its harsh treatment of asylum seekers). During fieldwork in Sydney, I visited various organizations working with refugees such as Settlement Services International and Auburn Diversity Services. 

One interesting insight is the much higher level of collaboration between government and civil society in Australia, and the much greater role given to NGOs for resettlement of refugees. The Japanese government tries to provide most assistance for refugees by itself through the Refugee Headquarters (RHQ), but this is insufficient so actually other Japanese civil society organizations have to support refugees. The other Australian government, however, funds various organizations that provide resettlement support to refugees. This collaborative approach in Australia between the government and civil society seems to facilitate effective support for refugees.

It is very important to have support for newly arrived refugees in their first language until they can learn the language of the country they settle in. From this perspective, employing so-called “former refugees” at the refugee assisting organization seems effective as they are fluent in the language of their country of origin or ethnicity. Unlike Japan, many “former refugees” engage themselves in assisting refugees in Australia. Even though this is hard to achieve in Japan, where the number of migrants and refugees accepted is much lower, I think that Japan should also aim at this. Arranging and conducting interviews myself was challenging, but this kind of fieldwork research enabled me to understand the roles played by civil society organizations and “former refugees” in assisting refugees As well as gaining important information about Australia, I was able to share my knowledge about refugee resettlement in Japan, and thus to have interesting discussions with my interviewees. I hope to use this exchange of information to think about how Japan could establish a better resettlement program.