The Impact of UK Asylum Policy on Albanian Asylum-Seekers: Mental Health Challenges and Human Rights Protection

Recently, there has been a surge in the numbers of Albanians coming to the UK.

This has been accompanied by unprecedented hostile political and media rhetoric towards Albanian arrivals, along with UK legislation that labels Albania as a "safe country". These developments had damaging effects for the mental health of Albanian asylum-seekers.

This interdisciplinary research is the first comprehensive and original study to scrutinise the impact of UK asylum policy on the mental well-being and human rights protection of Albanian asylum-seekers.

The project uses qualitative participatory methodology, in line with a trauma-informed approach to research, to uncover, via interviews and focus groups, the lived experience of Albanians as part of their asylum journey.

Qualitative data will be collected from Albanian asylum-seekers, immigration lawyers, charities, social workers and mental health professionals.

By using the analytical lens of ecological systems, the project explores how/the extent to which legal, political and social factors, part of the UK asylum process, impinge on the mental health of asylum-seekers and how they build resilience/resistance to cope with these.

The research findings will inform the co-production (with asylum-seekers themselves) of policy and practice recommendations to improve the asylum experience of Albanian asylum-seekers in the UK.