From a Refugee Perspective: Discourse of Arabic Speaking and Afghan Refugees and Migrants on Social Media

"From a Refugees Perspective” is an attempt to provide a systematic analysis of the discourse among the persons of concern for the first time. From March to December 2016, a small team of researchers in UNHCR’s Communicating with Communities Unit monitored refugee and migration related exchanges among Arabic speakers and Afghans on social media and issued weekly reports which are summarized in this document, providing a longitudinal view of 10 months of observation.

In this study, refugees and asylum-seekers – usually the disempowered objects of asylum policy – are turned into individuals who have something to say for themselves and whose voices are heard.

The topics cover the refugees and migrants’ decision making processes and the interaction with smugglers prior to departure and all the way to the difficulties of reception and possibly integration in Europe.

The paper provides the reader with a better understanding of mixed migration flows, the practices of smugglers and traffickers, the situations refugees and migrants have to cope with, their needs – including information needs – and their emotions.