Refugee Flows at Border Crossing Points: Legal, Social and Language Aspects

Abstract

Migration as a social phenomenon has always been a part of the world, but it has never reached such scope as in the recent years. Violent conflicts, instability, poverty and natural disasters force people to move in search of protection and better life. In 2017, about one million first instance decisions were issued in EU, most of which were asylum protection for Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis fleeing the war zones and hostilities. In Eastern Europe, the hotbed of tension is associated with Ukraine where the government is using military forces against split-away Donbass. Flows of refugees rushed to EU countries and Russia, which brought about numerous challenges and demanded huge political, organizational, humanitarian, financial and other strengths. The purpose of this research is to investigate limited aspects of refugee crises in Western and Eastern Europe on the example of France, the UK and Russia. Different reasons, character and forms of these mass movements of people are directly related to international legal protection rules. However, common legal basis has found national specific realization in terms of legal and language challenges in addressing the refugee crisis at crossing points and temporary settlement zones. Qualitative analysis of the research combines theoretical and empirical activities of three European countries in refugee settings and is supported by comparative and contrasting methods of analysis. Experiences studied in the article contribute to international practice of dealing with refugee flows in legal and language contexts.