The global migration of today has a strong impact on the lives of young people and children. The number of young people in the world is higher than ever before in history, and the young generation is among the most active migrants – be it migration within a country or between countries or continents, forced or voluntary. More than 80 per cent of the 32 476 asylum seekers who arrived in Finland in 2015 were under 35 years of age according to the Finnish Immigration Service. The proportion of unaccompanied minors was around ten per cent (3024 persons).
Youth research and youth policy in a broader scale provide a fertile framework for examining migration and immigration. When examined within this framework, questions about the young people’s life courses and transitions, injustice between the generations, young people’s right to have a home and live in safety as well as their experiences of human dignity, belonging and participation are highlighted. Such perspectives have been overshadowed by the public debate on asylum issues, which is characterised by fears and confrontations. The young asylum seekers arriving in Finland have everyday experience of escaping, applying for asylum and building a new life from scratch. These issues are left in the margin also in the political and administrative debate.
The article collection 'Young people in reception centres' presents how the young people applying for asylum in Finland and the people working with them experience the first few months that follow a young person’s arrival in Finland. The authors cast light not only on the official status of young asylum seekers but also on their efforts to build up a new life in a foreign country, filled with new social relationships, lifestyles and obligations as well as with waiting, feeling of not belonging anywhere and insecurity about the future. This is a multivoiced collection of articles where the lives of young asylum seekers are analysed by both researchers and those working with the young people.
Behind the article collection lies a research and voluntary project carried out by the Finnish Youth Research Network in cooperation with Save the Children Finland and the Advisory Council for Youth Affairs. The research group of the project consists of Veronika Honkasalo, Karim Maiche, Henri Onodera, Marja Peltola and Leena Suurpää. The group took part in the activities of a housing unit for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers, located in the Helsinki capital region, between January and July 2016. They organised events such as excursions and open youth activities for the young people living in the unit. During the spring and summer, the housing unit in question accommodated around 40 young men aged between 16 and 17 who had arrived in Finland as asylum seekers. In addition to the fieldwork, the researchers interviewed around twenty young people living in the unit and employees working there.
In addition to the observations made by the research group of the Finnish Youth Research Network, the article collection includes analyses by researchers who have worked with young asylum seekers elsewhere in Finland and perspectives on the lives and status of minor asylum seekers provided by people working with asylum issues.
