The politics of protection regarding displacement from Ukraine – reflections from Finland

In Refugee Studies, the politics of protection is often problematized and critically discussed. In principle, all people fleeing should be treated in equal terms and all who need protection should be provided it. I like to discuss the politics of protection regarding the current conflict in Ukraine and people fleeing this war. I will introduce a few forms of the “politics of protection” that have become rather obvious in the recent weeks. First, the politics of statuses regarding temporary protection and asylum. Who is included in the temporary protection status and who is not? Do all who may qualify as refugees get asylum? Second, the politics of reception, namely the overwhelming willingness to assist Ukrainians but at the same not including other people fleeing Ukraine nor other asylum seekers in the different forms of assistance. Lastly, the politics of terminology. Whereas in the post-2015 media coverage, asylum seekers have been often labelled as (voluntary/economic) migrants, currently the term “refugee” is extended to people fleeing Ukraine despite the fact that most of them may not qualify as de jure refugees. I based my observations in the current situation in Finland.  

The event will be on zoom and fully virtual - Dr Lyytinen will be joining us from Finland.

Dr Lyytinen's bio is as follows:

Dr Eveliina Lyytinen is working as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Migration Institute of Finland under her Academy of Finland-funded project Action-oriented Research on Asylum Seekers’ Deportability (ARADE). She gained her DPhil degree at the University of Oxford in 2014. Her fields of expertise are Human Geography and Refugee Studies. Currently she is co-editing an anthology on deportations in Finland and co-leads a Finnish deportation scholars’ network. Dr. Lyytinen’s research and expertise cover a broad range of themes related to asylum seeking and exile. She has studied, among other things, the protection of urban refugees, the employment of young people with refugee background and the removal of asylum seekers. Dr. Lyytinen aligns to the principle that research in this area should seek to make legislation and politics more humane.