A Review of Discrimination and Labeling of Refugees Using the Example of Syrian and Ukrainian Refugees

OpenAlex · Turkish

In the forced migration context, the term"refugee" is mostly related to negative issues because of the prior refugee crisis experiences and the frighteningly increasing numbers of displaced people around the world. Although the term "crisis" mostly evokes negative connotations, it still makes sense for unsolved events. The crisis of the refugees still awaits solutions and thereby demands responses. Furthermore, not every refugee receives the same response from their host community or enjoys the same rights as has recently been seen in the Syrian-Ukrainian refugee examples. Some of them are discriminated against in their race and ethnicity, are "unseen" in their host community, and cannot raise their voices as needed. In this sense, this study points out, in a descriptive way, how refugees are "labeled", and therefore, discriminated against and treated differently based on their race and ethnicity, taking out Syrian and Ukrainian refugees as an example. Accordingly, the main argument of the study is that policymakers, as well as refugee advocates, can somehow change the current ‘anti-refugee’ perception and execution of the law.