Asylum Seekers - Challenges for Estonia in a Post-Modern Europe

The Illuka Refugee Centre is located in the Estonian forest near the Russian border. It is isolated and difficult to reach without personal transportation.

The Centre houses several asylum seekers, some of which were interviewed in this story. There were four young men chosen for this story, three of which were from Afghanistan and one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They described their experiences at the Centre, the difficulties they face residing there and their feelings of exclusion, but chose not to go into detail about their journey to Estonia or about their families.

All four of them assessed Estonian asylum policy and uninamously agreed that Estonia had to redevelop it, particularly now that they are a member of the European Union and will have to expect an increase in the number of immigrants to the country.

To read more of the Illuka Refugee Centre story.

This story is the last of three illustrative cases that are being published from the Estonian research context of EUMARGINS. 

By T. Sarin
Published Feb. 23, 2011 3:40 PM - Last modified Mar. 10, 2011 10:38 AM