Social trust among refugees: Using a human rights lens to understand refugee experiences
This chapter reframes refugee experiences in terms of human rights violations in order to situate the responsibility for change within the spheres of states and societies rather than on the shoulders of refugees themselves. It uses examples drawn from research with refugees and asylum seekers in the Global South: a phenomenological study of African refugees in Durban, South Africa and Global North: a community-based qualitative study on information seeking among Yazidi refugees and Turkish-speaking asylum seekers in Ontario, Canada to draw a fuller portrait of rights violations refugees experience both pre- and postmigration. Finally, the chapter draws inferences about the impact of these violations on generalized social trust and the implications for postmigration resettlement and the building of new lives in the host country. By focusing on refugee integration through the lens of human rights, the path to greater trust may be clearer for all.