Navigation guide Refugee populations in the UK: Algerians - ICAR

ut had not been prepared to follow some of the orders he received and had to leave the country.
In England, he found that he had little chance of working as a doctor:
‘Every day on the television I see “shortage of doctors, shortage of doctors” and I want to work, but they
won’t have me, I can’t work in this country. [….] I’m not going to sweep or stack shelves.’ 95
• The World University Service and the British Medical Association are addressing the concerns
around the qualifications of doctors but these are obviously issues that need much wider
consideration if the skills of refugee populations, such as Algerians, are not to be wasted.
• The issue of employment for undocumented migrants or those whose asylum claim has been
rejected is linked to a much larger set of issues that are beyond the scope of this guide.
Isolation
• The uncertainty of the conflict has undermined Algerians’ trust in each other and left many feeling
extremely isolated. 96
• Few of them have established the solidarity networks that exist within more established refugee
populations.
• The fact that such a large proportion of the Algerian population in the UK have arrived so recently
also leads to a widespread unfamiliarity with the dominant culture.
• In terms of religious observance, most Algerians questioned as part of the author’s research were
able to visit local mosques if they wished and, though there is certainly no mosque particularly
linked to the Algerian community, they felt very welcome worshipping with the dominant South
Asian Muslim group. One man who had been dispersed under the government scheme to
Bournemouth was delighted at the diversity he found:
‘We have a small mosque with about 200 people who attend regularly, from everywhere; Algerians, yes,
but there are also Iraqis, Indonesians, Congolese, Tunisians, Moroccans, it is very diverse!” 97
• Algerians who have been in the UK a significant amount of time speak English well or fluently, but it
is still more common for those arriving to speak French better than English. This reduces the
opportunities for contact with those who do not speak French or Arabic/Tamaziyt.
• Algerians are very highly represented among the client group of several refugee mental health
services in London. It is possible that there is less of a stigma attached to mental health issues for
95 Collyer, M. (2002) ‘Explaining change in established migration systems: the movement of Algerians to France and
the UK’ University of Sussex, DPhil thesis, bound and recorded at the British Library.
96 All data in this section refer to the author’s thesis unless otherwise stated: Collyer, M. (2002) ‘Explaining change in
established migration systems: the movement of Algerians to France and the UK’ University of Sussex, DPhil thesis,
bound and recorded at the British Library.
97 Collyer, M. (2002) ‘Explaining change in established migration systems: the movement of Algerians to France and
the UK’ University of Sussex, DPhil thesis, bound and recorded at the British Library.
Navigation guide to refugee populations: Algerians
©ICAR 2004, moral rights Michael Collyer
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