‘Mum, I Sleep Under a Bridge’: Everyday Insecurities of the Families of Rejected Asylum Seekers in Somalia

Abstract

In this chapter, I examine the impact of prolonged family separation on the families of rejected Somali asylum seekers in Europe. The focus is on the everyday security of family members left behind in Somalia. During the past 10 years, many young people have migrated from Somalia as a result of socio-political developments in the Horn of Africa. Coupled with recent policy changes in Europe, these developments have significantly increased the time migrants spend in transit countries and in Europe as rejected asylum seekers, profoundly affecting the everyday life and wellbeing of their families in Somalia. The chapter draws on 42 semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews with family members of rejected Somali asylum seekers in Europe; the interviews were conducted in Somaliland and Puntland, Somalia, in March–April 2019 and January–February 2020. The findings show that family separation affects family members’ everyday security in Somalia through four broad dimensions of family life, namely, emotional, health-related, material and social dimensions. The chapter provides a unique translocal analysis that connects the effects of immigration policies in Europe to the everyday (in)securities of families in Somalia.