Methodology

Refugee and asylum policy are conceptualized as an amalgam of policy provisions regulating a range of dimensions from the ease of entrance and security of status (access) to welfare provision (services), the ability to work and own property (livelihoods), encampment policies (movement), and citizenship and political rights (participation). A series of summary indices are then employed to aggregate from individual policy provisions to policy strands, policy strands to policy fields, and policy fields to the overall DWRAP index. Please find the dictionary of these summary indices available in the dashboard:

Click here to download: DWRAP Technical Guide

Notes

1. The term ‘No discernible policy’ refers to instances where there is no identifiable or documented policy in a given country-year. These cases are assumed to have the lowest policy score (often treated as zeroes).

2. We code countries as defined by the Correlates of War (COW) project’s state system list. For countries that no longer exist (e.g., Soviet Union), we follow the COW determination about legal successor states. For defunct countries that have a legal successor, their values are presented under their current legal successor. For example, the values for Soviet Union are presented under Russia. For defunct countries that lack a legal successor according to the COW project, we present historical values under the former country itself. For example, scores for Czechoslovakia are presented separately until the year of the state’s dissolution. Scores for Czechia and Slovakia are also presented separately from the year of their founding.

DWRAP Index

The policy index includes 5 fields: Access; Services; Livelihoods; Movement, and Citizenship and Participation; with values ranging from 0 to 1, where values closer to 1 indicate more liberal policies.

Access Field

Rights and protections related to status recognition, family unification, and legal recourse.

• 1.1 Status Strand: Provisions related to granting subsidiary or humanitarian protection, the right to non-refoulement, and the denial or cessation of status for certain individuals.

• 1.2 Control Strand: Provisions include exemption from prosecution for unlawful entry and the obligation for individuals to check-in with government officers.

• 1.3 Family Strand: Provisions include the extension of status to family members, guarantees of efforts to reunite separated families, and recognition of previously acquired personal status and marriage rights.

• 1.4 Recourse Strand: Provisions include the guarantee of access to court, the right to receive a reasoned response for negative status decisions, and the right to legal redress in case of such decisions.

Services Field

Entitlements to education, aid, social security, and healthcare.

• 2.1 Education Strand: Provisions include access to primary and/or pre-primary education, secondary and/or post-secondary education, affirmative action for educational admission, the right to religious education, and access to language and vocational training.

• 2.2 Aid Strand: Provisions include the provision of aid or humanitarian assistance, the types of aid provided, and the extension of social security.

• 2.3 Healthcare Strand: Provisions include the right to health care and/or medical access, regulations regarding the cost of health care, special treatment for health-related reasons, and the conditions under which entry may be denied on health grounds.

Livelihoods Field

Property rights, land use, and employment opportunities, including restrictions and obligations.

• 3.1 Property Strand: Provisions include the right to transfer and acquire movable and immovable property, government rights to seize property and compensation for such seizures, as well as rights to intellectual property and leasing or subleasing immovable property.

• 3.2 Land Strand: Provisions include the allocation of land for cultivation, grazing, or shelter, and the right to let or sublet granted land.

• 3.3 Employment Strand: Provisions include the right to work, self-employment or starting a business, working in professional fields, the requirement to hold a work permit, additional work restrictions, and the obligation to pay taxes.

Movement Field

Freedom of movement, settlement provisions, and necessary documentation.

• 4.1 Settlement Strand: Provisions include the right to free movement within the host country, conditions imposed on this right, and the establishment of transit centers, settlements, or camps.

• 4.2 Documents Strand: Provisions include the guarantee of travel and identification documents and the fees associated with obtaining these documents.

Participation Field

Paths to citizenship and involvement in political processes.

• 5.1 Citizenship Strand: Provisions include the path to citizenship, the number of residency years required for eligibility, citizenship through marriage to a national, eligibility for children born in the host country, and provisions for unaccompanied minors seeking citizenship.

• 5.2 Political Rights Strand: Provisions include the right to participate in political processes and the right to associate freely.