ICAR

Kosovars

Kosovars in the UK

Written by Kate Smart in March 2004.

 This guide outlines the unfolding history of Kosovars living in the UK, assesses their current circumstances and provides background information on events in Kosovo. It brings up to date information on a population that generated huge public interest a few years ago, but on whom little has been written since 2001.

The Kosovars are relatively new arrivals to the UK, almost all having arrived during the 1990s. As such, a well-established refugee community spanning several generations does not exist in the same way as is true for refugees from Poland, for example. Nor is it the case that there is a pre-existing non-refugee, migrant community as there is for refugees from China, for example. Most of those currently in the UK are either asylum seekers or have temporary leave to remain – either ‘Temporary Protection’ status or ‘Exceptional Leave to Remain’ for a fixed period.

Kate Smart is a freelance consultant and researcher on asylum issues working under the title Asylum Initiatives. Commissions include working as a policy adviser for the Kosovo Humanitarian Evacuation Programme.

Her particular areas of interest are the reception of asylum seekers, integration of refugees, return to countries of origin, participation of refugees in the development of asylum policy and analysing changing public opinion on asylum. Kate published Asylum Stories: the experiences of Kosovars settling in the UK in 2001 while a visiting research fellow at the Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford University. She has written numerous other reports relating to policy development and campaigning, for various refugee organisations. In addition to her freelance work, Kate has worked as a team leader at the British Refugee Council and as a policy officer at the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). She recently completed research for ICAR on the Media Image, Community Impact project commissioned by the Greater London Authority.

Click here to contact Kate by email.

For issues relating to Kosovars in the UK since 2001, this guide could not have been written without the generous assistance of community groups and refugee organisations working with the Kosovar community. In particular, the author would like to thank Albanian Unity in Leeds, Albanian Youth Action and BRICKS in London, the Scottish Refugee Council, and Refugee Action Choices Project. For background information on events up to the end of the Kosovo Humanitarian Evacuation Programme, this guide draws upon research undertaken for the report Asylum Stories: the experiences of Kosovars settling in the UK (Smart 2001) which was made possible through the support of the Refugee Studies Centre, the British Academy, the Mertz-Gilmore Foundation Fund and the Noel Buxton Trust Fund. ICAR would like to thank Katia Amore for her comments and suggestions on final drafts of this guide.

Last Updated: 25/02/09

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