What's Happening?
Stephen Damianos's new book, 'Asylum Is Unavailable,' details how digital technologies were used to create barriers for asylum seekers in Greece between 2014 and 2022. The book highlights an eight-year period during which asylum seekers on mainland Greece were required
to initiate their claims by calling the government via Skype, but their calls were rarely answered. This system, described as a 'digital pushback,' turned a common telecommunications platform into an instrument of exclusion and erasure. Damianos's research, conducted in Athens alongside asylum applicants, reveals the human rights abuses stemming from this bureaucratic design. For instance, out of 8,835 calls made by asylum seekers to the Greek Asylum Service, only 9 were answered, illustrating the profound inaccessibility of the system. The book argues that governments are increasingly using seemingly mundane tools to generate severe realities for vulnerable populations, often without accountability.
Why It's Important?
The findings presented in 'Asylum Is Unavailable' are crucial for understanding the evolving landscape of migration and border control, particularly in the context of digital governance. The book exposes how technological solutions, often touted for efficiency, can be weaponized to create systemic exclusion and suffering. This 'digital pushback' model has significant implications for international human rights and asylum law, as it demonstrates a method for states to engineer harm without direct scrutiny or consequence. The use of digital infrastructure to create invisible yet brutally effective border walls raises ethical questions about the deployment of technology in sensitive humanitarian contexts. The book serves as an urgent warning about the potential for digital tools to exacerbate the precarity of asylum seekers, transforming communication technologies into 'eternal waiting rooms' where access to protection is denied.
What's Next?
The publication of 'Asylum Is Unavailable' is expected to prompt further discussion and scrutiny among scholars, policymakers, and human rights organizations regarding the ethical implications of digital technologies in migration management. The book's detailed account of the Greek Skype system could serve as a case study for evaluating similar digital initiatives globally. It may also encourage advocacy groups to push for greater transparency and accountability in how governments utilize technology to process asylum claims. The concept of 'digital pushback' introduced by Damianos could become a key framework for analyzing future instances where technology is used to create barriers for vulnerable populations. The book's insights are likely to influence debates on the future of asylum protection in an increasingly digital world, potentially leading to calls for international standards and oversight mechanisms for digital border technologies.
Beyond the Headlines
Beyond the immediate issue of asylum processing in Greece, 'Asylum Is Unavailable' delves into the deeper implications of how bureaucratic design and digital infrastructure can be used to inflict 'slow violence' and systemic harm. The book highlights the often-overlooked ethical dimension of technology, where seemingly neutral tools can become instruments of oppression when deployed within punitive political agendas. It underscores how the 'ordinary image' of technology can conceal 'extraordinary harm,' making it difficult to challenge or even perceive the abuse. This phenomenon of 'exclusion designed into bureaucracy' and the use of 'unspectacular tools to generate spectacularly violent realities' represents a significant shift in how states manage and control populations. The book's focus on the human cost of these digital borders serves as a powerful reminder of the need for human-centered approaches in technological development and policy-making, particularly when dealing with vulnerable individuals seeking protection.
