Research
21.06.2021

Washington Post: Julian Wucherpfennig and Sara Polo analyse the data on refugees and security

In the Monkey Cage blog, they show how refugees are more often victims of violence, not perpetrators, in host countries.

In The Washington Post's Monkey Cage research blog, Julian Wucherpfennig, Hertie School Professor of International Affairs and Security and Sara Polo, Assistant Professor in the Department of Government at the University of Essex, write that refugees do not necessarily pose security concerns in their host countries, despite public debate to the contrary. In fact they are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.

"Our research, forthcoming in the Journal of Politics, found no causal link between hosting refugees and an increase in terrorist attacks from foreign groups — including from terrorist groups based in refugee origin countries," the authors write in the article published on 21 June. "In contrast, we show that the only form of terrorism that increases in host nations in the developed world is right-wing violence against refugees and migrants, perpetrated by citizens of those countries who falsely view refugees as a security threat."

The article appeared a day after World Refugee Day on June 20. UNHCR data show that around 26.4 million people are currently forcibly displaced as an asylum seeker or refugee in another country ­– the highest level since World War II.

Read the article in The Washington Post here