On 14 April 2008, TNS OBOP published a study regarding the issue of: ´Our perception of refugees´. The study was based on a sample of 1000 randomly selected residents of Warsaw and 500 people from the nearby town of Gora Kalwaria, where a refugee center is located. It is difficult for refugees to become assimilated with the Polish society. Why? (18-APR-08)

Written by Agnieszka Chmielecka/ HRH Warsaw
Source: www.gazeta.pl
Image: flag of the Chechen Republic

The study shows that we – Poles regard ourselves as very tolerant people. However, this only relates to the abstract phenomenon of ´refuge´. The majority of study participants have never come into contact with a refugee. More than 80 % of study participants stated that they would gladly employ a refugee at their firm, and more than 90 % of them are all for their children learning together with refugee children. One-fourth of all Gora Kalwaria residents and nearly half of Warsaw residents see the benefits stemming from the fact that Poland admits refugees – they enrich our culture, it allows us to meet the requirements set by the UE, we are able to settle our historical debt, we gain a disciplined labor force.            

However, so all this doesn’t seem too idealistic …
More often than the benefits however, the study participants mentioned threats associated with the presence of immigrants: diseases (e.g. AIDS), increased crime rate, establishment of ghettos, immigrants taking up places of employment. Half of the study participants would in fact grant refugees the right to vote during local government elections, however at the same time the majority would refuse them active electoral rights or the opportunity to take public office. Only 7 % of the study participants replied that the authorities should grant Polish citizenship to persecuted foreigners. Answering the question: ´How should the state help refugees?´, the majority of study participants stated: ´Prepare centers for them to live in´. It is such replies that reveal all the stereotypes and bias that we feel towards refugees, especially those from the Chechen Republic, who are most numerous in Poland.

Comments and remarks
Agnieszka Mikulska – The minorities rights´ program coordinator, HFHR: Based on this study, we see how limited the Poles’ knowledge is on the topic of ´who is a refugee´. They are most often simply identified with economic migrants. We declare ourselves to be very tolerant, however at the same time