A working paper by academics Elias Dinas and Vasiliki Fouka points to an effective strategy for increasing support for refugees among the host society. The researchers found that descendants of refugees—who form a large part of the population in many countries—become more supportive of asylum-seekers when they are reminded of their ancestors’ experiences as refugees.

The researchers examined the experience of the northern Macedonia and Lesvos regions of Greece. These regions together received the majority of Greek Orthodox refugees from Turkey following the end of the Greco-Turkish War in 1922 and the compulsory exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey. Between 1.2-1.4 million people resettled in Greece as a result—forming nearly 25 per cent of the country’s then population of 5 million. 

The study was based on a sample of 1,928 Greeks, of whom 927 had a forced relocation background. The study participants were surveyed on the political behavior of Greeks, including views towards asylum seekers. The researchers randomly exposed some of the participants to a prompt in a survey question (the ‘treatment’) that made an explicit link between Greek refugees in the past and Syrian refugees in Greece today. They found that the descendants of refugees were, following the treatment, significantly more likely than non-descendants to display positive attitudes and behaviors toward Syrian refugees. Among descendants of refugees, the treatment was shown to ‘persuade’ 15.9% to donate to UNHCR and increases contributions by 18%.