JANUARY – MARCH NEWSLETTER: VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1, 2021
CRN11_Newsletter_Vol3Iss1_Jan-Mar 2021_Final
WELCOME
Dear Colleagues:
Happy New Year and welcome to the CRN 11 Jan-Mar 2021 Newsletter: volume 3 Issue 1, the first quarterly issue of the year 2021. We really hope you and your family are thriving well as the COVID-19 vaccines phases out to include the general population around the world. In these difficult times we want to let you know that you and your loved ones are in our thoughts and prayers.
Although we are making progress with the COVID-19 vaccination, displaced populations are still at risk in diverse ways. On 16 March 2021, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies reported that 12.5 million people were displaced globally between September 2020 and February 2021, 60 percent of which occurred in the Asia Pacific region mainly due to climate and weather-related disasters.
Recent attacks in DR Congo have left 40,000 displaced, dozens killed, including Italian Ambassador Luca Attanasio, a policeman and their driver. Human Rights Watch reports that approximately 900,000 Rohingya are currently displaced in overcrowding camps in Bangladesh while the 600,000 remaining in Myanmar are being subjected to persecution, violence, and limited access to food, healthcare, education, and livelihoods. In other disturbing news, Rossella Pagliuchi-Lor, the UK Representative for the UNHCR, is “extremely concerned”, after the Home Secretary Priti Patel said that the UK is considering the processing of asylum seekers abroad.
In spite of the continuous challenge globally, CRN 11 is committed to advocating for the rights and protection of displaced peoples through this medium. Consider joining us today!
Lastly, please join us in thanking Dr Azin Emami, who has taken on the Editor role to produce CRN11 quarterly newsletter.
Veronica Fynn Bruey and Steven Bender
DISPLACED PEOPLES’ RIGHTS AND PROTECTION
On 1 February 2021, UN experts said Sudan must urgently implement strong measures to ensure the safety of civilians, including the internally displaced, and thoroughly investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators of recent deadly intercommunal violence and attacks in Darfur. More information is available here.
Ahead of a virtual conference on 4 February 2021, UNHCR and IOM are calling on states to strengthen protection and assistance of people displaced in the context of disasters and climate change. More information is available here.
As Portugal assumes the presidency of the European Union (EU), to be followed by Slovenia later this year, the UNHCR on 12 January 2021 called on them to lead the effort to forge a better protection system for those seeking refuge across the continent and beyond. More information is available here.
On 18 February, in an appeal to “put Syrians first…finally”, Paolo Pinheiro, the Commission of Inquiry Chair, led renewed calls for a ceasefire. He also urged the international community to “expend every effort to support a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict and to help place Syria on a path toward a stable, prosperous, and just future for all her people”. More information is available here.
GENERAL CALLS: CRN 11 EVENTS
Call For Members: Research and Development Committee
CRN 11 is currently recruiting members to join Magdalena Krystyna Butrymowicz who leads the Research and Development Committee. Those interested, please email Magdalena: magdalena.butrymowicz@upjp2.edu.pl. Deadline: Open
Call For Volunteers: Advertisement and Promotion Committee
CRN 11 is currently recruiting volunteers to lead the Advertisement and Promotion Committee. Those interested, please send a cover letter and CV to veronica.fynnbruey@tuki-tumarankeh.org.
Deadline: Open
Call For Volunteers: Newsletter Editor
Interested in making the best use of your time during COVID-19 lockdown? Apply for the CRN11 newsletter editor position. Submit a cover letter and CV to veronica.fynnbruey@tuki-tumarankeh.org and benders@seattleu.edu. Deadline: Open
Become a CRN 11 Research Collaborator
Interested in being a bona fide research collaborator with CRN 11? Email veronica.fynnbruey@tuki-tumarankeh.org for details on how to apply. Deadline: Open
Invitation to be a Guest Blogger for CRN 11
Do you have an interesting story to tell about internal and international migration and displacement? CRN 11 is eager to share your piece as a guest blogger for our quarterly newsletter. Please submit your stories to veronica.fynnbruey@tuki-tumarankeh.org and benders@seattleu.edu. Deadline:Open
RESEARCH, AWARDS, AND SCHOLARSHIPS
University of Birmingham, Global Masters Scholarship. Deadline: 30 June 2021.
The Allan and Nesta Ferguson Scholarships for African Students to Study in the United Kingdom. Deadline: 1 April 2021.
Griffith Remarkable Scholarship for exceptional students applying for undergraduate and postgraduate coursework studies at Griffith University. Deadline: Trimester 2, 2021 entry: 16 April 2021, Trimester 3, 2021: 6 August 2021.
Brock University, Tenure Track Assistant or Associate Professor, Indigenous History in Canada. Deadline: 10 April 2021.
Charles University, PhD Program in Demography. Deadline: Please inquire.
University of Ottawa, Postdoctoral Fellowship. Deadline: 5 April 2021.
UPCOMING CONFERENCES/EVENTS/CALL FOR PAPERS
Deadly Voyages Virtual Book Launch (Free)
Deadly Voyages: Migrant Journeys across the Globe explores the burdens and impact of perilous migration, while considering which laws, policies, practices, and venues might establish empathy and protection for migrants. This interdisciplinary volume envisions and calls for a transformation in migration policy, motivated by the common goal of drastically reducing the peril migrants face when compelled to make their treacherous journeys. All contributors to this volume agree on the inadequacy of current approaches and the dire need for change in global migration law and policy. Therefore, the book seeks to inform, educate, persuade, and facilitate newer or less-heard perspectives, toward wider participation and influence within the forced migration policy debate. Guided by the famous advice of Karl Marx that the point should be changing the world rather than merely analyzing or interpreting it, the contributors suggest practical measures to fix the current gap in responses to migrant peril, along with strategies for diagnosing, countering, and promoting human dignity and social justice, with the aim of preventing future deaths and injuries in migrant journeys across the globe.
Host: School of Advanced Study, University of London
Date: 21 April 2021, 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM (GMT)
Click here to RSVP. Watch the video presentation here.
Host: Institution of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Date: 12 May 2021, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (CEST)
Click here to RSVP.
2021 Law and Society Association Annual Meeting
Virtual event 27th-30th May 2021. Ours is an era of multiple and overlapping crises. Climate, democracy, economy and health are newly unstable throughout the world. Last summer, for the first time, the physical Law and Society conference was canceled in light of a global pandemic. In the United States, the pandemic exacerbated underlying racial inequalities that erupted in protests throughout the country, and beyond. Across the globe, these crises reveal existing social inequalities in different ways, and demand that we adapt to survive. What is the role of law, which strives for stability as well as justice, in this volatile context?
Click here to learn More about the Conference
Refugee Law Initiative Annual Conference
Virtual event 9th-11th June 2021. The Refugee Law Initiative Conference is an annual international forum dedicated to debating the latest research and developments in the field. Run this year as a virtual event over three (3) half-days, the 5th RLI Annual Conference builds on the success of previous RLI conferences in uniting refugee law academics, practitioners, policy-makers and students. This year’s theme is ‘Ageing Gracefully? The 1951 Refugee Convention at 70’, but more general papers are also welcome. Paper/panel proposals are due on 31 March 2021.
Law and Society Annual Meeting 2021 Radboud Summer school: The Science Behind Migrant Inclusion Policies: Evidence-Based Policies and Policy-Based Evidence
Many migrants in receiving countries are facing disadvantaged living circumstances when compared to natives. In most Western countries, we observe economic inequality, inequality in access to information, healthcare and housing. Moreover, there are increasing concerns that migrants and the ‘native’ population live separated lives and rarely meet and mingle. When migrant inclusion is hampered, this limits migrants to reach their own full potential. Moreover, the resulting inequalities and the lack of social cohesion can pose a threat to the wellbeing and prosperity of the receiving country as a whole. It is therefore no surprise that to curb the cons of migration and to capitalize on the pros, migrant policy makers and scientists alike strive for a better inclusion of migrants into host societies.
Date: 12 – 16 July 2021
Mode of study: On campus
Fee: € 550 Scholarship available!
Somali Studies in Canada Colloquium: Somalinimo, Blackness and Belonging in the West
Carleton University is pleased to announce its third biennial Somali Studies in Canada Colloquium, taking place on October 16 & 17, 2021. Somali diaspora communities live in sizeable numbers in Canada and most other Western countries. This year’s theme comes in the wake of the Black Lives Matter global protests of summer 2020 which were sparked by the murder of George Floyd in South Minneapolis, a neighbourhood with a large Somali-American community. Somali diaspora communities in Minneapolis, other parts of the U.S., Canada, Europe and elsewhere participated in these popular demands for racial justice not only for African-Americans but also for Somalis and other Black communities. Crucially, the cases of Abdirahman Abdi in Canada and Shukri Abdi in the U.K. were also part of protestors’ calls for transparency, accountability and justice for the victims, their families and the community-at-large. For abstract submission or if you have any question, please contact: Dr. Nimo Bokore, nimo.bokore@carleton.ca
Abstract Deadline: 15 May 2021
Border Abolition 2021 Conference
Border Abolition 2021 will be a two-day online event aimed at connecting organising, campaigning, activist research and academic work around border violence, racism, incarceration and abolitionism. We hope to bring together people struggling against the border in all its forms, from immigration detention, prison and militarised border sites, to the solidarity practices that resist expanding systems of everyday bordering. The conference will involve themed sessions, roundtables and several open discussion slots, with the aim to create an accessible, welcoming and practically useful set of conversations. Six themed panels invite contributions on data technologies, documenting border violence, feminist approaches, solidarity infrastructures, histories of border abolition, and state racism/racial capitalism. A shared gallery, digital archive, resource toolkit, library and smaller digital breakout spaces will provide ways to meet and learn beyond the panel discussions. We welcome contributions and ideas (whether for papers, presentations, workshops, artwork, creative sessions, questions or non-written media) that fit these themes or suggest others.Click here for more information.
Date:18-19 June 2021
18th IMISCOE Annual Conference Virtual Workshop Serries on ‘Developing a Research and Policy Agenda for Addressing Displacement and Migration in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change in Africa,’ April- July 2021
Natural hazards, disasters and climate change are among the leading drivers of human mobility across Africa. Yet, lawful pathways for those who move across international borders in this context remain limited, and often uncertain. This Virtual Workshop Series on ‘Developing a Research and Policy Agenda for Addressing Displacement and Migration in the Context of Disasters and Climate Change in Africa’ will provide an opportunity for academics and policy experts working across Africa to engage in discussion, form networks and plan future research on topics related to disaster and climate change-related displacement and migration.
Call for Participation and further information can be found here.
18th IMISCOE Annual Conference
Crossing Borders, Connecting Cultures will be held 7-9 July 2021 in Luxembourg.
IASFM 18 (Updated)
The International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM18) Bi-annual conference: Disrupting Theory, Unsettling Practice: Towards Transformative Forced Migration Scholarship and Policy, will be held 26-28 July 2021 at the University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
JOB POSTS
Lecturer in Latinx Studies, Ethnicity, Race and Migration at Yale University
The Program in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale University invites applications for a lecturer’s position in the field of Latinx Studies with an initial three-year appointment beginning July 1, 2022. Review of applications will begin on March 16, 2021 and will continue until the position is filled. More information is available here.
Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore
The Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore (NUS) seeks to appoint two established or emerging research leaders in the field of Social/Cultural Geography whose work addresses contemporary crises of sustainability in Asia. This could include, but is not limited to, issues of environmental justice, sustainable practices and futures, or the socio-spatial dimensions of climate change. Applications close 16 April. Further information is available here.
PUBLICATIONS
New Paper: ‘Assessing refugee protection claims at Australian airports: the gap between law, policy and practice’
Network members Regina Jefferies, Dr Daniel Ghezelbash and Asher Hirsch have continued their analysis of protection claims at Australian airports with a new paper for the Melbourne University Law Review. Access the advance copy here
New Paper: ‘Unheard voices of the forced migrants in Armenia and Azerbaijan’
Network member D. G. Niruka Sanjeewani has published a new piece on ‘Unheard voices of the forced migrants in Armenia and Azerbaijan’ for the website Act For Displaced. Niruka is a lecturer in the Department of Strategic Studies, Faculty of Defence and Strategic Studies at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University. Access the piece here.
New Podcast: ‘Temporary’
Don’t miss exploring the long-form stories, beautiful artwork and audio for ‘Temporary’ – a Kaldor Centre/Guardian Australia/UNSW Centre for Ideas initiative that tracks the experiences of refugees caught in Australia’s campaign to ‘stop the boats’. New instalments of the Temporary podcast are available now.
New Book: The Death of Asylum: Hidden Geographies of the Enforcement Archipelago, by Alison Mountz. University of Minnesota Press. Access the book here.
New Article: Climate Refugees in the Pacific By Saber Salem and Armin Rosencranz
50 Environmental Law Reporter 10540-10545 (2020). Access the article here.
IN THE NEWS
Reuters, ‘Please Help Us:’ Migrants Exposed to Freezing Bosnia Winter, Await Chance to Reach EU (11 January 2021)
Aljazeera, Ocean Viking Ship Rescues Hundreds of Migrants Off Libya Coast (23 January 2021)
Aljazeera, Ethiopia: UN Says 20,000 Refugees Missing in Tigray (2 February 2021)
UNHCR, Race Against Time to Help Thousands of Central African Refugees (12 February 2021).
Reuters, U.S. Presses Ethiopia to end Tigray Violence, Protect Civilians (3 March 2021).
Arab News, Thousands of Refugees at Risk of Homelessness in Greece (5 March 2021)
France24, Refugees Trickle Across India Border from Myanmar Turmoil (5 March 2021).
The Guardian ,Refugee Rescuers Charged in Italy With Complicity in People Smuggling (4 March 2021).
SEND US YOUR NEWS AND EVENTS
Displaced Peoples (CRN11) newsletter is published quarterly. The newsletter is a venue for sharing information regarding displaced peoples, broadly defined. Your contribution to the newsletter is crucial to its sustenance, success and quality. To contribute to the newsletter, please contact Veronica Fynn Bruey (veronica.fynnbruey@tuki-tumarankeh.org), Steven Bender (benders@seattleu.edu), and Azin Emami (aziemami@gmail.com). To subscribe or unsubscribe visit CRN 11 Displaced Peoples.