Displaced Peoples

CRN11_Newsletter_Vol4Iss3_01Sep22_FINAL

WELCOME: Migration, Displacement and Development Book Series

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to our third quarterly newsletter of the year: Volume 4, Issue 3. This issue is possible because of the volunteered contribution of Zoe Ochwango, our CRN11 Newsletter Editor. Please join me in saying thank you to Zoe for another fabulous work done!

Have you ever wondered why securitization and protection of refugees dominate international migration discourse; the trans-Atlantic slave trade and indigenous displacement are expressly absent from the United Nations Refugee Convention 1951; colonisation, capitalism, and globalisation are missing from policy tied to migration and development; or the reluctance to reform international migration regime to address contemporary migration challenges associated with climate change, harsh environmental conditions, trafficked persons, stateless persons, and people forced to leave due to economic hardship?

Whether you are a seasoned scholar, a recent graduate, or a doctoral student, we are interested in hearing from you about this new book series we co-edit. We especially encourage emerging scholars and PhD Candidates from the Global South to share their thoughts and ideas with us. For more information, email us at vfynnbruey@athabascau.ca and benders@seattleu.edu.

In closing, we would like to reaffirm our support for all those displaced by war and conflict in Myanmar, Yemen, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Israel-Palestine, and Ukraine/Russia.

Veronica Fynn Bruey and Steven Bender

DISPLACED PEOPLES’ RIGHTS AND PROTECTION

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons is an independent human rights expert appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. The first Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons was appointed in September 2010, with the same functions as the former Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons. In a report presented at the Human Rights Council’s 50th session in 2022, the Special Rapporteur examines the participation of internally displaced persons in electoral processes, in particular, their ability to exercise their right to vote and to stand in elections on equal terms with the non-displaced population. More information available here.

On 20 June 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Asia Director Indrika Ratwatte, speaking on World Refugee Day, submitted an expert review on the urgent need for solutions for forcibly displaced people in Asia and around the world. Asia is the setting for several of the world’s largest displacement crises, with the ongoing emergencies in Afghanistan and Myanmar affecting millions of people. He gave a resounding review on how the continent also has a proud tradition of providing safety to millions. In 2021, three of the world’s top ten refugee hosting countries were Pakistan, Bangladesh and Iran. The situation in Afghanistan underscores the need for continued global attention. With the looming humanitarian crisis, he implored that it is more important than ever to sustain international support and give hope to the 40 million Afghans who live in the country – including those displaced by conflict. More information available here.

On 28 July 2022, Refugees International, Center for Global Development released the 2022 Refugee Work Report. Refugees’ right to work has been repeatedly recognized in international agreements—from the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees to the 2018 Global Compact on Refugees—and research continues to demonstrate the benefits of this right for refugees and their host countries alike. Yet most refugees today face significant legal and practical barriers to full economic inclusion in the labor markets of their host countries. In this project, produced by researchers at the Center for Global Development (CGD), Asylum Access, and Refugees International, they assess refugees’ work rights across the globe. They also examine different dimensions of work rights both in law (de jure) and in practice (de facto) across 51 countries that were collectively hosting 87 percent of the world’s refugee population at the end of 2021. The recommendations from the report are timely.  More information available here.

At the presentation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Annual Public Health Global Review, Sajjad Malik, Director for the Division of Resilience and Solutions at UNHCR gave important concerns about refugee health amid global displacement. He said that the rates of malnutrition are troubling, particularly as they were recorded before the war in Ukraine sent food and commodity prices rising. Despite the interruptions to health services caused by the pandemic, access to skilled birth attendants for refugees remained static at 93 percent. More information available here.

On 16 August 2022, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Education Above All Foundation (EAA), and the Generation Amazing Foundation (GA) announced a collaboration to develop a “Football 4 Development Playbook” (F4DP). As the world gears up for FIFA World Cup in Qatar, 2022 this initiative aims to build stronger communities. Speaking at the project launch, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi said that this project aims to harness the transformative power of football, empower refugee children and youth, and provide them with life-long skills that can help them and their local host communities. More information available here.

In a statement on 26 August 2022, George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, warned that as the economic crisis continues to rattle Sri Lanka, it is the poorest, most vulnerable girls and boys who are paying the steepest price. Sri Lanka, a country normally known for its rapid economic growth and booming tourism, is experiencing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. Families are skipping regular meals as staple foods become unaffordable. Children are going to bed hungry, unsure of where their next meal will come from – in a country which already had South Asia’s second highest rate of severe acute malnutrition. Almost half of children in Sri Lanka already require some form of emergency assistance. The education of 4.8 million children, already severely hampered by two years of interrupted learning, is at risk as school attendance continues to be jeopardized. More information available here.

CRN-11 EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Migration, Development and Displacement Book Series Information Session

In collaboration with the Institute of Migration Studies at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Veronica Fynn Bruey and Steven Bender will lead an information session on 15 September 2022 about the Migration, Displacement, and Development book series published by Rowman and Littlefield (Lexington Books). All are invited. For more information contact, vfynnbruey@athabascau.ca and benders@seattleu.edu.

Call for Book Proposal: Migration, Displacement and Development

Veronica Fynn Bruey and Steven Bender as co-editors, have launched the Migration, Displacement, and Development book series with Rowman and Littlefield. The interdisciplinary series critically examines the obstinacy to expand legal protection to displaced peoples beyond the bona fide refugee within local, regional, and international contexts. Extending protection to a wide range of displaced persons, the series promises to address adverse effects on those forced to leave their homes in the name of globalization by improving the economic, social, and political conditions driving migration in favour of sustaining growth. The series strives for law and policy reform particularly in areas of trade, economy, remittance and aid as well as protecting individual rights to stay home and live a dignified life. If you are interested in turning your research into a full book, email vfynnbruey@athabascau.ca and benders@seattleu.edu.

Call For Volunteers: Advertisement and Promotion Committee

CRN-11 is also recruiting volunteers to lead the Advertisement and Promotion Committee. To apply, submit a cover letter and CV to vfynnbruey@athabascau.ca  and benders@seattleu.edu. Deadline: Open

Become a CRN-11 Research Collaborator

Interested in being a bona fide research collaborator with CRN-11? To apply, submit a cover letter and CV to vfynnbruey@athabascau.ca  and benders@seattleu.edu. 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 in our quarterly newsletter.  Submit your stories to vfynnbruey@athabascau.ca and benders@seattleu.edu. Deadline: Open 

GENERAL CALLS: UPCOMING EVENTS

The Migration Conference

The conference is organized in thematic streams of parallel sessions focusing on migration, migrant populations, diasporas, migration policies, labor migrations, refugees, economic impacts, remittances as well as non-migrants, and the wider impact of human mobility on sending, transit, and receiving societies. The scientific program of TMCs usually comprises invited talks, oral presentations, poster presentations, exhibitions, and workshops. The conference hosts about 80 parallel sessions and several distinguished keynote speakers joining us in intriguing plenary sessions. The conference will be held on 7-10 September 2022. Register here.

PRFDHR Seminar: Ordinary People Under Extreme Life Conditions: Internal and External Forced Displacement from War-Torn Territories in Ukraine

The start of Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014 led to the temporary occupation of the Crimea peninsula and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk region. With the beginning of Russian aggression, more than 2 million people left the uncontrolled territories of Ukraine and were forced to move both to other parts of Ukraine and beyond its borders. According to the Ministry of Social Policy, after 2015 and before the full-scale Russian invasion began on 24 February 2022, the number of registered internally displaced persons (IDPs) was relatively stable at around 1.5 million. Residents of war-torn territories have also been fleeing the country since 2014. Professor Mikheieva will talk on September 20, 2022 about how the Russian aggression of 2014 has changed people’s daily lives in Ukraine, what challenges Ukrainian society has encountered, and what problems people who were forced to leave their homes have faced. Register here.

PRFDHR Seminar: Refuge: How the State Shapes Human Potential

Drawing on a global and comparative ethnography, this presentation explores how Syrian men and women seeking refuge in a moment of unprecedented global displacement are received by countries of resettlement and asylum—the U.S., Canada, and Germany. It shows that human capital, typically examined as the skills immigrants bring with them that shape their potential, is actually created, transformed, or destroyed by receiving states’ incorporation policies. Since these policies derive from historically informed and unequal approaches to social welfare, refugees’ experiences raise a mirror to how states (re)produce inequality. Heba Gowayed is the Moorman-Simon Assistant Professor of Sociology at Boston University. Join her in this seminar on September 20, 2022. Register here.

African Society of International Law Annual Conference

The 11^th Annual Conference of the African Society of International Law: Africa and the Challenge of Climate Change will take place in Cairo, Egypt on 28-29 October 2022. Register here.

Palestine Refugees and International Law

This two-day short course places the Palestinian refugee case study within the broader context of the international human rights regime. It examines, within a human rights framework, the policies and practices of Middle Eastern states as they impinge upon Palestinian refugees. This course is suitable for: experienced practitioners; graduate researchers; parliamentarians and staff; members of the legal profession; government officials; and personnel of inter-governmental and nongovernmental organizations. The 2023 Palestine Refugees and International Law short course will be held as an in-person event on Friday 10 March and Saturday 11 March 2023 at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece.  More information is available here. Deadline: 23 February 2023.

Recognising Refugees: Refugee Studies Centre Conference 2023

Forty years ago, in 1982, the Refugee Studies Centre was founded at the University of Oxford. The RSC is therefore delighted that the theme for its 40th Anniversary Conference is Recognising Refugees, held in association with the RefMig project. We welcome papers and presentations that consider any of the following themes: the legal recognition of refugees; recognising refugee leaders; history, politics and ethics of refugee recognition; and technologies of recognition. The conference will take place at Keble College, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PG on 20-21 March 2023. More information available here. Deadline: 31 October 2022.

Rewriting Jurisprudence

Rewriting Jurisprudence: Centring Refugee and Migration Lived Experience is an ongoing project. In its first phase, they will be publishing a selection of rewritten judgments as articles in a special issue of a journal. They will then work towards producing a broader range of rewritten judgments for publication as an edited collection. The strong preference is that these publications will be open access. During the project, they will also publish shortened or draft versions as blog posts as a way of ensuring both accessibility and timeliness of contributions. To submit an abstract: click here.

Certificate in Migration Studies

This Fall (2022), the Zolberg Institute is offering courses for the Certificate in Migration Studies. All course readings, videos, discussions, and materials are delivered online. All courses can be taken individually or as part of the Migration Studies Certificate. For more information about these courses or the Certificate, please email Catherine McGahan, Zolberg Institute Associate Director. Register now for the Fall 2022 courses in Migration Studies. More information available here.

RESEARCH, AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, AND FELLOWSHIPS

Call for Proposals: Metropolis Americas Migration Policy Summit

This Summit’s purpose will be to explore the challenges of a cooperative framework for the regional governance and social inclusion of intra and extra-regional migrants and refugees across the Americas, while examining the root causes of migration in the region. Migration is the object of growing conversation and deliberation amongst policy-makers, civil society, and researchers across the Americas. Many countries in the Hemisphere have become source, transit, and destination for migrants. A call is made to submit proposals for workshops, round tables, and posters for the summit.  More information is available here. Deadline: 12 September 2022.

Call for Abstracts: Jordan Concluding Conference

An invitation for proposals is open from various academic disciplines and fields (such as Anthropology, Law, Sociology, Social Work, Religious Studies, Migration and Diaspora Studies, Gender Studies) and diverse theoretical perspectives. The Jordanian Concluding Conference intends to bring together researchers whose work is grounded in solid empirical research in relation to broader societal developments. Preference is given to papers that engage in-depth with a limited set of questions over papers that present broad overviews or general descriptions. More information is available here. Deadline: 1 September 2022.

Call for Expression of Interest: IOM Research Training Design

The International Organisation for Migration is seeking expressions of interest from suitably qualified and experienced individuals to undertake a consultancy involving the development of an internal research training package. More information available here. Deadline: Monday 12 September 2022 (17:00 CEST).

Fellowship Opportunity: Migration and Technology Monitor (MTM)

Through this fellowship program, MTM aims to create opportunities for people with lived experience to meaningfully contribute to research, storytelling, policy, and advocacy conversations from the start, and not as an afterthought. Among the aims is a collaborative, intellectual, and advocacy community committed to border justice. More information is available here. Deadline: 30 September 2022.

Beyond Borders Bursary at London College of Communication

Beyond Borders offers postgraduate opportunities for students who have refugee status in the UK and would like to study Journalism at the London College of Communication. The award will cover tuition fees, course costs, and living expenses. For details on the scholarship email rjp@arts.ac.uk. More information is provided here. Deadline: 31 September 2022.

Call for Papers for Recognizing Refugees | RSC Conference 2023

The Refugee Studies Centre was founded at the University of Oxford. Its aim was to understand the causes, consequences, and responses to forced migration. Throughout its history, a common theme has been to explore and recognize the agency of refugees, viewing forcibly displaced people as social, economic, and political actors. Through its research, teaching, and outreach it has tried to include the perspectives, lived experiences, and voice of displaced people. The call for papers and presentations asks for consideration of any of the following themes; the legal recognition of refugees, recognizing refugee leaders, history, politics, ethics of refugee recognition, and technologies of recognition. More information is available here. Deadline: 31 October 2022.

EU-PASSWORLD: Widening Complementary Pathways Linked to Community Sponsorship in Europe

In its recent Recommendation on legal pathways), the Commission identified the linkage between Community Sponsorship (CS) and Complementary Pathways (CPs) as a crucial nexus to both enhance refugees’ integration and significantly scale numbers. Their proposal brings together a unique multi-stakeholder consortium of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), Governments, Universities, and UNHCR offices leading the work on CS and CPs to design, pilot, and implement innovative policies, practices, and tools that foster this link. More information is available here. Deadline: Rolling.

Grant Opportunities for Organizations Led by Displaced and Stateless People

UNHCR introduces new grant agreements that will allow them to get engaged with organizations led by displaced and stateless people in Indonesia as their partners. These new grants aim to create a simple mechanism to provide financial support to these organizations in order to assist them in realizing their projects and building their capacity; they will also allow them to work directly with the people we serve without having to use intermediaries. More information is available here. Deadline: Rolling

JOB POSTS

IDRC Research Chair on Gender and Forced Displacement in Asia

Asian Institute of Technology is currently recruiting a Research Chair who would be serving as a research leader on Gender and Forced Displacement in Asia and start up and lead a Center for the same purpose at AIT. The project is supported by IDRC Canada. Rank: Senior Research Fellow or Research Professor (associate/full). Location: Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand. More information available here. Deadline: 5 September 2022.

Post-Doctoral Research Scholar in Gender and Forced Displacement in Asia

Applications are invited for a post-doctoral research scholar position for Gender in Forced Displacement in Asia supported by IDRC (Canada). The post-doctoral research scholar is to work under the supervision of the Acting Director of the Center for Gender in Forced Displacement. Duties and responsibilities: Support the Acting Director in establishing the Center for Gender in Forced Displacement. Concretely, the post doc will 1) develop research proposal and engage in research on gender and forced displacement in Asia; and 2) support the acting director for project management on gender in forced displacement. More information available here. Deadline: 5 September 2022.

Network Administrator, Immigration & Refugee Program (IRP+)

Church World Service (CWS) is a not-for-profit, faith-based organization transforming communities around the globe through just and sustainable solutions to hunger, poverty, displacement, and disaster. This position is primarily responsible for working with and assisting the Senior Network Administrator in the administration, managing, maintenance, and monitoring of ICT networks and Infrastructure; including local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and network segments, intranets, and other data. More information is available here. Deadline: 30 September 2022.

PUBLICATIONS

New Report: Partition, Sindhi Refugees, and the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution

Scholars have paid significant attention to the linguistic reorganization of states in India but there is less consideration of how the demands of linguistic movements to redraw the map of India is linked to the history of a partition across the colonial-postcolonial divide as well as of the new minorities that linguistic states created. This article draws attention at first to the unsuccessful pre-partition resistance of Sindhi Hindus to the separation of Sindh from the Bombay Presidency on linguistic lines as separation would make them a religious minority. Access the full report here.

New Report: Urban Refugees and IDPs in Secondary Cities

This report examines the current reality of forcibly displaced people in cities and towns in East Africa, namely Arua, Uganda; Adama, Ethiopia; and Kakuma and Lodwar Town, Kenya. It argues that the growing urbanization of forcibly displaced people has fostered increasing engagement and partnerships for assistance with local urban actors such as municipal governments and local civil society organizations while at the same time highlighting, and in cases exacerbating, the challenges that many municipalities face in terms of funding and a lack of recognition of urban needs. The report also discusses a crucial gap in research on forcibly displaced people: their often unacknowledged presence in so-called secondary (non-capital) cities and towns, which themselves often lack the resources to adequately receive them. Access the full report here.

New Report: The State of the Humanitarian Energy Sector: Challenges, Progress, and Issues in 2022

The State of the Humanitarian Energy Sector (SOHES) report explores the major challenges, progress, and issues associated with humanitarian energy. This seminal report was led by the Global Platform for Action on Sustainable Energy in Displacement Settings (GPA) and co-authored by leading humanitarian energy institutions: UNITAR, Chatham House, IOM, SEforALL, GIZ, Practical Action, NORCAP, Mercy Corps, University of Oxford, MECS, UNDP, Imperial College London, Selco Foundation, International Lifeline Fund, and UNHCR. The SOHES report aims to inspire and encourage humanitarian energy sector partners, the private sector, and donors to progress towards better funding, inclusive policy-making, enhanced data collection, and inclusive innovative delivery towards achieving SDG7 targets. Access the full report here.

New Report: From Fear to Solidarity: The Difficulty in Shifting Public Narratives about Refugees

This report examines the narratives that emerge in communities welcoming forced migrants and two types of interventions that address negative narratives: information campaigns and ‘contact-building’ initiatives that aim to build connections between refugees and host communities. The report concludes that efforts to address negative narratives head-on may not work. Access the report here.

New Report: Migration’s Changing Face

360info in collaboration with the Calcutta Research Group explores the changing causes and effects of migration at a time when one in 30 people globally is a migrant. Access the report here.

New Report: Moving Beyond Humanitarian Assistance: Supporting Jordan as a Refugee-hosting Country

This study, conducted by three economists in the region — Belal Fallah, Rasha Istaiteyeh and Yusuf Mansur — analyzes the impact of Syrian refugees on Jordan’s economy and suggests ways that the international community can receive more international support. The issue of global responsibility-sharing for refugees was a major theme of the World Refugee Council’s (WRC) A Call to Action report in 2019. Access the report here.

Journal Article: ‘Unprincipled and Unrealized: CEDAW and Discrimination Experienced in the Context of Migration Control’

This article analyses the CEDAW Committee’s General Recommendations and Views on individual complaints, to evaluate its contribution to the elimination of discrimination against women experienced in the context of migration control. It argues the Committee’s General Recommendations contain a range of doctrinal and empirical shortcomings. Access the paper here.

Journal Article: ‘Camps and Counterterrorism: Security and the Remaking of Refuge in Kenya’

This article examines the enduring entanglements of counterterror governance and refugee encampment in Kenya. The specter of “terrorism” and its supposed remedy—“counterterrorism”—have loomed large in Kenyan politics since the 1990s and gained further traction since the country’s military invasion and occupation of southern Somalia in 2011. Few other spaces have been associated as persistently with threats to Kenya’s national security and sovereignty as the Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in the country’s Northern belt, which are popularly depicted as “wombs” of terror. Access the article here.

Journal Article: ‘Camp Methodologies: The “How” of Studying Camps’

This special section contributes to the growing interdisciplinary field of camp studies by examining the ways in which scholars methodologically approach and study camps and camp-like spaces. The characteristics of camps, which render them of interest to scholars in the first place, simultaneously generate methodological, ethical, and practical questions for research. Access the article here.

Journal Article: ‘Following Richard Burton: Religious Identity and Difference in Colonial Sindh’

Richard Burton, soldier, ethnographer, translator, philologist, and colonial intelligence-gatherer spent the early years of his career in Sindh and was the first and primary colonial ethnographer of Sindh. Burton was clearly attracted to the ecumenical complexity of Sindhi religious practice but was hostile in his descriptions of Sindh’s Hindus whom he viewed as a corrupt and scheming “race,” subjecting the Muslims of the province to their tyranny. Access the paper here.

Journal Article: ‘Community Engagement in Pastoralist Areas: Lessons from the Public Dialogue Process for a New Refugee Settlement in Turkana, Kenya’

Large-scale development interventions have long failed to accommodate the needs and preferences of pastoralists or the systems of resource governance and land tenure upon which they rely. However, advocates of rights-based approaches to development emphasize the importance of community participation in planning and agenda-setting, and in Kenya, public participation is a formal constitutional requirement for government decision-making processes.  Access the article here.

Journal Article: ‘Humanizing Studies of Refuge and Displacement’

Dehumanizing politics and sentiments towards refugees and other migrants are noxious and widespread today. The rise of nativist, right-wing, and anti-asylum populism in Europe and its settler colonial extensions in North America and the Pacific are escalating an existing system of racialized inequality, dispossession, and differential mobility that has grown out of histories of empire and a militarized liberal world order built on racial capitalism. Access the article here.

Journal Article: ‘This Place is a Bus Stop: Temporalities of Zimbabwean Migrant Men Waiting at a Zimbabwe-South Africa Border Transit Shelter’

This article explores how temporal disruptions at international borders shape immobile bodies’ experiences and modes of waiting by focusing on irregular Zimbabwean migrant men at the Zimbabwe-South Africa border who have arrived in South Africa but are restricted in moving further into the interior. It argues that waiting is a component of both governing these migrants as well as them seeking agency through the relationship between time, space and humanitarianism in this border regime. This shows how immobilities at ‘carceral junctions’ can be conceptualised as in time as much as in space. The article is based upon four months of ethnographic field research at the ‘I Believe in Jesus Church’ men’s shelter in the border town of Musina. Access the article here.

New Book: Migration in West Africa: IMISCOE Regional Reader (open-access)

This open access book provides an analysis of migration-related issues in the West African sub-region. Offers policy recommendations for the challenges and harnessing the benefits of migration. Provides a historical analysis of many migration-related issues. Examines the dynamics and impacts of international migration within and from West Africa. Access the book here.

New Book: The Refugee System: A Sociological Approach

Some people facing violence and persecution flee. Others stay. How do households in danger decide who should go, where to relocate, and whether to keep moving? What are the conditions in countries of origin, transit, and reception that shape people’s options? This incisive book tells the story of how one Syrian family, spread across several countries, tried to survive the civil war and live in dignity. This story forms a backdrop to explore and explain the refugee system. Departing from studies that create siloes of knowledge about just one setting or “solution” to displacement, the book’s sociological approach describes a global system that shapes refugee movements. Access the book here.

New Book: The Kurdish Women’s Movement: History, Theory, Practice

The Kurdish women’s movement is at the heart of the most exciting revolutionary experiment in the world today: Rojava. Forged over decades of struggle, most recently in the fight against ISIS, Rojava embodies a radical commitment to ecology, democracy, and gender equality. Access the book here.

New Book: Refugees, Self-Reliance, Development: A Critical History

This critical history of refugee self-reliance assistance brings new dimensions to refugee and international development studies. The promotion of refugee self-reliance is evident today, yet its history remains largely unexplored, with good practices and longstanding issues often missed. Access the book here.

New Book: The Alevis in Modern Turkey and the Diaspora: Recognition, Mobilisation and Transformation

This book explores the struggles of a minority group – Alevis – for recognition and representation in Turkey and the diaspora. It examines how they mobilize against state practices and claim their rights, while at the same time negotiating how they define themselves. The authors offer a conceptual framework to study minorities by looking at both structural and agency-related factors in resisting state pressure and mobilizing for their rights. Access the book here.

New Book: Queer and Trans African Mobilities: Migration, Asylum and Diaspora

Recent years have seen increased scholarly and media interest in the cross-border movements of LGBT persons, particularly those seeking protection in the Global North. While this has helped focus attention on the plight of individuals fleeing homophobic or transphobic persecution, it has also reinvigorated racist tropes about the Global South. In the case of Africa, the expansion of anti-LGBT laws and the prevalence of hetero-patriarchal discourses are regularly cited as evidence of an inescapable savagery. The figure of the LGBT refugee – often portrayed as helplessly awaiting rescue – reinforces colonial notions about the continent and its peoples.  Queer and Trans African Mobilities draws on diverse case studies from the length and breadth of Africa, offering the first in-depth investigation of LGBT migration on and from the continent. The collection provides new insights into the drivers and impacts of displacement linked to sexual orientation or gender identity and challenges notions about why LGBT Africans move, where they are going and what they experience along the way. Access the book here.

New Book Chapter: ‘Hanging in the Air: The Experiences of Liberian Refugees in Ghana’

The civil wars that devastated Liberia between 1989 and 2003 displaced an estimated 800,000 people internally, with more than a million people travelling to neighbouring countries in West Africa in search of protection and the opportunity to rebuild their lives. More than 15 years after the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed, tens of thousands of Liberians continue to be displaced in Liberia, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire. Whilst some have been resettled – primarily to Canada, the U.S., Australia, and European countries – most have been left ‘hanging in the air’, living in extreme poverty, marginalised from mainstream development policies and planning, and unable to either contribute to, or benefit from, efforts to rebuild peace and security in their home country. Access the chapter here.

Working Paper: ‘Social Cohesion and Refugee-Host Interactions: Evidence from East Africa’

Building upon the literature on contact theory, this paper explores the role of inter-group interaction in shaping social cohesion between refugees and host communities in East Africa. It draws upon first-hand quantitative (n=16,608) and qualitative data collected from refugees and nearby host communities in urban and camp-like contexts in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. Access the working paper here.

Policy Paper: Humanitarian Pathways for Central Americans: Assessing Opportunities for the Future

For the majority of Central Americans who are forced to flee their homes, traveling to Mexico or the United States to apply for refuge or asylum is the only option to seek international protection. To date, refugee resettlement has been used to a limited extent in the region. This report explores the role that resettlement and other humanitarian protection pathways play in addressing these needs. Access the paper here.

Policy Brief: ‘Temporary Protection Visas in Australia: A Reform Proposal’

This Policy Brief provides concrete recommendations about how to move refugees on temporary visas to permanent visas—using existing powers under the Migration Act 1958 (Cth) and minor amendments to the Migration Regulations 1994 (Cth)—as well as recommendations for people whose protection claims have not yet been assessed, or have been refused. The 17 recommendations are intended as a package of coherent and inter-related measures, rather than a suite of different options. Access the paper here.

Policy Brief: ‘Immigrant Children’s Medicaid and CHIP Access and Participation’

Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program help many children in low-income families access health care. But under federal rules, hundreds of thousands of children are ineligible due to immigration status. This brief presents U.S. and state-level estimates of immigrant children who are eligible for and participate in these programs and considers the impact of state policies that expand access to public health insurance. Access the paper here. 

Policy Brief: ‘COVID-19 and People on the Move’

COVID-19 leaves few lives and places untouched. But its impact is harshest for those groups who were already in vulnerable situations before the crisis. This is particularly true for many people on the move, such as migrants and displaced people. The disproportionate impact of the COVID- 19 pandemic on people on the move presents itself as three interlocking crises, exacerbating existing vulnerabilities.  Access the paper here.

Book Review: ‘Laura Affolter, Asylum Matters: On the Front Line of Administrative Decision-Making’

Laura Affolter’s analysis critically explores how asylum decision-making is operationalized in the Swiss Secretariat for Migration (SEM) on a daily basis. It shows us clearly that, although decision-makers have the independence to make their judgments, their decisions do not occur in a void. Access the review here.

Magazine Article: ‘Ukraine: the UK is failing to meet its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention’

The internationally agreed 1951 Refugee Convention defines who a refugee is and sets out the protection that all refugees should receive without discrimination. This includes protection from being rejected at the frontiers of states and being punished for entering a country without permission. The convention, and the broader international regime, enable people to seek protection without having to ask for permission first. Yet this is precisely what people seeking safety in the UK from the war in Ukraine are being told to do. They are required to apply for a visa – a form of permission – to enter the country. Access the article here.

Movie Series: Refugee (2022)

When a drug dealer from the Geneva Camp of Bangladesh gets involved in a spine-chilling conspiracy of the third generation of freedom fighters, it makes him keep his displeasure with his own country aside and fight to prevent a catastrophe. Access the movie series here.

Short Film: Introducing the Issues

North Star Fading is a ‘zoom comic’ by Positive-Negatives inspired by the true testimonies of four Eritrean refugees who fled their homes to make the dangerous journey across Ethiopia, Sudan and Libya to Europe. The art is by Karrie Fransman and the words by Lula Mebrahtu. Access the film here.

Short Film: Dear Habib

Dear Habib is a short animation sharing the true story of a young, unaccompanied child migrant called Habib. Co-produced by Habib himself, along with Majid Adin and PositiveNegatives. The animation brings to life the incredible challenges, and opportunities, that young unaccompanied child migrants face. Find the film here.

Blog Post: Mobility and sanctuary: How to revive asylum in Europe

In the ‘global north’, successive waves of anti-refugee policies have so eroded the institution of asylum that it almost seems lost. The EU’s response to the unprecedented number of refugees from Ukraine demonstrates what it, and the UK, can and should do for all those fleeing war and persecution. Access the post here.

Blog Post: Child narrators and their displacement: An analysis of Neelkontho Pakhir Khonje

In 1947 the independence of India came at the cost of a bloody and brutal partition of the territory. Contrary to the claims of the contemporary native politicians, the Partition not only triggered a mass-migration across the borders of Bengal and Punjab, but also created the premise for a superficial game of establishing the superiority of one religious community over the other through violence and bloodshed. Hence, the subsequent death-toll and the collective sense of loss, trauma and despair made the Partition the ‘founding trauma’ (LaCapra, 1998) for the people of the Indian subcontinent. Access the post here.

Podcast: The dangers of border technologies for refugees

How are mass surveillance, biometric data, and other high-tech border measures affecting refugees and migrants? In this episode of Fixing Aid, host Alae Ismail speaks to a Latinx community organizer and migration researchers on the use of border and surveillance technology aimed at stopping refugees and migrants from crossing European and American borders. Access the podcast here.

 Podcast: RLI Annual Conference

The Refugee Law Initiative 6th Annual Conference, on ‘Improving the Global Refugee Regime: From Theory to Practice?’, was held last month with 500+ participants from across the globe and a fantastic range of keynote and panel presentations. You can now watch the keynote presentations (from Professor Alex Aleinikoff, Professor Jane McAdam and Sana Mustafa) and most of the panel sessions. Access the podcast here.

ANNOUNCEMENTS, CAMPAIGNS, AND ALERTS

Together for Learning: Education for Refugees Campaign

This campaign is education for refugees, other forcibly displaced, and host community children and youth. Take part in the #TogetherForLearning social media challenge! Take action and create awareness about the importance of quality education and learning for refugees, other forcibly displaced, and host community children and youth. More information available here.

Mapping Refugee Law Teaching Balkans/Maghreb

As part of the RELATE (Refugee Law Teaching Support) Initiative, funded by the Global Learning and Development Centre of UNHCR, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee is undertaking a mapping research on the Balkans and the Maghreb that will serve, among other purposes, to organize future regional events and training sessions in the field of refugee law. For that reason, we would really appreciate it if you could help us to identify those institutions, universities, and legal clinics currently involved in the teaching of refugee law by sending an email providing any useful information or contacts of such actors. Email: Javier Gamarro Javier.gamarro@helsinki.hu.

Forced Migration Studies Collection

“Lived Places” has a special meaning for refugees and other displaced persons because it can refer to a remembered home, a temporary camp or settlement, or a new community— or all of these places simultaneously. Facing an uncertain future, they must negotiate with states, non-governmental and international organizations, smugglers, host communities and others in the search and struggle for home. The Forced Migration Collection is guided by the conviction that the study of displacement must be conceived and undertaken with the participation of those who have been compelled to leave their homes and communities. It will seek titles that examine forced migration from the ground up, from the lived lives of refugees, asylum-seekers and the internally displaced. We welcome submissions from authors writing about displacement from their lived experiences and from researchers focusing on narratives of individual or collective displacement. More information is available here.

The Refuge: A CYRRC Podcast

The Refuge Podcast brings together youth with refugee experience, academics, and community partners to discuss key issues affecting refugee children, youth, and families in Canada and beyond. More information available here.

Working Paper Series: ‘The Zolberg Institute Working Paper Series’

The Zolberg Institute Working Paper Series is a collection of writing on different topics relating to migration and mobility studies. The papers posted are in progress, under submission, or in press and forthcoming elsewhere.

To submit a paper for consideration in the Zolberg Institute Working Papers, please email Catherine McGahan at mcgahanc@newschool.edu. More information available here.

IN THE NEWS

UNHCR, Funding shortfall forces UNHCR to cut vital programmes in DR Congo (02 August 2022)

The Guardian, UK treatment of Afghan refugees ‘continues to be source of shame’ (15 August 2022)

Global News, Refugees fleeing Taliban in Afghanistan facing long hotel stays in Calgary (1 July 2022)

The Guardian, Dutch plans to house refugees on cruise ships described as ‘absurd’ and illegal (22 July 2022)

Aljazeera, End ‘double standards’ on refugees, UN expert urges Poland (28 July 2022)

UN News, Dozens missing after migrant boat sinks in Aegean Sea – UNHCR (10 August 2022)

The Guardian, Eritrean refugees say they are being arbitrarily detained in Ethiopian camps, (28 July 2022)

The Conversation, How displaced Syrians effectively navigated ‘border frictions’ in Lebanon and Turkey (15 August 2022)

The Guardian, Dutch plans to house refugees on cruise ships described as ‘absurd’ and illegal (22 July 2022)

Aljazeera, At least 17 Haitian refugees killed as boat capsizes off Bahamas (24 July 2022)

CTV News, With official targets unchanged, temporary immigration soars in Quebec (19 June 2022)

ReliefWeb, World Refugee Day 2022: New Ipsos survey shows greater compassion for forcibly displaced as war in Ukraine wears on(17 June 2022)

CIC News, Canada’s immigration minister wants to make good on mandate letter commitments for refugees and undocumented workers(22 July 2022)

Aljazeera, Irish scheme supports thousands of undocumented immigrants (27 July 2022)

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 and Steven Bender: vfynnbruey@athabascau.ca and benders@seattleu.edu. To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit CRN 11 Displaced Peoples