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Refugee Economies: Forced Displacement and Development
Refugees have rarely been studied by economists. Despite some pioneering research on the economic lives of refugees, there remains a lack of theory and empirical data through which to understand, and build upon, refugees' own engagement with markets. Yet, understanding these economic systems may hold the key to rethinking our entire approach to refugee assistance. If we can improve our knowledge of the resource allocation systems that shape refugees' lives and opportunities, then we may be able to understand the mechanisms through which these market-based systems can be made to work better and turn humanitarian challenges into sustainable opportunities. This book adopts an inter-disciplinary approach, based on original qualitative and quantitative data on the economic life of refugees, in order to begin to build theory on the economic lives of refugees. It focuses on the case of Uganda because it represents a relatively positive case. Unlike other governments in the region, it has taken the positive step to allow refugees the right to work and a significant degree of freedom of movement through it so-called 'Self-Reliance Strategy'. This allows a unique opportunity to explore what is possible when refugees have basic economic freedoms. The book shows that refugees have complex and varied economic lives, often being highly entrepreneurial and connected to the global economy. The implications are simple but profound: far from being an inevitable burden, refugees have the capacity to help themselves and contribute to their host societies - if we let them.
Local communities: first and last providers of protection
It is often people’s immediate community that provides the first, last and perhaps best tactical response for many people affected by or under threat of displacement. In the 23 feature theme articles in this issue of FMR, authors from around the world – including authors who are themselves displaced – explore the capacity of communities to organise themselves before, during and after displacement in ways that help protect the community. FMR 53 also includes eight ‘general’ articles on other aspects of forced migration.
Thinking ahead: displacement, transition, solutions
The new issue of FMR explores the ideas and practices that are being tried out in order to engage both development and humanitarian work in support of ‘transitions’ and ‘solutions’ for displaced people. What we need, says one author, is “full global recognition that the challenge of forced displacement is an integral part of the development agenda too”. FMR issue 52 includes 32 articles on ‘Thinking ahead: displacement, transition, solutions’, plus ten ‘general’ articles on other aspects of forced migration.
Destination: Europe
Europe is experiencing the mass movements of displaced people in a way that it has largely been immune from for decades. The manifestations of the ‘migration crisis’ are as disparate as the building of fences to stop people crossing normally peaceful borders, the deaths of people transported by smugglers in unseaworthy boats, EU political leaders bickering over a Common European Asylum System and the numbers they will or will not allow into their respective countries, and contentious responses to the disaster that continues to unfold in Syria. Alongside this we also see an upsurge of grass-roots compassion, solidarity and assistance to those whose human suffering on a grand scale in and around Europe constitutes the reality behind the rhetoric. FMR 51 includes 43 articles on ‘Destination: Europe’, plus five ‘general’ articles.
Dayton +20: Bosnia and Herzegovina twenty years on from the Dayton Peace Agreement
Twenty years on from the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement in November 1995, the consequences of conflict – including the long-term effects of displacement – are still being felt in the Western Balkans. FMR 50 examines the case of people who were displaced from and within Bosnia and Herzegovina as a result of the 1992-95 war, and reflects on the lessons that may be drawn from the successes and failures of the Agreement. FMR 50 includes 20 articles on ‘Dayton +20’, plus five ‘general’ articles.
Disasters and displacement in a changing climate
In light of the projected increase in the frequency and intensity of disasters associated with climate change, the number of people displaced in the context of disasters will inevitably rise. Existing national, regional and international legal regimes, however, currently respond to only some of the protection concerns arising from such displacement. Crafting an appropriate response will demand a cross-sectoral approach that addresses different forms of human mobility and which also recognises the local knowledge, values and beliefs of affected communities. FMR 49 includes 36 articles on ‘Disasters and displacement in a changing climate’, five articles on ‘Female genital mutilation (FGM) and asylum in Europe’, and five ‘general’ articles.
Mobilising the Diaspora: How Refugees Challenge Authoritarianism
Over half the world lives under authoritarian regimes. For these people, the opportunity to engage in politics moves outside the state's territory. Mobilising across borders, diasporas emerge to challenge such governments. This book offers an in-depth examination of the internal politics of transnational mobilisation. Studying Rwandan and Zimbabwean exiles, it exposes the power, interests, and unexpected agendas behind mobilisation, revealing the surprising and ambivalent role played by outsiders. Far from being passive victims waiting for humanitarian assistance, refugees engage actively in political struggle. From Rwandans resisting their repatriation, to Zimbabweans preventing arms shipments, political exiles have diverse aims and tactics. Conversely, the governments they face also deploy a range of transnational strategies, and those that purport to help them often do so with hidden agendas. This shifting political landscape reveals the centrality of transnationalism within global politics, the historical and political contingency of diasporas, and the precarious agency of refugees.
Refugee economies in Kenya: preliminary study in Nairobi and Kakuma camp
This working paper is based on preliminary fieldwork in Kenya conducted as part of ‘Refugee Economies’ research led by the Humanitarian Innovation Project based at the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC). The research strand of refugee economies at the RSC is driven by an imminent need to better understand and support the economic lives of refugees. Given today’s daunting challenges, with more people displaced than at any time since the Second World War, it is imperative to rethink refugee assistance and to seek ways to promote refugees’ economic potential. Pioneering work has already taken place, drawing attention to and describing key aspects of the economies that exist in refugee camps and urban areas. However, more theoretical approaches are required. Against this backdrop, the concept of refugee economies has been developed to nurture a better understanding of refugees’ economic lives and to explain variation in economic outcomes for refugees (Betts et al., forthcoming 2016). Between 2013 and 2014, the Humanitarian Innovation Project completed a pilot case study across four research sites in Uganda. Although Uganda’s treatment of refugees is not perfect, it does offer refugees a relatively high level of socio-economic freedom through its Self-Reliance Strategy. For comparative purposes, we have selected Kenya as our second case study country, since it neighbours Uganda but has more stringent refugee policies that restrict socio-economic freedom. Through a comparative analysis of Uganda and Kenya, our ultimate aim is to deepen our understanding of the economic lives of refugees vis-à-vis different regulatory environments and to accumulate more data on variation in economic consequences for refugees. We conducted initial research in Kakuma refugee camp and Nairobi in March and April 2016. This initial fieldwork focused on the most prevalent nationalities of refugees in each site, namely Somali and Congolese refugees in Nairobi, and South Sudanese, Somali and Congolese refugees in Kakuma camp. Given the limited duration of the fieldwork, its focus was on gathering qualitative data primarily from Somali, Congolese and South Sudanese refugees, exploring the following two research questions: 1. What types of livelihoods strategies are employed by refugees living in Nairobi and Kakuma refugee camp? 2. What are the potential factors that differentiate refugees’ economic lives from local host communities and amongst different refugee populations?
Sustainable cities: internal migration, jobs and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Rapid urbanisation in developing countries is a defining feature of the 21st century, driven by internal migration and population growth. How urbanisation processes are managed and the types of jobs that internal migrants can access will have a great bearing on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This policy briefing focuses on the economic integration of internal migrants arriving to cities in rapidly urbanising countries. It highlights two important SDGs, from migrants’ perspectives: the promotion of full, productive employment and decent work for all (Goal 8), and making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (Goal 11). This briefing synthesises the evidence on the impact of internal migration on migrants’ livelihoods, host cities’ development and overall poverty reduction. We assess how both migrants and ‘host’ cities can benefit from migration. We then put forward the policy instruments at city and national level that could help in achieving the SDGs.
Research in Brief: Informal versus Formal Infrastructure: Energy and water systems in the Kakuma refugee camps, Kenya
Refugees who pursue livelihoods in protracted encampment contexts are held up as exemplars of self-reliance, but their success relies on access to basic resources and infrastructure. Such amenities are often lacking, however, because refugee camps are seldom included in state infrastructural development, and resources provided by camp agencies are intended for domestic use, not livelihoods. Nonetheless, the systems of water and energy use in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camps exemplify the ways that refugees acquire the resources needed for their livelihood activities, either by creatively re-distributing resources from formal systems of humanitarian provision, or by seeking alternative sources of these basic goods. Findings show that the form of infrastructure available in a camp has implications for safety and sustainability, refugee livelihoods, and refugee-host relations. Interventions to improve resource provision and camp infrastructure must consider the various consequences for differently positioned actors.
The ‘humanitarian smuggling’ of refugees: criminal offence or moral obligation?
At a time when it is nearly impossible for refugees to reach the European Union through safe and legal channels, and human smugglers are providing one of the only means for refugees to flee persecution, should human smugglers be brought to justice, or are they bringing about justice? This research is an inquiry into the range of morally permissible actions that might be considered 'humanitarian smuggling' - those acts of the facilitation of irregular entry that are morally blameless, if not praiseworthy or even obligatory, and should not be criminalised. Turning first to legal doctrine, I argue that smuggling prohibitions at both the international and European levels are vague and overbroad, failing to enable subjects of the law to orientate their behaviour accordingly and risking the suppression of humanitarian acts. Second, drawing upon practical ethics as well as historical and contemporary examples, I begin to map the complex moral terrain of the range of ethically defensible acts of smuggling that risk criminalisation under current smuggling prohibitions. Finally, I analyse several recommendations to shrink the distance between what is legal and what is moral, arguing that at a minimum, smuggling prohibitions must be more narrowly drafted to decriminalise 'humanitarian smugglers'. I ultimately propose that the true wrongs the human smugglers worthy of criminalisation commit may indeed be more aptly punished under other offences in criminal law.
Seasonal workers and intra-corporate transferees in EU law: capital’s handmaidens?
Chapter in 'Temporary Labour Migration in the Global Era: The Regulatory Challenges', J Howe & R Owens (eds). About the book: In the global era, controversies abound over temporary labour migration; however, it has not previously been subjected to a sustained socio-legal analysis on a comparative basis, critiquing the underpinning concepts conventionally accepted as fundamental in this area. This collection of essays aims to fill that void. Complex regulatory challenges arise from temporary labour migration. This collection examines these challenges and the extent to which temporary labour migration programmes can be ethical, equitable and efficacious and so deliver decent work for workers. Whilst the tendency for migration law to divide labour law’s worker-protective mission has been observed before, the authors of the chapters comprising this collection seek not only to interrogate why and how this is so, but to go further in examining the implications and effects of a wide range of regulatory mechanisms on temporary labour migration.
The Transnational Middle East: People, Places, Borders
The Middle East has been undergoing new crises since the powerful socio-political uprisings known as the Arab Spring took place in several countries in 2011. Some countries are experiencing a long-term collapse of their political and social structures out of internal conflicts and external interventions. The Transnational Middle East posits that, in the Middle East, the development of regional dynamics, of processes and circulations of all kinds, can be documented. In this regard, the approaches it develops — ‘bottom-up’ regionalisation, ‘globalisation from below’ — allow for a better understanding of the ways in which the Middle East is part of global transformations. The book analyses how, through their practices, Middle East societies elaborate a regional space which is not institutionalised. Based on fieldwork in the Middle East, the book provides venues for further theoretical elaboration on globalisation and contemporary societies, as well as on processes of regionalisation. It draws on the emergence of genuine regional spaces of culture, art, economic activity, human circulation — which supplement and do not contradict — and other infra-national, national, or global social processes. As in other areas of the world, these transformations are to a large extent the mode of the Middle East’s insertion into globalisation. In this respect, they go against standard narratives of the supposed ‘exceptionalism’ of the region.
The Syrian Humanitarian Disaster: Understanding Perceptions and Aspirations in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey
Syria can be described as both a refuge state and a refugee producing nation. This modern historical fact has had a profound influence on the way that neighbouring states and their people have responded and reacted to the current humanitarian crisis. The international humanitarian aid regime in its 21st century incarnation has again been caught out, unprepared and curiously unresponsive to the perceptions and aspirations of both those seeking refuge and the host communities providing it. This paper sets out to explore the disparity in perceptions and aspirations among forced migrants, members of hosting communities and humanitarian aid practitioners and policymakers. It is based on fieldwork in Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan between September 2014 and September 2015.
Book Review: South–South Educational Migration, Humanitarianism and Development: Views from the Caribbean, North Africa, and the Middle East
Book: South–South Educational Migration, Humanitarianism and Development: Views from the Caribbean, North Africa, and the Middle East, by E. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Routledge (Oxford), 2015. South–South cooperation – collaboration among states and non-state actors in the global South in economic, political, cultural, and technical domains – is gaining growing attention from states, policy-makers, and academics. A recent Human Development Report titled The Rise of the South notes that: ‘The South has risen at an unprecedented speed and scale…countries of the South are collectively bolstering world economic growth, lifting other developing economies, reducing poverty and increasing wealth on a grand scale’ (2013, p.1). While much of the discussion on South–South collaboration focuses on economic and trade benefits stemming from such partnerships, cooperation among Southern actors can also create important opportunities for people to build human capital, especially through the provision of education (Bakewell, 2009, p.55). However, the literature on South–South cooperation around education remains limited, and in particular few studies have explored South–South cooperation in the context of refugees' education. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh's book is a major contribution that seeks to address this gap.
Forgotten people: former Liberian refugees in Ghana
More than three years after the cessation of refugee status for Liberian refugees, the viability of the ECOWAS integration scheme implemented as a solution for those Liberians who continued to stay in Ghana is seen to be limited.
From returnees to citizens? The case of minority repatriations to Bosnia and Herzegovina
How can we explain the variation in reintegration outcomes of forced migrants at the local level after mass displacement? Examining the case of minority repatriations to Bosnia and Herzegovina, I argue that the loss of assets, such as land or housing, and some form of representation in local politics as a result of displacement are critical in answering this question. Large-scale displacement frequently entails seizing political and economic power from the displaced and concentrating it in the hands of a small elite. Based on field research in the municipality of Prijedor, I argue that reintegration thus essentially constitutes a process of redistributing political and economic power to the benefit of returnees. The key mechanisms of change facilitating reintegration that I identify in this study are intra-elite competition, international coercion, and an erosion of the dominating elite’s power base. The political-economy approach that I advance in this study has implications for both repatriation theory and policy. First, the introduction of a wider set of causal mechanisms furthers our understanding of the process of repatriation and why it takes place. Second, it cautions against assuming that eradicating the causes of flight and restoring some form of protection against their re-occurrence will suffice to facilitate reintegration after large-scale displacement.
Refugees’ Right to Work and Access to Labor Markets – An Assessment. Part II: Country Cases
For refugees, the right to work is vital for reducing vulnerability, enhancing resilience, and securing dignity. Harnessing refugees’ skills can also benefit local economic activity and national development. But there are many obstacles. Based on a sample of 20 countries hosting 70 percent of the world’s refugees, this study investigates the role and impact of legal and normative provisions providing and protecting refugees’ right to work within the 1951 Refugee Convention as well as from the perspective of nonsignatory states. Three metrics analyze the principle determinants of the right to work and labor market access: refugee and employment law, policies and practices that facilitate or constrain the right to work, and mediating socioeconomic conditions. Overall the study finds remarkable diversity in legal provisions and constraints on refugees’ right to work. A restrictive approach to the right to work prevails, and most states are reluctant to ease these restrictions. The majority of refugees work in the informal sector, but under much less satisfactory and more exploitative conditions compared with nationals. Informal labor markets are also constrained in countries with fragile economies which often host large numbers of refugees. Based on its findings, the study concludes that more national and international coordination is required, multiple actors should share in the responsibility to deliver decent work, labor market policies as well as training and education should be harnessed to support sustainable livelihoods, and refugee social capital should be more effectively engaged.
Refugees’ Right to Work and Access to Labor Markets – An Assessment. Part I: Synthesis
For refugees, the right to work is vital for reducing vulnerability, enhancing resilience, and securing dignity. Harnessing refugees’ skills can also benefit local economic activity and national development. But there are many obstacles. Based on a sample of 20 countries hosting 70 percent of the world’s refugees, this study investigates the role and impact of legal and normative provisions providing and protecting refugees’ right to work within the 1951 Refugee Convention as well as from the perspective of nonsignatory states. Three metrics analyze the principle determinants of the right to work and labor market access: refugee and employment law, policies and practices that facilitate or constrain the right to work, and mediating socioeconomic conditions. Overall the study finds remarkable diversity in legal provisions and constraints on refugees’ right to work. A restrictive approach to the right to work prevails, and most states are reluctant to ease these restrictions. The majority of refugees work in the informal sector, but under much less satisfactory and more exploitative conditions compared with nationals. Informal labor markets are also constrained in countries with fragile economies which often host large numbers of refugees. Based on its findings, the study concludes that more national and international coordination is required, multiple actors should share in the responsibility to deliver decent work, labor market policies as well as training and education should be harnessed to support sustainable livelihoods, and refugee social capital should be more effectively engaged.
Safe and voluntary refugee repatriation: from principle to practice
The article discusses the principles of voluntariness, safety, and dignity in the context of refugee repatriation. It begins by setting out the applicable legal framework, and discusses how that framework has been elaborated upon and refined since 1951. The article then discusses how the principles of voluntariness, safety, and dignity have, in practice, been applied (or, in a few unfortunate cases, ignored). After noting that we are now living in an era of protracted refugee emergencies, the article concludes with a number of recommendations regarding alternatives to repatriation and the conditions under which repatriation can take place without offense to the principles of voluntariness, safety, and dignity.