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Towards a soft law framework for the protection of vulnerable irregular migrants
Since the 1980s, an increasing number of people have crossed international borders outside of formal, regularised migration channels, whether by land, air or sea. Policy debates on these kinds of movements have generally focused on security and control, to the neglect of a focus on rights. In a range of situations, though, irregular migrants, who fall outside of the protection offered by international refugee law and UNHCR, may have protection needs and, in some cases, an entitlement to protection under international human rights law. Such protection needs may result from conditions in the country of origin or as a result of circumstances in the host or transit countries. However, this article argues that, despite the existence of international human rights norms that should, in theory, protect such people, there remains a fundamental normative and institutional gap in the international system. Rather than requiring new hard law treaties to fill the gap, the article argues that a ‘soft law’ framework should be developed to ensure the protection of vulnerable irregular migrants, based on two core elements: firstly, the consolidation and application of existing international human rights norms into sets of guiding principles for different groups; secondly, improved mechanisms for inter-agency collaboration to ensure implementation of these norms and principles. The article suggests that learning from the precedent of developing the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, and its corresponding institutional framework, could be particularly instructive in this regard.
Advocating multi-disciplinarily in studying complex emergencies: the limitations of a psychological approach to understanding how young people cope with prolonged conflict in Gaza
The paper looks at the limitations and strengths of using the A-cope questionnaire for measuring strategies for coping with prolonged conflict by Palestinian young people in Gaza. The scale was administered to young people between the ages of 8 and 17. The results show some gender differences in coping strategies. However, some items on the subscales are not relevant for Muslim societies or societies in situations of prolonged conflict. The authors suggest that combining an anthropological contextual perspective and qualitative data with psychological instruments is an effective way of addressing the limitations of using a single quantitative method of assessment in non-Western complex social and cultural settings.
Animal reintroduction projects in the Middle East: conservation without a human face (In: Conservation and Mobile Indigenous Peoples: Displacement, Forced Settlement, and Sustainable Development)
Conservation in the Arabian Peninsula, unlike Africa and elsewhere, does not have a long history. In other parts of the world, ideas and policies for the 'preservation of nature' and the conservation of plant and animal species were exported with the colonial administrations of, mainly, France and Great Britain. The Arabian Peninsula, however, was never a 'colony' of a Western power. Its neo-colonial period, which might have served to develop such an interest, was very short, and only lasted a few decades between the ends of the two World Wars. In addition, its mainly arid land mass was not suitable as a wooded reserve. Furthermore, it had few species of large mammals, making it unattractive for the development of wildlife reserves. Conservation and eco-tourism were therefore largely irrelevant in the Arabian Peninsula for most of the twentieth century. Only as the millennium began to draw to a close did a particular form of conservation - animal reintroduction - manifest itself in the region. Without the colonial baggage most other parts of the world had to carry, these conservation projects should have been able to avoid the mistakes and pitfalls that plagued similar efforts in other regions. That, sadly, has not been the case.
Adapting to multinational oil exploration: the mobile pastoralists of Oman (In: Mitteilungen des SFB Differenz und Integration: Nomadismus aus der Perspektiveder Begrifflichkeit)
In this study Professor Chatty examines the ways in which pastoral nomadic communities in the Middle East have been able to negotiate economic and livelihood successes out of a state of ‘neglect’. She briefly describes the ways some nomadic pastoral groups (Bedouin) in Northern Arabia have been able to manipulate government ‘neglect’ into economic successes. She then examines the situation in Oman, where a different state policy was enacted. Determined to provide social benefits to the nomadic pastoral communities of the Central Desert without forcing them to settle, the government of Oman extended basic health, education and social services to these communities. These services, she argues, gave the isolated and remote nomadic pastoral communities in the country a breather, a space in which to catch up with the rest of the rural population. However in spite of this radical policy, it has become clear two decades later, that the nomadic community has been, in effect, neglected in comparison with the rest of the citizens of the country. It is the lack of a meaningful relationship with the oil companies whose concession areas cover their traditional tribal lands, which has highlighted the fundamental disadvantage of a significant stakeholder group. However, today, with international pressure for accountability and transparency among the multinational oil companies, the call has been heard for socially sound investment policy and concern with respecting human rights. This has given these nomadic communities a new voice and leverage in demanding sound social investment policies from the government and the oil companies for themselves and their communities in the deserts of Oman.
Disseminating findings from research with Palestinian children and adolescents
For more than half a century Palestinian children and their care givers have lived a temporary existence in the dramatic and politically volatile landscape of the Middle East. These children have been captive to various sorts of stereotyping, both academic and popular. They have been projected, as have their parents and grandparents, as passive victims without the benefit of international protection. And they have become the beneficiaries of numerous humanitarian aid packages based on the Western model of child development and the psychosocial approach to intervention. In January 1999, a research project examining the impact of prolonged forced migration and armed conflict on the lives of Palestinian children and young people was initiated in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. The project had several goals. One was to bridge the theoretical and applied divide common to much of the research directed at Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. Another was to test and challenge some of the Western medical and developmental assumptions concerning child and adolescent development. A third was to engage in multi-disciplinary, participatory research to draw out the similarities and differences between Palestinian refugee communities separated for more than 50 years by the national borders of different states.