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Iraq's displacement crisis: the search for solutions (special issue)
One in six Iraqis is displaced. After a conflict which has now lasted as long as the First World War over two million Iraqis are in exile and a further two million are internally displaced. Most refugees are in Syria and Jordan - which hosts the largest number of refugees per capita of any country on earth. The vast majority survive with little or no assistance from the international community. Eight million Iraqis are in need of humanitarian assistance. Insecurity prevents a robust response to humanitarian needs. The UN’s dependence on Coalition military forces means it is no longer perceived by the Iraqi people as neutral. The Government of Iraq lacks capacity to respond to the crisis and inflexible funding mechanisms deny adequate support for agencies which are better able to assist vulnerable communities.
Putting IDPs on the map: achievements and challenges (special issue)
After twelve years as Co-Director of the Project on Internal Displacement at the Brookings Institution, Roberta Cohen retired at the end of 2006. This special issue not only commemorates Roberta’s work but also takes stock. The articles explore lessons learned from trying to apply the Guiding Principles, the implications of institutional changes for the protection of IDPs and opportunities and challenges for putting the protection of IDPs into practice. The authors remind us how much progress has been made and the importance of Roberta’s contribution. However, they also warn us how much remains to be done.
Education and conflict: research, policy and practice (supplement)
Oxford University and UNICEF co-convened a conference at Oxford University on ‘Education and Conflict: Research, Policy and Practice’ on 11-12 April 2006. The conference aimed to develop a better understanding of the interrelationship between education and conflict, with contributions from theory and research, and practical field-based examples of conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction. The conference brought together representatives from UN agencies, the World Bank, bilateral organisations, donors, NGOs and academia.
Protecting and assisting the internally displaced: the way forward (supplement)
This supplement of Forced Migration Review is published at a crucial moment as the international community recognises the need to urgently address current failures in protection and assistance for internally displaced people. Articles from Jan Egeland (UN Emergency Relief Coordinator) and other key figures in the humanitarian community present a range of views on the future of the IDP regime.
Tsunami: learning from the humanitarian response (special issue)
This special issue on the Tsunami is being printed in and distributed from Sri Lanka. Published in English, Tamil, Sinhala and Bahasa Indonesia, the issue brings together local and international analyses of the effectiveness of the post-tsunami humanitarian response by key leaders of relief and recovery operations.
Protecting environmentally displaced people: developing the capacity of legal and normative frameworks
Based on evidence collected in four exemplar countries – Kenya, Bangladesh, Ghana and Vietnam – the overall aim of the study is to investigate the capacity of national legal frameworks to protect and mediate the rights of people vulnerable to environmental displacement induced by climate change.
Refugees and the international system: the evolution of solutions
Refugees represent two conflicting dimensions of international politics. On the one hand, there is the question* of realpolitik represented by the tensions which refugees create among and between states and other international actors. On the other, refugees represent a fundamental challenge to sovereignty, by forcing international actors to consider ethical principles and issues of fundamental human rights , which are part of their international obligations, over and above the interests of a tidy system of sovereign states (Skran 1988:278; Skran 1995:70-1). The history of responses to international refugee movements, and the development of legal and organisational norms to shape them, reveals a continuing concern on the part of the international system to codify, order, and make stable a process which is inherently unstable and presumed be transitory (Rogers and Copeland 1993:39). This paper traces the evolution of solutions to the refugee phenomenon, showing how these reflect the tensions between political imperatives and international humanitarian obligations (Skran 1995:71). It explores how the existence of refugees has been interpreted and re-interpreted in line with the prevailing conceptions of the political order, and how these differing interpretations have influenced international reactions to, and actions on behalf of refugees. A review of the evolution of refugee policy demonstrates how the interests and priorities of the most powerful have generally prevailed over moral obligations concerning international responsibility to assist refugees materially and to uphold their human rights in the world of states (Skran 1988:278; 1995:70).
Permanent crises? Unlocking the protracted displacement of refugees and internally displaced persons
This policy overview considers how international actors should frame protracted displacements and the search for ‘solutions’ to such crises. It draws on the findings of three case studies (Central America during the 1980s and 1990s and contemporary displacements in Somalia and Iraq) as well as wider research on protracted refugee situations and the politics of refugee ‘solutions’.
Forced migration research and policy: overview of current trends and future directions
This paper provides a strategic overview of current developments in forced migration research and policy interests, concentrating on those areas in which the RSC offers its particular expertise to policymakers. It maps current research areas and policy trends as of the end of 2009, as well as identifying areas likely to demand attention in the future (April 2010).
Local faith communities and resilience in humanitarian situations
Local Faith Communities (LFCs) engage in a range of activities across the humanitarian spectrum and are often central to strengthening resilience and reinforcing the local processes of identity and connection that comprise the social fabric of communities disrupted by disaster or conflict. There is increasing recognition of LFCs’ roles by the mainstream humanitarian community, as evidenced by emerging research and international dialogues on faith, such as the UNHCR Dialogue on Faith and Protection in December 2012. However there are a number of challenges to establishing partnerships with LFCs. The Joint Learning Initiative (JLI) on Faith and Local Communities has sought to understand the role of LFCs in strengthening resilience, as well as addressing three challenges to full engagement with LFCs: a lack of evidence regarding the impact of LFCs on individual and community resilience; a lack of trust, knowledge and capacity for such engagement; and the need for clear, implementable actions to improve partnership and the effectiveness of humanitarian response. Under the auspices of the JLI on Faith and Local Communities, the Learning Hub on Resilience, made up of 20 practitioners, academics and policymakers expert in humanitarian services and faith community, has guided a scoping report on the question of evidence for LFC contribution to resilience. This note abstracts from that report, and summarises available evidence.
Children affected by armed conflict in Afghanistan
This discussion document results from the UNICEF ROSA Children Affected by Armed Conflict (CAAC), Part One Project. It relates how millions of children in Afghanistan have been affected by conflict and today suffer from the accumulated legacy of the loss of life, upheaval, destruction of infrastructure and material possessions entailed by the war. The paper urges that research into CAAC in Afghanistan must remain a matter of priority in order to raise the profile of the situation in Afghanistan and to contribute to better-informed intervention for children.
Children and conflict in the Chittagong Hills Tract, Bangladesh
In 2001, Bangladesh celebrated its 30th birthday as an independent nation state. In comparison with other countries in South Asia, it is still a relative newcomer, and yet the journey has been anything but smooth. For over 20 years, 10% of the entire country was effectively shut down as a bloody insurgency was fought by tribal groups from the Chittagong Hill Tracts region, who felt themselves to be severely threatened by the government's construction of a national, homogenous identity around Bengali Islamic values. 30,000 people lost their lives as the politics of ethnicity and its related issues of territoriality, religion and culture within a 'one-nation' context were played out among the thickly forested hills. Only recently was an apparent resolution reached, in the shape of a Peace Accord signed by both the Bangladeshi government and tribal leaders on December 2, 1997. Since then, the government has issued numerous assurances that "Absolute peace prevails in the CHT" and that "the people living there are not only happy, but jubilant. Life has returned to normal." This report sets out the refute these notions, not merely by examining the practical impotency of the Peace Accord itself, but also by showing how factors such as displacement, terrorism, communalism, militarisation, small arms and drugs have all continued to seriously destabilise the hill tracts. Even after apparent peace has been declared on paper, conflict still persists in various forms at the micro level: between January and June 2001 alone, 36 people were killed, 219 injured and 159 arrested in the region.i This report also seeks to highlight the Government of Bangladesh's continuing responsibilities towards the children of the Chittagong Hill Tracts as outlined in Article 39 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.