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Education, migration and internationalism: situating Muslim Middle Eastern and North African students in Cuba
Since the 1970s, thousands of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) students have been amongst the 40,000 recipients of a free education at universities and other further education institutions in Cuba. Drawing on interviews conducted with Muslim MENA university students in Cuba, including both citizens and refugees, I suggest that their legal statuses played central roles during their time in the Caribbean island, as well as structuring their expectations for the future. This article examines both Muslim youth experiences of, and Cuban motivations behind, an internationalist education programme that has been marginalised by both academics and policy-makers alike. Further, it explores and contextualises these students' perceptions of life in Cuba throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and of the conditions in their places of origin, which in many cases are refugee camps or hosting countries. In addition to offering these individuals a further education with an aim of enhancing self-sustainability in their ‘home’ countries/spaces, I propose that this programme is a clear alternative, and even a challenge, to the way in which the education of foreign students is structured and managed elsewhere by states and institutions driven by different socio-economic and political priorities.
Muslim asylum-seekers and refugees: negotiating politics, religion and identity in the UK
In the current geopolitical context, religion, nationality and country of origin have increasingly become intertwined and politicized in relation to asylum, both as policy and as personal experience. Based on interviews conducted in the UK with a range of Middle Eastern Muslim asylum-seekers and refugees, this article proposes that regional and religious identity markers have grown to dictate interactions, be they real or imagined, with the host community. Throughout the article we explore the nature of changes in religious identity, identification and practice since interviewees applied for asylum in the UK. We also highlight the significance of a range of gendered factors and experiences, including childhood and growing up in the UK, effective masculinity and un/productive parenthood, in negotiating transformative political and legal realities. More broadly, our research suggests that UK-based Muslim asylum-seekers from the Middle East find themselves exposed to three intersecting vulnerabilities: firstly, their uncertain legal status; secondly, their voluntary or imposed religious identification as ‘Muslims’; and lastly, their exclusion from established Muslim communities in the UK.
Representing Sahrawi refugees’ ‘educational displacement’ to Cuba: self-sufficient agents or manipulated victims in conflict?
Mainstream accounts of refugee women and children have habitually portrayed their objects of study as ‘generic’ passive victims of war and/or famine. In stark contrast, however, since the early 1980s Sahrawi refugee women and children have been invoked as active agents constructing and maintaining their camps. In the first part of this article I explore the nature of a selection of mutually-reinforcing images produced by the Polisario Front (the Sahrawi refugees’ ‘representatives’ and camp managers) for a European audience. Their distinctive content could appear to be diametrically opposed, and perhaps designed to offer a corrective to the ‘universalizing representational practice’ identified by Malkki (1995: 11). In the remainder of the article, however, I argue that these and other portrayals of Sahrawi refugee women and children are in essence motivated by the same political and politicized priorities as those of ‘generic’, passive and victimized ‘womenandchildren’ (Enloe 1990, 1991). Examining three apparently paradoxical accounts of one context of Sahrawi displacement (Sahrawi refugee youth’s ‘educational displacement’ to Cuba), I highlight the extent to which Sahrawi women and children are consistently, if differently, mobilized by Morocco, Polisario and members of Spanish civil society to secure support from a range of state and non-state actors. Moving away from the external projection of these images, I conclude the article by highlighting how the Cuban scholarship programme has been conceptualized and negotiated within the camps, with reference to tensions between Cuban-educated women, their families, and Polisario veterans.
Precarious residents: migration control, membership and the rights of non-citizens
This paper examines the situation of a subgroup of non-citizens found in virtually all contemporary states, what I call “precarious residents”. Precarious residents can be defined as non-citizens living in the state that possess few social, political or economic rights, are highly vulnerable to deportation, and have little or no option for making secure their immigration status. The archetypal precarious resident is the undocumented (or unlawful) migrant. However, there are many other barely tolerated individuals who also fit the appellation, such as asylum seekers (including ones whose claims have been rejected), guest workers, and individuals with temporary protection from deportation. I begin this paper by exploring the nature of precarious residence, discussing its dimensions, causes and manifestations in different national contexts. I move then to consider the human development consequences of precarious residence before exploring the question of the responsibilities of states to protect the rights and, in some cases, recognize the membership claims of these non-citizens.
A universal mandate to protect: the challenge of refugee protection
This article argues that UNHCR must preserve a careful balance between engaging in the political interests of its donors and allowing them to shape its agenda.
A new strategy for meeting humanitarian challenges in urban areas
Experience indicates that significant challenges remain across key humanitarian operational approaches relating to the needs of growing numbers of IDPs and refugees who migrate to cities. Addressing these issues more effectively will require scaling up, new tools and humanitarian guidance.
Meeting humanitarian challenges in urban areas
As humanitarian actors develop new modalities for addressing growing levels of urban displacement, a Task Force of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Working Group reviewed the changing context and the main characteristics of the challenges in question. This article is based on the findings of the Task Force.
The Deportation of Unaccompanied Minors from the EU: Family Tracing and Government Accountability in the European Return Platform for Unaccompanied Minors (ERPUM) Project
This report is the outcome of a joint effort between the University of Copenhagen and the Refugee Studies Centre to examine European governments’ plans to deport unaccompanied minors from the EU. With support from the Migration Industry Research Network, Danish Institute for International Studies, the workshop 'The deportation of unaccompanied minors from the EU: family tracing and government accountability in the European Return Platform for Unaccompanied Minors (ERPUM) project' was convened at the Refugee Studies Centre in Oxford on 3 May 2013. Its explicit aim was to subject the little-publicised ERPUM project to a comprehensive and multidisciplinary examination. The workshop consisted of two sections: first, it convened leading scholars from the disciplines of law, sociology, political science and philosophy, each addressing different aspects and challenges for the project, and thus complementing each other; and second, it featured a panel discussion with representatives from UNICEF, UNHCR and the Danish Refugee Council as well as the aforementioned speakers.
Within and Beyond Citizenship: Lived Experiences of Contemporary Membership
Within and Beyond Citizenship was the first of two international symposia convened in 2013 by Dr Nando Sigona from the University of Birmingham and Dr Roberto G Gonzales from the University of Chicago investigating the relationship between legal status, rights and belonging in contemporary diverse societies. The Oxford symposium was organised by the Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS), Oxford Institute of Social Policy (OISP) and the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC) at the University of Oxford and the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. It investigated the interplay between forms and modes of contemporary membership, migration governance and the politics of belonging. Participants discussed issues such as the position of the non-citizen in contemporary immigration and emigration states; the nexus between human mobility, immigration control, and citizenship; the tension in policy and practice between coexisting traditions and regimes of rights; the position of mixed status families in relation to the nation-state; and the intersection of ‘race’ and other social cleavages and legal status.
Refuge from Inhumanity: Enriching Refugee Protection Standards through Recourse to International Humanitarian Law
This report summarises the proceedings at the international conference 'Refuge from Inhumanity: Enriching Refugee Protection by Recourse to International Humanitarian Law' held at All Souls College, Oxford, 11-12 February 2013. The conference was jointly organised by the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, and the Refugee Law Initiative of the School of Advanced Study, University of London. This expert conference broke new ground in exploring the role of international humanitarian law (IHL) in the protection of refugees and asylum-seekers. Its seven thematic panels went beyond traditional approaches to IHL and refugee law by assessing the prospects for substantive legal interaction between the two fields. The first day of the conference explored the extent to which IHL (and international criminal law) may provide interpretative guidance in the asylum context. The second day was devoted to examining the potential of IHL for preventing refoulement to situations of armed conflict. The conference brought together exciting new contributions from more than twenty leading specialists in the fields of IHL and refugee law to take stock of recent developments in law and practice, and to cultivate new approaches to the topic. There were over 60 participants, including staff from international and national humanitarian organisations, judges, lawyers, academics and students.
South-South Humanitarianism in Contexts of Forced Displacement
This workshop report offers a thematic discussion of the main issues covered throughout the course of the international workshop on ‘South-South humanitarian responses to forced displacement’ convened by Dr. Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford in October 2012, in addition to presenting areas and questions for further research. The workshop was generously supported by the Oxford Department of International Development and Refugee Studies Centre (University of Oxford) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Policy Development and Evaluation Service (UNHCR-PDES). Dr. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh’s broader research project, South-South Humanitarianism in Contexts of Forced Displacement, is funded by an Oxford University Fell Fund Award (2012-2013).
The Arab Spring and Beyond: Human Mobility, Forced Migration and Institutional Responses
This report analyses the main themes arising from the presentations and discussions at ‘The Arab Spring and Beyond: Human Mobility, Forced Migration and Institutional Responses’ workshop organised by the International Migration Institute (IMI), Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), and Oxford Diasporas Programme on 20 March 2012. The workshop invited international scholars, practitioners and policy makers to examine the extent to which the Arab Spring has shifted both migration and forced migration dynamics and governance in North Africa and the Levant. The workshop consisted of three panels: The first panel, entitled ‘Revolution, asylum and mobility’ explored how varying processes of political, economic, and social contestation in North Africa and the Levant have affected human mobility. The second panel, entitled ‘Migration and institutional responses during the transition’ examined how events have transformed or impacted the institutional behaviour and responses of international organisations and civil society groups working in the field of migration and displacement. The final panel, entitled ‘Diaspora mobilization, transnational networks and civic society’ discussed how publics and governments in North Africa and the Levant have positioned or repositioned themselves in relation to issues of forced migration and migration.
Dana Declaration +10
Mobile indigenous peoples have sustainably managed the land they live on for centuries. However, in the name of biodiversity conservation, some have been displaced, dispossessed and expelled from their traditional territories and left destitute and culturally impoverished. While these practices have been largely discarded in rhetoric by biodiversity conservation agencies, progress in human rights observance and land restitution has lagged behind new thinking on the relationship between people and protected areas. Thus, local and national policy and institutional change in the field have not kept pace with advances in thinking at the international level; nor do they always live up to public declarations of concern for human rights. Ten years after the Dana Declaration on Mobile Peoples and Conservation was formulated in Wadi Dana, Jordan, it is time to follow up on the achievements of the past decade and consider the future.
Iraqi Protracted Displacement
Drawing on the findings of a case study on Iraqi regional displacement and on the ongoing work of IDMC on internal displacement, this workshop organised by the RSC and IDMC aimed to provide a small forum for discussion on how policymakers (specifically regional government representatives, donors and the UN), practitioners and researchers can contribute to ‘unlocking’ recurrent and protracted Iraqi displacement. This report provides a brief overview of the themes explored and goes on to present the main outcomes of the event, laying out proposals for policy development.
Iraqi Protracted Displacement (Arabic)
Drawing on the findings of a case study on Iraqi regional displacement and on the ongoing work of IDMC on internal displacement, this workshop organised by the RSC and IDMC aimed to provide a small forum for discussion on how policymakers (specifically regional government representatives, donors and the UN), practitioners and researchers can contribute to ‘unlocking’ recurrent and protracted Iraqi displacement. This report provides a brief overview of the themes explored and goes on to present the main outcomes of the event, laying out proposals for policy development.
Between Protracted and Crisis Displacement: Policy Responses to Somali Displacement
Two decades after the collapse of the Somali Republic, the country’s regions still suffer chronic political uncertainty, violence and high levels of displacement. Since 2006, protracted displacements that began in the 1990s have been overlaid by new crises associated with severe drought, political violence and governance failures. The current situation, which involves both internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees, is widely acknowledged as among the worst in the world, both in terms of the number of people affected and the extent of their humanitarian and protection needs. The aim of the workshop was to facilitate discussion about current and future policy responses. To do so, it drew on an overview of global policy on protracted displacement and a case study from Somalia.
North Africa in Transition: Mobility, Forced Migration and Humanitarian Crises
This report analyses the main themes arising from the presentations and discussions at the ‘North Africa in Transition: Mobility, Forced Migration and Humanitarian Crises’ workshop organized by the International Migration Institute and Refugee Studies Centre on 6 May 2011. The workshop provided a space for academics, practitioners and policy makers to critically engage with the evolving crises in North Africa, focusing in particular on the challenges surrounding the displacement of people in their wake, including: migrant workers from across the African continent, sub-Saharan African and Middle Eastern asylum seekers and refugees, and third-country nationals. The workshop consisted of two panels. The first examined how the revolutions and subsequent crises in North Africa are influencing different forms of mobility, displacement, and immobility in the region. The second explored the key protection and legal challenges faced by the international community in light of these large-scale displacements.
Dynamics of Conflict and Forced Migration in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
At the end of November, the RSC hosted a two-day experts workshop on conflict and forced migration in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The event was generously funded by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (DRC office) and DFID. Fifty practitioners, academics and policymakers from the DRC and beyond explored the relation between conflict, displacement, the return of populations and the interaction between armed actors and civilians. Policy suggestions to end the vicious cycle of violence, including sexual and gender-based violence and displacement emanating from FMR 36 and the workshop have been presented and discussed in a visit of RSC affiliates to the DRC in February 2011.
Dynamics of Conflict and Forced Migration in the Democratic Republic of Congo (French)
At the end of November, the RSC hosted a two-day experts workshop on conflict and forced migration in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The event was generously funded by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (DRC office) and DFID. Fifty practitioners, academics and policymakers from the DRC and beyond explored the relation between conflict, displacement, the return of populations and the interaction between armed actors and civilians. Policy suggestions to end the vicious cycle of violence, including sexual and gender-based violence and displacement emanating from FMR 36 and the workshop have been presented and discussed in a visit of RSC affiliates to the DRC in February 2011.
More labels, fewer refugees: remaking the refugee label in an era of globalization
This paper revisits the concept of refugee labelling I elaborated nearly two decades ago. In radically different conditions, the contemporary relevance and utility of the concept are re-examined and re-established. Formulated at a time of regionally contained, mass refugee migration in the south during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the paper argues that the concept still offers vital insights into the impacts of institutional and bureaucratic power on the lives of refugees in a globalized era of transnational social transformations, mixed migration flows, and the continuing presence of large scale refugee migration. The core of the paper argues that the ‘convenient images’ of refugees, labelled within a co-opting humanitarian discourse in the past, have been displaced by a fractioning of the label which is driven by the need to manage globalized processes and patterns of migration and forced migration in particular. The paper re-evaluates the concept using the three original axioms—forming, transforming and politicizing the label ‘refugee’. The core argument is that in the contemporary era: a) the formation of the refugee label reflects causes and patterns of forced migration which are much more complex than in the past, contrasting with an essentially homogeneous connotation in the past; b) responding to this complexity, the refugee label is transformed by an institutional ‘fractioning’ in order to manage the new migration; c) governments, rather than NGOs as in the past, are the pre-eminent agency in the contemporary processes of transforming the refugee label, a process driven by northern interests; d) the refugee label has become politicized by the reproduction of institutional fractioning and by embedding the wider political discourse of resistance to migrants and refugees.