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Migration routes and strategies of young undocumented migrants in England: a qualitative perspective
Based on data from in-depth qualitative interviews with young undocumented migrants from Brazil, China, Ukraine, Zimbabwe and Kurds from Turkey, this article explores the entry strategies used by young people in relation to the UK immigration system and their undocumented status. Against a brief account of Britain's regime, the paper first examines why and how these migrants come to the UK and the ways in which they entered the country. Second, the paper explores strategies in relation to immigration status and considers: the use of different immigration statuses; the role of the asylum system in their strategies including as an attempt to regularize status or as a route to becoming undocumented when refused asylum. Finally, the paper examines the extent to which these young migrants have agency in their efforts to negotiate the complex and exclusionary immigration and asylum regime.
Unlocking protracted displacement: an Iraqi case study
The displaced from Iraq now constitute one of the largest refugee populations worldwide manifesting the evolving conditions of “protracted displacement”. Unlocking this protracted crisis of displacement requires analysis of the perceptions of solutions, durable and not-so-durable, among all stakeholders. This article focuses on the local-level perceptions of practitioners, policy-makers, and Iraqi refugees in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. It is based on desk research and interviews in the field in April and May 2011. Our findings show that the three classical durable solutions are largely unworkable for the majority of Iraqis in exile in the Middle East. Their migration is often circular and involves movement in and out of Iraq as well as across wider transnational networks in the Middle East and further afield. There is a need for an analytical shift from transitory humanitarian (emergency) assistance to fostering inclusive local assistance and accommodation to cater to the large group of Iraqi refugees who are increasingly “stuck” in host countries of the Middle East. It is worth exploring the possibility of a multi-directional approach to unlocking this prolonged crisis that taps into legal, policy, and operational opportunities.
Palestinian refugees affected by the 2011 Libyan uprising: a brief overview
This article provides a brief overview of Palestinians’ presence in Libya from the 1970s to the present, and of the multiple processes of displacement and expulsion faced by Palestinians during this period, culminating in the most recent 2011 conflict.
Conflicting missions? The politics of evangelical humanitarianism in the Sahrawi and Palestinian protracted refugee situations
This paper analyses the contradictory motivations, actions and implications of a network of American Evangelical organizations which is actively involved in humanitarian and political projects directly affecting two groups of protracted refugees in the Middle East and North Africa: Sahrawis and Palestinians. Following a brief introduction to typologies and key characteristics of ‘faith-based’ and ‘Evangelical’ humanitarian organisations, this paper examines how, why and to what effect American Evangelical groups provide relief aid to Sahrawi refugees in their Algerian-based refugee camps, and vocally advocate in favour of the Sahrawi quest for self-determination over the Western Sahara before the US Congress and the United Nations. While this first mode of Evangelical humanitarian and political intervention explicitly invokes a human rights discourse and international legal frameworks, the second case-study underscores the ways in which these same actors effectively render Palestinian refugees invisible, implicitly negating international law and UN resolutions enshrining their right to return and the right to meaningful Palestinian self-determination. Ultimately, the paper addresses the implications of these contradictory Evangelical interventions through reference to international humanitarian principles, interrogating the proposed ‘humanitarian,’ ‘political’ and ‘religious’ dynamics in such initiatives.
Paradoxes of Sahrawi refugees' educational migration: promoting self-sufficiency or renewing dependency?
Education is often prioritised by refugee children and families, as well as by their political representatives and international actors alike. This article explores the specificities of the Sahrawi refugee education system, focusing in particular on the nature, motivations and implications of Sahrawi refugee youths' educational migration to Cuba through a scholarship programme designed to promote self-sufficiency and socio-economic development in the Sahrawi refugee camps. Drawing upon interviews conducted with Cuban-educated Sahrawi refugees in Cuba and in their Algerian-based refugee camps I argue that, despite educational migration having become a central part of Sahrawi refugee children's, youths' and adults' imaginary landscapes, Sahrawi youths' educational migration to Cuba is ultimately paradoxical in nature, reshaping and reinforcing, rather than reducing, Sahrawi refugees' dependence upon Western aid providers.
Conceptualizing the land-conflict-restitution nexus: the case of Cyprus
Resolving land and property issues lies at the crux of post-conflict reconstruction and peace building strategies. Construing it as a core element in Galtung’s conception of a “positive peace” sustained by co-operation between groups and nations [3], it sits alongside truth and reconciliation commissions and war crimes tribunals in the contemporary peace building canon. The Pinhiero Principle cited above define the two specific ways in which resolution may be achieved: restitution of land and property to people forcibly displaced by violence and war (and implicitly population return), or compensation for loss (where return is impossible). Yet the protracted nature of the Cyprus case – unresolved since the 1974 Turkish invasion and division of the island - and before that the example of Palestinian dispossession, reinforce the point that resolving land issues is also one of the most intractable challenges to peace building, and is rarely successfully accomplished even where there has been proactive engagement by international actors as has been the case in Bosnia-Herzogovina (BiH).
Unlocking the protracted displacement of refugees and internally displaced persons: an overview
The protracted displacement of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) constitutes a pressing yet seemingly intractable challenge facing the international community. In countries where state fragility, conflict, and persecution have persisted for years, the majority of the world's refugees and internally displaced people live in conditions of protracted exile with little or no prospect of a durable solution to their predicament. Usually marginalised and often subject to the violation, or a lack of protection of human, economic, social, and cultural rights, well over half the world's 10 million refugees are currently to be found in protracted exile. Enduring conditions of internal displacement persist in over 40 countries including three (Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Sudan), each with over one million IDPs throughout the decade ending in 2010.
The migration industry in global migration governance
Book description: Migration has become business, big business. Over the last few decades a host of new business opportunities have emerged that capitalize both on the migrants’ desires to migrate and the struggle by governments to manage migration. From the rapid growth of specialized transportation and labour immigration companies, to multinational companies managing detention centres or establishing border security, to the organized criminal networks profiting from human smuggling and trafficking, we are currently witnessing a growing commercialization of international migration. This volume claims that today it is almost impossible to speak of migration without also speaking of the migration industry. Yet, acknowledging the role the migration industry plays prompts a number of questions that have so far received only limited attention among scholars and policy makers. The book offers new concepts and theory for the study of international migration by bringing together cross-disciplinary theoretical explorations and original case studies. It also provides a global coverage of the phenomena under study, covering migrant destinations in Europe, the United States and Asia, and migrant sending regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees: autonomy and mandate change
Book description: This exciting new text illustrates and advances the argument that International Organizations (IOs) need to be taken seriously as actors in world affairs. Bringing together an international line-up of distinguished contributors, the text examines recent theories that suggest how IOs are able to set their own policies and implement them in meaningful ways. The chapters review these theoretical positions and then present a series of case studies which focus on how these theories play out when IOs are charged with solving global problems: including development, peacekeeping and environmental policy coordination. Examining and analysing both positive and negative examples of this independence, this text is a valuable resource on the topic of the internal workings of IOs, providing the richest and most focused textbook so far dealing with the capacity of IOs for independent action in international politics. It is essential reading for all students of international organizations.
Refugees in the Middle East: identity politics among Sahrawi, Palestinian and Aghan youth
Book description: This volume brings together ethnographers conducting research on children living in crisis situations in both developing and developed regions, taking a cross-cultural approach that spans different cities in the global North and South to provide insight and analyses into the lifeworlds of their young, at-risk inhabitants. Looking at the lived experiences of poverty, drastic inequality, displacement, ecological degradation and war in countries including Haiti, Argentina and Palestine, the book shows how children both respond to and are shaped by their circumstances. Going beyond conventional images of children subjected to starvation, hunger, and disease to build an integrated analysis of what it means to be a child in crisis in the 21st century, the book makes a significant contribution to the nascent field of study concerned with development and childhood. With children now at the forefront of debates on human rights and poverty reduction, there is no better time for scholars, policymakers and the general public to understand the complex social, economic and political dynamics that characterize their present predicaments and future life chances.
Negotiating authenticity and translocality in Oman: the "desertscapes" of the Harasiis tribe
Book description: This volume addresses the historical structures and current dynamics of Oman’s regionalization processes and their political, economic and social dimensions. It is based on an interdisciplinary and trans-regional dialogue between scholars from different social sciences and area studies such as political science, economics, management, economic and social geography, history, social anthropology and linguistics as well as Middle East/West Asian, gulf and African studies.
Rejecting authenticity in the desert landscapes of the modern Middle East: development processes in the Jiddat il-Harasiis
Book description: This volume combines ethnographic accounts of fieldwork with overviews of recent anthropological literature about the region on topics such as Islam, gender, youth, and new media. It addresses contemporary debates about modernity, nation building, and the link between the ideology of power and the production of knowledge. Contributors include established and emerging scholars known for the depth and quality of their ethnographic writing and for their interventions in current theory.
Human rights activism and migration
Book description: The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration provides a complete exploration of the prominent themes, events, and theoretical underpinnings of the movements of human populations from prehistory to the present day. It includes thematic interpretations and theories of migration, as well as the significant contemporary scientific discoveries and scholarly interpretations that have reshaped the way historians and social scientists analyze and map the past.
Community based responses
Report description: Migration is a phenomenon that grows every year and affects in some way virtually every country. Many migrants move voluntarily – looking perhaps for economic opportunities, or for different lifestyles. But for others, migration is not a choice. More and more people are forced to flee their homes and communities because of many factors including conflicts, persecution, disasters and poverty. It is their plight that is the focus of the 2012 World Disasters Report.
Between Pyongyang and Singapore: the Rwandan state, its rulers and the military
Book description: The future of Rwanda lies in its diversity, in how this diversity is handled and prioritised. With a vast array of first-hand experience, the contributors offer insights on Rwandan social, military, civil society, governance and economic matters to weave a picture that is as compelling as it is balanced. Assessing Rwanda's future beyond its 'development plan', they discuss the implications of decisions taken today and their future role in the region. In a diversified, incisive and comprehensive series of responses that are neither 'for' nor 'against' the current political regime, they ask fundamental questions that will shape the future of this tiny mountain country in central Africa.
Human rights and forced migration
Book description: Comprehensive human rights textbook which takes politics students beyond a legal approach to human rights, combining coverage of core approaches with detailed studies of key issues; Makes extensive use of case studies to illustrate key points and emphasize the practical and political dynamics of human rights; Takes a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing together contributions from political and social scientists, philosophers, lawyers, and policy experts; Ensures that students are up to date with cutting edge research in a constantly evolving field; Includes practical chapters and well-received pedagogical features.
Insulating the developing classes
Book description: Aid organizations have their origins in a desire to help the world’s poorest and most marginalized people – but are they reaching these people? Factors are coming together that put pressure on NGOs working in development: the economic crisis, the growing conditionality of aid, and increased competition for funding between NGOs. This creates ‘a perfect storm’ driven by a new language of aid, policies and procedures leaving poor women behind. This book explores how international NGOs are navigating these rapid changes that challenge their role and legitimacy, values, and overall purpose. The writers see a crisis for NGOs as they are pulled further from those they claim to work with; they also explore alternative ways of conceptualizing development, and of bringing about improvements for the most marginalized and increasingly ‘unheard’ women. This book is essential reading for development practitioners and those working on women’s rights, as well as NGO staff , researchers, and students of development studies.
Shelter and settlement for forcibly displaced people
Book description: The International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home is the first international reference work for housing scholars and professionals, that uses studies in economics and finance, psychology, social policy, sociology, anthropology, geography, architecture, law, and other disciplines to create an international portrait of housing in all its facets: from meanings of home at the microscale, to impacts on macro-economy. This comprehensive work is edited by distinguished housing expert Susan J. Smith, together with Marja Elsinga, Ong Seow Eng, Lorna Fox O'Mahony and Susan Wachter, and a multi-disciplinary editorial team of 20 world-class scholars in all. Working at the cutting edge of their subject, liaising with an expert editorial advisory board, and engaging with policy-makers and professionals, the editors have worked for almost five years to secure the quality, reach, relevance and coherence of this work. A broad and inclusive table of contents signals (or tesitifes to) detailed investigation of historical and theoretical material as well as in-depth analysis of current issues. This seven-volume set contains over 500 entries, listed alphabetically, but grouped into seven thematic sections including methods and approaches; economics and finance; environments; home and homelessness; institutions; policy; and welfare and well-being. Housing professionals, both academics and practitioners, will find The International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home useful for teaching, discovery, and research needs.
The governance of international migration: gaps and ways forward
Book description: Contemporary states are ambivalent about the global governance of migration: They desire more of it because they know they cannot reach their goals by acting alone, but they fear the necessary compromise on terms they may not be able to control and regarding an issue that is politically charged. Currently, there is no formal, coherent, multilateral institutional framework governing the global flow of migrants. While most actors agree that greater international cooperation on migration is needed, there has been no persuasive analysis of what form this would take or of what greater global cooperation would aim to achieve. The purpose of this book, the Transatlantic Council on Migration’s fifth volume, is to fill this analytical gap by focusing on a set of fundamental questions: What are the key steps to building a better, more cooperative system of governance? What are the goals that can be achieved through greater international cooperation? And, most fundamentally, who (or what) is to be governed?
The implications of global migration governance for UNHCR
Book description: The “migration-displacement nexus” is a new concept intended to capture the complex and dynamic interactions between voluntary and forced migration, both internally and internationally. Besides elaborating a new concept, this volume has three main purposes: the first is to focus empirical attention on previously understudied topics, such as internal trafficking and the displacement of foreign nationals, using case studies including Afghanistan and Iraq; the second is to highlight new challenges, including urban displacement and the effects of climate change; and the third is to explore gaps in current policy responses and elaborate alternatives for the future.