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The history of global migration governance
This working paper on the history of global migration governance has been written in the context of discussions on the Global Compact for Migration. The paper is aimed at a policy-making and diplomatic audience, and seeks to situate the current discussions within a historical context and enable the trajectory of the institutional architecture relating to migration governance to be better understood by all parties to the negotiations. It traces the evolution of migration institutions over the last 100 years and highlights key turning points that have enabled to pace of institutional developments to accelerate in recent years. It argues that one of the great challenges of global migration governance has been its fragmentation, and concludes with a series of recommendations about how policy-makers can manage fragmentation in a way that promotes international cooperation.
From bottom-up to top-down: the ‘pre-history’ of refugee livelihoods assistance from 1919–1979
This article draws upon grey literature and archival materials to compare and contrast refugee livelihoods assistance in the interwar period (1919–39) and the post-war period (1945–79). It argues that the interwar period featured ‘bottom-up’ policies and practices of the League of Nations, while the post-war period was characterized by technocratic, authoritarian approaches to refugee livelihoods and development by institutions such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Refugee livelihoods were incorporated and accommodated for as a central element of League relief efforts before World War II, but the implementation of similar assistance practices in the following period excluded refugees’ own livelihoods strategies and skills. The article concludes by discussing the relevance of further historical research in Refugee Studies as the current use of the term ‘innovation’ is ahistorical, and many contemporary livelihood practices operating under the auspices of ‘innovation’ have in reality been employed since the beginning of the international refugee regime.
Refugee-run organisations as partners in development
Incorporating refugee-run organisations into development programmes, potentially as implementing partners, provides a means to capitalise on refugees’ skills, reach refugees who may not be affiliated with international organisations, and take steps to close the relief-development gap in protracted refugee situations.
Book review: The Concerned Women of Buduburam: Refugee Activists and Humanitarian Dilemmas
Book: The Concerned Women of Buduburam: Refugee Activists and Humanitarian Dilemmas, by Elizabeth Holzer. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2015. viii + 200pp. $69.95. ISBN 978 0 8014 5690 9. Refugees’ excision from their state of citizenship normally results in their political marginalisation in their hosting state – that is, although they are physically within the sovereignty and territory of a host country, they do not belong to its juridico-political structures. As politically disenfranchised non-citizens, refugees are not expected to be politically vocal and strategic during their exile. In part these perceptions can be attributed to the dearth of comprehensive books that focus on the political lives of people inside refugee camps, with the exception of some seminal works (for example, Turner 2010; Agier 2011). The Concerned Women of Buduburam: Refugee Activists and Humanitarian Dilemmas by Holzer is a major contribution that seeks to address this gap. The author takes up the 2008 demonstrations led by a group called ‘The Liberian Refugee Women with Refugee Concerns’ (the Concerned Women) as her central topic. These protests took place inside Buduburam refugee camp - a long-standing residence for Liberian refugees in Ghana created in 1990.
Who takes advantage of mobility? Exploring the nexus between refugees’ movement, livelihoods and socioeconomic status in West Africa
This article explores the nexus between mobility, livelihoods, and socioeconomic status of refugees in the Buduburam refugee settlement in Ghana. Currently, refugee livelihoods are increasingly characterized by multi-directional movement and multi-locality, coupled with complex social networks. Given the relative freedom of movement for refugees in Ghana and the subregion, certain groups in Buduburam were engaged in mobile livelihoods, including cross-border trading of cell phones, used clothing, and jewelery across West Africa. Given these ‘glorious’ examples, promoting refugees’ movement is seen by the UN refugee regime as an important means of enabling their access to sustainable livelihoods in the subregion. However, this research reveals that mobile refugee entrepreneurs were predominantly well-to-do individuals with a robust asset profile, primarily because engaging in mobile economic strategies requires substantial resources. Conversely, for the majority of ‘ordinary’ refugees, these kinds of mobile livelihoods were not feasible due to a lack of access to the necessary capital or assets; rather, these poorer refugees survived by combining sedentary subsistence within the settlement. Given the different degrees of access to mobility, the article highlights the risks of over-emphasizing mobility as a panacea for refugees’ economic plights.
The changing borders and borderlands of Syria in a time of conflict
This article aims at a better understanding of the changing nature of borders in warring Syria. Contrary to much media commentary, the Syrian uprising and the subsequent conflict have not been about territorial claims. In 2011, the borders of Syria were de facto pacified and, with the important exception of the border with Israel, were accepted as the legitimate boundaries of the Syrian state. This, however, does not contradict the fact that the unfolding of the Syrian uprising has had deep transformative effects on the borders of the country. Their nature, functions and management have significantly evolved since the uprising first broke out. In 2017, these borders no longer delineate a coherent territory under the control of a unique and somehow cohesive actor: the state. The ongoing territorial and political fragmentation of the country into territories controlled by different armed parties has given rise to multiple forms of control over the Syrian border that reflect the outcome of the armed confrontation. This article analyses the transformations of the borders from the outer boundaries of a state that exercises its sovereignty over its territory and delivers state functions and public goods to its citizens to a spatial envelope in which competing internal legitimacies operate. It also explores the new dynamics of the borders in relation with Syria's neighbours and the international order.
The humanitarian-architect divide
Humanitarians and architects can fail to find a common language, characterising each other in schematic terms. It is time to bridge the divide and encourage greater collaboration between these professions. By learning from each other’s way of thinking they may also become more relevant to displaced people seeking shelter.
Resettlement
This issue of FMR looks at some of the modalities and challenges of resettlement in order to shed light on debates such as how – and how well – resettlement is managed, whether it is a good use of the funds and energy it uses, and whether it is a good solution for refugees. It contains 33 articles on Resettlement, plus a mini-feature on Post-deportation risks and monitoring and four articles on other forced migration topics.
Shelter in displacement
All displaced people need some form of shelter. Whatever the type of shelter which is found, provided or built, it needs to answer multiple needs: protection from the elements, physical security, safety, comfort, emotional security, some mitigation of risk and unease, and even, as time passes, some semblance of home and community. Thirty articles in FMR 55 look at the complexity of approaches to shelter both as a physical object in a physical location and as a response to essential human needs. This issue of FMR also contains seven ‘general’ articles on other topics of forced migration.
Realising the right to family reunification of refugees in Europe
This issue paper examines family reunification for refugees as a pressing human rights issue. Without it, refugees are denied their right to respect for family life, have vastly diminished integration prospects and endure great additional unnecessary suffering, as do their family members. The Commissioner for Human Rights calls on all Council of Europe member states to uphold their human rights obligations and ensure the practical effectiveness of the right to family reunification for refugees and other international protection beneficiaries. To do so, states should (re-)examine their laws, policies and practices relating to family reunification for refugees. This issue paper contains 36 recommendations to that end.
The Myth of Self-Reliance: Economic Lives Inside a Liberian Refugee Camp
For many refugees, economic survival in refugee camps is extraordinarily difficult. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative research, this volume challenges the reputation of a ‘self-reliant’ model given to Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana and sheds light on considerable economic inequality between refugee households. By following the same refugee households over several years, The Myth of Self-Reliance also provides valuable insights into refugees’ experiences of repatriation to Liberia after protracted exile and their responses to the ending of refugee status for remaining refugees in Ghana.
Getting by or getting ahead: resettlement inputs and social capital in involuntary resettlement
This study goes beyond the conventional evaluative measurement of involuntary resettlement impacts by utilizing the institutions interventions perspective and social capital theory as tools for understanding the extent to which resettled populations in the Philippines and Indonesia are able to restore their socio-economic well-being. The paper outlines how the interplay between the resettlement inputs and social capital changed from the first year in the relocation site to several years later and how the changes provide evidence of the evolving well-being of the households. The cases examined in the study reveal that resettlement inputs and social capital work hand in hand in fostering improvement in the households’ living conditions. The research also demonstrates that the value and relevance of household social ties could be context-specific. While the Philippine case presents a ‘getting by’ picture of households’ well-being, the Indonesian case illustrates a combination of ‘getting by’ and ‘getting ahead’.
Why they are not refugees – Climate change, environmental degradation and population displacement
Increasing attention is given to the potential for environmental degradation and climate change to be instruments of population displacement. Those susceptible to displacement have been labelled “environmental refugees”. Whilst recognising the importance of protecting livelihoods, societies and human rights of people who might be displaced, the paper challenges this label. First the paper examines the derivation and origins of the label “environmental refugees”. Second the paper challenges the conceptual, normative and empirical basis for this terminology. The final section highlights the three “Rs” of “rights”, “resilience” and “resettlement” as a more proactive and comprehensive framework for responding to the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation and the challenges of displacement.
The politics of rights protection for environmentally displaced people
Drawing on empirical evidence from Bangladesh and Ethiopia, the paper challenges the largely apolitical and ahistorical conceptualisation of the nexus between climate and environmental change and population displacement. Focusing specifically on rights protection, the paper argues that the rights discourse reveals how environmental variables shaping mobility decisions are strongly mediated by national (macro) and local (micro) level structures of political and social power and disempowerment. Both current politics and migration histories shape the way in which migration policy regimes are conceived and framed, and how rights are articulated for those susceptible to displacement in a context of environmental stress and climate change. By analysing these political conditions we can better appreciate the dominant ”hinge points” of power and the paradox that governments of highly impacted countries resist the provision of legal and normative frameworks to protect those who are displaced.
UNHCR’s origins and early history: agency, influence, and power in global refugee policy
This article assesses the role and functions of UNHCR during its formative years and explores its agency, influence, and use of power in global refugee policy. During most of the Cold War, UNHCR’s first four high commissioners employed delegated authority and expertise on refugee law and protection, thereby convincing states of the Office’s usefulness to international stability and ensuring its survival, growth, and power. It concludes by arguing that the Office should use the lessons of this early period of its history to explore ways to exercise similar attributes today.
Finding space for protection: an inside account of the evolution of UNHCR’s urban refugee policy
This article examines the evolution of UNHCR’s urban refugee policy from the mid-1990s to the present. It focuses on the complex and contested nature of the policymaking process, analyzing the roles that internal and external stakeholders have played in it. At the same time, the article identifies and examines key developments in UNHCR’s operational environment that drove and constrained policymaking in this domain. The article is written from the perspective of a former UNHCR staff member who was substantively engaged in urban refugee policy.
Refuge: Transforming a Broken Refugee System
Europe is facing its greatest refugee crisis since the Second World War, yet the institutions responding to it remain virtually unchanged from those created in the post-war era. As neighbouring countries continue to bear the brunt of the Syrian catastrophe, European governments have enacted a series of ill-considered gestures, from shutting their borders to welcoming refugees without a plan for their safe passage or integration upon arrival. With a deepening crisis and a xenophobic backlash in Europe, it is time for a new vision for refuge. Going beyond the scenes of desperation which have become all-too-familiar in the past few years, Alexander Betts and Paul Collier show that this crisis offers an opportunity for reform if international policy-makers focus on delivering humane, effective and sustainable outcomes - both for Europe and for countries that border conflict zones. Refugees need more than simply food, tents and blankets, and research demonstrates that they can offer tangible economic benefits to their adopted countries if given the right to work and education. An urgent and necessary work, Refuge sets out an alternative vision that can empower refugees to help themselves, contribute to their host societies, and even rebuild their countries of origin. [Published in the US and Canada as 'Refuge: Rethinking Refugee Policy in a Changing World' by Oxford University Press.]
Implementation of the 2015 Council Decisions establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and of Greece
This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the LIBE Committee, examines the EU’s mechanism of relocation of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to other Member States. It examines the scheme in the context of the Dublin System, the hotspot approach, and the EU-Turkey Statement, recommending that asylum seekers’ interests, and rights be duly taken into account, as it is only through their full engagement that relocation will be successful. Relocation can become a system that provides flexibility for Member States and local host communities, as well as accommodating the agency and dignity of asylum seekers. This requires greater cooperation from receiving States, and a clearer role for a single EU legal and institutional framework to organise preference matching and rationalise efforts and resources overall.
Research in Brief: Decriminalising ‘Humanitarian Smuggling’
This research brief summarises the legal and policy findings from the RSC Working Paper no. 119, "The ‘humanitarian smuggling’ of refugees: criminal offence or moral obligation?" It outlines the concept of ‘humanitarian smuggling’, and then critiques smuggling prohibitions at the international and the EU levels. It argues that these prohibitions are overbroad and vague, failing to meet basic requirements of the rule of law. Moreover, they criminalise acts that fall outside the law’s stated purpose, acts that are often ethically defensible. Finally, the brief analyses existing proposals to improve the framework governing smuggling and provides additional recommendations to decriminalise ‘humanitarian smugglers’.
Transnationalizing the Arabian Peninsula: Local, regional and global dynamics
This seventh issue of 'Arabian Humanities' aims to explore the processes of regionalisation and globalisation in the Arabian Peninsula by focusing the analysis on the oil-exporting countries that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). We decided to examine the dynamics of extraversion and integration of their economies, societies, cultures and political systems through the lens of “transnationalism”.