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Refugee entrepreneurship in Rwanda
Entrepreneurship plays a central role in Rwanda’s approach to refugee self-reliance and economic integration. In recent years, Rwanda has made significant progress in promoting refugees’ freedom of movement, access to documentation, and right to work, thus creating a friendly environment for business development. To evaluate the opportunities and challenges of refugee entrepreneurship as a vehicle for self-reliance and economic integration in Rwanda, the Refugee Economies Programme conducted qualitative research with Burundian refugee entrepreneurs in two sites: Mahama refugee camp and the capital city of Kigali. This research brief shows how refugees take advantage of their freedom of movement to establish trade networks and engage with the Rwandan economy, explores some of the differences between refugee enterprises in Mahama and Kigali, and includes recommendations for policymakers and development and humanitarian actors for enhancing the feasibility and impact of entrepreneurship support for refugees in Rwanda.
Depression, violence and socioeconomic outcomes among refugees in East Africa: evidence from a multicountry representative survey
Background: Existing research on refugee mental health is heavily skewed towards refugees in high-income countries, even though most refugees (83%) are hosted in low-income and middle-income countries. This problem is further compounded by the unrepresentativeness of samples, small sample sizes and low response rates. Objective: To present representative findings on the prevalence and correlates of depression among different refugee subgroups in East Africa. Methods: We conducted a multicountry representative survey of refugee and host populations in urban and camp contexts in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia (n=15 915). We compared the prevalence of depression between refugee and host populations and relied on regression analysis to explore the association between violence, depression and socioeconomic outcomes. Findings: We found a high prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms (31%, 95% CI 28% to 35%) and functional impairment (62%, 95% CI 58% to 66%) among the refugee population, which was significantly higher than that found in the host population (10% for depressive symptoms, 95% CI 8% to 13% and 25% for functional impairment, 95% CI 22% to 28%) (p<0·001). Further, we observed a dose-response relationship between exposure to violence and mental illness. Lastly, high depressive symptoms and functional impairment were associated with worse socioeconomic outcomes. Conclusion: Our results highlight that refugees in East-Africa-particularly those exposed to violence and extended exile periods-are disproportionately affected by depression, which may also hinder their socioeconomic integration. Clinical implications: Given the high prevalence of depression among refugees in East Africa, our results underline the need for scalable interventions that can promote refugees' well-being.
Offshoring refugees: colonial echoes of the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership
British proposals to forcibly deport asylum seekers to Rwanda have raised fierce opposition from across the political spectrum in the UK and internationally. These proposals differ from official practices of deportation as they have developed in liberal democracies since the 1970s. There are certainly some international parallels, such as Australia’s ‘Pacific Solution’ of ‘offshoring’ asylum, which is often cited as an inspiration. Yet a much clearer precedent involving the forcible movement of people to countries where they have no personal or legal connection existed for many years in the British Empire. Colonial policies of forcible removal, relocation, displacement, and dispersal around the Empire are well established. We draw attention to these longer histories before investigating more recent cases of the dispersal of refugees within the British Empire in the twentieth century. In many cases, such forced dispersal concerned those who had been recognised as refugees who were interned and subsequently moved elsewhere in the Empire. Such policies were designed to prevent the arrival of refugees in the UK. These policies have provided inspiration for asylum practices in some postcolonial states—Israel is reported to have reached an agreement with Uganda and Rwanda to deport asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea, although these are not public. In this paper, we highlight how these colonial practices of forcible displacement of individuals inform the current agreement between the UK and Rwanda.
The meanings of internationalism: a collective discussion on Pan-African, early Soviet, Islamic Socialist and Kurdish internationalisms across the 20th century
‘Few political notions are at once so normative and so equivocal as internationalism’, wrote Perry Anderson 20 years ago. Little has changed: today too, internationalism tends to take the form of a regular exhortation to think or act beyond the border or boundary, yet its political content remains underdetermined. What do we mean when we talk about internationalism? The following discussion sought to approach this question not by returning to first principles – to a definition of internationalism that could stand outside of a given historical context – but by reconstructing different concepts of internationalism developed by a series of lesser studied political movements spanning the 20th century. Musab Younis discusses anticolonial and pan-African internationalisms of the 1920s–40s; Maria Chehonadskih interrogates the interwar Soviet internationalism of Alexander Boganov; Layli Uddin excavates the Islamic socialist activities of Maulana Bhashani; and Dilar Dirik focuses on the meanings of internationalism in the history of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement. These movements bore witness to a fundamental set of shifts in the nature of the international system as empires collapsed and new nation-states were born, while global structures of exploitation and extraction recomposed themselves in the Cold War and post-Cold War landscape. In this context, all conceived of internationalism as a fundamentally revolutionary project.
Refugee-led organisations: towards community-based accountability mechanisms
Refugee-led organisations (RLOs) have gained recognition as significant players in the local and global refugee response system. Refugees have long relied on each other for support, creating both formal associations and informal networks to meet their basic needs. However, it has taken the humanitarian sector some time to recognise the value of RLOs. The Covid-19 crisis demonstrated the importance of RLOs as they stepped up to provide crucial assistance to their fellow refugees at a time when humanitarian agencies were unable to operate at their usual capacity. RLOs and refugee-led networks are also increasingly participating in decision-making spaces and advocating for greater power and resources to be transferred to them. In this context, some RLOs have been successful in accessing donor humanitarian funding and have formed formal partnerships within the humanitarian ecosystem. For many RLOs, transitioning from smaller community-based networks to more formal structures is likely to present significant challenges. RLO leaders are already navigating dilemmas between kinship-based accountability to their beneficiaries and more rigid accountability requirements to their donors and partners. Accountability has been a key focus of the humanitarian sector since the 1990s, and has received renewed attention in the context of the localisation turn. However, there has been little discussion on how RLOs practise accountability and who RLOs are accountable to. As more humanitarian organisations and donors engage with RLOs, this article provides recommendations to humanitarian actors and donors on how to engage with RLOs while preserving RLOs’ autonomy and added value. Drawing from previous experiences in East Africa, this study urges the humanitarian sector to prioritise systems for community accountability rather than placing undue emphasis on donor accountability, in order to achieve better outcomes for affected communities.
Refugee Recognition Regime Country Profile: Lebanon
Lebanon is one of the most important countries to understand the dynamics of the refugee recognition regime. It has received a large number of displaced people, and since the arrival of Syrians, it has been the highest per capita refugee-hosting country in the world. It is, therefore, crucial to understand how displaced persons are received, how their asylum applications are assessed, and how their protection needs are met in the country. This report describes Lebanon’s refugee recognition regime and assesses UNHCR’s quality of recognition process and the quality of protection for asylum seekers and refugees. It provides an overview of existing legislation and brings together original insights from legal aid organisations, UNHCR staff, and asylum seekers and refugees.
Refugee Recognition Regime Country Profile: South Africa
This report examines South Africa’s refugee recognition regime which is typified by an individualised refugee status determination (RSD) system that sets it quite apart from other major refugee-hosting countries in Africa, whose major mode of refugee recognition is group-based. The report focuses on a twenty-year period (1998-2018) highlighting the various areas of contestation within the refugee protection space and South Africa’s adherence to its obligations, under both domestic and international law. Although extensive work has been carried out regarding the quality of RSD process in South Africa, gaps are still evident with respect to the refugee recognition institutions and their relational dynamics and how this impacts the refugee recognition regime and refugee protection generally. The report is based on desk research and original fieldwork in South Africa among various elites working in the refugee protection area as well as refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa drawn from three nationalities: Somalis, Ethiopians and Congolese from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Recognising Refugees: A Review of the Literature and Approaches (1990-2020)
This literature review focuses on research carried out on refugee recognition practices since the 1980s, with a particular emphasis on the years from 1990 to 2020. It was carried out in the initial stages of the RefMig project for our internal use, and we are now making it available more widely to other researchers. We have reviewed the literature based on a keyword search of articles published on refugee status determination, prima facie recognition, country of origin information (COI), evidential assessment and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), among others. We have focused on scholarship published in leading journals, including International Journal of Refugee Law and Journal of Refugee Studies. Most of our source material, with a few exceptions, is in English. Notwithstanding these limits, the review reflects a synthesis of key articles, book chapters and monographs, mainly published from 1990 to 2020. We analyse the literature according to the modes of recognition, actors that are involved in recognition and geographic locations where studies are conducted. In the modes of recognition, we explore two strands of literature, the first on individual refugee status determination (RSD) and the second on group recognition.
Refugees’ Access to Work Permits and Business Licences in Kenya
In Kenya, many refugees, in both urban and camp settings, engage in employment and run businesses to cover their basic needs. Kenyan legislation allows refugees to engage in gainful employment and set up businesses: refugees can apply for Class M work permits with Immigration Services and business licences with county authorities to regularise their activities. In practice, access to work permits and business licences is complicated by several barriers. This study explores the gaps that exist between policy and practice of refugee access to Class M work permits and business licences in Kenya, and identifies what support is needed to improve access to sustainable livelihoods for urban and camp refugees.
IOM’s Immigration Detention Practices and Policies: Human Rights, Positive Obligations and Humanitarian Duties
This chapter analyses IOM’s practices and policies on immigration detention from the 1990s to date, spanning a period of significant change in its approaches to detention. The chapter first distills pertinent international human rights law (IHRL) on migration-related detention, and then examines IOM’s normative statements concerning detention. It shows that while IOM generally emphasises international legal standards, it also tends to stress states’ ‘prerogative’ to detain, frame alternatives to detention (ATDs) as a desirable option rather than a legal obligation, and weave an operational role for itself, notably through assisted voluntary returns (AVRs). The chapter then interrogates IOM’s involvement in detention through four case studies. These reveal not only IOM’s changing role regarding detention, but its enduring part in a global system whereby powerful states and regions seek to contain protection seekers ‘elsewhere.’ The chapter concludes that, without constitutional and institutional change to ensure it meets its positive human rights obligations, and deeper critical reflection on its humanitarian duties, IOM’s practice risks expanding and legitimating detention.
IOM Unbound? Obligations and Accountability of the International Organization for Migration in an Era of Expansion
It is an era of expansion for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an increasingly influential actor in the global governance of migration. Bringing together leading experts in international law and international relations, this collection examines the dynamics and implications of IOM's expansion in a new way. Analyzing IOM as an international organization (IO), the book illuminates the practices, obligations and accountability of this powerful but controversial actor, advancing understanding of IOM itself and broader struggles for IO accountability. The contributions explore key, yet often under-researched, IOM activities including its role in humanitarian emergencies, internal displacement, data collection, ethical labour recruitment, and migrant detention. Offering recommendations for reforms rooted in empirical evidence and careful normative analysis, this is a vital resource for all those interested in the obligations and accountability of international organizations, and in the field of migration. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Femi(ni)cide as war as femi(ni)cide: Violence and justice-seeking beyond borders
Chapter in 'The Routledge International Handbook on Femicide and Feminicide', edited by Myrna Dawson and Saide Mobayed Vega.
The role of developmental ‘buzzwords’ in the international refugee regime: Self-reliance, resilience, and economic inclusion
Buzzwords play an important role in setting up the scope and direction of aid policies. Alongside the growing focus on development-led approaches in the international refugee regime, three buzzwords – self-reliance, resilience, and economic inclusion – have achieved particular prominence in recent refugee policy-making. Drawing upon a review of policy documents and multi-sited empirical research in Sub-Saharan Africa, this article gives a detailed analysis of how these buzzwords intersect with one another and elucidates the roles they play in shaping development-oriented approaches to refugees. While this trifecta is painted with positive connotations, empirical research shows that developmental approaches underpinned by these buzzwords can have detrimental effects on both refugees and hosts. Building upon this analysis, it offers a theoretical approach to understand the current mainstreaming of developmental support within the international refugee regime from a lens of ‘reframing’, which is a strategy to redefine social problems and thereby control discourses around their solutions. The study shows that as a discursive apparatus, this triad of buzzwords is instrumentalised by policymakers to reframe the absence of solutions for ‘displacement crisis’ as ‘development opportunities’ in order to protect the damaged global refugee system. In so doing, such buzzwords play a crucial role in redefining the responsibility of refugees and their hosts in undertaking neoliberal development, while simultaneously reducing the ambit of responsibility of the international refugee regime. By analysing these popular buzzwords as a set, the article contributes to a deepened understanding of the ways in which these innocuous words are embedded in a broader ‘ideological project’ informed by the political and economic incentives of the global policymakers. It also sheds light on the possible wider consequences of the current mainstreaming of development-led approaches for refugee rights and protection issues.
El moviment de dones del Kurdistan
El moviment de dones del Kurdistan és al centre d’un dels experiments revolucionaris més emocionants del món: Rojava. Format durant dècades de lluita, i més recentment, en la lluita contra l’Estat Islàmic, Rojava encarna un compromís radical amb l’ecologia, la democràcia i l’alliberament de les dones. Però mentre que proliferen imatges impactants de dones kurdes en uniforme de combat, continua sense haver-hi un coneixement real del moviment de dones. Desmuntant els marcs orientalistes superficials imperants, Dilar Dirik, en canvi, ofereix un informe empíricament ric del moviment de dones del Kurdistan. Valent-se d’una recerca original i treball de camp etnogràfic, fa una enquesta dels orígens històrics del moviment, l’evolució ideològica i la pràctica política durant els últims quaranta anys. Dirik, que va més enllà de les idees abstractes, situa la cultura i ideologia del moviment en la feina concreta que fa per a la revolució de les dones aquí i ara. Emportant-se el lector des dels campaments de la guerrilla a la muntanya fins a les acadèmies de dones radicals i als camps de refugiats autoorganitzats, els lectors d’arreu del món poden implicar-se en la revolució del Kurdistan, tant de manera teòrica com pràctica, com una pedra de toc vital en la lluita més àmplia per un internacionalisme antifeixista, anticapitalista i feminista militant.
A deconstructive approach to refugee self-reliance: the case of the Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement
In the last decade, there has been a renewed interest in ‘self-reliance’ as a remedy for protracted refugee crises. While self-reliance has been articulated as a key policy objective, scholars have been preoccupied with a key question: what is self-reliance and what interests does such a policy ultimately serve? Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s post-structuralist thought, this paper puts forward a deconstructive approach to examine how the concept of self-reliance is discursively constructed. Through an analysis of relevant policy documents, this paper examines the role that texts play in producing and reproducing the meaning of self-reliance. I argue that self-reliance is an inherently undecidable, or malleable, concept that is embedded in a system of binary oppositions within the refugee regime. In other words, self-reliance is constructed relationally, as it is defined by what it is and what it is not with reference to key concepts such as dependency, vulnerability, resilience, and entrepreneurship. Despite this ambiguity, self-reliance has a logocentric, or hegemonic, power, which makes it susceptible to be co-opted by various policy actors to suit their interests. I examine self-reliance within the context of the Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement in Turkana County, Kenya, to demonstrate the political implications of self-reliance’s logocentrism.