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The technology issue
The 32 articles and short pieces in the feature theme section of FMR 38 look at the effects of changes in technology – particularly in communications technology – on displaced people and those who work with them. FMR 38 also includes eight articles on other forced migration subjects. This issue is available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
Armed non-state actors and displacement
Militia, freedom fighters, rebels, terrorists, paramilitaries, revolutionaries, guerrillas, gangs, quasi-state bodies... and many other labels. In this issue of FMR we look at all of these, at actors defined as being armed and being ‘non-state’ – that is to say, without the full responsibilities and obligations of the state. Some of these armed non-state actors behave responsibly and humanely, at least some of the time. Others seem to have no regard for the damage, distress or deaths that they cause – and may actually use displacement as a deliberate tactic – in pursuit of their goals of power, resources or justice. This issue of FMR looks at a variety of such actors, at their behaviours and at efforts to bring them into frameworks of responsibility and accountability.
Democratic Republic of Congo
The Democratic Republic of Congo is unfortunately synonymous with its dreadful past and its terrible present, despite its beauty, complex history and unachieved potential. Locked not only into its own internal troubles but also into those of the Great Lakes region, it has provided more than enough material on forced migration, violence and political quagmires for the latest issue of FMR. While the articles contained in this issue of FMR make grim reading, they also offer glimmers of hope for better outcomes, at least potentially, alongside analysis of how and why these things have been happening. Authors come from Congolese civil society, UN agencies and NGOs, Congolese and donor governments, and international research – and include articles by the former UN Relief Coordinator John Holmes and the former Humanitarian Coordinator in DRC Ross Mountain. This issue also contains a further seven articles on other forced migration-related subjects.
HIV/AIDS, security and conflict (supplement)
The interconnections between conflict and HIV/AIDS are more complex and less obvious than is often thought. HIV/AIDS affects the lives of many: those people caught up in conflict, those who are the protagonists in conflicts, and those whose role it is to provide security during and after conflict. The AIDS, Security and Conflict Initiative (ASCI) undertook research over a number of years to examine the connections, to gather evidence and to advance analysis. This 32-page special FMR supplement presents a selection of the ASCI case-studies alongside a number of other articles on the subject – written by practitioners, policymakers and researchers – which were submitted in response to an FMR call for articles.
Disability and displacement
It is not common practice to include people with disabilities among those who are considered as particularly vulnerable in disasters and displacement and who therefore require targeted response – yet statistics tell us that up to 10% of all displaced people will have a disability. The 27 feature theme articles in this issue of FMR show why disabled people who are displaced need particular consideration and highlight some of the initiatives taken (locally and at the global level) to change thinking and practices so that their vulnerability is recognised, their voices heard – and responses made inclusive.
Adapting to urban displacement
Globally, urbanisation – the movement of people into cities and towns – continues to increase, and growing numbers of displaced people, whether refugees or IDPs, now reside in urban areas rather than camps. Relatively little is known about their precise numbers, demographics, basic needs or protection problems. In their introductory articles in this issue of FMR, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres and UN-HABITAT Executive Director Anna Tibaijuka emphasise the complexity of the challenges faced by those displaced into urban areas and by those seeking to protect and assist them, and argue for the need for a radical rethinking of approaches by the international community. This issue of Forced Migration Review includes 26 articles by a wide range of authors – practitioners, policymakers and researchers – on the subject of urban displacement, plus 13 articles on other aspects of forced migration, including a ‘spotlight’ on Haiti after the earthquake.
Protracted displacement
Increasingly, growing numbers of displaced people remain displaced for years, even decades. This latest issue of FMR includes 29 articles by academic, international and local actors which assess the impact of such situations on people’s lives and our societies and explore the ‘solutions’ – political, humanitarian and personal. The issue also includes a spotlight on the ‘internment camps’ in Sri Lanka and a mini-feature on collective centres, plus a selection of articles on other aspects of forced migration such as rights and responsibilities in Darfur, smuggling in South Africa, IDP health needs in Colombia, climate change agreement talks, peace mediation, and community resilience in East Timor.
Statelessness
A stateless person is someone who is not recognised as a national by any state. They therefore have no nationality or citizenship and are unprotected by national legislation, leaving them vulnerable in ways that most of us never have to consider. This latest issue of FMR includes 22 articles by academic, international and local actors debating the challenges faced by stateless people and the search for appropriate responses and solutions. The issue also includes 17 articles on other aspects of forced migration, among which are a mini-feature (comprising four articles) on refugee status determination and articles on European migration policies, Colombia, Ecuador, disaster IDPs, Europe-Africa cooperation, trafficking in Iran, cash grants for refugees and reproductive health care in emergencies.
Ten years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (special issue)
This 40-page special issue of FMR reflects discussions at the international conference on the Ten Years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement – GP10 – held in Oslo on 16-17 October 2008. The conference aimed to assess the accomplishments and shortcomings of the Guiding Principles since their launch in 1998. It also sought to generate increased political will to incorporate the GPs into national, regional and global frameworks and to encourage progress towards their practical implementation. This special issue includes shortened versions of some of the conference presentations, plus a selection of other articles, most of which present case studies on the application of the Guiding Principles in different countries. It has been published in English, Arabic, French and Spanish, and has been produced with the support of NRC/IDMC, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement.
Climate change and displacement
In response to growing pressures on landscapes and livelihoods, people are moving, communities are adapting. This issue of FMR debates the numbers, the definitions and the modalities – and the tension between the need for research and the need to act. Thirty-eight articles by UN, academic, international and local actors explore the extent of the potential displacement crisis, community adaptation and coping strategies, and the search for solutions. The issue also includes a range of articles on other aspects of forced migration. This issue has been published in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
Burma's displaced people
With the ‘Saffron revolution’ of September 2007, Burma was catapulted into the centre of international attention. It was briefly headline news as people monitored the regime’s response and watched for hints of progress towards democracy and the restoration of rights. With little action on either front (and no visible resurgence of violence or protest), interest has since waned. This issue of FMR aims to help bring the crisis of forced displacement of Burmese people back into the international spotlight. The feature section on Burma includes 29 articles exploring the extent of the displacement crisis, factors affecting displaced people and the search for solutions. The issue also includes 19 articles on other aspects of forced migration.
Forced Migration Review – 25th Anniversary collection
The FMR 25th Anniversary collection of articles will look back over 25 years of debate, learning and advocacy for the rights of displaced and stateless people, and consider where we are now in relation to many of the themes covered by FMR. We are inviting a selection of former guest editors, authors and donors to write on developments, lessons, challenges, gaps – and their thoughts about the future for displaced people and our sector.
Islam, human rights and displacement (supplement)
To mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), in 2008 FMR published a short supplement to enhance debate and understanding in the Islamic world of the concepts and instruments of international human rights. We are now publishing this revised and updated edition, alongside an issue of FMR on North Africa where the uprisings of 2011 can lead to opportunities to enhance the rule of law and improve the implementation of rights. The 12-page supplement includes three articles on the applicability of international laws and conventions in Islam, plus the full texts of the UDHR, the 1990 Cairo Declaration and the May 2012 Ashgabat Declaration.
Refugee livelihoods in Kampala, Nakivale and Kyangwali refugee settlements: patterns of engagement with the private sector
Drawing from preliminary fieldwork undertaken between February and March 2013, this working paper presents provisional findings regarding refugees’ livelihoods and interactions with the private sector and markets in Kampala, Nakivale and Kyangwali refugee settlements in Uganda. The paper sketches out the diversity of livelihoods strategies employed by the refugees, and reveals their different patterns of engagement with local and national markets. In particular, the paper shows that refugees’ economic activities at all three sites are deeply nested in the multiple layers of the host economies. These initial observations, furthermore, illustrate the vital role played by personal and community social networks in linking refugees with private sector actors in Uganda and sub-regions. As a way forward, the paper concludes by identifying several intriguing themes to be investigated in continuing field research.
Writing the ‘Other’ into humanitarian discourse: framing theory and practice in South–South humanitarian responses to forced displacement
Although Southern-led development initiatives have enjoyed increasing attention by academics in recent years, there remains a relative paucity of research on South–South humanitarian responses. It is this gap in theoretical and conceptual engagement with ‘Other’ humanitarianism(s) which is critically addressed in this paper. The paper affirms the value of what we refer to as ‘writing the "Other" into humanitarian discourse,’ thereby redressing the biases inherent to much humanitarian theory. It re-engages with popular debates around politics and humanitarianism to argue that politics pervades not just humanitarian practice, but the ‘humanitarian’ epithet itself, and that by re-appropriating the label we are promoting a lexical counter-politics that serves to confront the institutionalisation of this Northern appropriation of the term in contemporary systems of knowledge and practice.
Repatriation: the politics of (re)-constructing and contesting Rwandan citizenship
UNHCR recently announced that the refugee status of all Rwandans who fled the country between 1959 and December 1998 will cease in June 2013. The declaration follows almost ten years of active lobbying by Rwanda and other host countries to end the Rwandan refugee situation. Considerable concern, however, has been raised by international human rights organisations and refugees alike that the cessation clause is being invoked prematurely, leading to rejected asylum applications, coercive pressure to return and potentially refoulement. The questions that guide this paper are: How is the Rwandan government performing the ‘work’ of (re)constituting refugees as not only citizens, but also as members of the nation, through processes of organised voluntary repatriation and cessation? How does this reflect the synergies and tensions that exist between national and civic modes of belonging? How does this dynamic of nation-building spill across the territorial borders of Rwanda to include, and exclude, refugees still in exile?
Integration in a divided society? Refugees and asylum seekers in Northern Ireland
In refugee and asylum debates in the UK, Northern Ireland is at best referenced in passing and, more often, omitted entirely. While this has been historically rooted in the empirical reality that almost no refugees seek asylum in the region, changing realities mean that this omission is no longer justified. The sectarian divide in Northern Ireland poses a particularly dramatic challenge to the assumption within integration policy and theory that host communities are socially cohesive entities for which generalisations about values and practices can be broadly applied as standards for refugee and asylum seeker integration. This paper explores how an empirical understanding of the situation helps in rethinking assumptions of homogeneity widespread in integration theory.
Local faith communities and the promotion of resilience in humanitarian situations: a scoping study
Local Faith Communities (LFCs) are groupings of religious actors bonded through shared allegiance to institutions, beliefs, history or identity. They engage in a range of activities across the humanitarian spectrum. Resilience – defined as the ability to anticipate, withstand and bounce back from external pressures and shocks – is increasingly a central construct in the shaping of humanitarian strategy by the international community. This scoping document investigates the evidence for LFC contribution to resilience under the guidance of the JLI Resilience Learning Hub, membership of which is made up of 20 practitioners, academics and policymakers expert in humanitarian services and faith communities.
Africa's illiberal state-builders
Since the early 1990s, three paradigms on the trajectory of the African state have competed for academic and policy pre-eminence: the liberal convergance paradigm which portrays African states marching inexorably towards a bright future; the ‘failed state’ paradigm which understands African states not in terms of what they are, but what they fail to be; and a third ‘neo-patrimonial’ paradigm which highlights the neo-patrimonial management strategies of elites and the attempted stabilisation of the polity through temporary alliances, ethnic coalition-building and the cynical manipulation of electoral systems and federalism. This paper argues that between the liberal convergence paradigm, the failed state narrative and neopatrimonial seamanship, important experiences that fit none of these remain unexamined. Yet the existence of alternative agendas appearing out of the ashes of war in places like Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Angola is part of a major emerging mode of illiberal state-building.
States of fragility
Many states fail in their responsibilities to their citizens but those states which are fragile, failed or weak are particularly liable to render their citizens vulnerable. This latest issue of FMR includes 24 articles on fragile states and displacement, going behind the definitions, typologies and indicators to explore some of the concepts and realities, looking at a variety of cases and discussing some of the humanitarian and development responses. In addition this issue contains eight further articles on other aspects of displacement – Syrians in Lebanon, older displaced people, use of human rights treaties for asylum seekers, arts in refugee camps, and more.