The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.
You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest
NEW RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
Leboeuf, L., Brun, C., Lidén, H., Marchetti, S., Nakache, D., & Sarolea, S. (2025). Between protection and harm: Negotiated vulnerabilities in asylum laws and bureaucracies. Springer. This open access book dissects the current narratives of ‘vulnerability’ in asylum laws and policies, by unpacking the meanings, productions, and performances, of ‘vulnerability’ in different contexts, from countries of first asylum in the Global South to Europe and Canada. It discusses how the increased reliance on ‘vulnerability’ to guide states’ replies to refugee movements improves refugee protection, while also generating contestations and exclusionary effects that may cause harm. Based on data collected as part of the EU Horizon 2020 VULNER project, the book examines existing legal and bureaucratic approaches to refugees’ vulnerabilities, which it confronts with the refugees’ experiences and understandings of their own life challenges. It analyses the perspectives from state actors, humanitarian organisations, and social and aid workers, as well as the refugees themselves. By emphasizing how these perspectives relate and feed into each other, the book unpacks the humanitarian replies from states and the international community to refugee movements – including in their implied exclusionary dimensions that generate contestations and implementation difficulties which, if not tackled and understood properly, risk exacerbating and/or producing vulnerabilities among refugees.
Nofil, B. (2024). The Migrant’s Jail: An American History of Mass Incarceration. Princeton University Press. Today, U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) detains an average of 37,000 migrants each night. To do so, they rely on, and pay for, the use of hundreds of local jails. But this is nothing new: the federal government has been detaining migrants in city and county jails for more than 100 years. In The Migrant’s Jail, Brianna Nofil examines how a century of political, ideological, and economic exchange between the U.S. immigration bureaucracy and the criminal justice system gave rise to the world’s largest system of migrant incarceration. Migrant detention is not simply an outgrowth of mass incarceration; rather, it has propelled carceral state–building and fostered intergovernmental policing efforts since the turn of the twentieth century. Drawing on immigration records, affidavits, protest letters, and a variety of local sources, Nofil excavates the web of political negotiations, financial deals, and legal precedents that allows the United States to incarcerate migrants with little accountability and devastating consequences.
Anastasiadou, A., Kim, J., Sanlitürk, E., de Valk, H. A., & Zagheni, E. (2024). Gender differences in the migration process: A narrative literature review. Population and Development Review. Migration scholars agree that migration is a highly gendered process. While the literature on this topic is increasing, the knowledge produced remains fragmentary and has not been synthesized systematically yet. This literature review aims at summarizing the current findings of quantitative migration research comparing migration patterns between genders and highlighting gaps and patterns in the literature over time. The review of the literature revealed that women have a lower propensity than men to realize their migration aspirations conditional on migration intentions. Moreover, many articles analyzing migration flows by gender do not support the common narrative of a feminization of migration. Finally, evidence from the migration literature supports the assumption that migrant women experience a double burden of discrimination in the destination country labour market based on their gender and their migration status. It becomes apparent that gender-based comparisons between migration outcomes have received the most attention in the literature followed by the comparison of determinants. The stage of the journey received only little attention.
Benson, G. E. (2024). Comparing refugee resettlement services: A new global dataset and typology. Refugee Survey Quarterly. The number of countries participating in resettlement has increased substantially in recent years: since 2010, one-third of resettlement countries officially began offering permanent homes to refugees. The services provided to refugees upon resettlement are surprisingly distinct, even among countries with similar political and economic contexts. Despite the importance of these services, existing scholarship offers surprisingly little comparison of resettlement policies globally. The study introduces an original Global Resettlement Services dataset with 42 indicators that provide a current, reliable, and easily accessible overview of resettlement services in each country. Cluster analysis of these data helped to construct a typology that captures four distinct “types” of refugee resettlement: Limited Provision, Cultural Transition, Core Services, and Flexible Support. The typology provides a framework to help policy-makers, academics, and practitioners increase collaboration, design innovative programmes, and improve existing resettlement services. This study offers a comprehensive analysis of the different approaches to resettling refugees worldwide, with significant implications for advancing theory and improving global refugee resettlement policies.
Culcasi, K. (2024). Gendered orientalism and Syrian women refugees. Fennia – International Journal of Geography. Orientalist discourses have long recirculated the idea that Muslim women are oppressed victims of Islam; an idea that has denigrated Muslims and positioned white, Christians as superior. For Muslim women refugees specifically, the gendered orientalist discourse of victimization has reappeared on both sides of the debate on Syrian refugee resettlement in the US and Europe. Within anti-resettlement circles, the narrative of Muslim women as oppressed victims has been leveraged as a reason to stop their resettlement, because their lifestyles and values are framed as incompatible with liberal, Western societies. Pro-resettlement circles, on the other hand, often position Muslim women’s victimization as a reason to save them by resettling them. In other words, the same cultural essentialism that positions Muslim women as victims has been used to reject and to support Muslim refugee resettlement. Yet the representations of Syrian Muslim women as oppressed victims of Islam exist in stark contrast to the strong, capable, and resilient Syrian women refugees scattered across SWANA, Europe, the US, and elsewhere. Building from postcolonial, feminist literature, in this paper the first focus is on the intersections of the gendered orientalism and refugee resettlement discourses, underscoring the commonality of the victim discourse on both sides of the Syrian refugee resettlement debate. Then, it shifts to highlight the disconnect between the victim representation and the life and experiences of Syrian women refugees. This later point draws from the author’s past research on Syrian Muslim women refugees in Jordan who have managed seemingly insurmountable obstacles with strength and determination; and they have done so in part through their faith. The discussion of their strength is situated within literature on Islamic feminism and Muslim women’s agency.
Schneider, H. E. (2024). Intentions, strategies, and actions: How refugees exert agency in the resettlement and humanitarian admission process from Jordan and Turkey to Germany. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 40(2), 1–17. Although refugee resettlement is characterized by opaque decision-making of United Nations and government agencies, refugees may exert agency throughout the resettlement process. Tracing the journeys of several refugees through the resettlement and humanitarian admission processes from Jordan and Turkey to Germany, this article highlights refugees’ intentions, strategies, and actions to access and navigate the process in Jordan and Turkey. Defining agency as a combination of intention and action, without reference to a specific outcome, the article argues for a nuanced conceptualization of agency that can be employed in situations where people’s agency is very limited.
Sisic, M., Tastsoglou, E., Dawson, M., Holtmann, C., Wilkinson, L., & Falconer, C. (2024). The continuum of gender-based violence experienced by migrant and refugee women in Canada: Perspectives from key informants. Frontiers in Sociology, 9. Little research has been done on conceptualizing gender-based violence (GBV) against immigrant and refugee women as a continuum of violence. The objective of the larger study was to understand gender-based violence in migration and analyze the ways in which discriminations and inequalities interact to increase vulnerability and decrease access to supports and services for some women. Using (a) the concept of continuum of [sexual] violence and (b) intersectionality, the authors demonstrate the need to both document the range of violence in women’s lives and the tactics of victimization among immigrant and refugee women and show how they are different than the cumulated literature showing victimization tactics against the Canadian-born population. Participants reported that non-physical forms of violence are more normalized, but also more commonly experienced than physical forms of violence in Canada. Additionally, intersecting social identities impact both the distinct and amplified forms of GBV immigrant and refugee women experienced. Results contribute theoretically and empirically to the conceptualization of the GBV experiences by immigrant and refugee women in Canada.
Taha, D. (2024). Double immobility: Syrian refugee women navigating the voluntary and forced marriage binary in Egypt. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-18. Research on why women, especially racialized women, stay in undesirable relationships is scarce and often misses how intersecting inequalities affect their decisions and the wider range of consent and coercion. Syrian refugee women in Egypt, grappling with not just unwanted marriages but also displacement and uprooting are a case in point. Their limited cultural, social, and legal mobility complicates their decision-making and limits their options. The author describes this compounded precarity as ‘double immobility’: immobility within the marriage and immobility within the country. A secondary displacement where this time they become ‘displaced in place’. The paper offers a novel framework for understanding the intersection of gendered displacement and marital dynamics and contributes to the broader discussion within the sociology of gender, displacement, and marriage.
REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS
A fair and fast asylum process for Australia: Lessons from Switzerland by Daniel Ghezelbash and Constantin Hruschka. (2024). UNSW Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law. Australia’s onshore protection system is currently facing significant backlogs. The resulting delays are undermining the integrity of the asylum system, eroding public confidence and causing significant harm and distress to people seeking asylum. This policy brief examines how Australia’s asylum procedures can be redesigned to be both fair and fast, drawing on lessons from Switzerland. The new Swiss asylum procedures introduced in 2019 have proved effective in significantly increasing efficiency, while maintaining fairness for applicants and ensuring that the rights and needs of asylum seekers are met. This policy brief examines the Swiss model’s strengths and limitations to make recommendations for reforming Australia’s asylum process.
Advancing Equity and Inclusion: Strategies for Integrating Racialized Immigrant Women into Canada’s Labour Market by Marika Jeziorek. (2024). University of Waterloo Policy Brief – Women, Work & Economy. Racialized immigrant women in Canada face significant barriers to labour market integration, marked by underemployment, discrimination, and underutilization of their skills. Dr. Ana Ferrer’s research highlights the triad of barriers these women face: discrimination, credentialing challenges, and limited employment opportunities. Moreover, the gender wage gap and labour market participation rates underscore the systemic inequities, with immigrant women facing the largest within-job gender wage gap. This brief proposes a set of policy alternatives focused on reducing discrimination, enhancing credential recognition, and addressing institutional and cultural barriers. Recommendations include establishing a National Task Force on Credential Recognition, expanding language and professional development programs, implementing childcare support based on Quebec’s successful model, and promoting voluntary adoption of workplace anti-discrimination and inclusion initiatives. To successfully integrate racialized immigrant women into Canada’s labour market and society, a concerted effort from federal and provincial governments, professional licensing bodies, educational institutions, and employers is required. These strategies not only aim to support racialized immigrant women and their families but also seek to enrich Canada’s social and economic fabric by leveraging the full potential of this underrepresented demographic.
Charting a Path for LGBTIQ+ Justice in Humanitarian Response in Asia and the Pacific. (2024). ReliefWeb. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+)1 individuals face challenges across different crises, including armed conflicts, disasters, and migration, and forced displacement. As in other regions, LGBTIQ+ communities in Asia and the Pacific are vulnerable to various forms of discrimination and violence, which are both similar to and distinct from other individuals and groups in humanitarian emergencies. These vulnerabilities stem from pre-existing inequalities, discrimination, and violence that are frequently exacerbated during crises, and are shaped by multiple intersecting factors, such as gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, sex characteristics, race, ethnicity, religion, disability, age, and displacement status, among others. Yet, humanitarian agencies struggle to fully understand and effectively respond to the diverse needs of LGBTIQ+ individuals. This advocacy brief underscores a number of significant challenges faced by LGBTIQ+ communities in Asia and the Pacific region, addresses some of the major barriers to achieving LGBTIQ+ inclusion in humanitarian response, and calls on humanitarian organizations to prioritize the protection and inclusion of LGBTIQ+ communities in their response efforts.
Returning from Pakistan: How are Afghan returnees coping back in their homeland? by Jelena Bjelica & Ali Mohammad Sabawoon. (2024). ReliefWeb. It is almost a year since, on 3 October 2023, Pakistan’s Prime Minister announced its decision to enact the Illegal Foreigners’ Repatriation Plan. Since then, more than 700,000 Afghans have returned to their homeland. These returns were not voluntary. Some Afghans were deported, while others fled in fear of arrest and expulsion. Some, born in Pakistan, had never before set foot on Afghan soil. AAN’s Ali Mohammad Sabawoon has spoken to five returnees in different provinces and, together with AAN’s Jelena Bjelica, explores how they have been managing this utter upturning of their lives.
The Future of U.S. Immigration: Trump and Harris on Key Immigration Policy Areas. (2024). National Immigration Forum. As the 2024 election approaches, immigration remains a central issue. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the two leading candidates for president, have presented markedly different approaches to immigration and its value to the United States. Voters will have an opportunity to study each candidate’s views and decide our nation’s approach to immigration policy for the forseeable future. The document below provides a top-level chart with an overview of eight positions Trump and Harris have taken during their tenure as President and their general election campaigns. Then read on for greater detail on each.
NEWS AND BLOG POSTS
Australia’s refugee policy – reforms needed to reflect humane approach and national spirit of welcome, October 15, 2024. The AIM Network. International and national refugee sector experts and advocates have identified four urgent areas of reform needed to address ongoing disadvantage and exclusion caused by Australia’s policies towards refugees and people seeking asylum. Two hundred delegates gathered in Kyneton, Victoria (11-13 October) for the two-yearly Rural Australians for Refugees conference which brings 75 groups together from around the country. Delegates agreed that Australia’s policies need to be urgently reviewed to comply with our responsibilities under international law and to prevent further damage to people seeking protection.
Bouncing between war-torn countries: Displacement in Lebanon and Syria highlights cyclical nature of cross-border refuge by Jasmin Lilian Diab, October 16, 2024. The Conversation. The escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah since September 2024, and Israel’s bombing of civilian areas across Lebanon, have unleashed a profound humanitarian disaster. The mass displacement of over 1 million people, including Lebanese citizens, migrant workers and Syrian and Palestinian refugees, has created a crisis within Lebanon. Yet an equally significant phenomenon is occurring away from Lebanon’s southern border with Israel: the movement of people who have been displaced within Lebanon into Syria. An estimated 400,000 Lebanese and Syrians have reportedly fled into Syria through overcrowded border crossings. Not to be confused with return, this movement represents a reversal of the refugee flow that followed the descent of Syria into civil war in 2011. It is also emblematic of a broader pattern of cyclical displacement crises in the region. The complex and intertwined histories of Lebanon and Syria – where each has at various points been a refuge for citizens of the other – challenge the simple binaries often associated with the refugee experience.
Italy vows to push ahead with Albania migrant centres despite court blow by Angelo Amante, October 18, 2024. Reuters. The Italian government vowed on Friday to push ahead with its contested plan to divert asylum-seekers abroad, saying it would appeal against a court’s ruling that a group of migrants in reception centres in Albania should be taken to Italy. The court potentially dealt a major blow to a flagship project of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to house migrants picked up at sea in facilities outside the EU. The scheme, aimed at deterring migrants from making the sea crossing to Italy, has won plaudits from some European nations. Meloni called a cabinet meeting for Monday to decide on the government’s response to the legal ruling. The court said the 12 migrants in the new Albanian facility of Gjader had to return to Italy because their countries of origin — Egypt and Bangladesh — could not be considered safe.
Migrant deaths in New Mexico have increased tenfold by The Associated Press, October 15, 2024. NPR. Ten times as many migrants died in New Mexico near the U.S.-Mexico border in each of the last two years compared with just five years ago as smuggling gangs steer them — exhausted, dehydrated and malnourished — mostly into the hot desert, canyons or mountains west of El Paso, Texas. During the first eight months of 2024, the bodies of 108 presumed migrants mostly from Mexico and Central America were found near the border in New Mexico and often less than 10 miles (6 kilometers) from El Paso, according to the most recent data. The remains of 113 presumed migrants were found in New Mexico in 2023, compared with nine in 2020 and 10 in 2019.
Tunisia: UN experts concerned over safety of migrants, refugees and victims of trafficking, October 14, 2024. United Nations. UN experts* said they are alarmed by reports of human rights violations against migrants, refugees and victims of trafficking during search and rescue operations and transfers to border areas. They noted that, between January and July 2024, 189 people, including children, are reported to have lost their lives during crossings and 265 during interception operations at sea; 95 people are reported missing, and, in certain cases, they could be victims of enforced disappearance or acts tantamount to enforced disappearance.
EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Being Stateless: An Oral History Podcast. Melbourne Law School. People who arrived in Australia stateless tell of their experiences in a new podcast by the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness at the University of Melbourne. Being Stateless: An Oral History Podcast features a Holocaust survivor, a Palestinian born in Lebanon, and a Tamil woman. They talk to interviewer Dr. Jordana Silverstein about what it was like to be forced to migrate to a new country; how they made a home and dealt with loss; and how they remember where they came from. Dr. Silverstein says, “The figures are not firm, but the United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that there are about 8,000 stateless people in Australia. It is probable there are many more, as Australia does not have a way of counting people, and some people would not in any case self-identify their status to the state.”
CRS/EUC Seminar: Migrant labour on land and at sea: Labour geographies of global food processing. CRS and EUC York University. Join the Centre for Refugee Studies and the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University for a dialogue on two research projects that examine the conditions of work for migrant and refugee workers in global food production. Both industrial meat processing and the global seafood industry rely on low paid migrant workers to do jobs in industries that are quintessentially 3D – dirty, difficult, and dangerous. This seminar will present findings from two projects addressing the intersection of precarious work and migration, including the crucial role of refugee workers in these industries. This in-person event will be on November 14, 2024, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET, at HNES 141, Keele Campus, York University.
Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health Course: Fall 2024. IRCC. The Immigrant and Refugee Mental Health Course, funded by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), provides information, tools and resources for service providers to provide mental health care and support to both immigrants and refugees arriving in Canada. Date: November 4 – December 16, 2024; For who: Settlement, social and health service providers across Canada (excluding Quebec)*; Location: Online; Cost: Free.
Living Refugee Archive Seminar and Q&A with Dr. Ceren Yüksel. University of East London. Welcome to the first of our Living Refugee Archive Seminar Series events here at the University of East London. For this seminar, we are very happy to be able to welcome Dr Ceren Yuksel, Senior Lecturer at the UAL Creative Computing Institute and Course Leader for the postgraduate MA Internet Equalities course. This event will be Hybrid, both In-Person at UEL and virtually through MS Teams, on November 5, 2024, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM GMT.
To Stay or to Go? Migration Decisions and Tipping Points in Ghana | Voices on the Move Podcast. Migration Matters. What are the tipping points that compel people to migrate in the face of climate change? This episode looks at the personal and environmental factors that influence migration decisions. Through the stories of farmers in Ghana, we explore how economic opportunities, community ties, and individual perceptions shape responses to climate challenges. Dr. Rachel Keeton (University of Twente) and Dr. Ricardo Safra de Campos (University of Exeter) from the HABITABLE research project offer insights into the nuanced dynamics of staying or leaving in the face of environmental change.