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
Briddick, C. (2025). Violence against women and regimes of exception: Undoing discrimination in migration law. Oxford University Press. This book analyses migration law’s treatment of women. It identifies patterns of disadvantage, scrutinises justifications for differential treatment, and argues for migration status reform. It conceptualises and then delineates obligations in relation to violence against women. Centrally, it brings together a series of distinct responses to violence experienced in the context of migration control and offers a new framework for their evaluation. To do so, it integrates doctrinal, empirical, and theoretical material to understand the difference that migration status makes to an experience of violence and to establish how the resulting compounded disadvantage should be remedied. The analysis starts in the UK and with the European Convention on Human Rights, broadening to connect with European Union law and the Council of Europe’s Trafficking and Istanbul Conventions. This approach provides valuable insights into the role and ability of national courts, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Court of Justice of the European Union to scrutinise different forms of discriminatory treatment. While this book focuses on rules and regimes in the UK and Europe, its arguments can be applied in a broader range of jurisdictions and contexts. Consonant with the feminist jurisprudence and approaches to international law with which it engages, the book is structured around the legal challenges that migrant women have brought to the rules that determine their status.
Polak, R., Tosun, A., & Jödicke, A. (2025). Religious and non-religious narratives on Migration Interdisciplinary Perspectives. BRILL. Open access book. This volume analyzes religious and non-religious narratives on migration from an international and interdisciplinary perspective. Narratives shape the perception of migration. The recourse to religion as well as the self-understanding of religious people and religious communities play an important role in this context. As part of the COST Action 2017 “Connecting Theory and Practical Issues of Migration and Religious Diversity”, international researchers from various disciplines – theology, social sciences, philosophy – are exploring contemporary perspectives on migration based on subject-specific understandings of the concept of “narrative” and are also discussing the role and contributions of religion. Particular attention is paid to the original voices of migrants. For this purpose, the innovative method of so-called “narrative cafés” was developed. The volume thus offers numerous insights for critical reflection on migration narratives in academic and socio-political practice.
Pacífico, A. M. C. P., Nabuco Martuscelli, P., & Franciely de Melo Silva, T. (2025). Internal environmental displacement in Latin America and the caribbean: Legal and policy approaches. Palgrave Macmillan. This book offers a comprehensive exploration of the pressing issue of environmentally displaced persons (EDPs) in Latin America and the Caribbean, filling a gap in the existing literature. The concept of EDPs only gained prominence on the international stage in the late 20th century, but despite significant attention in recent years, there has been a conspicuous absence of a consolidated resource on the topic, particularly within this region. This comprehensive work not only serves an academic purpose but also provides valuable insights and guidance to governments, NGOs, international agencies, and other actors grappling with the dilemma of protecting EDPs in the region. It stands as a unique and indispensable resource, offering a consolidated repository of information, data, and references that is unparalleled in the field. Readers will benefit from the wealth of knowledge and expertise encapsulated within this book, making it an essential addition to discuss the issue.
Alkatiri, F. A. (2025). Indonesia and the UNHCR: Different approaches to East Timorese refugees in West Timor. SAGE Open, 15(3). Open access. This article investigates the refugee crisis that occurred in Belu regency in 1999 due to the divergences between the UNHCR and Indonesian government, concerning the status of East Timorese refugees, whether Refugees or Internally Displaced Persons. This issue was analyzed through a case study of the different views that have created the split of the roles. The UNHCR became responsible for the repatriation agenda, while the local integration and resettlement burden fell to the Indonesian government, impacting the durable solution implementation. To avoid this burden, the Indonesian government revoked the status of the “refugees” to be Indonesian citizens in 2003, affecting badly the refugees’ lives.
Kiwanuka, A., Shamim, A., Nakalanda, R., Kalembe, D., Musisi, I. (2025). Financial Inclusion of Refugees: The Role of Trust and Financial Literacy. ORSEA Journal, 15(1). Open access. This research examines how financial literacy and trust influence financial inclusion among refugees in the Kampala district of Uganda, and explores whether trust mediates the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion. Findings indicate that both financial literacy and trust significantly enhance financial inclusion. Financial literacy also positively affects trust in financial institutions, with trust partially mediating the financial literacy–financial inclusion relationship. These results support theories of financial literacy and trust in explaining financial inclusion. Conducted solely among refugees, its findings may not be fully generalizable to other marginalized groups, such as women or youth. Additionally, the cross-sectional, quantitative design limits deeper insights into the dynamics of trust and financial literacy. This research is among the first to explore the mediating role of trust in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion within a refugee context, thereby contributing to the understanding of financial inclusion in Uganda.
REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS
Aid Worker Security Report 2025 – Defenceless: Aid worker security amid the humanitarian funding collapse by Abby Stoddard, Meriah-Jo Breckenridge, Monica Czwarno, Mariana Duque-Díez. (2025). Humanitarian Outcomes. This year’s Aid Worker Security Report comes at a major inflection point for international humanitarian assistance and during an alarming new peak of violence against humanitarians. The 2025 edition – the 15th since data tracking began – was almost not produced after the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD), lost its US government funding when the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was dismantled. The funding crisis now rocking the sector comes on top of escalating conflicts and a steep erosion of respect for humanitarian norms and the laws of war by state actors – amplified in some places by public smear campaigns against aid organisations.
Four Years on, Surviving or Thriving: Success, Challenges, and Workforce Development for Afghans and New Americans in Vermont by Justin Chamberlain. (2025). USCRI. Almost four years after the U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan sparked large-scale resettlement efforts in the United States, more than 600 Afghans have been resettled across Vermont by state resettlement agencies led by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants-Vermont (USCRI-VT) and the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), with the assistance of other refugee service providers. Vermont, a state with an aging native-born population and historically high outmigration rates, has struggled to maintain its population and retain a workforce strong enough to support its most in-demand industries and drive economic growth. Increasingly, Vermont has depended on its growing population of immigrants of all backgrounds and immigration statuses to fill gaps in its workforce and economy. While there is a strong body of research on the economic contributions, challenges, and successes of immigrants in the United States, much less attention has been given to impact and experiences of Afghans resettled after the 2021 U.S. evacuation. Virtually no published research focuses specifically on Afghans in Vermont, despite their potential to play an important role in the state’s economy and society. This study found that Afghans are already making vast and meaningful contributions to Vermont’s workforce and economy; however, the majority are living below salaries sufficient to provide true financial stability. This report recommends targeted service enhancements and increased resource investment for Afghans and refugee communities across Vermont, to more effectively support their integration and help unlock their full potential, ultimately contributing to a stronger, more resilient state economy and social fabric.
From Borders To Communities: A Situational Analysis Of Returnees’ Needs In Afghanistan – September 2025. (2025). Reliefweb. IOM’s latest analysis, drawing on IOM’s household data and community-level insights, provides a comprehensive picture of undocumented returnees in high-return areas in Afghanistan. While families continue to return from abroad, many face challenges moving beyond short-term coping strategies toward sustainable reintegration. Widening gaps in livelihoods, services, and resilience highlight the urgent need for strengthened support to achieve durable solutions.
How can development actors scale refugee labour mobility? (2025). Reliefweb. Development actors are well suited to play a meaningful role in scaling up complementary labour pathways for refugees, yet their current contribution falls far below its potential. Exploring how development actors can engage to support refugee labour mobility is a worthwhile endeavour that can help increase the size, scope, and sustainability of these pathways. Against a backdrop of rising displacement, fewer resettlement places, and frequent obstacles to refugee mobility, complementary pathways are a promising tool for providing more durable solutions for individuals in need of protection.
Rohingya refugees express feeling unsafe, lacking control over their future, September 29, 2025. Médecins Sans Frontières. Eight years after hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled a campaign of extreme targeted violence in Myanmar, a new report from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), The Illusion of Choice: Rohingya Voices Echo from the Camps, shows people caught in a protracted crisis, facing constant threats of violence, diminishing aid, and a profound lack of control over their own future. The situation in the camps is worsening as essential services are reduced due to significant cuts in donor funding. MSF argues for Rohingya voices to be central to all discussions with access to services and self-reliance opportunities, to build a future that allows for safe, dignified, and voluntary return.
NEWS AND BLOG POSTS
Around the world, migrants are being deported at alarming rates – how did this become normalised? by Andonea Jon Dickson, Cetta Mainwaring, & Thom Tyerman, October 2, 2025. The Conversation. Under President Donald Trump, the United States is expanding its efforts to detain and deport non-citizens at an alarming rate. In recent months, the Trump administration made deals with a number of third states to receive deported non-citizens. In Australia, the Labor government has similarly established new powers to deport non-citizens to third states. The government signed a secretive deal with Nauru in September, guaranteeing the small Micronesian island A$2.5 billion over the next three decades to accommodate the first cohort of deportees. In the UK, the Labour party expanded the “Deport Now Appeal Later” scheme in August, extending the countries to which people can be deported without appeal rights from eight to 23. In all three countries, migrants can now be banished to states to which they have no prior connection.
Australia’s “mass migration” myth: The real story is mass deportation by Gerry Georgatos, October 4, 2025. Independent Australia. Australia is awash with political rhetoric about “mass immigration.” Headlines, parliamentary speeches, and public commentary insist the nation is being “flooded” with arrivals. Yet the statistics do not bear this out. Immigration intake numbers fluctuate, but the dominant trend of the past decade has not been runaway growth — it has been the unprecedented expansion of deportations. Under the Migration Act 1958 and specifically its notorious section 501 provisions on “character grounds,” deportations have reached historic highs, at times exceed 1,000 annually. This is not immigration at all — it is exclusion, expulsion, and destruction of lives.
Disposable yet indispensable: refugees in the global economy by Asli Salihoğlu & Cameron Thibos, October 5, 2025. OpenDemocracy. Refugee populations have become durable components of national labour markets in many regions around the world. They are central to garment production in Turkey, demolition in Japan, domestic work in Poland, and can be found filling out the ranks of the precarious, informal labour force in countries from Venezuela to Bangladesh. Refugees’ reliance on work to survive is likely to increase in the coming years, even though most host governments continue to resist letting them do so legally. Major donor countries are reducing their humanitarian aid budgets – the shuttering of USAID in the US, for example, is an extreme rupture that has reverberated across the Global North aid infrastructure. As support drops away, refugees are faced with an inevitable choice: work, or go without. The global economy continues to quietly and precariously integrate refugees and asylum seekers into the machineries of capitalism.
Migrant caravans no longer want to go to the United States by Bryan Avelar, October 2, 2025. El Pais. A group of about 1,000 people are walking north from Tapachula, Mexico, with the goal of staying in Mexico City instead of crossing the border into American territory. For at least the last eight years, dozens of caravans have set out from this very place with one goal: to cross the northern border and reach American territory. But the so-called “Trump Effect”—that is, the fear of the U.S. president’s anti-immigration policies—has had an effect that was unthinkable until recently: migrants no longer seek a new future there.
Rising Migration in Latin America and the Caribbean Has Ushered in a Volatile New Era by Diego Chaves-González, Valerie Lacarte, Andrew Selee, & Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, October 2, 2025. Migration Policy Institute. A historic level of migration is reshaping the societies and politics of Latin America and the Caribbean, giving rise to a new era best defined by volatility. After years of unprecedented human mobility since 2010, during which time the number of migrants in the region roughly doubled, migration has become unpredictable, multidirectional, and increasingly difficult for governments to manage. Countries have simultaneously grappled with the integration of displaced people (primarily Venezuelans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Cubans), secondary migration as individuals moved on when opportunities faltered, circular and return migration, and emigration of frustrated middle classes.
EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Course: Migration and Integration: Refugees, Rights & Realities. University of Amsterdam. Millions of people around the world are forcibly displaced. But what are the intertwining factors causing these issues? What is the true impact of displacement on an individual? What does it mean to be labelled a “refugee”, and how can we become more understanding of the situation and lack of control refugees have in making decisions about their future? This two-week online programme will explore topics like this in depth and critically discuss current refugee crises which are happening around the globe today. The online course will run from January 19-30th, 2026. The early bird deadline to sign up is November 1st, and the final deadline is December 7th.
CRS/EUC Book Launch: Undoing nothing: Narratives and Practices of everyday life in a place for asylum seekers. Centre for Refugee Studies, York University. What does everyday life look like for young men who flee to Europe, survive, and are then assigned temporary housing? Hypersurveillance or parallel normality, irrelevance, or even nothingness? Based on four years of ethnographic research, Undoing Nothing recounts the untold story of Italian asylum seekers’ struggles to produce relevance—that is, to carve out meaning, control, and direction from their legal and existential liminality. Their ways of inhabiting space and time rest on a deeply ambivalent position: together and alone, inside and outside, absent and present. Their racialized bodies dwell in their assigned residence while their selves inhabit a suspended translocal space of moral economies, nightmares, and furtive dreams. This book illuminates a distinctly modern form of purgatory, offering both a perceptive critique of state responses to the so-called refugee crisis and nuanced psychological portraits of a demographic rarely afforded narrative depth and grace. The guest author is Paolo Boccagni, Professor of Sociology at the University of Trento. This is a hybrid event (In person: HNES 141 (EUC building, Keele Campus, York University), on October 31, 2025, 11am – 12:30pm (Toronto/EDT).
Designing for Belonging: What Neuroscience Teaches Us About Shelter, Space & Healing. Clark University. This session bridges neuroscience and humanitarian practice, exploring how the built environment influences well-being, safety, and belonging. From tents and shelters to flood-resilient housing and refugee camps, the panel examines how physical spaces can either magnify stress or restore hope. Speakers include Donald H. Ruggles, Minar Thapa Magar, Ana Carolina Helena, and will be facilitated by Dr. Devora Neumark. This online session will be on October 30th, 2025, 9:00am to 10:00am.
Seminar: The Plight of Afghans in Iran: The Complex Gendered, Socio-political and Cultural Dimensions of a Fraught and Critical Relationship. Centre for Refugee Studies, York University. Niloufar Pourzand will provide a perspective on the recent forced deportations of over one million Afghan refugees from Iran, while presenting insights into the history and trajectory of over 6 million Afghan refugees coming to Iran in the course of the past several decades, making it the number one destination in the world when it comes to refugees, and the profound impact their presence has had on Iran/Iranians and of course, on Afghans themselves, those who have stayed, been deported and/or left for other diaspora destinations. The human/refugee rights aspects of what has transpired over a period of time, as well as the gendered and socio-political dimensions will be discussed, while also sharing insights about its profound consequences and possible future scenarios. The seminar will be on October 23, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:30PM ET. This is a hybrid event at York University and online.
Webinar – Protecting the rights of stateless Palestinians in the UK. European Network on Statelessness, London UK. This webinar is bringing together expert insights and lived expertise on protecting the rights of stateless Palestinians in the UK. What to expect: A summary of the recent legal briefing and what it means in practice, including for those working with or representing impacted community members, a community perspective on the lived realities of displaced Palestinians in the UK and across Europe, and a forward-looking discussion on how legal practitioners, the courts, civil society, and other key actors can help close protection gaps and advance rights – both in the UK and across Europe. The webinar will be on October 23, 2025, 12:00-12:45 UK time.
Workshop MOEBIUS – The European Border and their Thickness. Multidimensional Perspectives. EDIEC. If the thickness of borders has been studied widely by geographers who underscore that they are not any more one dimensional line between dyads but from now on multi-dimensional areas opposed to migrants, the idea has not been fully exploited by other disciplines. This is the purpose of this panel that will create discussions between sociology, political science and law on the matter. Diverse approaches will consider the width of EU external borders that expand their borders outside the territory (externalisation) and extend them inside their territory (internalisation); that constitute large spatial spaces (which unfold migrants in networks beyond and below the territorial State limits) and long temporal phases (which impose an immersion of migrants in a temporality that is both dilated and suspended). In order to seize the consequences of the fact that borders and territory are decoupled, the material thickness of EU borders will be explored. This online event will be on October 15, 2025, 2:00PM to 5:00PM Europe/Paris time.