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
No. 181 | April 9, 2026
NEW RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
Hertoghs, M. (2026). Working the Dutch Asylum Apparatus: An Ethnography of suspicious compassion and state power. Berghahn Books. Open access book. Since the 1970s, the recurring discourse of a ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe has affected border strategies that create a context of suspicion and criminalise asylum applicants. This book examines how the Netherlands engages with the arrival of certain (often illegalised) travellers and the asylum procedure, a tense liminal space and time that ensures decisions of inclusion and exclusion. Dutch asylum procedure is a peculiar legal procedure that gathers different people and sensitivities together to make swift, life-altering decisions for those applying for protection. Based on an extensive ethnography, this book reveals the ways in which suspicious compassion in Dutch asylum pervades an objective decision-making practice.
Doumiati, J. L., Bakri, H., Yared, G., Eter, M., Antar, J., & Bouclaous, C. (2026). Social determinants of postpartum depression among refugees and internally displaced women in Lebanon: A cross-sectional study. Scientific Reports. Open access. Refugees and internally displaced women (IDW) experience various health risks during displacement including inaccessible healthcare, infectious diseases, and mental health disorders, particularly depression. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence of postpartum depression in refugees and IDW in Lebanon and its association with sociodemographic characteristics, interpersonal violence, resilience, and social determinants of health.
Falkenhain, M., Brenning, N., Dobrovolski, E., & Kim, M. (2026). Why Don’t They Work? Understanding the Complexity of Work Intentions Among Ukrainian Refugees in Germany. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 1–15. Open access. Russia’s war against Ukraine has forced millions to leave their country. Although Ukrainian refugees were immediately entitled to access labor markets within the European Union, employment rates remained moderate in many European countries one year after the outbreak of war. This article investigates the underexplored question of how unemployed Ukrainian refugees in Germany envisioned their professional future early after arrival, how they experienced institutionalized requirements, and how the two interact. The authors identify four behavioral patterns—career orientation, impatience, hesitancy and overstrain—and capture nuanced differences in work intentions and institutional experiences. Findings reveal unintended negative consequences of one-size-fits-all policies and invite complexity thinking both politically and scientifically.
Mosawi, S. M. (2026). Refugee camps as contested gendered spaces: Afghan women’s liminality, inequality, and agency in Germany. Population, Space and Place, 32(2). Open access. This article examines how migrant women from Afghanistan who arrived in Germany in or after 2015—including asylum seekers, refugees, and those with rejected cases—experience and contest the everyday challenges within the liminal and precarious confines of camps and camp-like structures, including asylum reception and collective accommodation centres.
Sabchev, T., & Bond, J. (2026). Named Sponsorship and Newcomer Settlement: Insights from Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 1–17. Named sponsorship allows sponsors to identify the specific refugees they wish to welcome and support, yet very little is known about the human links underpinning naming or how these impact newcomer settlement. Drawing on interviews with sponsors and other stakeholders in Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program, this article offers two contributions. First, it shows that named sponsorship is used by a range of sponsors with diverse relationships to the refugees they name, challenging prevalent assumptions that named sponsorship is used exclusively by family members seeking reunification. Second, within this heterogeneity, we identify four types of named sponsorship and map the distinct impact that each type has on the settlement journey of sponsored newcomers.
REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS
Cuban Migration Dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean – A Regional Snapshot (January 2025 – February 2026). IOM UN Migration. Between 2025 and the early months of 2026, new dynamics have emerged in Cuban mobility across Latin America and the Caribbean. Insights from IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), irregular migration statistics provided by Central American governments, and regular migration figures from South America underscore the need for close monitoring and coordinated regional responses.
Into the storm: Ten years of search and rescue amid neglect, solidarity and struggle in the Central Mediterranean. (2026). SOS Méditerranée. SOS MEDITERRANEE is releasing a ten-year report to mark a decade of civilian search and rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean. As it looks to the years of operations ahead, the organization reaffirms its commitment to rescue, protect and bear witness through the publication of a manifesto.
Measuring What Matters: Piloting a Self-Assessment by and for Forcibly Displaced Populations. (2026). World Relief. The Measuring What Matters report profiles the pilot of the prototype refugee integration self-assessment tool introduced in the Integration Outcomes for Forcibly Displaced Persons (FDP) report. Designed to collect better integration data utilizing metrics defined by refugees themselves, the self-assessment tool proved to be more insightful than existing integration reporting mechanisms that focus on self-sufficiency, revealing essential takeaways on FDP integration. Offering both affirmation for successful integration practices and tips on where targeted support could strengthen integration journeys, the learnings from the Measuring What Matters report are extensive, generating recommendations relevant to a wide range of resettlement stakeholders. Most significantly and relevant to all stakeholders, the pilot project reasserts the importance of recognizing and centering FDP-defined integration metrics.
Resettlement under the New Pact on Migration and Asylum: A Step Forward or a Setback? (2026). JusGov. On 23 September 2020, the European Commission introduced the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, a proposal widely interpreted as a response to the recurring humanitarian crises and migrant fatalities at the European Union’s borders, by land or sea. These tragic events highlighted the pressing need for a renewed, cohesive European strategy – one that could prevent the persistence of what has been variously described as a “refugee crisis”, a “humanitarian emergency”, or even a “crisis of solidarity” and governance. The terminology used to frame the issue reflects not only differing perceptions of the root problem but also competing visions for how the EU should respond. In the New Pact, resettlement is positioned as a central tool to close existing gaps in legal access to protection for asylum seekers.
Unlocking refugee work authorisation in Kenya: a practical framework for economic inclusion, institutional alignment, and national growth. (2026). Norwegian Refugee Council. Kenya is at a turning point in how it supports refugees, not just with aid, but by opening pathways for them to work and contribute to the economy. While the law already allows refugees to apply for work permits, in practice many are blocked by complex, costly and unclear processes. This new white paper sets out simple, practical solutions to remove these barriers, showing how enabling refugees to work legally can strengthen self-reliance, support businesses, and benefit Kenya’s wider economy.
NEWS AND BLOG POSTS
After the Iran war: 5 possible outcomes and 4 ways Canada can flex its middle‑power muscle by Kawser Ahmed, March 31, 2026. The Conversation. The bombing in Iran and the broader Middle East will eventually cease. United States President Donald Trump keeps hinting about a possible end to hostilities and the U.S. has sent a 15-point peace proposal to Pakistan. But that doesn’t mean the end of consequences. International relations experts are already discussing several scenarios for what comes next. Each could reshape geopolitics for decades. In this charged moment, Canada’s often-touted identity as a “middle power” deserves honest scrutiny.
Dadaab voices: What’s behind the rise in refugee suicides? by Mohamed Jimale, March 25, 2026. The New Humanitarian. On a quiet morning in January in Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex, 38-year-old Aden Mohamed Hafow, a father of four and a respected comprehensive school teacher, hung himself. Born in Somalia, he had arrived in Dadaab as a three-year-old in the early 1990s. He knew little else but the camp’s dusty paths and makeshift classrooms. For more than 15 years, he had waited patiently in the queue for US resettlement, dreaming of a fresh start. But that hope began to crumble last year when US President Donald Trump barred the entry of refugees from Somalia. Although there is no official data, anecdotally the feeling is that there has been a sharp rise in suicides, a consequence of the pressure cooker existence of prolonged displacement, slashed aid, and fading futures.
How trade unions and employers’ associations react to irregular migrants: Variations in policy preferences across five European countries by Clare Fox-Ruhs, March 30, 2026. EUI Migration Policy Centre. What does the presence of irregular migrants (those without the right to reside in host countries) mean for the interests of labour and capital? What types of policy responses are likely to be favoured by trade unions and employers’ associations, and how might country context make a difference to labour market actors’ perceptions and preferences in relation to irregular migrants? These are among the questions explored in a new comparative institutional analysis of the interests and policy preferences of policy actors in relation to irregular migrants in Europe.
No Shelter: India’s Selective Abandonment of its Refugees by Anum Merchant, March 24, 2026. US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. This explainer outlines how India’s refugee protection system operates in the absence of formal legal commitments under international refugee law. It begins by situating India’s decision not to sign the 1951 Refugee Convention, before examining its fragmented legal and administrative framework that governs refugees today. It then considers how this system functions through both historical examples of protection and more recent restrictive trends, with particular attention to the treatment of Rohingya refugees. The piece concludes by reflecting on the broader implications of India’s approach for refugee protection in an increasingly state-centric global order.
What learning English means to migrants by Sharon Freeman, March 30, 2026. The Conversation. It is widely accepted that learning English is essential for many adult migrants who move to the UK. Yet in the last census, over 1 million residents in England and Wales reported not speaking English well or at all. Over the years, governments have firmly placed the duty to learn English on the newcomer, framing English proficiency as a requirement of integration. Recent migration reform proposals increase the emphasis on English proficiency and progress in deciding who can come to the UK and stay long term. Experts argue that language learning is not always linear, and that these policies risk turning English into a surveillance tool, rather than a pathway to integration.
EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Book launch: Decolonizing Queer Migration: Iranian Voices in Exile. School of Law, Politics and Sociology, University of Sussex. Join us for the launch of the book ‘Decolonizing Queer Migration: Iranian Voices in Exile’, published with Bristol University Press. What happens to sexual and gender identities when crossing borders under duress? This book offers an unprecedented account of how forced migration shapes the lives of queer Iranian individuals. Tracing movements from Iran through transition countries to Western resettlement, the book explores how identities are expressed, negotiated, silenced, and reimagined along the way. Engaging de/postcolonial theory and participatory methods, the authors centre the voices of non-heterosexual and non-cisnormative Iranians in exile. The authors – Moira Dustin, Nuno Ferreira, Kamran Matin, Mehran Rezaei-Toroghi and Isabel Soloaga – will be joined by: Arghavan Shamsara, journalist and activist based in Vancouver, Canada; and, Peyman, refugee participant based in Denizli, Turkey. This is an online event on April 23, 2026, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM EDT.
MOEBIUS Seminar: Rethinking mobility: reciprocity and agency for North-South equity. MOEBIUS. This next event in the MOEBIUS Seminar series includes speaker Sylvie Saroléa, Professeure de droit, Université catholique de Louvain, Présidente de l’Institut JUR-I. The online event will be on April 10, 2026, 10:00AM – 12:00PM Europe/Paris time.
Seminar: Rethinking aid: Lessons from refugee‑led responses. PRIO. You are invited to a seminar on the role of localization, refugee-led assistance and innovative funding mechanisms. These discussions are highly relevant for ongoing national processes, including the Norwegian government’s work on what they have called Project Turning Point, an effort to rethink how Norway engages with humanitarian and development aid to make the greatest possible difference in the world. This online event will be on April 23, 2026, 1:00PM – 2:30PM UTC.
Seminar Six: International Refugee Law and the Global Compact – Where Are the Women? WIRL Seminar Series 2025/26. This will be the sixth and final in a series of free online seminars hosted by the Women in Refugee Law (WiRL) network on the theme of “Refuge in a cold climate: the impact on women”. These are public events, ideal for anyone whose work relates to refugee or asylum-claiming women or with an interest in the needs and experiences of refugee women. This series draws on WiRL’s global membership to apply a gendered lens in analysing the impact of increasing hostility to refugees in different states and contexts. Speakers include Hüseyin Ali Kudret, James C. Cameron, Madeline Garlick, and Ana María Díez. This event will be on April 27th, 3:00 PM – 4:15PM (BST).