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. 48

Recent Publications and New Research

Ekman, Mattias (2018) Anti-refugee mobilization in social media: The case of Soldiers of Odin. Social Media and Society Jan – Mar 1-11.

This article analyzes how racist actors use social media to mobilize and organize street politics targeting refugees and other immigrants. The author’s aim is to explore the relation between social media and anti-refugee mobilization in a time of perceived insecurity and forced migration. The study examines the vigilante network Soldiers of Odin as a specific case, looking at how they communicate through social media as well as at how right-wing online sites and traditional mainstream news represent them. The author proposes that although racist actors successfully utilize social media communication and protest logic, a lack of public support and negative framing in news media do constrain them. The article is part of a special collection on forced migration and digital connectivity. An open-access version of this article is available here:

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2056305118764431

Gutiérrez Rodríguez, Encarnación (2018) The coloniality of migration and the ‘refugee crisis’: On the asylum-migration nexus, the transatlantic white European settler colonialism-migration and racial capitalism. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees 34:1.

To make sense of Europe’s 2015 summer of migration, this article uses Quijano’s concept of the ‘coloniality of power’ to propose a new analytical framework dubbed the ‘coloniality of migration’. The author explores the connection between racial capitalism and the asylum-migration nexus through a focus on the economic and political links between asylum and migration. The author proposes that asylum and migration policies produce hierarchical categories of migrants and refugees as well as a nomenclature drawing on an imaginary that is reminiscent of the orientalist and racialized practices of European colonialism and imperialism. The article also outlines how these policies are inherent to a logic of racialization of the workforce as reflected in the racial coding of immigration policies related to White European migration to the Americas and Oceania in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and to migration policies in post-1945 Western Europe.

Open access versions of this article and the other papers included in this special issue are available here:

https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/issue/view/2318

Oda, Anna, Michaela Hynie, Andrew Tuck, Branka Agic, Brenda Roche and Kwame McKenzie (2018) Differences in Self-Reported Health and Unmet Health Needs Between Government Assisted and Privately Sponsored Syrian Refugees: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health.

This article reports on a study of physical/mental health status and healthcare access for Syrian refugees who resettled in Canada between November 2015 and January 2017. The results indicate that there are demographic and healthcare access differences between government assisted refuges (GARs) and privately sponsored refugees (PSRs). The authors found that GARs reported significantly lower physical and mental health, as well as, higher unmet healthcare needs compared to PSRs. GARs reported higher needs, more complex medical conditions and more difficulty re-settling. The authors conclude that while timely access to healthcare is essential for good health and successful integration, the support refugees receive differs depending on sponsorship program, something that may lead to differences in healthcare service access and needs. Unfortunately, this paper is not open access:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10903-018-0780-z?wt_mc=Internal.Event.1.SEM.ArticleAuthorOnlineFirst

Carlaw, John (2017) Authoritarian populism and Canada’s Conservative decade (2006–2015) in citizenship and immigration: The politics and practices of Kenneyism and Neo-conservative Multiculturalism. Journal of Canadian Studies 51(3): 782-816.

This article examines the politics and policies of citizenship, immigration, and multiculturalism in Canada in the period 2006-2015 the Conservative Party of Canada governed the country. The author employs the concepts of Kenneyism (named after Jason Kenney, Canada’s then minister of citizenship, immigration, and multiculturalism) and neo-conservative multiculturalism to reconcile that political party’s long-term outreach efforts to incorporate new, ethnicized, and racialized Canadians with the exclusionary discourses and policies they espoused and implemented. The article draws on Hall’s authoritarian populism to outline the roots of Kenneyism and neo-conservative multiculturalism within a discussion of the party’s evolution. The author discusses five key characteristics and trends of the party’s political and governmental approach that demonstrate both their creative outreach and forms of disciplinary politics and social exclusion and comments on the future of Kenneyism. Unfortunately, this paper is not open access:

https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/jcs.2017-0054

Bailey, Lucy and Gül İnanç (2018) Access to Higher Education: Refugees’ Stories from Malaysia. Baton Rouge, Florida: CRC Press.

This book contains stories from a small group of successful refugees who have managed to receive higher education in a context where their existence is not recognized and where most refugees lack access to even basic education. Until 2015, no refugees in Malaysia were able to access higher education, and they were unable to attend government schooling. Since then, six private higher education institutions have agreed to open their doors to refugees for the first time. This book identifies the factors that aided these refugees, and charts the challenges that they and their communities have faced. The stories are framed by a discussion of the situation that refugees face in accessing education globally. Details for obtaining this book available here (unfortunately, not open access):

https://www.crcpress.com/Access-to-Higher-Education-Refugees-Stories-form-Malaysia/Bailey-Inanc/p/book/9781138495128

Reports, Working Papers and Briefs

Collett, Elizabeth and Susan Fratzke (2018) Europe Pushes to Outsource Asylum, Again. Migration Policy Institute. June.

This commentary examines the preoccupation of European politicians with the idea of processing asylum claims outside Europe’s borders. These authors argue that this approach could spell the end for the key principle of global migration law that asylum claims must be processed in the territory where the application is lodged. The authors ask what these schemes would look like in reality, including who would pay for them, and where the legal responsibility would lie. They argue that such ideas are not new and have previously buckled under the weight of their own cost and complexity. The article underlines that it is vital that these proposals be scrutinized and critiqued. This commentary is available here:

www.migrationpolicy.org/news/europe-pushes-outsource-asylum-again.

Betts, Alexander, Remco Geervliet, Claire MacPherson, Naohiko Omata, Cory Rodgers and Olivier Sterck (2018) Self-reliance in Kalobeyei? Socio-Economic Outcomes for refugees in northwest Kenya. University of Oxford Refugee Studies Centre and the World Food Programme.

This study compares outcomes for refugees from South Sudan who are now in two places in northwest Kenya, the Kolobeyei settlement established in 2015 using a self-reliance model and the older Kakuma camp that uses more of an ‘aid model’. The authors consider how to assess self-reliance of refugees in the two locations, examine to what extent self-reliance is greater in the new Kolobeyei settlement compared to the old Kakuma camp, and how to enhance self-reliance. The report is available here:

https://www.refugee-economies.org/assets/downloads/Self-Reliance_in_Kalobeyei_website.pdf

Kerwin, Donald (2018) The US Refugee Resettlement Program – A Return to First Principles: How Refugees Help to Define, Strengthen, and Revitalize the United States. Report. Center for Migration Studies.

This report describes how the US refugee program serves US interests and values and raises concerns regarding the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken and undermine the program. The author outlines how the program saves the lives of the world’s most vulnerable persons, promotes a stable world, reduces unregulated arrivals, encourages developing nations to remain engaged in refugee protection, and promotes cooperation in regards to US military and counter-terrorism strategies. The report outlines the achievements, contributions and integration of 1.1 million refugees who arrived in the United States between 1987 and 2016 and asserts that the US refugee resettlement program should be a source of immense national pride because it has saved countless lives, put millions of impoverished persons on a path to work, self-sufficiency, and integration, and advanced US standing in the world. The author laments that the current administration has taken aim at this program as part of a broader attack on legal immigration programs. The open-access report is available here:

http://cmsny.org/publications/us-refugee-resettlement-program/

Marwah, Sonal (2018) Untangling the Current U.S. Refugee Program. Project Ploughshares.

Canadian policymakers, civil society organizations and immigration attorneys are scrambling to navigate the new and frequently altering immigration landscape in the U.S. This brief provides an overview of the U.S. refugee program at the present time. The article is available here:

http://ploughshares.ca/2018/08/untangling-the-current-u-s-refugee-program/

News and blog posts

Yaxley, Charlie (2018) UNHCR Team Hears Accounts of Barbaric Violence in Eastern Congo’s Ituri Region. UNHCR. July 13.

A UNHCR team has recently been able to obtain access to DR Congo’s Ituri region where they met some of the 150,000 people formerly displaced people who are now returning in hope of finding their homes. The UNHCR team has learned that conditions are grim, that around 350,000 people have fled the violence, and that those who have returned so far are in many cases finding that their villages and homes have been reduced to ash. The report is available here:

http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2018/7/5b485e2a4/unhcr-team-hears-accounts-barbaric-violence-eastern-congos-ituri-region.html

Silverman, Stephanie J. (2018) The disgrace of detaining asylum seekers and other migrants. The Conversation. July 15.

The author, a well-known expert on the detention of refugees and asylum seekers, argues that we must not lose sight of how the Trump administration is steadily expanding its detention arsenal under the cover of massive changes to its immigration and asylum architecture. The article is available here:

https://theconversation.com/the-disgrace-of-detaining-asylum-seekers-and-other-migrants-99673

Desmarais, Anna (2018) Analysis: Debunking Canada’s responsibility to the United States under the Safe Third Country Agreement. iPolitics. July 16.

This article examines key arguments that propose that Canada ends its Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States. An open access version of this article is available here:

https://ipolitics.ca/2018/07/16/analysis-debunking-canadas-responsibility-to-the-united-states-under-the-safe-third-country-agreement/

Turse (2018) A slaughter in silence: How a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign in DRC was made worse by Trump’s “America First” policies and the world’s neglect. Vice News. August 1.

This in-depth article describes a wave of massacres and related forced displacements the Democratic Republic of Congo in early 2018. The author laments that the wave of massacres was ignored by the world, and that the humanitarian crisis that followed was amplified by international neglect. The author also argues that the Trump administration’s “America First” agenda played an important part in this disaster, nothing that the abrupt change to U.S. support for peacekeeping efforts in 2017 contributed to the constellation of catastrophes that enabled militiamen to kill with impunity and led to the forced displacement of more than 350,000 people from the Hema ethnic group. The open access article is available here:

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/7xq45a/a-slaughter-in-silence-democratic-republic-of-the-congo

Brandt, Jessica and Claire Higgins (2018) Europe Wants to Process Asylum Seekers Offshore – The Lessons it should Learn from Australia. Brookings. August 31.

These authors outline how costly Australia’s offshore system for processing asylum seekers has been. They warn that even if Europe is able to find a country in North Africa willing to take on this role that it is likely to be as costly as in the Australian case. The article is available here:

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/08/31/europe-wants-to-process-asylum-seekers-offshore-the-lessons-it-should-learn-from-australia/

Alexander, Christopher (2018) Asylum seekers must be invited to use Canada’s front door. Globe and Mail. August 3.

The author of this article is a diplomat and politician who was Canada’s minister of citizenship and Immigration from 2013 to 2015. He calls for the suspension of the U.S. Canada Safe Third Country Agreement. The article is available here:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-asylum-seekers-must-be-invited-to-use-canadas-front-door/

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. 47

Recent Publications and New Research

Twigt, Mirjam A. (2018) The mediation of hope: Digital Technologies and affective affordances within Iraqi refugee households in Jordan. Social Media and Society Jan – Mar 1-14.

 The author of this article draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among Iraqi refugees in Jordan’s capital Amman to further understand their use of digital technologies in everyday experiences of prolonged displacement. The author argues that “affective affordances”—the potential of different media forms to bring about affects like hope and anxiety—enable Iraqi refugees to reorient themselves to particular places and people. The author has found that digital technologies serve as orientation devices that enable the refugees to imagine futures elsewhere when faced with no hope of a future in Jordan. The paper concludes that transnational digital connections may be crucial to making Iraqi refugee life in Jordan bearable. This paper is part of a special collection titled “Forced migration and digital connectivity in(to) Europe”. An open access version of this article is available here:

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305118764426

Albahari, Maurizio (2018) From Right to Permission: Asylum, Mediterranean Migrations, and Europe’s War on Smuggling. Center for Migration Studies

This article argues that the European Union and its member states have transformed what has been understood as the right to asylum into what is now merely a state-granted permission. Efforts to curb unauthorized maritime migrant arrivals through a security-focused plan of action that includes deterrence, surveillance, border enforcement and policing motivated by containment policies have meant that paying smugglers has become the only viable way to seek refuge in Europe. The author furthermore provides evidence that state actors’ deployment of an anti-smuggling discourse has not significantly curbed maritime arrivals but has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people. An open access version of this paper is available here: http://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-from-right-to-permission/

Gilman, Denise and Luis A. Romero (2018) Immigration Detention, Inc. Center for Migration Studies.

This article draws the connection between economic inequality and U.S. system-wide immigration detention policy. The authors argue that the extensive use of detention in for-profit prisons by the US department of Homeland Security raises issues of economic power and powerlessness. The authors link the influence of wealthy private prison corporation to the expansion of detention in facilities that are akin to those offered by the private prison industry.

An open access version of the article is available here: http://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-immigration-detention-inc/

Lenner, Katharina and Lewis Turner (2018) Making Refugees Work? The Politics of Integrating Syrian refugees into the Labour Market in Jordan. Journal of Middle East Critique.

This article outlines how refugee response planners no longer frame Syrian refugees merely as objects of humanitarian care. Increasingly, they are portrayed as enterprising subjects, whose formal integration into labour markets can simultaneously create self-sufficient actors and cure the economic woes of host countries. This paper considers the Jordan Compact, a political commitment to integrate Syrian refugees into the formal Jordanian labour market. An open access version of this article is available here:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19436149.2018.1462601

Carastathis, Anna, Natalie Kouri-Towe, Gada Mahrouse and Leila Whitley (2018) Introduction to Special Issue: Intersectional Feminist Interventions in the “Refugee Crisis.” Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees.

These authors argue that while scholars have paid attention to the declared global “refugee crisis”, there has been insufficient focus on the intersecting dynamics of oppression, discrimination, violence, and subjugation. In this article, they define feminist “intersectionality” as a research framework and a no-borders activist orientation in trans-national and anti-national solidarity with people displaced by war, capitalism, and reproductive heteronormativity, encountering militarized nation-state borders. They provide a survey of work in migration studies that engages with intersectionality as an analytic and offer a synopsis of the articles in the special issue they have curated. Open access versions of this article and the other papers included in this special issue are available here:

https://refuge.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/refuge/issue/view/2318

Reports, Working Papers and Briefs

Bose, Pablo and Lucas Grigri (2018) PR6: Refugee Resettlement Trends in the [US] West. Refugee Resettlement in Small Cities Reports. University of Vermont. May.

This report is the sixth in a series of six reports. This particular report examines refugee resettlement trends from FY2012-2016 for the West region of the United States. Historically, the Western U.S. has had extensive experience with migration, especially immigrants from Asia and Latin America. California is the state in this region – and in the entire U.S. – with the highest level of foreign-born people, though Arizona and Washington also have sizeable immigrant populations. Refugee resettlement now extends to other parts of this region that have had less experience with immigration in recent decades. The open-access report is available here:

http://spatializingmigration.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/RRSC_PR6_West_Resettlement.pdf

Amnesty International (2018) Forced and Unlawful: Israel’s Deportation of Eritrean and Sudanese Asylum-seekers to Uganda. June 18.

According to Amnesty International’s report, since 2015 Israel has deported hundreds of Sudanese and Eritrean asylum-seekers to Uganda where they have encountered a chaotic reception that leaves them without protection or resources. Many flee to other African countries or Europe. This report argues that Israel is violating their rights under international law and is abdicating its responsibilities and shifting them to countries with fewer resources and larger refugee populations. This report is available here (open access):

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde15/8479/2018/en/

International Organization for Migration/Samuel Hall (2017) Migrant Smuggling to Canada – An Enquiry into Vulnerability and Irregularity through Migrant Stories. IOM (Accra, Ghana.)

This study focuses on assessing migrant vulnerabilities, protection needs and exposure to exploitation before migration, during transit, and upon arrival. The researchers used qualitative research based on migrants’ experiences of irregular migration to Canada, with a focus on Afghan and Syrian migrants. They exam the factors that lead to irregular migration, why particular routes are chosen over others, conditions of the journey, methods of coercion used against smuggled migrants, the profile of the smuggled migrants, the perceptions of migrants regarding reception processes and legal frameworks available, as well as the role of social media in smuggling. The research involved interviewing the same people at several stages of their journey in order to assess the smuggling practices that migrants experience. The publication is available here (open access):

https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/migrant_smuggling_to_canada_2018_final.pdf

Multi-Agency Partnership – British Columbia (2018) Report and Action Plan resulting from the 10 May 2018 “A Forum Focused on Solutions:  Addressing the Urgent Shelter and Housing Needs of Refugee Claimants in BC.” July 10.

This Report and Action Plan is the outcome of a forum held in May 2018 that brought together over sixty community leaders, decision makers and refugee claimants to develop strategic actions to address the housing needs of refugee claimants in B.C.’s Lower Mainland. The report seeks to address a situation marked by low-vacancy rates and high housing costs that leave refugee claimants especially vulnerable. The report identifies several short-term and long-term actions to address this situation and underlines that a multi-stakeholder approach is needed to tackle the housing and resettlement needs of refugee claimants. The report is available here (open-access):

http://mapbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Refugee-Claimant-Housing-Forum-Report-and-Action-Plan-2018.pdf

News and blog posts

Rehaag, Sean and Sharry Aiken (2018) Canada a world leader in preventing arrival of refugees. Toronto Star. May 25.

In this article, two renowned scholars say that the Canadian government’s announcement of its intention to apologize for Canada’s refusal to provide refuge to Jews fleeing the Nazis needs to be accompanied by a sincere commitment not to repeat the offence. They lament that in the present day Canada continues to do everything it can to prevent asylum seekers from reaching Canadian territory and that Canada has long been a world leader in developing and deploying tools to prevent such refugees from reaching Canada. The open-access article is available here:

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2018/05/25/canada-a-world-leader-in-preventing-arrival-of-refugees.html

Spagat, Elliot and Anita Snow (2018) New directive takes aim at immigrants fleeing gang violence. CTV News. June 16.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new directive declaring that gang and domestic violence will generally cease to be grounds for asylum. The Washington Office on Latin America expressed grave concern for those affected by the decision. The open-access article is available here:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/new-directive-takes-aim-at-immigrants-fleeing-gang-violence-1.3976482

FP Staff (2018) 2018 Career Diplomat of the Year Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein: Read the Transcript. Foreign Policy. June 14.

Zeid Raad al-Hussein, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, received a diplomatic award and gave a short but compelling speech regarding how the world is going backwards towards strident zero-sum nationalism. He calls for activism motivated by vision, energy and generosity of spirit to address this dire situation. The speech is available here:

http://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/14/2018-career-diplomat-of-the-year-zeid-raad-al-hussein-read-the-transcript/

Lenette, Caroline (2018) Refugee women use their voices through digital storytelling. The Conversation. June 17.

This article reports on the author’s research with women who had arrived in Australia on ‘women-at-risk’ visas. The author explains that while the interviews were recorded, the videos are not publicly available as part of an ethical research approach that avoids appropriating other’s stories. In this article, the author tells some of the stories the women had given her permission to share. The open-access article is available here:

https://theconversation.com/refugee-women-use-their-voices-through-digital-storytelling-97870

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. 46

Recent Publications and New Research

Leurs, Koen and Kevin Smets (2018) Five questions for digital migration studies: Learning from digital connectivity and forced migration in(to) Europe. Social Media and Society Jan-Mar: 1-16.

This article provides an introductory framework for a special collection on forced migration and digital connectivity in the context of Europe. The authors contend that digital migration – which they define as the relation between migration and digital media technologies – has emerged as a contentious topic during the so-called “refugee crisis” in Europe. The authors reflect on the main conceptual, methodological and ethical challenges faced by the emerging field of digital migration. The authors centre their discussion on five questions: 1) Why Europe? 2) Where are the field and focus of digital migration studies? 3) Where is the human in digital migration? 4) Where is the political in digital migration? and, 5) How can we de-centre Europe in digital migration studies? They call for a focus on social change, equity and social justice through the foregrounding of the lived experiences of refugees in particular cities and on particular migration routes. An open access version of this article is available here:

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305118764425

Khan, Adrian A. (2018) From the peaks and back: mapping the emotions of trans-Himalayan children education migration journeys in Kathmandu, Nepal. Journal of Children’s Geography. Published online: May 24.

This paper explores how children who have migrated to Kathmandu from Trans-Himalayan regions of Nepal experience conditions of emotional disconnect in the process of migration-for-education. Using a child-centred methodology, the author reviews children’s feelings of fear and moments of joy as they prepare to leave home at a young age. This paper depicts the heavily emotional journeys to Kathmandu, often done by foot and limited ground transport. The paper shows how children are often emotionally disconnected from their mountainous homelands after many years of separation and how disconnection creates complicated feelings. The author highlights children’s affective articulations of ‘return’, and their lived experiences of homecoming. Unfortunately, not open access:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14733285.2018.1479732#.WwmHz6vcWxU

Kordel, Stefan, Tobias Weidinger and Igor Jelen, Eds. (2018) Processes of Immigration in Rural Europe: The Status Quo, Implications and Development Strategies. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

This edited collection considers the ways in which immigration processes – from leisure-oriented movements to forced migration – increasingly affect areas in Europe that are considered peripheral or rural. The four sections of this book deal with a range of relevant topics through the examination of particular case studies. The first part reflects on relevant concepts related to migration and development in peripheral rural areas. The second part examines patterns and types of immigration processes at play. The third part considers integration, using the lenses of housing, economy and social life. Lastly, the fourth section pays attention to the role of management in this changing human landscape in rural Europe in relation to migration flows. An open-access extract of this book is available online from the publisher:

http://www.cambridgescholars.com/processes-of-immigration-in-rural-europe

Sieglinde Rosenberger, Verena Stern, Nina Merhaut, Eds. (2018) Protest Movements in Asylum and Deportation. Springer – IMISCOE Research Series. 

This edited volume is based on a comparative research project regarding protests against deportations in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The book deals with contextualizing asylum policies, and focuses on solidary protests and refugee activism as well as restrictionist movements against asylum seekers. The first part of the book contextualizes asylum related protest in relation to government policy in the three focus countries. The second and third sections provide detailed descriptions of the protest movements themselves, including their strategies and sections in relation to deportation and calls for inclusion. The fourth part of the book provides a look into social movement efforts against the inclusion of asylum seekers. The final chapter takes stock of this study of movement dynamics and protest outcomes in light of social movement theory and existing scholarship. The edited volume is open access: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-74696-8 

Ghezelbash, Daniel, Violeta Moreno-Lax, Natalie Klein, and Brian Opeskin (2018) Securitization of search and rescue at sea: The response to boat migration in the Mediterranean and Offshore Australia. International and Comparative Law Quarterly 67(2): 315-351.

This article provides a comparison of the law and practice of the European Union and Australia in respect to the search and rescue (SAR) of boat migrants in order to demonstrate the increasing securitization of such responses to individuals facing danger at sea. The authors argue that the humanitarian purpose of SAR has been compromised in the name of border security. In the first part, they contrast SAR operations involving migrants and asylum seekers with operations focused on other people in distress at sea. The second part reviews the relevant international legal regime governing SAR. The third part argues that shifting state practice is explained through a securitization framework and provides a discussion of the consequences of this shift in terms of increased militarization and criminalization, a lack of transparency and accountability, developments related to disembarkation and non-refoulement, and challenges related to cooperation. An open access version of the article is available here:

https://tinyurl.com/ybdabmqm

Reports, Working Papers and Briefs

Bose, Pablo and Lucas Grigri (2018) PR5: Refugee Resettlement Trends in the South-Central US. Refugee Resettlement in Small Cities Reports. University of Vermont. May.

This report is the fifth in a series of six reports. This particular report examines refugee resettlement trends from FY2012-2016 for the South-Central region of the United States. The report considers the contrasting histories of migration within this region, including the long history of immigration to Texas and the much more recent immigration trends in Missouri among others. A common thread among the states featured in this region is that the majority of immigrants come from Latin America. This report is part of a larger project that analyzes resettlement on a regional scale, looking at cities listed as official resettlement sites within each of five broad regions in the continental US. An open access report is available here:

http://spatializingmigration.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/RRSC_PR5_South_Central_Resettlement.pdf

Lim, Miguel Antonio, Andreina Laera, Rebecca Murray and Soheil Shayegh (2018) Displaced migrants in higher education: Findings from a study on pathways and support. EuroScientist. Special Issue highlights sessions held at ESOF 2018 Toulouse, July 9-14.

This publication reports on a survey on the practices and attitudes in higher education institutions with regard to displaced students and academics. The aim of the survey was to identify the best practices to integrate displaced students and academics into higher education institutions and to investigate the difficulties encountered by displaced people in accessing higher education. The researchers found that most respondents were unaware of available pathways and support systems for forced migrants at their universities and research centers. Respondents identified several critical barriers to the integration of displaced students and academics into higher education systems, including language and cultural barriers, financial barriers, and migration status. The researchers call on academic institutions and organizations that deal with forced migrants to facilitate their integration into academic institutions.

https://www.euroscientist.com/displaced-migrants-in-higher-education-findings-from-a-study-on-pathways-and-support/

Schulman, Susan (2018) Destination Europe: Homecoming – What happens when migrants end up back where they started. Special Report. IRIN. June 18.

This author considers the implications for sub-Saharan Africans following dreams northwards in face of new EU new policies and deals with African nations meant to deter hundreds of thousands of migrants from seeking new lives in Europe. The report examines the choices and challenges faced by returnees in Sierra Leone, refugees resettled in France, smugglers in Niger, and migrants in detention centres in Libya, among others. An open access version of this report is available here:

http://www.irinnews.org/special-report/2018/06/18/Europe-migration-homecoming

Käppeli, Anita (2018) The EU’s Answer to Migration Is to Triple Funding for Border Management. Will This Do the Job? Centre for Global Development. June 15.

In June 2018, the European Commission published its proposals on migration and border security for the next EU budget (2021–2027), which include nearly tripling financial support for migration, asylum and border management. This budgetary proposal was published amidst an unfolding humanitarian disaster in which EU states have shown themselves unable to act in concert. The author argues that while the unprecedented increase in funding for border management may seem to reflect the hope that more money will do the job in reducing internal tensions during the budgetary negotiations, that the absence of a legal migration mechanism and the EU’s difficulty in building a coherent asylum system could drive more people into risking the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean, irrespective of cutting-edge border management technologies. The open access publication is available here:

https://www.cgdev.org/blog/eus-answer-migration-triple-funding-border-management-will-do-job

News and blog posts

Mattoo, Deepa and Sean Rehaag (2018) US still unsafe for refugees. Hill Times. June 22.

These authors argue that the United States remains unsafe for refugees, including women fleeing domestic violence, and that because of this Canada should suspend or scrap the Safe Third Country Agreement it has with the U.S. government. The article is available here:

https://www.hilltimes.com/2018/06/22/biotechnology-210/149012

Hounsell, Benjamin (2018) How to start a technology revolution for refugees in East Africa. News Deeply. May 7.

This author points out that a quiet revolution in information and communication technology (ICT) education is already underway in low-income communities in East Africa but that the main impediment is the lack of dependable infrastructure, including access to energy and internet connectivity in rural refugee settlements. The author proposes that governments should incentivize the installation of more mobile network towers and access to dependable energy through off-grid solar operators in order to foster the adoption of ICT services within refugee camps. The post is available here:

https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2018/05/07/how-to-start-a-technology-revolution-for-refugees-in-east-africa

Deutsche Welle (2018) German Cabinet approves new refugee family reunification law. Deutsche Welle. May 5.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet has decided to resettle an additional 1,000 migrants per month, provided they are the direct relatives of refugees already living in Germany. The issue of migrant family reunifications has been a major sticking point in the German parliament and has exposed deep divisions inside Merkel’s governing coalition.

http://www.dw.com/en/german-cabinet-approves-new-refugee-family-reunification-law/a-43710490

D’Orsi, Cristiano (2018) Why the election of the Nigerian-born Senator Tony Iwobi is not a symptom of progress in Italy. Open Democracy. May 3.

This author argues that the election of Senator Toni Iwobi represents the latest attempt by an Italian far-right party to show the world that it does not discriminate on the basis of geographical origin. The author says that this effort however brushes over salient details including the significantly increased complications that people migrating to Italy face today compared to when Senator Iwobi immigrated to Italy in the early 1980s. The open access article is available here:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/cristiano-dorsi/why-election-of-nigerian-born-senator-tony-iwobi-is-not-symptom-o

Schuster, Liza (2018) A new bombing in Afghanistan and the tragedy of refugees. The Conversation. July 3.

In this blog post, a researcher reports on the tragic loss of life of a research project participant and the resultant trauma for family members and researchers due to a suicide bombing attack targeting Sikhs and Hindus in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The author then reflects on the recent meeting of EU heads of government in which they failed to reaffirm a serious and substantial commitment to offer asylum to people fleeing war and persecution but instead opted for appeasement and in doing so abandoned the core values on which the EU was established.

https://theconversation.com/a-new-bombing-in-afghanistan-and-the-tragedy-of-refugees-99303

Digital and Social Media

 Aiken, Sharry (2018) The future of the Safe Third Country Agreement. Pod Cast. Policy Options. July 4.

In this podcast, associate professor of law at Queen’s University argues that the U.S. is currently unsafe for refugees and looks at the political implications of suspending the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the U.S. The podcast is available here:

http://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2018/future-safe-third-country-agreement/

Very well argued submissions to the Supreme Court of Canada regarding Luis Alberto Hernandez Febles v. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration concerning exclusion from refugee protection on the basis of serious non-political crimes. The CCR, among others, is arguing that Canada has been broadening this exclusion clause that is part of the Convention refugee definition, with the result that refugees are wrongly denied protection, on the basis of crimes that are not very serious.

The video of the hearing can be watched here: http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/case-dossier/info/webcast-webdiffusion-eng.aspx?cas=35215

Supreme Court’s summary of the case at http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/case-dossier/info/sum-som-eng.aspx?cas=35215. The arguments of the CCR (and other interveners) are available here: http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/case-dossier/info/fac-mem-eng.aspx?cas=35215.
 

Nice blog on cuts to refugee health care by Alex Neve (Amnesty International Canada). Particularly like the section about using the term “bogus”:

Since it has no real meaning, what does the Minister mean when he uses it? Refugee claimants the government doesn’t like? Coming from countries the Minister wishes they wouldn’t leave? Whose claims get rejected?  Rejected on what basis? Because they weren’t believed? Because their problems, though genuine, don’t fit the legal technicalities of the refugee definition?  Because a decision-maker was not prepared to agree that human rights problems are real and serious in their country? Because they are a war criminal and thus, while having a valid fear of persecution, are not eligible for refugee status? Because conditions back home have changed since they left? Or because they couldn’t come up with enough documents to prove their story?

http://newcsj.squarespace.com/blog/2014/1/30/the-governments-rhetoric-about-bogus-refugees-is-bogus.html

– a poem by Fady Joudah

My daughter

wouldn’t hurt a spider

That had nested
Between her bicycle handles
For two weeks
She waited
Until it left of its own accord

If you tear down the web I said
It will simply know
This isn’t a place to call home
And you’d get to go biking

She said that’s how others
Become refugees isn’t it?

–from “Alight” by Fady Joudah (2013)

(find it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/1556594224)

About the poet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fady_Joudah

Please see request below. If you are able to respond, please contact Ana Teresa Rico directly at arico003@gmail.com.

***********************************************

 I am looking for an expert on Gambia country conditions. I have a refugee hearing on May 13th, 2013, and all supporting documentation must be in by May 2nd, 2013. 

Background Facts of the Case: 
My client was tortured for three weeks at a military barracks by what he called the Paramilitary. I have tried looking for information about the Paramilitary, but am unable to find anything. I did find some things about the Paramilitary Wing of the Police force in Gambia. My client is illiterate and has limited primary education. I believe he may have confused as to what type of military/paramilitary force captured him. He has the scars of torture throughout his body, but I am worried that he may be found not credible if I am unable to find any sources on the paramilitary in Gambia. I thought speaking to someone who knows about Gambia may assist me in finding sources, and figuring out if my client is confused as to what group captured him. Or possibly paramilitary is the nick-name given to a security force within Gambia. 

Anyway, any guidance or help you can provide in this area would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Ana Teresa Rico

AMERA is a human rights organization that provides free legal, social and mental health services to the hundreds of thousands of refugees in Egypt. For the last ten years, AMERA has tirelessly served people who have fled their home countries due to persecution, conflict, torture, trafficking, violence and terror. We work with refugees (mostly from Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea) to rebuild their lives and provide safety to their families. If you would like to know more about our work, please go to: http://www.amera-egypt.org

TODAY, AMERA is threatened with imminent closure due to a lack of funding. Without us, thousands of refugees will be left without access to essential services that protect their rights.

Founded in 2003, AMERA continues to be the first and only organization in Egypt to provide legal, social and mental health services to refugees under one roof. This holistic approach, coupled with the collective expertise of our staff, enables us to quickly identify individual and community needs. In this way, we provide essential services in a safe space, treating refugees with dignity and respect.

AMERA is the ONLY organization in Egypt that offers:

. Legal advice and representation before the UNHCR, increasing their chances of protection from return to their home countries
. Direct resettlement referrals to foreign embassies for the most vulnerable refugees in Egypt
. Specialized assistance for children who have fled persecution without their parents, including victims of trafficking, who rely on AMERA for access to protection, education, healthcare and other basic services
. Advocacy for refugees in indefinite and arbitrary detention
. Community outreach programs, headed by refugee staff, to raise awareness and empower refugee communities, pioneering an emergency outreach response to the massive Syrian refugee influx since 2012
. A dedicated team working with survivors of sexual and gender based violence to help them access a full spectrum of medical, social, legal, and psychological services

AMERA in Numbers

1537 refugees provided with services in the last two months
3400+ refugees provided with community outreach services in the last 12 months, of whom 1200 are Syrians
15% of our clients are under 21 years old (not including family dependents), half are women
30% are survivors of torture
72% of our clients receive more

AMERA helps the survivors of Sinai’s ‘torture camps’: Every year, hundreds of refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia are trafficked to the Sinai region of Egypt. There, they are held in ‘torture camps’ and subjected to horrific physical, sexual and psychological torture in order to extort money from their families in their home country and abroad. In the past 12 months AMERA has provided advice, representation and care to over 100 survivors of Sinai’s torture camps. For more information on this practice see a BBC World Service program, ‘Escape from Sinai’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0153h3m).

We are in URGENT need of immediate funding to continue serving our clients.
For every £2.25 donated, staffing costs are covered for each refugee provided with psychosocial support.
For every £2 donated, staffing costs are covered for each refugee accessing legal services.*
Any size donation will make a difference to a life today!

You can make a donation towards the work of AMERA Egypt by giving to AMERA UK, a registered UK charity (Charity Number: 1098788, Company Ltd by Guarantee: 4644642)
Please donate with JustGiving or PayPal by clicking the link below:

http://www.justgiving.com/amera/Donate

From the UK: you can also donate to AMERA by texting AMER01£ (and the amount you wish to donate) to 70070
If you are a UK Tax Payer, please visit our website to learn about maximizing your gift at no additional cost.
If you would like to make a donation of £1,000 or more, we’d be happy to discuss with you the intended focus of your donation. Please feel free to contact us at donations@amera-uk.org

Thank you,
AMERA-Egypt

The Centre for Rural Childhood, University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) Scotland is developing a toolkit to help organisations monitor and evaluate reintegration programmes for children. This project is funded by the Oak Foundation and is part of a larger project on recovery and reintegration (www.childrecovery.info). This work is being supported by an inter-agency steering group including representatives from EveryChild, Save the Children, Mkombozi and IOM.  
 
If you or your organisation has experience of reintegration programming with children who have become separated from their families and communities, please help us by answering our short questionnaire. The responses to this questionnaire will provide information that will contribute to the development of the toolkit.

The questionnaire should take no more than 20 minutes to complete.

The questionnaire can be accessed here  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SXPNL2Z  and will close on the 29th April.
 
Please feel free to circulate this information to others who may be involved in reintegration programming or have experience of evaluating such programmes.

Claire Cody
Claire.Cody.perth@uhi.ac.uk

From: Chris Strawn <chris@nwirp.org>

I was wondering if anyone might be able to point me in the direction of an easily searchable database for UN CAT jurisprudence, if one exists? I’m talking at the national AILA conference (American Immigration Lawyers Association) about CAT claims in the U.S., and while this is mainly focused on U.S. law, I’d like to point people to international materials. As far as I can tell, there is no easily searchable database for CAT jurisprudence (like westlaw or lexis for those of us in the U.S.). Below is a basic set of links I’m planning to give to attendees, and I’d be happy to include any other materials that are useful. Thanks for any suggestions.

Select international materials on CAT

Books, treatises, and guides

Manfred Nowak and Elizabeth McArthur, The United Nations Convention Against Torture: A Commentary (2008)

J. Herman Burgers & Hans Danelius, The United Nations Convention Against Torture: A Handbook on the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or PUnishment (1988).

Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT) and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Torture in International Law, a guide to jurisprudence (2008) http://www.apt.ch/content/files_res/JurisprudenceGuide.pdf

Finding UN CAT materials: country reports and individual complaints under Art 22 of the CAT (jurisprudence)

UN Committee Against Torture (starting place for reports and publications) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/

Special Rapporteur on Torture (useful for country reports) http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Torture/SRTorture/Pages/SRTortureIndex.aspx

Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (useful for country reports) http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/opcat/index.htm

Finding jurisprudence

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/jurisprudence.htm
(recent decisions – decent descriptions)

http://tb.ohchr.org/default.aspx
(poor search but should be comprehensive)

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/publisher/CAT.html
(UNHCR database, individual complaints generally up to 2011- good for country research as well)

http://www.worldcourts.com/cat/eng/index.htm
(Individual complaints to 2011)

http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/decisions/cat-decisions.html
(Individual complaints to 2009)

http://www.bayefsky.com/
(private site on UN decisions and reports)