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

Balakian, S. (2025). Unsettled Families: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and the Politics of Kinship. Stanford University Press. Against the backdrop of the global refugee crisis, Unsettled Families is a book that investigates the parameters that Global North governments and international humanitarian organizations use to classify most displaced families—more than 99% globally—as ineligible for resettlement, and often as fraudulent. But “fraud” as a category is not as self-evident as it may first appear. Nor is “the family.” Based on long-term fieldwork between Nairobi, Kenya and Columbus, Ohio, Sophia Balakian tells stories of Somali and Congolese refugees navigating a complicated global assemblage of humanitarian organizations, immigration bureaucracies, and national security agencies as they seek permanent, new homes. Viewing the concepts of “fraud” and “family” from different vantage points in this context, Balakian shows how the categories begin to blur out of focus, sometimes to evaporate altogether; what seems to be contained within them scatter outside their received boundaries. Practices that resettlement organizations deem fraudulent are often understood by people living as refugees to be moral actions in an unequal world. Such practices allow them to fulfill obligations to kin—kin defined expansively, in ways that at times exceed the boundaries of normative, US frameworks. Bringing questions of kinship into current discussions on humanitarianism, Balakian locates “the family” as a crucial category in processes of producing, policing, and contesting the boundaries of nation-states in the 21st century.

Benhabib, S., & Shachar, A. (Eds.). (2025). Lawless Zones, Rightless Subjects: Migration, Asylum, and Shifting Borders. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Responding to ever-increasing pressures of migration, states, supranational, and subnational actors deploy complex moves and maneuvers to reconfigure borders, rights, and territory, giving rise to a changing legal cartography of international relations and international law. The purpose of this volume is to study this new reconfiguration of rights, territoriality, and jurisdiction at the empirical and normative levels and to examine its implications for the future of democratic governance within and across borders. Written by a diverse and accomplished group of scholars, the chapters in this volume employ legal, historical, philosophical, critical, discursive, and postcolonial perspectives to explore how the territoriality of the modern states – ostensibly, the most stable and unquestionable element undergirding the current international system – has been rewritten and dramatically reimagined. This title is available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Aksit, D., & Laenen, T. (2025). Settlement deservingness perceptions of climate change, economic, and political migrant groups across partisan lines. Frontiers in Sociology, 10. International migration is a prevailing issue of our times. With opponents of multicultural societies becoming more vocal across Europe, it is pivotal to strengthen our knowledge of how migrants are popularly perceived in receiving countries. Prior research suggests that there is remarkable agreement within different countries as to which types of migrants are seen as deserving of settlement, cutting across deep-rooted partisan divides. Building on the CARIN deservingness theory, this article sheds new light on this so-called “hidden immigration consensus” by investigating Americans’ original perceptions of different migrant groups rather than following the standard practice of assessing how they react to a set of pre-defined migrant characteristics in a conjoint experiment. Based on a split-sample experiment, the results show that liberals and conservatives significantly differ in their perceptions of political, economic, and climate change migrants on four of the five CARIN criteria. Liberals differentiate between migrants on control, attitude, and identity criteria, whereas conservatives only distinguish on the control criterion. Liberals rate all migrant groups twice as deserving as conservatives. The implications for the settlement deservingness model and the hidden consensus hypothesis are discussed. This article is open access.

Oberman, K. (2025). Enough spurious distinctions: Refugees are just people in need of refuge. Law and Philos. What makes refugees different to non-refugee migrants? A plausible answer is that refugees need refuge. Within their home state, they fall below some threshold. To fulfil their basic human needs, they must migrate elsewhere. Non-refugee migrants might be badly off in relative terms, but they don’t fall below this threshold. It is because refugees need refuge that they have a claim to refuge. States are obligated to admit them at least when they can do so without severe cost. Call this the “Needs Account” of refugeehood – it combines a needs-based definition of a refugee with a needs-based argument for refugee protection. This article defends an unadulterated needs account. It is because they are in need that refugees have a claim to refuge. When politicians and the media brand asylum applicants “bogus” and “fraudulent” for failing to fit the narrow Convention definition of a refugee, they draw a morally spurious distinction between Convention-definition refugees and other people in need of refuge. Someone can fall outside the Convention definition and yet have an equally strong claim to refuge. Scholars who oppose the Needs Account do not all support the Convention definition, but they too draw questionable distinctions. They offer various reasons why the term “refugee” should be reserved for only a subset of those in need of refuge. As we shall see, none of these reasons prove persuasive. This article is open access.

Openshaw, K., Atem, A., & Phillips, M. (2025). Beyond the demands of integration: African refugee resettlement in contemporary multicultural Australia. Genealogy, 9(1), 11. This paper uses the example of negatively racialised refugees from the African continent to reiterate the racialised nature of migrant and refugee experiences in Australia. This is a context that remains deeply influenced by a violent history of British colonisation and racist migration laws, including the restrictive White Australia Policy (1901–1973). Drawing on the authors’ research and personal experiences of working with, and navigating, the Australian resettlement system this article examines the racialised violences inherent in expectations of ‘integration’ for (former) African refugees in a settler colonial country. This paper proffers a principle level re-imagining of refugee resettlement in Australia that challenges patriarchal white sovereignty. It proposes a meaningful consideration of resettlement practices that are community-led, localised, relational and that recognise the agency of refugees who settle in Australia. This open access paper disrupts dominant tropes of refugees as perpetually vulnerable and deficit, by centering the agency, needs and expectations of a good life as it is lived in community, rather than dictated by the state.

REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS

A humanitarian trap? Navigating neutrality, relief and rights in Ethiopia, Myanmar, Syria and Guatemala by Zainab Moallin, Leen Fouad, & Dustin Barter. (2025). ODI Global. This scoping study examines the ever present but intensifying tensions between the provision of humanitarian relief and advancement of rights. While not mutually exclusive, the foregrounding of humanitarianism often comes at the expense of social justice. This can be seen, for example, when social movements are redirected to providing relief, as humanitarian funding gradually distorts the shape of civil society. The Humanitarian Policy Group’s (HPG’s) research examines these different tensions through country studies in Ethiopia, Myanmar, Syria and Guatemala. A scoping study by design, the research sets the scene for issues that HPG intends to grapple with in coming years, and that the humanitarian sector cannot afford to ignore.

Regional Refugee Response Plan 2025-2026. (2025). UNHCR. The war in Ukraine has been the fastest growing and largest displacement crisis in Europe since World War II and has precipitated a regional refugee response of commensurate scale. Following the Russian Federation’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the flow of refugees into neighbouring countries, and beyond, has been met by a remarkable mobilization of assistance – by national and municipal authorities, civil society actors, local volunteers, and refugees themselves, all contributing to ensure protection and meet the essential needs of those fleeing violence. The refugee response continues to address significant needs in host countries. Notably, the 2025-26 iteration of the plan reflects the increased national and local ownership of the response and greater investment by host governments and national civil society in the socio-economic inclusion of refugees.

Smuggling dynamics on the Eastern Route through Yemen. (2025). Mixed Migration Centre. This report focuses on the nature and dynamics of human smuggling along this Eastern Route from the Horn of Africa across the Red Sea between locations of origin in Ethiopia and points of arrival along the coast of Lahj Governorate in Yemen. It examines the role of smugglers, the services they offer, the financial aspects of the journey, and how migrants perceive their smugglers. The study is based on 346 surveys with migrants in Lahj, Yemen and 16 with smugglers in Ethiopia.

UN agencies warn of worsening humanitarian and human rights crisis in eastern DR Congo. (2025). United Nations. United Nations agencies called for an end to the violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as fighting between Government forces and the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group expands. The rebels have already seized the provincial capital, Goma, and reports indicate that they are closing in on the key city of Bukavu, capital of South Kivu province. The hostilities are occurring in a mineral-rich region that has been volatile for decades amid a proliferation of armed groups, which has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes over the years and seek safety in displacement camps.

UNHCR Operational Framework Voluntary Return of Syrian Refugees and IDPs 2025. (2025). UNHCR. Following the collapse of the Assad government in Syria in early December 2024, many among the 5.5 million Syrian refugees in Türkiye, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt have expressed elation and hope about the prospect of returning to their homes, together with caution. This Operational Framework projects up to 1.5 million Syrians to return in 2025. It covers UNHCR’s engagement from preparations in host countries, counselling, and other protection services. It further includes the provision of return grants that will aid refugees to organize their return, and additional requirements for reintegration programmes for both returning refugees and IDPs inside Syria. This Framework equally covers the return of IDPs, of which there are currently an estimated 7.4 million displaced inside Syria. UNHCR is projecting up to 2 million IDPs to return in 2025.

NEWS AND BLOG POSTS

Are Asylum Seekers Safe from ICE? by Jason Dzubow, Esq, January 29, 2025. The Asylumist. There are probably 4+ million asylum seekers in the United States. These are people who filed an application for asylum, form I-589, with the USCIS Asylum Office or with the Immigration Court, and their dependents. Under the new Trump Administration, are such people safe from detention and deportation by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)? The short answer seems to be: Mostly. Here, the author discusses what protections asylum seekers have and what they can do to be ready if they encounter an ICE agent.

Canada intercepts people trying to cross border in ‘incredibly cold’ conditions by Leyland Cecco, February 7, 2025. The Guardian. More than a dozen people have been caught making the hazardous crossing into Canada, renewing focus on the closely watched – and seasonally perilous – border with the United States. Police in Alberta intercepted two groups attempting to cross into Canada illegally, including one which included five children who were ill-prepared for the cold which can plunge as low as -30C (-22F) at this time of year.

Donald Trump’s suggestion of ‘clearing out’ Gaza adds another risk to an already fragile ceasefire by Karin Aggestam, January 27, 2025. The Conversation. Donald Trump’s recent statement describing Gaza as a “demolition site” – and his suggestion to “evacuate” Palestinians in Gaza to Egypt and Jordan to “clean out that whole thing” – has sent shockwaves across the region. Israel’s extreme ultra-nationalist parties, both in and outside of the Israeli government, are thrilled by the idea. It’s one they have long advocated.

But it has been widely criticised across the region as a potential “second Nakba” – referring to the violence and displacement of Palestinians after Israel’s unilateral declaration of statehood in 1948. The proposal has also been outright rejected by Egypt and Jordan. It has also been strongly condemned by the Palestinians.

Germany: Are conservatives’ plans on immigration legal? by Nina Werkhäuser, January 30, 2025. Deutsche Welle. Germany’s center-right bloc led by the Christian Democrats (CDU) is calling for stricter immigration law following a knife attack in the city of Aschaffenburg that left two people dead. After it came to light that the assailant was an Afghan national who was slated for deportation, CDU leader Friedrich Merz has presented a five-point plan to curb irregular migration. Merz has said that should the CDU bloc emerge victorious in Germany’s federal election on February 23, he will work to implement his plan as quickly as possible. However, questions remain about whether his proposals are legal under German and European Union law.

Inside the Chaos, Confusion, and Heartbreak of Trump’s Foreign-Aid Freeze by Belinda Luscombe, February 1, 2025. Time. The dominoes fell really fast. On Monday, Jan. 20, shortly after his inauguration, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that called for a 90-day pause on new foreign-aid programs for efficiency and “consistency with U.S. foreign policy.” The order got less attention than some of the others he signed that day but may have much more far-reaching effects. By the evening of Friday, Jan. 24, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had issued a directive that went even further, effectively freezing operations at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. government’s lead provider of nonmilitary foreign aid. No new projects were to be started, no contracts were to be extended, and work was to be stopped on most existing programs. By Monday, Jan. 27, at least 56 of USAID’s top brass were sent home on paid administrative leave for 90 days, reportedly cut off from their email, and, in case the message was not clear, the photos from the walls of their office were removed.

EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Call for Paper Abstracts – Special Issue: Who is a Refugee in the 21st Century? University of British Columbia. This call for paper abstracts invites paper abstracts that focus on the empirical bottom-up experiences of individuals and groups who have been (internally or internationally) displaced from their recent or original place of residence due to factors such as armed conflicts, persecutions, and natural disasters. How do these groups refer to themselves, and which political, racial, gendered, socioeconomic, and age-related factors shape their self- and other-ascriptions as refugees or otherwise? How do subjective understandings and self-descriptions vary situationally and over time? Authors are encouraged to reflect on the impact of (inter)national definitions of “refugee” but prioritize empirical and on-the-ground experiences including feelings of shame and honor, financial (in)dependence, temporal aspects of displacement, legal possibilities of return, relations to other migrants, and trust in the receiving societies. Abstract submissions from around the world, particularly from outside of Europe and North America, are highly encouraged. Please submit your 400- to 500-word abstracts by March 31st, 2025, to aryan.karimi@ubc.ca. Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by April 25th, 2025. The abstracts and the Special Issue proposal will be submitted to the Journal of Refugee Studies for publication consideration.

CRS Seminar: Refugee Protection in Japan and Canada: Some Musings on Sovereignty, Borders and Human Rights. Centre for Refugee Studies. While Canada is widely considered a nation of immigrants and a leading country for protecting refugees, Japan is infamous for its strict social ordering and non-acceptance of immigrants and refugees. These respective national ideologies or narratives, however, are profoundly shaken by the contemporary political dynamics. As Canada is developing into a cohesive nation wherein new Canadian ethnicity emerges (on dispossession of Indigenous Peoples), its asylum system is increasingly loaded with measures for unrecognizing refugees ostensibly to maintain fraud/danger-free communal solidarity. Interestingly, Japan seems to be opening up its otherwise closed national border for foreigners and refugees as it aims to build a ‘multicultural convivial society’, thus making the post-war myth of a monolithic nation a thing of the past. The ongoing developments in both countries indicate that refugee protection/acceptance is fundamentally immigration-based and that it is directly relevant to the sovereign scheme of nation-building/maintaining. The focus of this small talk is on the practice of Refugee Status Determination in Japan as it is compared with that of Canada. It is intended to show how refugees have been excluded from (and recently are selectively integrated into) our nation-building/maintaining scheme. It also critically analyzes how international human rights/refugee law has been domesticated and emaciated in the staunch administrative and judicial processes to sustain fortress Japan. This is a hybrid event on February 25, 2025, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM EST,

In person: Room 626 Kaneff Tower, York University.

Virtual – Zoom: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/7fa6mhMgTeCiQD12Z4l3cA

Food as a tool of oppression – Podcast episode. The Conversation. Food is so much more than what we eat. It is, of course, nourishment — the food we put into our body to fuel ourselves. It can be joyful, like the the smell of pancakes wafting through the house on a Sunday morning, or when loved ones gather around a feast at the dinner table. It can also be deeply personal and defining, connecting us to ancestral history, and cultural and racial identities. And it is also political — especially in the United States — which is the key takeaway in a new book by law scholar Andrea Freeman.

Refugee and Im/Migrant Youth Conference. Centre for Refugee Children, FCJ Refugee Centre, and 54 Collective. This event will bring together organizations and youth to showcase projects focused on supporting refugee and migrant youth and minors. It’s a fantastic opportunity to connect, share knowledge, and work toward creating a better system for the youth we serve. Highlights of the Event: Presentations by youth working on impactful projects across three organizations: Centre for Refugee Children, FCJ Refugee Centre, and S4 Collective, A panel discussion for audience engagement and Q&A, and Opportunities for networking and knowledge-sharing. This event will be in Toronto, Canada at Innis Town Hall, on February 21, 2025, 2:00 PM – 5:30 PM EST.

Refuge-Making: Stories from Iraq. Refugees Studies Centre. This recording is of a talk by Dr Sana Murrani, who presented her book, Rupturing Architecture, the first to critically and visually examine the spatial practices of refuge in response to war, violence, and displacement in Iraq from 2003 to 2023. The talk explored the methods used in the book, including creative deep mapping, memory work, storytelling, and case studies, and focus on the lived experiences of 15 Iraqis. Their resilience underscores broader themes of spatial justice and feminist spatial practices. Dr Murrani examined rupturing as both a mark of trauma and an act of resistance, shaping spaces of refuge. The talk concluded with a manifesto for spatial justice, advocating for integrated approaches to place, memory, and trauma that resonate globally.

Women, Life Freedom, Exhibiting Art by Afghan Women ARTivists. Eleanor Winters Gallery, York University. The exhibition Women, Life, Freedom presents artwork by Afghan women ARTivists associated with the Art of Freedom collective. Within the context of escalating restrictions on women’s rights in Afghanistan, particularly since the resurgence of the Taliban, Afghan women are utilizing their art to as a form of social and political activism. Through their visual art, women aspire to challenge oppressive regimes and raise awareness about critical issues, advocating for social change. Through this exhibition, we demonstrate the role of art and creative expression in amplifying the voices of suppressed communities as well as highlight their agency and resilience. The exhibition will be held at the Eleanor Winters Gallery at York University’s Keele Campus on March 27 (11am – 4pm) and March 28 (12pm – 5pm).

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

Bijak, J. (2024). From uncertainty to policy: A guide to migration scenarios. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited. Through conceptual, theoretical and methodological analysis, this open access book outlines the current state of the art in future-oriented migration studies. Highlighting key lessons and recommendations, expert contributors assess both the opportunities and limitations of scenario building as an analytical device. They combine demographic, statistical, sociological, economic, geographic and political science expertise to develop a new multi-step process for estimating, predicting and simulating migration flows and patterns. Ultimately, the book emphasises the importance of accounting for uncertainty and complexity in migration policy and presents practical tools for accurately measuring and managing migration now and in the future.

Flowers, P. R. (2025). Refugee policies in East Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. East Asia stands apart from the rest of Asia in the prevalence of the institutionalization of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Despite this widespread adoption of the Convention in East Asia, the record on implementation into domestic law and policy is uneven. This Element offers a comparative analysis of the gap between the institutionalization of the Refugee Convention and the implementation of refugee policy in China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and Mongolia. Specific attention is given to two key policy issues: refugee status determination—deciding who is granted government recognition as a refugee—and complementary forms of protection—protection based on statutes other than the Refugee Convention. This Element demonstrates that implementation of the Refugee Convention in East Asia depends on a vibrant civil society with the space and opportunity to engage with local UNHCR offices, local branches of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), and other stake holders. This Element is free online from 15th January 2025 – 12th February 2025.

Baú, V. (2024) Communicating social cohesion in forced displacement: A framework for protracted situations of encampment. Social Sciences, Vol.13, No.10, 542. This paper addresses the role that communication and media interventions can play in fostering social cohesion among displaced populations in camp settings through a review of both practical and theoretical notions in this area. The multiple definitions available in the literature on social cohesion do not come to a consensus on what this concept means. Yet, despite this lack of substance, reflecting on social cohesion in contexts of displacement has been a prevalent topic. Horizontal social cohesion, which is critical in protracted situations of encampment, is defined by UNHCR as the bond that ‘hold(s) people together within a community’. While a number of studies have focused on the social connection between host and displaced people, scarce attention has been paid to the dynamics and social fractures among displaced communities themselves. Yet, tensions both within and between groups of displaced people may be equally, if not more important to social cohesion than relationships with other groups. In order to begin to address this gap, a communication-based framework for humanitarian and development work on social cohesion in refugee camps is presented. Ultimately, the aim of this article is to offer a starting point for humanitarian agencies working in refugee camps to articulate the adoption of a communication-driven approach in their social cohesion programming.

Yousuf, B., (2025). The invisibilised labour of diasporas as co-sponsors in refugee sponsorship: Lessons from Canada. Refugee Survey Quarterly. For almost 45 years, civil society groups have volunteered their time, energy, and finances to resettle more than 327,000 refugees through Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees programme. Sponsorships are commonly arranged by local communities, faith-based organisations, or private citizens who have entered into agreements with the federal government. Much of this effort is supported by former refugees who were themselves resettled to Canada. Yet, the existing literature underrepresents the crucial role of sponsors with refugee histories. This research examines the previously invisibilised labour of diasporic sponsors, highlighting the unique and vital role stemming from their dual social locations as former refugees and private sponsors.

​​Huth-Stöckle, N., & Heizmann, B. (2025). Are there limits to empathy? A survey experiment on empathic concern and perspective-taking as bases for attitudes towards different groups of refugees. European Societies, 1–40. This article examines how empathic concern and perspective-taking influence different exclusionary attitudes towards refugees. More specifically, the authors investigate how empathic competence underpins social distance towards refugees and the opposition to granting them civil rights. Furthermore, they explore the potential constraints of this relationship by investigating the moderating role of different refugee characteristics via a survey-experimental approach using single-wave data from the GESIS Panel, a representative survey conducted in Germany. The refugee characteristics relate to having a Muslim vs. Christian background and having high vs. low qualifications, implying different levels of intergroup threat. The results indicate that higher levels of perspective-taking and empathic concern are associated with lower social distance towards refugees and opposition to granting rights to refugees. Furthermore, while the respondents’ exclusionary attitudes were higher towards refugee groups, implying higher levels of intergroup threat, empathic concern and perspective-taking predicted more positive attitudes towards the different groups of refugees equally. This implies that the effect of empathy does not depend on outgroup characteristics.

Soennecken, D. (2024). Trudeau 3.0 endgame: Immigrants, refugees, venue shifting, and the deepening of securitization. In: Hillmer, N., Lagassé, P., Rigby, V. (eds) Canada Among Nations 2023: Twenty-First Century National Security. Canada and International Affairs. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Having carried three general elections, the Trudeau government has continued the concurrent trends of its predecessors by restricting certain, yet liberalizing other, aspects of Canada’s immigration and refugee policy. During its most recent period in office, reverberations of the Trump presidency, pandemic-related border closures, the invasion of Ukraine, and the growing significance of artificial intelligence have further deepened the “securitization” of migration—that is, the construction of some migrants not only as “unwanted,” but as security threats. Much of this deepening occurred alongside a shifting of decision-making “venues” away from traditional arenas characteristic of the Westminster system, particularly Parliament, toward other avenues. This trend was interwoven with government and societal perceptions of threats, security, and deservedness, which is in line with the evolution of migration policies in other advanced industrialized societies.

Ulusoy, O. (2025). Financing externalisation: The role that EU funds play in shaping the Turkish Asylum and migration policies. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 1–13. The article investigates the impact of European Union (EU) financial instruments, particularly the Facility for Refugees in Turkey (FRIT), on Turkey’s migration and asylum policies. It critically examines how the EU-Turkey Statement of 2016 signaled a shift from Europeanisation to a more transactional relationship centered on externalization and migration containment. The paper argues that while these financial mechanisms provided crucial support during the refugee crisis, they also contributed to the selective Europeanisation and De-Europeanisation of Turkey’s policies, ultimately hindering the development of long-term structural migration policies.

REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS

Ecuador: Ongoing Violence Displacing Thousands. (2025). Norwegian Refugee Council. One year after the declaration of ‘internal armed conflict’ by the Ecuadorian President in the country, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) urges the government and the international community to recognise, and provide comprehensive humanitarian assistance to all people who are being forced to flee their homes due to violence from organised criminal groups. Today organised criminal groups are present in provinces Esmeraldas, Manabí, El Oro and Guayas. Their presence leads to a climate of fear. Daily murders are reported, while extortion targets all kind of businesses, forcing many to close. Children are at risk of recruitment into criminal groups, while women face intimidation and are in risk of sexual violence. Facing direct threats and violence, families have no other option than to abandon their homes. New research shows that more than 80,000 were living in internal displacement as a result of violence in Ecuador by October 2024.

Financing Solutions to Internal Displacement. Bridging Humanitarian Aid and Development Finance. (2024). IOM. This policy brief focuses on the development finance perspective of solutions to internal displacement by exploring the complementary roles of public finance, international financial institutions, the private sector, the aid finance architecture and innovative financing mechanisms. Developed jointly by the Office of the Special Advisor (OSA) on Internal Displacement, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and the United Nations Development Programme, the brief represents an inter-agency effort to provide practitioners, governments, international financial institutions, private sector entities and donor agencies with initial findings and lessons learned from experience in implementing the OSA mandate. It offers recommendations for making development finance more conducive to addressing the complex needs of IDPs and the challenges faced by countries as a result of internal displacement.

No One-Size-Fits-All: Outreach and Counselling for Irregular Migrants by María Belén Zanzuchi and Bertrand Steiner. (2025). Migration Policy Institute. Tackling irregular migration to Europe has long been high on the EU agenda. The strategies proposed and adopted for addressing this issue have evolved over time, resulting in an increasingly diverse set of tools. These include strengthened border controls, voluntary and forced return efforts, new legal pathways to offer alternatives to irregular movement, and regularization. In recent years, European countries have also added to the toolkit to address irregular migration by conducting outreach and counselling for specific groups of irregular migrants. The reasons include informing them about available return and reintegration support, raising the visibility of pathways out of irregularity (such as regularization options, where they exist), and ensuring all members of a society have access to certain essential services. As interest and investments in this area grow, this MPI Europe issue brief explores the diversity of initiatives, actors, and practices in this field. It draws, among other sources, on interviews with government and nongovernmental stakeholders in eight European countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) and on roundtable discussions among public officials, local administrations, civil-society actors, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations.

Uprooting the Displaced- The Forced Evictions of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon. (2025). Access Centre for Human Rights. The escalating socio-economic crisis in Lebanon and the recent Israeli bombardment have worsened the already dire conditions faced by 1.5 million Syrian refugees. This report examines the widespread forced evictions of Syrian refugees, exploring causes, impacts, and providing legal analysis of the violation of forced eviction from a human rights lens. Lastly, recommended actions are provided.

World Report 2025: Our Annual Review of Human Rights Around The Globe. (2025). Human Rights Watch. This has been a year of elections, resistance, and conflict, testing the integrity of democratic institutions and the principles of international human rights and humanitarian law. Whether in response to heightened repression in Russia, India, and Venezuela, or catastrophic armed conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine, governments around the world are being called upon to demonstrate their commitment to human rights, democracy, and humanitarian action. Many have failed the test. But even outspoken and action-oriented governments have invoked human rights standards weakly or inconsistently, feeding global perceptions that human rights lack legitimacy.  The latest edition of Human Rights Watch’s annual human rights survey provides a summary of the human rights situations in over 100 countries and territories around the world.

NEWS AND BLOG POSTS

Clearing the UK’s asylum backlog has led to rising refugee homelessness by William Shankley, January 6, 2025. The Conversation. New figures show the number of small boat arrivals to the UK in 2024 was up 25% on the previous year. While public attention remains on how people get to the UK, less discussed is what happens to them once they arrive and are later granted refugee status. The reality is that many are becoming homeless. The consequences of this are in plain sight, for instance in Manchester, where council offices have been surrounded by tents erected by refugees for months. Some tents were initially erected as a protest against the council’s inability to provide rough sleepers with housing.

Questions grow over UNHCR inaction as Uyghurs in Thailand face deportation threat by Jacob Goldberg, January 22, 2025. The New Humanitarian. As Thailand faces calls from rights groups and UN experts not to deport a group of Uyghur asylum seekers to China, further questions have surfaced about the approach of the UN’s refugee agency, including why it withdrew asylum seeker status from two men. Thai authorities arrested more than 300 Uyghur asylum seekers near the Malaysian border in 2014. The two countries were part of a popular overland route for Uyghurs fleeing repression in China to claim asylum in Türkiye, which hosts a large Uyghur community. Most of the detainees were either transferred to Türkiye or deported to China in 2015. Now, after more than a decade in Thai immigration detention, the remaining 48 men say they face an immediate threat of deportation.

The Dominican Republic’s expulsion of thousands of Haitians shows the brutality of mass deportations by Masaya Llavaneras Blanco, January 7, 2025. The Conversation. United States President-elect Donald Trump has threatened mass deportations of undocumented migrants once his second term begins. As he prepares to fulfil his campaign promise, it’s important to understand how these types of mass deportations are carried out. The Dominican Republic (DR) offers a cautionary tale. Since the beginning of October 2024, Dominican President Luis Abinader Corona has committed to deporting 10,000 Haitians a week. The Organization of International Migration registered 27,000 Haitians who had been deported from the DR by the end of October, reaching 40,000 by Nov. 18. Haitians represent the largest migrant community in the DR because Haiti and the DR share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Trump promises to end birthright citizenship and shut down the border – a legal scholar explains the challenges these actions could face by Jean Lantz Reisz, January 20, 2025. The Conversation. During his first day in office on Jan. 20, 2025, President Donald Trump signed a slew of executive orders on immigration that would make it harder for refugees, asylum seekers and others to try to enter the U.S. – and for some immigrants to stay in the country. Trump signed executive orders that included declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border and pausing refugee admissions for at least four months. Migrants trying to enter the U.S. at the border also found that CBP One, an app they used to schedule asylum application appointments, was shut down. Amy Lieberman, a politics editor at The Conversation U.S., spoke with scholar Jean Lantz Reisz, co-director of the University of Southern California’s Immigration Clinic and a clinical associate professor of law, to understand the meaning of Trump’s new executive orders – and the challenges he could face in implementing them.

US Closing the door to refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants: Trump’s executive orders herald a more inhumane, dangerous world by Bill Frelick, January 22, 2025. Human Rights Watch. The essential step toward a world in which people fleeing war, persecution, and poverty no longer need to risk their lives on overcrowded rickety boats, impale themselves on razor wire border fences, or be preyed upon by human traffickers is the establishment of safe and legal pathways that meet both the protection needs of refugees and the labor needs of countries of immigration. Though far from perfect, the Biden administration, to its credit, did take steps to establish safe and legal pathways. With a flurry of executive orders signed by President Donald Trump, purportedly to stop an “invasion” at the US southern border, regular migration pathways, particularly for people fleeing conflict and abuse, have effectively been closed. These orders suspend US refugee resettlement indefinitely, terminate the parole programs for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, cease use of the CBP-One application, and revoke President Biden’s executive order “To Provide Safe and Orderly Processing of Asylum Seekers at the United States Border.”

EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

CRS Seminar: Questions of Privileged Migration to North America in the Second Half of the 20th Century. Centre for Refugee Studies, York University. When millions of people were forced to flee from Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, discussions were waged both in academia and the wider public if the Ukrainians were privileged in comparison to other groups of refugees. It seemed to have been forgotten, however, that similar accusations have been made earlier, ranging from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s with regards to refugees arriving in the United States and Canada from countries like Cuba, Kosovo, Poland and Vietnam. But by taking a close look, we can see that back then the situation too was much more complicated and nuanced, because privileges are relative as well as relational. Why is it then that certain groups garnered a reputation of being preferentially treated while they mostly didn’t feel favoured? Is there something that we can learn in hindsight from these historical cases? And last but not least is there a way to overcome the spiral of mutual accusations and distrust in order to forge alliances? This virtual event will be on February 5th, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM EST (Toronto).

No Exit: Preventing Exit to Prevent Entry. Professor Audrey Macklin (Professor & Rebecca Cook Chair in Human Rights Law, University of Toronto Faculty of Law), Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford. Enlisting states of origin or transit to prevent exit from their own territory has become a tool of extraterritorial migration control for industrialized liberal democratic states. This article first explores the practical erosion of the right to leave any country since the demise of communism, focusing on arrangements between EU member states and select African states of origin or transit. The author then documents the legitimating function performed by the anti-smuggling and search and rescue regimes in effacing the human right to leave. They conclude by situating exit restrictions in a wider European project of promoting, building and supporting border infrastructure in the name of development and capacity building in select African countries. This permits reflection on what the contemporary use of exit restrictions signifies for the equation of border control and sovereignty, and for mobility more generally. Taking place at the University of Oxford, this seminar will be on February 6, 2025, 5 PM to 6 PM.

Research Methods in the Refugee and Forced Migration Field. Refugee Law Initiative, University of London. This one-week in-person short course, run by the RLI, covers research methods and ethics relating to the interdisciplinary study of refugees and forced migration. The intensive research methods course provides high-quality training in methodology and ethics, by drawing on the extensive teaching experience and networks of the RLI. The course is aimed at PhD students working on forced migration issues in the fields of social and political sciences and law, more senior academics keen to expand their research skills, researchers, humanitarian and development workers, civil society, and consultants working on issues relating to displaced persons. The deadline to apply is February 2nd, 2025. The course will run from March 3 – March 7, 2025, 10 AM to 5 PM.

The Changing Landscape of Immigration and Refugee Policies in Canada. National Newcomer Navigation Network. This webinar seeks to inform health care providers and settlement workers about recent policy changes and their impact on access to health care, anticipated future policies, and the reasons behind these policies. It will draw on examples of past challenges in accessing health care for individuals with precarious status as a way to reflect on how to manage future issues. This event will be on February 6th, 2025, 1:00 PM EST.

What would be a fair distribution of refugees in Europe? National Center of Competence in Research – The Migration-Mobility Nexus. An IT tool developed by a team of researchers at the University of Neuchâtel makes it possible to map the geographical distribution of asylum seekers and beneficiaries of temporary protection in Europe. The tool can calculate what a “fair” geography of protection would look like, taking into account population size, GDP and various other factors. It is particularly relevant in light of the recent influx of Ukrainian refugees and of the responsibility-sharing provisions of the 2024 EU Asylum Pact. It could form the basis for discussions on a common protection policy at European level.

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

Goltz, J. von der. (2024). The labor market impact of forced displacement: Jobs in host communities in Colombia, Ethiopia, Jordan, and Uganda. World Bank Group. Communities that host refugees are often concerned about how their labor markets will change. Although high-income countries attract most policy attention, low- and middle-income countries host three of every four refugees worldwide. “The Labor Market Impact of Forced Displacement: Jobs in Host Communities in Colombia, Ethiopia, Jordan, and Uganda” seeks to address some of the key questions that arise in these host countries: How does forced displacement affect job outcomes for hosts? What effect do work permit schemes have? How does labor market competition influence attitudes? And what policies can support better job outcomes for hosts and refugees? The book explains how labor market restrictions rarely prevent refugees entirely from working but shape the type and quality of work they do, their contribution to the economy, and the effects of their participation on hosts. It shows that refugees matter not only as competitors but also as consumers, and it explains the importance of access to capital for hosts and refugees alike in economies where self-employment is key. It also discusses how hosts’ concerns over labor market competition influence their attitudes toward refugees.The book seeks to provide a basis for more confident jobs policy making in host communities. It offers lessons on how to analyze local labor market characteristics that shape outcomes for refugees and hosts alike and on how to think about the likely effects of policies. It encourages policy makers to support workers who face negative impacts—and to proactively seize the opportunities likely to arise.

Cheong, A. R., Thomas, N. C., & Baltazar, M. A. (2025). Territorial claims, unclaimed people: The postcolonial geopolitics of statelessness in Sabah, Malaysia. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1–18. This article connects the contemporary phenomenon of statelessness among populations of Filipino descent in Sabah, Malaysia, to historical geopolitical contestations over territory, sovereignty, and nationhood in the region. Drawing on household interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and years of civil society engagement, the researchers argue that the possibility of citizenship pathways for these communities is conditioned by postcolonial geopolitical struggles over, more broadly, the very territorial constitution of the Malaysian and the Philippines nation-states. Inter-state diplomatic conflicts regarding sovereignty over Sabah materially trickle down through the everyday governmental practices of registration offices, consular bodies, and border security forces, producing: (1) nonviable, in a practical sense, citizenship pathways into the Philippines; and (2) legally absent citizenship pathways into Malaysia. In addition to providing an in-depth qualitative portrait of people’s lived experiences of statelessness, this article theoretically elucidates the constructivist affordances of the citizenship pathways framework.

Correa-Salazar, C., Amon, J. J., Page, K. R., Groves, A. K., Agudelo-Avellaneda, E. N., Torres-Benítez, D. S., & Martínez-Donate, A. (2025). Navigating trauma: Venezuelan women’s and adolescent’s experiences before and after migration amidst the humanitarian crisis. Journal of Migration and Health, 11, 100299. Migrant and refugee women and adolescents are extremely vulnerable in humanitarian crisis and armed conflict contexts. The Venezuelan crisis has unleashed the largest exodus of migrants/refugees in recent Latin American history, most of whom have relocated to Colombia. There is a scarcity of research addressing how adverse and traumatic experiences related to violence affects mental health amidst the Venezuelan-Colombian humanitarian crisis context and how it affects communities in relocation communities. This study sought to explore how traumatic experiences pre-, during and post-migration might relate to mental health risks for Venezuelan migrant and refugee women and adolescents and assess feasible mechanisms that can protect and promote these populations upon relocation in Colombia. Key findings suggest that parental abandonment in origin contexts, experiences of household and community violence before and after migration, and structural barriers to access services are main factors impacting this population. Feasible strategies to promote and support wellbeing and better mental health access ought to include community leaderships and community-based support networks post-migration that can support trust in services, disseminate information, and engage vulnerable groups in services.

Edler, H., Krause, U., & Segadlo, N. (2024). Making sense of peace in exile? Displaced people’s intersectional perceptions of peace. Peacebuilding, 1–18. This article enquires into how people with lived experiences of conflict and displacement make sense of peace in exile. For the analysis, the article focuses on displaced individuals in Kenya and Germany and theoretically complements the varieties of peace framework, situated knowledge and an intersectional approach. Findings reveal multifaceted perceptions revolving around the three dimensions of structural, collective and individual peace, outlooks shaped by gender-specific experiences, religious beliefs and familial relations. Interlocutors associate structural peace with experiences of sociopolitical, economic and legal conditions in exile, collective peace with support systems and harmonious interactions in communities, and individual or inner peace with desires for and feelings of happiness, hope and healing. Although analytically distinguishable, these three dimensions are inherently intertwined in interlocutors’ daily lives due to their lived experiences prior to and once in exile.

Okorie, M. M., & Okeja, U. (2024). Leaving at all costs: Implications of the Italy-Libya border-externalization policy on migrant smuggling and Trafficking Facilitation. Perspective Politice, 17(1–2). The literature on EU’s border-externalization practices in Africa is ample but the case of Italy-Libya’s Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and its implications on African lives has received insufficient attention. Between 2014 and 2016, Nigerian nationals were the second-highest number of boat arrivals in Italy via Libya – a number that significantly reduced following the implementation of the MoU and related EU migration management initiatives in Africa. Inlight of the above, an important question arises: has this extra-territorialization of EU borders in Africa merely prevented Nigerians from arriving their destination or has it also stopped them from initiating the perilous journey? The findings of the study suggest that while border externalization measures have reduced the odds of successfully arriving the destination country – Italy – they do not prevent irregular migration and trafficking facilitation from Nigeria to Libya.

Perrin, P. C. (2025). Applying a dignity lens in migration and displacement. Journal on Migration and Human Security. Recognizing that migration and displacement are longstanding elements of human history, the paper emphasizes the critical role of respecting the inherent dignity of migrating persons as an important part of the right-to-stay dialogue. Although international frameworks, such as the Sphere Handbook, the Paris Declaration, and UNHCR’s Durable Solutions, have provided a critical foundation for addressing many of the basic needs of migrating populations, they largely focus on material aspects of well-being, overshadowing the equally essential need for other aspects of one’s dignity — a recognition of the inherent equal value that each human being possesses — to be respected and upheld. This approach positions dignity as a luxury to be addressed only after other basic needs are met. However, evidence shows that ensuring physical safety, food, and shelter alone does not fulfill the complex needs of migrating individuals, who often experience emotional distress and social marginalization when their dignity is ignored. By framing dignity as an intrinsic human right that is not contingent on external conditions or something that can be distributed out of the back of a truck, the paper argues that organizations can foster deeper engagement with migrant communities.

Spit, N., Tonkens, E., & Trappenburg, M. (2025). The emotional costs of Solidarity: How Refugees and volunteers manage emotions in the integration process. Social Inclusion, 13. While emerging right‐wing populist voices are calling to prevent the arrival of refugees and their integration, volunteers perform solidarity by performing activities to support refugee integration. Most studies on these forms of solidarity in diversity focus on the quality and effectiveness of the activities. The emotional labor involved has received limited attention. To consider this emotional labor in more detail, we use Arlie Hochschild’s concept of feeling and framing rules and relate these rules to prevailing citizenship regimes, distinguishing between the self‐reliance regime and the community regime. Based on in‐depth ethnographic research of volunteer solidarity work in a deprived urban neighborhood and a middle‐class commuter town in the Netherlands, we show that volunteers are strongly aligned with the community regime, which involves navigating a multitude of feeling rules they struggle with. Refugees are more aligned with the self‐reliance regime, which also gives way to emotional struggles. We argue that to promote solidarity in diversity, scholars and policymakers should pay more attention to these different forms of emotional labor and the painful and joyful emotions involved.

REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS

Central Asia commits to end statelessness with Ashgabat Declaration. (2024). UNHCR. Central Asian States have reaffirmed their commitment to eradicate statelessness, adopting the Ashgabat Declaration on Ending Statelessness in Central Asia. Adopted by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Ashgabat Declaration highlights eight strategic directions to sustain and build on the progress achieved across the sub-region to reduce and prevent statelessness. The Declaration is a key outcome of the Ending Statelessness in Central Asia Ministerial Conference, co-convened by the Government of Turkmenistan and UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, in Ashgabat on 8 November 2024. Over the last decade, Central Asia has made significant progress in reducing and preventing statelessness, supporting more than 200,000 people to confirm or acquire a nationality. One in every three cases of statelessness resolved worldwide is in Central Asia.

Gender Alert: Gender and Displacement in Lebanon at the Juncture of the Ceasefire (December 2024). (2025). ReliefWeb. Between October 2023 and late November 2024, Lebanon experienced the largest escalation of hostilities with Israel since the 2006 War. Following the ceasefire reached on 27 November 2024, around 80 per cent of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are estimated to have returned to their places of origin. However, many others are unable to return to their communities due to damage and destruction, as well as restrictions imposed by the Israeli Army. Of the 20 percent that remain internally displaced, 52 per cent are women and girls. Despite the ceasefire, the impact of the escalation remains deeply felt across Lebanon. The mass displacement has challenged host communities already struggling to cope with the prolonged and multi-layered social and economic crisis in Lebanon since 2019. UN Women collected and analysed data to deepen understanding of the gender dimensions of the conflict and derive gender-focused recommendations to inform humanitarian response and recovery efforts.

House of Commons Library releases updated briefing on UK’s immigration schemes for Afghans. (2025). Electronic Immigration Network. There are two immigration routes for people affected by the situation in Afghanistan: the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy. Around 30,000 people had come to the UK under these schemes by the end of September 2024. The briefing highlights several issues, including the narrow scope of the schemes, the slow pace of decision-making, and practical obstacles faced by applicants. It also addresses concerns about the handling of applications from former members of Afghan specialist units who served alongside UK forces.

Earlier last month, the Defence Secretary set out the Labour government’s plans to improve the schemes. 

The Sudan Crisis: How Over a Year of Violence and Humanitarian Access Restrictions Have Produced Famine Conditions, January 2025. (2025). ReliefWeb. This report – part of a series examining the links between conflict and hunger – focuses on reported conflict-related incidents involving food-related violence in Sudan between 15 April 2023 and 31 November 2024. These incidents included the damaging and destruction of markets and food production factories by explosive weapons use and arson; the looting of markets, food aid and livestock; and incidents of violence directly affecting people at markets and travelling to and from markets. Other factors undermining food security included blockades disrupting food supply chains and humanitarian food aid deliveries, and restrictions on access to agricultural land due to insecurity. The report indicates how over a year of persistent violence and severe humanitarian access restrictions directly led to the famine conditions declared in parts of Sudan in July 2024. The repetition of violent incidents directly affecting objects that are indispensable to the survival of the civilian population suggests that conflict parties have, in some cases, taken limited – or even no – precautionary measures to protect these objects.

Towards the More Effective Use of Irregular Migration Data in Policymaking by Jasmijn Slootjes & Ravenna Sohst. (2024). Migration Policy Institute. Across Europe, concerns about irregular migration have dominated media headlines and shaped recent elections. Discussions of and policymaking related to irregular migration are often a numbers game, fueled by the latest estimates of changing migration trends and migrant populations. Data on irregular migration also influence decision-making, advocacy, and strategic and operational planning of a wide range of governmental and nongovernmental actors. This MPI Europe policy brief explores obstacles that hinder the effective collection and use of irregular migration data, how this affects policymakers and other actors, and potential avenues for strengthening the evidence base. This study, which is part of the Measuring Irregular Migration and Related Policies (MIrreM) project, draws on insights shared in workshops and interviews by policymakers, subject matter experts, NGO representatives, and other stakeholders.

NEWS AND BLOG POSTS

Malawi sees influx of refugees from post-election violence in Mozambique by Charles Pensulo, January 8, 2025. The Guardian. On a sunny Saturday afternoon, Manase Madia, 50, shows his Mozambican identity card. Once a sign of pride, he does not know what to believe in any more. Over the past few weeks he has seen houses being burned down, and shops and businesses looted, including his own. He now fears for his family, which has scattered. At a community ground where officials are processing new arrivals before being transferred to a shelter, Madia is one of about 13,000 people who have crossed into Malawi in the past two months, seeking refuge from post-election violence in Mozambique. The arrival of the refugees, albeit in smaller numbers, is reminiscent for people here of the civil war when almost a million Mozambicans sought refuge in the neighbouring southern African nation in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Syria: how the fall of Assad has affected the asylum debate in Europe by Morgiane Noel, January 10, 2025. The Conversation. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad and his family’s 50-year dynasty of fear, several European countries announced a suspension of asylum application procedures. Germany, France and Sweden are among the countries which have paused all pending asylum requests from Syrians. Austria, meanwhile, has signalled it will soon order refugees to return. Across Europe, Syrians are presently make up one of the largest groups of asylum seekers. As the primary host country for Syrian refugees within the European Union, Germany has provided shelter to nearly 1 million Syrian nationals. So its decision to declare a halt to processing asylum applications from Syrians the day after the Assad regime collapse was a major step. This sudden shift in stance from several European countries raises questions about how attitudes have changed.

The truth about asylum in Canada by Yvonne Su, January 9, 2025. Policy Options. Canada’s robust asylum system is largely misunderstood. Many Canadians don’t actually know how asylum works, and the lack of understanding has allowed for a moral panic to develop around asylum seekers, particularly international students. The panic is being fuelled by misinformation, disinformation, sensational media narratives, and political rhetoric.

But asylum isn’t automatic. Many asylum seekers are rejected because they don’t meet stringent criteria for protection. This is something that Canadians need to understand. Systemic issues are driving asylum claims but legal frameworks ground the asylum system.

The moral panic around asylum seekers, particularly international students, ignores reality: asylum is not automatic, and many claims are rejected.

The UN says Australia violated human rights law, but it’s unlikely to change the way we treat refugees by Sarah Moulds, January 9, 2025. The Conversation. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has ruled that Australia breached international human rights law by detaining a group of young asylum seekers in immigration detention in Nauru.

The committee found the asylum seekers were subject to prison-like conditions, potentially indefinitely, and without knowing what was going to happen to them in the future. This, the committee found, was in breach of their human rights. It also found that although the “cruel and degrading” treatment happened in Nauru, Australia was responsible. This was because Australia was in “effective control” of the detention facilities and authorised the transfer and detention of the asylum seekers. Human rights advocates have been making these points for many years, but they often go unheard by governments of all persuasions. Will this UN ruling have an impact on Australia or other countries that copy its offshore processing policies?

What’s shaping aid policy in 2025 by Irwin Loy & Will Worley, January 9, 2025. The New Humanitarian. Whether it knows it or not, the humanitarian system is in a struggle to stake its relevance. Faith in multilateralism has fractured, if it ever existed at all. Last year, we said that humanitarians have a trust problem; this has deepened over the last 12 months amid double standards on Gaza, unmet promises, and imbalanced power and influence. The challenge in 2025 and beyond will be for humanitarians to redefine what they do and why it matters. The article sets out five humanitarian policy trends that could play a role. There are obstacles to aid and disruptions to the system – but also opportunities for change.

EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Costa Rica – Why is it important to include refugees to enhance development? Factsheet. UNHCR. This report presents new evidence on why it is important to include refugees to enhance development. This, based on a study published by the Economic Sciences Research Institute at the University of Costa Rica (IICE-UCR) and supported by UNHCR, on the living conditions of Nicaraguans vis a vis the Costa Rican population.

CRS Seminar: Questions of Privileged Migration to North America in the Second Half of the 20th Century. Centre for Refugee Studies. When millions of people were forced to flee from Ukraine after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, discussions were waged both in academia and the wider public if the Ukrainians were privileged in comparison to other groups of refugees (compare Şahin Mencütek 2022; Chishti/Bolter 2022; Pardy 2023). It seemed to have been forgotten, however, that similar accusations have been made earlier, ranging from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s with regards to refugees arriving in the United States and Canada from countries like Cuba, Kosovo, Poland and Vietnam. But by taking a close look, we can see that back then the situation too was much more complicated and nuanced, because privileges are relative as well as relational (Robertson/Roberts 2022). Why is it then that certain groups garnered a reputation of being preferentially treated while they mostly didn’t feel favoured? Is there something that we can learn in hindsight from these historical cases? And last but not least is there a way to overcome the spiral of mutual accusations and distrust in order to forge alliances? This is a virtual event that be on February 5th, 2025, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM ET.

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

Dear RRN Colleagues and Friends,

Thank you for your continued readership this fall. This will be our last issue before the winter break; we will resume our bi-weekly digest in the new year. We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday!

The RRN Team

NEW RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS

Sangalli, L. C. (2024). Migrants from Sudan in Germany and Jordan: Changing Belongings in the Context of Life and Family Histories. Göttingen University Press. Migration often intensifies both how people construct a sense of belonging and how they are labelled or categorised by others. However, the ways in which power transformations shape these processes across generations and throughout a person’s life are rarely analysed in relation to experiences of different forms of violence. This book – winner of the 2024 prize for the best dissertation at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Göttingen – provides an analytical framework for studying the transformation of autobiographical constructions of belonging through empirical cases of individuals and families who have migrated from Sudan. Through a transnational comparison of Sudanese diasporas and different generations of migrants, the book demonstrates that belonging for migrants and their descendants is shaped not only by their experiences and processes of remembering but also by sociohistorical power inequalities, different forms of violence and the intergenerational transmission of knowledge.

Asanov, A.-M., Asanov, I., & Buenstorf, G. (2024). A low-cost digital first aid tool to reduce psychological distress in refugees: A multi-country randomized controlled trial of self-help online in the first months after the invasion of Ukraine. Social Science & Medicine, 362, 117442. Armed conflicts increase distress levels among affected populations, particularly impacting refugees who often face barriers to accessing psychological support. We evaluate an online version of a previously tested in-person and endorsed for online adaptation by the WHO Self-Help Plus (SH+) program among Ukrainian refugees dispersed across 17 countries, internally displaced and not displaced Ukrainians. The findings suggest that Self-Help Online is an effective psychological intervention for reducing stress among geographically dispersed refugees at a low cost. We also find that the online delivery format of psychological interventions is feasible for internally displaced and non-displaced conflict-affected populations.

Byelikova, Y., & Taukeer, M. (2024). Return intention outcomes of forced migrants. Border Crossing, 14(2), 150–165. Why do some forced migrants intend to remain in their new location, while others plan to return? The study is based on in-depth interviews and focus groups with forced migrants from South Asia in Greece in 2017 and collected 423 responses to open-ended questions from Ukrainian refugees in Germany in 2022. For Ukrainian refugees, return intention outcomes are defined by the image of their country of origin and the temporality of their status. For forced migrants from South Asia, returning intention outcomes are connected to risky and often illegal ways of reaching the EU, their asylum status, and their attempt to recreate their cultural practices in the destination country. Therefore, the findings of the study help develop an understanding of the study of forced migration under the agenda of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 of the United Nations. It would encourage researchers, policymakers and academicians to further research in the area of forced migration and refugees.

Koirala, S., Mekonnen, G. T., Deller, B., Arinaitwe, G., Kezabu, K., Swabey, K., & Kember, D. (2024). Implementing a migrant and refugee mentoring program through action research. Heliyon, 10(22). This article reports an implementation, through action research, of the mentoring of recently arrived refugee and migrant children in secondary school years 9 and 10. The mentoring, by education students, was in: English language skills; literacy skills for other subjects; and, planning pathways for further education. There was a very positive reaction to the program from the mentees, coordinating teachers, schools and mentors. There was strong evidence of improvements in English language skills. This enabled the mentees to successfully complete reading, writing and speaking activities and assignments across the whole range of subjects. As the mentees developed greater fluency and confidence in the use of English, they felt more able to participate in class activities and discussions. This led to better integration into the school community. There was also evidence of integration into the broader Australian society, as the migrants were taught to write resumes and some obtained part-time jobs.

Pearce, J., Verstraete, L., Mutswenje, M., Katsi, L., Magara, P., Goyol, K., Butterworth, J., Mondorf, D., & Henrike Klau-Panhans, D. (2024). Water supply for refugees and their host communities in protracted situations: Costs and financing options for sustaining services in Ethiopia and Uganda. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development. This paper reports on a study to identify the actual costs of water supply in two contexts with long-term refugee populations: Itang in the Gambella region of Ethiopia and Rwamwanja in the Kamwenge District of Uganda. Following the initial rapid, overwhelming demand for services at these locations, the water services have evolved through different phases of investment with concerted efforts made to both improve services and reduce costs. Most recently, this has included the adoption of utility management models. This paper seeks to provide evidence to support the discussion on how water services can be financed to meet the needs of refugees and their host communities on a sustainable basis.

Pruysers, S., Banerjee, K., & Blais, J. (2024). Fear of crime and anti-refugee sentiments: Evidence from Canada. Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, 40(2), 1–19. Many states have witnessed growing xenophobia and hostility towards refugees alongside the framing of refugees as a serious security or criminal threat in public discourse. Making use of an original cross-national survey of adults in Canada, this article explores the link between fear of crime and negative views of refugees. Its results reveal that even after controlling for alternative explanations, people with more fear of crime are significantly more likely to express anti-refugee sentiments. These results have implications for understanding ongoing challenges in maintaining domestic support for refugee protection and the importance of dispelling myths that refugees are sources of criminality.

REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS

Community sponsorship for refugees in Poland: social attitudes and comparisons with other asylum and refugee policies by Partycja Hryciuk-Ziółkowska, Aleksandra Grzymała-Kazłowska, Maria Nawrocka, & Renata Stefańska. (2024). Centre of Migration Research. In the context of rising social tensions around migration, searching for new solutions regarding hosting refugees becomes especially important. There is a particular need for programmes that facilitate the reception and support of refugees and their integration, which would gain wider public acceptance. In this issue of CMR Spotlight, the COPOCS team presents the results of their survey in Poland on social attitudes towards one such potential programme – community sponsorship – compared to other forms of support for refugees.

Complementary Pathways: Key Factors in Future Growth by Susan Fratzke & María Belén Zanzuchi. (2024). Migration Policy Institute. Complementary pathways have grown in popularity in recent years. These programs—which include humanitarian admission, sponsorship, and education- and employment-based mobility programs for refugees and others in need of protection—promise to better engage receiving communities in welcoming newcomers, promote public support for arriving refugees and capitalize on available private resources to sustain and expand protection-based pathways. This MPI Europe report explores the elements needed to build this supportive ecosystem, drawing on interviews, expert roundtables, and lessons from the three-year Complementary Pathways Network (COMET) Project. The study then offers strategies and recommendations for addressing these challenges and, in doing so, strengthening protection pathways.

Digital Innovation for Migrants and Displaced Communities: Emerging Humanitarian Approaches. (2024). IFRC Network. This scoping study aimed to improve understanding of where the IFRC Network is integrating digital tools into programmes for migrants and displaced people, including at Humanitarian Service Points (HSPs). The research documents different examples of the use of digital tools in Red Cross and Red Crescent programmes supporting people on the move globally. It also highlights sector-wide good practices and provides recommendations to enhance digital integration in humanitarian services for migrants and displaced persons, including addressing its opportunities and risks.

Internal Displacement in Africa: An overview of trends and developments (2009-2023). (2024). Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Fifteen years ago, Africa was at the forefront of progress towards comprehensive responses to internal displacement. The African Union adopted the Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, known as the Kampala Convention, in 2009. It was the first – and is still the only – legally binding regional instrument that addresses all causes and phases of displacement. It reflected the determination of African countries to address the phenomenon and set international standards for its management.

Secondary Education and Child Marriage in Forced Displacement and Crisis Settings. (2024). Secondary Education Working Group. The brief presents an overview of actions and approaches to address child marriage within secondary education in forced displacement and crisis-affected settings. It showcases how gender-responsive and inclusive secondary education can support adolescent girls who are at risk of marriage, ever married, pregnant and/or young mothers. The brief is structured through the lens of the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergency Minimum Standards for Education: Preparedness, Response, Recovery to highlight how education actors can, and must, take more intentional action to tackle child marriage in humanitarian programming. The brief includes a series of initial recommendations generated through discussion with SEWG members to advance secondary education programming, innovation and learning on child marriage.

NEWS AND BLOG POSTS

Armenia to reduce housing aid for Nagorno-Karabakh refugees by Ani Avetisyan, December 2, 2024. Eurasianet. The Armenian government has announced it is scaling back a program that provides housing subsidies to refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, casting the decision as a move to promote self-sufficiency and stimulate the integration of refugees into society. But for the tens of thousands of Karabakh refugees receiving assistance, the announced reduction in benefits is likely to cause a spike in discontent. Armenia since November 2023 has provided a monthly stipend of 50,000 drams (about $125) to refugees from Karabakh without housing or government shelter. This assistance has supported most of the estimated 105,000 Armenians who fled Karabakh after Azerbaijan reconquered the entire region in September 2023.

Catastrophic Flooding and its Impact on Displaced People in Chad by Julia Davatzes, December 5, 2024. Wilson Center. The forcibly displaced people in Chad are experiencing magnified flooding impacts and require prioritized, targeted assistance to meet their expanding needs. Since July 2024, catastrophic flooding in Chad has severely impacted an estimated 2 million people, including refugees and other displaced people. This year’s floods exceed the “worst in a decade” floods of 2022, when 56,000 homes were destroyed. To date, the five months of recurring floods have destroyed over 200,000 homes and decimated 430,000 hectares of cropland. Over 13,000 people are displaced and nearly 600 fatalities have resulted from the immediate impacts of the floods, although the indirect excess mortality is hard to estimate. While these floods continue to drive internal displacement of Chadian nationals, the country already hosts over 1.2 million refugees and asylum-seekers. Chad hosts 45% of all Sudanese refugees in the world and other refugees from neighboring Central African Republic, Cameroon, and Nigeria.

Immigration: the Nuts and Bolts of a Complex Issue | Guest Column by Susan Martin, Donald G. Herzberg Professor Emerita of International Migration, November 27, 2024. The Journal of the San Juan Islands. A self-described immigration policy wonk for forty-plus years and is an internationally renowned scholar now living on San Juan Island in Washington State, Susan Martin writes about what can be expected with the new US administration led by incoming President Trump including a ban on migration from Muslim countries and the decimation of the refugee resettlement program. She then sets out five strategies that residents of the State can pursue to cushion the effects of Trump’s policies. She concludes: “We are not without power to stop bad things from happening. Although it will be difficult, it is well worth trying.”

Syria: More than 280,000 uprooted in northwest escalation, December 6, 2024. United Nations. More than 280,000 people have been uprooted in northwest Syria in a matter of days following the sudden and massive offensive into Government-controlled areas led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is sanctioned by the Security Council as a terrorist group. Aid has continued to flow from Türkiye across three border crossings into the embattled northwest and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said that it had opened community kitchens in Aleppo and Hama – cities now reportedly occupied by HTS fighters.

Tamils arriving in UK after three years stranded on Diego Garcia speak of relief by Diane Taylor, December 3, 2024. The Guardian. Dozens of people stranded in hellish conditions for more than three years on the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia have arrived in the UK and told of their relief that their journey is over. Lawyers and campaigners hailed the arrival of 47 Sri Lankan Tamils on Monday night as a “big day for justice”, with a further eight arriving on Tuesday morning from Rwanda, where they had been receiving medical treatment. Twelve children were among them. They are staying in a hotel on the outskirts of London, where some of the children were seen running around excitedly on Tuesday. The group seemed relaxed about the freezing temperatures and unfamiliar surroundings.

US: Agents Block, Mistreat Mexican Asylum Seekers Next Administration’s Policies Would Worsen US Abuse at the Border, December 5, 2024. Human Rights Watch. United States Border Patrol agents are denying access to asylum to families fleeing violence in Mexico, in violation of US and international human rights law, Human Rights Watch said today. The agents have expelled asylum seekers to Mexico, where many said they feared persecution, as well as mistreated and ordered them to discard their belongings. US and international human rights law guarantee the right to seek asylum, and to humane treatment when in government custody.

EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Helton Fellowship Program. American Society of International Law. Funded by contributions from ASIL members, interest groups, and private foundations, Helton Fellowships provide financial assistance in the form of “micro-grants” for law students and young professionals to pursue field work and research on significant issues involving international law, human rights, humanitarian affairs, and related areas. The deadline to apply is January 17, 2025.

Participate in THE’s and UNHCR’s higher education survey on opportunities for refugees. Times Higher Education. Times Higher Education (THE) has partnered with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to produce the largest global mapping of higher education opportunities for refugees. This survey will allow us to collect the information needed to undertake this mapping exercise. This mapping will serve as an essential piece of information for governments, relevant ministries, higher education institutions (HEI), and refugee and asylum seeker students to explore and access higher education pathways, and as a vital advocacy tool for raising awareness and solidarity for refugee and asylum seeker inclusion in higher education. This survey will collect data on refugee and asylum seeker enrolments, scholarship opportunities, and practices on empowering refugee and asylum seeker higher education and will support the UNHCR’s strategy to achieve 15% enrolment of refugees in higher education by 2030. The survey will close on January 31st, 2025.

Refugee Marketplace. Jumpstart Refugee Talent. The Refugee Marketplace is Canada’s first online platform dedicated to showcasing and selling products made exclusively by refugee entrepreneurs. This initiative by Jumpstart Refugee Talent offers a thoughtfully curated selection of high-quality gifts, apparel, home décor, specialty foods, and more. Every purchase directly supports these talented entrepreneurs, fostering economic independence and sustainable growth for refugee-led businesses.

Women on the Frontlines: Adapting to Climate Change in Kenya and Nigeria. Migration Matters. Women are disproportionately affected by climate change and immobility, yet they are often at the forefront of finding solutions. This episode features stories from Kenya and Nigeria, where women share how climate challenges have reshaped their roles and livelihoods. Experts Dr. Nassim Majidi (Samuel Hall) and Priscilla Achakpa (Women Environmental Programme) discuss the importance of a gender-sensitive approach to climate policy, emphasizing the need for cultural, economic, and political changes to support women’s resilience and adaptation.

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

Brinham, N. (2025). Citizenship and genocide cards: Ids, statelessness, and Rohingya resistance in Myanmar. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. This open access book draws on Rohingya oral histories and narratives about Myanmar’s genocide and ID schemes to critique prevailing international approaches to legal identities and statelessness. By centring the narratives of survivors of state crimes, collected in the aftermath of the 2017 genocidal violence, this book examines the multiple uses of state-issued ID cards and registration documents in producing statelessness and facilitating genocide. In doing so, it challenges some of the international solutions put forward to resolve statelessness. Rohingya narratives disrupt a simple linear understanding of documenting legal identity that marginalises experiences of these processes. The richly layered accounts of the effects of citizenship laws and registration processes on the lives of Rohingya problematise the ways in which international actors have endorsed state ID schemes and by-passed state-led persecution of the group. This book will be valuable for scholars studying global criminology, state crime, development studies, refugee and migration studies, statelessness and nationality, citizenship studies, and genocide studies.

Carrera, S., Karageorgiou, E., Ovacik, G., & Tan, N. F. (2025). Global asylum governance and the European Union’s role: Rights and responsibility in the implementation of the United Nations Global Compact on Refugees. Springer. This open access book provides a state-of-the-field of the interactions between emerging national asylum governance systems and the 2018 United Nations Global Compact for Refugees (UN GCR). It provides a detailed examination of the relationship and compatibility between asylum governance and refugee protection and human rights, and the responsibilities for states and other implementing actors in cases of human rights violations. This book analyses the characteristics and impacts of existing and emerging asylum governance instruments and their practical implementation in selected countries hosting large communities of refugees around the world. Particular focus is given to the cases of Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Jordan, Niger, Serbia, South Africa and Turkey.

Mendenhall, M., Marchais, G., Sayed, Y., & Boothby, N. (2024). Education and resilience in crisis: Challenges and opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Bristol University Press. This book provides an important lens for understanding how interlocking humanitarian crises caused by armed conflict, natural disasters, forced displacement and, more recently, a global health pandemic have adversely impacted teaching and learning. It brings together evidence from multiple, diverse research-practice partnerships in seven countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The authors provide a clear account of the key academic, policy and practice questions on education in crisis contexts and consider our capacity to develop just and resilient education systems.

Cequea, M. M., Schmitt, V. G., Olter-Castillo, A. E., & Melo-Vega-Angeles, O. (2024). Migration, human capital, and decent work: Venezuelans in Peru. Heliyon, 10(21). This study explores the human capital, vulnerability and integration of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Peru, emphasizing their difficulties in obtaining decent work and assimilating as productive members of Peruvian society. The study’s findings address a critical gap in the existing literature, revealing that despite high levels of education, many migrants struggle to utilize their skills and knowledge effectively, leading to significant brain waste due to precarious employment conditions and suffering through their exposure to various vulnerabilities. These findings underscore the need for public policies and practices that address the improvement of migrants’ and refugees’ living conditions and the promotion of Decent Work.

Khai, T. S. (2024). India’s refugee policy dilemma and its impact on Myanmar refugees at the India–Myanmar frontier. Discover Public Health, 21(1). Over 3.2 million civilians have been internally displaced in Myanmar due to human rights violations against civilians and indiscriminate attacks perpetrated by the Myanmar military since the coup on 1 February 2021. This situation compelled the Myanmar people to flee both within the country and to neighbouring countries such as India, Thailand, and Malaysia in search of safety and protection. India, as one of Myanmar’s neighbouring countries, has received more than 78,731 refugees from Myanmar as of 2023. The investigation draws upon media and governmental reports published from February 2021 onwards. The findings show that the Indian government directed Mizoram and Manipur’s state governments to prevent Myanmar’s refugees from entering their territories. Nevertheless, the Mizoram State government adopted a welcoming stance towards Myanmar refugees by providing essential support, including food, blankets, education, and healthcare, through collaboration with local NGOs and communities. In contrast, the Manipur State government adopted a more restrictive approach by identifying, arresting, and repatriating Myanmar refugees, aligning with the central government’s initial stance. This situation has led Myanmar refugees in Manipur State to live with constant fear of eviction and face the potential for forced repatriation to Myanmar. These contrasting responses reflect the complex interplay of local, national, and international factors shaping India’s refugee policy and practice. This analysis underscores the need for a more comprehensive and consistent national approach to refugee issues, while also considering the unique local contexts of border states.

Krause, U. (2024). Invisibilization of the unwanted others? Feminist, queer, and postcolonial perspectives on the 1951 refugee convention’s drafting. Women’s Studies International Forum, 107, 102979. The 1951 Refugee Convention represents the legal cornerstone of today’s global refugee protection, which is supposed to apply to all refugees regardless of their origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation. But did the Convention’s drafters have such a complex approach in mind? This paper analyzes the Convention’s drafting at the United Nations and the final conference in the late 1940s and early 1950s from feminist, queer, and postcolonial perspectives. The analysis reveals pervasive asymmetries, with western androcentrism inherently shaping the drafting. The western, white, heterosexual man was the standard filter for the powerful decision-maker and the protection subject, whereas women, LGBTQ+ and colonized people were neglected in politics and policy. Their exclusion was not merely a side effect of the political landscape at the time but reflects the reproduction of western androcentric power, which ultimately invisibilized the subaltern Others in the creation of international refugee law.

Nessa, B. (2024). Linking labour market aspirations to perceived discrimination: The case of refugees in Norway. Revue Européenne Des Migrations Internationales, 40-n°2 et 3, 221–241. This article provides a close look at the possible connection between labour market aspirations and perceptions of discrimination. While research on policy implementation and public measures are plentiful regarding immigrants’ labour market integration, less attention has been given to what shapes immigrants’ motivation and desires to become part of the labour market. Following the idea that migrants’ capacity to exert agency is shaped by given — or perceived — opportunity structures the author examines how discrimination, as a specific structural constraint, influence their capacity to aspire in the labour market. This article draws on ethnographic fieldwork among refugees settling in Norway. The findings indicate discrimination as a salient part of their migration experiences. Based on how they negotiate and resist discrimination, the author coins the terms “aspirational deprivation” and “aspirational deskilling” to capture how the refugees’ responses to perceived discrimination shape labour market aspirations.

REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS

Access to Birth Registration for Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Ethiopia. (2024). UNHCR. This September 2024 protection brief analyzes the challenge of birth registration among refugees and other forcibly displaced populations in Ethiopia. It lays out why birth registration is important in displacement situations, including in Ethiopia. The commendable actions by the Government of Ethiopia to promote birth and other vital events registration for refugees since 2016 are reviewed. The causes of the current birth registration challenges in different parts of the country are then analyzed. Finally, the brief sets out a series of recommendations for the way forward.

After the Darien: Aid and pathways for migrants in Panama and Costa Rica by Rachel Schmidtke & Caitlyn Yates. (2024). Refugees International. The Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama remains one of the most dangerous migration paths in the world and more people are risking their lives to cross it. Migration through the Darien Gap has increased tremendously over the past four years and crossings are likely to continue at a high level. Despite a brief reduction this summer, likely due to the anti-migrant posture of the new Panamanian government and the elections in Venezuela, numbers in the Darien are now increasing again. Repression in the wake of the July 28, 2024 election in Venezuela has already led to an increase in out-migration, which is notable as Venezuelans currently make up the majority of those transiting the Darien. Enforcement measures and rhetoric from the government of Panama may have temporarily deterred migration into Panama, but not for the long-term. Upon exiting the Darien Gap, migrants now face a shrinking humanitarian landscape in Panama and, for non-Venezuelans, the threat of deportation. A relatively new collaboration between Panama and Costa Rica to bus migrants from the former to the latter has increased the speed at which people can move northward and avoids the risks of moving on foot. But it also leaves many without access to humanitarian services until reaching Costa Rica, where the humanitarian response has, in turn, not grown enough to meet the needs.

Implementing the new statelessness provisions in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. (2024). European Network on Statelessness. When the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum was first introduced in September 2020, statelessness was invisible. Following the organization’s extensive engagement with the European Parliament, Council, and Commission over the past four years, several provisions aimed at improving the identification and protection of displaced stateless people incorporated in the final Pact instruments. Now the focus is on implementation, and we stand ready to help support and inform this process over the coming months and years. Their latest briefing outlines recommendations to the European Commission, Member States, EU agencies, the European Parliament and Eurostat to ensure that stateless people’s rights are respected in EU asylum systems.

Out of sight – Human rights violations in Thailand’s immigration detention centers. (2024). ReliefWeb. A new report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Union for Civil Liberty (UCL) provides a glimpse into conditions in Thailand’s immigration detention centers (IDCs), which are among the country’s most secretive places of detention. The FIDH-UCL report also analyzes Thailand’s failure to establish a legal framework and policies on immigration detention that comply with international human rights law and standards. This report makes numerous recommendations to the Thai government, the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRCT), and United Nations (UN) member states aimed at improving conditions in the IDCs and establishing a robust legal framework that conforms to international human rights law and standards, including for the protection of refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants in vulnerable situations.

NEWS AND BLOG POSTS

Egypt: New asylum law could badly impact refugee rights by Jennifer Holleis, November 22, 2024. Deutsche Welle. Egypt is only one step away from ratifying a new law on asylum seekers that will shift responsibility from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to Egypt. Once in place, Egypt will have its own legal framework to address the growing number of refugees in the country and to decide if an asylum request is approved or rejected. As the government plans to implement the law as soon as possible, it is most likely that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi will give his final approval for the draft law on “regulating foreigners’ asylum in Egypt” within the next days. The Egyptian government stated in November that the number of refugees from Sudan, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Eritrea and Gaza had reached around 9 million. However, up until October, only around 800,000 were registered with the UNHCR and thus entitled to aid, healthcare and education. The vast majority live in Egypt without official refugee status and rely on their own savings, communal help, relatives, volunteers or donations.

Is Australia’s migration system ready for rising numbers of climate refugees? by Gareth Hutchens, November 16, 2024. ABC News. It didn’t get much notice, but it’s a sign of something serious. Three months ago, one of Australia’s newest treaties came into force, called the Australia-Tuvalu “Falepili Union” treaty. Tuvalu is a tiny Pacific nation, with a population of roughly 11,200, that sits north of Fiji and south-east of Nauru. Under the terms of the agreement, Australia is now obligated to help Tuvalu when it calls for help to respond to “the devastating impacts of climate change.” Both countries are working on creating a special mobility pathway that will see Australia offering up to 280 Tuvaluans each year (2.5 per cent of its population) the choice to live, work or study in Australia, temporarily or permanently. It will help Tuvaluans escape the impacts of rising sea levels by migrating here. A king tide in Tuvalu in February this year, followed by another one in March, raised questions for Tuvaluans about how long they can keep living in their country. They should have raised questions for Australians, too. Australia’s future lies in the Indo-Pacific. Many of our neighbours in the region will bear the brunt of climate change. How will our immigration system adjust to this reality in coming decades?

The US refugee admissions program: What’s at stake in the election, October 30, 2024. Centre for Migration Studies. The US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) reached a significant milestone on September 30, when the US State Department, led by the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (BPRM), announced the resettlement of 100,034 refugees for fiscal year 2024, more in one year than the Trump administration resettled during its four-year term. While the number fell short of the 125,000 ceiling set by the Biden administration for FY 2024, it is the largest number of refugees resettled since FY 1995, nearly three decades. Since its inception, more than 3 million refugees have been welcomed to the country and successfully resettled, literally saving their lives from their persecutors. The program is one of the most secure in the country, as refugees are required to go through numerous multi-agency background checks before being approved for entry. Despite these achievements—and based on his first-term record—a second Donald Trump term represents an existential threat to the program, with the progress made during the Biden administration, not to mention the program itself, at risk.

Tamils stranded on Diego Garcia for three years allowed to enter UK by Diane Taylor, November 4, 2024. The Guardian. Dozens of Tamils stranded on the remote Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia for more than three years are to be airlifted to the UK after the government dropped its opposition to their case, the high court has heard. The 64 people, including 16 children, have been stranded on the island since October 2021, when a fishing boat they were using to flee persecution in Sri Lanka got into difficulties. The commissioner on the British Indian Ocean Territory argued that they could be lawfully returned to Sri Lanka, but the refugees fought the decision in the courts. The majority of the group are still on the island but eight have been sent to Rwanda for medical treatment unavailable on Diego Garcia. Those in Rwanda are to be brought to the UK as well. The only exceptions the UK government has made relate to three Tamils who have criminal convictions. Their fate is unclear.

Women’s rights groups fear FGM is rife among Sudanese refugees in Chad by Zeinab Mohammed Salih, November 18, 2024. The Guardian. Women’s rights campaigners have spoken of their concern over the spread of female genital mutilation among Sudanese refugees in camps across the border in Chad. Both countries have outlawed the practice but it continues in secret. The UN children’s agency, Unicef, says that about 87% of Sudanese women aged 14-49 have been cut – one of the highest rates in the world. In Chad, the figure is 34.1%, though rates are higher in the south and east, which is where the camps for Sudanese people have been set up.

EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

70 years on – the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless people. Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, University of Melbourne. The year 2024 marks the 70th anniversary (on 28 September) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention). To commemorate this occasion, and with a view to encouraging more States to accede to and implement the provisions of the 1954 Convention (and its counterpart, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness), UNHCR together with the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness (PMCS) are proud to present this webinar featuring panelists drawn from Governments, International Organisations, academia, civil society, and those affected by statelessness. The webinar will focus on the history, evolution and continuing relevance of the 1954 Convention to support the identification and protection of stateless persons. The online event will be on December 12, 2024, 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM AEDT.

Conflict, statelessness and state succession: reflections from South Asia and Africa | International Refugee Law Seminar Series. University of London. The 1947 Partition of India engendered the biggest migration in recorded history, as more than 14 million people were displaced amidst large-scale violence. While this rightly receives considerable scholarly attention, there is little understanding of the 1971 War which ‘completed’ the Partition by severing West and East Pakistan (thereafter Bangladesh). By illuminating this history, this event will not only address the gap in refugee history but also provide important context to contemporary conversations about citizenship, borders, denationalisation, and national identity which continue to dominate much of the political discourse in South Asia today. The impact of state secession on citizenship and statelessness will be further explored through an examination of the independence and secession movements of a range of countries in Africa, and the profound consequences of these processes for the nationality rights of those affected. This in-person event will take place at IALS Council Chamber, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, 17 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DR, on December 5th, 2024, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM.

The 20th International Association for the Study of Forced Migration Conference. (IASFM20). IASFM20: Forced Displacement in an Urbanizing World cordially invites you to join our conference, which will be held in person on 21-23 January 2025 for the main program, with two pre-conference events on 20 January 2025. The main event of IASFM20 will be held in Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. The conference is organized by the Resilience Development Initiative Urban Refugee Research Group (RDI UREF) and Universitas Gadjah Mada. This conference invites researchers, individuals with lived experiences related to (forced) migration, policy makers, and practitioners working with (forced) migrants to establish a space for reflection, knowledge exchange, and discussion around forced displacement and urban management in the spirit of GCM, GCR, and NUA to enhance city planning and responses towards forced displacement and to strengthen the network of academics, practitioners, and decision-makers under IASFM to exchange knowledge and experience on international forced displacement in urban context and to filter issues of concern for future collaborative research works, especially in the context of Asia Pacific Region.

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

Ruehs-Navarro, E., Caswell Muñoz, L., & Diaz, S. J. (2024). Kids in cages: Surviving and resisting child migrant detention. University of Arizona Press. In recent years, the plight of immigrant children has been in the national spotlight. A primary issue of concern is the experience of child migrants in detention by the U.S. government. The authors in this volume approach the topic of child migrant detention from a range of perspectives. Some authors, particularly those who provide a legal perspective, chronicle the harms of detention, arguing that despite governmental assurances of child protection, detention is fundamentally a state-sanctioned form of violence. The social scientists in the volume have worked closely with detained youth themselves; in these chapters, authors highlight the ways in which youth survive detention, often through everyday acts of resistance and through the formation of temporary relationships. Practitioners including psychologists, activists, and faith leaders look at forms of resistance to detention. From retheorizing psychological interventions for detained youth to forming hospitality homes that act as alternatives to detention, these practitioners highlight ways forward for advocates of youth. At the heart of these narratives lies a crucial debate: the tension between harm-reduction strategies and abolition.

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2024). A manifesto for bread and roses. Migration and Society, 7(1), xv–xx. In the midst of the mass displacement, dispossession and systematic killing of Palestinians in Gaza, this manifesto for “bread and roses” centralizes not only the rights of Palestinians in Gaza to life, safety, and security but also displaced people’s rights to joy, beauty, and happiness. At a time when Palestinians in Gaza are being massacred and openly deprived of aid, it is, precisely, Palestinians’ commitment to joy and beauty being projected and practiced by displaced and dispossessed Palestinians in Gaza, which provides the impetus for this manifesto. Created around and centering the words and lifeworlds of Palestinians in Gaza, this piece is offered as an inevitably partial but needed archive of this more-than-massacre and as an archive that stands for the future. Starting with roses pushes us to reimagine what meaningful responses to displacement could, and should, entail.

Krause, U. & Segadlo, N. (2024). Surviving Exile. Queer displaced people’s lived experiences of aid, risks, and coping in Kakuma. Gender Issues, 41, article 26. This paper examines the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ displaced individuals in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya. It delves into how queer people experience the humanitarian-aid system on-site, what risks they encounter, and how they exert agency to cope with the prevalent challenges of day to day life. Findings reveal that, in a country context where same-sex relations are illegalized and queer people criminalized, those displaced face heightened risks. They are confronted with the heteronormative paradigms inherent to the humanitarian-aid system, ones resulting in their neglect and denied access to much-needed assistance and protection. Structural and physical violence such as discrimination, exclusion, harassment and threats of murder exacerbate unrelenting fears and tangible risks in the camp. To navigate these challenges, they employ diverse individual and especially collective coping strategies, creating safe spaces for mutual support, exchange and hope.

Nisa, S., Murad, S., Salma, J., & Au, A. (2024). Service-policy gaps in the settlement journey of Arabic-speaking immigrant newcomer and refugee older adults in Edmonton, Canada. PLOS ONE, 19(10). Immigrant newcomers and refugees (INRs) are two migrant categories that experience consistent systemic barriers to settlement and integration in Canada as older adults. This paper explores the challenges experienced by Arabic-speaking INR older adults in Edmonton, Canada, during settlement and discusses policy and service implications. Experiences of settlement challenges were consistently identified during data collection and engagement of INR older adult participants. Two main themes were identified: (1) Limited English skills and digital literacy gaps create service barriers for INR older adults, and (2) Gaps in services and policies as basic needs remain unmet. The authors describe key challenges experienced by INR older adults, such as language barriers, precarious finances, poor access to health care services and lack of transportation and employment opportunities, which hinder successful integration into the new society. This study showcases the ongoing challenges with early settlement and integration that continue despite Canada’s well-developed immigration settlement landscape. INR older adults often remain invisible in policy, and understanding their experiences is a first step to addressing their needs for resources that support healthy ageing in the post-migration context.

Zambelli, P. (2024). Internal flight anarchy: Points of divergence from UNHCR guidelines in Canadian decision making. International Journal of Refugee Law. Over the years, Canadian decision makers have come to apply the concept of ‘internal flight alternative’ (IFA) more expansively than recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Given the significant proportion of refugee claims that are refused on the basis of this concept each year, this divergence of interpretation has a real-life impact. To examine this phenomenon, the article provides a brief overview of the IFA concept, including a review of the scholarly literature and UNHCR guidance. Next, it traces the concept’s development in Canadian law and highlights points of divergence with UNHCR’s position. Finally, the article discusses potential strategies for realignment. The goal is to encourage practitioners and decision makers to think more deeply about the IFA concept, to raise awareness in regard to existing scholarship and applicable norms, and to ensure that these norms are applied in a conscious, humane, and consistent manner.

REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS

After the Darien: Aid and Pathways for Migrants in Panama and Costa Rica by ​​Rachel Schmidtke & Caitlyn Yates. (2024). Refugees International. This report–based on a research trip conducted by Refugees International–looks closely at the humanitarian conditions for those who successfully traverse the gap, and lays out a path to greater harmonization of migration management that respects governments’ desire for orderly movement while upholding the basic human rights of migrants. The report provides recommendations to improve reception in Panama and address the gaps in protection occurring due to increasing enforcement in the country. The report also argues that there is great potential for the international community and the government of Costa Rica to develop a more comprehensive humanitarian response given Costa Rica’s history as a country of asylum and its strong collaboration with the United States. Further, this report suggests ways that the United States could support improved humanitarian services, access to protection, and integration for people taking the route through the Darien Gap, Panama, and Costa Rica while also better targeting access to pathways to the United States so as to decrease the use of this route and continued migration northward through Central America and Mexico.

Canadian public opinion about immigration and refugees – Fall 2024 by Keith Neuman. (2024). Environics Institute. 2024 has been another challenging year for Canadians. While inflation finally began to recede, the cost of living remains high and housing continues to be unaffordable for many, and in short supply. The previous year saw a record number of new immigrants settling in cities across the country, and arrivals continued to build in 2024 until mid-year when the federal government finally announced new limits on the number of temporary foreign workers and international students. The global context has grown darker, with the intensification of conflict in the Middle East, and the unfolding drama of a pivotal US presidential election. This year also marks another dramatic surge in public opinion that immigration levels are too high, along with rising concerns about who is being admitted and how they are fitting in. For the first time in a quarter century, a clear majority of Canadians say there is too much immigration, with this view strengthening considerably for the second consecutive year. This trend is evident across the population but is most significant in the Prairie provinces, while least so in Quebec.

Localizing Climate Adaptation Planning in Kenya’s Refugee-Hosting Counties by Jocelyn Perry. (2024). Refugees International. Kenya sits at the nexus of two of the most profound challenges of our time: climate change and displacement. The east African country faces some of the most significant impacts of climate change while hosting nearly 800,000 refugees and asylum seekers. This creates a significant opportunity for Kenya to play a leading role in the global effort to ensure refugees and other displaced communities are able to prepare for and respond to climate change. From April to June 2024, Refugees International met with refugee communities, Kenyan civil society leaders, UN agencies, contributing country governments, and Kenyan government officials to understand how Kenya is including refugees in their climate change adaptation efforts and where they are falling short. Drawing on these interviews, this report examines the effects of the climate emergency on refugee communities in Kenya and how Kenya’s national and local governments, donors, and humanitarian agencies can support refugee-led adaptation to climate change.

These 10 countries receive the most refugees by Eirik Christophersen. (2024). Norwegian Refugee Council. Türkiye has provided protection to more refugees than any other country in the last ten years. But in terms of refugees as a proportion of the total population, it is mostly small and lesser-known countries that have accepted the largest number of refugees in this period. Here are the ten countries that have received the most refugees relative to their population during the period 2014–2023.

UNHCR calls for urgent help for 228,000 flood-affected people in West Africa. (2024). UNHCR. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is urgently appealing for $10.6 million to address the most pressing needs of 228,000 forcibly displaced people and their host communities across West and Central Africa, where devastating climate-induced torrential rains and floods have wreaked havoc and impacted over 5.1 million people. In Chad, some 1.9 million people have been affected. Niger (1.4 million) and Nigeria (1.2 million) have also been severely impacted, as well as Cameroon (365,000) and Mali (260,000). The catastrophic effects of flooding are poised to extend well beyond this year’s rainy season, compounding the hardships already faced by vulnerable communities. The funding is critical to provide life-saving support, including protection, shelter and emergency relief items, and to strengthen preparedness activities.

NEWS AND BLOG POSTS

Borderline existence: The risk of refugees disappearing from history by Richard Pine, October 22, 2024. The Irish Times. The Greek word, “asylum”, is very apt, meaning supremacy and the power to exercise it either benevolently or not, as occasion demands. The Greek state was profoundly changed by the influx of 1.2 million refugees from Anatolia, the Pontic region and Thrace (Salvanou’s particular area of study). But it was almost impossible to accommodate the human, social and cultural differences this involved. Probably the worst hit by the 1922 relocations were the Pontic Greeks, from the Black Sea area of Turkey, whose cultural and linguistic differences were so marked that even today they suffer ostracisation and marginalisation, as depicted in Constantine Giannaris’s vivid 1998 film From the Edge of the City. In the past 10 years, 1.35 million refugees arrived on Greek shores – almost the same number who arrived in Greece from Turkey a century ago. They have a similar problem: how to accept their new circumstances and yet sustain a memory of who they actually are, because the international refugee system, as Salvanou explains, designates all refugees as a single problem.

d’Orsi, C. (2024). Externalization of migration control in Africa: An African perspective. ADiM Blog. In this contribution, the author analyses the initiatives undertaken to externalize migration control in Africa. While the European Union is striving to strengthen its partnership with African stakeholders, there is a growing dissatisfaction at the African level with several initiatives because they are considered to be undertaken in the exclusive interest of the European Union. By externalising migration governance, the EU seeks to protect itself from migration, while at the same time becoming reliant on third countries to manage migratory flows, thus exposing itself to vulnerability and complicity in human rights abuses against migrants. In this scenario, the author believes that assistance through any migration agreement under which African countries prevent individuals from leaving their own countries should be limited. Options allowing African countries to build their capacity to respect and protect human rights and to address their development needs should be widely preferred. No one is likely to have the intention to “invade” Europe if there is economic and political security at home.

Institutions, not international students, are to blame for rising asylum claims by Yvonne Su, November 4, 2024. Policy Options. Immigration and Refugees Minister Marc Miller’s recently announced reduction in international student visas for 2024 and his subsequent statement about the “alarming trend” of an increasing number of these students applying for asylum in Canada highlight a troubling trend. But it is being framed through a dangerous lens. While it’s true that asylum claims from international students are on the rise, the implication that students are abusing Canada’s asylum system does a disservice to both the students and the integrity of our immigration processes. From 2018-24, only 33,985 students applied for asylum out of the 1,747,940 study permits approved – only 1.94 per cent. Therefore, instead of casting suspicion over the entire cohort, we should direct our attention to the real culprits: the predatory learning institutions that exploit these students for profit and place them in a vulnerable situation.

Tamil asylum seekers mark 100 days of protest in Melbourne despite disruption by neo-Nazis, October 27, 2024. Tamil Guardian. Tamil asylum seekers who rallied in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this week to mark 100 days of continuous protests to demand permanent visa protection were disrupted by a group of neo-Nazis. Tamil asylum seekers have been camped outside the Department Home Affairs since July 15, to call on the Australian government to grant them permanent visas. Many of the protesters have been on short term visas for over a decade. Without permanent residency, asylum seekers do not have access to Medicare – Australia’s universal health insurance scheme, they do not have the right to work or study nor the right to travel. 

UN expert calls for action as Marshall Islands faces dual displacement crisis, October 31, 2024. United Nations. The appeal from Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, comes as the Pacific nation grapples with generational displacement and the threat posed by rising sea levels and unprecedented global heating. The Marshall Islands, a frontline nation in the fight to slow global warming, faces unique challenges. As one of the small island developing States (SIDS), it has played a significant role in international climate action. Under the Paris Agreement of 2015, the Marshall Islands was instrumental, along with other SIDS, in advocating strongly for the inclusion of the 1.5 C temperature goal. The nation also submitted one of the first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCS) under the agreement. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) identifies the Marshall Islands as particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, with rising sea levels posing an existential threat. Despite these challenges, the agreement on ‘Loss and Damage funding’ at COP27,  marks a critical development for vulnerable nations like the Marshall Islands. This mechanism aims to provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable nations impacted by climate change effects.

EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA

Aging in and out of place: Lived experience of forced migration across the life course. Centre for Research on Security Practices. The Centre for Research on Security Practices (CRSP) invites you to meet Dr. Christina Clark-Kazak as she discusses her new book, “Aging in and Out of Place: Lived Experience of Forced Migration across the Life Course,” with Drs. Bree Akesson, Anh Ngo, and Nuha Dwaikat-Shaer on Monday, November 18, 2024, from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM EST. This event will be in a hybrid format, with in-person and virtual attendance options. The in-person location is Senate and Board Chambers, OM206-10, 1 Market Street, Brantford, ON. Aging in and out of place: Lived experience of forced migration across the life course provides a cradle-to-grave understanding of displacement. Using an innovative social age perspective, this book challenges students and policymakers to think about how migration journeys intersect with key life course events in cross-border and cross-cultural contexts.

CRS Book Launch: Forced migration in/to Canada. Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS). Offering a comprehensive resource in the growing field of migration studies, Forced Migration in/to Canada edited by Professor Christina Clark-Kazak of the University of Ottawa is a critical primer from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Researchers, practitioners, and knowledge keepers draw on documentary evidence and analysis to foreground lived experiences of displacement and migration policies at the municipal, provincial, territorial, and federal levels. From the earliest instances of Indigenous displacement and settler colonialism, through Black enslavement, to statelessness, trafficking, and climate migration in today’s world, contributors show how migration, as a human phenomenon, is differentially shaped by intersecting identities and structures. Particularly novel are the specific insights into disability, race, class, social age, and gender identity. This event will be on Thursday December 5, 2024, 11:30am – 1:00pm ET. This will be a hybrid event. The in-person location will be at 305 York Lanes, Keele Campus, York University.

New podcast ‘Australia Fair’: The long tail of the White Australia Policy by SBS Audio. Australia Fair is the new SBS podcast series with some challenging history lessons for everyone who calls Australia home, chronicling the key moments contributing to their national identity. Interviewing academics and high-profile Australians, host Janak Rogers travels back in time to examine everything from ‘blackbirding’ South Pacific Islanders and settling ‘Ten-Pound Poms’, to attitudes towards the first Vietnamese refugees arriving on Australian shores by boat and African youth ‘crime gangs’. The series charts Australia’s growing pains through successive waves of immigration, and our nation’s ongoing efforts to make multiculturalism work.

Virtual Launch of the Mixed Migration Review 2024 (Event) by Mixed Migration Centre. The Mixed Migration Review (MMR) 2024 dives into the politics of mixed migration and the salience of migration issues in politics. How is migration instrumentalized both domestically and internationally? In what ways do rising populist movements rely on maintaining migration as a perceived threat? What role does modern media play in shaping migration narratives? How do governments balance restricting asylum and migration with the growing demand for migrant labour? Through critical essays, interviews with global and regional experts, thematic snapshots and personal migrant stories, the Mixed Migration Review explores these issues and more. As always, the Mixed Migration Review also documents the best and worst behaviour by authorities in relation to mixed migration in the annual “Resisting and Normalising the Extreme” features. This online event will take place on 5 December 2024, from 14:00 to 15:30 CET for the virtual launch of the Mixed Migration Review 2024. The event will feature engaging discussions with experts, journalists, and academics.

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.

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

Min Wha Han, Eun-Jeong Han & JongHwa Lee. (2024). Displacement, mobility, and diversity in Korea: Diaspora within homeland. Routledge. This book examines the transformation and the dynamic reconfiguration of borders within Korea through inter/trans-disciplinary approaches. It offers a comprehensive synthesis for the changing geo-political, cultural, and economic dynamics among Korea’s diasporas by applying the theme of “diasporas within homeland” as a theoretical lens. While diaspora remains a central theoretical perspective (often highlighting “out of home” experiences), the volume turns its gaze inward, “within homeland,” to trace internal displacement, mobility, and diversity in Korea. In addition, this volume brings diverse scholarly traditions that bridge the diaspora with a wide range of theoretical lenses and methodological approaches, such as intercultural sensitivity and adaptation, acculturation, ideology critique, alienation, national memory, and postcolonialism. The book further explores the possibilities of coalition-building between/among diverse communities. 

Zagor, M. (2024). From borders to pathways: Innovations and regressions in the movement of people into Europe. ANU Press. This open access book examines the evolution of European migration policy, offering a forward-looking analysis that extends beyond traditional border controls to innovative legal migration pathways. Contributors provide an in-depth exploration of the drivers shaping migration policies, including public opinion and the rise of populist discourses, the contrasting responses to various real and imagined migrant crises, and critiques of recent policy innovations such as refugee finance schemes, ‘safe legal pathways’, and migrant lotteries. Through interdisciplinary perspectives, the authors assess socio-political, legal, geo-political and cultural shifts to advocate for a more inclusive, humane and sustainable approach to migration. By challenging dominant narratives of deterrence, extraterritoriality and exclusion, this book advocates for policies that balance Europe’s myriad commitments, values and imperatives, highlighting the need for ethical frameworks that respect the dignity of migrants.

Celestino, M. R., Lee, S., & Kivimaki, T. (2024). Coups and refugee flows in autocracies and democracies. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1–20. Much research stresses the impact of armed conflict on refugee flows. This article focuses on another form of political instability that has yet to be systematically examined: coups. It presents a typology of coups by considering (a) whether coup plotters succeed or not in seizing power, and (b) the type of regime after the coup. It identifies four types of coup attempts: (1) failed coups in autocracy, (2) failed coups in democracy, (3) autocratic coups, and (4) democratic coups. The authors argue that failed coups in autocracies and autocratic coups increase government repression and hinder economic performance, creating societal environments that trigger refugee flows. This contrasts with more stable environments following failed coups in democracies and democratic coups that are expected not to affect refugee flows.

Cranwell, G. (2024). A Primer on trauma-informed practice in refugee law. Bond Law Review, 36(1). This article is intended as a primer on trauma-informed practice for professionals working in the area of refugee law. Refugees and asylum seekers are amongst the most vulnerable groups in the community, and the process of seeking asylum itself can intensify stress. Trauma-informed practice is founded on ‘safety first’ and ‘do no harm’. It reflects adherence to core principles, rather than a prescribed set of practices and procedures. The core principles of trauma-informed practice include safety, trust, choice, collaboration and empowerment. This article primarily focuses on professional applications of trauma-informed practice at an individual level. By taking steps to integrate these principles into interpersonal interactions with refugees and asylum seekers, professionals can better support their needs in the refugee law context.

Owen, D. (2024). From forced migration to displacement? Refugee Survey Quarterly. Should the multi-disciplinary field of Forced Migration Studies (FMS) re-orient itself around the concept of “displacement”? This short intervention situates this question against the background of the transition from Refugee Studies to FMS, as well as external developments in the realm of protection. It draws attention to how the concept of displacement has become more central to both policy and academic discussion in FMS before considering what difference such a re-orientation might make conceptually, ethically, and politically. It concludes by suggesting that FMS might be conceived as standing between and across two larger fields of enquiry: Migration Studies and Displacement Studies.

Samoilov, O., Krupenyna, N., Mukhina, G., Bykova, V., & Remekh, T. (2024). Psychological and pedagogical aspects of adaptation of displaced Ukrainian children to the educational environment of another country. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education. The sudden and unexpected war in Ukraine led to a large flow of citizens displaced abroad. Almost half of them are preschool- and school-age children. The peculiarities of their adaptation to the educational environment of another country necessitates the study of the main aspects of adaptation in these conditions. The aim is to identify the psychological and pedagogical aspects of adaptation to the educational environment of another country of school-age refugee children. The research found that the 203 children who relocated to other countries have high rates of adaptation to the educational environment. Their performance indicators improved, high satisfaction with school, teachers, and relationships with classmates was revealed. The study showed that, in general, displaced Ukrainian children have high rates of adaptation to the educational space of other countries. They are emotionally stable, sociable, moderately hyperactive, have no behavioural disorders, and have high prosocial behaviour. The obtained results can contribute to the development of a programme to support Ukrainian children of immigrants to the educational environment of other countries, which will contribute to their psychological and pedagogical adaptation to it.

Taha, D. M. (2024). Marriage in displacement: Gendered (self)resettlement strategies of Syrian women in Egypt. The British Journal of Sociology, 1–16. Drawing on fieldwork data among Syrian refugee women marrying Egyptian men amid forced migration, the author explores how displacement reshapes the meaning and purpose of marriage. Many such unions, often customary or polygamous, provoke comparisons to forced marriage and gender-based violence. Bypassing the reductive exploitation and static narratives, they ask: How does displacement alter refugee women’s perceptions of marriage’s purpose? And can marriage serve as a strategic tool for (self)resettlement? This investigation urges us to reevaluate the existing range of resettlement options and criteria, offering fresh perspectives on marital strategies post-displacement. Rather, similar marriages often stem from both affective and practical considerations, challenging colonial dichotomies (e.g., agent/victim) and reinstating the role of factors such as social capital in the trajectories of the uprooted. This study expands understanding of gendered and Othered refugee experiences, highlighting marriage’s transformative role in forced displacement and resettlement. It contributes to ongoing discussions on marriage, displacement, and resettlement, urging a nuanced approach that acknowledges the complexities of refugee agency and adaptation.

REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS

Decolonising Knowledge Production in the Field of Refugee Education: Unsettling the Ontology and Epistemology of a Nascent Field by C. Brun, C. Saab & M. Shuayb. (2024). Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies. This report provides an in-depth analysis of the knowledge production landscape in the field of refugee education, critically exploring how it continues to be shaped by colonial legacies and dominated by global north (GN) perspectives. Analysing the English language and Arabic language academic literature on refugee education, the study investigates the power dynamics, economic interests, and ideological influences that sustain the divide between the global north and global south (GS) in this body of research. The findings reveal that the field of refugee education, despite its growth and diversification over the past two decades, remains profoundly unequal in terms of authorship, geographic focus, and the overall epistemological and ontological frameworks that underpin it.

Enduring Change: A Data Review of Firsthand Accounts of Climate Mobility Impacts. (2024). IRAP. The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), Al Otro Lado, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, and Haitian Bridge Alliance released a groundbreaking new report providing definitive evidence that climate change and environmental disasters are substantially impacting people seeking immigration relief in the United States. The report represents the largest data analysis of its kind in the Americas. One of the key findings include 43% of respondents from the Americas reported experiencing environmental disasters such as hurricanes, droughts, extreme heat, and floods in their home countries.

Engaging Local Communities for More Effective Climate Mobility Programming by Lawrence Huang & Camille Le Coz. (2024). Migration Policy Institute. Climate change does not affect all communities the same way. Floods in one location can cause massive, long-term displacement and even permanent relocation, while they might only trigger short-term evacuations elsewhere. This depends to a significant extent on how vulnerable communities are to begin with and the resources they have to cope and adapt. And because the impacts of climate change on human mobility are highly localized, the solutions need to be as well. This issue brief explores the importance of localization in climate migration solutions, as well as common barriers that have kept local actors from taking on greater roles. It also offers recommendations for turning localization from a rhetorical commitment into practical action.

Expanding Refugee Access to National Education Systems: The State of the Evidence on Enabling Factors, Constraints, and Interventions by A. Pacifico, S. Ferrans, A. Almassri, G. Kebe. (2024). Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies. This policy brief summarises actionable findings from the ERICC Evidence Review: Expanding Refugee Access to National Education Systems: The State of the Evidence (forthcoming) to further highlight evidence gaps and research needs. The policy brief describes the substantive, methodological and geographic scope of existing evidence on refugee student access to NES. It then presents findings about six global-, regional- and national-level enabling factors and constraints for refugee student access to NES: financing, education infrastructure and sector capacity, political will and support for refugee inclusion, governance and coordination arrangements, non-state actor engagement and data systems. Local and child-level risk and protective factors further influencing refugee access to NES are presented in the third section of the brief, including: gender, socioeconomic and legal status, language barriers, perceptions of education relevance, and xenophobia, gender-based violence and intolerance. The fourth section synthesises evidence on interventions used in refugee-hosting contexts to improve student access: global and regional frameworks that support refugee inclusion; double shift schools; recognition, validation and accreditation of prior learning, flexible learning programmes, and host country language acquisition; cash transfers; and school feeding. Finally, this brief presents research needs which stakeholders can prioritise to significantly improve the evidence base for (cost-)effective, inclusive and scalable interventions that enhance refugee student access to education.

Haiti: Increased internal displacement heightens food and health needs in the Grand Sud region. (2024). Reliefweb. In 2024, Haiti has seen a 60% increase in the number of displaced people, rising from 362,000 in March to 702,973 in September, primarily as a result of deteriorating security conditions in the Port-au-Prince Metropolitan Zone (ZMPAP). One-third of those displaced nationwide left their homes in the first half of the year, marking this as a period with one of the highest levels of displacement in Haiti’s recent history. More than 90% of all displaced people originated from the Ouest department, particularly the ZMPAP, which accounted for 85% of the national total. These areas also experienced the highest violence-related incidents between 2023–2024.

NEWS AND BLOG POSTS

A new chapter of hope: refugee students embark on university journeys in Canada by Mohamed Maalim, September 20, 2024. UNHCR Kenya. At the dusty Dadaab airstrip in Garissa County, north eastern Kenya, a mix of emotions fills the air as fourteen young refugees stand together, clutching their boarding passes. Some hug their families tightly, fighting back tears, while others wear nervous smiles, trying to comfort parents who whisper final words of encouragement. These young men and women, selected from thousands of hopefuls are about to embark on a transformative journey – one that will lead them to universities in Canada through a special scholarship program offered by the World University Service of Canada. For these refugees, this opportunity represents more than an education; it is a path of hope, stability, and a brighter future. The selection process for this scholarship was rigorous, testing academic potential, leadership qualities, and the candidates’ commitment to contribute to their communities in Dadaab and beyond.

Eighteen years since warning of climate refugee crisis, Albanese has the power to do something, but not the will by Richard Denniss, October 13, 2024. The New Daily. Eighteen years ago today Anthony Albanese issued a press release about the urgent need to not just act on climate change, but prepare for the humanitarian crisis of climate refugees fleeing low-lying Pacific island nations. Specifically his press release, having criticised the Howard government for being slow to act, called for “the establishment of an international coalition led by Australia to accept climate change refugees from Pacific countries”. But 18 years later, the Albanese government, like the Howard government of 2006, is still ignoring the scientific consensus about the urgent need to reduce emissions, still subsidising and opening new gas and coal mines and still hasn’t created a legal framework for climate refugees.

Refugees in east Africa suffer from high levels of depression, making it harder to rebuild lives – new study by Olivier Sterck, Julia R Pozuelo, Maria Flinder Stierna, and Raphael Bradenbrink, October 9, 2024. The Conversation. By the end of 2023, more than 100 million people globally had been forced to flee their homes due to war, violence, fear of persecution, and human rights violations. The majority are hosted in low- and middle-income countries, where many live in overcrowded camps or urban settlements, with limited access to food, employment and essential services. Many endure traumatic experiences not only before their displacement but also during and after it. They face armed conflict, marginalisation and poverty at every stage of their journey. These experiences may increase the likelihood of developing mental health disorders, which can persist years after displacement. This makes it harder for refugees to earn a living and integrate into society.

Supporting refugee students: How and why universities should prioritize inclusivity, access by Michelle Bellino, September 18, 2024. Michigan News. Drawing on her research with displaced communities, Michelle Bellino, associate professor of education at the University of Michigan, argues that universities should care about refugees, asylum-seekers and displaced communities as part of their mission to prepare students for a more just and egalitarian society. Bellino urges institutions of higher education to join Welcome Corps on Campus, a new opportunity for U.S. universities to welcome, enroll and support refugee students. This article covers the challenges refugee youth face when accessing education, how universities currently consider refugee students for admission and financial support, and what they can do to make education more accessible for them.

UK seeks to move 36 Diego Garcia asylum seekers to Romania by Jacob Godlberg, October 9, 2024. The New Humanitarian. UNHCR has approved a request by the UK to transfer 36 Sri Lankan asylum seekers from Diego Garcia and Rwanda to a transit centre in Romania, the UN’s refugee agency told The New Humanitarian.The 36 people are part of a group of 64 who arrived on the remote Indian Ocean island by boat, starting in October 2021, and have sought to claim asylum in the UK or elsewhere. The island is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which the UK agreed earlier this month to cede to Mauritius following years of negotiations.

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.”

Protection in the UK: the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. Refugees Studies Centre. The UK is ending its migration partnership with Rwanda and preparing new legislation. The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill is likely to include measures allowing ‘fast-track decisions and returns to safe countries’ and ‘stronger powers to disrupt, investigate and prosecute organised criminals facilitating organised immigration crime.’ An expert panel will analyse these developments and consider what taking a progressive, rights-protective, approach to protection in the UK could and should involve. The online event will be on October 30, 2024, from 5pm to 6pm (UK & UTC).

Public Seminar Series 2023/24; Seminar Three: Climate Change, Displacement and Gender. Women in Refugee Law (WiRL). The United Nations estimates that 80% of people who are displaced by the impact of climate change are women. Climate change not only affects where people live; it can exacerbate existing gender inequalities and expose women to increased risks such as SGBV. This panel discussion considers some of the ways that climate change specifically affects women and reflects on ways this is being addressed in refugee law, policy and practice. This online event will be on October 28, 2024, 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM (UK & UTC).

Voices on the Move Podcast Launch Event. The Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. Migration Matters and York University is proud to announce the launch of its latest podcast series, Voices on the Move, an in-depth exploration of the complex and urgent relationship between climate change and migration. The podcast features expert insights and personal stories from communities directly affected by climate-induced displacement, offering a fresh perspective on the consequences of environmental shifts on mobility, habitability, and global migration patterns.  This event is on October 29, 2024, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM ET, in person at the 2120 Dahdaleh Building at York University.