The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.

You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 109

Recent Publications and New Research

Dennler, K.T. (2021). Uncertain future, unsettled present: suspending and embracing engagement with life among newcomers in Toronto, Canada. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. Canada’s current immigration policies are marked by growing reliance on temporary and conditional migration and increased processing times for immigration applications. More people spend long periods living in Canada with deportability and therefore uncertainty about the future. Based on qualitative research among newcomers in Toronto, Canada, this article examines the temporalities of living with uncertainty, attending to how experiences of and responses to uncertainty are dynamic across time. The article identifies two salient responses among research participants, either suspending or embracing engagement with life in Canada. Each of these responses entails risks, making both suspending and embracing difficult to sustain. This article shows that regimes of immigration control foreclose access to rights and supports based on formal immigration status and hollow out the value of permitted activities.

Khan, Adrian A. (2021).  Embodied circular migration: lived experiences of education and work of Nepalese children and youth. Journal of Youth Studies, 1-17. Research including trans-Himalayan children and youth experiences of circular migration is often amalgamated under broader migration discourses. From 22 semi-structured interviews and three focus group sessions with 22 trans-Himalayan children/youth, this paper examines intersections of embodiment, agency, and circular migration in Nepal through what this paper frames as embodied circular migration. The paper outlines how young people’s agency towards choosing to engage in circular migration for work, circumvented structural challenges of not having identity documents (citizenship/birth certificates) needed to legally work or pursue higher studies in Kathmandu.

Mousin, C.B. (2021). Constantine’s Legacy: Preserving Empire while Undermining International Law. In P. Slotte & J.D. Haskell (Eds.), Christianity and International Law (pp. 366-94). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thou shall not return a refugee to persecution. Nation-states declared they had learned that critical lesson from the tragedy of the Holocaust by enacting international refugee conventions and protocols. Today, as refugees seek safety, they find fortress-like liberal democracies building walls of steel interlaced with legal strategies that undermine the international protections forged from the fires of the Holocaust. Consequently, refugees drown in the Mediterranean, die in the Mexico-United States desert, become detained in overcrowded refugee camps and unofficial street shelters, or become victims of criminal gangs. Nation-states have all too often abdicated their responsibility to refugees. This chapter explores this interlocking struggle between Christian hospitality toward the outsider and Christian refusal to offer that hospitality in support of national security.

S.W. Allard. (2021). Hopelessly Practicing Law: Asylum Seekers, Advocates, and Hostile Jurisdictions. In P. Slotte & J.D. Haskell (Eds.), Christianity and International Law (pp. 366-94). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. What does it mean to practice public international law? This is a frequent topic of conversation for many who work with law students inspired to study the law and pursue legal vocations believing that peace, justice, and human rights may be best advanced through the international legal framework. However, as many students often discover, that framework can be deeply frustrating. From its heavily bureaucratic structure anchored in the United Nations (UN) system to the unresolved tension between individuals and states as actors in and beneficiaries of international law, public international law can often seem as much an obstacle as a means to their virtue. This chapter examines the ethic of praxis in public international law by examining an often-overlooked area of international legal practice: refugee and asylum law.

Costello, C., Foster, M., & McAdam, J. (Eds.). (2021). The Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law. Oxford University Press.  This handbook provides a state-of-the-art, comprehensive analysis of the field of international refugee law. It is global in scope, with ten chapters focusing on specific regions, including Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. It examines a wide range of legal instruments relevant to refugee protection, including international human rights law, international humanitarian law, international migration law, the law of the sea, and international and transnational criminal law. Finally, it critiques the status quo and sets the agenda for future academic research.

Reports, Policy Briefs and Blogposts

Report: From Silos to Solutions: Toward Sustainable and Equitable Hybrid Service Delivery in the Immigrant & Refugee-Serving Sector in Canada, by Jungzhou Liu, Cansu Dedeoglu & Marco Campana. AMSSA, Strengthening Diversity in BC. This final report of the Settlement Sector and Technology Task Group presents findings and insights generated through a comprehensive exploration of hybrid service delivery over six months in the immigrant settlement sector in Canada. The six main recommendations of the report are: develop a roadmap to support organizational digital transformation; establish a common and sector-wide vision for digital literacy; establish a hybrid settlement service delivery lead at IRCC; establish baseline sector competencies; establish a national sector capacity-building approach; and ensure sector nuances are taken into account.

Report: Intentional Connections for Welcoming Communities: Improving Settlement for Privately Sponsored Refugees in Ontario through Settlement-Sponsor Collaboration. Allies for Refugee Integration; a partnership of OCASI and Refugee 613, May, 2021. This final report explores the findings and recommendations from the pilots tested across Ontario to improve settlement-sponsor collaboration in support of privately sponsored refugees.

Policy Brief: Addressing the Legacy of Expedited Removal: Border Procedures and Alternatives for Reform By Yael Schacher, Refugee International, May 13, 2021. Expedited removal has been justified as a means to promote efficiency in asylum processing. Yet over the last decade, when large numbers of families have come to the border to seek refuge, expedited removal has proven highly inefficient. On February 2, 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14010 on creating a comprehensive regional framework. The Order suggests implementing expedited removal in a more efficient way and respectful of due process. For reasons described in this brief, it is highly questionable that such a system will prove to be fair or even effective and workable. Thus, this issue brief suggests alternative ways the United States can have a fair and efficient system that better fulfills its obligation to provide access to protection at the border. A different reception system at the border is essential for a new, comprehensive, protection-oriented approach to migration from Central America.

Digital and Social Media

Inspirational Creative Practice: The Work of Artists after War and Violent Conflict (INSPIRE) is a research project that studies the role of artists and creative practice in and after violent conflict. The project is hosted by the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO) and connected to the PRIO Centre on Culture and Violent Conflict (CCC). Working with artists and activists in Myanmar and Sudan, and exiled artists in four European countries (France, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland), we explore what motivates those engaged in creative practice and how artistic expressions inspire others into action for social justice.

The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.

You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 108

Recent Publications and New Research

Hyndman, J., Reynolds, J., Yousuf, B., Purkey, A., Demoz, D. & Sherrell, K. (2021) Sustaining the Private Sponsorship of Resettled Refugees in Canada. Frontiers in Human Dynamics, (3). Based on an original qualitative study, this paper probes how voluntary sponsorship has been sustained over decades, despite the high personal and financial costs it entails, by analyzing the insights of those who have experienced sponsorship: former refugees who came through the program, long-term sponsors, key informants, and other community leaders. The authors argue that private refugee sponsorship is a community practice, a routine activity that is part of a collective commitment, a way of connecting local community actions to global politics of injustice and displacement. Furthermore, refugee newcomers, who land in Canada as permanent residents become part of the communities and society they stay in. Having left family members behind in refugee camps and cities of refuge, many become sponsors themselves. This phenomenon of ‘family linked’ sponsorship is a defining and sustaining feature of the program, motivating family members in Canada to team up with seasoned sponsors to ‘do more’.

d’Orsi, C. (2021). Migrant Smuggling in Africa: Challenges Yet to Be Overcome. African Journal of Legal Studies, 1–30. This paper focuses on the plight of the smuggling of migrants in Africa. Migrant smuggling has been documented along at least five major and several more minor routes in Africa. This study investigates whether current legislation and policies are effective in curbing the practice of smuggling in Africa. To evaluate the success rate of these measures, the author compares figures over recent years to establish whether there has been a decrease in the number of migrants smuggled throughout the various regions of the continent. The author argues that migration can be better managed, but it cannot be stopped. In this framework, in Africa, the current migration policies and cooperation efforts intended to eradicate the practice of smuggling of migrants have given mixed results.

Weima Y, Minca C. (2021). Closing Camps. Progress in Human Geography. Refugee camp geographies vary greatly; however, the most fleeting informal camps and decades-old institutional settlements have in common that they are meant to be temporary. While research on camps has been attentive to their spatialities, relatively little work has focused on closures. However, the authors consider the permanent possibility of closure as a constitutive element of life-in-the-camp. Closures, then, must be situated within the exclusionary landscapes in which states manage migrants’ custody, protection, and displacement. We accordingly present camp closures as manifestations of sovereign power and the study of camp afterlives as key to critical understandings of camp geographies.

Betts, A. (2021). The Wealth of Refugees: How Displaced People Can Build Economies. Oxford University Press. This book draws upon a decade of original qualitative and quantitative research to offer practical solutions. Focusing on refugees in camps and cities in Africa, it identifies approaches that can effectively improve the welfare of refugees, increase social cohesion between refugees and host communities, and reduce the need for onward migration. The book argues that the key lies in unlocking the potential contributions of refugees themselves. Refugees bring skills, talents, and aspirations and can be a benefit rather than a burden to receiving societies. Realizing this potential relies upon moving beyond a purely humanitarian focus to fully include refugees in host-country economies, build economic opportunities in refugee-hosting regions, and navigate the ambiguous politics of refugee protection.

Spencer, S., Charsley, K. (2021). Reframing ‘integration’: acknowledging and addressing five core critiques. Comparative Migration Studies, (9)18. Empirical and theoretical insights from the rich body of research on ‘integration’ in migration studies have increased recognition of its complexity. Among European scholars, however, there remains no consensus on how integration should be defined nor what the processes entail. Integration has, moreover, been the subject of powerful academic critiques, some decrying any further use of the concept. This paper argues that it is both necessary and possible to address each of the five core critiques on which recent criticism has focused: normativity; negative objectification of migrants as ‘other’; outdated imaginary of society; methodological nationalism; and a narrow focus on migrants in the factors shaping integration processes. The authors define integration and provide a revised heuristic model of the integration process and the ‘effectors’ shown to shape them and contribute to a constructive debate on how these challenges for empirical research can be overcome.

Reports, Policy Briefs and Blogposts

Report: Mosler Vidal, E. (2021). Leave No Migrant Behind: The 2030 Agenda and Data Disaggregation, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva. In order to leave no one behind, migrants must be considered across efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Meanwhile, migrants are also key actors in sustainable development. Migrants around the world make vital contributions to help progress the SDGs, whether these focus on offering high-quality health care, boosting household income or increasing productivity in destination economies. The objective of this guide is to provide user-centric guidance on disaggregation of SDG indicators by migratory status. It is aimed at practitioners across governments, international organizations or other actors who work with migration and/or SDG data. The guide is intended to help practitioners at any stage of the disaggregation process.

Migrants forced to wait four years for benefits in Australian budget’s biggest cost-cutting measure by Paul Karp, May 11, 2021, The Guardian. New migrants to Australia will be forced to wait four years before they can access government benefits under a Coalition plan to save $671m. The cost-cutting measure will affect 13,200 future migrants and 45,000 families, with carers and parents to be hit the hardest, while $464.7m will go to expanding immigration detention

What’s behind the UK’s harsh post-Brexit asylum overhaul? By Andrew Connelly, May 11, 2021, The New Humanitarian. In March, the United Kingdom (UK) introduced more than 40 suggested changes to the country’s asylum rules. UNHCR states that, if implemented, the UK’s plan would undermine the 1951 Refugee Convention and the global refugee protection system. The changes ostensibly target “the business model of smugglers,” but favour refugees arriving through legal routes while punishing those who arrive through irregular routes. Rights groups point out that regular routes often do not exist for asylum seekers and they argue that the UK proposal is a “smokescreen” to create a restrictive asylum system.

Digital and Social Media

12-week long Certificate Course on the Rohingya Crisis hosted by Center for Peace Studies (CPS) under South Asian Institute of Policy and Governance (SIPG) of North South University (NSU) in partnership with the Human Rights Practice Program at the University of Arizona, starting on June 19, 2021. This course will help participants better understand the Rohingya crisis, gain knowledge on the context and geopolitics around the crisis, and critically analyze the national, bilateral, regional and global politics and policies related to the crisis. If you are a student or professional (teachers, diplomats, journalists, NGO workers, etc.) and would like to expand your knowledge about the Rohingya crisis and seek careers in the humanitarian/ development field, learn more here.

The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.

You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 107

Recent Publications and New Research

Biorklund Belliveau, L., & Ferguson, R. (2021). Normalising the Exceptional: The Use of Temporary Protection in Transit Countries to Externalise Borders and Responsibilities. Geopolitics, 1-31. Temporary protection is increasingly presented as a ‘novel approach’ to displaced people that have crossed an international border as it can provide a level of protection and access to basic social services for a defined period. This paper calls into question the objectives of such measures by highlighting the geopolitical context in which they operate. The authors argue that while temporary arrangements, particularly in so-called ‘transit’ countries, may address the humanitarian needs of displaced people, they also embed precarity and temporality into protection norms. Combined with policies that externalize migration management, they risk normalising the exclusion of individuals from avenues to permanent protection in a country that they feel safe.

Papadopoulos, R.K. (2021). Involuntary Dislocation. Home, Trauma, Resilience and Adversity-Activated Development. London and New York: Routledge. This book identifies involuntary dislocation as a distinct phenomenon, challenging existing assumptions and established positions, and explores its linguistic, historical, and cultural contexts. The author elaborates on key themes, including home, identity, nostalgic disorientation, the victim, and trauma, providing an in-depth understanding of each contributing factor while emphasizing the human experience throughout. This book concludes by articulating an approach to conceptualizing and working with people who have experienced adversities engendered by involuntary dislocation, and with a reflection on the language of repair and renewal.

Bakardjieva, M. (2020). “Say It Loud, Say It Clear…”: Concerting solidarity in the Canadian Refugees Welcome Movement (2015–2016). Canadian Review of Sociology, 57(4), 632–655. This article reports the results of a multimethod case study that seeks to explain how collective action frames emerged in the Canadian Refugees Welcome Movement context. The author explores which actors were involved in their articulation, how they generated a following and collective action, and the humanitarian and political effect. The focus is on the discursive processes of construction of solidarity across differences as they unfolded in the social media environment. The author argues that the Facebook event pages calling for rallies in support of Syrian refugees served as a discursive space that helped transform the moral shock experienced by members of distinct communities into the construction of solidarity and collective action across differences.

Tastsoglou, E. (2021). Twenty-First Century “New” Greek Transnational Migration to Canada. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 1-14. This article derives from a qualitative study of the “new” migration from Greece to Canada, resulting from a severe socioeconomic crisis in Greece. Starting from the migration narratives of 20 “new” Greek migrants in Halifax and Toronto, this research focuses on how the “new” migrants make and carry out the decision to leave and immigrate to Canada. A heuristic use and reconceptualized understanding of the classic “push-pull” model, in conjunction with a transnational migration perspective, allows mapping out, through rich qualitative data, the structure—agency articulation in the “out-of-Greece-and-into-Canada” mobility of 21st century “new” Greek migrants.

Reports, Policy Briefs and Blogposts

Issue Brief: A Crisis of Care: Sexual and Reproductive Health Competes for Attention Amid Conflict and Displacement in Mali, Devon Cone and Alexander Lamarche, April 15, 2021, Refugees International. National healthcare systems rarely prioritize sexual and reproductive health (SRH), posing a challenge for women and girls worldwide, including in Mali. There, nearly a decade of conflict has created a protracted humanitarian crisis, decimating the healthcare system and limiting the availability of SRH services. Meanwhile, political uncertainty following a coup in August 2020 has focused international efforts on addressing security and stabilization, at the expense of humanitarian needs. The lack of donor funding has exacerbated the situation, including the dearth of SRH services. The challenges are particularly pressing for women and girls who have been forcibly displaced by conflict and instability.

Expert report: Access to Documents by Eritrean Refugees in the Context of Family Reunification, Sara Palacios Arapiles and Daniel R. Mekonnen, Equal Rights Beyond Borders and the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP). This report is concerned with challenges experienced by Eritrean refugees in Europe in the context of family reunification processes, specifically those relating to strict documentary requirements demanded by some EU Member States, in particular Germany. The report shows that these requirements often hinder the effectiveness of the right to family reunification. Further, such requirements pose unnecessary risks, often placing Eritrean refugees, and their relatives in Eritrea, at serious risk.

Recognizing the role of religious groups in refugee sponsorship by Geoffrey Cameron, Policy Options, March 31, 2021. This article outlines the key role of religious groups in private refugee sponsorship in Canada. The author briefly explains how Canada developed private refugee sponsorship; at the centre of this story is the creative and humanitarian role played by religious groups and coalitions. Religious groups continue to be leading actors within Canada’s resettlement programs, and the government must recognize their role to understand Canada’s humanitarian potential.

Digital and Social Media

RRN Webinar Series: Localizing Knowledge Production: Shifting power in forced migration studies, In collaboration with the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN), April 20, 2021. Drawing on the results of a review of forced displacement research centres based in the global South and interviews with their directors, the speakers discussed ways to shift from focusing on research partnerships to an approach that supports the localization of knowledge production in refugee and forced migration studies. View the recording here.

LERRN-IDRC Webinar: Forced displacement and health in the context of the pandemic: Localized responses to COVID- 19’s impact on refugees, IDPs, and communities living in chronic displacement – May 20, 2021, 9:00-10:30AM. This webinar will examine what the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic reveals about how health systems respond to the health needs of the forcibly displaced and how social, cultural and economic factors and power relations shape responses. Drawing on lessons from Bangladesh, Syria, and Palestine, it will consider how localized actors and approaches can identify areas of innovation to improve access and health outcomes for refugees, IDPs and other forcibly displaced people. Learn more and register here.

Resource: Ethical Considerations in Research with People in Situations of Forced Migration, Canadian Council for Refugees. Your Rights in Research page on the CCR website has been updated to include the following languages:

•  Your rights in research (Arabic)
•  Your rights in research (Spanish)
•  Your rights in research (Somali)
•  Your rights in research (Pashto)
•  Your rights in research (Swahili)
•  Your rights in research (Farsi)
•  Your rights in research (Dari) – corrected version

The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.

You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 106

Recent Publications and New Research

Tosh, S.R., Berg, U.D., & León, K.S. (2021). Migrant Detention and COVID-19: Pandemic Responses in Four New Jersey Detention Centers. Journal on Migration and Human Security. This article examines the relationship between COVID-19 and processes of migrant detention and deportation through a case study of New Jersey — an early epicenter of the pandemic and part of the broader New York City metro area. Drawing on publicly available reports and in-depth interviews with wardens, immigration lawyers, advocates, and former detainees, the authors describe the initial COVID-19 response in four detention facilities in New Jersey. The findings suggest that migrant detention and deportation present distinct challenges that undermine attempts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Bottomley, B. (2021) NGO strategies for sex and gender-based violence protection and accountability in long-term displacement settings: Reviewing women’s participation in humanitarian programmes in Dadaab refugee complex [Working paper]. This article addresses the intersection between non-governmental organization (NGO) protection strategies for sex and gender-based violence in long-term displacement settings and recent discourse on humanitarian accountability practice. The author concludes that NGOs must adopt a more comprehensive system of gender mainstreaming across the humanitarian sector, to ensure that participatory approaches to protection from sex and gender-based violence in long-term displacement settings prioritise gender equality as a substantive objective.

Masterson, D., & Yasenov, V. (2019). Does halting refugee resettlement reduce crime? Evidence from the United States refugee ban.  American Political Science Review, 1-8. Many countries have reduced refugee admissions in recent years, in part due to fears that refugees and asylum seekers increase crime rates and pose a national security risk. Existing research presents ambiguous expectations about the consequences of refugee resettlement on crime. The authors leverage a natural experiment in the United States, where an Executive Order by the president in January 2017 halted refugee resettlement. This policy change was sudden and significant—it resulted in the lowest number of refugees resettled on US soil since 1977 and a 66% drop in resettlement from 2016 to 2017. The findings suggest that there is no discernible effect on the county-level property or violent crime rates.

Schammann, H., Gluns, D., Heimann, C., et. al. (2021). Defining and transforming local migration policies: A conceptual approach backed by evidence from Germany. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. This article explores the factors that drive municipalities to become active in the field of migration and migration-related diversity. Based on qualitative data from 126 German municipalities, this article proposes a new conceptual framework that allows for larger-scale comparisons and enables theory building on policy (in)activity at the local level. The authors discuss various theoretical approaches and empirical findings from the literature by using a heuristic of four categories of factors: institutional framework (e.g. competencies, discretionary spaces, multilevel governance), structural conditions (e.g. urbanity/rurality, socioeconomic conditions); local discourses (i.e. narratives creating a local space of possibilities), and local key actors (e.g. mayors, street-level bureaucrats).  

Reports, Policy Briefs and Blogposts

Supporting Canada’s COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery Through Robust Immigration Policy and Programs by Victoria Esses, An RSC Policy Briefing, March 2021. This report provides recommendations for action by the federal and provincial/territorial governments designed to optimize immigration to Canada. Broadly, these include a public education program on immigration, expanded pathways to permanence for temporary residents, targeted policies and programs that address the needs of vulnerable permanent and temporary resident groups and special consideration of Francophone immigration.

The Humanitarian Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Venezuelans in Peru, One Year In by Rachel Schmidtke & Anatali Oquendo Lorduy. Refugees International, April 2021. This report bears witness to the lives and challenges of Venezuelans in Peru, surviving displacement and the pandemic. The authors recommend concrete steps to alleviate the obstacles facing Venezuelans in Peru. Specifically, for the Government of Peru to expand legal residency for Venezuelans; for Peruvian civil society to increase their own outreach and collaboration with Venezuelan-led groups; and the Peruvian government and international donors to commit to vaccinating Venezuelans alongside Peruvians.  

The Human Rights Situation of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China, Report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. House of Common – Canada, March 2021. This report is divided into three chapters. Chapter one provides a historical overview of the Uyghurs, including their presence in Xinjiang (formerly known as East Turkestan), the Government of the PRC’s evolving approach to the region, and the link with its increasingly violent efforts to repress Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims. Chapter two outlines the different ways in which the Government of the PRC is repressing Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. Finally, Chapter three outlines why the Subcommittee is confident that the treatment of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang meets the definition of genocide under the Genocide Convention. It also considers Canada’s international obligations under the convention and addresses crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.

Accountability to Affected Populations in Displacement Contexts and During the Covid-19 Pandemic by Diana Martin. Refugee Law Initiative (School of Advanced Study, University of London) in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee, London, 2021. During the pandemic, the RLI has undertaken a real-time evaluation of the impact of Covid-19 on IRC Uganda’s humanitarian response and accountability to affected populations. While the report focuses on IRC Uganda’s application of Client Responsiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic, key findings and lessons are relevant and applicable to other IRC country programs, as well as other humanitarian organizations. The report shows how humanitarian organizations can be accountable to the communities they serve even during a pandemic when engagement between humanitarian staff and affected populations is heavily restricted due to lockdown regulations.

Gruber, M. & Zupan, K. (Eds.) (2021): Report on existing integration-political goals, programs and strategies in the European Union and the MATILDE countries and rural regions.This reportpresents an overview of existing integration-political goals, programs and strategies at different governance levels: the European Union level, the national level represented by the ten MATILDE countries – Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom, the regional level analyses based on the MATILDE rural case study regions, as well as the local level of these ten countries. Hence, this report aims to analyze the desired goals and guiding principles in the governance of migration and integration politics. The chapters include historical highlights since the 1990s impacting the further development of integration political goals and strategies.

It’s Time to Recognize Climate Refugees by Keith Lema. International Policy Digest, April 6, 2021. Through a flurry of executive action and appointments in his first 100 days, President Biden is restoring U.S. leadership on both climate change and refugee resettlement. Addressing climate change today will save lives, property, and money in the long run. Accepting more refugees will enhance America’s moral leadership while reinvigorating American communities with new, hardworking members. The author argues that President Biden should go further: He should recognize that climate change drives the need for refugee resettlement.

Digital and Social Media

RRN webinar recording: Emerging BHER Scholars: Establishing a Refugee Research Agenda in Dadaab. March 31, 2021. The speakers in this webinar addressed the importance of ongoing research in and on Dadaab. The overarching theme was the barriers to inclusivity in education in the Dadaab refugee camp, and was addressed by Dadaab scholars with specific reference to their research in progress.

The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.

You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 105

RRN Webinar Series:

Localizing Knowledge Production: 

Shifting power in forced migration studies

In collaboration with the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN)
April 20, 2021 | 10:00 EST

Register here

Drawing on the results of a review of forced displacement research centres based in the global South and interviews with the directors of these centres, this webinar encourages a shift from focusing on research partnerships to an approach that supports the localization of knowledge production in refugee and forced migration studies. The speakers invite us to consider an approach that changes the structures of knowledge production through tackling issues such as funding management of Global South-led research, transfer of power to researchers in the South, a recognition of the diverse forms of knowledge and knowledge production, and an appreciation for the diverse understandings of success and impact across contexts.

Guest speakers:

James Milner, Associate Professor of Political Science at Carleton University and Director of LERRN: The Local Engagement Refugee Research Network.

Richa Shivakoti, Senior Research Associate at the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Migration and Integration.

Amanda Coffie, Research Fellow at the Legon Center for International Affairs and Diplomacy, University of Ghana.

Roula El-Rifai, Senior Program Specialist with the Democratic and Inclusive Governance Division at Canada’s International Development Research Centre – IDRC.

Recent Publications and New Research

Sanctuary cities in Canada: practices, needs and policies, Building Migrant Resilience in Cities (BMRC), York University, April 6, 2021. This project aimed to better understand the formal practices and informal approaches associated with ‘sanctuary city’ and ‘access without fear’ policies across Canada.  It explored the approaches taken by several cities to address the needs of residents living without immigration status or with precarious status. Because immigrant-serving organizations engage directly with these populations, the research explored how these organizations assessed city efforts and their needs and preferences for municipal policy changes to better support these residents.

Francesca Esposito et. al. (2021). “Yes, But Somebody Has to Help Them, somehow:” Looking at the Italian Detention Field through the Eyes of Professional Nonstate Actors. International Migration Review. Although migration-related detention has increased worldwide, little is known about life inside detention centers for undocumented migrants. Building on 34 months of fieldwork, this article examines Rome’s detention center, including the lived experiences of center staff and the external civil-society actors working in and with the center. It discusses the emotional, ethical, and political challenges these professional actors face in their everyday work and relationships with detainees. It sheds light on life in detention and the intersections between humanitarian and security logics in this setting. In doing so, the authors problematize the idea that “humanizing detention” can be a solution for change.

Didier Ruedin (ed.) (2021). Decision-Making under Uncertainty: African Migrants in the Spotlight“, Social Inclusions (open access journal), Volume 9, Issue 1 (2021). This thematic issue examines decision-making questions under limited (and contradictory) information, focusing on migration decisions. Migrants are far from a homogenous population, but they commonly use narratives as heuristics. The authors observe much agency among migrants to pursue migration plans, with migration decisions best understood as chains of multiple decisions rather than simple push-pull or two-step models.

Silverman, S. J., & Kaytaz, E. S. (2020). Examining the ‘National Risk Assessment for Detention process: an intersectional analysis of detaining ‘dangerousness’ in Canada. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-17. This article concerns the NRAD, a 2-page ‘risk analysis’ PDF used by CBSA to sort arrested immigrants into medium- or high-risk categories. CBSA officers use it precisely to determine whether to incarcerate someone in a provincial prison or at an immigration holding centre. Like many algorithmic tools, the NRAD appears scientific and objective, but it is affixing a sticky label of dangerousness to racialized immigrants that is very difficult to dislodge. The authors argue that the NRAD creates and further embeds ‘hybrid knowledges of risk’ about immigrants, criminality, race and gender. Importantly, these pieces of knowledge did not arrive out of the blue; rather, the NRAD and its logics are nested in an arc of penalisation contingent upon the 1994 shooting of ViVi Leimonis in a midtown Toronto cafe that locals may remember. The NRAD thus links immigration, gender, racialisation, dangerousness, and crime. The NRAD normalizes incarceration for certain non-citizens, reflecting and reinforcing negative, racialized, and gendered ideas about riskiness.

Reports, Policy Briefs and Blogposts

Calgary Refugee Resettlement: January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020, Calgary Catholic Immigration Society (CCIS), Released: February 2021. This report captures the numbers and composition of the refugees who arrived in Calgary during 2020. The document also includes the executive summary of Calgary’s COVID-19 response for the vulnerable newcomer population.

One Year Later: Unmasking COVID-19, by Grace Barakat & Brenda Spotton-Visano, Islamic Relief Canada & York University, March 17, 2021.  Islamic Relief Canada, in partnership with York University, has released a new research report. This report reveals that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated economic inequalities in Canada. Marginalized groups, especially BIPOC, women and low-income people, have experienced the highest percentages of illness contraction, job losses and economic hardships. The research indicates that the long-term effects on these vulnerable groups will include: an increase in poverty; SME closures; household debt and mortgage defaults; precarious housing, evictions and food insecurity; and unemployment in specific industries experiencing shutdowns. 

Leaving Place, Restoring Home Enhancing The Evidence Base On Planned Relocation Cases In The Context Of Hazards, Disasters, And Climate Change, By Erica Bower & Sanjula Weerasinghe, Kaldore centre, March 2021. This report, undertaken according to the Platform on Disaster Displacement (PDD) 2019-2022 Strategy and Workplan, seeks to enhance the evidence base on planned relocation cases undertaken within countries. It provides: (1) a global dataset of 308 cases of planned relocation identified from English-language peer-reviewed scholarly articles and grey literature; and (2) an analysis of characteristics across 34 of the identified cases. These two related outputs serve as a foundation for future efforts to augment knowledge and data on planned relocation and promote approaches to policy and practice that mitigate risk and protect people from harm.

Popp, Karoline (2021) “No more Morias?’ Origins, challenges and prospects of the hot spots on the Greek islands” SVR-Policy Brief, Berlin. This new policy brief by the Expert Council on Integration and Migration explores the factors underlying the situation in the hotspots. In addition to the effects of the EU-Turkey Statement, the policy brief examines the shortcomings of the Greek administrative system and the European context, particularly the lack of responsibility-sharing on asylum among EU member states. The analysis identifies several structural causes for the situation in the hotspots. To address these, national and European actors need to create additional capacities, accelerate asylum procedures and systematically relieve the hotspots through relocations to mainland Greece and other EU countries. The EU should consider these lessons learned in its negotiations on the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, including on the use of border procedures in the future. On 12 April 2021, a webinar on the theme of “No more Morias? Past and future of the hotspot approach at Europe’s border”, will be held to discuss the policy brief’s key findings and their implications.

Kordel, S. & Membretti, A. (Eds.) (2020): Classification of MATILDE regions. Spatial Specificities and Third Country Nationals Distribution, MATILDE Deliverable 2.1. This report provides an overview of the immigration processes in European rural and mountain areas, i.e., labour, forced, student, family and amenity/lifestyle migration. For this purpose, the report presents a literature review of migration studies from various social sciences disciplines. It further reveals the prevailing immigration processes, including a diachronic perspective and the framework for the description of MATILDE regions based on socio-economic, socio-demographic and territorial indicators. Finally, MATILDE regions in Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom are portrayed in terms of immigration of Third-Country Nationals and spatial characteristics. In conclusion, patterns of immigration of TCNs to MATILDE countries and regions are classified in light of broader structural transformations.

Baglioni, S., Caputo, M.L., Laine, J. & Membretti, A. (Eds.) (2021): The impact of social and economic policies on migrants in Europe, MATILDE Deliverable 3.1 and 4.1. This document presents the impact assessments of a range of policies on Third Country Nationals’ interaction with the social and economic structure of the remote and rural areas in the MATILDE countries – Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and in the United Kingdom. Each report includes a systematic gathering of information on existing policies that have a direct/indirect impact on migrants’ interaction with the social-economic structure of remote and rural areas. A meta-analysis/literature review on the existing literature/research has been carried out for each country. Each report includes an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the policies and services explored through semi-structured interviews. Finally, the conclusions also provide an inventory of good practices.

A Year of Racist Attacks: Anti-Asian racism across Canada one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, by Justin Kong, Jessica Ip, Celia Huang & Kennes Lin, Chinese Canadian National Council – Toronto Chapter, March 23, 2021. From March 10th, 2020 to February 28th, 2021, 1150 cases of racist attacks from across Canada were reportedNee on their web platforms with 835 cases reported on covidracism.ca, and 315 cases reported to elimin8hate.org. Data analysis was conducted using data up to December 31st, 2020. 40% and 44% of racist attacks and incidents were reported from Ontario and British Columbia, respectively. Individuals who reported an incident in Chinese were much more likely to report suffering from emotional distress (34% more likely) and experiencing physical assault (100% more likely) than those who reported an incident in English. Learn more by reading the full report.

Digital and Social Media

RRN webinar recording: Emerging BHER Scholars: Establishing a Refugee Research Agenda in Dadaab. March 31, 2021. The speakers in this webinar addressed the importance of ongoing research in and on Dadaab. The overarching theme was the barriers to inclusivity in education in the Dadaab refugee camp, and was addressed by Dadaab scholars with specific reference to their research in progress.

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade Event: “Still We Rise”. This online cultural event took place on March 25th, 2021 as part of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, included musical and spoken word input from a diverse range of people. It also included a live 20-minute discussion with a Q&A with a prominent personality related to the theme, “Ending slavery’s legacy of racism: a global imperative for justice.” The event was co-organized by the United Nations Department of Global Communications, UNESCO and UNFPA. Musicians included Peter Gabriel, Yo-Yo Ma and Angélique Kidjo. Canadian participants included The Hon. Jean Augustine and Webster.

Pathways to Prosperity 2021 Virtual Workshop Series, April 13-27 Schedule. In January 2021, the new Pathways to Prosperity Virtual Workshop Series was launched. The series includes up to two virtual workshops a week over several months on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00 – 2:15 PM EST. The P2P 2021 Workshop Series runs until April 27, 2021. T The information is updated regularly.

The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.

You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 104

Emerging BHER Scholars: Establishing a Refugee Research Agenda in the Dadaab Refugee Camp

Building upon Appadurai’s argument that “Research is a specialized name for a generalized capacity to make disciplined inquiries into those things we need to know, but do not know yet…. [and that research] is the capacity to systematically increase the horizons of one’s current knowledge, in relation to some task, goal, or aspiration” (Appadurai, 2013), the four speakers address the importance of ongoing research in and on Dadaab. Barriers to inclusivity in education in the Dadaab refugee camps is the overall topic of this panel and is addressed by Dadaab scholars with specific reference to their research in progress.

Appadurai, Arjun (2013) The Future as Cultural Fact: Essays on the Global Condition.

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEsduurrz4tHNBNMVwGxzZU3LdvAFhhIgSN

Recent Publications and New Research

Melnyk, G., & Parker, C. (Eds.). (2021). Finding Refuge in Canada: Narratives of Dislocation. AU Press.  [Open access]. This book is available as a free resource at aupress.ca. It gathers the voices of refugees who have come to Canada and encountered varying kinds of reception. Their stories confront dominant public discourse about Canada as a benevolent country and move the reader beyond sensationalized headlines that often focus only on numbers and statistics.  

Mental health and psychosocial support, data and displacement, missing migrants. Forced Migration Review 66 (FMR), March 2021[Open access]. FMR 66 includes three features. In the Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) feature, authors debate initiatives and challenges, advocating for strengthened collaboration and new ways of thinking. The Data and displacement feature examines recent advances in gathering and using data. Finally, the Missing migrants feature explores initiatives to improve data gathering and sharing, identification of remains, and assistance for families left behind. 

Molly Fee. 2021. Lives stalled: the costs of waiting for refugee resettlement. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. Online first. Available [Open access] working paper here. This paper examines the context of waiting for Iranian religious minorities who must first travel to Vienna, Austria to apply for resettlement to the U.S. Drawing on theories of waiting, the author demonstrates how uncertainty and the passage of time shape refugees’ experience in transit contexts. While in Vienna, refugees endure months of compulsory idle waiting, free from persecution yet unable to begin the long-term process of settling in a new country. The author argues that the duration of stay and life conditions in transit can have significant consequences for refugees. Even when waiting is temporary and remedied by eventual resettlement, time spent in transit carries material, emotional, and physical costs.

Mole, R. C. (Ed.). (2021). Queer Migration and Asylum in Europe. UCL Press [Open access]. This book brings together scholars from politics, sociology, urban studies, anthropology and law to analyse how and why queer individuals migrate to or seek asylum in Europe, as well as the legal, social and political frameworks they are forced to navigate to feel at home or to regularise their status in the destination societies. The subjects covered include LGBTQ Latino migrants’ relationship with queer and diasporic spaces in London; diasporic consciousness of queer Polish, Russian and Brazilian migrants in Berlin; the role of the Council of Europe in shaping legal and policy frameworks relating to queer migration and asylum; the challenges facing bisexual asylum seekers; queer asylum and homonationalism in the Netherlands; and the role of space, faith and LGBTQ organisations in Germany, Italy, the UK and France in supporting queer asylum seekers.

Mwanri, L., & Mude, W. (2021). Alcohol, other drugs use and mental health among African migrant youths in South Australia. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(4), 1534 [Open access]. The paper reports perspectives about alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and mental health among African migrant and refugee youths in South Australia. African migrant and refugee youths revealed challenging stressors, including cultural, socioeconomic, living conditions, and pre- and post-migration factors that contribute to mental health problems and the use of AOD in their new country. The findings highlight the need to understand these social and cultural contexts to improve mental health services and help reduce the use of AOD, which, when problematic, can influence the health and integration experiences of these populations.

Lea-Maria Löbel & Jannes Jacobsen  (2021) Waiting for kin: A longitudinal study of family reunification and refugee mental health in Germany. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies [Open access].  Reunification in hosting communities is difficult, as governments limit institutional family reunifications and the individual journey of kin is dangerous and often illegal. For refugees, having family abroad, especially in danger, is mentally distressing. Additionally, reuniting with family members can be a source of support in the new environment. This paper investigates the association between family reunifications and refugee mental health in a random sample of refugees in Germany (N = 6610), the IAB-BAMF-SOEP Survey of Refugees 2016–2018.

Reports, policy briefs and Blogposts

Select US Immigration and Refugee Policy Resources.  CMS Research. March 11, 2021. Over the last five years, the Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS) has produced and published a series of reports, articles, and special collections of papers – primarily in its Journal on Migration and Human Security (JMHS) – that are devoted to reform of US immigration and refugee protection policies. CMS would like to make these resources broadly available as the Biden administration, Congress, states, and localities consider ways to reform the nation’s immigration, refugee, and integration laws and policies. CMS has also built a webpage that tracks Biden-era immigration and refugee protection developments. 

Leveraging networks to overcome displacement: Urban internally displaced persons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Caitlin Katsiaficas, Carolien Jacobs & Martin Wagner (2021). TRAFIG policy brief no. 2. Based on empirical research in Bukavu, eastern DRC, this policy brief explores how left largely on their own, IDPs are proactively seeking their own solutions, including tapping into their networks to unlock opportunities. It also highlights the need for policies and practices that support urban IDPs by helping them nurture and leverage their networks. It suggests some ways in which humanitarian and development actors might do so.

Doing No Harm in Lebanon: The Need for an Aid Paradigm Shift by Sahar Atrache. Refugees International. March 4, 2021. This report details the current state of crisis in Lebanon that has pushed hundreds of thousands into misery. The report calls for a new and innovative aid approach that could help the country get on the right course while protecting the most vulnerable among Lebanese and refugees from the dire consequences of the humanitarian and health crisis.

Settlement Sector and Technology Task Group Preliminary Report (2020). The Settlement Sector and Technology Task Group (coordinated by AMSSA, reporting to IRCC’s National Settlement and Integration Council (NSIC). February 2, 2021. This report focuses on the future of how the immigrant and refugee-serving sector delivers services to newcomers and communities. The Task Group’s work includes looking at infrastructure, privacy issues (e.g., advice and protocols on how to safeguard information), professional development for staff, including digital literacy and addressing the digital divide among newcomers and our communities.

Latest Asylum Trends – 2020 Overview, European Asylum Support Office (EASO), February 18, 2021. The visualisation included in this report provides an overview of the key indicators regarding international protection in the EU+ in the past 25 months. The size of the different circles in the countries of origin is proportional to the volume of applications lodged in EU+ countries; the colour of the circle reflects the recognition rate at first instance (blue – high, red – low). The shade of the country reflects the stock of pending cases at the end of the selected year. By clicking on a circle, the evolution of these key indicators for the citizenship selected is displayed in the lower panel.

Biden on immigration: The first six weeks, by Susan F Martin, Cambridge Blog, March 16, 2021. Professor Susan Martin discusses Biden’s immigration policy in the first 6 weeks in light of her book “A Nation of Immigrants – 2nd edition” which has just been released.

Opinion: No amount of detention is safe for a child. Here are better solutions for migrant kids by Rachel Pearson. The Washington Post. March 4, 2021. The author, a pediatrician and humanities researcher at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, shares alternative solutions.

Digital and social media

Watch: Climate Change and Forced Displacement: During this panel discussion hosted by the World Refugee and Migration Council, experts engaged in a north-south dialogue to address managed retreat, the role of local community adaptation in the absence of national action, refugee designation for climate causes, and the multifaceted characteristics of climate displacement.

Watch: International Women’s Day: To celebrate International Women’s Day, the co-founders the Global Independent Refugee Women Leaders (GIRWL) met on March 10 to talk about one year of refugee women-led achievements. 

The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.

You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 103

Learn more and Register here

Recent Publications and New Research

Abdelaaty, L. (2021). Discrimination and Delegation: Explaining State Responses to Refugees, Oxford University Press. What explains state responses to the refugees they receive?  This book identifies two puzzling patterns: states open their borders to some refugee groups while blocking others (discrimination), and several countries have given the UN control of asylum procedures on their territory (delegation). The book develops a two-part theoretical framework in which policymakers in refugee-receiving countries weigh international and domestic concerns to explain these patterns. The book then substantiates this argument with a three-stage research design, which combines statistical analysis of asylum admissions worldwide, country case studies of Egypt and Turkey, and content analysis of parliamentary proceedings in Kenya. Learn more here. (not open access, but may use promo code ASFLYQ6 to save 30%)

Roßkopf, R., & Heilmann, K. (eds.) (2021). International Social Work and Forced Migration: Developments in African, Arab and European Countries, Verlag Barbara Budric. This book focuses on Social Work with refugees in African, Middle East and European countries. Published as a follow-up to the ‘International Social Work Week’ in Würzburg/Germany with professionals and experts from all over the globe, this book intends to share insights into country-specific developments, challenges and potentials of Social Work in forced migration contexts. The objectives are to map Social Work in this field of action across several countries, to bring into sharper focus an International Social Work in forced migration contexts and help connect Social Work scholars and experts around the globe. Learn more here and read some selections here.

Averhed, Y. (2020). The breathing space or impact of temporary protection on integration from the perspective of refugees. School of Advanced Study, University of London.  In July 2016, the Swedish government adopted temporary legislative changes to the asylum regulation in force, significantly limiting the possibility of being granted a permanent residence permit. The government presented the temporary law as an incentive for the immigrants to focus on employment, leading to permanent residence. This study explores the impact of temporary protection on labour market integration and social inclusion from refugees’ and subsidiary protection holders’ perspectives. The data was collected through focus groups and in-depth face-to-face interviews with both temporary and permanent protection holders. The main conclusion is that temporary residence hinders the labour market integration of refugees and subsidiary protection holders from a long-term perspective, potentially leading to higher levels of social exclusion. Read here.

BMRC Research Digest: Assessment of the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Gatineau: The role of the local context and resources (March 1, 2021), Building Migrant Resilience in the City (BMRC), York University. Since 2019, this study documents the resettlement of Syrian refugees and the factors that fostered or hindered their resilience and, therefore, their integration by taking into account the context of Gatineau, a medium-sized city located next to a larger city, Ottawa, where English predominates. The factors considered are the human resources that accompanied refugees (professionals, sponsors, civil society) and the policies and services they had access to. This digest examines their role in the resettlement trajectories related to housing, francization, employment, socialization and long-term settlement. Download the DigestDownload the digest here.

Reports, policy briefs and Blogposts

How President Biden Can Make His Commitment to Refugees a Reality, by Susan Martin, February 19, 2021, Center for Migration Studies. In an Executive Order signed on February 3, 2021, President Joe Biden promised a thorough review of the US refugee admissions program and the Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) under which Afghans and Iraqis, endangered by their association with the US government, are admitted. He also announced that the United States would resettle 125,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2022 and consult with Congress to increase this year’s admissions quota as a down payment. These promises offer hope to thousands of refugees who have been awaiting resettlement, often for years and still more often in precarious settings. However, fulfilling this promise will not come easily. The new administration has limited time to rebuild a program that the Trump administration sought to destroy. Read more here.

Too much, too little water: Addressing climate risks, no-analog threats and migration in Peru by Jonas Bergmann et al. (January, 2021), Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Policy Brief Series Issue 1 – Vol. 6. Based on a systematic review of the literature and expert interviews, this policy brief assesses available scientific evidence on the nexus between climate risks and migration in Peru. It discusses the necessity to understand climate migration patterns and improve planning and policies in the short term to the mid-term, given several “no-analog threats” – that is, those with unprecedented, large impacts – that could occur towards the end of the century. Recent policy developments in the country, such as the National Plan of Action on Climate Migration and the National Adaptation Plan (NAP), can break new ground in addressing these challenges. Download the issue

Canadian Council for Refugees (2021). Your right in research: An information sheet for people taking part in forced migration research. Taking part in research projects may give respondents a chance to be heard, but it can also be inconvenient, cost time or money, and make respondents feel physically or emotionally uncomfortable. This information sheet explains key terms and outlines the rights of individuals who participate in forced migration research; it is available in eight languages. All documents (Guidelines, Executive Summary, and Rights in Research documents) are available on the CCR website here.

What Comes Next Now that Colombia Has Taken a Historic Step on Migration? By Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan and Diego Chaves-González. (February 2021) Migration Policy Institute. Colombian President Iván Duque’s announcement that all Venezuelans in Colombia will receive a ten-year protection status represents a bold, first-of-its-kind move in Latin America. It is “the most important humanitarian gesture” in the region in decades, as one UN official termed it. Read more here.

Digital and social media

RRN webinar recording: Ethics of Witnessing: Method as Intervention in Forced Migration Studies, Guest speaker: Professor Nergis Canefe. This webinar focuses on capitalizing the scholar’s responsibility as a witness, maximizing the potential and benefits for institutional and social change, and tracing and teaching an ethics of witnessing in its most adequate and resonant forms. Professor Canefe (PhD & SJD) is a Turkish-Canadian scholar of public international law, comparative politics, forced migration studies and critical human rights. This presentation is of particular interest to emerging scholars and teachers of research and its potential impact.  Watch recording here.

Pathways to Prosperity, The Future of Immigration and Re-settlement in Canada. 2021 Virtual Workshop Series – March Schedule. The series includes up to two virtual workshops a week over the course of several months on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00 – 2:15 PM (EST). The complete workshop series schedule is available here [please use Google Chrome to avoid technical issues].

The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.

You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 102

Learn more and register here

Recent Publications and New Research

Krause, U. (2021). Colonial roots of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its effects on the global refugee regime, Journal of International Relations and Development. This article complements Postcolonial and Ignorance Studies and uses online archival research to explore debates among state delegations about the Convention’s refugee definition and ‘colonial clause’ at the founding conference (2–25 July 1951). It illuminates delegations’ strategic production of knowledge and especially ignorance—meaning the construction of issues as irrelevant—leading to the prioritization of ‘the West’ over ‘the Rest’. Colonial and imperial states generally dominated debates while colonized ones were excluded, and thus silenced. Despite broad support for the universal refugee definition, several powerful delegations demanded its limitation to Europe and therewith strategically subordinated and ignored the ‘Other’ refugees and regions in pursuit of geopolitical interests. They thus made the colonial ‘Others’ irrelevant in the creation of ‘international’ refugee law. The author argues that these debates rendered the Convention’s founding ‘colonial-ignorant’, with lasting effects on the regime’s functioning. Read in full here.

Abdelaaty, L. (2021). The relationship between human rights and refugee protection: An empirical analysis. International Journal of Human Rights. What is the relationship between a government’s respect for the rights of its citizens and that government’s regard for refugee rights? On the one hand, we may expect that a country with high human rights standards will also offer a higher quality of asylum. For example, domestic laws that protect citizens’ rights may be extended to refugees. On the other hand, there are reasons to theorize that a country with high human rights standards may offer a lower quality of asylum. For instance, governments may claim that protecting citizens’ well-being necessitates the rejection of refugees. The author analyses a global dataset drawn from reports by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants to explore these questions. The data reveals that the relationship between citizens’ rights and refugee rights is modified by economic conditions and the size of the refugee population. Moreover, some domestic rights (i.e., freedom of movement, labor rights) may increase protections for refugees, while others (i.e., the rule of law) may decrease them. Learn more here and read a full-text version of the accepted manuscript on ResearchGate here.

Hawkins, M. M., Schmitt, M. E., Adebayo, C. T., Weitzel, J., Olukotun, O., Christensen, A. M., Ruiz, A.M., Gilman, K., Quigley, K., Dressel, A., & Mkandawire-Valhmu, L. (2021). Promoting the health of refugee women: A scoping literature review incorporating the social ecological model. International journal for equity in health, 20(1), 1-10. There is a lack of comprehensive synthesis regarding how factors interact to influence the health of refugee women. The authors conducted a thematic analysis of the literature to elucidate how providers can work with refugee women to prevent adverse health outcomes and intervene at multiple levels to improve their health outcomes after resettlement. They reviewed peer-reviewed literature from 2009 to 2019 from Google Scholar, JSTOR, Global Health, PubMed, CINAHL, Sociological Abstracts, and Social Service Abstracts. Amongst the findings was that refugee women are vulnerable to violence during migration and typically have high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder. There were also concerns of secondary victimization by providers after resettlement. Read the open access article here.

Kikulwe, D., Massing, C., Ghadi, N., Giesbrecht, C. J., & Halabuza, D. (2021). From independence to dependence: Experiences of Syrian refugees. International Migration. This paper focuses on the qualitative findings from a mixed‐methods study of male and female Syrian refugees’ educational and employment experiences who settled in Regina, Canada. Canada admitted over 40,000 Syrian refugees who settled in 350 communities across Canada, including many smaller, non‐traditional refugee‐receiving centres. This influx necessitated the expeditious development of additional services as well as a re‐allocation of local resources. The findings demonstrated that as participants moved through each of the successive phases of migration, they perceived a shift from independence to government dependence. While back home, participants had identities as “hard workers”, they found that their experiences and credentials from their home countries were devalued and that learning English was a prerequisite for employment. Read the open access article here. 

Kirandeep, K. (2021). Special Issue – In Their Own Voices: Making Visible Lives of Refugee Women In Kuala Lumpur. Displaced Voices: Volume 1 Issue 2. Working in collaboration with Kiran Kaur, Amin Kamrani, the Living Refugee Archive and contributors, this special issue is a collection of papers written by and with refugee women based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with a foreword from Professor Nergis Canefe based at the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University, Canada. The final contribution is visual rather than written and aims to highlight the spaces, actions and voices of refugee communities without emphasizing a victimhood narrative or imagery. All contributors to this project were participants in a doctoral participatory action research (PAR) project in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In this issue, the authors explore what inclusive publishing might look like and rather than speak for refugee communities, instead, they speak together. This issue of Displaced Voices (ISSN: 2633-2396) can be read in conjunction with Amin Kamrani’s 20/20 Virtual Exhibition of photographs taken during the 2020 pandemic. Access the volume here.

Reports, policy briefs and Blogposts

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2020). International Migration 2020 Highlights. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) published its 2020 revision of International Migration Highlights, presenting key facts and messages regarding international migration globally and policies promoting safe and orderly migration. The latest data shows that 281 million people (3.6 percent of the world’s population) are living outside their country of origin. In 2020, almost 50 percent of all international migrants and about half of all forcibly displaced persons, were women and girls. Read full report here.

Why do we need further research on internal displacement? by David Cantor, Refugee Law Initiative, February 3, 2021. In this new blog post the author argues that recent reviews of the research literature on internal displacement identify many central themes around which significant gaps in our knowledge exist. In other words, the lack of research on IDPs does not indicate that we know this topic too well already – in fact, quite the contrary. Read more here.

The Central African Republic in Crisis: Critical Measures to Address Humanitarian and Security Needs by Alexandra Lamarche, February 4, 2021, Refugees International. This brief outlines critical steps that the Central African government, the United Nations, aid agencies, and international donor governments must take to address the deteriorating humanitarian and security situation to protect the country’s civilian population from further tragedy. Read full brief here.

Digital and social media

Meet Gary is a website, www.MeetGary.ca, created by a team of refugee lawyers and researchers to help guide refugee claimants through the Canadian Refugee Board process. With the support of the Law Foundation of Ontario, it is now available in French, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi and Chinese.

UNHCR Virtual Conference: 70 Years Protecting People Forced to Flee. The virtual academic conference took place on January 18, 19, 21, and 27 to mark the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. On January 21st, LERRN hosted two North American panels. These panels considered North American perspectives on the “who, what, and how” of realizing protection and solutions, both within North American and through North American engagement in the global refugee regime. You can now access the summaries and view the recordings of the panels here: 

Panel 1: Realizing protection and solutions within North America

Panel 1 Full Recording   |   Panel 1 Summary

Panel 2: North America within the global refugee regime

Panel 2 Full Recording   |   Panel 2 Summary

The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.

You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 101

This webinar will focus on capitalizing the scholar’s responsibility as a witness, maximizing its potential and benefits for institutional and social change, and tracing and teaching an ethics of witnessing in its most adequate and resonant forms. Overall, if we are to defend a theory of ethics that is focused on the scholar’s role in enhancing human dignity and rights against all odds, we must start with providing a road map for our students. The webinar will provide select case studies and examples of engaged research in dealing with humanitarian crises, rights abuses and in general situations of gross human vulnerabilities as they pertain to the specific context of forced migration. It will also showcase some of the publicly accessible methods and models of knowledge mobilization and sharing. 

Guest speaker: Professor Nergis Canefe (PhD & SJD) is a Turkish-Canadian scholar of public international law, comparative politics, forced migration studies and critical human rights.

Register here

Recent Publications and New Research

Foroutan, Y. (2020). Ethnic or Religious Identities?: Multicultural Analysis in Australia from Socio-Demographic Perspective, Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 7 (1): 1-19. Focusing on the data of ethnic and religious identities in a multiethnic and multicultural context, this paper provides research-based evidence to explain whether and how significantly such data could be reliable from a social and demographic perspective. The explanation is based on population census that also provides unique nation-wide data sources on ‘religious affiliation’. The field of this study is the multiethnic and multicultural context of Australia that holds a large variety of ethnic, religious and cultural groups from throughout the world. According to the findings, this paper argues that if ethnic migrants belonging to the same category of religious affiliation are considered a single group without taking their ethnic origins into account, this will lead to insufficient, incomplete, and misleading knowledge. Read more.

Beyond 2020: Renewing Canada’s Commitment to immigration, Metropolis eBooks – Volumes 1 & 2. Selected presentations from the 22nd Metropolis Canada Conference. The articles in Volume I deal with the nuts and bolts of integration and settlement questions, drawing on the insights of research and practice in the field from several forward-looking studies and pilot projects. Volume II looks at the role of media and digital technologies and takes a broader national and international policy perspective. Download Volume 1 and Volume 2.

Garcia, S., & Barclay, K. (2020). Adapting Research Methodologies in The Covid-19 Pandemic, Resources for researchers 2nd edition, Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus Center. This document is the second edition of a compilation of resources addressed to junior researchers whose social research projects have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  It includes insights from academics and junior researchers on the opportunities and challenges involved in conducting social research in the context of COVID-19. The document has three parts. The first section offers an overview of qualitative, semi-qualitative and quantitative methodologies and methods that may provide feasible research design and data collection alternatives. The second part contains insights from researchers gathered through interviews with PhD candidates, researchers, and supervisors; finally, it lists a selection of online discussions and resources on how this adaptation is taking or may be taking place in the near future. Access here.  

Averhed, Y. (2020). The breathing space or impact of temporary protection on integration from the perspective of refugees. School of Advanced Study, University of London.  In July 2016, the Swedish government adopted temporary legislative changes to the asylum regulation in force, significantly limiting the possibility of being granted a permanent residence permit. The government presented the temporary law as an incentive for the immigrants to focus on employment, leading to permanent residence. This study exploits the impact of temporary protection on labour market integration and social inclusion from the perspective of refugees and subsidiary protection holders. Applying the ground research methods, the data was collected via focus group and in-depth face-to-face interviews with both temporary and permanent protection holders. The main conclusion is that temporary residence hinders the labour market integration of refugees and subsidiary protection holders, potentially leading to higher levels of social exclusion. Read here.

BRMC Research Digest – Winter 2021: Newcomers’ perceptions and experiences of their reception, Avenues of reflection on the Photovoice method, Building Migrant Resilience in Cities (BMRC), January 11, 2021. For a research project aiming to explore newcomers’ perceptions and experiences of their reception in two Montreal districts, the research team used the Photovoice method. The questions guiding this research were: What spaces are perceived as welcoming or less welcoming by newcomers? According to immigrants, what characterizes a welcoming district? This document proposes avenues of reflection on the advantages and challenges of this method in the search for answers to these questions. Read here.

Reports, policy briefs and Blogposts

From Displacement to Development: How Colombia Can Transform Venezuelan Displacement into Shared Growth, By Martha Guerrero Ble, Izza Leghtas, Daphne Panayotatos, & Jimmy Graham, Refugees International and Center for Global Development, October 28, 2020. This case study is part of the “Let Them Work” initiative, a three-year program of work led by the Center for Global Development (CGD) and Refugees International and funded by the IKEA Foundation and the Western Union Foundation. The initiative aims to expand labor market access for refugees and forced migrants, by identifying their barriers to economic inclusion and providing recommendations to host governments, donors, and the private sector  to overcome them. The primary focus is on refugees and forced migrants in Colombia, Peru, Kenya, and Ethiopia, with other work taking place at the global level. Read here.

At the Starting Gate: The Incoming Biden Administration’s Immigration Plans, by Doris Meissner & Michelle Mittelstadt, Migration Policy Institute, November 9, 2020. This policy brief outlines some of the incoming administration’s top immigration priorities and examines challenges and opportunities ahead. Drawing on existing and forthcoming policy ideas from MPI’s Rethinking U.S. Immigration Policy initiative, the brief sketches several proposals that could begin to shape a U.S. immigration system that advances the national interest going forward. View or download full report here.

Starting Early to Address Migration-Related Trauma by Caitlin Katsiaficas, Refugee REACH Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, January 14, 2021. There is a growing understanding among researchers and practitioners of the effects of trauma on young children. However, there is a critical gap in attention to and services for young refugees and immigrant children. This blog highlights the importance of taking a whole-family approach to trauma and ramping up services for immigrant parents and their children through early childhood services and cross-sectoral collaboration, citing examples in the United States and Canada. Read here.

The pandemic is no excuse to shut the door on refugee resettlement, by Evan Jones & Nadjeeba Wazefadost, The New humanitarian, January 25, 2021. Many refugees have lost access to their livelihoods and have been pushed to the brink of destitution. Some have even been forced to return to the country they fled through deportation, or due to a lack of options in their host country. By and large, resettlement and other migration pathways have become increasingly limited during the pandemic. The authors explain why countries should be expanding, not reducing, refugee numbers in 2021. Read here.

Digital and social media

Temporary by Kaldor Centre. This project is a rich storytelling hub revealing the experiences of refugees in Australia who are under temporary protection. It explores – in long-form stories, podcasts, art and photography – the lives of people who came to Australia seeking refuge, and the laws that entangle them in an endless uncertainty. Their journeys come to life in powerful stories, vividly illustrated by refugee artists and photographers. Their voices rise from an eight-episode podcast series, co-produced with UNSW Centre for Ideas and Guardian Australia, with a soundtrack created by an award-winning composer currently seeking asylum. Start with the full stories, or with the podcasts. 

The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.

You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest No. 100

A note from RRN Founder, Professor Susan McGrath

Launched in 2008, the Refugee Research Network (RRN) has been a global network of scholars, practitioners, and policymakers that strives to have a wide-ranging and progressive impact on refugee research and policy in Canada and globally. We have continued to try to support the mobilization of new and existing refugee research knowledge to make it more accessible. In May 2017, we created the Refugee Research Digest to circulate up-to-date refugee research and related activities albeit in English only. This is our 100^th edition!

As most academic endeavours, we have relied heavily on the expertise of staff and students. I want to recognize the valuable contributions of Michele Millard, the Coordinator of York’s Centre for Refugee Studies, and students William Payne, Dina Taha and Irina Osminin.

Please continue to send us your research so that we can continue to share it. If you haven’t yet, please complete the 3-min survey as your feedback is instrumental in improving the digest.

Much thanks,

Susan McGrath C.M. Centre for Refugee Studies, York University

Recent Publications and New Research

Special Issue: Shuayb, M., & Crul, M. (2020). Refugee Children, Status, and Educational Attainment: A Comparative Lens: Special Issue Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees. While covering different geographic areas and educational systems, the findings from the articles in this special issue highlight common challenges to refugees in crisis. In both the Global North and South, policies remain hostile to refugees, pushing them further into the margins. At best, they are seen as providers of skilled labour for  the  aging  European  communities  or  a   burden  surviving  on  the host community’s generosity  and  thus  should  be  grateful  for  whatever  they  receive.  Yet, the marginalization, exploitation, and  discrimination  that refugees  experience  is  part  of  a  structural  system  plagued by  racism,  discrimination,  and  injustice  in  both  the  Global  North and South. These structural inequalities led the authors to adopt a wider lens in the study of refugees beyond the emergency and humanitarian scope to a justice -oriented approach. Access the special issue here.

Martin, S., & Bergmann, J. (2020). (Im)mobility in the age of COVID-19. International Migration Review. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global human mobility dynamics. This IMR Dispatch examines the historical, bidirectional links between pandemics and mobility and provides an early analysis of how they unfolded during the first nine months of the COVID-19 emergency. Results show, first, that international travel restrictions to combat the spread of the coronavirus are not a panacea in and of themselves. Second, the analysis demonstrates that the pandemic, government responses, and resulting economic impacts can lead to at-risk populations’ involuntary immobility. Similarly, stay-at-home measures have posed dire challenges for those who lack options to work from home, and migrants living in precarious, crowded circumstances. Moreover, the global economic contraction has increased involuntary immobility by reducing labour demand and people’s resources to move. Third, the authors show that people’s attempts to protect themselves from the virus can shift patterns of mobility, such as increases in cross-border return migration and urban-to-rural movements. Read here.  

Easton-Calabria, E. & Skran, C. (Eds) (2020) Special Issue: Rethinking Refugee Self-Reliance. Journal of Refugee Studies, 33(1). This special issue on Rethinking Refugee Self-Reliance brings together a collection of 13 articles (11 academic and 2 field reports) critically examining the potential for, past precedents, and current state of refugee self-reliance, including novel tools to measure it and research presenting self-reliance as defined by refugees themselves. Read more.

Glorius et al. (2020): Is Social Contact With the Resident Population a Prerequisite of Well-Being and Place Attachment? The Case of Refugees in Rural Regions of Germany. Frontiers in Sociology (Section Migration and Society), 1-13. This paper addresses the quality and quantity of social contact between refugees and resident populations as a prerequisite for integration and long-term migration-development effects from a social, geographical perspective. Drawing from survey data and qualitative interviews with residents and refugees, it examines expectations, perceptions and experiences of everyday encounters and social relationships in neighborhoods in small rural towns and villages. The results support arguments from research literature for faster social inclusion in rural areas due to greater nearness, and obstacles toward the integration of foreigners due to higher homogeneity of rural neighborhoods and only a few experiences of positive everyday contact with foreigners among rural residents. Nevertheless, more in-depth research is needed to consider the interrelations of both structural contexts and complex and changing needs for personal development in the future, also from an intergenerational perspective. Read more.

Weidinger, T. & Kordel, S. (2020): Access to and Exclusion from Housing over Time: Refugees’ Experiences in Rural Areas. International Migration, 1-18. Taking the example of recognized refugees in rural Germany and following the housing pathways approach, the paper addresses the complex interplay of individual and family-related residential preferences over time and structural factors regarding access to housing and associated settlement and integration. Results are from a long-term empirical study that encompassed both refugees’ and local actors’ views. Mechanisms and practices of exclusion that prevent refugees from accessing appropriate private housing are related to the negotiation of residential preferences about where and how to live, as well as to structural aspects such as the pattern of local housing markets, accessibility of infrastructures, or the unwillingness of landlords to let to refugees. The paper concludes to highlight the role of place in housing trajectories and the significance of social resources within refugees’ practices and local intermediaries’ strategies to overcome exclusion and access to rural housing.  Read more. 

Report, Policy Briefs and Working Papers

Carlaw, J. (2021). Unity in Diversity? Neoconservative Multiculturalism and the Conservative Party of Canada John Carlaw Working Paper No. 2021/1, Ryerson Centre for Immigration and Settlement. This paper outlines characteristics and realities of neoconservative multiculturalism, including references to the conservative time in office and dynamics since their defeat in the 2015 election. These characteristics include 1) pragmatically adapting themselves to common sense notions of multiculturalism and immigration in Canada while also seeking to shift the politics of multiculturalism in Canada rightward by 2) seeking to empty it of anti-racist content and bind its remnants to a neoconservative worldview and 3) engaging in practices and discourses of exclusion, including a) engaging in clash of civilizations and Islamophobic discourses and policies, b) re-ethnicizing Canadian citizenship, c) targeting asylum seekers and 4) bolstering and collaborating with anti-multicultural civil society voices and actors. Read the working paper.

Cone, D. (2020). Critical Advice for President-elect Biden: A Comprehensive Approach for Displaced Women and Girls, Refugees International. This report outlines a pragmatic agenda for the incoming Biden administration to dramatically improve the lives of displaced women and girls while re-establishing desperately needed U.S. leadership and credibility on these issues. Read the report.

Panayotatos, D. (2020). Blocked at Every Pass: How Greece’s Policy of Exclusion Harms Asylum Seekers and Refugees, Refugees International. Greek authorities have denied or undercut access to asylum for those seeking safety. The report lays out a framework for how Greece—with the support of the EU—can reverse course and fulfill its international commitments to asylum seekers and refugees. Read the report.

News reports and blog posts

‘The asylum process broke my dream … now I have a new one.’ The refugee entrepreneurs by Michelle Richey (December 3, 2020) The Conversation. As the world struggles amid pandemic uncertainty, there may be no other group better suited at finding ways to cope than refugees. Restrictions on movement, working, and property ownership inhibit refugees’ freedom globally, pushing many into poverty. Nevertheless, against this oppressive backdrop, refugees show tremendous ingenuity, creating businesses and livelihoods from whatever is available to them. This news report outlines inspirational refugee initiatives in entrepreneurship. The refugee community has shown that entrepreneurship is not exclusively the domain of people with extensive networks – it also can help people build new networks. It is not only for those with abundant self-confidence and opportunities – it can also be for those who wish to build self-confidence to change their lives. Seen in this light, refugee entrepreneurs and communities are trailblazing paths out of uncertainty and can provide tremendous insight and inspiration at this unique and challenging time. Read here.

Journeys of hope: what will migration routes into Europe look like in 2021? By Lorenzo Tondo (January 14, 2021) The Guardian. As a new year begins, so do the journeys of tens of thousands more people seeking a new life overseas. The Guardian has spoken to experts, charity workers, and NGOs about the challenges and risks they face on the main migration routes into Europe. This news report summarizes the previous use of prevalent refugee routes to seek asylum while also outlining predictions for future use. Read here.

Digital and social media

LERRN Virtual Conference: 70 Years Protecting People Forced to Flee – North American Panels. January 21, 2021 at 12:30 PM-4:15 PM.  Two panels will consider North American perspectives on the “who, what, and how” of realizing protection and solutions, both within North American and through North American engagement in the global refugee regime. Register for both panels here. This panel is part of the virtual academic conference, “70 years protecting people forced to flee”, taking place on 18, 19, 21, and 27 January to mark the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. For more information, click here.

Video recording: Stakeholder Meeting on Refugee Resettlement in the United States. This stakeholder meeting brought together migration researchers and representatives of U.S. voluntary resettlement agencies to consider the role of migration research in informing programs serving refugees and migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on bringing global learning to those on the ground working with refugees. The discussion at the meeting was framed by the results of a scientific workshop, “Forced Migration Research: From Theory to Practice in Promoting Migrant Well-Being,” organized in May 2019 by the Committee on Population (CPOP) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine with dedicated support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Watch here.

Video: A Refugee’s Resettlement Journey to Canada. IRCC produced an animated video to provide refugees resettling to Canada with an overview of what to expect, including services and supports provided to help them get settled in Canada. Watch here. It is also available in different languages.