The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.
You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest
Dear RRN Research Digest readers and contributors, thank you for your continued support. This will be the last issue of the year, and we look forward to seeing you again in January. We hope you have a great holiday break!
Many thanks,
RRN Digest Team
NEW RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
Oesch, L., Lemaire, L. L., Darling, J., Keopke, M., Maria Reichl, E., Winters, N., Collins-Bojovic, J., Minca, C., M. Barbato, E., & Burridge, A. (2025). Refugee reception and camps: Local and global perspectives. Bristol University Press. Open access book. This edited collection provides new insights into refugee reception and camps by focusing on the overlap between local and global dynamics in the governance of camps. Contributors examine how camps are (re)placed within their local contexts across regions including Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. They explore how local environments both influence, and are influenced by, global flows, networks and connections in the governance of refugee camps. By highlighting these interconnections, this volume provides valuable insights for scholars, policy makers and practitioners seeking to understand the complex realities of refugee camps around the world.
Abeshu, G. A. (2025). Displacement and Resistance Strategies of the Pastoralists Afar in Ethiopia. Anthropologica, 67(1). This paper examines the resistance strategies of the displaced pastoralist Afar people in Northeast Ethiopia, focusing on the Lubakubo clan of the Dobi area. The Afar have historically practiced transhumant pastoralism, sustaining their livelihoods through the herding of livestock across arid and semi-arid landscapes. In 2004, a local “big man,” backed by the Ethiopian government and private investors, forcibly displaced members of the Lubakubo clan to facilitate commercial salt mining in Dobi, disrupting their socio-economic systems, cultural ties to the land, and traditional pastoral routes. This paper documents how the Afar mobilized lineage members, customary institutions, and strategic alliances to counter and contest the dispossession. The findings highlight the agency of displaced pastoralists in asserting their rights against state-backed commercial interests, while underscoring the resilience and adaptability of pastoralist systems under conditions of protracted displacement.
El-Anis, I., Al-Hamawi, H., Poberezhskaya, M. (2021). Climate change and refugee communities in Jordan: Critical reflections on neoliberal resilience-building. Open access. This article advances resilience theory by examining climate change responses and refugee experiences, and the perspectives of national, international, and refugee stakeholders in Jordan. Addressing climate change is crucial for all communities, particularly vulnerable groups like refugees and displaced persons, yet there are significant gaps in our understanding of how policies are made and implemented, and the performative roles refugees play. The authors advocate for a post-neoliberal resilience model that recognizes the need for inclusion and integration between stakeholders at different levels to effectively address the climate change challenges faced by refugee communities.
Otsubo, R. (2025). Yemenis in South Korea: Risky freedom under the Refugee Act and the Employment Permit System. Arabian Humanities, 20. Open access. This study investigates how Yemenis with humanitarian stay permits live and work in South Korean society. With the onset of the civil war in Yemen, Yemenis have sought refuge in Africa, Europe, and Asia to escape the conflict. In 2018, over 500 Yemenis arrived on Jeju Island, South Korea. Following assessments of their refugee claims, the majority obtained humanitarian stay permits and moved to the mainland to find the jobs that Koreans avoid. Through such work, they earn sufficient income to remit money to their families and save for marriage. Based on its Refugee Act and Employment Permit System (EPS), South Korea presents itself to the international community as a human rights–oriented nation. Domestic firms benefit from the EPS and the Refugee Act as these laws allow them to hire foreign workers at low wages. Yemenis receive greater, albeit precarious, freedom in terms of employment under the Refugee Act than under the EPS.
Smahina, M. (2025). ‘More than sufferers’: Digital boundary‑making and belonging through work among Ukrainian forced migrants in Finland. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 16(1). Open access. Following Russia’s initiation of full‑scale war against Ukraine in 2022, Ukrainian forced migrants in the EU, including Finland, were granted immediate access to the labor market under the Temporary Protection mechanism. This paper examines what online discussions within the Ukrainian community in Finland reveal about their adaptation strategies. Specifically, it explores how work is instrumentalized in Ukrainians’ adaptation process, how they negotiate conditions for belonging, and how they simultaneously engage in boundary‑making. The findings reveal that Ukrainian migrants use work to establish a sense of belonging in Finnish society and, in doing so, create symbolic boundaries within their own community. In this context, belonging is framed through a deservingness lens, and they construct work as means of asserting worthiness and dignity.
REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS
Building skills and decent work opportunities for migrant women in Italy by Amira Badri. (2025). Migration Policy Centre. Despite Italy’s long history of migration and the crucial role migrant women play in sectors such as care work, hospitality, and agriculture, their participation in stable and skilled employment remains limited. Recent research on migrant women in Italy highlights persistent challenges in achieving decent work, equitable access to training, and meaningful social inclusion. Many of these women arrive with valuable informal experience or partial qualifications from their countries of origin, but struggle to have their skills formally recognised within Italy’s labour system.
Climate Displacement in Pakistan – A Review of Law, Policy, and Comparative Contexts. (2025). Reliefweb. As climate change continues to increase the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events and natural hazards around the world, particularly in contexts like Pakistan that are most vulnerable to climate shocks, climate displacement has become an increasingly pressing issue. The purpose of this report, written in collaboration with Clyde & Co. LLP and ClimateREACH, is to assess which protections currently exist for people displaced by climate impacts within Pakistan’s legal and policy frameworks, and to identify opportunities to strengthen these through lessons drawn from comparative and international practice.
“Every day we live with fear and uncertainty”: Canadian Processing of Resettled Refugees in Africa. (2025). Canadian Council for Refugees. This report explores the experiences of refugees awaiting resettlement to Canada, focusing on Government-Assisted Refugees, Privately Sponsored Refugees and One Year Window applicants seeking family reunification. The findings are based on case submissions, CCR member input, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data, public information, and CCR’s long-standing expertise on refugee processing. This report assesses both progress made and continued failings, and it makes recommendations for achieving equity in refugee processing.
Reviewing the journey of Self-reliance in the Uganda Refugee Response. (2025). Reliefweb. This Self-reliance brief captures the state of affairs of self-reliance policy and programming in Uganda’s refugee response. It analyses evolving trends, highlights questions and concerns, and reflects on ways forward. Ultimately, the goal is to inform and guide key actors (i.e. the government, refugee actors and their partners, donors) in their efforts to formulate, support, and implement effective self-reliance programmes.
Source country matters: Citizenship trends among recent immigrants in Australia and Canada by Feng Hou, Yan Tan, Garnett Picot, and Li Xu. (2025). Statistics Canada. Citizenship acquisition marks a pivotal milestone in immigrant integration, influencing social cohesion and political participation. While aggregate naturalization rates provide macro-level insights, disparities by source country reveal diverse integration pathways. Through comparative analysis of Australia and Canada—nations with comparable immigration scales and broadly similar immigration approaches, yet notable differences in naturalization frameworks—this study investigates how source-country characteristics affect naturalization patterns. The findings illuminate the complex transition from immigrant to citizen, offering policy-relevant insights into differential integration experiences.
NEWS AND BLOG POSTS
Australia doesn’t need another migration ‘debate’. We need leaders brave enough to tackle inequality for all by Giridharan Sivaraman, November 25, 2025. The Guardian. Racism and economic insecurity can have a close relationship in Australia. That is most apparent when Australia finds itself pulled into another so-called “debate” about migration. This is usually sparked by populism or attempts to blame complex issues like housing affordability on the annual migrant intake. Across the country, recent rallies and commentary are blaming migrants for a range of woes, from the cost of living to housing supply. Politicians from various sides made similar claims prior to the last federal election. There’s a rise in far-right parties platformed on anti-immigration rhetoric and racism. This rhetoric feeds on genuine economic concerns but ignores the structural forces driving economic insecurity and undermines the right to dignity, security and equality for all.
Refugee groups worry about backlash after shooting of National Guard soldiers in DC by Martha Bellisle, November 27, 2025. ABC News. People who work with refugees are worried that those who fled dangerous situations to start again in America will face backlash after authorities say an Afghan national shot two National Guard soldiers this week, killing one of them. Many Afghans living in the U.S. are afraid to leave their houses, fearing they’ll be swept up by immigration officials or attacked with hate speech, said Shawn VanDiver, president of the San Diego-based group #AfghanEvac, a group that helps resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war.
Small & steady: How migrant remittances from Europe keep families and countries afloat by Ana P. Santos, December 2, 2025. InfoMigrants. Though small in amount, the regularity of remittances sent to emerging economies makes for what has been referred to as “the world’s largest poverty reduction program”. In the case of refugees, employment that allows them to send remittances goes a long way to rebuilding families back home. Typically 200-300 US dollars every one or two months. That’s how much, on average, migrant workers send to their families back home, according to the UN. Though it may seem like a nominally modest amount, put together, these small remittance transfers pile up. Migrants living in the European Union send roughly 63 billion euros a year to families living in emerging economies. For families that rely on these remittances, these money transfers are lifelines that cover not only daily needs but also other expenses tied to life’s aspirations.
Without Work Permits, Refugee Women in Nairobi Face Exploitation and Hardship by Mercy Chepkirui Lagat, November 20, 2025. African Arguments. Many refugee women in Nairobi lack official work permits, forcing them into precarious, informal jobs where they face low pay, exploitation, and no legal protection. Although refugees and asylum seekers are allowed to seek employment, obtaining legal work permits requires time, money, and documents that many do not have access to, contributing to lengthy delays.
EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Attacking health: Understanding the dynamics and broader impacts of violence against healthcare – Podcast. Refugee Studies Centre. Attacks on healthcare have captured international attention in recent years, as the bombing of hospitals and medical facilities in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere signal how readily conflict parties neglect their obligations under international humanitarian law. In Sudan and Myanmar, medical staff have been at the forefront of resistance movements to military regimes. While especially prominent in armed conflict, the threat to healthcare is not confined to conflict; the COVID 19 pandemic saw a rise in violence towards health workers globally. What are the dynamics of this violence, and what does it mean for the healthcare system, for conflict-affected populations, and for international law, particularly given the seismic shifts affecting the humanitarian sector? This seminar will examine these questions, drawing on findings from the Researching the Impact of Attacks on Healthcare project. This podcast features speaker Larissa Fast, Professor of Humanitarian and Conflict Studies, and former Executive Director of the Humanitarian and Conflict Research Institute at the University of Manchester.
CRS Book Launch: Age discrimination and migration policy in Canada: Toward an Equitable Approach. Centre for Refugee Studies. How and why does age function as part of a broader system of border control? Age and Immigration Policy in Canada uses the concept of social age – the socially constructed roles and norms attributed to different stages of life – to demonstrate how discrimination on the basis of age and family status is deeply embedded in Canadian immigration law and policy. This event features guest speaker Christina Clark Kazak, Professor, Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. It is a hybrid event on January 14, 2026, 1:00 PM – 2:30PM. The in-person location is at 626 Kaneff Tower, Keele Campus, York University.
Non-signatory states in international refugee law – Podcast. Refugee Studies Centre. Since its adoption, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees has been central to scholarship on refugee and asylum issues. Yet, many states, including some hosting major refugee populations, are not parties to either the Convention or to its 1967 Protocol. Introducing the edited collection Non-Signatory States in International Refugee Law (Brill, 2025), this talk aims to capture and discuss essential aspects in the study of non-signatory states. It unpacks the ways in which diverse critical perspectives and methodological eclecticism are needed to understand the relation between these states and the international refugee regime. It explores how international refugee law is reshaped when actors in non-signatory states engage with its norms, and how national legal and protection landscapes are reconfigured as part of the process. Overall, the talk demonstrates how the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol play an important role in shaping responses to refugees in many non-signatory states. International refugee law manifests itself in myriad ways in these states, and these states in turn contribute to its further development. This podcast features speaker Maja Janmyr, Professor of International Migration Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo.
Sovereignty ordering migrations inside European borders. Uses v. ethics. MOEBIUS Seminar. This is an online event that will welcome Antoine Pécoud, Professor of Political Science at Paris Nord University, senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France, and member of the Institut Convergences Migrations. He will give a lecture on the theme: “Organisations internationales et la gouvernance /gestion des migrations”. It will be on December 12, 2025, 10:00 AM – 12:00PM Europe/Paris time.
Rethinking Humanitarianism | Who wants to be the new UN refugee chief. The New Humanitarian. This podcast episode features guest, Hourie Tafech, director for refugee leadership and partnerships at Refugees International. RI recently hosted forums of potential candidates for the position of UN high commissioner for refugees. The current high commissioner Filippo Grandi finishes his term at the end of the year. As with most top UN roles, picking the next refugee chief is far from transparent. There’s no public vote. Instead, passport matters as much as policy. Most UN refugee chiefs have been European, and few have experienced life as a refugee. That’s still the case for most of this year’s candidates.