The RRN Research Digest provides a synopsis of recent research on refugee and forced migration issues from entities associated with the RRN and others.
You can download the digest in PDF format here: RRN Research Digest
NEW RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
Minca, C., & Weima, Y. (Eds.). (2026). Thinking Like a Route: Counter-geographies of Informal Migration in the Balkans. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. Open access book. This timely book posits the idea of a ‘route perspective’ as a multi-scalar methodology for studying informal migration. Claudio Minca, Yolanda Weima and their contributors draw on their rich multi-sited, multi-temporal ethnographic research along the Balkan Route, the most important informal overland migration route in Europe, to better understand how it is continuously formed through an ever-changing assemblage of spatialities, trajectories, materialities and actors.
Dew, A. (2026). Refugee Journeys to Australia: Safety, Security, and Support for People with Disabilities from Syria and Iraq. Based on in-depth life history interviews, the book details the challenges people faced as refugees with disabilities adapting to a new country. Some of these challenges are consistent with those faced by people from refugee backgrounds, but the book sheds special light on difficulties which are specific to or exacerbated by the disability experience.
Marnell, J., Camminga, B., Bompani, B., & Wairuri, K. (2026). East African queer and trans displacements. Bloomsbury Academic. Open access. The last decade has seen a sharp rise in state-sponsored homophobia and transphobia in East Africa. This includes discriminatory legislation, such as the widely condemned Anti-Homosexuality Act in Uganda, and government-initiated crackdowns, such as the ‘anti-gay taskforce’ launched in Tanzania in 2018. The politicisation of sexual and gender rights in the region is often presented as a moral crusade (i.e. a return to traditional/family values) and is enacted with the support of many religious and cultural leaders. It is within this context that an ever-increasing number of LGBTQI+ people are leaving their homes and seeking protection elsewhere. Bringing together diverse case studies and interdisciplinary perspectives, this open access collection serves as the first in-depth examination of queer and trans displacement in East Africa. The collection features original creative works by queer and trans diasporic writers and artists with first-hand experiences of displacement.
Mosawi, S.M. (2026). Refugee Camps as Contested Gendered Spaces: Afghan Women’s Liminality, Inequality, and Agency in Germany. Population, Space and Place. Open access. The article examines how migrant women from Afghanistan who arrived in Germany in or after 2015, including asylum seekers, refugees, and those with rejected cases, experience and contest everyday challenges within the confines of camps and camp-like structures, including asylum reception and collective accommodation centres. The paper contributes to refugee and critical camp studies, arguing that these spaces are contested gendered spaces in which migrant women encounter intersecting inequalities while also exercising agency through diverse strategies including creative space-making, resilient navigation, and solidarity through faith and sisterhood.
Paynter, E. (2026). Crisis Oral History and the Asylum Timescape: Temporalities, Solidarities, and Affect in Interviews with Ukrainians with Temporary Protection in Italy. The Oral History Review, 1–26. This article reflects on how “crisis oral history” can illuminate layered, nonlinear temporal experiences of displacement and resettlement. The author draws on interviews they recorded with Ukrainians displaced to Italy in what the Italian government termed the emergenza ucraina, or Ukrainian emergency, following Russia’s 2022 invasion. The discussion emphasizes that, given how experiences of time shape narratives of displacement, transit, and reception, oral history can play a key role in documenting periods understood as crisis and in elucidating crisis time.
Zard, S., O’Driscoll, C., Mulcaire, J., Holt, L., Menon, S., & Brady, F. (2026). Statelessness and mental health experiences of Kuwaiti Bidoon people living in the UK: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. PLOS Mental Health, 3(2). Open access. The Kuwaiti Bidoon are a group of people affected by statelessness. Estimates suggest thousands of Kuwaiti Bidoon have forcibly migrated to the United Kingdom (UK); however, little is known about their experiences of mental health. This study aimed to explore the mental health experiences of statelessness among Kuwaiti Bidoon people living in the UK, and their experiences of accessing mental health services (where indicated). Participants were five Kuwaiti Bidoon people currently living in the UK. Some participants reported barriers to accessing effective mental health support, which was sometimes connected to their legal status. This study raises awareness of the context for UK-based Bidoon people and furthers understanding of the long-term negative mental health consequences of statelessness.
REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS
Data on the Forcibly Displaced: From Statistical Shadows to Inclusion. (2026). Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement. Forced displacement continues to increase globally, with most displaced people living in low‑ and middle‑income countries (LMICs) where displacement is often protracted and resources constrained. In many contexts, reliable and comparable socioeconomic data on forcibly displaced persons remain limited, creating significant gaps in understanding their living conditions and how their welfare is linked to that of surrounding host communities. Data on the Forcibly Displaced: From Statistical Shadows to Inclusion brings together analysis and country experience to examine the challenges–and opportunities–in generating and using data on displaced populations. The report demonstrates how stronger displacement data systems can support policies that advance the socioeconomic inclusion of forcibly displaced persons while also improving outcomes for host communities.
Publication of the Compendium of Promising Practices on Access to Nationality for Stateless Children. (2026). European Committee on Legal Co-Operation. The purpose of the compendium is to serve as a source of inspiration to emulate positive legal changes in member states to better address the challenges of child statelessness. By identifying and highlighting promising legal and administrative practices from various member states, it provides concrete examples of how to prevent child statelessness and ensure children have access to nationality determination procedures promptly. The compendium focuses primarily on the critical areas of legal aid and representation, access to information, and access to justice regarding nationality and statelessness determination.
Compounding Returns: A Study On Remittance Loss and The Cost Of Deportations by Samuel Hall. (2026). World Vision. Deportations are rising at the same time that humanitarian resources are tightening. Communities that relied on migration and remittances to bridge chronic poverty are now facing abrupt income loss, escalating debt and layered shocks (including climate related disruption), with many households moving quickly from precarious self-reliance into acute need. This study provides ground-level evidence of how forced returns are reshaping household economies, community support systems, and where the pressure points translate to protection risks.
Forced displacement from Ukraine: The potential role of migration in Ukraine’s future reconstruction by Ninna Nyberg Sørensen. (2026). Danish Institute for International Studies. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the most significant population movements in recent European history. The loss of national population is not just a demographic challenge; it is a human capital problem that challenges the reconstruction and future development of Ukraine. This policy brief considers how various outcomes of the war in Ukraine might shape mobility, and what policy responses could be conducive to reconstruction.
Latest Asylum Trends 2025: Annual Analysis. (2026). European Union Agency for Asylum. The annual analysis of the Latest Asylum Trends provides an overview of the asylum situation in 2025 to the general public, through a dedicated webpage with analysis and a series of data visualisations.
NEWS AND BLOG POSTS
Authorities rescue 346 migrants near Crete amid spike in crossings, March 6, 2026. Ekathimerini.com. Authorities rescued 346 undocumented migrants in seven separate operations in the sea area south of Crete and Gavdos early Friday, the Coast Guard said. One of the rescue operations involved a merchant ship, while the missions were also supported by aerial surveillance from Frontex, the European Union’s border agency. Authorities said there was no immediate information about the migrants’ countries of origin. The increase in arrivals comes as officials in Athens express growing concern about the potential migration impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Deportation from the US: The risks for stateless people by Alice Neikirk, March 3, 2026. Refugee Studies Centre. In July 2025, a disturbing story surfaced: Bhutanese refugees – people who had been formally resettled in the United States nearly a decade earlier – were being deported to Bhutan. Instead of ‘going home,’ they were met with persecution and expulsion. Swiftly pushed out again, they had no option but to return to the abandoned refugee camps where many had been born. These deportations raise important questions about how resettled refugees have returned to statelessness. Recently released datasets from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – made available through the Deportation Projects’ Freedom of Information Act request – offer part of the answer.
Floods Displace 48 Households in Central Kenya as Child Feared Dead by KNA, March 9, 2026. Capital News. At least 48 households across Central Kenya have been displaced following heavy rains that have been pounding the country since early March, with a child feared dead after being swept away by floodwaters. The Kenya Red Cross said the affected families are spread across several counties including Kiambu County, Meru County, Murang’a County, and Nyeri County.
South Sudan risks return to full-blown civil war as violence escalates by Carlos Mureithi, March 3, 2026. The Guardian. South Sudan is reeling from an escalating conflict between the government-aligned army and opposition forces and allied groups that observers say risks returning the country to a full-blown civil war. Violent confrontations in the world’s youngest country between the military, which is loyal to President Salva Kiir, and insurgents believed to be allied to the suspended vice-president, Riek Machar, have increased in recent weeks.
The U.S.‑Israel war with Iran could shatter the United Nations‑led global order by Kawser Ahmed, March 5, 2026. The Conversation. Even as American and Iranian officials were participating in Omani-mediated talks aimed at preventing further escalation between the two nations, the United States, alongside Israel, launched military strikes on Iran on Feb. 28. The mediation had raised cautious hopes of de-escalating long-running hostility between Iran and the U.S. Instead, this use of force reflects a familiar post-1945 pattern of major powers acting unilaterally rather than through multilateral institutions like the United Nations.
EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Event: Embodied Intersectional Praxis (EIP) and Black LGBTQ+ Refugee Mental Health. The Mad Studies Hub/York University. The Mad Studies Hub would like to invite you to our next event, Embodied Intersectional Praxis (EIP) and Black LGBTQ+ Refugee Mental Health. This roundtable brings together scholarship, lived experience, and community practice to explore how migration, racialization, queerness, and policy intersect in shaping healing, harm, and justice. Grounded in Embodied Intersectional Praxis (EIP), this conversation centres lived experience not as anecdote, but as theory, method, and intervention. This event is moderated by Michaela Hynie, Professor and Interim Director for the Centre for Refugee Studies, with speakers: Patricia Bailey-Brown, Mbalu Lumor, and Rita Wairimu. This is a hybrid event at South Ross 802, York University and online, on March 24, 2026, 2:00PM – 3:00PM.
Podcast: Unsettled: Immigration in Turbulent Times. Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility. Unsettled: Immigration in Turbulent Times examines Trump administration policies and actions affecting immigration and migrants and their communities. It adopts a broad perspective, seeing immigration policies in the context of constitutional law and principles, US history and our national narrative. The podcast is hosted by Alex Aleinikoff, Senior Fellow at the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, The New School; Hiroshi Motomura, Susan Westerberg Prager Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA and Faculty Co-Director, Center for Immigration Law and Policy; and Cristina Rodriguez, Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School. Unsettled is produced with support from the Oscar M. Reubhausen Fund at Yale Law School, the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law, and the Zolberg Institute for Migration and Mobility at The New School.
Podcast: The Role of Immigration as South Korea Navigates Demographic Decline. Migration Policy Institute. South Korea faces a rapidly aging population and shrinking workforce. What role can immigration play in responding to these pressures? In this World of Migration podcast episode, MPI’s Lawrence Huang speaks with Juyoung Jang, a senior policy researcher and advisor on migration and demographics at South Korea’s Migration Research and Training Center.
WEBINAR: Identifying and protecting displaced stateless people in Europe: What needs to happen next? European Network on Statelessness. Join on 23rd March 2026, 11.30-12.45 CET, for a webinar bringing together statelessness experts, practitioners and advocates to highlight good practice and progress on statelessness determination and protection in Europe, explore protection gaps, and identify where further action is urgently needed.