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
Hattori, R., & Khai, T. S. (2025). Japan’s humanitarian aid toward Myanmar after the 2021 coup: Exploring four channels amid the weaponization of Assistance. Springer. Open access book. This open access book delves into Japan’s humanitarian aid efforts in Myanmar following the military coup of February 2021. As Myanmar faces political upheaval and growing humanitarian challenges, Japan’s response has been notable, yet intricate, maneuvering through obstacles created by the Myanmar military’s weaponization of aid. Utilizing document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and fieldwork conducted at the Myanmar-Thailand border, this book explores four key channels through which Japan delivers humanitarian assistance: UN organizations, Myanmar-based NGOs, Thailand-based NGOs, and Bangladesh-based NGOs. Each channel is examined in detail, highlighting the strategies employed, obstacles faced, and impact of Japan’s contributions on the ground. This study illuminates the precarious equilibrium between delivering crucial aid and addressing the political circumstances that hinder humanitarian endeavors. It also prompts important discussions about the morality of providing assistance in conflict-ridden areas and the responsibilities of donor nations in upholding their human rights. This book is ideal for academics, decision-makers, and humanitarian professionals, and not only enlightens readers about Japan’s distinctive position in Myanmar, but also contributes to wider debates on international aid dynamics in politically fraught environments.
Adhikari, P., Hansen, W.L., Zaman, S., & Acharya, B. (2025). Social Interactions and Self-Reported Health Among Resettled Refugees. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved 36(3), 875-899. The goal of this research is to investigate the relationship between social interactions and self-reported mental and physical health of resettled refugees. Social relationships and interactions consist of different layers extending from individual personal relations to social networking activities to collective engagement. The authors found that along with their socioeconomic situations, such as employment, social integration is an important determinant of mental and physical health. Resettled refugees tend to report better health if they are more socially engaged. This study contributes to the literature on refugee resettlement and integration through a quantitative analysis of a variety of measures of social interactions and their relationship to resettled refugee health. The findings have potentially important country- and world-wide policy implications for developing cost-effective health initiatives for resettled refugees.
Reinoso-Cataldo, M. B., Stuardo, V., Bustos-Ibarra, C., Belmar, J., Lisboa, C., Low, K., Rubio, S. P., Parra, C. A., & Carrasco-Portiño, M. (2025). Characterization of international migration movements toward Chile: A scoping review of scientific articles and official reports. Journal of Migration and Health, 12, 100363. Open access. In the last decade, Chile has emerged as a receiving country for migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The scale of this phenomenon has sparked increasing interest in understanding its impact on various sectors such as healthcare and education. This study aims to characterize the scientific evidence and official reports on international migration toward Chile from 1990 to 2024. Migration toward Chile primarily involves south–south migration, sociodemographic characterization, and issues accessing services, including healthcare. Results highlight a scarcity of studies collecting primary data, leading to a lack of relevant indicators for understanding aspects such as migration causes, attracting factors, migration trajectory, migration status, cross-cultural relationships, or sexual health.
Wardeh, M., & Marques, R. C. (2026). Assessing shelter sustainability in refugee camps in the Middle East: Towards adequate, safe and affordable housing. Cities, 168, 106396. Open access. This study examines shelter conditions and their sustainability in refugee camps in the Arab bordering countries, a decade after their establishment within the context of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 11 which focuses on inclusive, safe, and sustainable human settlements. The study reveals disparities in shelter types, protection factors, and overall sustainability. Iraq demonstrated higher scores in protection factors and overall satisfaction and shelter sustainability due to more durable construction and culturally appropriate design with refugee participation and supportive policy, unlike Lebanon, where refugees faced challenges related to the rent burden and restrictive policy. Recommendations emphasize the need for context-appropriate shelter diversification, enhanced participatory design process, and integrated policy reforms to improve sustainability outcomes. These measures contribute to achieving SDG 11 and fostering sustainable development in refugee settings.
Yi, S. (2025). Belonging beyond borders. Anthropology of the Middle East, 20(2), 7–24. Open access. In May 2018, 484 Yemeni refugees arrived on Jeju Island, a South Korean island located to the south of the mainland. Although the Refugee Act was already in place, public awareness of it was minimal. Korean society, which had neither anticipated nor previously experienced a large-scale influx of refugees from the Middle East, reacted with shock. The issue of refugee acceptance quickly became a topic of national debate, with increasing opposition to their settlement, leading to widespread societal confusion. This article examines the social adaptation of Yemeni refugees who entered South Korea in 2018 and have been residing in the country for over five years. Specifically, using the analytical framework proposed by Alastair Ager and Alison Strang (2008), the article analyses the key factors influencing Yemeni refugees’ adaptation to Korean society and the significant effects of these factors.
REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS
Canadian public opinion about immigration and refugees – Fall 2025. (2025). Environics Institute & Toronto Metropolitan University. 2025 has been an especially challenging year for Canada, and for the global world order. The return of Donald Trump as US President up-ended the historically-close relationship between these two North American neighbours, placing unprecedented pressure on Canada’s political sovereignty and economy. In response, Canadians reelected a Liberal government with a new Prime Minister who is now focused on managing the challenges emanating from Washington and strengthening ties with other allies.
The country has long relied on a robust stream of new immigrants to maintain population growth and support a growing economy. But in recent years the system has struggled to manage a larger inflow of newcomers, prompting increasing public concerns about the country’s capacity to welcome large numbers of permanent residents, temporary residents and refugees. The federal government responded in fall 2024 by sharply reducing immigration levels and incorporating temporary residents into the plans, but the public-at-large has yet to regain its confidence in how the system is being managed, and the issue is increasingly becoming politicized. A majority of Canadians continue to say there is too much immigration, but opinions have stabilized since 2024 following a sharp increase over the two previous years. Those who express this view increasingly point to poor government management as the problem.
“Nobody hears you when you scream”: Dangerous shift in Tunisia’s migration policy. (2025). Amnesty. Over the past three years, Tunisian authorities have adopted migration and asylum policies that utterly disregard the lives, safety and dignity of refugees and migrants and are used as a tool of racialized exclusion. Officials carry out life-threatening collective expulsions in violation of the principle of non-refoulement, following often reckless sea interceptions or racially targeted arrests, frequently accompanied by torture and other ill-treatment, including dehumanizing sexual violence. Access to asylum has been suspended, while organisations providing protection to refugees and migrants have faced severe repression. Tunisia is therefore neither a place of safety for disembarkation nor a “safe third country” for the transfer of asylum seekers.
Statelessness Determination and Protection in Europe: Good practice, challenges and risks. (2025). European Network on Statelessness. Stateless people face the risk of rights violations every day. The main reason for this is that most European States still don’t have an established process to identify stateless people, determine their statelessness, and provide them with a route out of limbo. This briefing is part of a series of thematic briefings and summarises how the 34 countries featured in the Statelessness Index perform against international norms and good practice in law, policy, and practice on statelessness determination and the protection of stateless people. It highlights best practice examples and provides a critical analysis of the remaining gaps and barriers in countries across Europe. The briefing also presents recommendations for urgent action needed to strengthen access to protection and pathways to naturalisation for stateless people. The briefing was first published in September 2021 and last updated in October 2025.
The Integration of Migrants in Egypt: Lessons from Research, Stakeholders and International Experiences. (2025). Reliefweb. This study examines the integration of over nine million migrants in Egypt through comparative analysis, stakeholder perspectives and international experiences. Produced by Cairo University’s Migration Research Unit in partnership with IOM, it provides evidence-based insights into policies, practices and challenges shaping migrant integration in the Global South. Drawing on case studies from Morocco and Jordan, the study highlights regional lessons for more inclusive and sustainable approaches. Whether you are a policymaker, researcher or practitioner, this report offers fresh insights and lessons for building inclusive societies for migrants in the Global South.
NEWS AND BLOG POSTS
Canadian immigration policy has become a moving target by Omid Asayesh, November 6, 2025. The Conversation. With more than 85 million people naming it their top choice, Canada has become one of the most desired migration destinations in the world over the past decade. Yet even in 2024, its highest year on record, Canada only admitted about 480,000 new permanent residents, a small fraction of global demand. Despite earlier plans to increase admissions, the intake is now set to decline in response to mounting pressures on housing and public services. There’s also been political pushback from opposition parties and segments of the public who argue that the government’s rapid expansion of immigration targets has outpaced Canada’s ability to absorb newcomers.
The challenge, however, is not how few people get in; it is how unpredictable the system has become.
Kenyan LGBTQ+ safe houses ‘overwhelmed’ as cuts hit refugee camps by Jackson Okata, October 28, 2025. Context, Thomson Reuters Foundation. Terry Namalo, a Ugandan trans woman, left Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp in September after the “hunger became too much” and headed to a safe house in Nairobi, joining scores of other LGBTQ+ refugees forced to move after international aid cuts. “This year has been tough on refugees in the camp because of the reduced food rations,” the 25-year-old said. “Refugees are going days without food, and those who can afford to buy are forced to do with one meal per day.” From Kenya to Bangladesh, refugees have seen their food rations reduced because of a collapse in aid funding from the United States and other Western countries.
Migration Crisis Management Revisited: Perspectives from EUrope and Latin America by Ana Margheritis & Berfin Nur Osso, October 17, 2025. Faculty of Law Blogs, University of Oxford. The assumption that we live in a time of multiple migration crises has had a significant impact on how international migration is understood and addressed. While the concept of ‘migration crisis’ is often poorly defined and overstretched to characterize a wide range of migration-related phenomena, the authors highlight here the value of a precise definition. It is essential to define the concept of crisis precisely in specific contexts and attribute specific qualifications for a more refined and accurate analysis of recent regional developments widely framed as ‘migration crises.’ Drawing on a collaborative project, they illustrate this analytical strategy through a succinct analysis of two distinct approaches to migration crisis management.
Sudan’s war on women and girls – the world cannot look away by Reena Ghelani, November 4, 2025. Context, Thomson Reuters Foundation. Reena Ghelani CEO at Plan International writes, “I have just returned from Sudan, a country ravaged by conflict where entire communities are fighting to survive amid unimaginable devastation. Yet the strength of Sudan’s women and girls is incredible despite the war’s unbearable toll over more than two years. Sexual violence has been used very deliberately as a weapon of war. This under-reported reality is visible across the country, from Kassala to Darfur, where El Fasher – one of the largest cities – has recently changed hands after weeks of heavy fighting.”
The Real Disaster May Only Just Be Beginning for Those Displaced by Hurricane Melissa by Jane McAdam, Regina Jefferies, Thomas Mulder, November 4, 2025. Researching Internal Displacement. For many of those displaced by Hurricane Melissa, the real disaster is only just beginning. While close to a million people have been evacuated, undoubtedly saving lives, this will likely be the start of a much longer period of displacement for some individuals and communities. Viewed within the broader existing hazard-scape of violence, conflict, resource scarcity and funding challenges in the region, the dangers compound and grow. This short piece, which discusses the long-term risks to people displaced by Melissa, also spotlights the chronic and worsening underinvestment in people and communities required to reduce the risk of disaster displacement and the devastating long-term effects on those affected.
What role could migration play in the reconstruction of Ukraine? By Camila Arroyo, October 29, 2025. Economics Observatory. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has triggered the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II, with nearly six million Ukrainians displaced worldwide. This creates a critical challenge looking ahead to post-war reconstruction. With over 200,000 Ukrainians currently in the UK, policy-makers must consider both the current needs of refugees and how the diaspora can help to support economic recovery in Ukraine.
EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA
CRS Seminar: Refugee Pathways to Freedom and Peace. Centre for Refugee Studies. Janet Billson will present on two recent publications: (1) Refugee Pathways to Freedom: Escaping Persecution and Statelessness, London: Bloomsbury, 2024. Individual and focus group interviews with Russian Doukhobors, Rohingya, Nepali-speaking Bhutanese (Lhotshampa), and Kurds. Focus on the marginalizing impacts of refugee status, flight, refugee camps, and Canada-U.S. resettlement policies, (2) Refugee Pathways to Peace: Escaping the Chaos of War, London: Bloomsbury, 2025. Individual and focus group interviews with Syrian, DR Congolese, Liberian, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese refugees. Focus on refugee integration and resettlement policies, and the future of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and relevant global frameworks. This is a hybrid event on November 19, 2025, 1:00PM -2:30PM ET, at 626 Kaneff Tower, Keele Campus, York University.
Event: Occupational Mobility and Economic Outcomes of Recent Immigrants: An Overview. Research Matters. This virtual event is an informative session exploring how recent immigrants are faring in the Canadian labour market. This presentation will highlight the results of a study that used linked data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) and the 2021 Census to analyze the occupational retention of immigrants admitted between 2010 and 2020. The study also explores immigrant characteristics associated with occupational retention and downward mobility, and it compares the economic outcomes of those who remain in their occupations with those who changed it. The results offer valuable insights into the factors that influence professional alignment, supporting the development of targeted employment programs and policies that enhance skill utilization and labour market integration. They also help assess the effectiveness of immigrant selection policies and inform strategies aimed at maximizing immigrants’ contributions to the Canadian economy. Speakers are Dr. Jianwei Zhong and Goyette, Chantal (IRCC/IRCC); this event will be on November 18, 2025, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM ET on Microsoft Teams.
Podcast: Rethinking Humanitarianism | How to make people care? Emergency aid’s marketing problem. The New Humanitarian. If aid funding is partly a battle for public attention, then humanitarians may be losing the fight. Global polls consistently show citizens in many countries want their governments to fund humanitarian aid. But the United States and other nations have gutted their aid departments or shrunk budgets – with seemingly little public pushback. To give some insights into this, host Tammam Aloudat is joined by MSF’s Bég as well as Dr. Polly Pallister-Wilkins, associate professor of social and behavioural sciences at the University of Amsterdam.
Podcast: Rethinking Humanitarianism | Bonus: Rethinking UNGA. The New Humanitarian. UN General Assembly’s high-level week should be consequential given all that’s happening: the genocide in Gaza, spiralling emergencies, aid cuts, the crisis of trust in the UN system. But does the rhetoric in New York match the urgency we see across the globe? Veteran humanitarian and Rethinking Humanitarianism podcast host Tammam Aloudat has a front row view of the contrast. He recently joined the legal support boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla – a movement aimed at breaking Israel’s siege of Gaza. And then he was at UNGA in September for the pageantry of leaders’ speeches and escalator mishaps.