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. 24
Recent Publications and New Research
Refugee Review Vol. 3
Refugee Review is an open-source, peer-reviewed journal that aims to showcase unique perspectives and emerging voices in refugee studies. In its third edition, it presents 18 academic articles, practitioner reports and multimedia pieces that cover a range of issues impacting refugees and migrants. The volume is available at: https://t.co/r4W0SxV9vs
Below are two articles to highlight this production:
“A dignified standard of living” for asylum-seekers? An analysis of the UK’s labour market restrictions for asylum-seekers by Sara Palacios-Arapiles and Roda Madziva
Drawing on the case of Zimbabwean asylum-seekers in the UK, the article argues that the absolute denial of their right to work implies a lack of full recognition of their human dignity and a “dignified standard of living.” It starts by exploring how the Refugee Convention “implicitly” grants asylum-seekers the right to work. It then analyses core international human rights standards, thereby identifying that the right to work applies to everyone regardless of their legal status. It then moves on to illuminate that the EU asylum acquis, particularly the Reception Conditions Directive, frames the right to work strongly linked to human dignity and to a dignified standard of living, inter alia. The article further explores legal and administrative barriers within the UK that prevent asylum-seekers from participating in paid work. Available at:
https://espminetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/6-Arapiles-Madziva.pdf
Human Security and Gender Development: A Comparative Analysis of Internal Displacement in Colombia and Palestine by Charla M. Burnett and Adriana Rincón Villegas
This article seeks to deconstruct the political, economic, and social impacts that law and international organisations have on internally displaced persons in two different regions of the globe. The contradictory impacts of (in)security and the relationship between government and citizen is discussed in this paper by critically theorising the historical and contemporary construction of internally displaced persons as a legal category in Palestine and Colombia. Applying a critical feminist approach to this comparative analysis, it becomes clear that various aspects of human security have been disregarded in the wake of greater political interests. The results of this analysis call into question the current migration paradigm that is pioneered by peace and security institutions and the failures within the conceptualisations of statehood and sovereignty. Available at: https://espminetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/12-Burnett-Villegas.pdf
Research Handbook on Climate Change, Migration and the Law Edited by Benoît Mayer, François Crépeau, Hans and Tamar Oppenheimer
This comprehensive Research Handbook provides an overview of the debates on how the law does, and could, relate to migration exacerbated by climate change. It contains conceptual chapters on the relationship between climate change, migration and the law, as well as doctrinal and prospective discussions regarding legal developments in different domestic contexts and in international governance. More information about the book available at: http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/research-handbook-on-climate-change-migration-and-the-law
Reports, Working Papers and Briefs
Protect the Children! Boys and girls migrating unaccompanied from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, Background and ICMC Perspectives on Responses and Recommendations by Karla Estrada Navarro
The International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) released a new publication entitled “Protect the Children! Boys and girls migrating unaccompanied from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras,” which highlights the movement and protection of unaccompanied migrant children from the Americas moving within and from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, through Mexico to rejoin family members in the US. Available at: http://migration4development.org/sites/default/files/protect-the-children-latin-america-research-publication_0.pdf
Center for Migration and Refugee Studies database
The Center for Migration and Refugee Studies at the American University in Cairo announced the launch of a database for migration and refugee research material – especially, but not exclusively – on the Middle East region. CMRS database can be accessed through the following link:
https://www4.aucegypt.edu/CMRS/
News Reports and Blog posts
Refugees Deeply Executive Summary for November 8th
The summary reviews the latest refugee-related issues, including the release of U.N. data on the vulnerability of Rohingya in Bangladesh, China’s arrest of North Korean refugees and the International Labor Organization closing a complaint on migrant labor exploitation in Qatar. Available at:
https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/executive-summaries/2017/11/08
Thousands of Mass. immigrants on edge over legal status by Cristela Guerra
An up-close report on the life of precarious migrant from Haiti while she awaits a Trump administration decision to eliminate TPS for immigrants from Haiti and Central America. Her legal status, along with that of hundreds of thousands of others, hangs in the balance. Revoking TPS could mean the deportation of thousands of immigrants who’ve lived in the United States for decades. Available at:
Digital and Social Media
New book: Strategic Choices of International NGOs by Sarah S. Stroup, Wendy H. Wong
And innovative way to promote and discuss a new book entitled The Authority Trap: Strategic Choices of International NGOs where the authors discuss how INGOs must constantly adjust their behavior to maintain a delicate equilibrium that preserves their status. Video available at: