March 19, 2020: RRN Research Digest

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. 82

Recent Publications and New Research

Belloni, M. (2020). The big gamble: the migration of Eritreans to Europe. University of California Press. The author untangles the reasons behind Eritreans making life-threatening journeys across Africa and the Mediterranean risking their lives to reach European countries where so many more hardships await them. The book contributes to ongoing debates about blurred boundaries between forced and voluntary migration, the complications of transnational marriages, the social matrix of smuggling, and the role of family expectations, emotions, and values in migrants’ choices of destinations. Available at (open access): https://www.luminosoa.org/site/books/10.1525/luminos.82/

Asis, M., & Feranil, A. (2020). Not for adults only: toward a child’s lens in migration policies in Asia, Journal on Migration and Human Security. This paper provides an overview of challenges faced by children as migration actors. It considers the policy responses and programs that select countries in East, South, and Southeast Asia have developed to address children’s experiences and concerns in the context of Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) and Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). The paper argues, the good practices that have been implemented in a number of the countries provide a template for how to translate the Compacts’ objectives into action and how to ensure that the full protection and best interests of migrant children, the left-behind children of migrant workers, and those who are part of multicultural families remain a priority. Available at (open access): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2331502420907375

Williams, L., Coşkun, Emel, & Kaska, S. (2020). Women, migration and asylum in Turkey: developing gender-sensitivity in migration research, policy and practice. Palgrave Macmillan. This Book examines Turkey’s asylum and refugee regime from a feminist perspective and analyses migration trends and policy through a gendered lens. It highlights the ways in which international migration regimes are gendered and critically investigates the feminisation of migration while also demonstrating how gendered migration flows have diversified in recent decades. Available at: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030288860

Report, Policy Briefs and Working Papers

Report: Women and girls in internal displacement (March 2020), International Displacement Monitoring Centre. This report presents the first global, regional and national estimates of the number of women and girls living in a situation of internal displacement as a result of conflict and violence. Internal displacement situations associated with disasters are also discussed. It also highlights examples of good practices and successful initiatives from around the world, and discusses some of the policy options governments and aid providers can consider. Available at: https://www.internal-displacement.org/sites/default/files/publications/documents/202003-twice-invisible-internally-displaced-women.pdf

Report: Unseen victims, why refugee women victims of gender-based violence do not receive assistance in the EU by Lilja, I., Kervinen, E., Lietonen, A., Ollus, N., Viuhko, M., and Jokinen, A. (February 2020), European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control. This report informs policymakers and practitioners who work in the fields of criminal policy, crime prevention, asylum and migration policy as well as integration. The empirical evidence presented in this report is intended to initiate concrete steps and structural and legal changes to improve the position of refugee women who have experienced gender-based violence. The authors present clear recommendations on how to achieve this at the end of this report. Available at: https://www.heuni.fi/material/attachments/heuni/reports/oQ3pua9KR/HEUNI_Report_series_91_UNSEEN_VICTIMS_Web_full.pdf

Report: Immigration detention in the Republic of Korea: penalising people in need of protection (February, 2020), Global Detention Project. South Korea has implemented increasingly restrictive asylum and migrant worker policies. The government does not provide adequate data about immigration detention, making it challenging to assess trends in the country. This report highlights that children, victims of trafficking, and other vulnerable groups can be subjected to indefinite detention, often in facilities where detainees have reported instances of abuse; asylum seekers can find themselves stranded for months in privately operated airport “holding areas”; and national and international human rights bodies have repeatedly called for reforms in the country’s immigration detention centres. Available at: https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/GDP-Immigration-Detention-in-the-Republic-of-Korea-2020-Report.pdf

News reports and blog posts

The Crisis in Idlib: Testimony by Hardin Lang (March 11, 2020), Refugee International. Hardin Lang, Vice President for Programs and Policy provided a testimony at the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He addressed the crisis in Idlib, its humanitarian implications and prospects for the current ceasefire recently agreed to between Turkey and Russia. Lang and his team had the opportunity to investigate the nature and scope of what has become the worst humanitarian chapter of Syria’s longstanding brutal war. Summary and video available at: https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/2020/3/11/the-crisis-in-idlib

The fragmented politics of the Syrian refugee crisis jeopardises the future of millions by Juline Beaujouan and Amjed Rasheed (March 10, 2020), The Conversation. The authors argue that amid this fragmented regional landscape and the politicisation of the crisis at the regional and national levels, the fate of Syrian refugees remains unclear. Russia has offered to facilitate dialogue between host countries and the Assad regime regarding the return of Syrian populations, but the ongoing process of their return to their home country might now be hampered by diplomatic tensions between Syria and its neighbours, especially Lebanon and Turkey. Available at: https://theconversation.com/the-fragmented-politics-of-the-syrian-refugee-crisis-jeopardises-the-future-of-millions-132533

Digital and social media

Refugees International @RefugeeIntel, (March 15, 2020). As the war in Syria enters its tenth year, the most horrific chapter of the conflict is unfolding in Idlib province. A short video captures the realities of life in Idlib from refugee woman sharing what her friends and family now face. Available at: https://twitter.com/RefugeesIntl/status/1239184114017804289

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