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
Ruehs-Navarro, E., Caswell Muñoz, L., & Diaz, S. J. (2024). Kids in cages: Surviving and resisting child migrant detention. University of Arizona Press. In recent years, the plight of immigrant children has been in the national spotlight. A primary issue of concern is the experience of child migrants in detention by the U.S. government. The authors in this volume approach the topic of child migrant detention from a range of perspectives. Some authors, particularly those who provide a legal perspective, chronicle the harms of detention, arguing that despite governmental assurances of child protection, detention is fundamentally a state-sanctioned form of violence. The social scientists in the volume have worked closely with detained youth themselves; in these chapters, authors highlight the ways in which youth survive detention, often through everyday acts of resistance and through the formation of temporary relationships. Practitioners including psychologists, activists, and faith leaders look at forms of resistance to detention. From retheorizing psychological interventions for detained youth to forming hospitality homes that act as alternatives to detention, these practitioners highlight ways forward for advocates of youth. At the heart of these narratives lies a crucial debate: the tension between harm-reduction strategies and abolition.
Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2024). A manifesto for bread and roses. Migration and Society, 7(1), xv–xx. In the midst of the mass displacement, dispossession and systematic killing of Palestinians in Gaza, this manifesto for “bread and roses” centralizes not only the rights of Palestinians in Gaza to life, safety, and security but also displaced people’s rights to joy, beauty, and happiness. At a time when Palestinians in Gaza are being massacred and openly deprived of aid, it is, precisely, Palestinians’ commitment to joy and beauty being projected and practiced by displaced and dispossessed Palestinians in Gaza, which provides the impetus for this manifesto. Created around and centering the words and lifeworlds of Palestinians in Gaza, this piece is offered as an inevitably partial but needed archive of this more-than-massacre and as an archive that stands for the future. Starting with roses pushes us to reimagine what meaningful responses to displacement could, and should, entail.
Krause, U. & Segadlo, N. (2024). Surviving Exile. Queer displaced people’s lived experiences of aid, risks, and coping in Kakuma. Gender Issues, 41, article 26. This paper examines the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ displaced individuals in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya. It delves into how queer people experience the humanitarian-aid system on-site, what risks they encounter, and how they exert agency to cope with the prevalent challenges of day to day life. Findings reveal that, in a country context where same-sex relations are illegalized and queer people criminalized, those displaced face heightened risks. They are confronted with the heteronormative paradigms inherent to the humanitarian-aid system, ones resulting in their neglect and denied access to much-needed assistance and protection. Structural and physical violence such as discrimination, exclusion, harassment and threats of murder exacerbate unrelenting fears and tangible risks in the camp. To navigate these challenges, they employ diverse individual and especially collective coping strategies, creating safe spaces for mutual support, exchange and hope.
Nisa, S., Murad, S., Salma, J., & Au, A. (2024). Service-policy gaps in the settlement journey of Arabic-speaking immigrant newcomer and refugee older adults in Edmonton, Canada. PLOS ONE, 19(10). Immigrant newcomers and refugees (INRs) are two migrant categories that experience consistent systemic barriers to settlement and integration in Canada as older adults. This paper explores the challenges experienced by Arabic-speaking INR older adults in Edmonton, Canada, during settlement and discusses policy and service implications. Experiences of settlement challenges were consistently identified during data collection and engagement of INR older adult participants. Two main themes were identified: (1) Limited English skills and digital literacy gaps create service barriers for INR older adults, and (2) Gaps in services and policies as basic needs remain unmet. The authors describe key challenges experienced by INR older adults, such as language barriers, precarious finances, poor access to health care services and lack of transportation and employment opportunities, which hinder successful integration into the new society. This study showcases the ongoing challenges with early settlement and integration that continue despite Canada’s well-developed immigration settlement landscape. INR older adults often remain invisible in policy, and understanding their experiences is a first step to addressing their needs for resources that support healthy ageing in the post-migration context.
Zambelli, P. (2024). Internal flight anarchy: Points of divergence from UNHCR guidelines in Canadian decision making. International Journal of Refugee Law. Over the years, Canadian decision makers have come to apply the concept of ‘internal flight alternative’ (IFA) more expansively than recommended by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Given the significant proportion of refugee claims that are refused on the basis of this concept each year, this divergence of interpretation has a real-life impact. To examine this phenomenon, the article provides a brief overview of the IFA concept, including a review of the scholarly literature and UNHCR guidance. Next, it traces the concept’s development in Canadian law and highlights points of divergence with UNHCR’s position. Finally, the article discusses potential strategies for realignment. The goal is to encourage practitioners and decision makers to think more deeply about the IFA concept, to raise awareness in regard to existing scholarship and applicable norms, and to ensure that these norms are applied in a conscious, humane, and consistent manner.
REPORTS AND POLICY BRIEFS
After the Darien: Aid and Pathways for Migrants in Panama and Costa Rica by Rachel Schmidtke & Caitlyn Yates. (2024). Refugees International. This report–based on a research trip conducted by Refugees International–looks closely at the humanitarian conditions for those who successfully traverse the gap, and lays out a path to greater harmonization of migration management that respects governments’ desire for orderly movement while upholding the basic human rights of migrants. The report provides recommendations to improve reception in Panama and address the gaps in protection occurring due to increasing enforcement in the country. The report also argues that there is great potential for the international community and the government of Costa Rica to develop a more comprehensive humanitarian response given Costa Rica’s history as a country of asylum and its strong collaboration with the United States. Further, this report suggests ways that the United States could support improved humanitarian services, access to protection, and integration for people taking the route through the Darien Gap, Panama, and Costa Rica while also better targeting access to pathways to the United States so as to decrease the use of this route and continued migration northward through Central America and Mexico.
Canadian public opinion about immigration and refugees – Fall 2024 by Keith Neuman. (2024). Environics Institute. 2024 has been another challenging year for Canadians. While inflation finally began to recede, the cost of living remains high and housing continues to be unaffordable for many, and in short supply. The previous year saw a record number of new immigrants settling in cities across the country, and arrivals continued to build in 2024 until mid-year when the federal government finally announced new limits on the number of temporary foreign workers and international students. The global context has grown darker, with the intensification of conflict in the Middle East, and the unfolding drama of a pivotal US presidential election. This year also marks another dramatic surge in public opinion that immigration levels are too high, along with rising concerns about who is being admitted and how they are fitting in. For the first time in a quarter century, a clear majority of Canadians say there is too much immigration, with this view strengthening considerably for the second consecutive year. This trend is evident across the population but is most significant in the Prairie provinces, while least so in Quebec.
Localizing Climate Adaptation Planning in Kenya’s Refugee-Hosting Counties by Jocelyn Perry. (2024). Refugees International. Kenya sits at the nexus of two of the most profound challenges of our time: climate change and displacement. The east African country faces some of the most significant impacts of climate change while hosting nearly 800,000 refugees and asylum seekers. This creates a significant opportunity for Kenya to play a leading role in the global effort to ensure refugees and other displaced communities are able to prepare for and respond to climate change. From April to June 2024, Refugees International met with refugee communities, Kenyan civil society leaders, UN agencies, contributing country governments, and Kenyan government officials to understand how Kenya is including refugees in their climate change adaptation efforts and where they are falling short. Drawing on these interviews, this report examines the effects of the climate emergency on refugee communities in Kenya and how Kenya’s national and local governments, donors, and humanitarian agencies can support refugee-led adaptation to climate change.
These 10 countries receive the most refugees by Eirik Christophersen. (2024). Norwegian Refugee Council. Türkiye has provided protection to more refugees than any other country in the last ten years. But in terms of refugees as a proportion of the total population, it is mostly small and lesser-known countries that have accepted the largest number of refugees in this period. Here are the ten countries that have received the most refugees relative to their population during the period 2014–2023.
UNHCR calls for urgent help for 228,000 flood-affected people in West Africa. (2024). UNHCR. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is urgently appealing for $10.6 million to address the most pressing needs of 228,000 forcibly displaced people and their host communities across West and Central Africa, where devastating climate-induced torrential rains and floods have wreaked havoc and impacted over 5.1 million people. In Chad, some 1.9 million people have been affected. Niger (1.4 million) and Nigeria (1.2 million) have also been severely impacted, as well as Cameroon (365,000) and Mali (260,000). The catastrophic effects of flooding are poised to extend well beyond this year’s rainy season, compounding the hardships already faced by vulnerable communities. The funding is critical to provide life-saving support, including protection, shelter and emergency relief items, and to strengthen preparedness activities.
NEWS AND BLOG POSTS
Borderline existence: The risk of refugees disappearing from history by Richard Pine, October 22, 2024. The Irish Times. The Greek word, “asylum”, is very apt, meaning supremacy and the power to exercise it either benevolently or not, as occasion demands. The Greek state was profoundly changed by the influx of 1.2 million refugees from Anatolia, the Pontic region and Thrace (Salvanou’s particular area of study). But it was almost impossible to accommodate the human, social and cultural differences this involved. Probably the worst hit by the 1922 relocations were the Pontic Greeks, from the Black Sea area of Turkey, whose cultural and linguistic differences were so marked that even today they suffer ostracisation and marginalisation, as depicted in Constantine Giannaris’s vivid 1998 film From the Edge of the City. In the past 10 years, 1.35 million refugees arrived on Greek shores – almost the same number who arrived in Greece from Turkey a century ago. They have a similar problem: how to accept their new circumstances and yet sustain a memory of who they actually are, because the international refugee system, as Salvanou explains, designates all refugees as a single problem.
d’Orsi, C. (2024). Externalization of migration control in Africa: An African perspective. ADiM Blog. In this contribution, the author analyses the initiatives undertaken to externalize migration control in Africa. While the European Union is striving to strengthen its partnership with African stakeholders, there is a growing dissatisfaction at the African level with several initiatives because they are considered to be undertaken in the exclusive interest of the European Union. By externalising migration governance, the EU seeks to protect itself from migration, while at the same time becoming reliant on third countries to manage migratory flows, thus exposing itself to vulnerability and complicity in human rights abuses against migrants. In this scenario, the author believes that assistance through any migration agreement under which African countries prevent individuals from leaving their own countries should be limited. Options allowing African countries to build their capacity to respect and protect human rights and to address their development needs should be widely preferred. No one is likely to have the intention to “invade” Europe if there is economic and political security at home.
Institutions, not international students, are to blame for rising asylum claims by Yvonne Su, November 4, 2024. Policy Options. Immigration and Refugees Minister Marc Miller’s recently announced reduction in international student visas for 2024 and his subsequent statement about the “alarming trend” of an increasing number of these students applying for asylum in Canada highlight a troubling trend. But it is being framed through a dangerous lens. While it’s true that asylum claims from international students are on the rise, the implication that students are abusing Canada’s asylum system does a disservice to both the students and the integrity of our immigration processes. From 2018-24, only 33,985 students applied for asylum out of the 1,747,940 study permits approved – only 1.94 per cent. Therefore, instead of casting suspicion over the entire cohort, we should direct our attention to the real culprits: the predatory learning institutions that exploit these students for profit and place them in a vulnerable situation.
Tamil asylum seekers mark 100 days of protest in Melbourne despite disruption by neo-Nazis, October 27, 2024. Tamil Guardian. Tamil asylum seekers who rallied in Melbourne, Australia, earlier this week to mark 100 days of continuous protests to demand permanent visa protection were disrupted by a group of neo-Nazis. Tamil asylum seekers have been camped outside the Department Home Affairs since July 15, to call on the Australian government to grant them permanent visas. Many of the protesters have been on short term visas for over a decade. Without permanent residency, asylum seekers do not have access to Medicare – Australia’s universal health insurance scheme, they do not have the right to work or study nor the right to travel.
UN expert calls for action as Marshall Islands faces dual displacement crisis, October 31, 2024. United Nations. The appeal from Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, comes as the Pacific nation grapples with generational displacement and the threat posed by rising sea levels and unprecedented global heating. The Marshall Islands, a frontline nation in the fight to slow global warming, faces unique challenges. As one of the small island developing States (SIDS), it has played a significant role in international climate action. Under the Paris Agreement of 2015, the Marshall Islands was instrumental, along with other SIDS, in advocating strongly for the inclusion of the 1.5 C temperature goal. The nation also submitted one of the first Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCS) under the agreement. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) identifies the Marshall Islands as particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts, with rising sea levels posing an existential threat. Despite these challenges, the agreement on ‘Loss and Damage funding’ at COP27, marks a critical development for vulnerable nations like the Marshall Islands. This mechanism aims to provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable nations impacted by climate change effects.
EVENTS, RESOURCES, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA
Aging in and out of place: Lived experience of forced migration across the life course. Centre for Research on Security Practices. The Centre for Research on Security Practices (CRSP) invites you to meet Dr. Christina Clark-Kazak as she discusses her new book, “Aging in and Out of Place: Lived Experience of Forced Migration across the Life Course,” with Drs. Bree Akesson, Anh Ngo, and Nuha Dwaikat-Shaer on Monday, November 18, 2024, from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM EST. This event will be in a hybrid format, with in-person and virtual attendance options. The in-person location is Senate and Board Chambers, OM206-10, 1 Market Street, Brantford, ON. Aging in and out of place: Lived experience of forced migration across the life course provides a cradle-to-grave understanding of displacement. Using an innovative social age perspective, this book challenges students and policymakers to think about how migration journeys intersect with key life course events in cross-border and cross-cultural contexts.
CRS Book Launch: Forced migration in/to Canada. Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS). Offering a comprehensive resource in the growing field of migration studies, Forced Migration in/to Canada edited by Professor Christina Clark-Kazak of the University of Ottawa is a critical primer from multiple disciplinary perspectives. Researchers, practitioners, and knowledge keepers draw on documentary evidence and analysis to foreground lived experiences of displacement and migration policies at the municipal, provincial, territorial, and federal levels. From the earliest instances of Indigenous displacement and settler colonialism, through Black enslavement, to statelessness, trafficking, and climate migration in today’s world, contributors show how migration, as a human phenomenon, is differentially shaped by intersecting identities and structures. Particularly novel are the specific insights into disability, race, class, social age, and gender identity. This event will be on Thursday December 5, 2024, 11:30am – 1:00pm ET. This will be a hybrid event. The in-person location will be at 305 York Lanes, Keele Campus, York University.
New podcast ‘Australia Fair’: The long tail of the White Australia Policy by SBS Audio. Australia Fair is the new SBS podcast series with some challenging history lessons for everyone who calls Australia home, chronicling the key moments contributing to their national identity. Interviewing academics and high-profile Australians, host Janak Rogers travels back in time to examine everything from ‘blackbirding’ South Pacific Islanders and settling ‘Ten-Pound Poms’, to attitudes towards the first Vietnamese refugees arriving on Australian shores by boat and African youth ‘crime gangs’. The series charts Australia’s growing pains through successive waves of immigration, and our nation’s ongoing efforts to make multiculturalism work.
Virtual Launch of the Mixed Migration Review 2024 (Event) by Mixed Migration Centre. The Mixed Migration Review (MMR) 2024 dives into the politics of mixed migration and the salience of migration issues in politics. How is migration instrumentalized both domestically and internationally? In what ways do rising populist movements rely on maintaining migration as a perceived threat? What role does modern media play in shaping migration narratives? How do governments balance restricting asylum and migration with the growing demand for migrant labour? Through critical essays, interviews with global and regional experts, thematic snapshots and personal migrant stories, the Mixed Migration Review explores these issues and more. As always, the Mixed Migration Review also documents the best and worst behaviour by authorities in relation to mixed migration in the annual “Resisting and Normalising the Extreme” features. This online event will take place on 5 December 2024, from 14:00 to 15:30 CET for the virtual launch of the Mixed Migration Review 2024. The event will feature engaging discussions with experts, journalists, and academics.