Thematic Focus: Law/Policy Items

Event:

Global roundtable on responsibility-sharing and lawful responses to contemporary challenges facing the international protection system, The Hague, 24-26 November 2026 [info]

Short pieces:

Making refugee rights effective: Towards a new UNHCR Handbook (RSC Blog, Oct. 2026) [text]

Shame and Shamelessness in Migration and Refugee Law: Mapping Out the Relationship (Verfassungsblog, Oct. 2026) [text]

Reports:

Internally displaced persons and international humanitarian law: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, UN Doc. No. A/HRC/62/47 (UN Human Rights Council, June 2026) [access]

- See also the initial call for input to this report and the inputs received.

Interpretation and Application of Exclusion Grounds in International Protection: Analysis of Case Law (2020-2026) (EU Agency for Asylum, Oct. 2026) [text]

Practical Guide on Exclusion for Serious (Non-political) Crimes (EU Agency for Asylum, Oct. 2026) [text]

Journal articles & book chapters:

"The 1951 Convention and its colonial limits: towards a universal, decolonial refugee regime," International Journal of Refugee Law, Advance Articles, 16 Oct. 2026 [open access]

"The ethical trilemma in refugee protection: equity, sovereignty, autonomy," Comparative Migration Studies, 23 Oct. 2026 [open access]

"Introduction," A Research Agenda for Refugee Law (Edward Elgar, Oct. 2026) [free full-text] 

"Reluctant Conformity: Volunteers’ Faith in, and Expectations of, Law When Performing Maritime Search and Rescue Work," Refugee Survey Quarterly, Advance Articles, 10 Nov. 2026 [open access]

Resources:

Protecting the Non-Religious: A Toolkit for Recognising and Supporting Asylum Claims Based on Non-Religion and Apostasy ( Univ. of York, Humanists UK & Migrants' Rights Network, Oct. 2026) [access via EIN]

- "[A] three-part resource designed to support government officials, advocates working with people seeking asylum, and individuals with lived experience of apostasy and forced displacement." Focuses on the UK.

Refugee Law Initiative Declaration on Minimum Legal Standards for Asylum Procedures [free full-text via IJRL]

- This document "outlines a set of minimum international legal standards that apply to the procedures through which States receive and examine asylum claims.4 Its aim is to contribute to greater legal certainty on this topic: governments will know which minimum standards their national asylum systems must meet; those assisting asylum claimants will have a clearer basis for holding States to account; and courts and tribunals will have a concrete framework of reference too." See also the accompanying analytical paper which "sets out an analysis of the binding character of those standards under international law." Previously issued declarations on international protection can be accessed here.

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Law/Policy Items (5 Oct. 2026)

Finding Grey Literature: IGO Publications

This is a short listing of some of the other corporate IGO authors of grey literature that I often reference in my regional and thematic round-ups, with links to their primary publication platforms or repositories.

International Labour Organization (ILO): 

"The ILO has engaged in the labour aspects of forced displacement since its inception, focusing on ensuring access to decent work for both refugees and host communities."

- ILO's comprehensive institutional repository, Labordoc, houses publications dating back to the 1900s. It also provides a number of ways to refine your search.

International Organization for Migration (IOM):

IOM serves as the "leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration and is committed to the principle that humane and orderly migration benefits migrants and society." 

- Publications Platform provides access to IOM's principal reports, research studies, and e-journal. 

- Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM): "gathers and analyzes data to disseminate critical multi-layered information on the mobility, vulnerabilities, and needs of displaced and mobile populations that enables decision makers and responders to provide these populations with better context specific assistance."

- IOM also manages a variety of thematic portals/platforms, including the Environmental Migration Portal; Migration Protection Platform; and Missing Migrants Project.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR): 

"The special procedures of the Human Rights Council are independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective." With regard to thematic mandates, three are specifically related to forced migration and displacement: 1) Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons; 2) Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants; 3) Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery and trafficking in persons. But other human rights experts - for example, those concerned with climate change, SOGI and violence against women - may also report on the intersection of these issues with migration, displacement and statelessness.

- Documents Listing: Use the subject filters to retrieve relevant documents; examples include: asylum, human trafficking, internally displaced persons, migrants, refugees and statelessness.

- Publications: This is a much smaller collection, so fewer related subject filters are available.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO):

UNESCO promotes refugee inclusion in education, particularly via its Qualifications Passport.

- Digital Library: Enter your search term in the box and use the many filters on the left to narrow your results. You can also sort your results by "year - most recent." I particularly like the option to create an RSS feed for searches!

World Bank:

Provides "financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world...to reduce poverty and support development." 

- The Open Knowledge Repository "collects, disseminates, and permanently preserves [the World Bank's] intellectual output in digital form"; see the "About" and FAQ for more info.

- sample search:  >refugees< [results sorted by "date issued descending"]

- The Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement is a joint endeavor with UNHCR to collect and analyze socioeconomic data to better inform policymaking and programming. It maintains the JDC Literature Review database and has helped developed various data tools and systems.

Thematic Focus: People with Disabilities & Older People

Short pieces:

Beyond “the Infirm”? Persons with Disabilities in the Updated ICRC Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention (EJIL: Talk Blog, Nov. 2026) [text]

Disability and the Divergence of Economic Immigration and and Resettlement Pathways for Refugees, 1951-2011 (Refugee History Blog, Sept. 2026) [text]

Reports & book chapters:

"Echoes of Displacement: Co-Producing a Comic Book with Older Refugees," Chapter in Collaborative Research for Ageing in Place: Stories of Co-Production in Practice (Univ. of Manchester, 2026) [open access]

- Scroll to p. 86.

Left to Carry It Alone: The Hidden Cost of Caregiving for Persons with Disabilities in Displacement and Return (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon) (Humanity & Inclusion, Nov. 2026) [text via ReliefWeb]

Journal articles:

"Health, identity, and vulnerability among elderly Afghan refugees in Pakistan," Discover Aging, 1:9 (Aug. 2026) [open access]

"How refugee youths with physical disabilities adapt livelihoods to drought in Kenya," Forced Migration Review, no. 76 Plus (Sept. 2026) [open access]

"Long-term provision and follow-up of assistive technology in post-humanitarian emergency contexts: a scoping review," Disability and Rehabilitation: Assistive Technology, Latest Articles, 6 Oct. 2026 [open access]

The Lancet Healthy Longevity (Oct. 2026) [open access]

- Series on "Older adults in humanitarian settings": "Older adults are disproportionately affected by humanitarian crises but are often overlooked in health-care planning, preparedness, and response in these settings. In this Series, we aim to highlight these issues and provide a framework for including the health-care needs of older adults in humanitarian crises."

"Predicting COVID-19 infection among older Syrian refugees in Lebanon: A multi-wave survey," PLoS One 21(10): e0359272 (Oct. 2026) [open access]

REMHU: Revista Interdisciplinar da Mobilidade Humana, vol. 34 (2026) [open access]

- Features a dossier on "Aging and Migration." 

"'You end up doing what they want … because you are afraid of them': a qualitative exploration of barriers to sexual and reproductive health among Zimbabwean refugee women with disabilities in South Africa," Reproductive Health, 17 Oct. 2026 [open access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: People with Disabilities & Older People (30 Sept. 2026)

Thematic Focus: Gender-related Issues

New open access book:

Violence Against Women, Displacement, and Religion: Rethinking Humanitarianism (Oxford Univ. Press, Oct. 2026) [open access]

- "This volume introduces an innovative framework for understanding religion in displaced women's experiences of violence. Drawing on mixed-methods research with humanitarian practitioners and displaced women from African and Levantine regions in Türkiye and Tunisia, it centres displaced women's voices and brings readers into Christian and Muslim survivors' intimate relationships with the sacred. The volume reveals how religion shifts across the social ecology of displacement-often as a resource for resilience when formal systems thin out and sometimes as a source of intersectional vulnerability. Through rich empirical evidence and interdisciplinary analysis, the volume argues that humanitarian systems secularize women's experiences, even though religion is central to the lives of many. By bridging humanitarian and religious systems, this book calls for building an intersectional ecology of protection to improve outcomes for displaced women."

Reports:

Beyond Numbers: Voices of displaced women and girls in Yemen (GBV AoR, Oct. 2026) [text via ReliefWeb]

Gender, Sexual Orientation, and the One-Year Refugee Bar: A Computational Study of Bill

C-12 and Canadian Refugee Adjudication, Refugee Law Lab Working Paper (York Univ., Oct. 2026) [text]

From Frontlines to Frameworks: How Women-Led Organizations, Mutual Aid Groups, and Emergency Response Rooms Protect Women and Girls in Sudan (Women's Refugee Commission, Oct. 2026) [text]

Guidance for gender-responsive reintegration services for migrant women returnees (IOM & UN Women, Oct. 2026) [text via ReliefWeb]

The hidden crisis: Sexual violence crimes along African-European migration routes (Danish Institute for International Studies, June 2026) [text]

Women’s Inheritance Rights in Northwest and Northeast Syria (Norwegian Refugee Council, Nov. 2026) [text]

Journal articles:

"Assessing the implementation of the minimum initial service package for sexual and reproductive health (MISP) among refugees in the Eastern Mediterranean region: a systematic review," Conflict and Health, 24 Oct. 2026 [open access]

"'I Was Just Told I’m Getting Married Next Week': Uncovering the Coercive Dynamics of Early Marriage Among Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh," Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies 

Latest Articles, 20 Oct. 2026 [open access]

"Is there a female advantage in first- and second-instance decisions on asylum applications in the European Union," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 8 Nov. 2026 [abstract]

- See also earlier related open access article.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder and its association with domestic violence among Rohingya refugee women in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study," Conflict and Health, 9 Nov. 2026 [open access]

"Tactics and Strategies Operating in Everyday Life Among Women with Experiences of Forced Migration," Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 33:9 (Oct. 2026) [open access]

- Focuses on Sweden and Germany.

"'You should never make a noise': patriarchal confinement of displaced women from Myanmar in Thailand’s refugee-migrant labour regime," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 8 Oct. 2026 [open access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Gender-related Issues (9 Oct. 2026)

Finding Grey Literature: UNHCR Information

Given the central role that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plays in the displacement context, I have featured its publications and resources prominently in my blog posts over the years. But its output has also grown considerably, and it can be challenging to keep track of. To help address this issue, I put together a resource page of UNHCR's publications and resources in 2021, and I check it at least annually to ensure the information and links are still correct. 

My most recent update includes several more substantial edits, particularly regarding how to search both UNHCR's global site and field office sites. I also plan on putting together a future post that focuses on recent developments relating to UNHCR's Archive and Records section and how they are responding to recent and very significant funding cuts.

Finally, I was reminded recently about the importance of using an expansive definition of what constitutes an "information resource" after reading Jeff Crisp's Refugee History blog post on "UNHCR memoirs and biographies." 

Thematic Focus: General

Watch for:

The 2026 edition of Mixed Migration Centre's flagship publication, Mixed Migration Review, will be launched tomorrow. Register for the webinar and/or get a sneak preview here.

Short pieces:

High Commissioner's Harrell-Bond Lecture at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford (UNHCR, Oct. 2026) [text]

Is ‘migration choice‘ possible during the migration course? Understanding biographical migration projects (FluchtforschungsBlog, Oct. 2026) [text]

Statement to the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (UNHCR, Nov. 2026) [text]

UNHCR Archives: A History of Access - Is Access Now History? (Refugee History Blog, Sept. 2026) [text]

UNHCR Memoirs and Biographies: A Neglected Source for Refugee History (Refugee History Blog, Nov. 2026) [text]

What Is the Role of Migration and Displacement in Global Conflicts? (Carnegie Foundation, Nov. 2026) [text]

New open access books:

Handbook of the Anthropology of Mobilities (Berghahn Books, Nov. 2026) [open access]

- "What if the way people move through the world says more about their identities, cultures and societies than the places they come from or the destinations they reach? How will the many crises our

planet is currently facing reshape global mobility patterns, and are we prepared for the humanitarian and environmental challenges it will bring? This handbook does not at all pretend to have answers to these difficult questions. However, it does want to offer conceptual anthropological insights to tackle the issues at hand and to enhance our understanding of mobilities, broadly defined."

Innovations in Solutions: Building on 100 years of Efforts – The Global Compact on Refugees (Peter Lang, Oct. 2026) [open access]

- "Building on over a century of international efforts in refugee protection, this monograph traces key developments from the early twentieth century to the present day. It critically examines the impact of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) of 2018 on partnerships for economic inclusion and refugees’ self-reliance, meaningful participation of refugees in decision-making processes and academia. The chronology illustrates how the GCR complements the 1951 Refugee Convention, including for more predictable frameworks of responsibility-sharing, with a mutistakeholder and a ‘whole-of society’ approach. Combining decades of field experience and empirical research, the monograph offers a richly documented resource for students, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, while providing practitioner insights rarely found in academic publications."

Translating Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons to Early Modernity: Historically Displaced Concepts (Palgrave Macmillan, Oct. 2026) [open access]

- "This open access book introduces the concept of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) into early modern migration history, arguing that the current characterisation of early modern refugee movements is oversimplified. During this period, hundreds of thousands of people fled Europe’s religious wars, seeking asylum in neighbouring states or across the seas. The efforts and trials of these refugees have been chartered and analysed by many prominent scholars, who have demonstrated the movements’ entanglement with the state formation process and the rise of humanitarianism. As a result, early modern refugees are frequently grouped together under the umbrella term ‘religious refugees’, contrasting them with present-day refugees, which are identified in terms of national or ethnic belonging. However, as this book demonstrates, there were considerable differences among the forced migrants, and one of the most significant was that whereas some of them fled outside of established political relationships, many of them moved within such bonds and borders. As today, early modern forced migration was multifaceted and encompassed diverse groups with diverse needs and motives."

Reports:

Migration Governance Indicators Benchmark Report on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (International Organization for Migration, Nov. 2026) [text]

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN Doc. No. A/81/339 (UN General Assembly, Aug. 2026) [access]

- This thematic report examines "reconstruction following armed conflict, generalized violence and disasters, and its role in enabling internally displaced persons to achieve durable solutions or, conversely, in prolonging displacement, contributing to its recurrence or generating new displacement." See also related press release.

Journal articles:

"Agency: A Concept in Need of Resisting?," Refugee Survey Quarterly, Advance Articles, 4 Nov. 2026 [open access]

Cold War History, vol. 26, no. 4 (2026) [contents]

- Special issue on "Refugees and the Cold War." The introduction is freely available and six articles are open access.

"Drifting as method: Illustrating a concept metaphor for the anthropology of securitised mobility," Critique of Anthropology, OnlineFirst, 21 Aug. 2026 [open access]

"The Political Representation of Refugees in Modern Democratic Nation-States (or Lack Thereof)," Splijtstof: The Philosophical Faculty Journal, vol. 54, no. 2 (2026) [full-text]

- Scroll to p. 35.

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: General (23 Oct. 2026)

Finding Grey Literature: Introduction

Since its inception, this blog has served as a vehicle for sharing information and analysis on forced migration issues. Much of what I have highlighted is what we generally think of as "grey literature," i.e., unpublished or informally published materials that fall outside the mainstream distribution channels that exist for commercially published items like books and scholarly journal articles. For this reason, grey literature used to be quite hard to discover or to track down.

But over the years, organizations turned to the web to disseminate their publications (usually on a cost-free basis), thereby greatly facilitating access to grey literature - and enabling me to more easily reference research reports, working papers, project documents, official publications, training materials, conference presentations, newsletters, operational guidelines, etc.

That said, just because something is somewhere on the web doesn't necessarily guarantee straightforward access - for example, some items may not be indexed by search engines, some may once have been online but subsequently removed, some may have been mis-referenced because their title changed or they lack a publication date, etc. When publications are systematically collected and described from a central point, they are much easier to retrieve. This is equally true in digital and print environments.  

Which brings me to the point of this introduction: This week, I plan on sharing tips on resources I have used to identify grey literature and which you may find useful too! 

Thematic Focus: Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity

Short pieces & reports:

How LGBTQIA+ civil society can unlock community-led protection in conflict settings (ODI, Sept. 2026) [text]

The Refugee Stories Protection Systems Want to Hear (Carr-Ryan Commentary, Oct. 2026) [text]

New open access book:

Queerly Faithful: Queer People’s Experience of Religion in Asylum Seeking (Emerald Publishing, Nov. 2026) [open access]

- "An assumption present in refugee status determinations is that there is an incompatibility of religious faith and queer subjectivity. Queerly Faithful considers religious experiences throughout the lives of queer people who seek asylum to show the complexity of queer people's lives in country of origin, the legal asylum process and rebuilding lives in host countries. How do queer people experience religion before and after arrival into the UK to claim asylum?"

Journal articles:

"Constructing queer identities in asylum cases," Alternative Law Journal, vol. 51, no. 3 (2026) [open access]

- Focuses on Australia.

"'I knew about political asylum, but not about asylum for gay people': How queer exiles come to apply (or not) for SOGI asylum in France," Journal of Refugee Studies, Advance Articles, 18 Feb. 2025 [postprint]

"'Other than in the hotel, I feel safe almost everywhere': Hotelized containment, governable (in)visibility and LGBTIQ+ survival in UK asylum hotels," Migration Studies, vol. 4, no. 4 (Dec. 2026) [open access]

"Stuck in between: healthcare barriers for transgender asylum seekers in Aotearoa New Zealand," International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, Earlycite, 28 Sept. 2026 [open access]

"Towards Intersectional Justice: Judicial Engagement with Queer Women’s Asylum Claims in New Zealand," Amicus Curiae, vol. 8, no. 1 (2026) [open access]

"Ukrainian Queer Refugees in Germany and Hungary: Religion, Gender, and Human Rights - A Comparative Ethnography," REMHU: Revista Interdisciplinar da Mobilidade Humana, vol. 34 (2026) [open access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity (11 Sept. 2026) 

Thematic Focus: Human Trafficking & Smuggling

Short pieces:

High-Level Side Event on Combatting Trafficking in Persons for the Purposes of Sexual Exploitation by Armed and Terrorist Groups (OHCHR, July 2026) [text]

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Holds Public Hearing on Exploitation & Trafficking of Mexican Unaccompanied Children Deported to Southern Mexico (Human Rights First, Aug. 2026) [text]

Reports:

City of Contrasts: Urban Safety, Migration and Climate Change and Their Impact on the Somali Community in Eastleigh, Nairobi (Global Initiative, July 2026) [access]

- Policy paper and recommendations available in English, Somali & Kiswahili. The report finds that "Eastleigh’s illegal markets are interconnected. Document fraud supports migrant smuggling and human trafficking. Corrupt officials protect or participate in these activities. Gangs facilitate forced evictions and extract money from transport and waste-collection services. Unregulated construction and hotels can provide spaces in which trafficked people are concealed and exploited. Climate change acts as a risk multiplier. Drought and the loss of rural livelihoods in Somalia and northern Kenya push people towards Nairobi. New arrivals often lack documents, safe accommodation, formal employment and social support, making them particularly vulnerable to bribery, forced labour, sexual exploitation and smuggling networks."

Russia: Recruitment of foreign nationals to fight in Ukraine amounts to human trafficking (Amnesty International, Sept. 2026) [access]

Trafficking in Persons Report 2026 (US Dept. of State, Oct. 2026) [access]

- Note: Once again, the publication of this report was delayed; under the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act, it must be submitted by the State Dept. to Congress by 30 June. In addition, according to this post on The Hill, the 2026 report has "eliminated all of its nearly 2,000 prioritized recommendations across 188 countries," as well as "cut nearly 40 percent of the content in the previous year’s report."

Typology of the Financial Aspects of Smuggling of Migrants (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Oct. 2026) [access]

- See also related InfoMigrants post.

 Journal articles & book chapters:

"Brokering, Smuggling and Trafficking," Chapter in Handbook of the Anthropology of Mobilities (Berghahn Books, Nov. 2026) [open access]

"Criminalising Solidarity? Redefining the Boundaries of EU Facilitation Law Between Migrant Smuggling, Humanitarian Assistance and Fundamental Rights," Laws, vol. 15, no. 6 (Oct. 2026) [open access]

"'Dumped in a hotel by the sea': the risks and harms of human trafficking and exploitation associated with placing unaccompanied children seeking asylum in UK Home Office hotels," Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, vol. 48, no. 2 (2026) [open access] 

"Encountering Corruption in Mobility and Arrival," Chapter in Migration and Corruption: IMISCOE Short Reader (Springer, Sept. 2026) [open access]

"Migration crimes in the Horn of Africa: examining policies, legal frameworks, and strategies to tackle vulnerabilities and the humanitarian-security nexus," Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 11:21 (Aug. 2026) [open access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Human Trafficking & Smuggling (30 July 2026)

Regional Focus: Europe

Short pieces:

EU states must not send Afghans back to danger, warn UN experts (OHCHR, Oct. 2026) [text]

See also blog posts on EU Immigration & Asylum Law & Policy and FlüchtlingsforschungsBlog = Forced Migration Studies Blog.

**For much more news and info on the latest developments, check out the ECRE Weekly Bulletin.**

Reports:

Asylum Interviews in the UK: Audit Findings and Recommendations (UNHCR, March 2026) [text]

Forecasting refugee return to Ukraine amid ongoing war and uncertainty, UNHCR Policy Brief No. 2 (UNHCR, Nov. 2026) [access]

- Available in English and Ukrainian.

Regional Refugee Response for the Ukraine Situation - 2022-2026: From Emergency Response to Solutions (UNHCR, Oct. 2026) [text via ReliefWeb]

Trauma-informed Care Approaches in the Context of Asylum and Reception (EU Agency for Asylum, Oct. 2026) [text]

Journal articles:

"Asylum granted: The integration and well-being benefits of obtaining refugee status," World Development, vol. 210 (Feb. 2027) [open access]

- Focuses on Greece.

"Beyond the European Courts: Alternative Case Law on Non-Refoulement at Embassies and Consulates," Refugee Survey Quarterly, Advance Articles, 29 Oct. 2026 [open access]

"Drivers of self-perceived discrimination among Ukrainian refugees in eight European countries," Journal of Migration and Health, vol. 14 (2026) [open access]

"From ordinary human suffering to Adversity-Activated Development: acknowledging the complexity, uniqueness, and totality of asylum seekers’ hotspot experiences," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 29 Oct. 2026 [open access]

- Focuses on Greece.

"Navigating conversations about trauma: developing training for lawyers working with asylum seekers in the UK," Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, Latest Articles, 26 Oct. 2026 [open access]

"UK immigration statuses and rural/urban contexts: towards a research agenda on (forced) migrant food insecurity," Public Health Nutrition, vol. 29, no. 1 (2026) [open access]

Related posts:

- Regional Focus: Europe - Pt. 1 (23 Oct. 2026)

- Regional Focus: Europe - Pt. 2 (Ukrainians) (23 Oct. 2026)