Regional Focus: Asia Pacific

Opportunities:

Seminar: The Differential Criminalisation of Unauthorised Migration: Controlling the Maritime Movements of Rohingya to and from Indonesia, Singapore, 24 February 2026 [info]

CFP: ARC-UNHCR Conference on Refugee Studies and Forced Displacement (REFCON 2026), Kuala Lumpur, 9-11 June 2026 [info]

- Submit proposals by 28 February 2026.

Short pieces:

Australia: Abusive Refugee, Migration Policies Expand (HRW, Feb. 2026) [text]

Fixing the “Foreigner”: What India’s New Immigration Law Gets Wrong About Refugees (RLI Blog, Feb. 2026) [text]

Rohingya boats: Out of mind but still coming (The Interpreter Blog, Feb. 2026) [text]

Selective Humanitarianism and the Erosion of Non-Refoulement: India’s Immigration and Foreigners (Exemption) Order 2025 (RLI Blog, Feb. 2026) [text]

New open access book:

Between Empire and Nation: South Asian Humanitarianism in the Late Colonial Period (Cambridge Univ. Press, Dec. 2025) [open access]

- This volume provides "a comprehensive history of South Asian humanitarian aid in the context of armed  conflicts in the colonial period. Adopting an international and transnational approach, the book focuses on relief initiatives from the First World War to the Second World War and the early post-war years. Through five case studies, this book offers new insights into the history of volunteer societies and non-state organisations in British India. It enhances readers’ understanding of late colonial public and political activism on the Indian subcontinent. "

Journal articles:

"Causing a Stir: Unwanted Aliens and the Cauldron of Crimmigration Controls Post-NZYQ," Univ. of Queensland Law Journal, Advance Access, 30 Oct. 2025 [open access]

- Focuses on Australia. See also related Border Criminologies blog post.

"Foreign Aid, Civil Society and Post-colonial Statebuilding in the Thai‒Myanmar Borderworld," Development and Change, Early View, 23 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"The hope industrial complex: resisting manufactured and false hope with critical hope in peace education, Thailand's refugee context," Teaching in Higher Education: Critical Perspectives, Latest Articles, 27 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"Humanitarian Crises and Mental Health Coping Strategies Among Myanmar Refugees in Mizoram State, India," Asian Social Work and Policy Review, vol. 20, no. 1 (Feb. 2026) [open access]

"Reflections on the mobility turn and the relationality of (im)mobilities," Journal of Contemporary East Asia Studies, Latest Articles, 15 Jan. 2026 [open access]

- Uses "the case of Afghan refugees in Korea as an illustration."

Related post:

- Regional Focus: Asia Pacific (30 Jan. 2026)

Thematic Focus: Detention

Short pieces:

"The Bhasan Char project was never about protection, it’s about Rohingya confinement," The New Humanitarian, 27 Jan. 2026 [text]

Congress Should Stop DHS’s Lawless Misuse of Mandatory Immigration Detention (Just Security, Feb. 2026) [text]

- Focuses on the US. See also related Immigration Impact blog post.

EU: New Return Regulation Threatens to Significantly Expand Detention, Warn UN Special Procedures (Immigration Detention Monitor, Feb. 2026) [text]

ICE's Delayed Detention Data is Out, Two Record Highs: 70,000 People Detained, 40,000 on Ankle Monitors (Austin Kocher Substack, Feb. 2026) [text]

- See also related post on the best source of detention data.

Invisible and Detained: How Immigration Detention Reproduces Gender-Based Violence Against Migrant Women in South Africa (Lawyers for Human Rights, Feb. 2026) [text]

A Legal Black Hole: Does Iraq Have the Right to Detain Prisoners Transferred from Syria? (Just Security, Feb. 2026) [text]

Poland – More Migrant Children to be Detained Following Controversial Legislative Changes (Immigration Detention Monitor, Feb. 2026) [text]

Sweetening Migrant Detention in Third Countries (Refugee History Blog, Dec. 2025) [text]

- Focuses on the US.

The Taken - Inside the ICE Detention Pipeline for US Citizens and Residents: From Minnesota to Texas (Just Security, Feb. 2026) [text]

Visualising Confinement: Creating 3D Models of Greek Detention Centres (Border Criminologies Blog, Feb. 2026) [text]

We Told You So: Now What for Northeast Syria? (Just Security, Jan. 2026) [text]

Reports & journal articles:

"'Doing Head Miles': The Meaning and Mental Health Consequences of Immigration Detention in the Context of Criminal Deportation," SSM - Qualitative Research in Health, In Press, 5 Feb. 2026 [open access]

- Focuses on Australia.

Health in immigration detention: Evidence brief for policy and practice (WHO & Global Detention Project, Jan. 2026) [text]

New ICE arrest data show the power of state and local governments to curtail mass deportations (Prison Policy Initiative, Dec. 2025) [text]

- Provides an update to their earlier report, Hiding in Plain Sight: How local jails obscure and facilitate mass deportation under Trump.

"Protecting human rights in detention: Does anybody care?," Alternative Law Journal, OnlineFirst, 6 Feb. 2026 [open access]

- Focuses on Australia.

Profiting Off Pain: Privatized Detention, Mass Surveillance and the Drive for Immigrant Prosecutions (National Immigration Project & American Univ., Jan. 2026) [text]

- Focuses on the US.

"Rethinking Preventive Detention," UCLA Law Review, vol. 73 (Forthcoming) [preprint]

- Focuses on the US.

New books:

FYI: These titles include subsections that focus on immigration detention.

Forced Migration and Health Justice (Oxford Univ. Press, Feb. 2026) [info]

Gender Equality Behind Bars: A Feminist Approach to Penality Policies Worldwide (Palgrave Macmillan, Feb. 2026) [info]

Related posts:

- Thematic Focus: Detention - Pt. 1 (25 Jan. 2026) 

- Thematic Focus: Detention - Pt. 2 (25 Jan. 2026)

Thematic Focus: General

Short pieces:

Advancing South-South Strategic Dialogue on Refugee Leadership (LERRN, Feb. 2026) [text]

Global Human Rights Repository: A central hub for human rights data (HURIDOCS, Feb. 2026) [text]

Reimagining Responses to the Refugee Crisis (Carleton Univ., Jan. 2026) [text]

Trump’s 'Board of Peace' isn’t about Gaza: It’s about replacing the UN (EPC, Feb. 2026) [text]

- See also related Q&A on Just Security and ECFR post.

UNHCR’s Salih calls for global shift from managing to resolving displacement (UNHCR, Feb. 2026) [text]

New open access book:

Enforced Disappearances: On Universal Responses to a Worldwide Phenomenon (Cambridge University Press, Aug. 2025) [open access]

- This volume "discusses the UN human rights (both treaty bodies and special procedures) response to the key challenges of missing persons and enforced disappearances, including reparations, family rights, involvement of non-state actors, and the migration context. The book also includes several illustrative case studies from Latin America, Africa, Mexico, Western Balkans, and the Asia-Pacific region, which demonstrate the current challenges and problems relating to enforced disappearances in domestic or regional settings."

Reports & book chapters: 

Review of the consultations with non-governmental organizations held in 2025 (UNHCR & ICVA, Aug. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

- Prepared for the 76th session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme, Geneva, 6-10 October 2025. More info about the outcomes of regional NGO consultations held in 2025 can be found via UNHCR (scroll down).

"Thinking about academic networks through social network analysis," Chapter in The Role of Networks in Advancing Human Rights (Edward Elgar, Oct. 2025) [preprint]

Journal articles:

"Camp Time: Heterochronies in ‘Other Spaces'," Population, Space and Place, vol. 32, no. 1 (Jan. 2026) [open access]

- Focuses on "humanitarian-run camps in Jordan and privatized city shelter camps in the US."

"Categorical misalignments in immigration systems: spillovers, omissions, liminality, and the production of inequality," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 52, no. 3 (2026) [free full-text]

- Keynote address for 11th SCMR-JEMS International Conference, Sussex, UK, 2024. See also earlier related article in the American Sociological Review.

"Eliminationist politics: an analytical framework," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 9 Feb. 2026 [free full-text]

- Introduction to forthcoming special issue.

"Jennifer Hyndman's Managing Displacement, 25 years on," Political Geography, In Press, 9 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"Navigating the Nexus of Displacement, Policy, and Governance," Journal of Internal Displacement, vol. 16, no. 1 (2026) [open access]

"Organised forced migration and the external drivers of eliminationist politics," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 9 Feb. 2026 [open access]

"Restricting boat refugees at sea – rescuing the sovereign? The response to boat refugees across time and space, 1979–2001," International Journal of Maritime History, 27 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"What Drives Anti-Migrant Vigilantes," Migration Information Source, 28 Jan. 2026 [text]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: General (21 Jan. 2026)

Regional Focus: MENA

Short pieces:

Establishing the Board of Peace: Key Questions about the Launch of the Trump Administration’s New Peace-Building Initiative (Just Security, Feb. 2026) [text]

- See also related TNH opinion piece.

Lebanon’s First Refugee Crisis and the Paradox of Non-Integration (Borders and Limitations: The IMS Blog, Dec. 2025) [text]

OPT Post-ceasefire Deal Reality, Humanitarian Access Snapshot #13 (ActionAid et al., Dec. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

The Refugee Platform in Egypt launches the first interactive digital database to archive public policies on migration and asylum in Egypt and Mediterranean countries (RPE, Feb. 2026) [text]

Reports:

Article 1D of the Refugee Convention and Palestinians from Gaza: the cessation of UNRWA protection and assistance?, MOBILE Working Paper, no. 75 Univ. of Copenhagen, Oct. 2025) [text]

Humanitarian Access Overview - Spotlight on fragmented contexts: Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen (ACAPS, Dec. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

Leveraging comparative advantages to advance solutions for refugees in Jordan: UNHCR's catalytic role in a context of scarce humanitarian funding (UNHCR, Feb. 2026) [text]

Refugee inclusion and urban livelihoods: A qualitative assessment of UNHCR’s refugee livelihood support program in Alexandria, Egypt (CGIAR, Dec. 2025) [text]

Journal articles & book chapters:

"Continuity and change in Saudi Arabia's development and humanitarian aid," Chapter in Foreign Aid of Gulf States: Continuity and Change (Routledge, 2025) [open access]

"The evolution of the Gulf states as humanitarian donors," Chapter in Foreign Aid of Gulf States: Continuity and Change (Routledge, 2025) [open access]

"Exploring the preference for bilateral aid: Gulf oil states' aid to Yemen," Chapter in Foreign Aid of Gulf States: Continuity and Change (Routledge, 2025) [open access]

"Navigating Vulnerability in the Context of Resettlement: Syrian Youth in Türkiye," Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees, vol. 42, no. 1 (2026) [open access]

"The prohibition on forced displacement, the right to leave, non-refoulement, and the right to return: four sides of the same coin?," International & Comparative Law Quarterly (Forthcoming) [postprint]

"Saudi Arabia's foreign aid: the singularity of Yemen as a case study," Chapter in Foreign Aid of Gulf States: Continuity and Change (Routledge, 2025) [open access]

Related post:

- Regional Focus: MENA (27 Jan. 2026)

Thematic Focus: Children & Families - Pt. 2 (Americas)

Short pieces & reports:

Orientaciones para la preparación ante el cierre o interrupción de servicios y programas de protección de la niñez y adolescencia (Child Protection Area of ​​Responsibility, Jan. 2026) [text via ReliefWeb]

- Focuses on Venezuela.

UN experts alarmed by child rights violations in USA immigration procedures (OHCHR, Jan. 2026) [text]

- See also related UN News story.

Journal articles:

"Families on the move – Latin American perspectives," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 22 Jan. 2026 [free full-text]

- Introduction to forthcoming special issue.

"Framing child refugee deaths across water borders: media narratives of Alan Kurdi and Valeria Martínez-Ramírez in Turkey and Mexico," Comparative Migration Studies, 2 Feb. 2026 [open access]

"Health status and living conditions of north-bound migrant minors in Mexico at place of origin and during the migration journey: A cross-sectional, mixed-methods study," Journal of Migration and Health, vol. 13 (2026) [open access]

"Is there a right to family reunification for refugees in Latin America?," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 22 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"Motherhood on the move: new evidence of vulnerability for central American mothers migrating with children," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 22 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"'They See It in My Eyes': How Undocumented Mothers Experience and Transmit Immigration-Related Far," Affilia, 23 Jan. 2026 [open access]

- Focuses on the US.

"Traveling Together, Traveling Alone: Experiences of Violence and Danger for Migrating Children and Families in the US–Mexico Borderlands," Social Sciences, vol. 15, no. 1 (Jan. 2026) [open access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Children & Families - Pt. 1 (10 Feb. 2026)

Thematic Focus: Children & Families - Pt. 1

Short pieces & reports:

"Repatriating children from Syria’s IS camps is the right thing and the smart thing to do," The New Humanitarian, 3 Feb. 2026 [text]

Violence against Children and Youth in Humanitarian Settings: Findings from a 2024 survey of refugee camps in Ethiopia (Baobab Research Programme Consortium et al., Dec. 2025) [text]

- See also related video recording of the report's launch event.

Journal articles:

"Challenges and Strategies in the Daily Lives of Children from Migrant and Refugee Backgrounds in Australia: The Voices of Children and Parents," Journal of Child and Family Studies, vol. 35, no. 2 (Feb. 2026) [open access]

"Framing child refugee deaths across water borders: media narratives of Alan Kurdi and Valeria Martínez-Ramírez in Turkey and Mexico," Comparative Migration Studies, 2 Feb. 2026 [open access]

"Problematizing Child-Led Participatory Research in Refugee Contexts: Reflections from a Photovoice Study in Uganda," International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"Reassessing Age Assessment: When the Violence of Age Meets the Violence of the Border," Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 1 (Feb. 2026) [postprint]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Children & Families (20 Jan. 2026)

Regional Focus: United States

Short pieces:

The Bodily Remainder: Chicago Organisers after the Immigration ‘Blitz’ (Border Criminologies Blog, Jan. 2026) [text]

Collection: ICE and CBP Operations in Minnesota and Other States (Just Security, Jan.-Feb. 2026) [access]

Expert Survey on DHS, CBP, and ICE Reforms (Just Security, Feb. 2026) [text]

ICE and Border Patrol in Minnesota − accused of violating 1st, 2nd, 4th and 10th amendment rights − are testing whether the Constitution can survive (The Conversation, Feb. 2026) [text]

I’m a former FBI agent who studies policing, and here’s how federal agents in Minneapolis are undermining basic law enforcement principles (The Conversation, Jan. 2026) [text]

Migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border are at their lowest level in more than 50 years (Pew Research Center, Feb. 2026) [text]

More Asylum Seekers Are “No Shows” in Immigration Court (The Asylumist Blog, Feb. 2026) [text]

**Visit the Americas Migration Brief and ImmProf Blog for a much more extensive round-up of news and publications.**

Reports: 

Development of the U.S. Asylum System: In Brief (Congressional Research Service, Jan. 2026) [text]

Do Border Policies Deter Migrants? (SSRN, Jan. 2026) [text]

- See also related Just Security post.

Immigration Enforcement in the First Nine Months of the Second Trump Administration (Deportation Data Project, Jan. 2026) [text]

Oversight of the Use of Force by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Law Enforcement Officers (Congressional Research Service, Feb. 2026) [text]

Journal articles & book chapters:

"Empty Justice: Ethnographic Court-Witnessing in Authoritarian Times," Journal for the Anthropology of North America, vol. 29, no. 1 (Jan. 2026) [open access]

- "This article investigates the operations of United States immigration courts ethnographically, examining how law, politics, and bureaucracy converge in the everyday production of immigration adjudication."

"The Far-Reaching Impacts of Trump’s Anti-Immigration Offensive," Current History, vol. 125, no. 868 (Feb. 2026) [free full-text]

"For the Sake of Migrant Futures: Historicizing Migrant Deaths in Shipping Containers on the U.S. – Mexico Border in the Twentieth- and Twenty-First Centuries," California History, vol. 103, no. 1 (Spring 2026) [free full-text]

"Immigrant and refugee experiences in the Utah WIC program: a qualitative study," International Journal for Equity in Health, 27 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"Inventing a New Order of Uncertainties: Trump’s Anti-Immigration Policy and the Dilemmas of African Deportees," Chapter in African Perspectives on Trump 2.0: United States Foreign Policy and the New World (Re)Order (Univ. of Pretoria, 2025) [ResearchGate]

"Trump’s Immigration Policy and United States Foreign Relations," Chapter in African Perspectives on Trump 2.0: United States Foreign Policy and the New World (Re)Order (Univ. of Pretoria, Dec. 2025) [ResearchGate]

Multimedia:

Unsettled: Immigration in Turbulent Times (Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility) [access]

- Podcast series that "examines Trump administration policies and actions affecting immigration and migrants and their communities." Season 2 episodes are now being posted.

Resource:

ImmigrationLawHelp.org [access]

- "A searchable online directory of over 1,000 free or low-cost nonprofit immigration legal services providers in all 50 states."

Related posts:

- Regional Focus: United States - Pt. 1 (26 Jan. 2026)

- Regional Focus: United States - Pt. 2 (26 Jan. 2026)

Opportunities: A Few More Feb. & March 2026

Call for participants: The well-being of people involved in research on forced displacement & associated human rights abuses [info]

- "We are currently only gathering data from people who lived/worked in the UK or were based at a UK institute or organisation while involved in any capacity with research on forced migration and/or associated human rights abuses." No deadline indicated.

Seminar: Revisiting the Local Turn in Migration and Diversity Governance, Cairo, 10 February 2026 [info]

Seminar: Far-right terror, the securitization of refugees, and transnational geopolitics in the EU, Cairo, 12 February 2026 [info]

- Note: This seminar has been postponed.

CFP: The refugee-migrant distinction: toward a global history, Cambridge, 15-16 October 2026 [info]

- Submit proposals by 16 February 2026.

Discussion panel: Venezuelan Refugees and Migrants: Current Developments and Likely Futures, Online, 17 February 2026 [info]

CFP: Humanrightization in Migration Societies: Conditions, Forms, Consequences, Giessen, Germany,  7-8 May 2026 [info]

- Submit proposals by 23 February 2026.

CFP: ARC-UNHCR Conference on Refugee Studies and Forced Displacement (REFCON 2026), Kuala Lumpur, 9-11 June 2026 [info]

- Submit proposals by 28 February 2026.

Seminar: Grounding the Components of an Ethical Response to Refugees, Oxford, 4 March 2026 [info]

Seminar: Responsibility Sharing in International Refugee Law: Towards Common but Differentiated Legal Obligations, Oxford, 11 March 2026 [info]

CFP: "Entangled Encounters: Material and Social Transformations of Religious Communities in Europe," Panel at European Academy of Religion Conference, Rome, 30 June-3 July 2026 [info]

- Submit abstracts by 13 March 2026.

CFP: Unsettling Communities: Diversity, Mobility and Displacement in an Age of Growing Authoritarianism, Birmingham, UK, 7–9 September 2026 [info]

- Submit abstracts by 16 March 2026.

**See also legal-related employment opportunity and courses listed in this previous post.

Related post:

- Opportunities: More Feb. 2026 & New March 2026

Regional Focus: Africa - Pt. 2

Journal articles:

"Africa's Migration Transition: A Long-Run Historical Perspective," International Migration Review, OnlineFirst, 23 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"Bridging the Implementation Gap: Refugee Governance and Institutional Coordination in Uganda’s Borderlands," Journal on Migration and Human Security, OnlineFirst, 22 Jan. 2026 [full-text]

"Can Redistribution Change Policy Views? Aid and Attitudes toward Refugees," Journal of Political Economy, vol. 133, no. 9 (Sept. 2025) [preprint]

- Focuses on Kenya and Uganda.

"Forced displacement in Africa: Could the Tanzanian Maasai obtain justice? The East African Court of Justice case under the lens of the Ogiek case before the African Court," African Human Rights Law Journal, vol. 25, no. 2 (2025) [open access]

"Human Rights in Resettlement Policies of European Bilateral Development Finance Institutions Operating in Sub-Saharan Africa: Hitting the Mark?," Journal of Internal Displacement, vol. 16, no. 1 (2026) [open access]

"Introducing a Survivor-Centred Policy Framework for Conflict-Induced Internal Displacement in Uganda," Journal of Internal Displacement, vol. 16, no. 1 (2026) [open access]

"The subversion of politics: Political prohibitions on refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa," African Human Rights Law Journal, vol. 25, no. 2 (2025) [open access]

"Typology of Internally Displaced People: Insights from Northern Nigeria," Journal of Internal Displacement, vol. 16, no. 1 (2026) [open access]

Related post:

- Regional Focus: Africa - Pt. 1 (6 Feb. 2026)

Regional Focus: Africa - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

End of Year Reflections (UNHCR, Dec. 2025) [text]

- Focuses on West and Central Africa.

New Refugee Law Practitioners' Handbook (Univ. of Cape Town, Feb. 2026) [text]

- Focuses on South Africa. Note: Info only, no full-text access available.

Reports & book chapters:

Can development assistance prevent conflict? (PRIO, Jan. 2026) [text]

- Focuses on South Sudan and Mozambique. See also related policy brief.

Draft Revised White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection (Govt. of South Africa, Dec. 2025) [text via UCT]

- Note: The deadline for public comments has been extended to 15 February 2026. See also related Facebook post from the Scalabrini Centre of Cape Town.

In the shadow of law: navigating ECOWAS free movement law in West African borderlands, MOBILE Working Paper Series, no. 79 (Univ. of Copenhagen, Dec. 2025) [text]

"Introduction," Hanno Brankamp, Occupied Refuge: Humanitarian Colonization and the Camp in Kenya (Duke Univ. Press, Feb. 2026) [free full-text]

Mapping African Migration: Insights from UN DESA Data on Patterns, Trends, and Misconceptions, SWP Working Paper, no. 03 (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Dec. 2025) [text]

- See also related post on The Conversation.

Rethinking aid in Sudan and South Sudan: Recommendations from the Kampala meeting (Rift Valley Institute, Nov. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

Related post:

- Regional Focus: Africa (19 Jan. 2026)

Thematic Focus: Law/Policy Items - Pt. 2

Reports:

Frequently Asked Questions: Route-Based Approach to Mixed Movements (UNHCR & IOM, Jan. 2026) [text]

Overview of Practices in Relation to Country of Origin Information and Country Guidance (UNHCR, Jan. 2026) [text]

Rescue at Sea: A Guide to Principles and Practice in the Context of Refugees and Migrants Movements (International Maritime Organization & UNHCR, Jan. 2026) [text]

- Also available in French and Spanish.

Safe Third Country Agreements: What is Happening to International Refugee Law? (ILJ Online, Jan. 2026) [full-text]

The Weakening Foundation of International Protection (Baker Institute, Feb. 2026) [text]

Journal articles:

"Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law Annual Conference 2025 Keynote Address: The Role of History in International Law Scholarship: A Personal Reflection," Australian Year Book of International Law Online, vol. 43, no. 1 (2025) [open access]

"The ICRC and academia: An untold story about preserving humanity in war through international humanitarian law," International Review of the Red Cross, First View, 6 Feb. 2026 [open access]

"Protecting People or Promoting Ideologies? Insights from the Constitutional Asylum Dataset," International Migration Review, OnlineFirst, 19 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"Redefining the mobility paradigm in international law," International Journal of Law in Context, vol. 21, no. 2 (2025) [open access]

"Rethinking the Refugee: From Migrant Hierarchies to Migration as a Human Right," Seton Hall Law Review, vol. 56, no. 3 (2026) [full-text]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Law/Policy Items - Pt. 1 (6 Feb. 2026)

Thematic Focus: Law/Policy Items - Pt. 1

Opportunities:

Seminar: Non-refoulement Caught Between Custom and Jus Cogens?, London, 10 February 2026 [info]

Job announcement: Outreach Assistant, Department of International Refugee Law and Migration Law, IIHL [info]

- Apply by 16 February 2026.

Call for registration: 49th Online Training Course on International Refugee Law (Arabic), 31 March–30 April 2026 [info]

- Register by 3 March 2026.

Call for registration: 19th Online Course on Internal Displacement (English), 13 April-8 May 2026 [info]

- Apply by 16 March 2026.

Call for registration: 50ème Cours en ligne sur le Droit international des réfugiés (français), 27 avril-22 mai 2026

- Register by 30 March 2026.

Short pieces:

Beyond Compliance Symposium: The harm of displacement – Towards full(er) protection (Armed Groups and International Law Blog, Jan. 2026) [text]

When Judicial Review Protects Refugee Law from Political Interference (RLI Blog, Feb. 2026) [text]

- Focuses on a recent UK High Court ruling that restored refugee status to a Palestinian citizen of Israel." 

Multimedia:

Irregular migration responses: small boats, return hubs and the future of the refugee regime, 9 Dec. 2025 [access]

The Refugee Convention in a hostile world: diverse contexts of risk, London, 29 Jan. 2026 [access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Law/Policy Items (9 Jan. 2026)

Thematic Focus: Statelessness & Nationality

Opportunity:

Webinar: 2026 State of Play Assessment on Statelessness in Europe, 25 February 2026 [info]

Short pieces:

Beyond Residual Functions: The IRMCT, the ‘Stateless Eight’, and the Human Rights Obligations of Security Council Subsidiaries (EJIL: Talk Blog, Jan. 2026) [text]

From invisible to registered: supporting civil registration and legal documentation for Roma and Egyptians in Montenegro (COE, Jan. 2026) [text]

Stateless in Paradise (The Asylumist Blog, Jan. 2026) [text]

- Focuses on the US.

Working together with stateless communities for change: developing guidelines for meaningful, collaborative advocacy on statelessness (ENS Blog, Jan. 2026) [text]

Reports & journal articles:

2025 Year in Review (Institute on Statelessness & Inclusion, Jan. 2026) [text]

*An Advocacy Toolkit for Civil Society: Advancing the Protocol to the African Charter on Human And Peoples’ Rights Relating to the Specific Aspects of the Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa (Lawyers for Human Rights et al., Nov. 2025) [text]

Birth Registration for Forcibly Displaced and Stateless Persons (UNHCR, Jan. 2026) [access]

- Available in English and French.

"Birthright Citizenship, Denaturalization, and the Specter of Statelessness," UCLA Law Review Discourse, vol. 73 (2026) [full-text]

- Focuses on the US.

Citizenship Denied: From Dred Scott to Deportation, TMI Social Science Review, no. 22 (Thurgood Marshall Institute, April 2025; posted Jan. 2026) [text]

- Focuses on the US.

Navigating citizenship in Moldova: Legal changes and rights-based implications (Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan. 2026) [text]

"Questioning the eradication framing of global statelessness work: IBelong and beyond," Journal of Human Rights, Latest Articles, 30 Jan. 2026 [open access]

Statelessness in Denmark: 10 Facts with Recommendations from UNHCR (UNHCR, Jan. 2026) [text]

Multimedia:

Knowledge Webinar Series (Global Alliance to End Statelessness) [access]

- Follow link for recordings of past sessions. 

Sites of Statelessness: Laws, Cities, Seas, 20 Jan. 2026 [access]

- Book discussion.

*Resource:

Legal Atlas
on Birth Registration: A new global tool to strengthen
every child’s right to identity (Child Identity Protection & UNICEF) [access]

- A database of country profiles that provide information on birth registration laws and regulations. The first profile provided is on Cameroon. More info is provided in this LinkedIn post.

*UPDATED

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Statelessness & Nationality (15 Jan. 2026) 

News: 2026 Edition of HRW's World Report

The latest edition of Human Rights Watch's annual human rights survey, World Report 2026: Events of 2025, was launched yesterday (4 Feb. 2026). It provides a summary of the human rights situations in over 100 countries and territories around the world. The press release is here; the introductory essay is entitled "Will Human Rights Survive a Trumpian World? Authoritarian Advances Threaten Rules-Based Order." A video recording of the press conference launching the report is also available.

Readers can download the entire report or browse by individual country on the companion web site. In addition, abridged versions are offered in multiple languages via the microsite. Previous editions of the World Report can be found here.

Regional Focus: Europe - Pt. 2

Journal articles:

"Beyond the far-right: an ethnographic approach to cultural and institutional grievances in migration-centred mobilisations in Cyprus and Greece," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 31 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"'The Concept of a Better Life': The Transit of Bangladeshi Migrants to the Schengen Area via Central and Eastern Europe," Population, Space and Place, vol. 32, no. 1 (Jan. 2026) [open access]

"Conspiracy Beliefs and the 'Us Versus Them' Mentality: Identity Threat and Attitudes Toward Ukrainian Refugees in Slovakia," Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Early View, 25 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"(Im)permanent Settlement: Protracted Displacement and Secondary Movement Experiences of Syrian Refugees from Turkey to Austria," Social Sciences, vol. 15, no. 2 (Jan. 2026) [open access]

"International refugee norm sabotage: An analysis of anti-migration groups in the UK," British Journal of Politics and International Relations, vol. 28, no. 1 (Feb. 2026) [open access]

"Migrant deservingness as an emerging concept: Unveiling public views on asylum seeker settlement through conjoint analysis," International Journal of Intercultural Relations, vol. 111 (March 2026) [open access]

- Focuses on Belgium.

Mondes & Migrations, no. 1352 (Jan. 2026) [open access]

- Themed issue on "Sous-traiter les frontières," with a dossier on "L’Union européenne et les États d’Afrique face aux migrations: coopération ou impasse?"

"Politicising safety and racialised and gendered criminalisation: Political agenda-setting and the case of Albanian asylum-seekers in the UK," British Journal of Politics and International Relations, OnlineFirst, 20 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"Testing the liberal borders of the EU: (De)Constructing the right of asylum through informality," Political Geography, vol. 126 (April 2026) [open access]

- Focuses on the Italian-Slovenian border. 

Related post:

- Regional Focus: Europe - Pt.  1 (4 Feb. 2026)

Regional Focus: Europe - Pt. 1

Short pieces & reports:

Commission presents a five-year strategy on migration (European Commission, Jan. 2026) [text]

Frontex’ Responsibility for Human Rights Violations: The CJEU and Certain Aspects of the International Responsibility of International Organisations (EJIL: Talk Blog, Jan. 2026) [text]

‘We ran from monsters’: Once welcomed by Germany after IS genocide, Yazidis are now deported to a life of limbo in refugee camps (The Conversation, Jan. 2026) [text]

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

New open access book:

Thinking Like a Route: Counter-geographies of Informal Migration in the Balkans (Edward Elgar, Jan. 2026) [open access]

- "This timely book posits the idea of a ‘route perspective’ as a multi-scalar methodology for studying informal migration. ...Presenting a novel approach to researching the complex spaces of the Balkan Route, chapters first trace the key elements of the route’s formal infrastructure from a state perspective, including camps, border walls, and asylum systems, which highlights, in-turn, what is made invisible by the official state gaze. The authors then use their empirical findings at key sites to underscore the tenacious counter-geographies of people-on-the-move."

Reports:

*Concept Note - Route-based approach operationalization: Western Balkan (UNHCR, Jan. 2026) [text]

*Migration and the European Convention on Human Rights: Legal requirements and proposals for reform (European Parliament, Feb. 2026) [text]

Transitioning into Adulthood: Improving the transition experience for applicants for international protection (EU Agency for Asylum, Feb. 2026) [text]

Multimedia:

Human rights law under threat in Europe: Restricting rights in asylum and migration cases, 15 Jan. 2026 [access]

Resource:

Atlas of Migration 2025 (European Commission, Dec. 2025) [access]

- "The Atlas of Migration 2025 guides policymakers by offering a comprehensive, data-driven analysis of migratory movements across the 27 EU Member States and 171 countries and territories worldwide. It has 3 sections: migration in EU, migration in non-EU countries, and a thematic section...which provides an examination of the drivers, dynamics and human consequences of conflict-induced displacement, shedding some light on trajectories of mobility and immobility, as well as the decisions, constraints and data behind them." See also related news release. Note: A digital version will be launched in December 2026.

*UPDATED

Related posts:

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

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

Thematic Focus: Gender-related Issues

Reports & book chapters:

“No One Cares About Us Anymore”: How U.S. Aid Cuts Have Intensified the Crisis for Women and Girls in Afghanistan (Refugees International, Jan. 2026) [text]

"Risks and Threats to Safe and Free Movement," Chapter in Regressions in Gender Equality, Women’s Human Rights, and Empowerment: The Other Side of the Coin (Springer, Jan. 2026) [open access]

Strengthening the Use of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Evidence in Refugee and Humanitarian Settings: How To Guide (Baobab Research Programme Consortium, Jan. 2026) [text]

- Note: Other publications produced by this programme are available via the Population Council's Knowledge Commons. 

Towards Safer Journeys: Migrant women and children’s experiences of separation, going missing or dying (Global Migration Lab, Jan. 2026) [access]

- Follow link for the summary report in English, French and Spanish, as well as data reports for Africa, the Americas and Europe, in English and French. See also related Humanitarian Law & Policy Blog post.

Journal articles:

"Availability and readiness to provide postabortion care in refugee settlements in Uganda: a signal functions analysis," BMJ Global Health, vol. 11, no. 1 (Jan. 2026) [open access]

"Beyond Gender: An Intersectional Analysis of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Among Syrian Refugee Women in Jordan," Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, Latest Articles, 10 Jan. 2026 [ResearchGate]

"Empowered to Stay? Ugandan Refugee Policy and Community Support in Shaping Women’s Choices," Journal on Migration and Human Security, OnlineFirst, 26 Jan. 2026 [full-text]

"Examining factors associated with post-abortion family planning among women in refugee settings in Uganda," Women's Health, 15 Dec. 2025 [open access]

"Family planning awareness and contraceptive use among young Rohingya refugee women: A representative cross-sectional study in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh," Women's Health, 26 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"From Discrimination to Dominance? How Status Threat is Linked to Male Refugees’ Gender Beliefs," Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, Latest Articles, 27 Jan. 2026 [open access]

- Focuses on Germany.

"'I chose to stay and fight my way through': Examining female immigrants’ re-integration and coping strategies following Traumatic experiences in Durban, South Africa," Ethics, Medicine and Public Health, vol. 24 (2026) [open access]

"'I Have Completely Exhausted Myself During This Journey': Female Citizens’ Experiential Migrantisation in the Face of Their Foreign Spouse’s Deportability," Nordic Journal of Migration Research, vol. 16, no 2 (2026) [open access]

- Focuses on Finland.

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Gender-related Issues (22 Jan. 2026)