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)

Thematic Focus: Solutions

Short pieces:

Consultations Highlight Challenges and Opportunities for Refugee Communities and Service Providers in Western Australia (UNHCR, Oct. 2026) [text]

Trump's Whites Only Refugee Policy (Data Bytes, Oct. 2026) [text]

- See also related FluchtforschungsBlog post.

New open access books:

Refugee Education and Employment: A Capability Perspective (Emerald Publishing, Nov. 2026) [open access]

- This book "is a timely and essential contribution to the ongoing discourse on drivers of refugee integration. Focusing on refugees’ educational and employment opportunities, each chapter explores factors that mediate the conversion of resources into valued achievements. A further contribution is the development of capability for integration, a conceptual framework for assessing the opportunities and outcomes that shape refugee integration in resettlement settings. Covering two key themes of educational and employment opportunities for refugees and conversion factors that mediate their ability to benefit from such opportunities, Tebeje Molla explores the educational and employment landscape available to refugees, examining equity and resettlement policy provisions and analysing the complex interplay of factors that either facilitate or hinder their ability to translate integration opportunities into meaningful outcomes."

Trust Dilemmas: Perspectives on Trust, Migration and Integration (Migration Institute of Finland, 2026) [open access]

- "Focusing on Finland as a unique 'national laboratory' of trust, this volume explores the complex role of trust, mistrust, and distrust in migration and integration processes. Through rich qualitative case studies, the contributors examine how trust is shaped, negotiated, and challenged in relation to migration law and state institutions, information and technology, and everyday social and institutional encounters.

Adopting a contextual, relational, and dynamic understanding of (dis)trust, the book highlights how trust relations are influenced by legal status, social position, power hierarchies, and lived experience. Bringing together multifaceted perspectives on institutional and interpersonal trust, the volume offers a nuanced account of the landscapes of trust and distrust that migrants navigate in contemporary Finland."

Reports: 

Advancing Inclusion, Closing Gaps: Outcomes for Refugees from Ukraine Across 9 RRP Host Countries (UNHCR et al., Oct. 2026) [text]

Overcoming Barriers to Integration for Sudanese Refugees in Chad: Education, Employment and Land Access (SIPRI, Aug. 2026) [text]

Refugee sponsorship routes (Govt. of the United Kingdom, Oct. 2026) [access]

- Applications opened on 29 October 2026 for charities who seek to become "lead sponsors under the UK’s new safe and legal routes." Follow the link above for access to guidance documents and a policy paper. See also this related news story, EIN post, and House of Lords Library "In Focus" for more information.

Refugee Resettlement in Canada: Community Sponsorship, Institutional Innovation, and Current Challenges, Paper presented at the IV International Seminar on Public Policy and Innovation for International Migration from a Comparative Perspective, Brasília, 8-10 July 2026 [text via SSRN]

Journal articles:

"Language proficiency under legal precarity: bounded pathways to social integration," Comparative Migration Studies, 29 Oct. 2026 [open access]

"Naming Refugees: Governing Sponsor-Led Selection in Europe," Global Policy, Early View, 15 Oct. 2026 [open access]

"Refugees, reciprocity, and repatriation," Ethics & Global Politics, Latest Articles, 20 Oct. 2026 [open access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Solutions (14 Oct. 2026)

Thematic Focus: Climate Change & Disasters

Short pieces:

Disaster-Induced Displacement in Bangladesh and the search for home (RLI Blog, Oct. 2026) [text]

Financing climate-related planned relocations: A global challenge with lessons to be learnt from the Pacific (Nansen Initiative +10 Blog, Oct. 2026) [text]

From counting displacement to informing decisions: A decade of advances in disaster displacement data  (Nansen Initiative +10 Blog, Sept. 2026) [text]

From the Protection Agenda to Pacific Practice: Why the Pacific Guidance on Internal Planned Relocation matters for policy integration (Nansen Initiative +10 Blog, Sept. 2026) [text]

Towards Dignified Climate Relocation: Community Perspectives from around the Globe (Researching Internal Displacement, Sept. 2026) [info]

- As of this writing, there have been five contributions to this blog miniseries. 

Reports & journal articles:

"Bridging the Migration-Climate Divide: Toward Climate (Im-)Mobility Research 3.0," International Migration Review, OnlineFirst, 30 Oct. 2026 [open access]

"Circular resettlement and ongoing risk: earthquakes, landslides, and the challenges of 'integrated' reconstruction in Nepal," World Development, vol. 202 (June 2026) [open access]

Forced Migration Review, no. 76 Plus (2026) [open access]

- Additional articles have continued to be published (through Oct. as of this writing) in this supplement to FMR's issue on "Climate change: Choices for displaced people" (Nov. 2025).

Migration from Burkina Faso to northern Côte d’Ivoire in the context of climate change (Mixed Migration Centre, Oct. 2026) [text]

UK Toolkit on Climate, Disasters and Protection Claims (Earth Refugee & Refugee Legal Support, Oct. 2026) [access via EIN]

- See also related Free Movement blog post. Note: A joint webinar launch of the UK and Australian Climate and Protection Toolkits will be held on 5 November 2026. 

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Climate Change & Disasters (12 Oct. 2026)

Thematic Focus: ICTs & Other Technologies

Short pieces:

Canada’s settlement services are going digital. AI should support workers, not replace them (The Conversation, Oct. 2026) [text]

Classified Before Heard: AI Age Estimation and the Gatekeeping of Child Protection in the UK Asylum System (RLI Blog, Nov. 2026) [text]

DHS’s AI Inventory Reveals the Limits of Federal AI Transparency Law (Just Security, Oct. 2026) [text]

- Focuses on the US.

Quel impact de l'IA sur les principes du ne pas nuire, de la localisation et d'humanité ? (ALNAP, Oct. 2026) [text]

Unpacking the Humanitarian Reset: Data Governance under Austerity (Global Policy Blog, Sept. 2026) [text]

Reports:

Automated Discrimination: Unpacking the Digital Hostile Environment (Open Rights Group, Oct. 2026) [access via EIN]

- Focuses on the UK.

Responsible Use of Artificial Intelligence in Evaluations (UNHCR, March 2026) [text]

The Use of ChatGPT in Asylum Decisions (Open Rights Group, Oct. 2026) [access via EIN]

- Focuses on the UK.

Journal articles & book chapters:

"AI-LADO, linguistic expertise, and the platformisation of asylum governance," European Journal of Applied Linguistics, Ahead of Print, 27 Oct. 2026 [open access]

- Note: LADO = Language Analysis for the Determination of Origin. Focuses on Germany. 

"Digital employment pathways for Ukrainian refugees in Romania: an exploratory study of remote job offers," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 31 Oct. 2026 [open access]

"Introduction," Handbook on Migration and Artificial Intelligence (Edward Elgar, Oct. 2026) [free full-text]

"Unstable ground: Automated dialect recognition, ground truth, and AI regulation in asylum procedures," European Journal of Applied Linguistics, Ahead of Print, 26 Oct. 2026 [open access]

Focuses on Germany. 

Multimedia:

Why the WFP cyber-attack matters (Rethinking Humanitarianism Podcast Series, Oct. 2026) [access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: ICTs & Other Technologies (6 Oct. 2026)

New Book Titles

Please visit my Forced Migration Library blog for a two-part posting of new book titles. Part 1 highlights new books due out in November 2026, along with additional October 2026 titles, while Part 2 lists new legal and open access texts.