Law Journal Articles: Asylum Seekers, Palestinian Refugees, Sexual Minorities, Unaccompanied Minors

Here's a listing of various legal resources that have recently appeared on the information scene:

Cianciarulo, Marisa Silenzi, "Terrorism and Asylum Seekers: Why the Real ID Act is a False Promise," Harvard Journal on Legislation, vol. 43, no. 1 (Winter 2006). Available at SSRN.

Dalrymple, Joyce Koo, "Seeking Asylum Alone: Using the Best Interests of the Child Principle to Protect Unaccompanied Minors," Boston College Third World Law Journal, vol. 26, no. 1 (Winter 2006) [full-text of journal issue]

European Journal of Migration and Law, vol. 8, no. 1 (2006) [contents]
- Includes "Ensuring Protection and Prosecution of Alleged Torturers: Looking for Compatibility of Non-Refoulement Protection and Prosecution of International Crimes" and "Assessing the Credibility of Asylum Claims: EU and UK Approaches Examined."

Quigley, John Bernard, "Repatriation of the Displaced Arabs of Palestine: The Legal Requirement as Seen from the United Nations," Ohio State Public Law Working Paper No. 60 (April 2006). Available at SSRN.

Reeds, Laura Anne, "Sixty Years in Limbo: The Duty of Host States to Integrate Palestinian Refugees under Customary International Law," New York University Law Review, vol. 81, no. 1 (April 2006) [text]

Swink, Arwen, "Queer Refuge: A Review of the Role of Country Condition Analysis in Asylum Adjudications for Members of Sexual Minorities," Hastings International and Comparative Law Review, vol. 29, no. 2 (Winter 2006) [journal desc.]

Posted in Periodicals and Publications.

New Periodical Issues

A selection of journal titles that have recently posted their latest issues online. Most are available in full-text.

Conflict Trends, no. 1/2006 [full-text]- Focus is on “Post Conflict Reconstruction in Africa". Includes an analysis of “The AU/NEPAD Post-Conflict Reconstruction Policy,” by Tim Murithi, which was referenced in an earlier posting.

Humanitarian Exchange, no. 33 (April 2006) [full-text]
- Focus is on “chronic vulnerability.” Also includes seven practice and policy notes.

Human Rights Brief, vol. 13, no. 2 (Winter 2006) [full-text]
- Includes articles on social and economic rights and on customary international humanitarian law, among other topics.

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 2, no. 1 (March 2006) [contents]
- Also includes one full-text article, “Torture, Mental Health Status and the Outcomes of Refugee Applications among Recently Arrived Asylum Seekers in Australia,” by D. Silove et al.

International Review of the Red Cross, no. 860 (Dec. 2005) [full-text]
- Focus is on “communication.” The issue “looks at the links between communication and armed conflict, for both the media and humanitarian organizations.”

Journal de forum réfugiés, no. 34 (avril 2006) [selected full-text]
- Focus is on “droit d’asile en France.”

Plein Droit, no. 68 (avril 2006) [full-text]

Refugees Magazine, no. 142 (April 2006) [full-text]
- Theme is “Victims of Intolerance.”

Posted in Periodicals.

AI Campaign: Refugees & Migrants

The web page for Amnesty International's campaign to raise awareness about the rights of refugees and migrants is a helpful starting point for locating AI news, reports and other documents on refugees, IDPs, asylum seekers, and migrants.

Three profiles recently added to the page focus on IDPs in Sudan, Palestinian children in Lebanon, and Hmong children in Laos.

Posted in Publications.

Surveys: Early Warning, HR Defenders, Human Trafficking, Peacebuilding

The UN Pulse reported that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime just released Human Trafficking: Global Patterns. The aim of the survey is three-fold: "First, to compile and make sense of existing disparate sources, so as to highlight trends concerning countries of origin, transit and destination. Second, to lay down a challenge to UN Member States to improve the quality of their reporting. ...Third, to make readers painfully aware that we are all affected by the human trafficking tragedy" (p. 10).

Another UN survey focuses on early warning: The Global Survey of Early Warning Systems: An assessment of capacities, gaps and opportunities toward building a comprehensive global early warning system for all natural hazards (March 2006)

The Annual Report 2005 of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders was published by FIDH/OMCT 22 March 2006. It surveys the situation of human rights defenders around the world. An executive summary is also available.

Finally, the International Peace Academy compiled International Assistance to Countries Emerging from Conflict: A Review of Fifteen Years of Interventions and the Future of Peacebuilding (Feb. 2006). The report looks at peacebuilding practice to date and considers strategies for improving its impact on countries transitioning from war to peace.

Posted in Publications.

More Country Facts and Figures

This is an update to an earlier post from 18 March. The CIA World Factbook was updated again as of 29 March 2006, and the year of coverage was changed to 2006.

The OECD released its factbook for 2006, with economic, environmental and social statistics (including migration).

Posted in Publications.

Recent Research in the Journal Literature

Citations to forced migration research reported in the journal literature and located through searches in several journal databases.

Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, vol. 21, no. 2, Summer 2006 [contents]
- Special issue on “Women, War, and Peace Building.”

Beiser, M., “Longitudinal Research to Promote Effective Refugee Resettlement,” Transcultural Psychiatry, vol. 43, no. 1, March 2006, p. 56-71 [abstract]

Betts, A., “What Does 'Efficiency' Mean in the Context of the Global Refugee Regime?,” British Journal of Politics and International Relations, vol. 8, no. 2, May 2006, pp. 148-173 [abstract]

Carpenter, R.C., “Recognizing Gender-Based Violence Against Civilian Men and Boys in Conflict Situations,” Security Dialogue, vol. 37, no. 1, March 2006, p. 83-103 [abstract]

Garfield, R., “Commentary: When should we monitor mortality in humanitarian crises?,” International Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 35, no. 2, April 2006, pp. 446-447 [citation]

Koehn, P.H., “Transnational Migration, State Policy and Local Clinician Treatment of Asylum Seekers and Resettled Migrants: Comparative Perspectives on Reception Center and Community Health Care Practice in Finland,” Global Social Policy, vol. 6, no. 1, April 2006, p. 21-56 [abstract]

Lubbers, M. et al., “Objections to Asylum Seeker Centres: Individual and Contextual Determinants of Resistance to Small and Large Centres in the Netherlands,” European Sociological Review (Advance Access published online on March 14, 2006) [abstract]

Özerdem, A. and A.H. Sofizada, “Sustainable reintegration to returning refugees in post-Taliban Afghanistan: land-related challenges,” Conflict, Security and Development, vol. 6, no. 1, April 2006, pp. 75-100 [abstract]

Sabin, M. et al., “The mental health status of Mayan refugees after repatriation to Guatemala,” Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública/Pan American Journal of Public Health, vol. 19, no. 3, March 2006, pp. 163-171 [abstract]

Tyler, I., “‘Welcome to Britain’ the cultural politics of asylum,” European Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 9, no. 2, May 2006, p. 185-202 [abstract]

Yong Ooi Lin, C., “Autonomy Re-constituted: Social and Gendered Implications of Dam Resettlement on the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia,” Gender, Technology and Development, vol. 10, no. 1, March 2006, p. 77-99 [abstract]


Posted in Publications and Periodicals.

Upcoming Events/Opportunities

"Advocating Accountability: Reforming Refugee Rights Discourse in South Africa," Forced Migration Studies Programme, University of the Witwatersrand, 9 May 2006
- Lunchtime seminar with Jeff Handmaker.

Call for Papers - "Representation and Displacement: Refugees, IDPs and Stateless Persons in State and Nation," Refugee Studies Centre Workshop, 9-10 February 2007
- Abstracts for paper proposals for this workshop should be submitted by 1 June 2006.

Call for Papers - "Vulnerability and Resilience:Psycho-social Dimensions of the Refugee Experience," Refuge: Canada’s Periodical on Refugees 24.2
- Submissions due by 1 October 2006.

"Ethnicity and Migration Collection Launch," University of Warwick Library, 27 April 2006
- Celebrate "the opening of the Ethnicity and Migration Collection. The collection brings together the Sivanandan Library of the Institute of Race Relations and the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations Collection." Booking form available. Note that even though the notice says book by April 7, bookings will be accepted until all spaces are filled.

"Mental health needs of adolescent refugees and asylum seekers," Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, St Saviour's House, London, 17 May 2006
- "A presentation to introduce research on unaccompanied asylum-seeking adolescents and refugees with severe mental health needs."

Posted in Events.

New Research Reports

Burden Sharing: The International Politics of Refugee Protection (March 2006), by Eiko R. Thielemann, CCIS Working Paper, no. 134 [text]

Is There a Human Right to Free Movement? Immigration and Original Ownership of the Earth (April 2006), by Michael Blake & Mathias Risse, KSG Faculty Research Working Papers Series, no. RWP06-012 [text]

Remittances in Conflict and Crises: How Remittances Sustain Livelihoods in War, Crises and Transitions to Peace (Feb. 2006), by Patricia Weiss Fagan & Micah Bump, Security-Development Nexus Program Paper [text]

Posted in Publications.

Reports on Situation in Sudan

Current Policy Options for Darfur, April 2006
- Briefing with US Deputy Secretary of State Zoellick and panel.

Last stand in Sudan? Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March/April 2006
- Article by Roberta Cohen and William O'Neill; "The African Union is saving lives and preventing atrocities in Darfur, but it needs help to reduce the violence and better protect civilians."

The plight of displaced persons in Sudan, April 2006
- "Sudan has the largest population of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the world. An estimated two million IDPs, live in the official IDPs camps and unofficial 'squatter areas' in and around Khartoum. ..."; from Amnesty International.

U.N.: Darfur Needs Strong Protection Force, April 2006
- Press release announcing new briefing paper from Human Rights Watch.

Posted in Publications.

New Edition of State of the World's Refugees

UNHCR has published a new edition of the State of the World's Refugees. The focus is "Human Displacement in the New Millennium." A lengthy press release describing the book is available here. The eight chapters cover "Current dynamics of displacement," "Safeguarding asylum," "Addressing refugee security," "Responding to emergencies," "Protracted refugee situations: the search for practical solutions," "Rethinking durable solutions," "Internally displaced persons," and "Looking to the future."

All four previous editions of the State of the World's Refugees biennial report - published between 1993 and 2000 - are available in full-text in the research and evaluation section of the UNHCR web site. The 2006 edition is offered in PDF and HTML formats; maps, photos and statistical annexes are included in the PDF version. Hard copies can be purchased from OUP.

Posted in Publications.

New Issue of JRS

The latest issue of Journal of Refugee Studies (JRS) has been published - vol. 19, no. 2, June 2006. Contents and abstracts can be read online here. Included are articles examining Somalis in Dadaab, protracted refugee situations, Tibetans in exile, refugees in Australia, and Oromos in Toronto. Eight books are also reviewed.

Posted in Periodicals.

UNHCR Guidelines on Protecting Trafficking Victims

UNHCR recently posted the following legal guidelines:

Guidelines on International Protection: The application of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees to victims of trafficking and persons at risk of being trafficked (7 April 2006) [text]

The introduction notes that the guidelines complement the UNHCR Handbook, and should be read in conjunction with the "UNHCR’s Guidelines on International Protection on gender-related persecution within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (HCR/GIP/02/01) and on 'membership of a particular social group' within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (HCR/GIP/02/02), both of 7 May 2002."

Links to specific governmental gender guidelines were highlighted in this earlier post.

Posted in Publications.

Protecting Children in Emergencies

Save the Children Sweden has updated its guide, Child Protection in Emergencies (2006). It summarizes relevant international standards and protection principles that should be applied to ensure the rights of children during conflict or emergency situations.

Other operational materials that provide guidance on protecting children in armed conflict or humanitarian situations include:

- Child Soldiers - Care and Protection for Children in Emergencies: A Field Guide (2001) [text]
- Emergency Field Handbook: A guide for UNICEF staff (July 2005) [text]
- Inter-Agency Guiding Principles on Unaccompanied and Separated Children (2004) [text]
- Refugee Children: Guidelines on protection and care (1994) [text]
- Youth - Care and Protection of Children in Emergencies: A Field Guide (2001) [text]

Posted in Publications.

Humanitarian/Conflict Reporting

The April 6, 2006 edition of the Christian Science Monitor includes a story entitled "Western reporters in Africa struggle over when to help," which discusses the balance journalists try to strike between becoming involved versus remaining objective when covering events in the developing world.

The University for Peace published a textbook in April 2005 for a course on "The Media in Conflict Prevention and Peace Building," which examines the role and influence of the media in situations of conflict and peace.

Other resources that provide guidance to journalists when reporting from conflict zones and/or about humanitarian emergencies.

- Committee to Protect Journalists, On Assignment: A Guide to Reporting in Dangerous Situations (2003) [text]
- Institute for War & Peace Reporting, Reporting for Change: A Handbook for Local Journalists in Crisis Areas (2004) [text - scroll down to see chapters]
- International Centre for Humanitarian Reporting, Reporting Human Rights and Humanitarian Stories: A Journalist's Handbook (1997) [text]
- Reporters without Borders, Practical Guide for Journalists (2002) [text]

Posted in Publications.

Forgotten Crises

A recent article in the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization's online magazine, YaleGlobal, examines why some humanitarian crises get more media attention than others. Read "Marketing Humanitarian Crises: Needy groups compete to market plights and win global attention" (21 Feb. 2006).

Earlier, a conference held in 2002 examined the problem of so-called "forgotten crises." The report from that meeting provides an overview and analysis.

International organizations and NGOs often prepare various lists of overlooked or neglected crises. Some examples:

- AlertNet, Top 10 'Forgotten' Emergencies
- Médecins Sans Frontières, Underreported Humanitarian Stories of 2005
- UN, 10 Stories the world should hear more about

For the past several years, ECHO has given priority to forgotten crises in its aid strategy. To identify these, ECHO undertakes an assessment to create a forgotten crises index (see also accompanying notes).

For more information online, search on "forgotten crises” or “forgotten emergencies."

Posted in Publications.

Online Books: Free Access to Full-Text

Forced Migration Online's Digital Library includes a number of books in its collection. Some examples:
- Barbara Harrell-Bond's well-known text, Imposing aid: emergency assistance to refugees (1986)
- Risks and reconstruction: experiences of resettlers and refugees (2000), ed. by Michael Cernea and Christopher McDowell
- Human rights in the OSCE region: the Balkans, the Caucasus, Europe, Central Asia and North America (various years), the annual report from the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Google Book Search allows users to search the full-text of books. (The total number in their collection is not indicated.) Searches can be performed on all books or limited to books viewable in their entirety. For copyright reasons, users may only be able to view snippets or extracts of books found through Google. Currently, not many forced migration-related titles are available in full through this service, but this will no doubt change over time.

The Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement has made a number of its books available in full through the National Academy Press, including:
- Exodus Within Borders: An Introduction to the Crisis of Internal Displacement (1999)
- The Forsaken People: Case Studies of the Internally Displaced (1998)
- Masses in Flight: The Global Crisis of Internal Displacement (1998)

Many annual reports/yearbooks are accessible through the web sites of relevant forced migration organizations. While many of these titles might be considered grey literature because they are not produced or distributed by mainstream publishers, they are important texts that provide key analysis and substantive information. Examples include:
- All four editions of UNHCR's State of the World's Refugees
- Amnesty International's annual surveys of human rights
- Editions of the World Refugee Survey from the U.S. Committee on Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)
- ECRE Country Reports dating from 1999
- Global overviews of internal displacement from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC)

So much information is now available online that it is always worth searching for the title of a text or monograph. If the complete item cannot be retrieved online, users will very likely still find a reference to it, either through a bookseller, on the publisher's site, or in a library. For example, searching on book titles in Google will often produce results from Amazon.com or from WorldCat, a library catalogue service that indicates which libraries in your area carry the title.

Posted in Publications.

Online Books: Free Access to Sample Chapters

Berghahn Books announced in February 2006 that they were making their book series on forced migration available online. Individual chapters are available for purchase at $8.95 or £5.00 - much less than what one would be charged for online access to many journal articles. Interestingly, most of the introductory and concluding portions of each book in the series are available at no cost. This tends to include prefaces, unsigned introductions, contributor lists, glossaries, bibliographies, etc.

Publishers are increasingly offering samples of chapters online as part of their marketing strategies. For example, Lynne Rienner has included the introduction for The Migration Reader: Exploring Policies and Politics (2005) with its description of the book and its contents. Likewise, United Nations University Press has offered a sample chapter from Refugees and Forced Displacement: International Security, Human Vulnerability, and the State (2003) that includes the lengthy introduction by Edward Newman.

Amazon.com was one of the first online booksellers to offer free viewing of sample pages (although no printing or downloading is permitted). As an example, visit the description for Arthur Helton's The Price of Indifference: Refugees and Humanitarian Action in the New Century (2002). The image of the front cover includes a "search inside" indicator. Moving your cursor over the image will dispaly a popup that provides access to the various samples available. In addition to the table of contents, you can view a six-page excerpt from the introduction, "Why Refugees Matter," as well as the index. Also available is a "surprise me" tab which displays randomly-generated three-page segments from different parts of the book.

My next post will highlight several resources that provide free access to the full-text of books.

Posted in Publications.

At Risk Indigenous Groups in Colombia

UNHCR reported yesterday on the forced displacement of indigenous groups in northwest Colombia.

"We have repeatedly warned that some of the world's oldest and smallest indigenous groups are at high risk not only of displacement, but even of extinction because of the Colombian conflict. All indigenous communities have close links to their ancestral land, on which their cultural survival depends."

Read more information about UNHCR's activities relating to the displaced in Colombia. See also the IDMC's country page for reports on the situation of IDPs in Colombia.

For general information about the rights of the indigenous, visit the site of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people.

Posted in Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

U.S. Immigration Reform: Update

The Migration Information Source's April edition includes an article reporting on comprehensive immigration reform developments in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) has just launched a web site on immigration. Its aim is to provide "the authoritative information [needed] to judge the performance of the government in this critical area." (from the beSpacific blog)

Posted in Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Migration and Development

The theme of the Commission on Population and Development's 39th session is "international migration and development." Meetings began yesterday in New York. The agenda and background documents are available on the Commission's web page.

Another expert group meeting in preparation for the high-level dialogue on migration and development (see earlier post) is scheduled for mid-May. This one will focus on the Arab region.

On the same topic, the UN Population Division has prepared a "Compendium of Recommendations on International Migration and Development," comparing the UN development agenda and the findings of the Global Commission on International Migration.

Posted in Events and Publications.

New Periodical Issues: Dev. in Practice, JEMS, Third World Q.

Contents for Development in Practice, vol. 16, no. 2 (April 2006) have been posted to the Taylor & Francis web site; several articles focus on gender mainstreaming efforts.

Also available is a special issue of Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (vol. 32, no. 4, May 2006) that focuses on migration and health in southern Africa.

And Third World Quarterly has released its third issue of the year - vol. 27, no. 3, April 2006 - with articles on the Kashmir earthquake, the Great Lakes, Afghanistan, and Iraq, among others.


Posted in Periodicals.