New pubs.: Armed conflict, HR Sub-Com., migrants/S. Korea, non-refoulement, Palestinian refugees, refugee stereotypes, refugees/Thailand, trafficking

Action to Prevent Child Trafficking in South Eastern Europe: A Preliminary Assessment (UNICEF, Terre des Hommes, Aug. 2006) [text]

Acts of Non-State Armed Groups and the Law Governing Armed Conflict (ASIL, Aug. 2006) [text]

FMO Research Guide: Palestinian Refugees in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Aug. 2006) [text]

Refugees in the ‘sick role’: stereotyping refugees and eroding refugee rights, New Issues in Refugee Research Paper, no. 128 (UNHCR, Aug. 2006) [text]

South Korea: ‘Migrant workers are also human beings’ (Amnesty International, Aug. 2006) [text]

Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights - Draft reports from final session (Aug. 2006) [press release] [menu]

“We Want to Work”: Providing Livelihood Opportunities for Refugees in Thailand (Women's Commission, Sept. 2006) [text]

UNHCR Note on Diplomatic Assurances and International Refugee Protection (Aug. 2006) [text]

Posted in Publications.

New Journal Issues

Disasters, vol. 30, no. 3 (Sept. 2006) [abstracts, selected free content]
- Special focus on cash transfers; article texts available for free; includes several other articles such as “Tsunami mortality and displacement in Aceh province, Indonesia.”

Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 29, no. 5 (Sept. 2006) [abstracts]

Human Rights Brief, vol. 13, no. 3 (Spring 2006) [full-text]
- Focus is on the new UN Human Rights Council. Also includes an article entitled “Victims of Terror Stopped at the Gate to Safety: The Impact of the ‘Material Support to Terrorism’ Bar on Refugees.”

Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 3 (Aug. 2006) [abstracts]

International Migration Review, vol. 40, no. 3 (Aug. 2006) [abstracts]

International Review of the Red Cross, no. 861 (2006) [full-text]
- Focus is on international criminal tribunals.

Journal de forum réfugiés, no. 35 (juillet 2006) [selected full-text]

Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 19, no.3 (Sept. 2006) [abstracts]
- Special issue on urban refugees.

Plein Droit, no. 69 (juillet 2006) [selected full-text]

Refuge: Canada’s Periodical on Refugees, vol. 23, no. 1 (Winter 2006) [full-text]
- Focus is on refugee diasporas and transnationalism.

Posted in Periodicals.

Migration-related treaties and databases

A High-Level Dialogue on international migration and development will take place at UN Headquarters on 14 and 15 September 2006. To promote greater state ratification of migration-related conventions, a Treaty Event - "Focus 2006: Crossing Borders" - has been scheduled in parallel, from the 13th to the 15th of September. The treaties to be highlighted cover human rights, trafficking, refugees and stateless persons, organized crime, corruption as well as environmental and disarmament issues. Summaries of the treaties are provided in this compilation. More information is available through the Treaty Section of the UN Office of Legal Affairs.

The International Migration Law and Legal Affairs section of IOM has produced a legal database housing international and regional treaty texts as well as national legislation and bilateral agreements. Users can retrieve texts by subject category and by keyword. Note that as of this writing, very few national laws are included in the database. Most are from European countries.

Compare this tool with the International Legal Search Engine. This resource allows users to not only search for the texts of relevant treaties, but also to extract relevant articles of conventions that relate to particular topics or issues of interest. Users can also locate all conventions that have been ratified by a particular country.

UNHCR has a strong treaty collection and has provided access to a series of legal databases for many years: RefInt (refugee-related international and regional instruments), RefLeg (national legislation) and RefPol (refugee-related policy documents).

Posted in Web Sites/Tools.

REFWORLD now on DVD

REFWORLD 2006 (issue no. 15) was released today. It is the first edition made available on DVD. Information from the web site notes that "all collections have been updated, to include the most recent laws, human rights documents, country reports, case law, UNHCR positions, publications, maps and statistics." Interested users can subscribe using this form; alternatively, parts of the REFWORLD collection are available on the UNHCR web site. To facilitate access to the online content, the REFWORLD creators have provided an alphabetical index and an index by informaton source and/or type.

Posted in Web Sites/Tools.

New Reports: Asylum/U.S., IDP Health/Ethiopia, Migrants/South Africa, Refugee Women/Uganda, UNHCR Desks, Warehousing

Asylum Law, Asylum Seekers and Refugees: A Primer (TRAC, 7 August 2006) [report]
- Focus is on the U.S.

The Asylum Process (TRAC, 7 August 2006) [report]
- Focus is on the U.S.

Country Campaign Pages (USCRI) [access]
- Provides access to reports on warehousing in specific countries; updates are included.

Land Conflicts and their Impact on Refugee Women’s Livelihoods in Southwestern Uganda, New Issues in Refugee Research paper, no. 127 (UNHCR, July 2006) [text]

Optimizing Service to the Field: A Review of the Role of the Desk in UNHCR (UNHCR, July 2006) [report]

Rapid Public Health Assessment of Internally Displaced Populations (Oxfam America in partnership with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, July 2006) [summary/text]

Unprotected Migrants: Zimbabweans in South Africa’s Limpopo Province (Human Rights Watch, 8 August 2006) [report] [press release]

Posted in Publications.

Protecting Refugee Women

Following on from this earlier post on gender-based violence, here are two additional papers that provide further scrutiny of standards and policies relating to the protection of refugee women.

Overview of International Standards and Policy on Gender Violence and Refugees: Progress, Gaps and Continuing Challenges for NGO Advocacy and Campaigning (26 July 2006) [text]

Gender and Child Protection Policies: Where do UNHCR’s partners stand? (July 2006) [text]

Posted in Publications.

Web Guide on Forced Migration Resources

I updated my "Guide to Forced Migration Resources on the Web" and it is now available on the Forced Migration Online site. One new addition is a section on blogs (big surprise!). While blogs are still not widely used within the forced migration community, they are appearing here and there. I refer to two examples in my guide (Mediablog and humanitarian.info). In addition, the Aid Workers Network is now aggregating blog postings from aid workers. There are no doubt many more, so please let me know about other blogs that focus on forced migration issues.

Posted in Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

New Periodical Issues: Conflict Trends, DIP, EJML

Conflict Trends, no. 2 (2006) [full-text]
- Theme is "Elections and Constitutional Democracy in Africa."

Development in Practice, vol. 16, no. 5 (August 2006) [contents]
- Includes articles on participatory monitoring and evaluation, NGO accountability and micro-credit, among other topics. (Note: An article in the previous issue, which focused on humanitarianism, is available in full-text through the DIP site: "Contemporary issues in humanitarianism: selected resources" [text]).

European Journal of Migration and Law, vol. 8, no. 2 (2006) [contents]
- Includes articles on EU readmission policy, EU migration phobia, human trafficking, German immigration law, and family reunification.

Posted in Periodicals.

Recent Pubs.: Aid, Detention, Gender, Human Rts., Migr., Property Rts., UK Asylum Law

Another listing of reports and publications that I've come across recently, on various topics:

Alternatives to immigration detention of families and children (All Party Parliamentary Groups on Children and Refugees, July 2006) [text]

Focus 2006: Crossing Borders (UN, July 2006) [text]
- Highlights 30 migration-related treaties that will be promoted for signature and ratification at the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development in September.

Gender and Humanitarian Action Resource Kit (IASC - DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION) [text]
- Interested parties are invited to submit feedback and comments.

Human Rights Guidance Note for Humanitarian Coordinators (IASC, June 2006) [text]

The Reality of Aid 2006: Focus on Conflict, Security and Development Cooperation (Reality of Aid Project, June 2006) [text]

Realizing Property Rights, Swiss Human Rights Book, vol. 1 (Ruffer & Rub, July 2006) [text]
- Includes a chapter by Walter Kalin, entitled "Internal Displacement and the Protection of Property."

UK Asylum Law and Process, Navigation Guide no. 3 (ICAR, July 2006) [text]

Posted in Publications.