New Periodical Issues: Dev. in Practice, Disasters, ERS, HRQ, Intl. Mig., IMR, JFR, JIRS, JRS, RSQ

Development in Practice, vol. 16, no. 6 (Nov. 2006) [contents]
- Focus of this issue is the "nature of knowledge for development (its provenance, how and by whom different knowledges are produced, defined, appropriated, and shared) and the conceptual frameworks and worldviews embedded in language – and why all this matters." The theme is further elaborated in the editorial. A list of relevant resources will eventually be made available on the resources page.

Disasters, vol. 30, no. 4 (Dec. 2006) [contents]
- Includes articles on livelihoods and complex emergencies, privatisation in wartime, the DRC, resilience, post-disaster resettlement, and earthquake protection strategies.

Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 29, no. 6 (Nov. 2006) [contents]
- Theme of this issue is "Social capital, migration and transnational families."

Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 28, no. 4 (Nov. 2006) [contents]
- Includes articles on definitions of torture, dignity, women's rights in the Koran, national human rights institutions, MDG 8, fair trade, sweatshops, and genocide prevention.

International Migration, vol. 44, no. 5 (Dec. 2006) [contents]
- Includes articles on free speech in Denmark, international migration and gender in Latin America, immigrants in Australia, Latinos in the U.S., and Nigerian female immigrants.

International Migration Review, vol. 40, no. 4 (Dec. 2006) [contents]
- Articles are available on guestworkers in Europe, Albanian migrants, labor migrants in Germany, Iranians in Turkey, immigration to the U.S., and Korean immigrants.

Journal de forum réfugiés, no. 36 (Oct. 2006) [selected full-text]
- Full-text articles include a review of asylum and immigration trends in France, Dublin II, and EU Regional Protection Programmes; available in French and English.

Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, vol. 4, no. 4 (2006) [contents]
- Includes articles on immigration to Portugal, Filipino American adolescents, health issues for Koreans in the U.S., community among African/Asian refugee youths, and health of Iraqi immigrants.

Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 19, no. 4 (Dec. 2006) [contents]
- Articles are available on the returnee experience, impact of videoconferencing IRB hearings, asylum denials, refugee definitions, and children asylum seekers in Wales.

Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 25, no. 4 (2006) [contents]
- Reproduces statements and papers from Webster University's 11th Annual Humanitarian Conference, "Humanitarian Action: The Role of Governments, International Organizations and NGOs."

Posted in Periodicals.

Sexual Violence in Conflict

November 25th was the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. A fairly recent UN study entitled "In-depth study on all forms of violence against women" notes that "there are still many forms of violence that remain largely undocumented" including "sexual violence against women in armed conflict and post-conflict situations" (p. 66), among others.

One effort to improve the quality and reliability of data is under way at the Geneva Centre for Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF). The Centre plans to publish a Global Report on Sexual Violence in Conflict in May 2007. The report will include, among other things, "country profiles with a brief summary of the conflict and qualitative and quantitative data on sexual violence in this conflict." The Centre is soliciting input to the report in the form of data and examples of good practice in response to sexual violence in conflict situations. Read the project summary for more information.

To date, the DCAF, in its capacity as a founding member of the Alliance for Direct Action against Rape in Conflicts and Crises (AllianceDARC), has produced a discussion paper on the challenges of data collection in this area and has compiled a bibliography.

Posted in Publications and Events/Opportunities.

Pubs. on Children, EU-Africa Migration, Human Trafficking, Peacebuilding, Refugee Funds

Children and Armed Confict, UN doc. no. A/61/529-S/2006/826 (UN, Oct. 2006) [text]

Conference documents, EU-Africa Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development, Tripoli, 22-23 November 2006 [site]

Conflict and Development: Peacebuilding and Post-conflict Reconstruction (UK House of Commons, Oct. 2006) [text]

Evaluating ERF and Challenge Fund Services Report (UK Home Office, Nov. 2006) [text]
- ERF = European Refugee Fund

Statement of the Participants of the GAATW Global Consultation on Prevention of Trafficking (15 Nov. 2006) [text]

Trans-Saharan Migration to North Africa and the EU: Historical Roots and Current Trends (Migration Info. Source, Nov. 2006) [text]

Unaccompanied Children and the Dublin II Regulation (Refugee Council, Nov. 2006) [text]

Posted in Publications.

New Pubs.: Asylum/Europe, Destitute Asylum Seekers/UK, Humanities, Intl. Instruments, Livelihoods/Uganda, Mental Health/UK, UNHCR & IDPs

Collection of International Instruments and Other Legal Texts Concerning Refugees and Others of Concern to UNHCR (Nov. 2006) [four volumes - web page]

The Destitution Trap: Research into destitution among refused asylum seekers in the UK (Refugee Action, Nov. 2006) [text]

Down and Out in London: The road to destitution for rejected asylum seekers (Amnesty International UK, Nov. 2006) [text]

Meeting the Mental Health Needs of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Immigration Detainees (SPN for Modern Mental Health, 2006) [text]

Movement on the Margins: Livelihoods and Security in Kitgum District, Northern Uganda (Feinstein International Center, Nov. 2006) [text]

Refugee status, subsidiary protection, and the right to be granted asylum under EC law, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 136 (M.-T. Gil-Bazo, Nov. 2006) [text]

Refugees and the Humanities: A Challenge (A. Holian, Nov. 2006) [text]

UNHCR’s expanded role in support of the inter-agency response to situations of internal displacement: Report of a lessons learned and effective practice workshop, PDES/2006/06 (UNHCR, Nov. 2006) [text]

Posted in Publications.

Forced Migration Fora: Asking Questions, Getting Answers

A variety of fora for posting questions and answers to a community of experts and practitioners are available in the forced migration field.

Aidworkers Forum [site]
- Made available through the revamped Aidworkers Network site. It's a place where humanitarian aid workers can post requests for advice and guidance on a range of issues. The forum is quite active and questions appear to have a high response rate. The forum is public but visitors must register in order to post questions or comments.

Forced Migration Discussion List [site]
- While not a new list (it's been around since the late 1990s), it just passed the 1000-member mark and continues to attract researchers and practitioners from a range of disciplines. The list archives are public, but visitors must subscribe to circulate messages. Managed by the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC).

Medact Refugee Health Network [site]
- A Yahoo group for health professionals working with refugees whose aim is "to share information and best practice amongst those working to facilitate improving the health of refugees." You must join in order to view the archives.

Refuge and Rejection Forum [site]
- Part of a newly launched site to promote the humanities in forced migration studies. As such, not much activity yet but there is an essay on "what the humanities have to contribute to the study of refugees" and "why humanists are poorly represented in the field of 'refugee studies'" which new members can comment on.

Refugee Education [site]
- Another Yahoo group set up to "support teachers and other professionals who work with refugee and asylum-seeking children, young people and families." Appears to be quite active, with 980 members. You must join in order to view the archives.

Refugee Studies [site]
- This was established for current and former students of UEL's refugee studies program. Sections include a general discussion area, research resources, employment/study opportunities, and conferences/events, among others. Currently, this forum appears to be used more for information-sharing than Q&A.

BTW, I posted a list of resources on the Aidworkers Forum in response to a request for information on how best to assist war-affected children in Uganda. If you are interested, you can read the request and response here.

Posted in Web Sites/Tools.

New Issue IJRL

The latest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law is a double one: volume 18, number 3-4 (Sept/Dec 2006). According to the editorial extract, it consists "primarily of papers from the Workshop on ‘The Right to Seek and Enjoy Asylum? The Pacific, Mediterranean and Caribbean Plans Compared’, held in Prato, Italy, in 2005." A brief summary of the workshop is provided by ICAR.

Articles included in this issue:

(Note: I added links to author's profiles, where available. Also note that from the abstract page, OUP has now included a link to other articles written by a particular author and available through Google Scholar. Results are mixed, though, since no first names are used, just initials. So browse with caution!)

Susan Kneebone, Christopher McDowell, and Gareth Morrell
A Mediterranean Solution? Chances of Success [abstract]

Erika Feller
Asylum, Migration and Refugee Protection: Realities, Myths and the Promise of Things to Come [abstract]

Richard Towle
Processes and Critiques of the Indo-Chinese Comprehensive Plan of Action: An Instrument of International Burden-Sharing? [abstract]

María-Teresa Gil-Bazo
The Practice of Mediterranean States in the context of the European Union's Justice and Home Affairs External Dimension. The Safe Third Country Concept Revisited [abstract]

Madeline Garlick
The EU Discussions on Extraterritorial Processing: Solution or Conundrum? [abstract]

Elspeth Guild
The Europeanisation of Europe's Asylum Policy [abstract]

Alexander Betts
Towards a Mediterranean Solution? Implications for the Region of Origin [abstract]

Stephen H. Legomsky
The USA and the Caribbean Interdiction Program [abstract]

Susan Kneebone
The Pacific Plan: The Provision of ‘Effective Protection’? [abstract]

Posted in Periodicals.

New Working Papers: Compas, Fafo, UNHCR

The Balkans at a crossroads: Progress and challenges in finding durable solutions for refugees and displaced persons from the wars in the former Yugoslavia, New Issues in Refugee Research Paper, no. 133 (G. Ambroso, Nov. 2006) [text]

EU and the Migration-Development Nexus: What Prospects for EU-Wide Policies? Compas Working Paper, no. 37 (M-H Chou, Oct. 2006) [text]

The European asylum procedures directive in legal context, New Issues in Refugee Research Paper, no. 134 (C. Costello, Nov. 2006) [text]

Palestinian Refugees in Syria: Human Capital, Economic Resources and Living Conditions, Fafo-report 514 (A.A. Tiltnes, ed., Nov. 2006) [text]

Protecting refugees and asylum seekers under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, New Issues in Refugee Research Paper, no. 132 (S. Persaud, Nov. 2006) [text]

Posted in Publications.

The African Union's Refugee/IDP Institutional Structure

While visiting the African Union web site, I noticed that the AU’s Coordinating Committee on Assistance and Protection to Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (CCAR) is meeting today. A link to the draft agenda is provided on the home page. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find very much information on the AU web site about the work of this committee, but there are documents reflecting the work of other AU mechanisms that address refugee/IDP matters more generally. For example:

1. A description of the Humanitarian Affairs, Refugees and Displaced Persons Division, which is part of the Department of Political Affairs. A brief list of the Division's functions is also provided.

2. Conclusions and Recommendations of the Consultative Meeting between the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (March 2003) (Note: This includes a recommendation for work that the aforementioned CCAR should take on.)

3. A short article from the AU’s newsletter that describes how the AU collaborates with UNHCR.

4. The web site for the recently convened Ministerial Conference on Refugees, Returnees and IDPs. (Note: UNHCR’s Africa Newsletter, p. 3, includes a brief report of the results of the meeting.)

In addition, decisions of the AU Assembly and Council of Ministers that relate to displacement issues are available. Visitors can browse by session or search the site for relevant terms. (Note: The AU site engine is not currently functioning but a site search can still be conducted using a web search engine like Google; for example, enter >refugees site: www.africa-union.org< into the search box to locate references specific to the AU site.)

Other resources elsewhere elaborate on AU refugee/IDP mechanisms, including the following:

1. An article from Conflict Trends that provides a very helpful overview of the African Union’s evolving “institutional framework for responding to forced displacement in Africa.” And it includes a description of the CCAR mentioned above.

2. A book entitled Human Rights in Africa: From the OAU to the African Union. It includes a chapter on “refugees and human rights.”

3. The book's author, Rachel Murray, also has an article in RSQ called “Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons and Human Rights: The African System.”

Posted in Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

New Annual Reports from ECRE, FAO, Freedom House, RSF, UNDP

(Updated Nov. 10, 2006)

ECRE Country Report 2005 (ECRE) [text]
- Individual country overviews of legal and social developments affecting refugees and asylum-seekers in Europe.

Freedom in the World 2006 (Freedom House) [text]
- Annual survey of civil and political rights around the world.

Freedom of the Press Worldwide in 2006 (Reporters sans Frontieres) [text]
- Annual survey of press freedom and violence against journalists.

Human Development Report 2006 - Beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis (UNDP) [text]

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006 (FAO) [text]
- Reviews progress, or lack thereof, in attempts to eradicate hunger in the world. Apparently, world hunger has increased since the World Food Summit held in 1996 pledged to halve in by 2015.

Posted in Publications.

Literature Reviews: Mental Health Aspects of Forced Migration

I am compiling literature reviews for another project I'm working on and I have come across a number that discuss the mental health and psychological issues confronting forced migrants. One of the principal debates reflected in this literature is the validity of the PTSD concept for refugee and other forced migrant populations. Among other things, critics argue that PTSD is a Western concept which is often applied without regard for the cultural perspective of the affected individuals. For an overview of this and other debates within the psychological community, read C. Eyber's FMO Research Guide on Psychosocial Issues (2002).

Ager, A. (1993). Mental Health Issues in Refugee Populations: A Review. Boston, Harvard Medical School, Department of Social Medicine, Project on International Mental and Behavioural Health, 35 p. [text]
- Note: This paper is available in Forced Migration Online's digital library. To retrieve the text, go to "advanced search" and enter the author's name or title keywords into the relevant search field.

Friedman, M. J. and J. M. Jaranson (1994). "The Applicability of the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Concept to Refugees." In Amidst Peril and Pain: The Mental Health and Well-being of the World's Refugees, ed. by A. J. Marsella, T. Bornemann, S. Ekblad and J. Orley. Washington, DC, American Psychological Association: 207-27. [text]

Hollifield, M., T. D. Warner, et al. (2002). "Measuring Trauma and Health Status in Refugees: A Critical Review." JAMA 288(5): 611-21.
- Note: JAMA electronic content is available free of charge six months after publication. Register as a guest at http://jama.ama-assn.org/.

Keyes, E. F. (2000). "Mental Health Status in Refugees: An Integrative Review of Current Research." Issues in Mental Health Nursing 21(4): 397-410. [abstract]

Loughry, M., C. Eyber, et al. (2003). Psychosocial Concepts in Humanitarian Work with Children: A Review of the Concepts and Related Literature. Washington, DC, National Academies Press. [text]

Mills, E. J., S. Singh, et al. (2005). "Prevalence of Mental Disorders and Torture among Tibetan Refugees: A Systematic Review." BMC International Health and Human Rights 5. [text]

Mollica, R. F., B. Lopes Cardozo, et al. (2004). "Mental Health in Complex Emergencies." The Lancet 364(9450): 2058–67.
- Note: Text freely available online from The Lancet; however, registration is required before access is provided.

Murthy, R. S. and R. Lakshminarayana (2006). "Mental Health Consequences of War: A Brief Review of Research Findings." World Psychiatry 5(1): 25–30. [text]

Nicholl, C. and A. Thompson (2004). "The Psychological Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Adult Refugees: A Review of the Current State of Psychological Therapies." Journal of Mental Health 13(4): 351-62. [text]

Procter, N. G. (2005). "'They First Killed His Heart (Then) He Took His Own Life'. Part 1: A Review of the Context and Literature on Mental Health Issues for Refugees and Asylum Seekers." International Journal of Nursing Practice 11(6): 286-291. [abstract]

Refugee Trauma Task Force (2003). Review of Child and Adolescent Refugee Mental Health. Boston, National Child Traumatic Stress Network, 49 p. [text]

Schweitzer, R., L. Buckley, et al. (2002). "The Psychological Treatment of Refugees and Asylum Seekers: What Does the Literature Tell Us?" Mots Pluriels 21. [text]

Willigen, L. v. (1992). A (Short) Review of Literature on the Health Problems of Refugees. 3rd International Research and Advisory Panel Meeting. Oxford. [text]
- Note: This paper is available in Forced Migration Online's digital library. To retrieve the text, go to "advanced search" and enter the author's name or title keywords into the relevant search field.

For more information and other literature references, visit the "Cultural Understandings" section of Harpweb's Mental Health and Well-Being Resource.

Posted in Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

New Periodical Issues: Asylons, Conflict Trends, Hum. Reform, J. Forum Refugies, Mig. Letters, NICS, REMI

Asylon(s), no. 1 (Oct. 2006) [full-text]
- New periodical from TERRA (Travaux, Etudes, Recherches sur les Réfugiés et l’Asile); focus is on "Femmes persécutées."

Conflict Trends, no. 3/2006 [full-text]
- Theme is "peacekeeping in Africa."

Humanitarian Reform Newsletter (Sept. 2006) [full-text]
- Provides news and updates about the cluster approach.

Le Journal de Forum Réfugiés, no. 36 (Oct. 2006) [selected full-text in French] [selected full-text in English]

Migration Letters, vol. 3, no. 2 (Oct. 2006) [full-text]
- Includes articles on migrants in Greece, Mexico, Nepal and Canada. Also includes "Refugee Policy is a Realist’s Nightmare: The Case of Southeast Asia" and two forced migration-related book reviews.

Nutrition Information in Crisis Situations, vol. 10 (Aug. 2006) [full-text]

Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, vol. 22, no. 2 (2006) [contents]
- 20th anniversary issue; includes "Asile, immigration : réconcilier les droits de l’homme et ceux du citoyen."

Posted in Periodicals.