Publications: Climate Change, Detention, Iraqi Refugees, Protracted Situations, UNHCR Stats., Witchcraft Accusations

"Climate-related disasters: humanitarian challenges and reconstruction opportunities," Places: Forum for Design of the Public Realm, vol. 20, no. 2 (2008), pp. 62-67 [text]

Detained Lives: The Real Cost of Indefinite Immigration Detention (London Detainee Support Group, Jan. 2009) [text]

Realizing protection space for Iraqi refugees: UNHCR in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 167 (UNHCR, Jan. 2009) [text]

A surrogate state? The role of UNHCR in protracted refugee situations, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 168 (UNHCR, Jan. 2009) [text]

UNHCR Statistical Yearbook 2009 (UNHCR, Jan. 2009) [text]

Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights: a review of the evidence, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 169 (UNHCR, Jan. 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Course: Researching Country of Origin Information

The Austrian Centre for Country of Origin & Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD) is offering a course on "Researching Country of Origin Information (COI)" in February & March 2009. The aim of the course is to "provide...information on how to conduct country research that results in relevant, reliable and balanced, accurate and up-to-date country of origin information." It will take place as a "blended learning course" in two phases, one online and the other face-to-face in Dublin, Ireland.

For more information about the course and a registration form, contact Anna.Ladurner@roteskreuz.at. The deadline for enrolling is 6 February 2009.

More general information about COI training is available here.

Tagged Events & Opportunities

Humanitarian Action Report 2009

UNICEF launched its 2009 Humanitarian Action Report yesterday. The report reviews UNICEF's work for women and children in emergencies, and indicates its requirements for further funding of its humanitarian programmes.

Past reports are available here.

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Case Law Guide, Civilian Protection, Bhutanese Refugees, Refugee Housing/Europe, Refugee Integration, Refugee Protection/Europe

Afghanistan and Pakistan: Raise Voices for Civilian Protection (Refugees International, Jan. 2009) [text]

"Bhutan's Radicalized Refugees: Part III," World Politics Review, 23 Jan. 2009 [text]

"Immigration et intégration des réfugiés en France et au Canada: politiques comparées," Les cahiers du social, no. 20 (France Terre d'Asile, Dec. 2008) [sommaire]

Improving the Safety of Civilians: A Protection Training Pack (Oxfam, Dec. 2008) [access]

Panorama des initiatives sur l'accès au logement des réfugiés dans 15 pays Européens (France Terre d'Asile, Dec. 2008) [text]

Rights under Threat: Campaign against the Refusal of Refugees' Access to Protection in Europe (CEAR, Dec. 2008) [text]

UNHCR's Refworld - Case Law Collection User Guide (UNHCR, Jan. 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Upcoming Student Conferences

Back-to-back conferences for students of forced migration are scheduled for April.

16-17 April 2009: "Documenting the Undocumented: Re-defining Refugee Status," Annual Student Conference, Centre for Refugee Studies, York University, Toronto [info.]

25-26 April 2009: "Refugees: Lives Pushed to the Margins," 6th Annual Forced Migration Student Conference, Refugee Research Centre, UEL, London [info.]

Tagged Events & Opportunities

Publications: Documenting War Crimes, DRC, Human Trafficking/U.S., UK Asylum Apps., UNISDR Terminology, Zimbabwe

Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2007-08 (U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, Jan. 2009) [text]

Crisis without Limits: Human Rights and Humanitarian Consequences of Political Repression in Zimbabwe (HRW, Jan. 2009) [text]

Disaster in the DRC: Responding to the Humanitarian Crisis in North Kivu, USIPeace Briefing (USIP, Dec. 2008) [text]

Management of Asylum Applications by the UK Border Agency (National Audit Office, Jan. 2009) [text]

Telling the Story: Documentation Lessons for Afghanistan from the Cambodian Experience, USIPeace Briefing (USIP, Dec. 2008) [text]

UNISDR Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR, Jan. 2009) [access]

Tagged Publications.

Refworld and COI Research

The Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Netherlands is the first governmental agency to formally adopt "Refworld as its main information tool in determining asylum claims." This UNHCR press release announced an MOU between the Netherlands and UNHCR that provides financial support to Refworld and helps ensure continued development of its protection and country of origin information databases.

Once upon a time, undertaking country of origin information research for refugee status determination purposes was much more time-consuming. It required seeking out and consulting a wide variety of scattered information sources. While the advent of the Internet made it a bit easier to access certain types of information, researchers still had to do a lot of legwork; see, e.g., this bibliography of human rights, country and legal information resources on the Internet that I compiled back in 2002.

Today the technology has sufficiently advanced that information systems like Refworld and ecoi.net can assemble and organize most of these resources under one roof. This means they can be browsed in meaningful ways and they are searchable. While these systems make certain aspects of COI research much more straightforward, they also require researchers to master the art of full-text searching and retrieval. UNHCR's Status Determination and Protection Information Section already offers trainings on Refworld. But it will be interesting to see to what extent the "module on country information in refugee status determination procedures" they have promised will also address digital information literacy.

Tagged Websites.

Publications: Bhutanese Refugees, Border Controls, EU Resettlement, Islam & Human Rts., Supply Chain Mgmt.

Background Paper from UNHCR: EU Resettlement (European Commission consultation meeting on the EU resettlement scheme, Brussels, 12 December 2008) (UNHCR, Dec. 2008) [text]

"Bhutan's Radicalized Refugees: Part II," World Politics Review (16 Jan. 2009) [text]

Concrete steps towards a European Resettlement Programme (ECRE, Dec. 2008) [text via Refworld]

Controlling Borders while Ensuring Protection, Conference documents from the first expert roundtable on UNHCR's 10-Point Plan of Action, Geneva, 20-21 November 2008 (UNHCR, Jan. 2009) [access]

"Islam, Human Rights and Displacement," Special Supplement to Forced Migration Review (Jan. 2009) [text]
- Now available online, in English and Arabic.

UNHCR SCM: Assuring Effective Supply Chain Management to Support Beneficiaries (UNHCR, Nov. 2008; posted Jan. 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications.

New Issues of Asylum News, Conflict Tr., Dev. in Practice, Refugee Rts. News, Women's Asylum News

Asylum News, no. 72 (Dec. 2008) [full-text]
- Developments in U.S. asylum policy.

Conflict Trends, no. 4 (2008) [full-text]
- Focuses on peace in Africa.

Development in Practice, vol. 19, no. 1 (2009) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Refugee Rights News, vol. 4, no. 7 (Dec. 2008) [full-text]
- Mix of articles.

Women's Asylum News, no. 79 (Dec. 2008/Jan. 2009) [full-text via Refworld]
- Mix of articles.

Tagged periodicals.

Human Rights Watch World Report 2009

Human Rights Watch's 19th annual report was released yesterday. It "summarizes human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide," and includes a series of introductory articles that examine the decline in human rights promotion and enforcement.

Past issues of the world report are available once again. (They disappeared temporarily during HRW's site re-organization.)

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Asylum Seekers/Zimbabwe, Bhutanese Refugees, Displaced/Central & East Africa, Freedom in the World, Gaza, HIV/Congo, Hunger

Asylum Seekers from Zimbabwe (UK House of Commons Library, Dec. 2008) [access via Human Security Gateway]

"Bhutan's Radicalized Refugees: Part I," World Politics Review (9 Jan. 2009) [text]

"Deprived and Endangered: Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip," (HRW, Jan. 2009) [text]

Displaced Populations Report, no. 4, July-Dec. 2008 (OCHA Regional Office for Central and East Africa) [text]

Freedom in the World 2009 (Freedom House, Jan. 2009) [findings]

Hunger 2009 - Global Development: Charting a New Course (Bread for the World Institute, Jan. 2009) [text]

"Universal access: the benefits and challenges in bringing integrated HIV care to isolated and conflict affected populations in the Republic of Congo," Conflict and Health 2009, 3:1 [text]

Tagged Publications.

New Issues of E&RS, Intervention, JEMS, New Routes, Torture J.; Early View Articles in Disasters

Disasters: four early view articles (Jan. 2009) [contents]
- Includes article on the protection of children in Darfur.

Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 32, no. 2 (2009) [contents]
- Focus is on "Gender, Race and Religion."

Intervention: International Journal of Mental Health, Psychosocial Work and Counselling in Areas of Armed Conflict, vol. 6, nos. 3&4 (Dec. 2008) [contents and intro.]
- Special issue on the "IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings."

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 35, no. 2 (2009) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

New Routes, vol. 13, no. 4 (2008) [full-text]
- Focus is on human rights; includes an article on IDPs.

Torture Journal, vol. 18, no. 3 (Dec. 2008) [full-text]
- Mix of articles.

Tagged periodicals.

Safety and Security of Humanitarian Workers

Blog Posts/News Stories:

"Aid Worker Fatalities: A Growing Global Trend," OneWorld, 14 Nov. 2008 [text]

"Attacks against Aid Workers," Humanitarian Relief Blog, 5 Oct. 2008 [text]

"How Many Aid Workers Receive Security Trainings," Humanitarian Relief Blog, 9 Jan. 2009 [text]

"Looking Back: When Humanitarians Become Targets," Humanitarian Relief Blog, 27 Dec. 2008 [text]

"Overcoming the Threat to Aid Workers," BBC News, 21 Oct. 2008 [text]

See also blog posts in the International Aid Worker Blog that report on deaths and injuries.

Papers/Reports:

"Mortality and Morbidity among Humanitarian Workers," Paper presented to the ISA 2005, 5 March 2005 [access]

Operating in Insecure Environements (UK Govt., Oct. 2008) [access via ReliefWeb]

Safety and security of humanitarian personnel and protection of United Nations personnel : report of the Secretary-General, UN Doc. no. A/63/305, 13 Aug. 2008 [text via UNBISnet in 6 UN languages; text via ReliefWeb]

Advice & Resources:

Patronus Analytical Blog [access]

Safety, Security & Aid Workers, AidWorkers Network [access]

For more information, visit the "Safety and Security" section of ReliefWeb's humanitarian library and browse other related postings on this blog.

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Chad/Sudan Border Violence, Child Soldiers, Climate Change, Iraq Returns, Iraqi Refugees, Maternal Health/Burma, Protracted Situations

"Access To Essential Maternal Health Interventions and Human Rights Violations among Vulnerable Communities in Eastern Burma,"PLoS Medicine, 5(12): e242 [text]

Chairman's Summary, 11 December 2008 (High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges (10-11 December 2008), Theme: Protracted Refugee Situations (UNHCR, Jan. 2009) [text via Refworld]

"Introduction Paper," Third Vijverberg Session on Climate Change and Migration, EC Representation in The Netherlands, Korte Vijverberg 5, The Hague, 20 January 2009 [access]

Porous Borders and the Insecurity of Civilians: Cross-border Violence in Darfur and Eastern Chad, Policy Brief no. 8-04 (Ford Institute for Human Security, 2008) [text]

Returns to Iraq: Questions and More Questions (Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, Dec. 2008) [text]

"Toolbox: The Refugee Imperative in Iraq," The American Interest Online, vol. 4, no. 3 (Jan.-Feb. 2009) [text]

Understanding and Addressing the Phenomenon of Child Soldiers: The Gap between the Global Humanitarian Discourse and the Local Understandings and Experiences of Young People’s Military Recruitment, RSC Working Paper, no. 53 (RSC, Jan. 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications.

New Issue of FMR: Focus on IDP Principles

A special issue of Forced Migration Review (FMR) spotlights the discussions that recently took place at the international conference on the Ten Years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, or GP10. It reproduces some conference presentations, and includes case studies of the Guiding Principles and their application in specific countries.

Tagged periodicals.

Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies: Free Access

Readers of the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies and other journals published by Haworth Press can enjoy free access to articles through February 2009. This is because of a recent acquisition of Haworth Press by Taylor & Francis. To take advantage of this limited opportunity, search for a specific journal title that you know was published by Haworth Press (check this list to refresh your memory). Since there is no way that I am aware of to limit a search just to Haworth Press titles, then conduct a general search for relevant articles and check to see if free access is available. For example, I searched on "refugees" in "Titles/Kwds/Abstract"; eight of the first 10 hits were freely available.

Tagged Periodicals.

Changes to the Blog

As of Jan. 2009, I will no longer maintain the four following "category" blogs that I set up when I first launched this blog:

Events & Opportunities
Periodicals
Publications
Web Sites/Tools

Instead, I will assign "tags" to each post. These tags carry the same names as the categories and therefore, will still be used to differentiate among the various types of information that I monitor for current awareness purposes. The reason for moving to tags is purely for maintenance reasons: It's a lot easier to assign a tag than it is to update four parallel blogs!

Happily, you can subscribe to RSS/Atom feeds for these tags. The basic format is
http://fm-cab.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/labelname; just substitute "labelname" with the specific tag you wish to track, as follows:

http://fm-cab.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/events
http://fm-cab.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/periodicals
http://fm-cab.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/publications
http://fm-cab.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/websites

You can do the same for any subject you wish to follow. I tag every post with relevant subject keywords from the International Thesaurus of Refugee Terminology. (These are displayed as "labels" in the actual post.) Here are two subject-specific examples:

http://fm-cab.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/climate
- The feed format for the subject "climate"

http://fm-cab.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default/-/country%20of%20origin%20conditions
- The feed format for the subject "country of origin conditions"

Copy and paste these into your reader just like you would any other feed. And the next time these tags are used in my blog, the feeds will be updated accordingly.

New Issues of AWR, Hum. Exch., IJISCRAM, JMRI, Third World Q.

(updated)

AWR Bulletin, vol. 46, no. 3 (2008) [contents]
- Mix of mostly German-language articles; also includes English-language article on "Migration, Integration and Religion."

Humanitarian Exchange, no. 41 (Dec. 2008) [full-text]
- Features articles on the situation in Myanmar.

International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, vol. 1, no. 1 (Jan.-Mar. 2009) [contents]
- Inaugural issue; the preface explains the goals of the journal.

Journal of Migration and Refugee Issues, vol. 4, no. 3 (2008) [contents]
- Includes articles on social group persecution and Kurdish refugee families in Sweden.

Third World Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 8 (2008) [contents]
- Mix of articles including one on Iraqi refugees in Syria.

Tagged Periodicals.

Publications: Climate Change, Emergency Food Security, Gaza Sitreps, Iraqis/Egypt, UNHCR/Chad, Youth/Darfur

Climate change refugees seek a new international deal (ClimateChangeCorp, Dec. 2008) [text]

Emergency food security interventions, Good Practice Review no. 10 (HPN, Dec. 2008) [access]

Gaza Humanitarian Situation Reports (OCHA) [access]

Iraqis in Egypt: A Statistical Survey in 2008 (CMRS, Dec. 2008) [text]

Lives of the Saints: International Hardship Duty in Chad (New Yorker, Jan. 2009) [text]

Too Little for Too Few: Meeting the needs of youth in Darfur (Women's Commission, Dec. 2008) [text]

Tagged Publications.

New Kakuma Camp Resource

The Kakuma News Reflector (KANERE) is a new blog/community-based newspaper that provides reports from "Ethiopian, Congolese, Ugandan, Rwandan, Somali, Sudanese and Kenyan journalists operating in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya." As noted in the introduction, their aim is in part to "re-conceptualize refugee affairs from the ground up" and "add the emerging voices of refugees" to the "well-established voices of academia, law, and institutions." The publication is currently produced on a monthly basis, with stories covering a wide range of issues such as social services, peace and security, and human rights matters. Comments from readers are welcome.

Tagged Publications and Websites.