Publications: Detention, Estimating Mortality, EU Asylum, Internal Displacement/Colombia, Refugee Program/Australia, Refugee Stories/Eastern Europe

"Assessment of recent EU asylum policy and legal developments," Monthly Policy Interview (Eurasylum, Feb. 2009) [text]

Australia's Refugee and Humanitarian Program: Community Views on Current Challenges and Future Directions (Refugee Council on Australia, Jan. 2009) [text]

"Here to Stay?" - Refugee voices in Belarus, Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine (ECRE, Feb. 2009) [access to English and Russian texts]

Internal Displacement and the Construction of Peace (Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, Feb. 2009) [access to English and Spanish texts]

A New Method to Estimate Mortality in Crisis-Affected Populations: Validation and Feasibility Study (FANTA, Jan. 2009) [access via ReliefWeb]

Selected Documents Relating to Detention (UNHCR, Feb. 2009) [text]
- See also related Refworld page on detention.

Tagged Publications.

UN Human Rights Publications: Human Trafficking, IDPs

Reports from the 10th Session of the Human Rights Council can be accessed via this listing. Several titles of interest include:

Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the latest developments in the United Nations relating to combating trafficking in persons as well as on the activities of the Office on this issue, A/HRC/10/64 (Human Rights Council, Feb. 2009) [text]

Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Walter Kälin, A/HRC/10/13 (Human Rights Council, Feb. 2009) [text]

Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Walter Kälin. Addendum: High-level conference on “Ten years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement - achievements and future challenges” (Oslo, 16 and 17 October 2008): summary of the Conference Chair, A/HRC/10/13/Add.3 (Human Rights Council, Feb. 2009) [text]

(Refworld maintains a page in its site that makes it easier to access many of these documents; visit UN Human Rights System.)

In addition, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights just published this handbook:

Working with the United Nations Human Rights Programme: A Handbook for Civil Society (OHCHR, 2008; posted Feb. 2009) [access]

Tagged Publications.

2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices

The 2008 edition of the U.S. State Department's annual country reports has just been released. The aim of "[t]hese congressionally mandated reports [is to] describe the performance in 2008 of governments across the globe in putting into practice their international commitments on human rights." The introduction considers overall trends, provides a regional overview, and highlights selected country developments. Individual reports can be accessed alphabetically by region.

Previous editions are available here.

Tagged Publications.

Annual Review of Global Peace Operations 2009

The Center on International Cooperation's Annual Review of Global Peace Operations assesses more than 50 peace operations, both UN and non-UN, in order to better inform policymakers about the role of peacekeeping in conflict management. The book can be purchased through Lynne Rienner publishers. The Foreword is available on CIC's site, along with a briefing paper about the review and an article from the Financial Times.

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Gaza Lessons, Pakistanis/Spain, Right to Counsel, Statelessness, Violence against Children/Uganda

'Death is Different' and a Refugee's Right to Counsel, Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 1290382 (SSRN, revised Jan. 2009) [text]

Deepening Crisis in Gaza: Lessons for Operational Agencies (ALNAP, Feb. 2009) [text]

Same Spaces, Different Places: The Divergent Perspectives of Children and Adults regarding Violence against Children in Refugee Settlements of Western Uganda (Raising Voices & UNHCR, 2008; posted online Feb. 2009) [text]

Statelessness: An Analytical Framework for Prevention, Reduction and Protection (UNHCR, 2008; posted online Feb. 2009) [text]

Testing migration hypotheses: the movement of people from Pakistan to Catalonia, New Issues in Refugee Research no. 170 (UNHCR, Feb. 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Finding Theses & Dissertations

A number of projects are under way to digitize theses and dissertations and make them openly available to the wider online community and/or to establish a central access point for these important research materials. Here are some examples of both national and regional efforts:

Australasian Digital Theses Program [access]
- Provides access to both digitized theses and bibliographic information about non-digitized theses.

British Library EthOS [access]
- Aim is "[t]o offer a 'single point of access' where researchers the world over can access ALL theses produced by UK Higher Education." A list of participating institutions is provided on the site. Some full-texts are available at no charge. Free registration required.

DART-Europe E-theses Portal [access]
- Aim is to "encourage the creation, discovery and use of European e-theses." Most texts appear to be available in full at no charge.

Database of African Theses and Dissertations [access]
- Free registration required to search bibliographic database with information on theses and dissertations completed at African universities.

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations [access]
- NDLTD is "an international organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination and preservation of electronic analogues to the traditional paper-based theses and dissertations." Access above is provided via the VTLS Visualizer, a search and discovery system. Other systems available for searching the same collection can be found here.

Theses Canada Portal/Portail de Theses Canada [access]
- Provides access to bibliographic records for theses and if available, electronic texts.

Tagged Web Sites/Tools.

U.S. Policy: Iraqi Refugees and IDPs

With new leadership in the U.S., advocates are urging the Obama administration to take the lead in crafting a comprehensive plan for addressing the Iraqi displacement crisis.

To learn more:
- Attend a free event that will be held 25 February 2009 in New York City on "Dealing with the Aftermath of the Iraq War: The Plight of Iraqi Refugees."
- Review Refugees International's newly launched campaign, "Don't Forget Iraqi Refugees," and their proposed plan of action
- Read Human Rights First's strategy for confronting the Iraqi refugee crisis and check out their Lifeline for Iraqi Refugees campaign
- Learn about the International Rescue Committee's lobbying efforts for greater support to Iraqi refugees
- Listen to discussions at the U.S. Institute for Peace's recently held event, "Coming Home: The Challenge of Return for Iraq's Displaced"

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Publications: Children/Sudan, Destitution/UK, ICVA Conf., IDPs/Sri Lanka, Palestinians/Lebanon

21 Days Later: Destitution and the Asylum System (Refugee Survival Trust & British Red Cross, Jan. 2009) [access]

"Changing the Humanitarian Community," ICVA Conference Documents, 2 Feb. 2009 [access]

Nurturing Instability: Lebanon’s Palestinian Refugee Camps (International Crisis Group, Feb. 2009) [text]

Report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in the Sudan (UN Security Council, Feb. 2009) [text via IDMC]

War on the Displaced: Sri Lankan Army and LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Vanni (HRW, Feb. 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Armed Conflict, Colombians/Forced Migration, Environment, Southern Sudan, Western Balkans Guidelines

Environmentally induced migration and displacement: a 21st century challenge (Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly, Dec. 2008) [text via Refworld]

Forced Migration of Colombians: Colombia, Ecuador, Canada (Corporación Región & School of Social Work, UBC, Jan. 2008; posted online Feb. 2009) [text]

Improving International Responses to Armed Conflict (International Peace Institute, Feb. 2009) [text via ReliefWeb]

Regional Guidelines for Unified Asylum, Migration and Visa Management in the Western Balkans (ICMPD et al., Oct. 2008) [text]

"There is no Protection": Insecurity and Human Rights in Southern Sudan (HRW, Feb. 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications.

New Issues of Dis. Prev. & Mgmt., Disasters, IJRL, JEMS, JRS (advance)

Disaster Prevention and Management, vol. 18, no. 1 (2009) [contents]
- Special issue on "Disaster management and the built environment."

Disasters, vol. 33, no. 2 (April 2009) [contents]
- Mix of articles; note: the last issue, vol. 33, no. 1, is now available as a free sample issue.

International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 21, no. 1 (March 2009) [contents]
- Includes articles on credibility assessment in RSD, application of the Guiding Principles, ECHR case law on judicial review, and temporal aspects of refugee protection.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 35, no. 3 (2009) [contents]
- Special issue on "Muslims and the State in the Post-9/11 West."

Journal of Refugee Studies, advance access articles (Feb. 2009) [contents]
- Includes "The Birth of a ‘Discipline’: From Refugee to Forced Migration Studies," "Contemporary Compulsory Dispersal and the Absence of Space for the Restoration of Trust," "Irregular Secondary Movements to Europe: Seeking Asylum beyond Refuge," and "Widening the Protection Gap: The ‘Politics of Citizenship’ for Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon, 1948–2008."

Tagged periodicals.

International Humanitarian Conference

Webster University will host its 14th International Humanitarian Conference, 26-27 February 2009. The theme is "The Psychological Impact of Humanitarian Crises on Humanitarian Actors, on Refugees and Other Victims." Six sessions will focus variously on "The Foundations, Ethics and Practice of 'Humanitarian Psychology'"; "The Psychological Vulnerability of Individuals and Communities at Risk"; and, "'Helping the helpers' – psychological care for humanitarian workers."

Conference papers are published in issues of Refugee Survey Quarterly. See, e.g., RSQ 26(4), 25(4) and 24(4).

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Publications: Asylum Seekers/Hungary, Climate Change, IDP Health/Uganda, Palestinian Refugees

Asylum Seekers' Access to Territory and to the Asylum Procedure in the Republic of Hungary (Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Dec. 2008) [text]

"Factors associated with the health status of internally displaced persons in northern Uganda," Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 63 (2009): 227-232 [text]

The Humanitarian Costs of Climate Change (Feinstein International Center, Feb. 2009) [text]

The Palestinian Refugee Issue: A Palestinian Perspective (Chatham House, Feb. 2009) [text via Human Security Gateway]

Tagged Publications.

Upcoming Events: February, March and April 2009

February:

Palestinian Refugees and International Law, RSC Short Course, Oxford, 28 Feb. - 1 March 2009
- Final call for applications, issued today (13 Feb. 2009).

Refugee Studies Summer School, Centre for Refugee Research, UNSW, Sydney, 23-26 Feb. 2009

March:

Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Santa Fe, 17-21 March 2009
- Theme is "Global Challenge, Local Action: Ethical Engagement, Partnerships, and Practice." A number of panels and papers will focus on refugees, population displacement, and/or involuntary resettlement.

April:

Coming home? Conflict and return migration in twentieth-century Europe, Southampton, 1-3 April 2009
- Register by 1 March.

The External Dimension of the Immigration and Asylum Policy of the EU Programme, Brussels, 3-4 April 2009
- Register by 20 March.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

New Issues of Cult. & Conf., HR Brief, HRQ, JMRI, RSC News, Women's Asylum News

Cultures & Conflits, no. 71 (automne 2008) [full-text]
- Special issue on "Confinement des étrangers: entre circulation et enfermement."

Human Rights Brief, vol. 16, no. 1 (Fall 2008) [full-text]
- Mix of articles.

Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1 (Feb. 2009) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Journal of Migration and Refugee Issues, vol. 5, no. 1 (2009) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

RSC Newsletter, no. 2 (Winter/Spring 2009) [full-text]

Women's Asylum News, no. 80 (Feb. 2009) [access via Refworld]
- Mix of articles.

Tagged periodicals.

Publications: Environmental Change, Human Trafficking, Iraq, Refugees/Europe, Violence against Women

Environmental Change and Migration: Assessing the Evidence and Developing Norms for Response, RSC Workshop (Jan. 2009) [access]
- Workshop report and papers are now available.

Global Report on Trafficking in Persons (UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Feb. 2009) [access]

Iraq: more challenges ahead for a fractured humanitarian enterprise (Feinstein International Center, Jan. 2009) [text]

The Vulnerable Women’s Project Good Practice Guide: Assisting Refugee and Asylum Seeking Women affected by Rape or Sexual Violence (Refugee Council, Feb. 2009) [text]

What Price Does a Refugee Pay to Reach Europe? (ECRE, Feb. 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications.

International Humanitarian Studies Association

The International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) was launched during the first World Conference of Humanitarian Studies, which was held 4-7 February 2009. This press release notes that "Humanitarian studies is much more than the study of humanitarian action. Its field is concerned with how humanitarian crises evolve from societies and in turn how they affect societies. This includes, amongst others international dimensions of crisis, their causes, dynamics and effects, response programmes and experiences of refugees and internally displaced people." Read a reaction to this development on the "Getting Humanitarian Aid Right" blog.

IHSA will be hosted initially by the Disaster Studies department at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Its president is Alex de Waal, who is a program director at the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). The next conference will be held in 2011 and hosted by Tufts University.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

New Literature Review on Refugee Women

The Refugee Council has published Refugee and Asylum Seeking Women Affected by Rape or Sexual Violence: A Literature Review. "It provides a summary of evidence that is available about the prevalence of sexual violence against refugee women, and about access to justice in some of the countries from which the [Vulnerable Women’s] Project’s clients have fled."

Additional bibliographies and literature reviews relating to forced migrant women can be located in my research guide, under the "women" subject category.


Tagged Publications.

Gilbert Jaeger

ECRE's home page notes that Gilbert Jaeger, a refugee protection expert, has passed away. Mr. Jaeger began working for UNHCR in 1951 and retired in 1979. During his tenure, he served in many different capacities, including Economic Advisor, UNHCR Representative in Belgium, Director for Africa and Asia, Director of Assistance, and finally Director of Protection. Subsequently, he played a "key role in the development of ECRE since the early eighties." He was described in the 2001 IASFM conference report as "one of the key policy figures in [the 1951 Convention's] first half century..." (Wilde, 2001, p. 136).

His papers are archived with UNHCR.

This report notes that Mr. Jaeger was one of three authors of the well-known UNHCR Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status. Here is a partial bibliography of some of his other works, in reverse chronological order:

"Opening keynote address: the Refugee Convention at fifty," Chapter in The Refugee Convention at fifty: a view from forced migration studies, ed. by J. van Selm (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2003) [info.]

"On the history of the international protection of refugees," International Review of the Red Cross, no. 843 (2001): 727-737 [text]

"A Comment on the Distortion of the Palliative Role of Refugee Protection," Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 8, no. 3 (1995): 300-01 [access; scroll down to page number]

"Refugees or migrants?," Chapter in NGOs and refugees: reflections at the turn of the century, ed. by M. Kjaerum et al. (Copenhagen: SOCPOL, 1993) [info.]

"Comparative Approaches to Refugee and Asylum Law," Chapter in Asylum Law and Practice in Europe and North America: A Comparative Analysis, ed. by G. Coll and J. Bhabha (Washington, DC: Federal Publications, 1992) [info.]

"Detention of asylum seekers in Belgium," Chapter in Asylum Law and Practice in Europe and North America: A Comparative Analysis, ed. by G. Coll and J. Bhabha (Washington, DC: Federal Publications, 1992) [info.]

"The 40th Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme (October 1989)," International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 2, no. 1 (1990): 125-29 [text; scroll down to page number]

"Irregular movements: The concept and possible solutions," Chapter in The new asylum seekers: Refugee law in the 1980s. The Ninth Sokol Colloquium on international law, ed. by D. Martin (Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff, 1988) [info.]

"Political Asylum in North America and Western Europe," In Defense of the Alien, vol. 9 (1987): 85-96 [info.]

Study of Irregular Movements of Asylum Seekers and Refugees (UNHCR, 1985) [text]

"Refugee Asylum: Policy and Legislative Developments,” International Migration Review, vol. 15, nos. 1&2 (1981): 52-68 [access; scroll down to page number]

A succinct evaluation of the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, Conference paper for Diakonischen Werkes der Evangelischen Kirche, Stuttgart, 25-27 November 1980 [text]

Status and international protection of refugees (Institut International des droits de l'homme, 1978) [English text; French text]

"Determination of Refugee Status under International Instruments," Chapter in African refugees and the law, ed. by G. Melander and P. Nobel (Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, 1978) [info.]

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Comm. Orgs., EU Funding/E. Europe, Palestinians/Egypt, Private Sector Providers, Unacc. Minors

The European Union funding priorities in Eastern Europe for refugee protection, migration management and border reinforcement (ECRE, Feb. 2009) [access]

Halfway Home: Unaccompanied Children in Immigration Custody (Women's Refugee Commission, Feb. 2009) [text]

The potential of migrant and refugee community organisations to influence policy (Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Feb. 2009) [access]

Private Security Providers and Services in Humanitarian Operations, HPG Policy Brief no. 33 (ODI, Jan. 2009) [text]

Unprotected: Palestinians in Egypt since 1948 (Institute for Palestinian Studies/IDRC, 2009) [access]

Tagged Publications.

Teaching Tools

My previous post highlighted children's books that focus on the refugee experience. How can these and other titles be used in the classroom as teaching tools? Here are a few resources that provide background on the use of children's literature for educational purposes as well as ideas for integrating the study of refugees into the primary school curriculum.

Studies:

Hope, Julia. 2008. "'One Day We Had to Run': The Development of the Refugee Identity in Children's Literature and its Function in Education," Children's Literature in Education, vol. 39, no. 4 (December): 295-304.

Hope, Julia. 2007. "Flightlines: exploring early readers for children about the refugee experience," FORUM: for promoting 3-19 comprehensive education, vol. 49, no. 3: 289-98.

Teaching guides (not available online):

Encouraging Refugee Awareness in the Classroom: A Guide for Teachers (U.S. Committee for Refugees, 1995)

Refugees: A resource book for primary schools (Refugee Council, 1998)

Refugees: We left because we had to (Refugee Council, 2004)
- Note: An earlier edition is available online in FMO's digital library.

Teaching about immigrants and refugees (U.S. Committee for Refugees, 1996)

The uprooted: refugees and the United States - a multidisciplinary teaching guide (Amnesty International, 1995)

Curricula/Educational resources (online):

Classroom Resources (Refugee Council)

Educational Resources for Teachers (UNHCR)

Global Communities: Learning about Refugee Issues (Refugee Week)

Refugees: a resource book for 8-13 year olds (British Refugee Council, 1992)

Teaching Materials for VELS Level 4, 5, 6 (Oxfam Australia)
- Scroll down to "Education Kit."

Tagged Publications and Websites.

Selecting children's books on refugees

(revised)

I have been reading children's books that focus on refugees in order to select titles to contribute to my son's school library collection. My criteria included:

- different formats for different reading levels, i.e., picture books for younger/less advanced readers (grades K-2) and juvenile fiction/non-fiction for older/more advanced readers (grades 3-5)
- diverse refugee populations reflected
- different aspects of the refugee experience represented

A number of review sources are available that focus particularly on children's literature, including:
- Book Links
- Booklist
- Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books
- Horn Book
- School Library Journal

Reviews in these periodicals are searchable via a number of print indexes and databases. However, Amazon.com also includes reviews from these sources under individual book titles, in addition to customer reviews (see example).

Also useful was War & Peace: A Guide to Literature and New Media, Grades 4-8.

And here is the list of titles that I have compiled so far. (Note: I would have included Four Feet, Two Sandals; Gleam and Glow; and How I Learned Geography but my son's school library already carries these!)

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Asylum Seekers/Greece, Asylum & Health/Australia, European Refugee Fund, Failed States, Refugee Integration/UK,

The European Refugee Fund (ERF) ll 2005–2007: an evaluation of ERF II 2006 (UK Home Office, Feb. 2009) [text]

Failed States Index 2008 (Fund for Peace & Foreign Policy, 2009) [access]

The Gateway Protection Programme: an evaluation. An overview of Immigration Research and Statistics (IRS) research exploring the integration of refugees resettled under the UK’s Gateway Protection Programme in Sheffield, Bolton, Hull and Rochdale (UK Home Office, Feb. 2009) [text]

"Measuring the health impact of human rights violations related to Australian asylum policies and practices: a mixed methods study," BMC International Health and Human Rights 2009, 9:1 [text]

Report by Thomas Hammarberg, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, following his visit to Greece, 8-10 December 2008. Issue reviewed: Human rights of asylum seekers (Council of Europe, Feb. 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Refugee Protection and Human Trafficking

UNHCR's Protection Policy and Legal Advice Section has compiled "Refugee Protection and Human Trafficking: Selected Legal Reference Materials" (Dec. 2008). Part 1 includes relevant extracts from universal instruments in the areas of international criminal law, international human rights law, international refugee law, international labour law, and UN resolutions. Part 2 reproduces sections of applicable regional law and policy. Part 3 presents a bibliography of related reports, documents, and resources.

Other UNHCR documents that focus on human trafficking can be accessed via this page on the UNHCR web site.

Tagged Publications and Websites.

Publications: IDPs/South Africa, Protracted Displacement/Europe, Reception/EU, Refugees/UK, Resettlement Self-Study

Humanitarian Assistance to Internally Displaced Persons in South Africa: Lessons Learned Following Attacks on Foreign Nationals in May 2008 (Forced Migration Studies Programme, Jan. 2009) [text]

Protracted internal displacement in Europe: Current trends and ways forward (IDMC, Jan. 2009) [text via Refworld]

Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants in Yorkshire and Humber, 1999-2008: A Review of Literature for Yorkshire Futures (Centre for Research in Social Inclusion and Social Justice, Dec. 2008) [text]

Report on the implementation in the European Union of Directive 2003/9/EC laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers and refugees: visits by the Committee on Civil Liberties 2005-2008 (European Parliament, Jan. 2009) [text]

Self-Study Module: Resettlement Learning Programme, Provisional Release (UNHCR, Jan. 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications.

New Issues of Art. 2, Intl. Mig., KANERE, Nursing Sci. Q., Third World Q.

Article 2, vol. 7, no. 4 (Dec. 2008) [full-text]
- Looks at various human rights issues in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, and Pakistan.

International Migration, vol. 47, no. 1 (March 2009) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Kakuma News Reflector, vol. 1, no. 2 (Jan. 2009) [full-text]
- Second issue of this blog-format news service from Kakuma refugee camp.

Nursing Science Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 1 (Jan. 2009) [contents]
- Includes two articles on refugees, one on North Korean refugees, the other on nursing practice with refugees.

Third World Quarterly, vol. 30, no. 1 (2009) [contents]
- Special issue on "War, Peace and Progress: Conflict, Development, (In)Security and Violence in the 21st Century."

Tagged periodicals.