30 September 2010

Publications: Cookstoves, Elections, FGM Case Law, Pakistan, Ref. Studies Guide, Rejected Asylum Seekers/US, Roma/Kosovo

The Dilemma of Parent-Child Female Genital Mutilation Jurisprudence (Birdsong's Law Blog, posted Sept. 2010) [text]

New Global Initiative Will Provide Clean Cookstoves for Refugee Women (Women's Refugee Commission Blog, Sept. 2010) [text]

Not welcome anywhere: Stop the forcible return of Roma to Kosovo (Amnesty International, Sept. 2010) [text]

Pakistan's Flood Disaster: An Unprecedented Humanitarian Crisis (S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Sept. 2010) [text]

Refugee Studies Guide (Bodleian Social Science Library, Sept. 2010) [access]

Rejecting Refugees (IntLawGrrls Blog, Sept. 2010) [text]

Voting with their feet. A review of refugee participation and the role of UNHCR in country of origin elections and other political processes, PDES/2010/12 (UNHCR, Sept. 2010) [text]

[Picture credit: Women's Refugee Commission Blog]


Tagged Publications.

Focus: Islamic Law and Forced Migration

Refugee Status in the Arab and Islamic Traditions: Safe-conduct and the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, by Arafat Shoukri, is a forthcoming book from I.B. Tauris.

Here is the publisher's description:
What are the views, principles and regulations of the Islamic tradition concerning refugee status? Are there any similarities between the Islamic tradition relating to the laws of aman (safe conduct) and the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees? In this book, Arafat Shoukri delves into fifteen centuries of Arab and Islamic history examining hundreds of ancient sources to establish Islam's position on refugees. This is the first examination of the 1951 Geneva Convention on refugees from an Islamic perspective. In adopting this approach, Shoukri is able to compare and contrast the principles of international law with those of the Islamic tradition.
The book is due to be published at the end of October 2010. Update 15 Nov. 2010: The book is now slated for the end of November; it has also been re-titled Refugee Status in Islam: Concepts of Protection in Islamic Tradition and International Law.

In the interim, here is a sampling of other related resources:

"Asylum and Islam," Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 2 (2008) [contents]
- Special issue reproducing papers presented at a conference by the same name, held on 10 December 2007 in Kuala Lumpur.

Combating Trafficking in Persons in Accordance with the Principles of Islamic Law (UNODC, July 2009) [access]

"Islam, Human Rights and Displacement," Forced Migration Review, Supplement (Jan. 2009) [access]
- Includes these articles: "Islam, international law and the protection of refugees and IDPs," "The rights of refugee women and children in Islam," and "Child rights and Islam."

The Protection of Forced Migrants in Islamic Law, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 146 (Dec. 2007) [text]

Reconciling Notions of Asylum and Refugees in Islam and International Law: A Case Study of Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies, Univ. of British Columbia (Aug. 2009) [text]

The Right to Asylum between Islamic Shari'ah and International Refugee Law: A Comparative Study (UNHCR, June 2009) [text]

Tagged Publications and Periodicals.

29 September 2010

Humanitarianism: Planning for the Future

Two new resources consider the challenges facing the humanitarian system and provide perspectives on what it might look like in the future:

Revue Humanitaire, no. 25 (Juin 2010) [full-text]
- The theme of this issue is "L’humanitaire à venir." Among the articles included are a roundtable discussion on "Prospective humanitaire: horizon 2030," "L’humanitaire de demain...vu du Sud," "Le paysage humanitaire en 2015," and "Humanitarianism in the 21st Century."

At a Crossroads: Humanitarianism for the Next Decade (Save the Children, Sept. 2010) [text via ReliefWeb]
- "This report is concerned with how the humanitarian system operates and what current trends will affect the ability of humanitarian agencies to help people in need in the future." See also the related video.

For more information on projects that are working to help humanitarian organizations plan for the future, visit:
  • Humanitarian Futures Programme, King's College London [access]
  • Preparing for Humanitarian Crises of the Future, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University [access]
Tagged Periodicals, Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Free Articles in Subscription Journals

Fee-based journals provide free access to selections of their content in different ways. Here is a sampling:

Development in Practice [access]
- Access to free full-text articles is provided via this Eldis discussion group.

Disasters - see "Article Highlights" [access]
- Includes "Social Dynamics of Humanitarian Action" from the April 2010 issue. Wiley also makes selected issues freely available, see e.g., vol. 34, no. 1 (Jan. 2010) and vol. 33, no. 1 (Jan. 2010). In addition, Disasters has published several complimentary virtual issues.

International Journal of Refugee Law - see "Free Access" [access]
- Two articles available, on UNHCR accountability and the protection of vulnerable irregular migrants.

International Review of the Red Cross [access]
- The complete text of issues is made freely available on the ICRC site after initial publication by Cambridge Univ. Press.

Intervention: The International Journal of Mental Health, Psychosocial Work and Counselling in Areas of Armed Conflict [access]
- The full-text of an issue is made freely available online approx. a year after initial publication.

International Migration - see "Free Highlight Articles" [access]
- Includes "Limitations in Research on Human Trafficking" from the October 2010 issue. Wiley also makes selected issues freely available, see e.g., vol. 48, no. 5 (Oct. 2010), vol. 48, no. 1 (Feb. 2010) and vol. 47, no. 1 (March 2009).

International Migration Review [access]
- Currently, vol. 44, no. 1 (Spring 2010) is freely available.

Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies [access]
- The five most downloaded articles are provided for free, including ""U.S. Response to
Human Trafficking: Is it enough?".

Refuge: Canada's Periodical on Refugees [access]
- All back issues are available online in full-text since vol. 1, no. 1 (1981).

Refugee Survey Quarterly - see "Free Access" [access]
- Two articles available, on the right to be granted asylum in the EU and orderly departure from Vietnam.

Tagged Periodicals and Web Sites/Tools.

28 September 2010

CFPs/New Issues of AWR, ICRC Rev., JMRI, J. Muslim Mental Health, NTS Bull., Women's Asylum N.

New Issues:

AWR Bulletin: Quarterly on Refugee Problems
, vol. 48, no. 1 (2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 92, no. 878 (June 2010) [contents]
- Focus of this is issue is "Urban Violence." Includes "Violence and humanitarian action in urban areas: new challenges, new approaches" and "Humanitarian challenges of urbanization."

Journal of Migration and Refugee Issues, vol. 5, no. 3 (2009) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Journal of Muslim Mental Health, vol. 5, no. 1 (2010) [contents]
- Special issue on "Mental Health of Muslim Refugees and Forced Migrants: Practice, Theory, and Research."

NTS Bulletin, no. 2 (Sept. 2010) [full-text]
- Current awareness newsletter on issues relating to the work of the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies in Singapore.

Women's Asylum News, no. 95 (Sept. 2010) [full-text via Refworld]
- Lead article is "Lodging a Claim for Asylum under the New Procedures: A First-Hand Account"; special article on "Domestic Violence and Gender-related Claims for Asylum: Recent US Jurisprudence."

CFPs:

DEP: Deportate, Esuli e Profughe [info via FM List]
- Main focus is the experience of displacement from the perspective of women.

Refuge Reminder [info]
- This CFP was posted earlier, but the deadline is drawing nearer. Submissions due 29 Oct. 2010.

Refugee Survey Quarterly [info via ImmigrationProf Blog]
- RSQ is now soliciting articles that "cover various areas from a policy and/or multidisciplinary perspective, including governance of migration, sociology of forced migration, the changing pattern and the historical evolution of the refugee regime, or contemporary challenges of international protection."

Tagged Periodicals and Events & Opportunities.

27 September 2010

More September/October Events & Opportunities

ECRE Legal Intern [info]
- Apply asap; 11-month internship to start in November 2010.

ECRE 2010 Annual General Conference, Budapest, 13-15 October 2010 [info]
- Register by 29 September 2010.

Mineurs isolés étrangers: vers quelle protection Européenne?, Strasbourg, 20 October 2010 [info]
- Register before 1 October 2010.

Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture, Oxford, 13 October 2010 [info]
- High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, will give the lecture this year.

IOM Information/Outreach Volunteer: Part-time, UK [info via FM List]
- Apply by 15 October 2010.

MENA Statelessness Research Project Regional Meeting, Venue tba, 28-29 October 2010 [info via SRLAN List]
- Sponsored by Open Society Justice Initiative.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Publications: Asylum Policy/Australia, Detention/EU, Integration/UK, Refugee Policy/India, Roma/Kosovo, Social Capital/Jordan

Detention of third country nationals in return procedures (Fundamental Rights Agency, Sept. 2010) [text]

"India's De Facto Refugee Policy," Global Politician (Sept. 2010) [text]

Quality Integration Project: Key Observations and Recommendations (UNHCR UK, Aug. 2010) [text]
- See more information on this project.

"Remembering refugees," Inside Story (Aug. 2010) [text]
- Focus is on Australia.

Roma Asylum Seekers in Europe (PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population, Sept. 2010) [text]
- Focus is on returns to Kosovo.

Setting up a Common European Asylum System: Report on the application of existing instruments and proposals for the new system. Executive Summary (European Parliament, Sept. 2010) [text]

With a little help from our friends: a participatory assessment of social capital among refugees in Jordan, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 189 (UNHCR, Sept. 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

ECHR Interventions

On 1 September 2010, UNHCR made what is being termed as an "unprecedented appearance" before the European Court of Human Rights. The case being heard was M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece, and the summary of its facts are presented in this press release. In essence, an Afghan national entered the European Union via Greece and lodged an application for asylum in Belgium. Referencing the Dublin II regulation, the Belgian authorities claimed that Belgium was not the country responsible for examining the asylum application, and returned the claimant to Greece. A webcast of the hearing can be accessed on the ECHR site.

Learn more about UNHCR's concerns regarding Greece's asylum system and deficient safeguards against refoulement. See also the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights' oral intervention, which also focused on issues with Greece's asylum procedures, and underlined problematic reception and detention conditions for asylum seekers. For past reports on conditions in Greece, browse through earlier postings on this blog.

To learn more about the European Court's rulings in asylum cases, see:
  • European Court of Human Rights intervenes in 34 new cases (DRC, Sept. 2010) [access]
  • Strasbourg Observers Blog [access] (select "asylum seekers" from the "search by topic menu")
  • "Litigation before the European Court of Human Rights and Domestic Implementation: Does the European Convention Promote the Rights of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers?," European Public Law, vol. 16, no. 3 (September 2010) [abstract]
Earlier ECHR-related posts can be browsed here.

Tagged Publications and Websites.

24 September 2010

Children's Refugee Literature

I came across a nice resource called Paper Tigers, which is a web site about books for young readers. This month on their home page, they have a feature on "refugee children" with several articles discussing picture and chapter books that try to convey the refugee experience.

Particularly useful are the many reviews of books that focus on child refugees or children in conflict.

The feature will eventually be archived, so it won't disappear even if you don't find it on the home page.

Browsing these articles and reviews inspired me to update the links in my own bibliography on Collecting Children's Refugee Literature. Please check it out!

[Picture credit: Hmong Story Cloths Gallery, Paper Tigers]


Tagged Publications and Websites.

Asylum & Border Control: Round-up of Resources


Briefing on the Commission proposal for a Regulation amending Council Regulation (EC) 2007/2004 establishing a European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX) (ECRE & Amnesty International, Sept. 2010) [text]

"The externalisation of the asylum function in the European Union," GRITIM Working Paper, no. 4 (Grup de Recerca Interdisciplinari en Immigració, Spring 2010) [text]

Extraterritorial Immigration Control: Legal Challenges (Brill, April 2010) [info]

"'Fortress Europe' and FRONTEX: Within or Without International Law?," Nordic Journal of International Law, vol. 79, no. 1 (Feb. 2010) [abstract]

Frontex: Successful Blame Shifting of the Member States? (Análisis del Real Instituto Elcano, April 2010) [text]

"Maritime Border Control and the Protection of Asylum-seekers in the European Union," Touro International Law Review, vol. 12 (2009) [text]

"The rising tide of border security," Inside Story (July 2010) [text]

Seeking Asylum: Human Smuggling and Bureaucracy at the Border (Univ. of Minnesota Press, April 2010) [info]

"Towards New Rules on Disembarkation of Persons Rescued at Sea?," The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law, vol. 25, no. 3 (2010) [abstract]

[Picture credit: Asylum & Migration: All in the Same Boat, UNHCR (see sidebar)]

Tagged Publications.

23 September 2010

Human Trafficking: European Developments

In the Council of Europe:

4th meeting of the Committee of the Parties of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Strasbourg, 13 September 2010 [agenda] [text]
- Focus was on the theme of "Partnerships among international organisations active in the field of trafficking in human beings: need for co-ordinated action"; see also statements from ILO and OSCE.

7th meeting of the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), Strasbourg, 14-17 September 2010 [text]

In the European Union:

The European Union’s Policy on Trafficking in Human Beings: An Overview of the External Dimension (EU External Relations, Aug. 2010) [text]

Human Trafficking in Europe (UNODC, UNIFEM, OHCHR, UNHCR, ILO & UNICEF, Sept. 2010) [text]
- Leaflet from six UN agencies that advocates for "the rights of victims of trafficking [to be] effectively addressed in European Union rules." Includes a link to the text of a letter to the EU with comments on "the proposal for a Directive on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings, and protecting victims released by the European Commission on 29 March 2010
(COM(2010)095), which, once adopted, would repeal the 2002 Framework Decision on
combating trafficking in human beings."

Opinions of the Group of Experts on Trafficking in Human Beings (2010)
- Two are available: On Priority Actions in view of the revision and/or further implementation of the EU Plan on best practices, standards and procedures for combating and preventing trafficking in human beings (THB)(2005/C311/01) [text]
- On the Decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the Case of Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia [text]

In the OSCE:

"Prevention of Modern Slavery: 'An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure'," 9th Alliance against Trafficking in Persons Conference, 14-15 September 2009 (OSCE, Sept. 2010) [text]

Elsewhere:

Human Trafficking in Europe Syllabus (Danish Institute for Study Abroad, Fall 2010) [text]
- See more syllabi at the Protection Project.

Trafficking in human beings: human rights and transnational criminal law, developments in law and practices (UNESCO, 2010) [text]

Related posts:
Combating and preventing trafficking in human beings (June 2010)


Tagged Publications.

Publications: African Refugees/Africa, Asylum Policy/EU, Diseases/Haiti, Civilian Prot. & UNHCR, Gender-based Persecution, Xenophobia/South Africa

"Caught between Two Persecutions: The Challenges Facing African Refugees in Africa," OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, vol. 1, no. 8 (2010) [text via SSRN]

"Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Female": The Necessity for Gender Related Asylum Provisions Protecting Women and Girls from Sexual Gender Based Violence (Birdsong's Law Blog, posted Sept. 2010) [text]

The 'Dublin Regulation' undermines refugee rights (Human Rights Comment, Sept. 2010) [text]

"Rapid Establishment of an Internally Displaced Persons Disease Surveillance System After an Earthquake—Haiti, 2010," JAMA, vol. 304, no. 12 (2010) [text]

Victims of violence: A review of the Protection of Civilians concept and its relevance to UNHCR's mandate, PDES/2010/11 (UNHCR, Sept. 2010) [text]

"Violation of Human Rights of Disadvantaged and Vulnerable Refugees – Victims of Xenophobic Attacks in South Africa," OIDA International Journal of Sustainable Development, vol. 1, no. 5 (2010) [text via SSRN]

Tagged Publications.

22 September 2010

Refugee Journalists

The first issue of The Refugee newsletter has been published by refugee youth as part of FilmAid’s Participatory Video Project in Dadaab Refugee Camp, Kenya. While FilmAid's main focus is empowering people in need through film-making, its objective with this newsletter is to help refugee youth improve their writing and reporting skills to build capacity for future film writing.

To learn how to set up your own refugee newspaper (or other reporting medium), review this training module, Setting Up Media in Exile, which addresses "getting to know the local laws, setting out the editorial proposition, building and training the right team, understanding the audience, distribution, building networks, fund raising and managing finances." (Note: The same author also wrote Becoming a Journalist in Exile.)

For information on journalists who flee persecution, read Journalists in Exile 2010 from the Committee to Protect Journalists (June 2010).

[Picture credit: FilmAid's participatory video project in Dadaab]

Tagged Publications and Websites.

21 September 2010

World Disasters Report 2010

The 2010 edition of the World Disasters Report is now available. The focus is "urban risk." See the press release for more info. Chapters include:

Chapter 1 - Avoiding the urbanization of disaster risk
Chapter 2 - Urban disaster trends
Chapter 3 - Starting over: community rights and post-disaster response
Chapter 4 - Urban violence
Chapter 5 - Urban risk to health
Chapter 6 – Urbanization and climate change risk
Chapter 7 – Urban governance and disaster risk reduction

Visitors can access the text by chapter and as a complete report. A short video is also available.

Previous issues can be accessed here.

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Human Traff. & UN Principles, IDPs/Kenya, IDPs/Pakistan, Iraqis & Prot., Palestinian Children & Prot., Readmission/EU

Ending Protection for Iraqis? (IntLawGrrls Blog, Sept. 2010) [text]

Internal Displacement and Local Peacebuilding in Kenya: Challenges and Innovations (USIP, Sept. 2010) [text]

Pakistan: The Worsening IDP Crisis, Asia Briefing no. 111 (International Crisis Group, Sept. 2010) [text]

Protecting Palestinian Children from Political Violence: The Role of the International Community, Policy Briefing no. 5 (Refugee Studies Centre, Sept. 2010) [text]

Readmission Policy in the European Union (European Parliament, Sept. 2010) [text via Refworld]

Report on the seminar: "A human rights approach to combating human trafficking: challenges and opportunities. Implementing the Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking," UN Doc. No. A/HRC/15/27 (UN General Assembly, Sept. 2010) [text via Refworld]

Tagged Publications.

20 September 2010

EU Conference on Quality and Efficiency in the Asylum Process

EU Conference on Quality and Efficiency in the Asylum Process, Brussels, 13-14 Sept. 2010 [info]
- Visit the web site for an overview of the meeting. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for links to the programme, a non-paper by the Belgian Presidency, and various rapporteur reports and discussion papers including one on country of origin information.

In addition, see statements from:
Finally, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights prepared two reports in advance of the conference:
  • Access to effective remedies: The asylum-seeker perspective (Sept. 2010) [text]
  • The duty to inform applicants about asylum procedures: The asylum-seeker perspective (Sept. 2010) [text]
[Picture credit: Belgian Presidency]

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

17 September 2010

Events, after the fact

Burning Issues in Protection: The Way Forward?, Copenhagen, June 2010 [info]
- The program, presentations, abstracts and material accessible from the panel on the right are available in English.

Conference on Humanitarian Access, Oslo, Sept. 2010 [info]
- See program and opening speeches.

Gender in Humanitarian Assistance 2010 – Do we pass the quality test?, Oslo, Sept. 2010 [info]
- See also opening speech from NRC Secretary General.

Human Rights 2010: Annual Castan Centre for Human Rights Law Conference, Victoria, July 2010 [info]
- Scroll down to Session four for audio presentation on "Climate change and human rights: Whose rights, what protection?".

Two Day Workshop on State of Research on Forced Migration in the East and Northeast, Guwahati, Feb. 2010 [info]
- Jointly organized by Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), Shimla, Panos South Asia and Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group (CRG).

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

New Issues of Coping w/ Crisis, Disasters, Field Exch., World Rivers Rev.

Coping with Crisis, no. 2 (2010) [full-text]
- Special focus on Haiti.

Disasters, vol. 34, suppl. 3 (Oct. 2010) [contents]
- Special theme issue on "States of fragility: stabilisation and its implications for humanitarian action."

Field Exchange, no. 39 (Sept. 2010) [full-text]
- Includes articles on Haiti and on Iraqi refugees in Syria.

World Rivers Review, vol. 27, no. 3 (Sept. 2010) [full-text]
- Special focus on "Rivers, Water and Climate." Lead article is "Down and Out Downstream: New Study Documents the Forgotten Victims of Dams."

Tagged Periodicals.

Publications: Child IDPs & Armed Conflict, Child IDPs/Turkey, Climate & Migration, IDP Women/Chad, Safe 3rd Country/US

Canadian Council for Refugees v. Her Majesty the Queen: Is the United States a Safe Third Country? (Birdsong's Law Blog, posted Sept. 2010) [text]

"Linking climate change, environmental degradation, and migration: a methodological overview," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, vol. 1, no. 4 (July/August 2010) [text]

National outrage: Violence against internally displaced women and girls in eastern Chad (IDMC, Sept. 2010) [text]

Principle versus practice: Poverty and discrimination as barriers to the enjoyment of the right to education for internally displaced children - Case study on education and displacement in Turkey (IDMC, Aug. 2010) [text via Refworld]

The Rights and Guarantees of Internally Displaced Children in Armed Conflict, Working Paper, no. 2 (Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children Affected by Armed Conflict, Sept. 2010) [text via Refworld]

Tagged Publications.

16 September 2010

Multimedia: CRG Lectures, MSF Film, Undoc./Europe, Urban Refugees/Kenya

Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders [access] [access]
- Documentary film that follows MSF in the field. Online screenings will take place 17-20 September 2010.

Exil, Exit? Vivre sans papiers en Europe [access]
- Multimedia exhibit from Médecins du Monde.

Hidden Voices: Urban Refugees in Nairobi, Kenya [access]
- Video from the IRC.

Public Lectures [access]
- Audio of lectures sponsored by the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group are now available.

Tagged Web Sites/Tools.

Treatment of Roma in Europe: Round-up of Resources

L'Arizona de l'Europe? (IntLawGrrls Blog, July 2010) [text]

"Europe's Most Persecuted People?," Prospect, no. 174 (Sept. 2010) [text]

The Forced Displacement of the Roma (ICMHD Blog, Aug. 2010) [text]

"Hard travelling: Scapegoated abroad and the victims of prejudice at home, eastern Europe’s Roma are the problem no politician wants to solve," The Economist (2 Sept. 2010) [text]

Intergenerational Transfer of Human Capital Under Post-War Distress: The Displaced and the Roma in the Former Yugoslavia, IZA Discussion Paper, no. 5108 (SSRN, Aug. 2010) [text]

"Roma Integration in Europe: Why Minority Rights are Failing," Arizona Journal of International & Comparative Law, vol. 27, no. 1 (2010) [text]

Roma Refugees: International Refugee Protection and Europe’s ‘Internal Outsiders’, MA Thesis, Faculty of Graduate Studies (Univ. of British Columbia, Aug. 2010 [text]

Romani Mobilities in Europe: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Conference Proceedings, Oxford (Refugee Studies Centre, Jan. 2010) [text]

Stateless Roma: no documents – no rights (Human Rights Comment, Aug. 2010) [text]

"The Struggle for Roma Rights: Arguments that Have Worked," Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 32, no. 2 (May 2010) [abstract]

Unlock Their Future: End the Segregation of Romani Children in Slovakia's Schools (Amnesty International, Sept. 2010) [text]

[Picture credit: "Distribution of Romani People in Europe, 2007", on Wikipedia.org]

Tagged Publications.

15 September 2010

New Refugee Law Research & Activities in Australia

The University of New South Wales' Faculty of Law has a new "Refugee Law and Policy Group". Visit the web site for profiles of the research and teaching activities of the group's affiliated academics and visiting fellows and more information on their publications.

Some of the group's international refugee law experts will be serving on an upcoming panel discussion at UNSW on "The Asylum Debate" (21 September 2010). The meeting will be followed by an official launch of Jane McAdam's new book, Climate Change and Displacement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Hart Publishing, Sept. 2010). (Note: More of Jane McAdam's papers can be found on SSRN.) A subsequent seminar will be held at the Australian National University's Centre for European Studies on "The Limits of Refugee Law - A European Perspective" (29 September 2010).

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Publications: Displacement/DRC, Haiti, IDPs/Iraq, Protection/North Koreans, Refugee Status Proc./EU, Undoc. Children/UK

Always on the Run: The Vicious Cycle of Displacement in Eastern Congo (Human Rights Watch, Sept. 2010) [text]

Being children and undocumented in the UK: A background paper, Working Paper, no. 78 (COMPAS, Sept. 2010) [text]

Haiti: Emergency Paralysis (WorldBridge Blog, Sept. 2010) [text]

Legal Grounds for Protection of North Korean Refugees (Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, Fall 2010) [text]

Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the Application of Directive 2005/85/EC of 1 December 2005 on Minimum Standards on Procedures in Member States for Granting and Withdrawing Refugee Status (European Commission, Sept. 2010) [text]

Review of Displacement and Return in Iraq (IOM Iraq, Aug. 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

14 September 2010

Things to do in October...

Refugee Law Course, Sanremo, 2-6 November 2010 [info]
- Apply by 1 October 2010.

Sixty-first session of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (EXCOM), Geneva, 4-8 October 2010 [info]
- See the Note on International Protection and the elements of the High Commissioner's opening address.

World Social Forum on Migration, Quito, 8-12 October 2010 [info]
- Register by 15 September for the reduced rate and by 8 October at the latest.

Panel Discussion on "Refugee Roulette: Disparities in Asylum Adjudication and Proposals for Reform," York University, Toronto, 14 October 2010 [info]
- Presentation by Philip G. Schrag and Jaya Ramji-Nogales, with commentary by Sean Rehaag.

CFP: Middle East Research Competition [info]
- Deadline for receipt of final proposals is 15 October 2010.

CFP: British Sociological Association Annual Conference, London School of Economics, 6-8 April 2011 [info]
- The Sociology of Rights/Human Rights section of the 'Law Crime and Rights Stream' at the BSA Annual Conference will be running special sessions on the following three sub-themes: Sociology of Rights and Human Rights; Analysing Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity; and 60 Years of the 1951 Refugee Convention: Sociological Perspectives on Rights and International Solidarity Obligations. Deadline for abstract submissions is 15 October 2010.

Call for contributions to the research project: "Responding to Conflict-Induced Displacement in Protracted Refugee Situations: Pathways to Enhancing Transatlantic Cooperation" - Iraq case-study [info]
- EU-funded project, with draft papers due mid-October 2010.

Researching Country of Origin Information, Blended Learning Course, 15 November-10 December 2010, Vienna (face-to-face meeting 16 Dec.) [info] [registration]
- Register by 22 October 2010.

Launch of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) Observatory on Migration, Brussels, 25-27 October 2010 [info]
- Includes panel discussion, country overviews, and discussions around various research themes including forced migration and migration and climate change.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Follow-up to Blog Post

In my last post, I mentioned that you can monitor what different WordPress blogs are saying about specific issues by browsing posts that have been tagged with particular keywords like "refugees," "forced migration," etc. I should have also noted that these social tags have been added by the authors themselves, so it's a very subjective process. While most of the time, the tags actually describe the content, there are occasionally instances when tags are used for no discernible reason, or they have a different meaning than yours or mine. For example, "forced migration" is often used in the computer context when certain applications are terminated and users are forced to migrate to other systems. Or the term "refugees" might be used in unexpected ways - for example, I've seen blogs titled "Golf Refugees" and "Bubblewrap Refugees" (???!). The moral of the story is not every post with a particular tag is going to be relevant!

One work-around, at least for the tag "refugees," is to subscribe to the Refugee Research Network's RSS feed for posts on WordPress.com tagged "refugees". The posts are displayed in full so you can tell immediately whether or not they are going to be relevant. You also don't get the ads, which is always a plus!

By the way, I use keywords to describe the content in all my postings. You can subscribe to an RSS feed for each of these labels if you are interested in tracking new content that focuses on particular issues (for example, unaccompanied minors or human trafficking). Read this post for information on how to do this.

Tagged Web Sites/Tools.

13 September 2010

New Blogs: Australia, Canada, Human Trafficking, Migrant Health, US

Here are a few new blogs that comment on asylum and refugee matters in Australia, Canada, and the U.S., and that raise awareness about migrant health issues and human trafficking.

Asylum & Refugee Law Project [access]
- Student-led research group that aims to "explore and critically analyse Australian refugee law and policy and its human effects."

The Asylumist: Asylum and its Discontents in the United States [access]
- From their about: "[A] forum for discussion about the law, policy, and politics of asylum. We’ll cover issues related to asylees’ mental health, their experience in the asylum system, and their adjustment to life in the United States."

CCR Blog [access]
- From the Canadian Council for Refugees.

ICMHD Blog [access]
- New blog from the International Centre for Migration, Health and Development. The last two posts in August discuss forced displacement and climate change in Pakistan and the forced displacement of the Roma.

UN.GIFT.HUB blog [access]
- From the Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking.

Alternatively, instead of following specific blogs, Wordpress offers a way to follow individual postings relating to forced migration based on their subject tags, e.g., "refugees," "forced-migration," and "internally-displaced-persons." These tags have RSS feeds associated with them, which in turn can be subscribed to just like any other feed.

Tagged Web Sites/Tools.

11 September 2010

Publications: Asylum Policy/EU, Children & Detention/UK, Gender-based Asylum/US, IDPs/Colombia, Psych. Assess./Afghans & Kurds, Youth/Sudan

Background Document for the "Workshop on the Protection of Land Rights and Patrimony of Internally Displaced Persons: Building on the Colombian Experience" (Project on Protection of Land and Patrimony of Internally Displaced Population, July 2010) [text]
- See related interview.

"Feminism, Asylum and the Limits of Law," Law, Culture and the Humanities, vol. 6, no. 3 (Oct. 2010) [abstract]
- Note: If you register with Sage Journals, you can access this and many other articles in full-text for free thru. 15 Oct. 2010.

"Selecting Instruments for Assessing Psychological Wellbeing in Afghan and Kurdish Refugee Groups," BMC Research Notes 3: 237 (Sept. 2010) [open access text]

Starting from Scratch: The Challenges of Including Youth in Rebuilding Southern Sudan (Women's Refugee Commission, Sept. 2010) [text]

State Sponsored Cruelty: Children in Immigration Detention (Medical Justice Network, Sept. 2010) [text]

Think Global – Act European: The Contribution of 14 European Think Tanks to the Spanish, Belgian and Hungarian Trio Presidency of the European Union (Centre for European Policy Studies, March 2010) [text]
- Part III includes "Achievements and Challenges towards a European Asylum and Immigration Policy: the Stockholm Programme and Beyond" and "Strengthening EU Borders at the Expense of the Fundamental Right to Asylum? The Externalisation of EU’s Asylum Policy."

Tagged Publications.

10 September 2010

Haiti: Round-up of Resources

Burning Issues for Haiti's Recovery (Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, Sept. 2010) [text]
- Presentation to the National Council of Churches' working group on Haiti.

Coping with Crisis, no. 2 (2010) [full-text]
- From the IFRC Psychosocial Centre. Special focus on Haiti.

Critical Services Still Needed for Displaced Haitians with Disabilities (Women's Refugee Commission Blog, Sept. 2010) [text]
- Posted after a recent trip to Haiti.

Haiti Aid Map (InterAction) [access]
- A pilot web-based platform that is mapping the NGO community's response to the earthquake in Haiti. It provides "[i]nformation on who is doing what where [that] can be accessed by organization, cluster or sector, and location at the commune level.'

Haiti Earthquake: Breaking New Ground in the Humanitarian Information Landscape (US DOS, July 2010) [text via ReliefWeb]

"The Haiti Earthquake: Country and Global level Cluster Coordination Experiences and Lessons Learnt," Field Exchange, no. 39 (Sept. 2010)
- See pp. 2-8.

Haiti Learning and Accountability Portal (ALNAP) [access]
- This resource "provides a shared platform for a structured strategic overview of ongoing and planned learning and accountability efforts by agencies operating in Haiti."

One Response (OCHA et al.) [access]
- Collaborative inter-agency effort "to enhance humanitarian coordination within the cluster approach, and support the predictable exchange of information in emergencies at the country level." Currently, the focus is on Haiti.

Related posts:
- Haiti Update [access]
- Browse the keyword label "Haiti"

Tagged Periodicals, Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

09 September 2010

Publications: Deportation/Greece, Human Trafficking, Iraqis/US & Syria, Temp. Prot./UK

An Assessment of the Health of Iraqi Refugees in Chicago (Heartland Alliance Refugee Health Programs, Aug. 2010) [text]

Human Trafficking: Problems and Proposed Solutions (Birdsong's Law Blog, posted Sept. 2010) [text]

The Impact of Limited Leave on Refugees in the UK (Refugee Council, Sept. 2010) [text]

UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food: Mission to Syria from 29 August to 7 September 2010 (OHCHR, Sept. 2010) [text]
- Includes sections on climate change migration and Iraqi refugees.

Why Did You Want Me Back in Greece? A Dublin II Deportation Diary (Welcome to Europe Network, Aug. 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

08 September 2010

Security for Humanitarian Aid Workers

One aim of World Humanitarian Day is to raise awareness about the increasingly insecure environments in which aid workers operate. To better track incidences of violence against aid workers, Humanitarian Outcomes recently launched a web site that provides access to the Aid Worker Security Database.

In addition, here is a listing of several new reports and articles that examine the extent of the violence directed against humanitarian personnel and provide recommendations for enhancing security:

Attacks on Aid Workers: Who Is Paying the Ultimate Price? (Consultancy Africa Intelligence, Aug. 2010) [text]

"Humanitarian Principles and Protection Dilemmas: Addressing the Security Situation of Aid Workers in Darfur," Journal of International Peacekeeping, vol. 14, nos. 1-2 (Feb. 2010) [abstract]

"Mind the gap: Documenting and explaining violence against aid workers," European Journal of International Relations, vol. 16, no. 3 (Sept. 2010) [abstract]

The Protection of Aid Workers: Principled Protection and Humanitarian Security in Darfur, NUPI Working Paper, no. 770 (NUPI, Feb. 2010) [text]

"Responsibility for protection of medical workers and facilities in armed conflict," The Lancet, vol. 375 (Jan. 23, 2010) [text]

Related blog posts:
- Browse the subject label "safety of humanitarian personnel"


Photo credit: "Kabul, Afghanistan. Posters put up following the abduction of an NGO worker. 2005." Reuters, posted on ICRC web site.

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

07 September 2010

Journal News/New Issues of Dis. Prev. & Mgmt., Fahamu News, German Yrbk. Intl. Law, Water Alt.

Journal News:

Free access to Sage Journals through 15 October 2010 [info]
- Conduct sample searches like "refugee* or asylum*" in the Title field and "2010" in the Year field and browse the results. Registration required for access to full-text.

New Issues:

Disaster Prevention and Management, vol. 19, no. 4 (2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter, no. 7 (Sept. 2010) [full-text]
- Includes article entitled "From Refugee to citizen? Obstacles to the naturalization of refugees in Uganda."

German Yearbook of International Law, vol. 52 (2009) [contents]
- Includes focus section on "Chances and Challenges of Regional Human Rights Protection" and a practice note on "No Deportation of Asylum Seekers to Greece? The Decisions of the German Federal Constitutional Court of 8 September, 23 September, 5 November, 13 November and 8 December 2009."

Water Alternatives, vol. 3, no. 2 (June 2010) [full-text]
- Special issue on "WCD+10: Revisiting the large dam controversy." Includes "Dams and displacement: Raising the standards and broadening the research agenda," "Treatment of displaced indigenous populations in two large hydro projects in Panama," and "Dam development in Vietnam: The evolution of dam-induced resettlement policy."

Tagged Periodicals.

Publications: Climate Change/Ethiopia & Kenya, Env. Displaced & Protection, IDPs/Pakistan, Info. Services, Neglected Crises

Climate Change to Conflict? Lessons from Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya (Fafo, Aug. 2010) [text]

Pakistan: Flooding Worsens Situation for People Displaced by Conflict in North-west (IDMC, Sept. 2010) [text]

Protection of Environmentally Displaced Populations through Strengthening Existing Environmental Human Rights Law (ExpressO, 2010) [text]

Providing Information Services to Migrants: Literature Review (New Zealand Dept. of Labour, Sept. 2010) [text]

The Top 5 Most Ignored Humanitarian Crises (UN Dispatch, Aug. 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

06 September 2010

Human Trafficking: Round-up of New Resources

Human Trafficking: A Global Perspective is a forthcoming title from Cambridge University Press. (See also Amazon's description.) The author, Louise Shelley, "examines all forms of human trafficking globally, revealing the operations of the trafficking business and the nature of the traffickers themselves. Using a historical and comparative perspective, it demonstrates that there is more than one business model of human trafficking and that there are enormous variations in human trafficking in different regions of the world."

Another new book focuses more particularly on Europe: Human Trafficking in Europe: Character, Causes and Consequences, edited by Gillian Wylie and Penelope McRedmond and published by Palgrave Macmillan. It presents "[c]ase studies from around Europe [to] address the knowledge gaps surrounding trafficking, while at the same time raising critical questions about the responses of states and NGOs to the existence of trafficking."

An upcoming symposium, "New Approaches in Preventing Human Trafficking: Integrating the European Knowledge, Brussels, 16-17 November 2010," will attempt to harness both knowledge and experience to address human trafficking in Europe. Hosted by the Centre for Parliamentary Studies, its aim is to "encourage greater political will, facilitate policy discussion and explore comprehensive and integrated solutions to fighting the ‘hidden’ crime of human trafficking." Register by 17 September 2010 to receive the early booking rate.

Two recent papers analyze the various ways different camps have tried to frame the issue of human trafficking. "The Role of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Contemporary Anti-Trafficking Discourse" (August 2010) considers the use of the trans-Atlantic slave trade as an analogy for the current phenomenon, while "Rescuing Trafficking from Ideological Capture: Prostitution Reform and Anti-Trafficking Law and Policy" (posted September 2010) "offers a historical account and critical assessment of the prostitution-reform debates' considerable influence on anti-trafficking law and policy development over the last decade" with the express desire of exposing "the difficulties of translating ideology - understood here as closely held moral and ethical beliefs - into effective governance strategies." (Note: The latter article was published in the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, vol. 158, no. 6, May 2010, whose special issue on human trafficking is now available in full-text.)

Global governance strategies in the human trafficking context are explored in two articles in the current issue of Refugee Survey Quarterly (vol. 29, no. 1, 2010), namely "Global Governance and International Migration: A Case Study of Trafficking of Human Beings" and "The Refugee–Trafficking Nexus: Making Good (The) Connections."

Another type of nexus, or interlinkages among ethnic/religious divides, types of conflict, the presence of IDPs/refugees, and incidences of trafficking, is empirically investigated in "Ethnic Fragmentation, Conflict, Displaced Persons and Human Trafficking: An Empirical Analysis" (August 2010), while "Left Out in the Cold: Trafficking Victims, Gender and Misinterpretation of the Refugee Convention’s 'Nexus' Requirement" (Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, vol. 16, no. 2, 2010) presents a legal analysis of the "nexus" requirement in the Refugee Convention, i.e., to qualify for asylum, a trafficking victim must demonstrate "that she was persecuted for reasons of a Convention ground, such as her race or her membership in a particular social group."

The author of a recent thesis, A Study of the Protection Afforded to Persons at Risk of Trafficking by Article 1A(2) of the Geneva Convention Regarding the Status of Refugees (1951) as Amended by the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (1967) (Oct. 2009), also considers protection for trafficking victims under the Refugee Convention and concludes that it "may sometimes prove more fruitful to claim complementary protection under the European Union Refugee Qualification Directive or Art. 3 European Convention of Human Rights."

Alternatively, protection may now be afforded under Art. 4 of the ECHR after a recent judgment of the European Court of Human Rights. The case is assessed in the Human Rights Law Review article, "Rantsev v Cyprus and Russia: The European Court of Human Rights and Trafficking as Slavery."

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

05 September 2010

September Happenings

Conference on Refugee Protection and International Migration, Dar Es Salaam, 6-7 September 2010 [info]
- Purpose is to "facilitate discussion amongst states and other stakeholders with respect to the mixed movement of people that is currently taking place between the East, Horn and Great Lakes region of Africa to the southern part of the continent." See also UNHCR press release and background paper.

International Refugee Law and Contemporary Challenges, 11 October-21 November 2010 [info]
- E-learning certificate course offered by HREA and the Human Rights Center at the University of Peace. Apply by 15 September 2010.

Being Heard: Human Rights and Asylum Conference, University of Leicester, 21 September 2010 [info]
- The "conference will explore how the Government’s recent immigration and asylum policies have undermined basic human rights by denying support to those who do not apply for asylum at the earliest opportunity."

International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ), European Chapter Conference, Lisbon, 23-24 September 2010 [info]
- Focus is on "Current Issues in Asylum Law."

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

04 September 2010

Publications: Denial Rates/US, Health Issues/Palestinians, Protection/Africa, Refugees/UK, Smuggling Lit. Rev.

Asylum Denial Rate Reaches All Time Low: FY 2010 Results, a Twenty-Five Year Perspective (TRAC, Sept. 2010) [text]

"Hyperglycaemia, hypertension and their risk factors among Palestine refugees served by UNRWA," Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, vol. 16, no. 6 (June 2010) [text]

A Long and Winding Road - Background Paper for "Regional Conference on Refugee Protection and International Migration: Mixed Movements and Irregular Migration from the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region to Southern Africa," Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, September 2010 (UNHCR & IOM, Sept. 2010) [text]

Mapping refugee and migrant communities in the UK (ICAR, Sept. 2010) [text]

Smuggling of Migrants: A Global Review and Annotated Bibliography of Recent Publications (UNODC, June 2010) [text]


Tagged Publications.

03 September 2010

New Title/New Issues of IMR, REMI, Third World Q., Trends in Org. Crime

New Title:

Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration [info]
- A web site for this new electronic periodical is now available.

New Issues:

International Migration Review, vol. 44, no. 3 (Fall 2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, vol. 26, no. 1 (2010) [contents]
- Theme of this issue is "Les médias des minorités ethniques: Représenter l'identité collective sur la scène publique."

Third World Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 5 (2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Trends in Organized Crime, vol. 13, nos. 2/3 (Sept. 2010) [contents]
- Includes three articles on human trafficking.

Tagged Periodicals.

02 September 2010

Publications: Climate Change Resp., Health Care, Humanit. Action, Judges/US, Refugees/Jordan

Asylum Seekers and the Right to Access Health Care, Warwick School of Law Research Paper, no. 2010-18 (SSRN, Aug. 2010) [text]

The Humanitarian’s Dilemma: collective action or inaction in international relief? (ODI, Aug. 2010) [text]

Jordan: A Refugee Haven (Migration Information Source, Aug. 2010) [text]

Responding to a changing climate: Exploring how disaster risk reduction, social protection and livelihoods approaches promote features of adaptive capacity (ODI, Aug. 2010) [text]

U.S. Asylum Decisions: Who You Face on the Bench is as Important as What You Face at Home (SSRN, Aug. 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.