New Issue of IJRL

A new issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law is now available (vol. 22, no. 4, Dec. 2010) with the following four articles:

- Refugee Status Determinations and the Limits of Memory, by Hilary Evans Cameron [abstract]
-Bridging the Gap Between Refugee Rights and Reality: a Proposal for Developing International Duties in the Refugee Context, by Jeannie Rose C. Field [abstract]
- Waiting for Life to Begin: the Plight of Asylum Seekers Caught by Australia's Indonesian Solution, by Savitri Taylor and Brynna Rafferty-Brown [abstract]
- UNHCR and Turkey, and Beyond: of Parallel Tracks and Symptomatic Cracks, by Marjoleine Zieck [abstract]

Three book reviews are also included.

Tagged Periodicals.

ECRE/ELENA Survey on Legal Aid for Asylum Seekers in Europe

ECRE/ELENA have published the Survey on Legal Aid for Asylum Seekers in Europe (Oct. 2010). Here's the abstract:

This survey provides a comparative overview of the provision of legal aid for asylum seekers in 19 countries across Europe. It gathers information not only on the role and tasks of those advising, assisting and representing asylum seekers but also on related aspects of the asylum procedure. The research reveals positive developments in the provision of legal aid as well as restrictions on access to legal advice and representation in practice. In conclusion, ECRE/ELENA provide recommendations to improve the provision of legal aid for asylum seekers in Europe.

Chapter one introduces the study and its methodology. Chapter two discusses the international and regional standards for legal aid. Chapter three presents the findings of the survey and is broken down as follows:
- Structure of the Legal Aid System
- Legal Aid Providers
- Access to Legal Aid
- The Role of Legal Aid in the Asylum Procedure
- Legal aid in Specific Asylum Procedures
- Monitoring Mechanisms for Legal Aid Providers

Chapter 4 "provides a detailed synopsis of the national practice in each of the countries surveyed under a list of selected themes." Four annexes are also included.

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Disaster Victims & Safe Haven, Gender & Asylum/UK, Health & Refugee Women, Lessons Learned/Haiti, Roma/Kosovo

Analysis: Are humanitarians learning the lessons from Haiti? (IRIN, Oct. 2010) [text]
- See also related ODI blog post.

"Effect of a primary health-care-based controlled trial for cardiorespiratory fitness in refugee women," BMC Family Practice 11:55 (Aug. 2010) [open access text]

Gender Issues in the Asylum Claim (UK Home Office, updated Sept. 2010) [text]

Rights Displaced: Forced Returns of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptians from Western Europe to Kosovo (Human Rights Watch, Oct. 2010) [text]

Should Natural Disaster Victims Be Offered Safe Haven and Opportunity Abroad? (Global Development: Views from the Center, Oct. 2010) [text]


Tagged Publications.

New Issues of Africa Peace Confl. J., CSD, Fahamu Refugee News, Intl. J. Migr. Health Soc. Care, JEMS, Servir, TESOL Q., Women's Asylum N.

Africa Peace & Conflict Journal, vol. 3, no. 1 (June 2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles; includes "At the Margin of the City: IDPs, Citizenship, and Urban Polarization in Sudan."

Conflict, Security and Development, vol. 10, no. 5 (2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles, including "Human (in)security: Palestinian perceptions of security in and around the refugee camps in Lebanon" and "The ‘responsibility to protect’ in natural disasters: another excuse for interventionism? Nargis Cyclone, Myanmar."

Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter, no. 9 (Nov. 2010) [full-text]
- Includes these articles: "The law, policy and practice of refugee protection in India" and "Update from Japan: Asia’s only resettlement program continues."

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 6, no. 2 (May 2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles; note: two are available in full-text for free.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 36, no. 10 (2010) [contents]
- Special issue on "Theories of Migration and Social Change."

Servir, no. 49 (March 2010) [full-text]
- From the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS); includes articles on a visit to Kakuma refugee camp, the Rohingya, and forced return to Libya.

TESOL Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 3 (Sept. 2010) [contents]
- Focus of this issue is "Migration and Adult Language Learning"; includes "From Refugee to Transformer: A Bourdieusian Take on a Hmong Learner's Trajectory," "Overcoming Barriers: Adult Refugee Trauma Survivors in a Learning Community," and "Teaching English to Refugees in Transition: Meeting the Challenges in Cairo, Egypt."

Women’s Asylum News, no. 96 (Oct. 2010) [full-text]
- Lead article is "Trafficking and the National Referral Mechanism."

Tagged Periodicals.

Publications: Acad. & Practitioners, Asylum Evidence, HC Protecton Dialogue, North Koreans/China, Women & Emergencies

Gender and Humanitarian Disasters, Research Paper no. 10-15 (Transitional Justice Institute, Sept. 2010) [text via SSRN]

High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges, "Protection Gaps and Responses" (Geneva, 8-9 December 2010) (UNHCR, Aug. 2010) [text]

Migrant Workers or Refugees? China’s Obligations to North Korean Defectors (Human Rights Brief Blog, Oct. 2010) [text]

"Mobilizing Academic Involvement for UN Humanitarian Action," Journal of International Organization Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, September 2010 [full-text]

Narrating Atrocity: Uses of Evidence in the Political Asylum Process, DIIS Working Paper 2010:25 (Danish Institute for International Studies, Oct. 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Bisexuals & National Refugee Law, Citizenship Law/Africa, Family Reunification/UK, Non-Refoulement & Common Law/Hong Kong

"Bisexuals Need Not Apply: A Comparative Appraisal of Refugee Law and Policy in Canada, the United States, and Australia," International Journal of Human Rights, vol. 13, no. 2 (2009) [preprint posted Sept. 2010]

Citizenship Law in Africa: A Comparative Study, 2nd ed. (Open Society Institute, Oct. 2010) [text via UNHCR]

"Customary Non-Refoulement of Refugees and Automatic Incorporation into the Common Law: A Hong Kong Perspective," International and Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 58, no. 2 (2009) [text via SSRN]

Trans-Jurisdictional Marriage and Family Reunification for Refugees in the United Kingdom, Legal Studies Research Paper no. 66/2010 (Queen Mary University of London, School of Law, 2010) [text via SSRN]

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Education Min. Stand., Expulsion of Romas/France, Family Unity/UK, Filing Deadline/US, Juvenile Justice/Iraq, Palestinian Case Law

Filling the Gap? A Survey of Palestinian Case Law on Migration (Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration, 2010) [text]

France's Expulsion of Roma Migrants: A Test Case for Europe (Migration Information Source, Oct. 2010) [text]

"Juvenile Justice in Transition: Past Challenges and New Opportunities in Post-Conflict Iraq," Journal of Humanitarian Assistance (Oct. 2010) [text]

Maintaining Family Unity throughout the Asylum Support System in Policy and Practice (Scottish Refugee Council, Oct. 2010) [text]

Minimum Standards for Education: Preparedness, Response, Recovery (INEE, 2010) [Eng. text] [Fr. text]
- See also related materials.

The One-Year Asylum Deadline and the BIA: No Protection, No Process (National Immigrant Justice Center, Human Rights First & Penn State Law, Oct. 2010) [text]
- See also decisions referenced in study.


Tagged Publications.

More November Events & Opps.

Job Offer: Solicitor, Irish Refugee Council [info]
- Responsibility: To "establish and manage an independent law centre specialising in the promotion and protection of the rights of people in need of international protection." Apply by 3 November 2010.

Book Event: Refugees, the State and the Politics of Asylum in Africa, New York, 4 November 2010 [info]
- Learn about the book and hear comments from the author and other experts.

Seminar: International Refugee Law Series, London, 18 November 2010 [info]
- Topic is "The effect of legal status on Iraqi 'refugees' in Jordan: a sociolegal study."

Training: Sphere Training of Trainers, Addis, 22-29 November 2010 [info]
- Apply by 30 October 2010.

Education: Winter Short Courses, Cairo, January 2011 [info]
- Offered by the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) at the American University in Cairo (AUC); courses include "Introduction to Refugee Law (January 9-13, 2011)," "Migration/Displacement, Development and Gender (January 16-20, 2011)," and "Community Interpretation for Refugee Aid Settings – CCIP Interpreter Training Short Course (January 23-27, 2011)." Submit applications by 30 November 2010.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

First Anniversary of the Kampala Convention

One year ago today, the African Union adopted the Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa (also known as the Kampala Convention), the first legally binding instrument that focuses on IDPs. To date, the Convention has 29 signatures and 2 ratifications; 15 of the latter are needed for the convention to come into force.

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) has issued a call for more ratifications. They also have produced a guide to help African civil society organizations "advocate with their governments for the ratification of the Kampala Convention and its incorporation into national law." It's available in English, French and Portuguese.

Additional resources relating to the Kampala Convention are available on the IDMC web site.

Tagged Events & Opportunities, Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Open Access Week Profile 4: Research Centres

How do forced migration research centres express their support for open access? One way is by making their research output available within their parent institution's repository. So, for example, the Refugee Research Network collection in YorkSpace provides access to research produced by the Centre for Refugee Studies; Chr. Michelsen Institute research is available through the Bergen Open Research Archive; reports and papers from the Consortium for Applied Research on International Migration (CARIM) are housed in the European University Institute repository; and the Human Trafficking Team has deposited conference papers and other documents in the University of Nebraska's DigitalCommons.

Some research centres are also adopting Creative Commons (CC) licenses for their web sites. While most forced migration web sites are generous about posting full-text information, more often than not, they lack any guidance on what can be done with that information beyond reading it online. CC licenses take the guesswork out of the equation by more explicitly indicating how research works can be used, shared and adapted.

Visit, for example, the Feinstein International Centre (FIC) online; they are one of the first research centres I have noticed to have switched to a CC license (scroll to the bottom of the home page to view it). Other examples include the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN), Forced Migration Online (FMO), and the Refugee Research Network (RRN).

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

CFP/New Issues of Am. J. Orthospsych., Dev. in Practice, eJournal USA, Humanitarian Exch., IMIS, OBETS, Refuge

CFP:

Health and Human Rights: An International Journal [info]
- Call for submissions to issue on "Health and Human Rights in Disasters." Deadline is 31 October 2010.

New Issues:

American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, vol. 80, no. 4 (Oct. 2010) [contents]
- Includes special section on “Mental Health Consequences of War and Political Violence,” with several articles on refugees.

Development in Practice, vol. 20, no. 8 (2010) [contents]
- Issue focus is on "Rethinking impact: understanding the complexity of poverty and change."

eJournal USA, vol. 15, no. 7 (2010) [full-text]
- Focus is “Refugees: Building New Lives in the USA.”

Humanitarian Exchange, no. 48 (Oct. 2010) [full-text]
- Special feature on "Lessons learned from the Haiti Earthquake Response."

IMIS - Beiträge, no. 36 (Sept. 2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles including "Wading Through Muddy Water: Policy Challenges to Refugee Family Restoration in Resettlement."

OBETS : Revista de Ciencias Sociales, vol. 5, no. 1 (June 2010) [full-text]
- Mix of articles including "Migrantes y refugiados: reflexiones conceptuales," "Procesos de integración de personas solicitantes de protección internacional y refugiadas en la ciudad de Alicante. Cruz Roja española," and "Cruz Roja española: el trabajo con refugiados desde Cruz Roja Alicante."

Refuge, vol. 26, no. 1 (Winter 2009) [full-text]
- The theme is "Sanctuary in Context," with eight articles. Eleven other articles are included that focus on UNHCR, refugees in Turkey, resettlement, forced migrants in Serbia, internal displacement in Colombia, asylum in the UK, temporary protection in Australia, Denmark and Germany, irregular migrants in Canada, Prague Spring refugees in Canada, the rights of non-citizens in Canada, and Oromos in Somaliland.

Tagged Periodicals and Events & Opportunities.

Publications: Climate Info., Detention/S. Africa, Dev. Displacement/Mozamb., Poverty/Scotland, UNHCR Rpt., World Pop. Rpt.

"Causes and Consequences of Displacement Decision-making in Banhine National Park, Mozambique," Conservation & Society, vol. 8, no. 2 (2010) [full-text]
- See also "Response to 'Is the Displacement of People from Parks only 'Purported' or is it Real?' (Schmidt-Soltau 2009)" in the same issue.

Making Climate Information User Friendly for Humanitarian Organizations (Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre, 2010) [text via PreventionWeb]

Monitoring Immigration Detention in South Africa (Lawyers for Human Rights, Sept. 2010) [text]

Refugees’ Experiences and Views of Poverty in Scotland (Scottish Poverty Information Unit, Oct. 2010) [text via BBC]

Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UN General Assembly, Oct. 2010) [text via UN Pulse]

State of World Population 2010 - From Conflict and Crisis to Renewal: Generations of Change (UNFPA, Oct. 2010) [text via ReliefWeb]
- See esp. Chapter 6, "Living without an Anchor: Refugees and the Internally Displaced."

Tagged Publications.

Open Access Week Profile 3: Forced Migration Journals

The focus in yesterday's post was on depositing eprints of subscription journal articles in digital repositories. The other principal open access vehicle for disseminating research is via OA journals. Currently, there is no scholarly OA journal title that encompasses all or even a significant part of the field of forced migration studies - although Forced Migration Review is a practitioner-oriented periodical that is effectively open access.

This situation will change early next year with the launch of the peer-reviewed open access Journal of Internal Displacement. Due out in January 2011, the inaugural issue will feature articles on "Internal Displacement: Definitions, Scope, Theories and Concepts." Authors are actively encouraged to archive their contributions in repositories or on their web sites.

Several other related OA titles that carry articles on forced migration topics include the following (all are peer-reviewed):

• Conflict and Health focuses on "the intricate relationship between conflict and health, and how health interventions in war zones may contribute to peace." One of the editors is with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.
• Diversities, formerly the International Journal on Multicultural Societies, is published by UNESCO with the aim of providing a "platform for international, interdisciplinary and policy-related social science research in the fields of migration, multicultural policies, and human rights."
• The Journal of Identity and Migration Studies is edited by the Research Centre for Identity and Migration Issues (RCIMI) in Romania, whose goal is to "explore new directions in understanding the complex phenomenon of migration and its challenge in redefining identity."

You can find other titles listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). You can also search for additional forced migration-related articles via the DOAJ's search feature or by using the Open Access Journals Search Engine.

And if you are inclined to set up your own open access journal - the Journal of Forced Migration Studies, perhaps? - you can find advice for doing so here and here!

Tagged Periodicals and Web Sites/Tools.

Open Access Week Profile 2: Authors Who Self-Archive

As noted in the previous post, forced migration-related reports, organizational publications, working papers, and the like are generally pretty easy to find online at no cost. Journal-reported research is much more challenging and less predictable to locate on the web on a complimentary basis, despite the fact that journal publishers are giving the green light to authors to deposit eprints of their articles in digital repositories. I recently undertook a little study to investigate the extent to which authors of Journal of Refugee Studies (JRS) articles have archived versions of their manuscripts. I discovered only one out of 119 articles: Jenni Millbank and Laurie Berg of the University of Technology, Sydney deposited a pre-print of their JRS article in SSRN, the social science subject repository.

So why do some authors self-archive when so many others don't? I decided to ask Prof. Millbank for her views. She has kindly given me permission to reproduce her responses to my questions:

What motivated you to begin self-archiving your papers?
-The importance of having a broad international readership, particularly a US readership, when publishing in journals that may not be available overseas or through mega databases such as LEXIS and WESTLAW. Also wanting to get research out there quickly - when many journals have a time lag of over a year from acceptance to publication.

Were you familiar with the open access movement when you began to self-archive?
- Yes.

Were you familiar with journal publishers' policies regarding self-archiving?
- Yes - many of them have become more restrictive since.

Why did you choose SSRN?
- It is a big database, easy to use and free. I like that they distribute through theme based topic email lists.

Does your institution have a repository? If yes, do you also archive your papers there? If no, why not?
- Yes - but it is less easy to use and has much more limited utility - eg not searchable in the same way that SSRN is, also SSRN comes up on google, has beta links, records of views and downloads etc.

Is self-archiving complicated? Approximately how long does it take you to upload a paper?
- Once you are used to the set up it only takes 5 or 10 minutes.

Do you have any advice for other authors who have not yet taken the step to self-archive?
- Absolutely - do it, as a researcher the critical thing is to get information out there and be part of the trans-national conversations in your area of expertise.

Many thanks, Prof. Millbank!

For examples of other authors who self-archive on SSRN, browse through the "Immigration, Refugee & Citizenship Law eJournal."

And if any readers out there would like to share their reasons for self-archiving, please send a comment!

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Looking ahead to November...

The Protection Project Fifth Annual Symposium, "The United Nations Protocol and The United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act: Ten Years Later," Washington, DC, 2 November 2010 [info]

Canadian Council for Refugees Fall Consultation, Calgary, 24-26 November 2010 [info]
- These consultations "address issues of refugee protection and immigrant and refugee settlement." This year's theme is "fairness"; register by 5 November 2010.

"30th Anniversary of the Refugee Act," University Park, Pennsylvania, 12 November 2010 [info]
- Colloquium hosted by the Center for Immigrants' Rights, Penn State University.

Winter School: "Psychosocial Interventions in Emergency Displacement," Pisa, 14-26 February 2011 [info]
- Register by 15 November 2010.

ELENA Course, Paris, 19 November 2010 [info]
- Theme is "Législation et recours européens dans le domaine de l'asile."

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

61st Session of EXCOM: Addendum

As referenced in this earlier post, the Report of the Sixty-first Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme is now available. It includes the texts of the conclusion and decisions adopted during the session. The sole Conclusion on International Protection is entitled "Conclusion on refugees with disabilities and other persons with disabilities protected and assisted by UNHCR."

Tagged Publications.

Open Access Week Profile 1: Forced Migration Repositories

In 2009, Forced Migration Online (FMO), a project of the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), received funding to develop an Open Access Repository System (OARS), migrate its information resources to an open source platform, and make its grey literature digital library more interoperable with other open systems. This move immediately enhanced the visibility of documents that were formerly housed in a proprietary database. Titles now regularly appear in web search results and as a result, FMO's user base has greatly expanded.

A repository like FMO benefits both those who seek content and those who contribute content. The forced migration research community is quite lucky to have access to a wealth of full-text information online. But the downside of web-based information is its unreliability over time. I am reminded of this every time I check URLs in my forced migration research guide. Every month, I come across a URL that has changed and is no longer valid. Or a web site has disappeared. Or a site has been upgraded and re-organized, with some information removed in the process. When this happens, I generally try to track down an archived version of the document and pass the text on to FMO because I know it offers stable, long-term, and reliable access to its collection.

Another issue is "findability." A report may indeed be posted online, but can it actually be tracked down? Or you might discover multiple references to a title of interest but it is unclear if the full-text is actually available. OA repositories like FMO overcome these limitations by making research easier to locate. They also use a technical protocol to make their content more easily harvested by search engines, thereby raising the visibility of information and ensuring predictable access.

Ultimately, when an author's research is findable and accessible by content seekers, it has greater impact. This is a key advantage of OA repositories like FMO.

Despite budget restrictions and staff changes, FMO has remained at the forefront of facilitating access to information through the use of innovative approaches and technologies. Please send (your documents and) your thanks for their efforts to promote open access within the forced migration research community!

Other repositories at various stages of development include:

• Digital Archive of Grey Materials on Migration and Displacement in Southern and Eastern Africa
• Refugee Research Network
• South Asia Resource Centre on Forced Migration Studies

Tagged Web Sites/Tools.

Asylum Round-up: Law Review Articles, Comments

"Adjusting the Asylum Bar: Neguise v. Holder and the Need to Incorporate a Defense of Duress into the 'Persecutor Bar'," Golden Gate University Law Review, vol. 40, no. 2 (Jan. 2010) [full-text]

The Asylum Procedure in The Netherlands (Neth. Dept. of Justice, 2010) [text]
- Prepared for International Metropolis Conference, 4-8 Oct. 2010.

Asylum Process as Border Control (IntLawGrrls Blog, Oct. 2010) [text]

"Critical Condition: Using Asylum Law to Contest Forced Medical Repatriation of Undocumented Immigrants," Northwestern University Law Review, vol. 104, no. 1 (Winter 2010) [full-text]

"Fighting for Asylum: A Statutory Exception to Relevant Bars for Former Child Soldiers," Southern California Law Review, vol. 83, no. 5 (July 2010) [full-text]

"Taking the Square Peg Out of the Round Hole: Addressing the Misclassification of Transgendered Asylum Seekers," Golden Gate University Law Review, vol. 40, no. 1 (Jan. 2009) [full-text]

"When Children Suffer: The Failure of U.S. Immigration Law to Provide Practical Protection For Persecuted Children," Golden Gate University Law Review, vol. 40, no. 2 (Jan. 2010) [full-text]

Tagged Publications.

Open Access Week: Overview of Concepts

The "Very Brief Introduction to Open Access" referenced in my last post describes two main mechanisms for providing open access (OA) to research: OA journals and OA archives or repositories. I provided an introduction to both of these vehicles during last year's OA Week, and included examples from the forced migration context. Check out the posts here: Journals and Archives/Repositories.

Last year, I also introduced the concept of "self-archiving" to readers, and talked about how authors can deposit their journal research in archives/repositories. Subsequently, I supplemented this initial discussion with a practical guide to self-archiving "journal article eprints" and "unpublished papers" followed by a "postscript."

Finally, I closed OA Week 2009 with a post on Creative Commons Licenses, or tools that authors can use to explicitly indicate how they want their works to be used and shared.

This year, I plan to profile specific forced migration resources that have embraced open access.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Open Access Week 2010

What is Open Access Week?
The aim of Open Access Week is to promote greater awareness and understanding of the importance of free and unfettered access to research and information.

What is "open access"?
Open access literature is defined as "digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions" (Suber 2008). One particular target of the open access movement has been peer-reviewed research that is usually reported in scholarly journals. Subscription costs and copyright restrictions have meant that those with the most to gain are effectively excluded from accessing the knowledge disseminated in these publications.

To overcome these restrictions, two types of delivery mechanisms have been developed to facilitate greater access to research literature: open access journals and open access archives or repositories. A variety of resources have been developed to make it easier to locate both of these literature types. For example, this listing from the British Columbia Electronic Library Network compiles peer-reviewed scholarly journal collections and freely available serials. This tool was developed to facilitate searches within open access journals. And openDOAR serves as a searchable directory of open access repositories.

For more information about open access generally, read Peter Suber's "A Very Brief Introduction to Open Access" (available in multiple languages) or his longer "Open Access Overview." Another great resource is the Open Access Scholarly Information Sourcebook (OASIS), which covers the "concept, principles, advantages, approaches and means to achieving" open access.

This week, I will focus on different OA issues from a forced migration perspective, and showcase a variety of OA resources.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Publications: IDPs/Georgia, Haiti, Info. Crowdsourcing/Haiti, Mental Health & Armed Conflict, Somalia

Crowdsourcing Crisis Information in Disaster- Affected Haiti (U.S. Institute of Peace, Sept. 2010) [text]

Georgia: Towards Durable Solutions for IDPs (IDMC, Sept. 2010)

Haiti: Still Trapped in the Emergency Phase (Refugees International, Oct. 2010) [text]

Mental Health Services During and After Armed Conflict: The State of Knowledge and Practice (U.S. Institute of Peace, Sept. 2010) [text]

State-building, Counterterrorism, and Licensing Humanitarianism in Somalia (Feinstein International Center, Oct. 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Previous Events: Civilian Protection, Development-induced Displ., Harrell-Bond Lecture, Intl. Migration

"Current Trends in Forced Displacement and Humanitarian Action: Challenges and Opportunities Confronting UNHCR," Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture 2010, Oxford, 13 October 2010 [lecture text] [podcast]
- Given by António Guterres, High Commissioner for Refugees. See also news coverage in the Guardian and AlertNet.

Economics, Social Justice, and Ethics in Development-Caused Involuntary Migration, The Hague, 5-7 October 2010 [info]
- Conference convened by the International Network on Displacement & Resettlement in celebration of its 10th anniversary. Held concurrently with Metropolis conference described below.

International Metropolis Conference, The Hague, 4-8 October 2010 [info]
- The theme was "Justice and Migration: Paradoxes of Belonging." One of the plenary sessions focused on "Living in Limbo: Forgotten Refugees." View the programme, the workshop listing and the daily reports for more info.

Understanding Civilian Protection: Concepts and Practices, Washington, DC, 14 September 2010 [report]
- Seminar hosted by the Brookings Institution and the US Institute of Peace.

[Photo credit: RSC]

Tagged Events & Opportunities, Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Publications: Accelerated Removals/EU, Human Trafficking, Refugee Health Info. System, Statelessness Conv., UNHCR Comments on Frontex

Accelerated removals: a study of the human cost of EU deportation policies, 2009-2010 (Institute of Race Relations, Oct. 2010) [text]

Intersubjective Frames & Rational Choice: Transnational Crime & Human Trafficking (IntLawGrrls Blog, Oct. 2010) [text]

"A standardized health information system for refugee settings: rationale, challenges and the way forward," Bulletin of the World Health Organization, vol. 88, no. 10 (Oct. 2010) [text]

The Statelessness Conventions Campaign: Why States Should Accede to the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions (UNHCR, Oct. 2010) [text]

UNHCR’s observations on the European Commission’s proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council amending Council Regulation (EC) No 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), COM(2010)61 final (UNHCR, Oct. 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

61st Session of EXCOM

The 61st session of UNHCR's Executive Committee closed on October 8th. During the annual five-day meeting, EXCOM members "review and approve UNHCR's programmes and budget, advise on protection issues and discuss a wide range of other topics."

Here are the texts of various statements made during the course of the week:

• Oct. 4: Opening statement by UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres [text]
• Oct. 4: U.S. Government Plenary Statement by Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Eric Schwartz [text]
• Oct. 5: NGO Statement on General Debate [text]
• Oct. 6: U.S. Delegation Statement by Director for the Office of Multilateral Coordination and External Relations, Margaret Pollack [text]
• Oct. 6: Statement by Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Erika Feller: Rule of Law 60 Years On [text]
• Oct. 6: NGO Statement on International Protection [text]
• Oct. 7: Statement by Inspector General, Arnauld Akodjenou [text]
• Oct. 7: Statement by Head of Policy Development and Evaluation Service, Jeff Crisp [text]
• Oct. 7: Statement by Rapporteur for the Annual UNHCR/NGO Consultations, Misikir Tilahun [text]
• Oct. 8: Closing remarks by UN High Commissioner, António Guterres [text]

The text of the final Report of the sixty-first session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, UN Doc. No. A/AC.96/1095 is not yet available. When it is, it will include the texts of any conclusions on international protection and administrative decisions adopted during the session.

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Publications: Asylum Policy/EU, Human Trafficking/US, Migrant Interception at Sea, UNHCR & Comm. Dev., UNHCR & Org. Culture

(updated)

Competing in the Humanitarian Marketplace: UNHCR's Organizational Culture and Decision-making Processes, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 190 (UNHCR, Oct. 2010) [text]

Fishers of Men? The Interception of Migrants in the Mediterranean Sea and Their Forced Return to Libya (INEX Project, Oct. 2010) [text via Migrants at Sea]

Shaping the Normative Contours of the European Union: A Migration-Border Framework (CIDOB, Sept. 2010) [text]
- Includes chapters on "Borders and Borderlands: A Common European Asylum Space" and "The Externalisation of the Asylum Function in the European Union."

Trafficking in Persons: U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress (U.S. Congressional Research Service, Aug. 2010) [text via Refworld]

UNHCR and Community Development: A Weak Link in the Chain of Refugee Protection?, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 191 (UNHCR, Oct. 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

New Issues of CIROC News, FMR Suppl., ICRC Rev., Prehosp. Dis. Med.

CIROC Newsletter, no. 1 (Sept. 2010) [full-text]
- From the Centre on Information and Research on Organised Crime. Includes "The Ethnography of Human Trafficking" on pp. 2-5 and "Human Trafficking and Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Seekers in the Netherlands" on pp. 5-6.

Forced Migration Review, Special Supplement (Oct. 2010) [full-text]
- Focus is on "HIV/AIDS, Security and Conflict."

International Review of the Red Cross, no. 878 (2010) [full-text]
- Theme is "Urban Violence." The full-text version is now available on the ICRC web site.

Prehospital & Disaster Medicine, vol. 25, no. 3 (May/June 2010) [full-text]
- Delayed open access journal. This issue includes "Future Humanitarian Crises: Challenges for Practice, Policy, and Public Health."

Tagged Periodicals.

Film Festivals

The Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network (GRAMNet) has launched its 2010-2011 Film Series. A wide range of issues are addressed including "human trafficking, women’s struggles, child poverty, migration challenges, cultural conflicts and diversity, child soldiers, refugee communities, and Holocaust survivors’ stories." Monthly screenings will be held from October 2010 to June 2011.

The Australian Refugee Film Festival is now accepting entries for its 2011 festival. Submissions will be accepted until March 2011. Themes of particular interest include:

• Environmental displacement due to climate change
• The refugee journey and the obstacles associated with it
• Personal triumph stories of refugees and asylum seekers
• Documented work of local and international organisations with refugees and asylum seekers

For more information, read this posting on the Forced Migration Discussion List.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Publications: Camp Impact/Kenya, Case Law/US, Detention/UK, Muslims/Thailand & Burma Border, Zimb. Exodus

The Asylum Law Round-up (IntLawGrrls Blog, Oct. 2010) [text]

A Nice Judge on a Good Day: Immigration Bail and the Right to Liberty (Bail for Immigration Detainees, July 2010) [text]

In Search of Protection and Livelihoods: Socio-economic and Environmental Impacts of Dadaab Refugee Camps on Host Communities (Royal Danish Embassy, Republic of Kenya & Norwegian Embassy, Sept. 2010) [text]

3 Sides to Every Story: A Profile of Muslim Communities in the Refugee Camps on the Thailand Burma Border (Thailand Burma Border Consortium, July 2010) [text via Refworld]

Zimbabwe’s Exodus: Crisis, Migration, Survival (SAMP & IDRC, 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Events, after the fact

The Asylum Debate, Sydney, 21 Sept. 2010 [access]
- Video of the Q&A panel discussion with four international refugee law experts.

IARLJ European Chapter Conference, Lisbon, 23-24 Sept. 2010 [access]
- Posted papers and presentations discussing "Current Issues in Asylum Law."

Refugees & Human Smuggling: The Case of Sri Lanka - Panel Discussion, Toronto, 15 Sept. 2010 [access]
- Click on the arrow next to "18 videos" to view the other eight videos available from this meeting.

Regional Consultation on The Responsibility to Protect, Singapore, 8-9 April 2010 (RSIS Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, 2010) [text]

UNHCR Roundtable on Asylum-Seekers and Refugees Seeking Protection on Account of Their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, Washington, DC, 1 Oct. 2010
- Text of U.S. State Dept. speech. See also related Human Rights First report.

Tagged Events & Opportunities, Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Even more things to do in October...

(updated)

Reviewers of Country of Origin Reports Needed: Bangladesh, Eritrea, Iran, Occupied Palestinian Territories, and Sudan [info]
- Submit CV to Independent Advisory Group on Country Information by 8 October 2010.

Action for Refugee & Migrant Rights, Glasgow, 9 October 2010 [info]
- "A forum for people and groups working for refugee and migrant rights, for people who want to find out more and to get involved, and to discuss and plan for working together."

Job Vacancy: Legal Officer, AMERA [info]
- Apply by 14 October 2010. Start date is 1 November 2010.

XIIth Humanitarian Congress, Berlin, 15-16 October 2010 [info]
- Theme is "Trauma, Chaos and Politics: Humanitarian Action in Haiti and in other Emergencies."

*Political Asylum in the 21st Century, Copenhagen, 19 October 2010 [info via Migrants at Sea]
- "The seminar will further compare different [asylum] policy approaches, notably the cases of the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Denmark." Register by 18 October 2010.

Stabilisation, Development and Humanitarian Action Series, London, 22 October-16 December 2010 [info]
- "A series of events looking at stabilisation strategies on fragile states."

13th Conference of the International Association for Studies in Forced Migration (IASFM), Kampala, 3-6 July 2011 [info]
- Theme of the conference is "Governing Migration." Abstracts are due 31 October 2010.

* = newly added

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Recent Statelessness Resources

Expert Meeting: The Concept of Stateless Persons under International Law. Summary Conclusions (UNHCR, May 2010) [text]
- Conclusions from the "first of a series of Expert Meetings convened by UNHCR in the context of the 50th Anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness with the purpose of drafting guidelines under UNHCR’s statelessness mandate... ."

International Case Law relating to Statelessness (UNHCR, Sept. 2010) [text]
- Listing with links to full-text.

Open Society Blog [access]
- See posts which have been tagged with the term "statelessness."

Preventing and Reducing Statelessness: The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (UNHCR, Sept. 2010) [text]

Protecting the Rights of Stateless Persons: The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons ((UNHCR, Sept. 2010) [text]

Statelessness: A Global Challenge (U.S. Dept. of State, Aug. 2010) [access via ReliefWeb]
- Map showing countries with stateless populations.

For more information, browse other posts relating to statelessness.

[Map credit: "Statelessness: A Global Challenge," U.S. Dept. of State]

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Publications: ECHR Factsheets, Food Insecurity Rpt., Gender Persec. & Asylum, Human Trafficking/UK, Korea, Refugees & IDPs/Middle East

Factsheets (ECHR Press Service, 2010) [access]
- Thematic summaries of ECHR case law and pending cases. Examples of topics include detention and mental health, Dublin cases, and forced labour and trafficking.

Middle East: Refugees and IDPs by Country (IRIN News, Oct. 2010) [text]

Recognizing Gender-Based Persecution as Grounds for Asylum (Birdsong's Law Blog, posted Oct. 2010) [text]

Resource Summary: Korea (Forced Migration Online, Oct. 2010) [text]
- "[H]ighlights a selection of web-based resources that focus on both on South Korean refugee policy and on the status of refugees from North Korea."

Setting the Record: The Trafficking of Migrant Women in the England and Wales Off-street Prostitution Sector (ACPO, Aug. 2010) [text]

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2010: Addressing Food Insecurity in Protracted Crises (FAO, Oct. 2010) [text via ReliefWeb]

[Map credit: "2010 Regional Operations Profile - Middle East," UNHCR]

Tagged Publications.

New Issues of Fahamu Refugee News, Harvard Hum. Rts. J., JHA, JIRS, RSQ, Torture J.

Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter, no. 8 (Oct. 2010) [full-text]
- Includes articles on refugees in Cyprus and UNHCR’s deregistration of Iraqis in Syria.

Harvard Human Rights Journal, vol. 23, no. 1 (2010) [full-text]
- Mix of articles.

Journal of Humanitarian Assistance (Oct. 2010) [full-text]
- New article posted entitled "New Humanitarianism with Old Problems: The Forgotten Lesson of Rwanda."

Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, vol. 8, no. 1 (2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles including "From Persecution to Destitution: A Snapshot of Asylum Seekers’ Housing and Settlement Experiences in Canada and the United Kingdom," "A Study of the Roles of NGOs for North Korean Refugees’ Human Rights," and "Social Construction of Human Trafficking on YouTube: An Exploratory Study."

Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 2 (2010) [contents]
- Special issue on "gender equality and refugee women and girls." Includes the following articles: "Refugee Women: Twenty Years On," "Transitioning Gender: Feminist Engagement with International Refugee Law and Policy 1950–2010," "A Short History of Gender Asylum in the United States: Resistance and Ambivalence May Very Slowly be Inching Towards Recognition of Women’s Claims," "'Ideal' Refugee Women and Gender Equality Mainstreaming in the Sahrawi Refugee Camps: 'Good Practice' for Whom?," "Women Cut in Half: Refugee Women and the Commission for Reception, Truth-Seeking and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste," and "Gender and the Evolving Refugee Regime."

Torture Journal, vol. 20, no. 2 (2010) [full-text]
- Mix of articles including "Using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) to describe the functioning of traumatised refugees," "The land of milk and honey: A picture of refugee torture survivors presenting for treatment in a South African trauma centre," and "Group therapy model for refugee and torture survivors."

Tagged Periodicals.

Publications: Asylum Deadlines/US, Darfur, Irregular Migrants, LGBTI Refugees, Resettlement

The Asylum Filing Deadline: Denying Protection to the Persecuted and Undermining Governmental Efficiency (Human Rights First, Sept. 2010) [text]
- See also earlier reference to related report.

Beyond Emergency Relief: Longer-term trends and priorities for UN agencies in Darfur (Office of the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sudan, Sept. 2010) [text via ReliefWeb]

NGO Involvement in Resettlement: Good Practices (ECRE, Sept. 2010) [text via Refworld]

Persistent Needs and Gaps: The Protection of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Refugees: An Overview of UNHCR’s Response to LGBTI Refugees and Recommendations to Enhance Protection (Human Rights First, Sept. 2010) [text]
- See also related UNHCR news story.

Statement of the Global Migration Group on the Human Rights of Migrants in Irregular Situation (Global Migration Group, Sept. 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Fellowships: Asylum Law, Human Rights, Refugee Studies

Albert M. Sacks Fellowship, Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic [info]
- One year placement. Apply through 1 February 2011.

Arthur C. Helton Fellowship, American Society of International Law [info]
- Applications now being accepted through 10 January 2011.

Fellowship in the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic, University of Connecticut School of Law [info]
- No deadline indicated. Three-year position would begin Summer 2011.

Front Line Fellowship for Human Rights Defenders 2011 [info]
- Deadline is 30 November 2010.

Oak Fellowship: Poverty and Human Rights, Colby College [info]
- Apply by 15 December 2010, for Fall 2011 semester fellowship.

Visiting Fellows Programme, Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford University [info]
- Apply six months before the start of the proposed period of interest.

[Picture credit: Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinic]

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Anniversary-related events

Several forced migration milestones are coming up. The first is UNHCR's 60th anniversary; the agency was established 14 December 1950. And two conventions that guide UNHCR's work are celebrating birthdays in 2011: The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, adopted 28 July 1951, is turning 60, while the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, adopted 30 August 1961, will be 50-years-old.

I will be keeping track of events organized to mark these anniversaries. Here are a few that I have come across to date:

Call for Papers: "60 Years of the 1951 Refugee Convention: Sociological Perspectives on Rights and International Solidarity Obligations," Special Session 3 of the "Law, Crime and Rights" Stream, British Sociological Association Annual Conference, London, 6-8 April 2011 [info]
- Abstracts are due 15 Oct. 2010.

Seminar Series on International Refugee Law, Institutes of Advanced Legal Studies and Commonwealth Studies & UNHCR, London, 25 October 2010-9 June 2011 [info]
- The first seminar will be held 25 Oct. 2010, with an opening speech by the UNHCR Representative in the UK, followed by a talk by Alice Edwards, University of Oxford, on "Rethinking the detention of asylum-seekers and other migrants: exploring the alternatives - a comparative perspective."

2011 Refugee Conference, Centre for Refugee Research, Sydney, 14-17 June 2011 [info]
- The conference will mark the 60th anniversary of the refugee convention. A programme is not yet available.

In addition, an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law will mark UNHCR's 60th anniversary with articles on the role of the organization and on international refugee protection. This was the original call for papers.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.