Law & Policy Compilations

(updated)

The web page for UNHCR's Policy Development and Evaluation Section (PDES) now offers access to a collection of "UNHCR policy statements on key global and thematic issues."

A few other compilations/compendia recently made available include:

International Legal Frameworks for Humanitarian Advocacy: Compendium (UN, 2011) [text via ReliefWeb]

Legal Framework and Standards relating to the Detention of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants: A Guide [text]

Resources on Complementary Protection (Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law) [access]

Thematic Compilation of Executive Committee Conclusions, 6th ed. (UNHCR, June 2011) [text]

Thematic Compilation of General Assembly & Economic and Social Council Resolutions (UNHCR, Sept. 2011) [access]

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Update re. EU Asylum Quality

As noted in this earlier post, a conference was held recently to mark the completion of the "Further Developing EU Asylum Quality" project. A summary report of the project is now available on Refworld. Also newly available is a training manual entitled "Building in Quality: A Manual on Building a High Quality Asylum System." The opening paragraph of the Introduction explains the purpose of the manual:

The purpose of this Manual is to provide a short introduction to the various elements which are involved in establishing and maintaining a high quality asylum system in line with international and European Union (EU) law. Neither the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees...provide explicit directions on the kind of asylum system a State Party must set up. Equally, the EU acquis communautaire on asylum – comprising the Directives and Regulations relating to asylum and international protection, including notably the Qualification Directive (QD) and the Asylum Procedures Directive (APD) – do not provide specific direction on how asylum claim adjudication is to be carried out. This is left instead to the discretion of each sovereign country, within the terms of international and regional law – including, in the EU, the minimum standards set by the asylum Directives and Regulations. As a result, there are many different approaches adopted in the EU and throughout the world.

The manual incorporates a number of checklists and assessment forms to facilitate the decision-making process.

Tagged Publications.

New Publications

Border Control: The Unanswered Calls (openDemocracy, Sept. 2011) [text]

How to Protect 'Invisible' People (openDemocracy, Sept. 2011) [text]

"Migration as Diplomacy: Labor Migrants, Refugees, and Arab Regional Politics in the Oil-Rich Countries," International Labor and Working-Class History, vol. 79, special issue no. 1 (Spring 2011) [preprint]

Populations at Risk of Disaster: A Resettlement Guide (GFDRR & World Bank, 2011) [text]

- See also companion report.

Stolen Lives: Human Trafficking from Palaung Area of Burma to China (Palaung Women’s Organization, 2011) [text via Human Security Gateway]

Tagged Publications.

Focus on Africa/African Refugees

(updated)

"African Refugees and the Challenges to UNHCR," Chapter in The African State in a Changing Global Context: Breakdowns and Transformations (LIT Verlag, 2011) [Google preview] [info]

African Refugees and Immigrants 60 years after the Refugee Convention: Challenges and Opportunities, Washington, DC, 2-4 May 2011 [conf. summary]

African Refugees in the Amazon (IPS, Sept. 2011) [text]

Mixed Responses to Mixed Migration in Africa (IRIN, Sept. 2011) [text]

Protecting Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Immigrants in South Africa during 2010 (CoRMSA, April 2011) [text]

Somalia: A Humanitarian and Human Rights Catastrophe (Amnesty International, Sept. 2011) [text]

Somalia and the International Status Quo in Refugee Management (MSF CRASH, Sept. 2011) [text]

Stateless in Zimbabwe, the Only Country They’ve Ever Called Home (Statelessness Programme Blog, Sept. 2011) [text]

Yemen: 2011 Humanitarian Response Plan (OCHA, Dec. 2010) [text via Refworld]

Tagged Publications.

Theses/Dissertations in Anthropology, International Development, Law, Political Science, Social Work

Conflict-Induced Displacement: Understanding the Causes of Flight, Dissertation submitted to the Department of Political Science (University of New Mexico, July 2011) [text]

Detention of Asylum Seekers in Regard to Dublin II, Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Law (University of Oslo, Nov. 2010) [text]

An Ever Closer Union? Immigration and Asylum Policy in Italy and Spain: A Tale of Two Europeanizations, Thesis submitted to the Department of Political Science (Dalhousie University, Aug. 2011) [text]

Freedom of Movement of Refugees: Those Forced to Move Find Themselves without Their Human Right to Move, Thesis submitted to the Department of Law (American University in Cairo, May 2011) [text]

People in Between: The Value of Life Stories in Exploring the Needs of Colombian Asylum Seekers, Thesis submitted to the Department of Applied Anthropology (University of South Florida, July 2011) [text]

Psychosocial Needs of Refugees from Burma: A Social Work Perspective, Senior Honors Thesis (University of Albany, 2011) [text in DOC]

Refugees in Istanbul: Lost between Policy and Practice, Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Geosciences (Utrecht University, August 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Events & Opportunities in Early October 2011

Knocking on Heaven's Door? Access of Asylum Seekers and Migrants to International
Protection and Humanitarian Assistance in the EU, Brussels, 4 October 2011 [info]
- Panel discussion and photo exhibit.

"The Lesser Evil"? Policy Logics and Practices of Removal and Detention in the Euro-Mediterranean Area, Copenhagen, 6 October 2011 [info]

- Register by 5 October 2011.

Post-doctoral Fellowships: Displacement by Development, Centre on Values and Ethics, Carleton University, Ottawa [info]
- Apply by 6 October 2011.

Conversations about Climate Change Adaption: Displacement, Migration and Planned Relocation, Washington, DC, 7 October 2011 [info]
- Hosted by the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement.

Freedom from Persecution? The Question of Afghanistan, Sydney, 7 October 2011 [info]
- "Conference held in association with the exhibition, 'Unsafe Haven: Hazaras in Afghanistan'."

ELENA Introductory Course: The International Protection of Refugees, Lisbon, 18-20 November 2011 [info]
- Register by 7 October 2011.

[Photo credit: "ELENA course in Barcelona," ECRE Photos on Facebook]

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

New Publications

Accountability in Aid Delivery: Renovation of Collective Centers for Georgia's Internally Displaced Persons (Transparency International Georgia, Sept. 2011) [text via ReliefWeb]

Admitting North Korean Refugees to the United States: Obstacles and Opportunities (Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, Sept. 2011) [text]

M.S.S. Judgment Echoes in Luxembourg (ECHR Blog, Sept. 2011) [text]

On the Front Line of Climate Change and Displacement: Learning From and With Pacific Island Countries (Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, Sept. 2011) [text]
- Companion publication to earlier conference report.

Shift in Sinai Security Strategy Must Include Crackdown on Torture Camps (Al-Masry Al-Youm, Sept. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Promoting Quality in EU Asylum Procedures

A conference to mark the end of a UNHCR-led, EU-funded project on "Further Developing EU Asylum Quality" has just ended. For an introduction to this and other related projects that have focused on improving the quality of asylum procedures in EU member states, read this factsheet. These projects are also described in greater detail below:

Asylum Systems Quality Assurance and Evaluation Mechanism (ASQAEM) Project in the Central and Eastern Europe Sub-region

- Implemented in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia between 2008 and 2010. For more details, read the summary of the final report, review some of the checklists developed, and get a mid-term update via this conference report.

Further Developing Asylum Quality: A Multi-Phase Project for Southern and Central Europe [info]

- The aim of this project was to "examine and develop quality assurance mechanisms in the asylum procedures of selected Member States: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia." It was built in part on findings from the ASQAEM Project described above. implemented earlier in the Central and Eastern Europe sub-region.

Research Project on the Application of Key Provisions of the Asylum Procedures Directive in Selected EU Member States

- For this project, which concluded in 2010, UNHCR investigated "how the EU's Asylum Procedures Directive has been applied in Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom." The following reports were produced:

• Improving Asylum Procedures: Comparative Analysis and Recommendations for Law and Practice - Key Findings and Recommendations
• Improving Asylum Procedures: Comparative Analysis and Recommendations for Law and Practice - Detailed Research on Key Asylum Procedures Directive Provisions
• Improving Asylum Procedures: Comparative Analysis and Recommendations for Law and Practice - Key Findings and Recommendations on Credibility and Country of Origin Information
• Improving Asylum Procedures: Comparative Analysis and Recommendations for Law and Practice - Key Gender Related Findings and Recommendations

Quality Initiative Projects

- As the factsheet above notes, quality-related activities have been undertaken in a number of individual countries, including the United Kingdom, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany. The UK's projects are described here, while the final report for the quality initiative project in Sweden is accessible here (in Swedish only); see also this news release.

One of the speakers at the above-mentioned conference, the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), was subsequently interviewed by ECRE. The transcript can be accessed via the EASO Monitor blog.

[Photo credit: UNHCR/B. Szandelszky; source: "A Somali asylum-seeker is questioned in a European country," UNHCR, March 2010)]

Tagged Publications.

FMO Re-Launch

Forced Migration Online (FMO) has undergone a significant transformation. While it continues to provide access to the same wide variety of content, the look and structure of the site have been completely revamped. The result is a cleaner, brighter and more easily navigated resource.

A few highlights... :

- The new FMO more clearly stipulates how its content can be used, with a link on the home page to the copyright status of its resources and information about the Creative Commons license predominantly used on the site.

- Free access to selected articles from the International Journal of Refugee Law (IJRL) and the Journal of Refugee Studies (JRS). The old FMO formerly hosted a complete archive of back issues for these journals; however, when the original agreement expired, OUP decided not to continue this arrangement, but it did allow a selection of articles (three from every volume) to be made available to FMO users. (Now if authors deposited eprints of their articles in Open Access repositories, this would no longer be an issue, but that's a subject for a different post!)

- More search options are now available; users can browse or search individual resources or they can use the search box in the top right corner to search across the site. The Digital Library continues to have its own specialized search function as well.

- There are more ways to keep up with new information and developments either via the RSS feeds that have been created for most resources, the Facebook page, the Twitter feed, the blog, or the newsletter.

Some wrinkles are still being ironed out so users may continue to notice changes. Otherwise, start exploring!

Many thanks to the FMO team for all their hard work!

Tagged Periodicals, Publications and Web Sites/Tools..

New Periodical Issues

APRRN Updates (Sept. 2011) [full-text]
- Newsletter of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN).

Goettingen Journal of International Law, vol. 3, no. 2 (2011) [open access full-text]
- Mix of articles, including "Refugees on the High Seas: International Refugee Law Solutions to a Law of the Sea Problem," "Rights at the Frontier: Border Control and Human Rights Protection of Irregular International Migrants," and "Complementary Protection for Victims of Human Trafficking under the European Convention on Human Rights."

International Migration, vol. 49, no. 5 (Oct. 2011) [contents]

- Includes special feature on "Irregular Migration from a European Perspective." Also included is "Return of Separated Children: The Impact of Dutch Policies."

International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 92, no. 880 (Dec. 2010) [full-text]

- Now available in full-text. The theme of this issue is "Conflict in Afghanistan: Part I."

International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 93, no. 881 (March 2011) [full-text]

- Part II of "Conflict in Afghanistan," also in full-text.

Mobilities, vol. 6, no. 3 (2011) [contents]
- Special issue on "Mobilities and Forced Migration." Includes "Reconsidering the Problem of 'Bogus' Refugees with 'Socio-economic Motivations' for Seeking Asylum," "The Im/mobilities of Iraqi Refugees in Jordan: Pan-Arabism, 'Hospitality' and the Figure of the 'Refugee'," "Mobilising Images: Encounters of 'Forced' Migrants and the Bangladesh War of 1971," and "Statelessness and Environmental-Induced Displacement: Future Scenarios of Deterritorialisation, Rescue and Recovery Examined."

Tagged Periodicals.

Treaty Event 2011

The United Nations hosts an annual treaty event to encourage States to show their commitment to the "central role of the rule of law at the international and national levels" by ratifying or acceding to the multilateral treaties that are deposited with the Secretary-General. And as 2011 "marks the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 60th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, this year's Treaty Event is highlighting the challenges of forced displacement and statelessness." Here is more information about the 2011 event and the highlighted treaties.

In response, three countries answered the call to adopt international standards relating to statelessness: Croatia and Nigeria acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and Nigeria and the Philippines acceded to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. The Philippines is the first Southeast Asian country to take this step.

Other countries will have additional opportunities to follow suit: The UN Treaty Event continues 26-27 September 2011 and UNHCR will host a ministerial-level meeting 7-8 December 2011 to promote accessions to both the refugee and statelessness conventions.

[Photo credit: The Philippines at the Treaty Event; source: Photographs of Treaty Actions]

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

Focus on Europe

The Different National Practices concerning Granting of non-EU Harmonised Protection Statuses: Synthesis Report (European Migration Network, Dec. 2010) [access]

- See also annexes and individual country reports.

Implementation of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and its Impact on EU Home Affairs Agencies: Frontex, Europol and the European Asylum Support Office (European Parliament, Sept. 2011) [text via Migrants at Sea]

Refugees at the Border: Country Reports on Activities Related to the Access to the Territory and Asylum Procedure for Persons in Need of International Protection (UNHCR Central Europe, Nov. 2010) [text]

Serbia as a Safe Third Country: A Wrong Presumption (Hungarian Helsinki Committee, Sept. 2011) [text]

They Can't Send Me Back: Uyghur Asylum Seekers in Europe (Uyghur Human Rights Project, Sept. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Cessation of Refugee Status in Africa

Today, the Fahamu Refugee Programme launched a campaign to oppose the withdrawal of international protection from Rwandan refugees. Fahamu has prepared a detailed Memorandum of Fact and Law to spell out why it feels cessation of refugee status in the Rwanda case is unwarranted; it plans to present its findings at the upcoming UNHCR Executive Committee meeting in October.

Under Art. 1(C)(5) of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and Art. 4(e) of the 1969 Convention on the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, States can invoke the "ceased circumstances" clause for refugee populations and return them to their country of origin. UNHCR can also declare cessation for groups under its competence (see Art. 6A(e) of the 1950 Statute of UNHCR). A recent RSC Working Paper, entitled "Reviewing the Application of the Cessation Clause of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in Africa," notes that between 1973 and 2008, the cessation clause was invoked 25 times, mostly for African States (see footnote 8 and Annex 1).

More recently, the cessation clause has been applied to the Congolese in Gabon, and, besides Rwandans, is also slated for Angolans and Liberians at the end of 2011. Moreover, discussions have taken place regarding the cessation of refugee status for Burundians.

Additional references to resources relating to cessation more generally can be browsed for here.

Tagged Publications.

New Publications

Age, Gender and Diversity Mainstreaming Forward Plan 2011‐2016 (UNHCR, Sept. 2011) [text]

- See also related AGDM documents.

Draft Report of the 51st Meeting of the Standing Committee (21-23 June 2011) (EXCOM Standing Committee, Sept. 2011) [text]

- See other documents from the 52nd meeting, which took place 20-21 September 2011.

The HESPER: WHO’s Measurement Answer to the Problem of Identifying Needs within Displaced Populations (Andrew Rasmussen's Blog, Sept. 2011) [text]

"Research Priorities for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Humanitarian Settings," PLoS Medicine, 8:9 (2011) [open access text]

World Disasters Report (IFRC, Sept. 2011) [access]

- This year's focus is "Hunger and Malnutrition."

Tagged Publications.

More New Publications

Casamance Refugees in The Gambia: Self-settlement and the Challenges of Integration, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 220 (UNHCR, Sept. 2011) [text]

Mind the Gap: Refugees and Communications Technology Literacy (Australian Communications Consumer Action Network, Sept. 2011) [text via BroCap]

Rwanda's Ingando Camps: Liminality and the Reproduction of Power, Working Paper, no. 80 (RSC, Sept. 2011) [text]

Sanctuary and Solidarity: Urban Community Responses to Refugees and Asylum Seekers on Three Continents, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 221 (UNHCR, Sept. 2011) [text]

"Unequal in Exile: Gender Equality, Sexual Identity and Refugee Status," Amsterdam Law Forum, vol. 3, no. 2 (2011) [text via SSRN]

Tagged Publications.

New Publications

Aid Worker Security Report 2011 (Humanitarian Outcomes, Aug. 2011) [text]

"Building a Newcomer School for Refugees with the Community in Mind," Education in a Democracy: A Journal of the NNER, vol. 3 (Oct. 2011) [full-text]

The EU's Dirty Hands: Frontex Involvement in Ill-Treatment of Migrant Detainees in Greece (Human Rights Watch, Sept. 2011) [text]

"Public Interest Litigation for Refugees in South Africa and the Potential for Structural Change," South African Journal on Human Rights, vol. 27, part 1 (2011) [full-text]

Timeline of Australian Asylum-seeker Debate (IRIN, Sept. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Last Minute Sept. Events & Opportunities

Responding to Boat Arrivals in the Mediterranean and Mixed Migration Flows, Brussels, 21 September 2011 [info]
- Closing conference of the DRIVE Project.

Climate Change, Migration and Environmental Refugees, New York, 22 September 2011 [info]

- Hosted by the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs, with Susan F. Martin and Fr. Richard Ryscavage.

Refugee Resettlement: Faith Communities Making a Difference, CBS Documentary, 25 September 2011 [info via The Asylumist]

- Television special focusing on Church World Service (CWS).

CFP: "Intersections of Displacement: Immigrant and Refugee Housing and Homelessness Experiences I, II," AAG Annual Meeting, New York, 24-28 February 2012 [info]

- Abstracts submitted for this session are due 26 September 2011.

Visiting Fellowships in Human Rights, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 30 September 2011 [info]

- Applications for visiting fellowships are being accepted for work related to the activities of the Human Rights Consortium, including the new Refugee Law Initiative launched in June of this year.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Health-related Items

Publications:

"Alcohol Disorder amongst Forcibly Displaced Persons in Northern Uganda," Addictive Behaviors, vol. 36, no. 8 (Aug. 2011) [free full-text]

Article Supplement: Posttraumatic Idioms of Distress among Darfur Refugees (Andrew Rasmussen's Blog, Sept. 2011) [text]

"The Burden of Malaria in Post-emergency Refugee Sites: A Retrospective Study," Conflict and Health, 5:17 (Sept. 2011) [open access text]

"Islam, Medicine, and Arab-Muslim Refugee Health in America after 9/11," The Lancet, vol. 378, no. 9794 (September 2011) [access]
- Full-text available for free with registration.

SettleMEN: Health and Settlement among Men from Refugee Backgrounds Living in South East Queensland (La Trobe Refugee Research Centre, Aug. 2011) [text]

Journal issue:

Canadian Medical Association Journal, vol. 183, no. 12 (Sept. 2011) [contents]
- I've referenced earlier versions of these before but now they have been officially published:

• Common mental health problems in immigrants and refugees: general approach in primary care [full-text]
• Development of guidelines for recently arrived immigrants and refugees to Canada: Delphi consensus on selecting preventable and treatable conditions [full-text]
• Evaluation of evidence-based literature and formulation of recommendations for the clinical preventive guidelines for immigrants and refugees in Canada [full-text]
• Evidence-based clinical guidelines for immigrants and refugees [full-text]
• Tuberculosis: evidence review for newly arriving immigrants and refugees [full-text]

Tagged Periodicals and Publications.

North Africa Update

(updated)

Europe, Now Is Your Time to Act: Refugees Forced out of Libya Urgently Need Resettlement (Amnesty International, Sept. 2011) [text]
- See also related news report and slideshow.

From North Africa to Italy: Seeking Refuge, Finding Suffering (MSF, May 2011) [text]

Quagmire and Cooperation: IOM and UNHCR Action in the Arab Spring (Programme for the Study of Global Migration, June 2011) [text]

Recent Arrivals of Migrants and Asylum Seekers by Sea to Italy: Problems and Reactions, ARI Working Paper, no. 75 (Real Instituto Elcano, April 2011) [text]

The Situation of Migrants and Asylum-seekers Fleeing Recent Events in North Africa, UN Doc. No. A/HRC/18/54 (UN Human Rights Council, Sept. 2011) [text via Refworld]

Trapped in Transit: The Neglected Victims of the War in Libya (MSF, June 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Statelessness Resources

Publications:

Citizenship and the New Constitution in Nepal (Statelessness Blog, Sept. 2011) [text]

"The Enduring Problem of Statelessness in the Horn of Africa: How Nation-States and Western Courts (Re)Define Nationality," International Journal of Refugee Law, Advance Access, 14 Sept. 2011 [abstract]

"Introductory Note to the Brasilia Declaration on the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons in the Americas," International Legal Materials, vol. 50, no. 3 (2011) [text via SSRN]

Lampedusa and Beyond: Recognition, Implementation and Justiciability of Stateless Persons' Rights under International Law, IGLP Working Paper, no. 5 (Institute for Global Law and Policy, 2011) [text]

Multimedia:

Stateless: Born Without a Nation [access]
- Video on stateless children in Thailand.

Stateless Children: Denied the Right to Have Rights [access]
- Photos of stateless children in Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Malaysia, Mauritania, and Nepal.

Upcoming event:

Voiceless, Faceless, Stateless, Tilburg, 3 November 2011 [info]

- Symposium objective is to provide an overview of the problem of statelessness.

Twitter feeds:

And for keeping up with other new resources relating to statelessness, check out or follow the Twitter feeds from the Statelessness Programme at Tilburg Law School and the programme coordinator at the Open Society Justice Initiative.

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

Media, Public Opinion & Forced Migration

Lately, I've come across various studies that examine the influence of the media on public opinion about and attitudes towards forced migrants. Here are some of those references:

"'Any One of These Boat People Could Be a Terrorist for All We Know!' Media Representations and Public Perceptions of 'Boat People' Arrivals in Australia," Journalism, vol. 12, no. 5 (July 2011) [abstract]

Balancing the Frame of Threat: Uninvited Migrants in the Finnish News (SSRN, 2010; posted April 2011) [text]

"Complaining about Humanitarian Refugees: The Role of Sympathy Talk in the Design of Complaints on Talkback Radio," Discourse & Communication, vol. 5, no. 3 (Aug. 2011) [abstract]

Human Trafficking in Western Europe: A Comparative Public Opinion Study of Fifteen Nations (SSRN, Aug. 2011) [text]

"News Frames and Story Triggers in the Media’s Coverage of Human Trafficking," Human Rights Review, vol. 12, no. 3 (Sept. 2011) [abstract]
- See also earlier SSRN preprint.

"Refugees as People: The Portrayal of Refugees in American Human Interest Stories," Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 23, no. 2 (2010) [full-text]

And here are a couple of related events:

Communications and Media in Humanitarian Affairs, various locations, held annually in September [info]

- This course "presents the dynamics between depiction and public perception, image and empathy, and narratives of compassion and inclusion, articulated within the larger context of global security and human rights." One is being held in Nairobi right now, 18-24 September 2011; next year, the course will be held in Geneva, 16-22 September 2012.

Humanitarian Emergencies: The Role of the Media, New York, 22 September 2011 [info]
- "Panel discussion on the role of various forms of media in framing and reporting on humanitarian disasters and humanitarian emergencies."

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

New Publications

APPRN Statement on a New Approach to Regional Cooperation on Refugee Protection (APRRN, Sept. 2011) [text]

"Challenges Faced by Women Refugees in Initiating Entrepreneurial Ventures in a Host Country: Case Study of UNHCR Women Refugees in Malaysia," Asian Journal of Business and Management Sciences, vol. 1, no. 3 (Aug. 2011) [open access text]

The European Union and Refugees: Towards More Restrictive Asylum Policies in the European Union?, GRITIM Working Paper, no. 8 (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Summer 2011) [text]

Pushing the Boundaries of Asylum Law (IntLawGrrls, Sept. 2011) [text]

Roadmap for Asylum Reform (Irish Refugee Council, Sept. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Focus on Human Trafficking

Books:

Combating Trafficking in Human Beings for Labour Exploitation (Wolf Publishers, 2011) [text via EC] [info]
- Presents results of European Commission-funded project entitled "Improving the investigation and prosecution of THB for labour exploitation. Identifying problems and best practices."

Victims No Longer: Trafficked Children into the United States, Forthcoming title in the California Series in Public Anthropology (Center for a Public Anthropology) [info] [announcement]

- See also related research report.

Multimedia:

Understanding Europe's Human Trafficking Policy (CNN iReport, Sept. 2011) [access]

- Interview with social anthropologist at the Danish Institute for International Studies.

Periodicals:

Human Rights Review, vol. 12, no. 3 (Sept. 2011) [contents, selected full-text]
- Special issue on "Human Trafficking." Includes three open access articles: "Sex as Slavery? Understanding Private Wrongs," "Human Trafficking in Conflict Zones: The Role of Peacekeepers in the Formation of Networks," and "Human Trafficking in Russia and Other Post-Soviet States."

Upcoming events & opportunities:

CFP: Incorporating Human Trafficking in Academic Institutions: The European Experience, Amsterdam, 25-26 November 2011 [info]
- Papers are sought from professors in European institutions; deadline is 23 September 2011.

2011 Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking, "What We Know and What We Need to Know," Lincoln, Nebraska, 29 September-1 October 2011 [info]
- The aim is to "spread knowledge, provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of research and professional work, and provide an opportunity to network with and learn from each other."

EU Member States and Agencies Jointly Addressing Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting Victims, Warsaw, 18 October 2011 [info]
- Conference to mark the occasion of the 5th EU Anti-Trafficking Day.

Global Forum on Human Trafficking, Sunnyvale, California, 21-22 October 2011 [info]

- "Will discuss and explore new models and tangible solutions to the real problems that cause trafficking world-wide."

In Whose Name? Migration, Sex Work and Trafficking, London, 31 October 2011 [info]
- Seminar presenting research findings on "Migrant Workers in the UK Sex Industry."

Asia Pacific Forum on Human Trafficking, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2-3 November 2011 [info]

- Learn how to take action against human trafficking.

Tagged Events & Opportunities, Publications, and Periodicals.

Asylum Recognition Rates

In the U.S.: Some recent data on "Asylum Decisions by Immigration Court Judges" from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) prompted this analysis by the New York Times.

Other analyses of the data focused on the high denial rates of Mexican asylum seekers (see here and here), pointing particularly to U.S.-Mexico relations as a factor that influences judges' decisions.

In Europe: ECRE has produced four maps displaying wide variations in positive decisions on asylum applications in Europe; the data are based on figures from UNHCR's latest Global Trends report. (Other data from Eurostat are available here.)

IntLawGrrls posted some thoughts on these disparities, while the Migration Studies Unit at LSE published a paper that investigates possible linkages between asylum recognition rates and countries' respect for human rights (see "Prospects for the Governance of Refugee Protection: Exploring the Effect of an Unbalanced Level of Asylum Recognition Rates amongst European Countries").

Finally, this recently published article - "‘The Good Old Days of the Cold War’: Arguments Used to Admit or Reject Asylum Seekers in the Netherlands, 1957–1967" - takes an historical look at the asylum decision-making process.

Tagged Publications.

New Publications

No Way Out: Climate Change and Immobility (World Policy Blog, Sept. 2011) [text via Towards Recognition]

Glorious and Free: Making Canada a Model Nation for the Treatment of Refugees (The Walrus, Oct. 2011) [text]

International Religious Freedom Report, July-December 2010 (U.S. Department of State, Sept. 2011) [access]

Migration as Source of Risk-aversion among the Environmental Refugees: The Case of Women Displaced by Erosion of the River Ganga in the Malda District of West Bengal, India, Working Paper, no. 98 (Center on Migration, Citizenship and Development, 2011) [text]

There are Better Alternatives to the "Malaysia Solution" (The Conversation, Aug. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

New Issues/Free JRS Articles

Columbia Human Rights Law Review, vol. 42, no. 3 (Spring 2011) [full-text]
- Full-text now available. Mix of articles, including "Refugees and the Biometric Future: the Impact of Biometrics on Refugees and Asylum Seekers," "Beyond the Guantánamo Bind: Pragmatic Multilateralism in Refugee Resettlement" and "Unsettling Developments: Terrorism and the New Case for Enhancing Protection and Humanitarian Assistance for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, Including Victims of Natural Disasters."

Disasters, vol. 35, no. 4 (Oct. 2011) [contents]

- Mix of articles including "A test of stress theory: relief workers in refugee camps."

Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, vol. 9, no. 3 (2011) [contents]

- Mix of articles including "The Experiences of Staff Working With Refugees and Asylum Seekers in the United Kingdom: A Grounded Theory Exploration," "Separated Refugee Children in Canada: The Construction of Risk Identity," and "A Pilot Intervention for Promoting Multiethnic Adult Refugee Groups’ Mental Health: A Descriptive Article."

Righting Wrongs: A Journal of Human Rights, vol. 1, no. 1 (2011) [full-text]
- New student periodical from Webster University's Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Studies.

Women's Asylum News, no. 104 (Aug./Sept. 2011) [full-text via Refworld]

- Lead article is "Barriers to Asylum Support Appeals for Women."

Free JRS articles:

OUP provides free access to Journal of Refugee Studies articles whose authors have won the Lisa Gilad prize. The five following titles are currently available (listed in chronological order based on when the prize was awarded):

• Constructing the Personal Narratives of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Asylum Claimants, by Laurie Berg and Jenni Millbank
• 'Spying for Hitler’ and ‘Working for Bin Laden’: Comparative Australian Discourses on Refugees, by Binoy Kampmark
• Gender Relations in a Refugee Camp: A Case of Chechens Seeking Asylum in the Czech Republic, by Alice Szczepanikova
• Preventive, Palliative, or Punitive? Safe Spaces in Bosnia‐Herzegovina, Somalia, and Sri Lanka, by Jennifer Hyndman
• Beyond the Losers: Transforming Governmental Practice in Refugee‐Affected Tanzania,by Loren Landau
• Repatriation and Self-Settled Refugees in Zambia: Bringing Solutions to the Wrong Problems, by Oliver Bakewell

To celebrate JRS' increased "impact factor," OUP now also offers free access to these articles:

• The Experiences of Students from Refugee Backgrounds at Universities in Australia: Reflections on the Social, Emotional and Practical Challenges, by Andrew Joyce, Jaya Earnest, Gabriella de Mori, Genevieve Silvagni
• Refugees as People: The Portrayal of Refugees in American Human Interest Stories, by Sarah J. Steimel
• Stranded Migrants and the Fragmented Journey, by Michael Collyer
• Understanding Integration: A Conceptual Framework, by Alastair Ager and Alison Strang
• When Policy Creates Politics: the Problematizing of Immigration and the Consequences for Refugee Integration in the UK, by Gareth Mulvey

Tagged Periodicals.