New Publications on Asylum Seekers in South Africa, Gender Equality in Tunisia, IDPs in Colombia, Burmese in California, Canadian Judges

The Effects of Internal Displacement on Host Communities: A Case Study of Suba and Ciudad Bolívar Localities in Bogotá, Colombia (Brookings-LSE Project on International Displacement, Oct. 2011) [text]

From Crisis to Community Development: Needs and Assets of Oakland’s Refugees from Burma (Burma Refugee Family Network, Nov. 2011) [text]

Most Canadian Refugee Judges Fail Re-Appointment Test (The Asylumist, Nov. 2011) [text]

South Africa: "Harsher Regime" for Asylum Seekers (IRIN, Nov. 2011) [text]

Tunisia: Another Step towards Gender Equality (Statelessness Programme Blog, Nov. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

New Issues of EJML, HR Law Rev., Intervention, J. Modern Italian Studies, Women's Asylum News

European Journal of Migration and Law, vol. 13, no. 4 (2011) [contents]
- Mix of articles including "The 'Arab Spring' and the Extraordinary Influx of People who Arrived in Italy from North Africa" and "Roma Expulsions and Discrimination: The Elephant in Brussels."

Human Rights Law Review, vol. 11, no. 4 (Dec. 2011) [contents]
- Mix of articles including "Asylum Seekers in Europe: M.S.S. v Belgium and Greece."

Intervention, vol. 9, no. 3 (Nov. 2011) [contents]
- Special issue on "Integrating mental health care into existing systems of health care: during and after complex humanitarian emergencies." For more information, read the introductory article.

Journal of Modern Italian Studies, vol. 16, no. 5 (2011) [contents]

- Special issue on "Anti-Gypsyism and the politics of exclusion: Roma and Sinti in contemporary Italy." It expands on findings from a Refugee Studies Centre-hosted conference in January 2010 on "Romani mobilities in Europe."

Women's Asylum News, no. 106 (Nov. 2011) [full-text]
- Lead article is "'I feel that I have no rights': Statelessness in the UK."

Tagged Periodicals.

New Publications on Borders, IDPs in India, Learning from Libya, Urban Refugees in Tanzania, Women Judges in Canada

After the Arab Spring (IntLawGrrls, Nov. 2011) [text]

"Do Women Refugee Judges Really Make a Difference? An Empirical Analysis of Gender and Outcomes in Canadian Refugee Determinations," Canadian Journal of Women and the Law, vol. 23, no. 2 (2011) [full-text via SSRN]

No Place Called Home: A Report on Urban Refugees Living in in Dar es Salaam (Asylum Access, Nov. 2011) [text]

On the Morality and Legality of Borders: Asylum Seekers and Border Policies (ExpressO, 2011) [text]
- An earlier version of this article was referenced in this post.

"This is Our Land": Ethnic Violence and Internal Displacement in North-east India (NRC & IDMC, Nov. 2011) [access]

Tagged Publications.

Last Minute November Deadlines/December Events & Opportunities

November:

Lives Lost in the Mediterranean Sea: Who is Responsible? Paris, 29 November 2011 [info]

- Hearing before the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population.

Spaces of Deportability and Protection: A Global and Local View on Migration, Deportation and Anti-Deportation Movements, Copenhagen, 29 November 2011 [info]

- Register by 28 November 2011.

Call for Papers: Workshop on Human Trafficking, International Crime and National Security: A Human Rights Perspective, Goettingen, Germany, 3-4 February 2012 [info]
- Submit papers by 30 November 2011.

December:

Intergovernmental Event at the Ministerial Level of Member States of the United Nations on the Occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 50th Anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Geneva, 7-8 December 2011 [info]

- I referenced this event in an earlier post; a Background Note for the Roundtables is now also available.

A Refugee Law Reader Conference: Asylum and Refugee Law Education in Europe - New Challenges, New Responses?, Budapest, 8-9 December 2011 [info]
- Closing conference for a project entitled "Knowledge-based harmonisation of European asylum practices."

A Long Way from Home? The Rural and Regional Resettlement Experiences of Visible Migrants and Refugees, Melbourne, 10 February 2012 [info]
- Registration is now open; the early bird rate is available until 6 January 2012.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Publications on African Children's Rights, Integration, Irregular Migrants, Pastoralists in Kenya, Urban Refugees

Authority and Inclusion: Reconsidering Integration in a Fragmented Age, Working Paper Series, no. 1 (Refugee Law Initiative, Nov. 2011) [text]

Dawn in the City: Guidance for Achieving Self-Reliance for Urban Refugees (Women's Refugee Commission, Oct. 2011) [text]

- See also the accompanying guidelines detailed in "Framework for Urban Refugee Self-Reliance: A How-to Guide."

Fundamental Rights of Migrants in an Irregular Situation in the European Union (EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, Nov. 2011) [text]

On the Agenda in Algiers: African Children’s Rights and Nationality (Open Society Blog, Nov. 2011) [text]

Summary Report of Breakfast Meeting on Pastoralist Displacement in Northern Kenya: Findings of a Scoping Study (ISS, IDMC & NRC, Nov. 2011) [text via ReliefWeb]

Tagged Publications.

Publications on Communication Technology, Homelessness in Italy, Legal Counsel in Canada, Rights of Stateless Persons, Trafficking & Refugees

Consumer Advocacy for Refugees and Communications Technology: Highlights from Mind the Gap, Presentation at the Communications Policy and Research Forum, Sydney, 7-8 November 2011 [text]
- Scroll to p. 301.

The Living Conditions of Refugees in Italy (Pro Asyl, July 2011) [text]

"The Role of Counsel in Canada’s Refugee Determination System: An Empirical Assessment," Osgoode Hall Law Journal, vol. 49, no. 1 (2011) [full-text]

Statelessness & the Right to Have Rights (IntLawGrrls, Nov. 2011) [text]

Trafficking Risks for Refugees, Paper prepared for Third Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking, Lincoln, Nebraska, 29 September-1 October 2011 [text]

Tagged Publications.

Focus on Climate Migration

New publications:

Book Reviews of Climate Change and Displacement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Hart Publishing, 2010: Global Law Books (Nov. 2011) [text]; Osgoode Hall Law Journal, vol. 49, no. 1 (2011) [text]

Governing International Climate Change-Induced Migration: The Chaos and the Dancing Star, Paper prepared for "Reinventing Governance for Managing Climate Change and Its Adaptation," 8th NAPSIPAG International Conference, Kathmandu, 15-16 December 2011 [text]
- See also other related papers by this author.

"Preparing for Resettlement Associated with Climate Change," Science, vol. 334, no. 6055 (Oct. 2011) [abstract]
- See comments on the State of the Planet blog, CIRUN and the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement. The latter refers readers to follow-up articles on the Population-Environment Research Network Cyberseminar.

Statement of the Global Migration Group on the Impact of Climate Change on Migration (Global Migration Group, Nov. 2011) [text]

Journal article abstracts:

"Climate Change: Migration as Adaptation," Nature, vol. 478, no. 7370 (Oct. 2011) [abstract]

Global Environmental Change, Articles in Press [abstracts]
- Browse for articles relating to "Migration and global environmental change." It looks like a forthcoming issue will be devoted to this topic.

"Why the Numbers Don’t Add Up: A Review of Estimates and Predictions of People Displaced by Environmental Changes," Global Environmental Change, Article in Press (Oct. 2011) [abstract]

Event after the fact:

Climate Change and Migration in the Asia-Pacific: Legal and Policy Responses, Sydney, 10-11 November 2011 [access]

- Webcasts of the presentations, texts of available papers and a podcast of interviews with conference speakers are now online.

New project:

New Pan-European Research Network on Climate Change and Migration [info]

- "Climate Change and Migration: Knowledge, Law and Policy, and Theory," launched by COST in Oct. 2011.

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

Publications on Education, Eritreans in Egypt, LGBT Asylum, Minorities in Libya, Older People, Right to Leave, U.S. Protection

Asylum and Humanitarian Protection for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) People (Stonewall, Aug. 2011) [text]

- Updated version of guide.

Educating Refugees (IntLawGrrls, Nov. 2011) [text]

- See also this earlier post.

Egypt: Don't Deport Eritreans - Those Forcibly Returned Face Likely Persecution (Human Rights Watch, Nov. 2011) [text]

The Forgotten Path to Asylum: "Other Serious Harm" (The Asylumist, Nov. 2011) [text]

Libya: Protect Vulnerable Minorities & Assist Civilians Harmed (Refugees International & CIVIC, Nov. 2011) [text]

On the Edge: Why Older People’s Needs Are Not Being Met in Humanitarian Emergencies (Age UK & HelpAge, 2011) [text via Refworld]

The Right to Leave One's Country Should be Applied without Discrimination (Human Rights Comment, Nov. 2011) [text]
- Comment re. "measures [that] have been taken by the Macedonian authorities to prevent citizens from travelling to EU countries - and seeking asylum there."

Tagged Publications.

Focus on Statelessness

Asylum Aid and UNHCR UK have launched a new report, Mapping Statelessness in the United Kingdom. Here's part of the blurb:

"Mapping Statelessness finds that stateless people in the UK live at daily risk of human rights infringements. Many are trapped in a nightmarish legal limbo from which there is currently no escape. Being stateless is likened by one interviewee to being 'a bird with nowhere to rest on the ground, but which can’t spend his whole life in the sky'."

The Executive Summary highlights the report's five key findings and six key recommendations. See also the lead article in the latest issue of Women's Asylum News, "'I feel that I have no rights': Statelessness in the UK."

Other recent items relating to statelessness:

Measuring the Cost of Statelessness: A Four Country Livelihoods Study, Report prepared for the U.S. Department of State (Aug. 2011)
- This report resulted from a research project entitled "The Cost of Statelessness: A Livelihoods Analysis," that ran from September 2010 until August 2011. I have not yet found the complete text of the report, but information about its findings can be found on this Researcher Insights page from Kingston University, this statement of interest, and this State Dept. speech.

"Stateless," Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law, vol. 20, no. 1 (Fall 2011) [full-text]
- See related blog post. This is the officially published article; I referenced an earlier version in this post.

Statelessness and the Human Right to Nationality (Statelessness Blog, Nov. 2011) [text]

Voices of the Invisible People (National Geographic Assignment Blog, Oct. 2011) [text]

Event after the fact:

"The Global Crisis of Statelessness and Threats to Birthright Citizenship," Panel at 110th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Montreal, 15-20 November 2011 [info]
- Read this blog post of responses from one of the panelists.

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Focus on Development Displacement & Resettlement

(updated)

Book Review: Displacement by Development: Ethics, Rights and Responsibilities, Cambridge University Press, 2011 (Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, Oct. 2011) [text]

Dam-building Continues Despite Controversy (IRIN, Nov. 2011) [text]

Helpdesk Research Report: Policies on Displacement and Resettlement (Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, Sept. 2011) [text]

Human Rights Concerns in Hydroelectric Projects, Paper prepared for 4th International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Environment, Bangkok, Thailand, November 23-25, 2011 (now postponed to 27-29 Feb. 2012) [text via SSRN]

Involuntary Resettlement Safeguards: A Planning and Implementation Good Practice Sourcebook (Draft Working Document) (Asian Development Bank, March 2011) [text]

Losing Your Home: Assessing the Impact of Eviction (UN Habitat & OHCHR, 2011) [access]
- See also review by Michael Cernea.

Reconstituting the Role of Law in Development-induced Displacement and Resettlement: Lessons from Uganda's Bujagali Hydroelectric Project, Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies (University of British Columbia, July 2011) [text]

Resettlement News, nos. 23/24 (Jan.-July 2011) [text]
- Articles include "A Historic Landmark in Development: Reflecting on the First Resettlement Policy," "Fifteen Years of ADB Policy on Involuntary Resettlement," and "Breaking Ground: New Law on Land Acquisition and Resettlement in India."

Tagged Publications.

Publications: EU Accountability, Security vs. Human Rights, UNHCR Appeal, U.S. Asylum Policy, Zimbabweans in South Africa

"A Fine Line Redefined: Moving Toward More Equitable Asylum Policies," University of Baltimore Law Review, vol. 40, no. 4 (Summer 2011) [full-text via SSRN]

Global Appeal 2012-13 (UNHCR, Nov. 2011) [access]

"Migration Challenges among Zimbabwean Refugees Before, During and Post Arrival in South Africa," Journal of Injury and Violence Research, vol. 5, no. 1 (2011) [open access article]

Searching for Accountability in EU Migration-Management Practices (openDemocracy, Oct. 2011) [text]

"To Transfer or Not to Transfer: Identifying and Protecting Human Rights Interests in Non-Refoulement," Fordham Law Review, vol. 80, no. 1 (Oct. 2011) [full-text]

Tagged Publications.

Publications: Climate Refugees, Convention/Protocol Accession, Palestinian Refugee Health, Rwanda Environmental Assessment, Women Refugees in Finland

The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol (UNHCR, Sept. 2011) [text]

- A brochure promoting accession to the Convention and Protocol.

Protectors, Providers, Survivors: A Dialogue with Refugee Women in Finland (UNHCR, Oct. 2011) [text]

Refugees of Climate Change Rising Steadily (IPS, Nov. 2011) [text]

Rwanda: From Post-Conflict to Environmentally Sustainable Development (UNEP, Nov. 2011) [text]

Terminal Decline? Palestinian Refugee Health in Lebanon (Medical Aid for Palestinians, Nov. 2011) [text via ReliefWeb]

Tagged Publications.

Focus on the Balkans

A Ministerial Review Conference on Solving the Refugee Situation in the Western Balkans took place in Belgrade on 7 November 2011. The foreign ministers of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia signed a declaration "aimed at speeding solutions for 74,000 remaining refugees from the crisis of 1991-95 in this part of Europe." For more details, see UNHCR's briefing notes and press release. In addition, here is OSCE's statement,the EU's statement, and a note from the U.S. State Department.

Another event after the fact:

Conference on Provision of Civil Documentation and Birth Registration in South-Eastern Europe, Zagreb, 26-27 October 2011 [info] [Declaration]
- "The challenges pertaining to the provision of civil documentation and to birth registration have been for many years an issue affecting predominantly the Roma population in South-Eastern Europe. The problem became more prominent with the break-up of the former Yugoslavia as the new political reality altered the nationality status of some citizens of the former state, leaving them without citizenship or at risk of losing it due to the lack of proper documentation and of birth registration which immediate effect is affecting their social inclusion and preventing them from accessing their basic social and political rights."

Publications:

Access to Free Legal Aid for Displaced Persons in the Western Balkans Countries: Overview of the Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro (Group 484, Nov. 2011) [text via ReliefWeb]

Access to Rights and Integration of Returnees on the Basis of the Readmission Agreements: Analysis of the Main Problems and Obstacles (Praxis, Aug. 2011) [text]

Assessment of the Needs of Internally Displaced Persons in Serbia (UNHCR et al., Feb. 2011) [text]

Legally Invisible Persons in Serbia: Still without a Solution (Praxis, June 2011) [text]

Only Genuine Justice Can Ensure Durable Peace in the Balkans (Human Rights Comment, Nov. 2011) [text]

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

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

New Periodical Issues

Australasian Review of African Studies, vol. 32, no. 2 (Dec. 2011) [contents]
- Focus is on the "South Sudanese Diaspora in Australasia." Includes "Convenient Labels, Inaccurate Representations: Turning Southern Sudanese Refugees into 'African-Australians'," "Agency and Belonging: Southern Sudanese Former Refugees' reflections on Life in Australia," and "The Settlers' Dream: Resettlement Experiences of Sudanese Refugees in New Zealand."

Conflict Trends, no. 3 (2011) [full-text]
- Articles focus on the "peacekeeping-peacebuilding nexus."

Humanitarian Exchange, no. 52 (Oct. 2011) [full-text]

- The theme of this issue is "Humanitarian Accountability."

Migration Policy Practice, vol. 1, no. 1 (Oct.-Nov. 2011) [full-text via ReliefWeb]
- New bimonthly journal from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Eurasylum Ltd. It "was established to offer a new medium for public officials and civil society to reflect and write about their day-to-day policy practice, their decisions and their experience, and to share such insights with like-minded colleagues nationally and internationally."

Resettlement News, nos. 23/24 (Jan.-July 2011) [full-text]

- Lead article is "A Historic Landmark in Development: Reflecting on the First Resettlement Policy."

Tagged Periodicals.

Last Minute November Events & Opportunities

(updated)

EASO Consultative Forum with Civil Society, Valletta, Malta, 15 December 2011 [info]
- Submit your expression of interest to participate by 18 November 2011.

En-gendering the Common European Asylum System: Challenges & Opportunities, Sliema, Malta, 18 November 2011 [info]

Joyce Pearce Junior Research Fellowship in Development Studies (Refugees and Forced Migration), Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford [info]

- Apply by 21 November 2011.

Déplacement forcé: un défi pour l’Europe, Geneva, 25 November 2011 [info]
- Presentation to be given by the High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres.

International Humanitarian Conference, Kuala Lumpur, 25-26 November 2011 [info]

- Theme is "Doing in Better: Transforming Humanitarian Efforts."

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

New Issue of IJRL

The latest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law (IJRL) is now available. Contents for vol. 23, no. 4 (Dec. 2011) include:

• A Failed Case of Legal Exceptionalism? Refugee Status Determination in Australia's 'Excised' Territory [abstract]
• Separated Children in Ireland: Responding to 'Terrible Wrongs' [abstract] [SSRN]
• The Enduring Problem of Statelessness in the Horn of Africa: How Nation-States and Western Courts (Re)Define Nationality [abstract]
• Socioeconomic Rights of Palestinian Refugees in Arab Countries [abstract] [working paper]

Reproduced in this issue are several cases and the summary conclusions from two conferences: Expert Meeting on Complementarities between International Refugee Law, International Criminal Law and International Human Rights Law: Arusha, Tanzania, 11-13 April 2011 and Global Roundtable on Alternatives to Detention of Asylum-Seekers, Refugees, Migrants and Stateless Persons: Geneva, Switzerland, 11-12 May 2011. The latter are each preceded by an introductory note.

A positive review of The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol: A Commentary (Oxford University Press, 2011) is also included.

Tagged Periodicals.

Publications: Conflict Sensitivity, Donor Transparency, Eritrea COI, Mental Health in Detention, Somaliland Diaspora

Applying Conflict Sensitivity in Emergency Response: Current Practice and Ways Forward, Network Paper, no. 70 (Humanitarian Practice Network, Oct. 2011) [text]

A Commentary on the September 2011 Eritrea Operational Guidance Note (ARC & Still Human, Still Here, Nov. 2011) [text]

Diaspora and Peacebuilding in Post-conflict Settings: Insights from Somaliland, Global Migration Research Paper, no. 2 (Programme for the Study of Global Migration, Nov. 2011) [text]

Donors Still Far from Transparent (IRIN, Nov. 2011) [text]

Mental Health Care for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Immigration Detention Centres (Mental Health Council of Australia, Nov. 2011) [text via BroCAP]

Tagged Publications.

Publications: 60th Anniversary, Displacement in Europe & Central Asia, Economic Impact in Uganda, Interview with IDP Advocate, Promoting Livelihoods

Forced Displacement in Europe and Central Asia (World Bank, Oct. 2011) [text]

Mobilizing for Refugee Protection: Reflections on the 60th Anniversary of UNHCR and the 1951 Refugee Convention, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 226 (UNHCR, Nov. 2011) [text]

Promoting Livelihoods and Self-reliance: Operational Guidance on Refugee Protection and Solutions in Urban Areas (UNHCR, 2011) [text]
- Other operational guidance notes are listed in this post.

Recovery or Trapped in Poverty? The Economic Consequences of Forced Displacement in Northern Uganda, Paper presented at 4th Migration and Development Conference, Boston, 10-11 June 2011 [text]

Q&A: Swiss Trumpet Blower for the Rights of the Internally Displaced (UNHCR, Nov. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Distress at Sea

A quick note to say that I have updated yesterday's post on "Meetings on Forced Migrants at Sea". Documents relating to the recently ended expert meeting in Djibouti on "Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Distress at Sea: How Best to Respond?" were just posted on the UNHCR web site so I have now included links to them - and corrected the title of the meeting!

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

ETDs in Development Studies, History, International Affairs

Exiles and Constituents: Baltic Refugees and American Cold War Politics, 1948- 1960, Dissertation submitted to the Dept. of Contemporary History (Univ. of Turku, Nov. 2011) [access]

The Freedom to Self-Settle: The Inclusions and Exclusions of Refugee Life Outside the Camp in Africa, Thesis submitted for Master's in Development Studies (Graduate Inst. of International and Development Studies, 2011) [text]

Interactions Between Aid Workers and Asylum Seekers in the Swiss Cantons of Geneva and Vaud: A Testing Ground for the Principle of Humanity, Thesis submitted for Master's in International Affairs (Graduate Inst. of International and Development Studies, 2011) [text]

Swiss Unaccompanied Minor Asylum Seekers “Speak Out”: Balancing the Need for Protection and the Desire to Promote Agency, Thesis submitted for Master's in International Affairs (Graduate Inst. of International and Development Studies, 2011) [text]

Unconditional Hospitality to Every Refugee? Socio-Political Dynamics of Hosting Refugees in Nimba County, Liberia, Thesis submitted for Master's in International Affairs (Graduate Inst. of International and Development Studies, 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Focus on Human Trafficking

"Comparative Analysis of Migrant Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons," Module 2 in In-depth Training Manual on Investigating and Prosecuting the Smuggling of Migrants (UNODC, Oct. 2011) [text]

GRETA Reports (Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, Sept. 2011) [access]

- First evaluations of States Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

Joint Statement of the Heads of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Agencies, 5th EU Anti-Trafficking Day, 18 Oct. 2011 [text]

Organised Crime, Corruption and the Movement of People Across Borders in the New Enlarged EU: A Case Study of Estonia, Finland and the UK (HEUNI, 2011) [access]

Trafficking in Persons and the European Court of Human Rights (Strasbourg Observers, Oct. 2011) [text]

Trafficking in Persons in East Asia and the Pacific, Statement Before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights (U.S. Dept. of State, Oct. 2011) [text]

"Widening Our Lens: Incorporating Essential Perspectives in the Fight Against Human Trafficking," Michigan Journal of International Law, forthcoming in vol. 33, no. 1 (Fall 2011) [text via SSRN]

- Related podcast available here; scroll to 5 Aug. 2011.

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Meetings on Forced Migrants at Sea

(updated)

A workshop on "boat migration" will take place in Oxford on 18 Nov. 2011. Entitled "Governing Forced Migration by Sea: A Legal Perspective," the event "aims at detecting both the potentialities and shortcomings of the regime currently governing forced migration by sea, so that possible solutions and spaces for improvement may be identified."

This issue has been the focus of several other related events this year, including:

Conflict Situations and Migration Flows in the Mediterranean Area, Sanremo, 4-5 Nov. 2011 [info]

Expert Meeting on Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Distress at Sea: How Best to Respond?, Djibouti, 8-10 Nov. 2011 [agenda] [background paper] [concept note] [IOM briefing notes]

Responding to Boat Arrivals in the Mediterranean and Mixed Migration Flows, Brussels, 21 Sept. 2011 [info]

The Right to Seek Asylum: Interception at Sea and the Principle of Non-Refoulement, Brussels, 16 Feb. 2011 [text of speech]

I will post any reports or other materials for these meetings, if and when they become available.

[Image credit: "Mediterranean Sea," Wikipedia.org]

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Gang-related Court Case

The ImmigrationProf Blog recently circulated a post entitled "Valdiviezo-Galdamez v. Attorney General: The Latest Word on PSG Asylum Claims." The referenced case involves a Honduran man who fled to the U.S. and claimed a fear of persecution by gang members. The court notes, in part, that

...the BIA’s addition of the requirements of “social visibility” and “particularity” to its definition of “particular social group” is inconsistent with its prior decisions, and the BIA has not announced a “principled reason” for its adoption of those inconsistent requirements.

Here's a summary of the case from IntLawGrrls. For an overview of these concepts, see "Hot Topics in Asylum: Particular Social Group," a presentation at the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman: First Annual Conference, Washington, DC, 20 Oct. 2011. See also UNHCR's Amicus brief submitted in the aforementioned case in 2009.

Other resources focusing on gang-based asylum claims include:

Central American and Mexican Gang and Cartel Related Asylum Claims (AILA Seminar Recordings, Aug. 2011) [info]

"Falling Outside: Excavating the History of Central American Asylum Seekers," Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 36, no. 3 (Summer 2011) [abstract]

"Recent Developments in Gang-Related Asylum Claims Based on Membership in a Particular Social Group," Immigration Law Advisor, vol. 4, no. 6 (June 2010) [full-text]

"Youth Resistant to Gang Recruitment as a Particular Social Group in Larios v. Holder," Boston College Third World Law Journal, vol. 31, no. 2 (Spring 2011) [full-text]

- Scroll to p. 457.

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Focus on Palestinian Refugees

How Can I Help a Palestine Refugee? The Second Edition of 25 Ways to Help Palestine Refugees, September–December 2011 (UNRWA, Nov. 2011) [text]

"Institutionalizing Statelessness: The Revocation of Residency Rights of Palestinians of East Jerusalem," International Journal of Refugee Law, Forthcoming [eprint via SSRN]

- Here's an example of self-archiving as described in this post!

Invisible Refugees: Protecting Sahrawis and Palestinians Displaced by the 2011 Libyan Uprising, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 225 (UNHCR, Nov. 2011) [text]

On the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Statelessness Convention, BADIL Reiterates the Palestinian People’s Right to a Nationality (BADIL, Sept. 2011) [access]

- Access this document via the left-hand column on the first page under "UN-based Legal Advocacy."

Palestinian Refugees: Different Generations but One Identity, Birzeit, Palestine, 21-22 November 2011 [info]
- Abstracts and some draft papers have already been posted for this upcoming conference.

Palestinian Refugees in the Arab Spring, New York, 4 November 2011 [access]

- Lecture by Filippo Grandi, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, at the International Peace Institute.

Report of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, 1 January-31 December 2010, UN Doc. No. A/66/13 (UN General Assembly, 2011) [text]
- See also related news release.

"Socioeconomic Rights of Palestinian Refugees in Arab Countries," International Journal of Refugee Law, Advance Access, 30 October 2011 [abstract]

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Refugee Education Review

I mentioned in this earlier post that a "a global review of the state of refugee education" was in the works. And here it is: Refugee Education: A Global Review (UNHCR, Nov. 2011).

The introduction describes the study's objectives as follows:

This study was commissioned by UNHCR’s Policy Development and Evaluation Service (PDES) in an attempt to chart a way forward for policy and programming in refugee education. It is not an evaluation of UNHCR’s education programmes but instead a general, global review that identifies common patterns and categories within the field of refugee education. It examines the central role of UNHCR in the provision of refugee education but situates refugee education historically, from World War II to the present, and within the global Education for All (EFA) movement and the burgeoning literature on education in conflict more broadly.

The report concludes that education for refugees is limited and uneven, particularly for girls and at secondary levels. Refugee education is generally of a very low quality, and as a result, many refugee children are learning very little in schools. The report also concludes that refugee education is not serving its protective function due to a lack of focus on learning.

For other education-related literature reviews, visit this section of the forced migration research guide.

Tagged Publications.

Publications on Civilians in Somalia, Health, IDP Livelihoods in Azerbaijan, Libya Lessons Learned, Monitoring Environmental Migration, Right to Work

Asylum Seekers and the Right to Work (House of Commons Library, Nov. 2011) [text via Hans & Tomar Oppenheimer Chair]

Azerbaijan - Building Assets and Promoting Self Reliance: The Livelihoods of Internally Displaced Persons (World Bank, Oct. 2011) [text via ReliefWeb]

Civilian Harm in Somalia: Creating an Appropriate Response (CIVIC, Nov. 2011) [text]
- See related UNHCR news story.

New Technologies and the Monitoring and Management of Migration Flows and Population Displacement (UK Government Office for Science & Foresight, Oct. 2011) [text]

Responding to Migration from Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: Lessons Learned from Libya (Chatham House, Nov. 2011) [text]

Scaling up the Community-based Health Workforce for Emergencies (Global Health Workforce Alliance, Oct. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

New Publications on Africa IDPs, CAR IDPs, Children in Uganda, Migrants in Yemen, Rwandans & Cessation

Fresh Challenges for Migrants in Yemen (IRIN, Nov. 2011) [text]

"The Impact of the School-based Psychosocial Structured Activities (PSSA) Program on
Conflict-affected Children in Northern Uganda," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 52:11 (2011) [full-text]

The Kampala Convention: Bridging the Gap in the Protection of Internally Displaced Persons in the African Human Rights System (Human Rights Brief Blog, Nov. 2011) [text]

Overview of Displacement in the Central African Republic (OCHA, Oct. 2011) [text]

Rwandan Refugees Fear Cessation Clause (IPS, Nov. 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Working Papers: New Titles, Opportunities

Writing opportunities

I posted earlier about some of the activities that have been implemented by the recently established Refugee Law Initiative at the University of London. The RLI has now also launched a Working Paper Series, to which submissions are invited. Criteria for publication are available here.

Likewise, writers are invited to contribute papers to the Global Migration Research Paper Series, published by the Programme for the Study of Global Migration at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies.

More options for publishing working papers used to be available, but a number of series are now defunct (e.g., Forced Migration Studies Programme Working Papers, Refugee Law Project Working Papers, Rosemarie Rogers Working Paper Series, etc.). That said, two longstanding and active series are UNHCR's New Issues in Refugee Research and RSC Working Papers; both accept submissions on an ongoing basis.

New titles

Here are a few titles of new(ish) working papers that I have come across recently:

From 'One Nation, One People' to 'Operation Swaagatem': Bhutanese Refugees in Coquitlam, BC, Working Paper, no. 11-11 (Metropolis British Columbia, Sept. 2011) [text]

The Growing Culture of Exclusion: Trends in Canadian Refugee Exclusions, Working Paper, no. 11-06 (Metropolis British Columbia, June 2011) [text]

How Effective are Migration and Non-migration Policies that Affect Forced Migration? Migration Studies Unit Working Paper, no. 2011/14 (London School of Economics, 2011) [text]

Invisible Refugees: Protecting Sahrawis and Palestinians Displaced by the 2011 Libyan Uprising, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 225 (UNHCR, Nov. 2011) [text]

Palestinians in Lebanon: Malja versus Bayt Refugees, Birzeit University Working Paper 2011/53 (Birzeit University, May 2011) [text]

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Focus on Dadaab

(updated)

Dadaab Refugee Camp: Experience It for Yourself (30hourfamine.org, Oct. 2011) [access]

Dadaab, Kenya: Humanitarian Communications and Information Needs Assessment among Refugees in the Camps (Internews, Aug. 2011) [text]

A Day in the Life of a Refugee (IRIN, Oct. 2011) [text]

Kenya, Jubaland and Somalia’s Refugees: No Quick Fixes (Africa at LSE, Oct. 2011) [text]

The Refugee Newspaper, no. 5 (2011) [access via FilmAid]
- "A bi-monthly newspaper writted by refugee youth in Dadaab."

Tales of success from Dadaab, World's Biggest Refugee Camp (BBC World Service, Nov. 2011) [text]

The World’s Largest Detention Center (World Bridge Blog, Oct. 2011) [text]

[Photo credit: The Refugee Facebook Page]

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.