New Issue of RSQ

The latest issue of the Refugee Survey Quarterly (RSQ) is now available.  Contents of vol. 33, no. 2, June 2014 include:

• Despair as a Governing Strategy: Australia and the Offshore Processing of Asylum-Seekers on Nauru [abstract]
• The Art of Inclusive Exclusions: Educating the Palestinian Refugee Students in Lebanon [abstract] [Academia]
• Burmese Refugee Experience Accessing Health Care in New Delhi: A Qualitative Study [abstract]
• At a Crossroads? Reflections on the Right to Asylum for European Union Citizens [full-text via SSRN]
• Unpacking Refugee Community Transnational Organizing: The Challenges and Diverse Experiences of Colombians in Canada [abstract]

Tagged Periodicals.

Regional Focus: Oceania

Event: 

High Level Roundtable on Asylum Seeker Policy, Canberra, 11 July 2014 [info]
- An invitation-only open dialogue among experts.

Publications:

Australia-Cambodia Refugee Deal Sparks Criticism (IRIN, May 2014) [text]

Australian Aid to PNG: A New Paradigm? (FlagPost, May 2014) [text]

Babies on Board: Families in Detention (Ruth DeSouza Blog, April 2014) [text]

*Nauru Site Visit Report, 16-19 Feb. 2014 (Physical and Mental Health Subcommittee of the Joint Advisory Committee for Nauru Regional Processing Arrangements, 2014) [text via The Guardian]
- See also related Guardian news article.

Performance Anxieties: Interpellation of the Refugee Subject in Law (SSRN, May 2014) [text]

*Public Health, Human Rights and Asylum Seeker Detention Symposium, Sydney, 27 May 2014 [access]
- Follow link for summary and video.

Review into the Events of 16-18 February 2014 at the Manus Regional Processing Centre ("Cornall Review") (Dept. of Immigration and Border Protection, May 2014) [text]
- See also related Guardian news article and *comment on The Conversation.

The Strength Within: The Role of Refugee Community Organisations in Settlement (Refugee Council of Australia, May 2014) [text]

*updated

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Oceania (19 May 2014)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Regional Focus: Africa, esp. Somalis

Assessing Drought Displacement Risk for Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somali Pastoralists (NRC & IDMC, April 2014) [text via Refworld]

"Blaming the Victims: The Tragedy of IDPs in South Sudan," Humanitarian Newsletter, 12-26 May 2014 [full-text]

Dimensions of Crisis on Migration in Somalia (IOM, Feb. 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

Mass Deportation of Somalis (Human Rights Watch, May 2014) [text]

Pregnant Sudanese Woman Faces Public Flogging and Execution if Convicted of Apostasy and Adultery in Khartoum Court (Justice Matters in Africa Blog, May 2014) [text]
- See also CNN news update.

Returns Situation Reports (IOM Somalia, 2014) [access]
- Seven sitreps are available via the navigation menu on the right. They provide statistics and information on assistance given to Somalis forcibly returned from Saudi Arabia and Kenya.

Somalia Scraps Meeting to Protest Kenya’s Illegal Deportation of Refugees (Thomson Reuters Foundation, May 2014) [text]

Somalis are Scapegoats in Kenya's Counter-terror Crackdown (Amnesty International, May 2014) [text]

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Africa, esp. South Sudan (22 May 2014)

Tagged Publications.

Thematic Focus: General

Event:

The Refugee’s Gift, London, 27 May 2014-22 June 2014 [info]
- See also related Thomson Reuters Foundation article.

Publications:

Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR): Government Funding and the Refugee Sector (Border Criminologies, May 2014) [text]

"DOSSIER: Global Migration," Globe: The Graduate Institute Review, no. 13 (Spring 2014) [full-text]
- Beginning on p. 16, this special feature includes five articles.

Pathways to Security: Closing Gaps in Protection for Forced Migrants (Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, Task Force 2014, April 2014) [text]

The Politics of Nation-building: Making Co-nationals, Refugees, and Minorities, Oxford, 29 May 2014 [access]
- Follow link for podcast.

"Producing scientific knowledge on migration: perspectives on African and Arab countries," Contemporary Arab Affairs, vol. 7, no. 2 (2014) [ResearchGate]

When You Can't – or Don't Want to – Go Home Again (RI Blog, May 2014) [text]

Related post:
- Thematic Focus: General (9 May 2014)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

News: Free IJRL Articles

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the International Journal of Refugee Law (IJRL), 10 articles selected by the current editor, Geoff Gilbert, and the founding editor, Guy Goodwill-Gill, have been made freely available. The collection provides access to five articles from the archives, dating from 1989 to 2011, and five articles from the 25th volume (2013), including "The Dynamic of International Refugee Law," an editorial that reflects on the first 25 years of the journal.

Tagged Periodicals.

Thematic Focus: Statelessness, pt. 2 - Withdrawal of Nationality

UK update:

"Britain Expands Power to Strip Citizenship From Terrorism Suspects," New York Times, 14 May 2014 [text]

House of Lords Votes in Favour of Government Plans to Make Terror Suspects Stateless (Bureau of Investigative Journalism, May 2014) [text]

The New Immigration Act 2014 and the Banality of Immigration Controls (Border Criminologies, May 2014) [text]

Citizenship debates in other countries:

Citizenship Law Roundup: Learn More about Bill C-24 (CARL, May 2014) [access]
- See also CCR's comments on Bill C-24 (section B focuses on "New powers to strip citizenship from dual citizens in cases of 'treason' or 'terrorism'."

Citizenship, Passports, and the Legal Identity of Americans: Edward Snowden and Others Have a Case in the Courts (Yale Law Journal Forum, April 2014) [text]

"Expatriating Terrorists," Fordham Law Review, vol. 82, no. 5 (April 2014) [full-text]
- Part of a special Symposium issue on "Citizenship, Immigration, and National Security after 9/11."

"A Tale of Two Citizenships: Citizenship Revocation for 'Traitors and Terrorists'," Queen's Law Journal, vol. 39, no. 2 (forthcoming, 2014) [eprint via SSRN]

"Treason, Expatriation and 'So-Called' Americans: Recovering the Role of Allegiance in Citizenship," Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, vol. 12 (2014) [full-text via SSRN]

Related posts:
- Thematic Focus: Statelessness, pt. 1 (28 May 2014)
- Regional Focus: United Kingdom, incl. Statelessness (7 May 2014)

Tagged Publications.

Thematic Focus: Statelessness, pt. 1

Opportunities:

Act Now and Help Protect Stateless People across Europe! [info]
- New petition launched as part of ongoing ENS campaign.

FY 2014 Funding Opportunity Announcement for NGO Programs Benefiting Stateless Persons in The Bahamas and Dominican Republic [info]
- The proposal submission deadline is 20 June 2014.

Publications:

The Case of Valjbona and her Children: Lack of Birth Registration Leaves Many Roma Children in a Situation of Undetermined Nationality for an Extended Period of Time (ENS Blog, May 2014) [text]

Life is Waiting… (Statelessness Programme Blog, May 2014) [text]

A Question of 'If' and 'When' (ENS Blog, May 2014) [text]

"Statelessness: An Invisible Theme in the History of International Law," European Journal of International Law, vol. 25, no. 1 (Feb. 2014) [free full-text]
- Report from a symposium convened to collectively discuss and review The Oxford Handbook of the History of International Law (OUP, 2012); see the editor's note for more info.

"Statelessness: Nowhere to Call Home," The Economist, 17 May 2014 [text]

Statelessness Determination in the Netherlands, Research Paper, no. 2014-04 (Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance, May 2014) [text via SSRN]

What Should the European Union Do about the Mass and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality in the Dominican Republic? (ENS Blog, May 2014) [text]


Related post:
- Thematic Focus: Statelessness (7 May 2014)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Regional Focus: Europe (Indiv. Countries)

"APDHA Denounces Summary Returns and Use of Violence against Migrants Entering Ceuta and Melilla," ECRE Weekly Bulletin, 23 May 2014 [text]
- Follow link for report.

Hungary: Refugees between Detention and Homelessness - Update and Supplement to the Report of March 2012 (bordermonitoring.eu & ProAsyl, April 2014) [text]

Italy Has Increased Safeguards for Unaccompanied Children and Aligned Rights of Subsidiary Protection Holders and Refugees, Shows Updated AIDA Report (AIDA, May 2014) [text]

Refugees and Asylum Seekers: A Review from an Equality and Human Rights Perspective (Equality & Human Rights Commission, April 2014) [text]

Status of Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia, and the Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, Georgia: Report of the Secretary-General, UN Doc. No. A/68/868 (UN General Assembly, May 2014) [text via Refworld]

"United Kingdom: Supreme Court Gives Guidance on Weight to be Attached to ‘Linguistic Analysis Reports’ by Sprakab in Asylum Proceedings," ELENA Weekly Legal Update, 23 May 2014 [text]
- Follow link for judgment and press summary.

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Europe (General), incl. Protection at Sea (28 May 2014)

Tagged Publications.

Regional Focus: Europe (General), incl. Protection at Sea

Opportunity:

EDAL Project Officer [info]
- Temporary contract for developing and maintaining the European Database of Asylum Law; application deadline is 2 June 2014.

Publications:

5th Annual Report on Immigration and Asylum (2013) (European Commission, May 2014) [text]
- See also accompanying staff working document.

Asylum and International Protection in the EU: The Next Five Years? (UNHCR, May 2014) [text]

The Common European Asylum System: Achievements, Failures, Outlooks and Policy Learning for the EU and Canada (Canada-Europe Transatlantic Dialogue, May 2014) [text]

Descriptive Analysis of Impacts of the Stockholm Programme 2010-2013 (European Migration Network, May 2014) [text]

Protection at Sea:

Deaths of Migrants at Sea Continue (Oppenheimer Chair, May 2014) [text]

Heading to Europe: Safe Haven or Graveyard?, Nijmegen, Netherlands, 16 May 2014 [text]
- Follow link for event summary.

Implementation of the Communication on the Work of the Task Force Mediterranean (European Commission, May 2014) [access]
- Presented in two parts.

Insight: Italy Tells Migrants "Welcome, You're Safe", Tells EU to Help More (Thomson Reuters Foundation, May 2014) [text]

*Year of the Mediterranean, no. 1 (May 2014) [full-text]
- New newsletter from the ICMPD.

*updated

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Europe (20 May 2014)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Regional Focus: Americas

Events & opportunities:

CFP: Research Initiative on Young Children in Refugee Families [info]
- Submission deadline for paper proposals is 30 May 2014.

Child Migration and Central America: A Humanitarian Crisis, New York, 18 June 2014 [info]

CFP: History of Modern Humanitarian Action: Regional Conference on Latin America, Bogotá, 29-30 October 2014 [info]
- Submit abstracts by 15 July 2014.

Publications:

Beirut Embassy Bomber Gets US Asylum, New Book (Incorrectly) Claims (The Asylumist, May 2014) [text]

"Criminalizing Humanitarian Relief: Are U.S. Material Support for Terrorism Laws Compatible with International Humanitarian Law?", New York University Journal of International Law and Politics, vol. 46, no. 2 (Winter 2013) [full-text]

Guatemala: Background Paper, Country of Origin Series, no. RBA/COI/GUA/13/01 (UNHCR, Oct. 2013) [text]

Mexican and Central American Asylum and Credible Fear Claims: Background and Context (American Immigration Council, May 2014) [text]
- See also related comment.

Mexico's Displaced (RI Blog, May 2014) [text]

*Other Situations of Violence in the Northern Triangle of Central America: Invisible Borders, Vicious Spirals, and the Normalisation of Terror (ACAPS, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

Refugee Admissions and Resettlement Policy (Congressional Research Service, March 2014) [text]

*updated

Related posts:
- Regional Focus: Canada, incl. Health (13 May 2014)
- Regional Focus: United States (13 May 2014)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

Thematic Focus: Education

Opportunity:

Journal on Education in Emergencies [info]
 - Contributions sought for inaugural issue of this new journal; submission deadline is 15 July 2014.

Publications:

Act to Protect: Guidance Note on Attacks against Schools and Hospitals (Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

"Adult Refugee Learners with Limited Literacy: Needs and Effective Responses," Refuge, vol. 30, no. 1 (2014) [open access]

Celebrating 10 Years of the INEE Minimum Standards (INEE, 2014) [access]
- Follow link for series of blog post reflections.

Hear It from the Children: Why Education in Emergencies is Critical (NRC & Save the Children, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

A Lost Generation? Education Opportunities for Syrian Refugee Children in Lebanon, Oxford, 19 May 2014 [access]
- Follow link for podcast.

Meeting the Learning Needs of Refugees and Migrants in Tertiary Blended ESOL Courses, Unitec ePress Occasional and Discussion Paper, no. 2 (Unitec ePress, 2014) [text]

MOOCs in Fragile Contexts, Presentation at European MOOCS Stakeholders Summit, Lausanne, 10-12 Feb. 2014 [text]
- Scroll to p. 114.  Note: MOOCS = Massive Open Online Courses.

Reading in the Mobile Era (UNESCO, April 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

A Ready-Made Library for Humanitarian Crisis Victims (PSFK, April 2014) [text]
- See also Libraries without Borders for more information.

Related post:
- Thematic Focus: Education (14 April 2014)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities. 

Regional Focus: Syria (Multimedia)

"Happy," Pharrell Williams - Syrian Refugees at Darasakran Refugee Camp in Erbil, Iraq (neofrollo BIS, May 2014) [info]
- Unfortunately, this video has been blocked for copyright reasons. I'm including the link, though, in the event things get sorted out!  This features young people dancing to Pharrell Williams' "Happy" song, in the same vein as the many other fan videos that have been made since the song's official video debuted in Nov. 2013.

Neil Gaiman Shares his Perspectives of Syrian Refugees in Jordan - in Pictures (The Guardian, May 2014) [access]

Syrians on the Edge: The Status of Refugees in Neighboring Countries, Washington, DC, 20 May 2014 [access]
- Audio available for discussion on "findings from an ORSAM report that evaluates the effect of the Syrian refugee crisis on Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq, as well as on the more than 3 million Syrians who have fled their homeland to become refugees in neighboring countries."

TRACKS (UNHCR) [access]
- Web site that shares stories of refugees and aid workers. Begins "with a focus on Syrians displaced and dispersed by a relentless, brutal war. While the massive scale of this humanitarian crisis is hard to fathom, we hope these stories will help show the human costs of conflict in a way that is easy to grasp and impossible to ignore."

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Syria (16 May 2014)

Tagged Web Sites/Tools.

Regional Focus: Africa, esp. South Sudan

DRC: The Humanitarian Crisis Continues (RI Blog, May 2014) [text]

"The Girl Has No Rights": Gender-Based Violence in South Sudan (CARE, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

The Humanitarian-Development Nexus: Lessons from Northern Uganda (NCHS Blog, May 2014) [text]

*Humanitarian Pledges to South Sudan Must Turn in to Action (RI Blog, May 2014) [text]

*Protection Trends Analysis (South Sudan Protection Cluster, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

Sounding the Alarm: The Urgent Needs of Children in South Sudan (World Vision, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

South Sudan: On the Precipice (Refugees International, May 2014) [text]

South Sudan Humanitarian Conference, Oslo, 19-20 May 2014 [info]
- Follow link for conference-related materials; see also OCHA's Crisis Response Plan.  $600 million was pledged to support the humanitarian response.

Stop Illegal Deportations and Spare Vulnerable Refugees U.N. Tells Kenya as Crackdown Continues (Thomson Reuters, May 2014) [text]

Violence, Displacement and Humanitarian Action in Katanga: A Report on the Protection of Civilians in the South-eastern DR Congo Province of Katanga (OCHA, May 2014) [text]

See also yesterday's post on "Climate Change," which included several references to the situation in the Horn of Africa and West Africa.

*updated

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Africa (13 May 2014)

Tagged Publications.

Thematic Focus: Climate Change

Events:

Environmental Change and Migration, Washington, DC, 28-29 May 2014 [info]
- This progress report provides more information about the symposium.

Catastrophes, Changement climatique et Déplacements forcés: Dynamiques régionales de mobilité humaine en Afrique de l’Ouest = Disasters, Climate Change and Displacement: Regional Dynamics of Human Mobility in West Africa, Bonn, 4 June 2014 [info]
- Consultation will be held in French; please RSVP by 30 May 2014.

Publications:

"Climate Change Displacement and the Need for Pre-emptive, Managed Migration," Chain Reaction, no. 120 (March 2014) [full-text]

Climate Change is Displacing People Now: Alarmists vs. Skeptics (Planet Policy Blog, May 2014) [text]

"Climate Change Refugees," Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, Latest Articles, 20 May 2014 [eprint via Oppenheimer Chair]

The Coming Deluge? Natural Hazards, Climate Change and Mixed Migration (RMMS, May 2014) [text]

*Disaster-related Displacement from the Horn of Africa (UNU & NRC, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

The Gathering Storm: Climate Change, Security and Conflict (Environmental Justice Foundation, March 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

The Most Important International Process You Haven’t Heard About Yet (UKCCMC, April 2014) [text]

Natural Hazards, Climate Change, and Cross-Border Displacement in the Greater Horn of Africa: Protecting People on the Move, Nairobi, 21-23 May 2014 [info]
- Follow link for concept note, background paper, a civil society pre-meeting report, and legal analysis of the refugee definition in the OAU Refugee Convention.

*updated

Related post:
- Thematic Focus: Climate Change (2 April 2014)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities. 

Thematic Focus: UNHCR

Image credit:

© UNHCR/A.Rodriguez/24October2007

High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges, Geneva, 10-11 December 2014 [info]
- The theme for the next HC Dialogue is "protection at sea."  UNHCR has also launched a Global Initiative on Protection at Sea.

A Review of UNHCR’s Utilisation of the Central Emergency Response Fund, PDES/2014/02 (UNHCR, May 2014) [text]

The Rise and Decline of a Global Security Actor: UNHCR, Refugee Protection and Security, Oxford, 12 March 2014 [access]
- Follow link for podcast.

UNHCR as a Subsidiary Organ of the UN: Plurality, Complexity and Accountability, IRPA Working Paper, no. 4/2013 (Istituto di Ricerche sulla Pubblica Amministrazione, Feb. 2014) [text]

UNHCR Launches Global Safe Energy Strategy to Benefit Millions (UNHCR, May 2014) [text]
- See also related Women's Refugee Commission news release.

[UNHCR-OCHA High-Level Discussions, 24 April 2014]
- See the summary conclusions and a joint note on coordination in practice.

UNHCR Refugee Coordination Model: Adaptation of UNHCR’s Refugee Coordination in the Context of the Transformative Agenda (UNHCR, Nov. 2013?) [text]
- See also related graphics.

Related posts:
- Thematic Focus: General (10 March 2014)
- Thematic Focus: General, esp. UNHCR (7 Nov. 2013)

Tagged Publications.

CFPs/New Issues of ACME, Disasters, GILJ, Human Rts. Q., Island Stud. J., Refuge

CFPs:

Anti-Trafficking Review [info]
- Articles sought for issue on "15 Years of the UN Trafficking Protocol"; submission deadline is 1 June 2014.

Journal on Education in Emergencies [info]
 - Contributions sought for inaugural issue of this new journal; submission deadline is 15 July 2014.

International Review of Law [info]
- Articles sought for special issue on "The Syrian Crisis and International Law"; submission deadline is 15 August 2014.

New issues:

ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, vol. 13, no. 2 (2014) [full-text]
- Includes a special thematic section on "The Mediterranean Migration Frontier."

Disasters, vol. 38, no. suppl. 1 (April 2014) [contents]
- Focus is on Haiti.

Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, vol. 27, no. 4 (Summer 2013) [contents]
- Mix of articles including "The Refugee Act of 1980 and INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca."

Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 2 (May 2014) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Island Studies Journal, vol. 9, no. 1 (May 2014) [open access]
- Includes a special section on "Islands and the Borders of Southern Europe."

Refuge: Canada's Journal on Refugees, vol. 30, no. 1 (2014) [open access]
- Mix of articles.

Tagged Periodicals and Events & Opportunities.

Regional Focus: Europe

Last minute event:

Solidarity and Asylum Policy of the European Union, Florence, Italy, 21 May 2014 [info]
- "The primary goal of the seminar is to discuss a model for tradable refugee quotas between EU Member States that has been elaborated by economists attached to the Migration Policy Centre (MPC)."

Publications:

Alternatives to Europe's Substandard IDP and Refugee Collective Centres (PACE, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

Deflection into Irregularity? The (Un)intended Effects of Restrictive Asylum and Visa Policies, Working Paper, no. 84 (International Migration Institute, Feb, 2014) [text]

The Governance of Migration, Mobility and Asylum in the EU: A Contentious Laboratory, Imagining Europe, no. 5 (Istituto Affari Internazionali, April 2014) [text]

Governing Irregular Migration and Asylum at the Borders of Europe: Between Efficiency and Protection, Imagining Europe, no. 6 (Istituto Affari Internazionali, May 2014) [text]

Solidarity and Responsibility-sharing for Refugee Protection in the EU’s Common European Asylum System, Oxford, 14 May 2014 [info]
- Follow link for podcast.

Speaking for Ourselves - Hearing Refugee Voices: A Journey Towards Empowerment (UNHCR, May 2014) [text]

The UK Immigration Act 2014: Last Minute Amendments - Too Little, Too Late? (Border Criminologies Blog, May 2014) [text]

UNHCR Says Internal Displacement Affects Some 10,000 People in Ukraine (UNHCR, May 2014) [text]
- See also related briefing note.

[Updated Country Reports] (AIDA, May 2014)
- The reports for Hungary and Netherlands were recently updated.

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Europe (12 May 2014)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities. 

Thematic Focus: Detention

Deaths in Immigration Detention: 1989-2014 (Institute of Race Relations, May 2014) [text]

Detention as Punishment: Can Indefinite Detention be Greece’s Main Policy Tool to Manage its Irregular Migrant Population?, Working Paper, no. 44 (Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, April 2014) [text via Academia.edu]

How and Why Immigration Detention Crossed the Globe, Working Paper, no. 8 (Global Detention Project, April 2014) [text via Oppenheimer Chair]

The Liberty of Non-citizens: Indefinite Detention in Commonwealth Countries (Hart Publishing, Feb. 2014) [info]
 - The introduction to this book is available via SSRN; see also the thesis on which the book is based.

MADE REAL Newsletter (Sept. 2013-Feb. 2014) [full-text]
- Provides information on the "Making Alternatives to Detention in Europe a Reality by Exchanges, Advocacy & Learning" research project.

Related post:
- Thematic Focus: Detention (9 April 2014)

Tagged Publications.

Regional Focus: Oceania

2014-15 Federal Budget in Brief: What It Means for Refugees and People Seeking Humanitarian Protection (Refugee Council of Australia, May 2014) [text]
- See also analysis from the Kaldor Centre.

"Asylum Seekers Punished More Every Year," Chapter in Castan Human Rights Report 2014 (Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, 2014) [text]
- Note: The full report is available here.

"Can you please help me? How can we live?": UnitingCare’s Emergency Relief and Crisis Support for Asylum Seekers Living in the Community (UnitingCare, March 2014) [text via APO]

"Narratives of Return among Refugee-background South Sudanese in New Zealand," Australasian Review of African Studies, vol. 35, no. 1 (June 2014) [full-text via Academia.edu]

New Zealand as a Refuge: Half-myths and Partial Realities (Inside Story, May 2014) [text]
- Review of Refuge New Zealand: A Nation’s Response to Refugees and Asylum Seekers (Otago University Press, Nov. 2013)

Stonewalling Asylum Seekers in the Pacific (Leiden Law Blog, May 2014) [text]

This is Still Breaking People: Update on Human Rights Violations at Australia's Asylum Seeker Processing Centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (Amnesty International, May 2014) [text]

What Underlies Public Prejudice towards Asylum Seekers? (The Conversation, May 2014) [text]

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Oceania (2 May 2014)

Tagged Publications. 

Regional Focus: Syria

Opportunity:

CFP: "The Syrian Crisis and International Law," Special issue of the International Review of Law [info]
- Submission deadline is 15 August 2014.

Publications:

Behind the Concrete Veil: Humanitarian Needs of Vulnerable Crisis-affected Refugee and Host Families in Urban and Peri-urban Areas of Beirut and Mount Lebanon (ACTED, April 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

In Brief: Syrian Refugees and the UK, Standard Note, no. SNIA/6805 (House of Commons Library, April 2014) [text]

In Syria, Practical Barriers to Humanitarian Aid Remain Stronger than Legal Ones (Global Observatory, May 2014) [text]

Regional Public Health and Nutrition Strategy for Syrian Refugees: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, 2014-2015 (UNHCR, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

The Situation of Syrian Refugees in the Neighboring Countries: Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations, Report, no. 189 (ORSAM, April 2014) [text]
- Note: MPI will host a discussion of the report's findings on 20 May 2014.

Syrian Refugee Crisis - Global Communities Rapid Needs Assessment: Lebanon (Global Communities, April 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

To Cope as Refugees, Syrian Women in Lebanon Cautiously Challenge Gender Stereotypes (Global Observatory, May 2014) [text]

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Syria (12 May 2014)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities. 

Regional Focus: Israel

Demolishing a Bedouin Village to Build an Israeli Town (Open Society Foundation, May 2014) [text]

Forced Population Transfer: The Case of Palestine, Working Paper, no. 15 (BADIL, March 2014) [text]
- Introduction to a news series of working papers.

Improved Mental Health Care for Refugees in Israel (IRIN, May 2014) [text]

Israeli Comptroller Slams Government Policy on African Migrants (WSJ's Middle East Real Time Blog, May 2014) [text]

Israeli Perspectives on the Palestinian Refugee Issue, Cyprus, 5-6 March 2014 [text]
- Meeting summary.

"Spheres of Migration: Separation and Infiltration of Political, Economic and Universal Imperatives in Structuring Israel's Migration Regime," Middle East Law and Governance, vol. 5, nos. 1-2 (2013) [full-text via SSRN]

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Middle East (14 April 2014)

Tagged Publications.

Events & Opportunities: June 2014

ISA Human Rights Joint Conference, Istanbul, 16-18 June 2014 [info]
 - Early registration ends 1 June 2014.

Mixed Method Evaluation for Humanitarian Programs: A Technology-based Approach, Cambridge, MA, 30 June-3 July 2014 [info]
- Early bird registration deadline is 1 June 2014.

'The Convention Ground with the Least Clarity': A Comparative Analysis of Recent Developments in Interpreting 'Membership of a Particular Social Group', London, 3 June 2014 [info]

Symposium on the US Refugee Protection System: Laying the Groundwork for Reform of the US Refugee, Asylum and Temporary Protection Programs, New York, 3 June 2014 [info]
- Admission is free, but space is limited.

Re-envisioning Refugee Studies: The Pioneering Role of Peter Loizos, London, 4 June 2014 [info]

FY 2014 Funding Opportunity Announcement for NGO Programs Benefiting Burmese and Other Urban Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Malaysia, Thailand and Region [info]
- Proposal submission deadline is 5 June 2014.

"Impossible Situations: Affective Impasses and Their Afterlives in Humanitarian and Ethnographic Fieldwork," Annual Elizabeth Colson Lecture, Oxford, 11 June 2014 [info]
- Registration now open. Note: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED!

Summer School: European Law and Policy on Immigration and Asylum, Brussels, 30 June-11 July 2014 [info]
 - The closing date for applications is 13 June 2014.

Child and Youth Migrants: Global and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, London, 14 June 2014 [info]
 - Registration now open.

CFP: People & Things on the Move: Migration and Material Culture, Chicago, 13-15 May 2015 [info]
- Submit abstracts by 15 June 2014.

30 Years of Social Change Lawyering, Boston, 17 June 2014 [info]
- Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program 30th anniversary celebration.

"Boat Refugees" and Migrants at Sea: A Comprehensive Approach - Integrating Maritime Security with Human Rights, London, 23-24 June 2014 [info]
- Registration now open. Places are limited so early booking is recommended.

Humanitarian Innovation Conference, Oxford, 19-20 July 2014 [info]
 - Registration deadline is 30 June 2014.

Essex Summer School in Human Rights Research Methods, Essex, UK, 30 June-5 July 2014 [info]

Tagged Events & Opportunities. 

Tip of the Week! Tracking Codes

Image credit: Paul K on Flickr

For some time now, I have noticed that when I click on certain links, an extra bit of strange code will be added onto the URL in the address bar. And on other occasions, when I copy and paste text from a web page, a "see more" reference with a web address and more funny code will magically appear.  Does this ever happen to you? Rather than continue to wonder what purposes these cryptic codes could possibly serve, I have finally decided to investigate further! And here is what I have learned.

Basically, these snippets of code are appended for tracking purposes.  They are generated by certain analytics services in order to help organizations get a better idea of how visitors arrive on their web sites and how their content is shared across the web.

Example one:

Here's an example of code added onto the URL for the home page of the Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies, published by Taylor & Francis:

http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wimm20#.U3TlEIG0fHI

Here's another example of similar code, this time appended to the URL for Eldis' Conflict & Security page:

http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/conflict-and-security#.U3TcOoG0fHI

Both are generated by a service called AddThis, which also provides code for the "share" and "follow" buttons that a lot of web sites use. For more information, read about their social analytics offerings; see esp. the introduction to "click tracking" and "address bar sharing."

Example two:

I copied a portion of text from Forced Migration Review's web site recently to use as a part of the blurb describing the theme of their latest issue on Afghanistan.  When I pasted it into my blog post, a "see more" reference was appended, as follows:

FMR 46 contains 21 articles on Afghanistan, plus a mini-feature on Statelessness. - See more at: http://www.fmreview.org/afghanistan/contents#sthash.lAmfxDCc.dpuf

A similar "see more" reference is displayed when you copy and paste from Refugees International's web site. Both sites use the ShareThis widget, which offers a CopyNShare feature for tracking the sharing of content.

Example three:

Google Analytics allows web sites to get more data about where their visitors are coming from by setting up "custom campaigns." Using what are referred to as UTM tags, you can create customized URLs for very specific tracking purposes.  Here is an example from the Brookings Institution, which presumably indicates that the visitor (i.e., me!) came to their web site via an RSS feed:

http://www.brookings.edu/events/2014/05/05-sexual-violence-conflict-displacement?rssid=idp&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BrookingsRSS%2Fprojects%2Fidp+%28Brookings+Projects+-+Brookings-LSE+Project+on+Internal+Displacement%29

In each of these cases, the extra code does not affect the validity of the root URL.  In other words, you can remove it and the URL will still work.  How do you know what to remove?  Basically, anything from the hashtag on in the first two examples and from the question mark on in the third example. So here is what the root URLs would look like without the appended tracking codes:

- http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/wimm20
- http://www.eldis.org/go/topics/resource-guides/conflict-and-security
- http://www.fmreview.org/afghanistan/contents
- http://www.brookings.edu/events/2014/05/05-sexual-violence-conflict-displacement

Tagged Tips.

New Issue of IJRL

The latest issue of the International Journal of Refugee Law (IJRL) is now available. Contents for vol. 26, no. 1, March 2014 include:

• Legal Subjectivity and the Refugee [abstract]
• Regional Cooperation and Refugee Protection in Latin America: A ‘South-South’ Approach [abstract]
• Strengthening the Protection of Migrants and Refugees in Distress at Sea through International Cooperation and Burden-Sharing [free full-text]
• Persecution, Concealment and the Limits of a Human Rights Approach in (European) Asylum Law – The Case of Germany v Y and Z in the Court of Justice of the European Union [abstract]
• Separating the Persecutors from the Persecuted: A Feminist and Comparative Examination of Exclusion from the Refugee Regime [abstract]
• International Humanitarian Law and Raison d’Etat: the Balance Sheet of Kazakhstan’s Ratification of the Geneva Convention on Refugees [abstract]

This issue also reproduces one legal decision and UNHCR's new military service guidelines.  Two book reviews are included as well.

Tagged Periodicals.

News: New Edition of Global Overview on Internal Displacement

The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) has published a new edition of its annual report, Global Overview 2014: People Internally Displaced by Conflict and Violence.  The report covers "internal displacement in 2013 [and] highlights that a full 63% of the record breaking 33.3 million internally displaced people (IDPs) reported worldwide, come from just five countries: Syria, Colombia, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan."  More key facts and figures can be found in this "At a Glance" overview, map, and infographic.

Previous editions of the Global Overview can be retrieved via my forced migration research guide. One note to librarians: This year's report includes 2014 in its title, even though it surveys the situation in 2013. Past editions included the year that was covered in the title, i.e., the Global Overview 2012 reported on 2012 events but was published in 2013.  Because of this slight change, there is no report entitled Global Overview 2013!

Tagged Publications.  

Regional Focus: Africa

Publications:

Book Review: Reporting Disasters: Famine, Aid, Politics and Media (Think Africa Press, May 2014) [text]

Chad Border Closure Will Cut off Lifeline for CAR Refugees (Amnesty International, May 2014) [text]

Conflict in South Sudan: A Human Rights Report (UN Mission in South Sudan, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

Kenya: End Abusive Round-Ups (Human Rights Watch, May 2014) [text]

"Need for a Gender-sensitive Human Security Framework: Results of a Quantitative Study of Human Security and Sexual Violence in Djohong District, Cameroon," Conflict and Health, 8:6 (May 2014) [open access]

Nowhere Safe: Civilians under Attack in South Sudan (Amnesty International, May 2014) [text]
- See also related news release.

South Sudan’s Women Say, "Leave Us Out of This" (RI Blog, May 2014) [text]

Unconditional Cash Transfers to Reduce Food Insecurity for Displaced Households and Assist in the Repatriation of People to Their Villages of Origin: Regions of Zinder, Agadez and Maradi in Niger (Cash Learning Partnership, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

Web site:

Life as a Refugee in Niger = Être Réfugié en Niger (UNHCR Niger) [access]
- UNHCR Niger's blog about the situation of Malian and Nigerian refugees in Niger.

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Africa (6 May 2014)

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Regional Focus: Asia

Opportunity: 

FY 2014 Funding Opportunity Announcement for NGO Programs Benefiting Burmese and Other Urban Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Malaysia, Thailand and Region [info]
- Proposal submission deadline is 5 June 2014.

Publications:

"Afghanistan's Displaced People: 2014 and Beyond," Forced Migration Review, no. 46 (May 2014) [open access]
- Theme of FMR's latest issue.

Fleeing to Persecution: North Korean Refugees in China, Law School Student Scholarship, Paper no. 483 (Seton Hall University, May 2014) [text]

"Introduction," Chapter in Human Rights Law in Asia and the Pacific, 4 vols. (Routledge, forthcoming May 2014) [text via SSRN]

Refugee Law or Refugee Politics? The Varied Levels of China's Hospitality towards North Korean, Kachin, and Vietnamese Refugees, Law School Student Scholarship, Paper no. 495 (Seton Hall University, May 2014) [text]

Typhoon Haiyan: Portraits of Recovery (IOM, May 2014) [text via ReliefWeb]

"We are the victims of the separation": A Report on Bhutanese Refugees Remaining in Nepal (Univ. of Sydney, May 2014) [text]

Why Land and Housing Rights Hold the Key for Indonesia’s Long-term Displaced (IDMC Blog, May 2014) [text]

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Asia Pacific (2 May 2014)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.