Regional Focus: Asia Pacific - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

Australia’s Long History of Externalisation (RLI Blog, June 2026) [text]

Executive expulsions from Assam: A historical look at citizenship regulation (Border Criminologies Blog, June 2026) [text]

How does Australia’s migration system actually work? 5 common myths busted (The Conversation, June 2026) [text]

Migration is dropping, but public concern is climbing. Why? (The Conversation, July 2026) [text]

- Focuses on Australia.

Mobility Should Not Erase Citizenship: Internal Displacement and India’s Electoral Roll Revision (RID Blog, June 2026) [text]

Thailand: Don’t Forcibly Return Chinese Dissidents (HRW, July 2026) [text]

Twenty years of UN resolutions – and the Rohingya still wait (The Interpreter Blog, July 2026) [text]

UNDP and UNHCR chiefs urge sustained investment as Afghanistan faces unprecedented refugee returnee influx (UNHCR, July 2026) [text]

Multimedia:

From making the 'Refugee City' to being ethnically cleansed from it?, 3 June 2026 [access]

- Focuses on Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Related post:

- Regional Focus: Asia Pacific (10 June 2026)

Thematic Focus: General

Reports: 

Annual Global Overview of Migration Routes 2025 (International Organization for Migration, April 2026) [text via ReliefWeb]

- See also related news release. 

Data-Driven Route-Based Approaches to Mixed Movements of Migrants and Refugees: Research and Response (UNHCR, IOM & MMC, Dec. 2025; posted April 2026) [text]

General Assembly Responses to Conflict and Crisis Situations - A Follow-on Research Initiative to Assembly for Peace: A Digital Handbook on the UN General Assembly’s Past Practice on Peace and Security (United Nations University, 2026) [access]

Health System Resilience, Enhancement and Refugee Response Project (HSRERRP) (UNHCR & Queen Margaret University) [access]

- The research focuses on Kenya, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Mauritania, Pakistan, Peru and Zambia. Follow link for publications produced by this project.

Missing Migrants and Their Families Left Behind: IOM Missing Migrants Project 2025 Annual Global Report (International Organization for Migration, April 2026) [text via ReliefWeb]

- See also related news release.

The World Bank’s Window for Host Communities and Refugees: Successes, Challenges, and the Way Forward (Center for Global Development, April 2026) [text]

- See also related blog post.

World report on promoting the health of refugees and migrants: Monitoring progress on the WHO global action plan (World Health Organization, March 2026) [access]

Journal articles:

"Managerializing expulsion: Examining the discursive critique of assisted voluntary return and reintegration policy," Migration Studies, vol. 14, no. 2 (June 2026) [open access]

*"'Mixed migration' or forced migration? Evidence from four transit countries," Comparative Migration Studies, 11:28 (April 2026) [open access]

- Focuses on Colombia, Jordan, Mexico and Turkey.

Perspectives on Politics, vol. 24, spec. issue no. 1 (March 2026) [free full-text]

- Highlights political science research on refugees and migration via 1) a series of critical dialogues and book reviews, which are presented and discussed in this editorial introduction (the reviews themselves are all freely available elsewhere in the issue); and 2) a Review Symposium on Nele Kortendiek’s Global Governance on the Ground: Organizing International Migration and Asylum at the Border, that comprises a review and four commentaries (here is the editors' introduction).

Multimedia:

Strengthening Data for Better Outcomes in Forced Displacement (UNU, April 2026) [access]

*UPDATED

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: General (30 March 2026)

Thematic Focus: General

Opportunities:

Call for proposals: Hosting the IASFM21 Conference (2027) [info]

- Deadline for submissions is 31 March 2026.

Call for proposals: Migration Politics Journal's In-Person Residency on “Migration Politics and Violence” [info]

- Submit proposals by 6 April 2026.

Short pieces:

21 Migrants Died Every Day in 2025, New IOM Data Reveals (IOM, Feb. 2026) [text]

All-Member State briefing with the High Commissioner (UNHCR, Feb. 2026) [access]

- Also available as a podcast.

A new chapter for inclusive data (UNHCR Blog, March 2026) [text]

The Refugee-led Innovation Fund welcomes a new cohort of changemakers (UNHCR Innovation Service, Nov. 2025) [text]

Rethinking Return: Insights from the GAPs Final Conference (Toronto Metropolitan Univ., Feb. 2026) [text]

UN Institutional Reform: Promoting Solidarity and ‘Delivering as One’ for the Forcibly Displaced (RLI Blog, Feb. 2026) [text]

UNHCR’s new Refugee Data Portal will be launched in 2026 (Joint Data Center Blog, Dec. 2025) [access]

Reports & journal articles:

"An Archival Responsibility: A Scoping Review of Literature Regarding the Documentary Burdens of Refugees," Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies, vol. 13 (2026) [open access]

Data on the Forcibly Displaced: From Statistical Shadows to Inclusion (Joint Data Center, Feb. 2026) [text]

"Elusive Refugees: Revisiting Terms of Exile and Asylum in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," Itinerario, FirstView, 4 Feb. 2026 [open access]

- Introduction to forthcoming special issue.

"Migrants’ political trust: how exposure and exclusion in origin and residence country explain differences," Comparative Migration Studies, 5 March 2026 [open access]

"Reflexivity as Critique? A Conversation on the Politics of Knowledge Production in Migration Studies," Zeitschrift für Migrationsforschung = Journal of Migration Studies, vol. 5, no. 2 (2025) [open access]

"Weighing responsibilities: the allocation of fair refugee quotas," International Theory, vol. 18, no. 1 (March 2026) [open access]

Multimedia:

"Migration: Investigating Movement of Peoples," Panel at 14th Global Investigative Journalism Conference in Kuala Lumpur, 20-24 November 2025 [access]

- See also related GIJN article.

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: General (11 Feb. 2026)

Thematic Focus: General

Short pieces:

Advancing South-South Strategic Dialogue on Refugee Leadership (LERRN, Feb. 2026) [text]

Global Human Rights Repository: A central hub for human rights data (HURIDOCS, Feb. 2026) [text]

Reimagining Responses to the Refugee Crisis (Carleton Univ., Jan. 2026) [text]

Trump’s 'Board of Peace' isn’t about Gaza: It’s about replacing the UN (EPC, Feb. 2026) [text]

- See also related Q&A on Just Security and ECFR post.

UNHCR’s Salih calls for global shift from managing to resolving displacement (UNHCR, Feb. 2026) [text]

New open access book:

Enforced Disappearances: On Universal Responses to a Worldwide Phenomenon (Cambridge University Press, Aug. 2025) [open access]

- This volume "discusses the UN human rights (both treaty bodies and special procedures) response to the key challenges of missing persons and enforced disappearances, including reparations, family rights, involvement of non-state actors, and the migration context. The book also includes several illustrative case studies from Latin America, Africa, Mexico, Western Balkans, and the Asia-Pacific region, which demonstrate the current challenges and problems relating to enforced disappearances in domestic or regional settings."

Reports & book chapters: 

Review of the consultations with non-governmental organizations held in 2025 (UNHCR & ICVA, Aug. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

- Prepared for the 76th session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme, Geneva, 6-10 October 2025. More info about the outcomes of regional NGO consultations held in 2025 can be found via UNHCR (scroll down).

"Thinking about academic networks through social network analysis," Chapter in The Role of Networks in Advancing Human Rights (Edward Elgar, Oct. 2025) [preprint]

Journal articles:

"Camp Time: Heterochronies in ‘Other Spaces'," Population, Space and Place, vol. 32, no. 1 (Jan. 2026) [open access]

- Focuses on "humanitarian-run camps in Jordan and privatized city shelter camps in the US."

"Categorical misalignments in immigration systems: spillovers, omissions, liminality, and the production of inequality," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, vol. 52, no. 3 (2026) [free full-text]

- Keynote address for 11th SCMR-JEMS International Conference, Sussex, UK, 2024. See also earlier related article in the American Sociological Review.

"Eliminationist politics: an analytical framework," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 9 Feb. 2026 [free full-text]

- Introduction to forthcoming special issue.

"Jennifer Hyndman's Managing Displacement, 25 years on," Political Geography, In Press, 9 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"Navigating the Nexus of Displacement, Policy, and Governance," Journal of Internal Displacement, vol. 16, no. 1 (2026) [open access]

"Organised forced migration and the external drivers of eliminationist politics," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 9 Feb. 2026 [open access]

"Restricting boat refugees at sea – rescuing the sovereign? The response to boat refugees across time and space, 1979–2001," International Journal of Maritime History, 27 Jan. 2026 [open access]

"What Drives Anti-Migrant Vigilantes," Migration Information Source, 28 Jan. 2026 [text]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: General (21 Jan. 2026)

Thematic Focus: General - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

As the U.N. Seeks Its Next Secretary-General, a Growing Number of Countries Favor a Woman for the Post (Just Security, Dec. 2025) [text]

UNHCR’s Filippo Grandi lauds refugee champions at his final Nansen Refugee Award ceremony (UNHCR, Dec. 2025) [text]

Reports & book chapters:

From the Ground Up: Regional Perspectives on Advancing the Global Compact on Refugees - Global Synthesis Report (Independent Diplomat, 2025) [access via IPS article]

Global Refugee Forum Progress Review, Geneva, 15-17 Dec. 2025 [info]

- Meeting documentation and recordings are available here; see also the HC's opening speech and related press releases, here and here. This news story summarizes the HC's final public address, given on the closing day of the GRF.

Note on the Mandate of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR, Dec. 2025) [text]

"World Bank Forcible Resettlement: The Need for More Inspection Panel Scrutiny," Chapter in Perspectives on Accountability at International Financial Institutions (Brill/Nijhoff, Dec. 2025) [open access]

Multimedia:

UNHCR at 75: Challenges and Opportunities, 26 Nov. 2025 [access]

Related posts:

- News: New UNHCR Leadership (19 Dec. 2025)

- Thematic Focus: General (11 Dec. 2025)

Regional Focus: MENA - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

"Egypt ramps up Sudanese refugee deportations with little UNHCR pushback," The New Humanitarian, 4 Dec. 2025 [text]

"It’s time for a reckoning at the UN in Syria, and beyond," The New Humanitarian, 11 Dec. 2025 [text]

Moroccan families search for their missing children (InfoMigrants, Nov. 2025) [text]

South Africa: latest target in Israel's relocation of Palestinians? (ISS Today, Dec. 2025) [text]

Tunisia: Abusive Prosecutions of Refugee Group (HRW, Nov. 2025) [text]

Understanding UNRWA: The complex history and politics of the UN agency for Palestine refugees (FluchtforschungsBlog, Nov. 2025) [text]

Reports:

“All My Dreams Have Been Erased”: Israel’s Forced Displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank (Human Rights Watch, Nov. 2025) [text]

Assistance to Palestine refugees, UN Doc. No. A/C.4/80/L.17 (UN General Assembly, Nov. 2025) [access]

- This draft resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly; it extends UNRWA's mandate to 30 June 2029.

Cost of Inaction: The Impact of WFP Assistance Cuts on Refugees in Jordan Food Security (World Food Programme, Nov. 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

Operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UN Doc. No. A/C.4/80/L.16 (UN General Assembly, Nov. 2025) [access]

- This draft resolution was adopted by the UN General Assembly. 

Multimedia:

A short history of the Gaza Strip, 15 Oct. 2025 [access]

Related post:

- Regional Focus: MENA (21 Nov. 2025)

Thematic Focus: General

Opportunities: 

GRF Progress Review 2025: Linked events, 9-19 December 2025 [info]

- A number of independently organized events have been organized around the Global Compact on Refugees' objectives. Some are in-person, hybrid and invitation-only. Follow the link above for details.

CFP: "Eroding Solidarity? Forced Migration, Protection, and Inclusion in a World Beyond Order," 6th Conference of the German Network for Forced Migration Studies, Hildesheim, Germany, 28-30 September 2026 [info]

- Submission deadline is 9 January 2026.

Short pieces:

The Courage to Welcome: solidarity in a divided world (UNHCR, Dec. 2025) [text]

- Text of the High Commissioner's "One People Oration" at Westminster Abbey.

"Election? What today’s UN leadership vacancies say about the system," Inklings Newsletter (27 Nov. 2025) [text]

- Focuses on UNHCR.

Fact check: Why "85% of refugees are Muslim" is false (DW, Nov. 2025) [text]

Geneva gathering to reaffirm solidarity and deliver new results for refugees (UNHCR, Dec. 2025) [text]

- The Global Refugee Forum Progress Review will meet next week in Geneva from 15-17 December 2025.

Humanitarian heroes celebrated with UNHCR Nansen Refugee Awards (UNHCR, Dec. 2025) [text]

- See also related press release.

Now more than ever, the world must support UNHCR to continue its life-saving work (Kaldor Centre & Refugee Council of Australia, Dec. 2025) [text]

- Joint statement on UNHCR’s 75th anniversary. See also related Pearls & Irritations post.

Refugia revisited five years on: reflections on the launch of a French language edition (COMPAS Blog, Nov. 2025) [text]

"Sweden’s push for an ex-IKEA CEO to lead UNHCR signals a new refugee order," Al Jazeera, 11 Dec. 2025 [text]

To the New High Commissioner: IDPs Must Remain a Global Priority (RI Commentary, Nov. 2025) [text]

Türk says human rights under attack, yet undeterred, in 2025 (OHCHR, Dec. 2025) [text]

"What if … the United Nations was disbanded next Friday?," Al Jazeera, 7 Nov. 2025 [text]

Reports:

Cities as key policy actors: strengthening urban responses to displacement in the global South (Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique, Nov. 2025) [access via IDRC Research Chairs Network on Forced Displacement]

Refugee-Led Responses and Agency in East Africa, the Middle East, and South America: Synthesis of research findings and policy recommendations (LERRN, Dec. 2025) [access]

Journal articles:

"Bayesian Projection of Extant Refugee and Asylum Seeker Populations," Demography, Advance Publication, 5 Dec. 2025 [open access]

"Decision-Making Mistakes in Asylum Policy: A Comparative Study of Public Opinion," International Migration Review, OnlineFirst, 5 Dec. 2025 [open access]

- "This study relies on web survey data from 26 countries, selected as a function of their overall immigration regimes, proximity to migrant-sending countries, citizenship regimes, status as a host or transit country, and response to the United Nations’ Global Compact on Migration."

Diasporas: Circulations, Migrations, Histoire, no. 44 (2025) [open access]

- Special issue on "Retour à la normale? Déplacés et réfugiés face aux normes de la sortie de guerre (1945-1951) = A Return to the Normal? Displaced Persons, Refugees and Postwar Norms (1945-1951)."

"Editorial: Refugees and Humanitarian Support in the Global South: Challenges in Repatriation and Social Cohesion," Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 25 Nov. 2025 [open access]

- Discusses the articles included in the research topic of the same name.

"Prioritizing global equity in migration research," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 6 Dec. 2025 [open access]

"Systematic literature reviews in migration studies: approaches to context-sensitive synthesis," Comparative Migration Studies, 22 Nov. 2025 [open access]

Multimedia:

Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture 2025: Migration and displacement: My grandmother, Lausanne, and some lessons for the present, Oxford, 5 Nov. 2025 [access]

Attacking health: Understanding the dynamics and broader impacts of violence against healthcare, 19 Nov. 2025 [access]

Displacement, solidarity, counter-government, 22 Oct. 2025 [access]

Human rights elites at the United Nations: Felix Ermacora and the first human rights fact finding missions (1967-1993), 29 Oct. 2025 [access]

Towards a New Response to Forced Migration through Local Engagement Refugee Research Network, 12 Sept. 2025 [access]

- See also related press release.

Who wants to be the new UN refugee chief (Rethinking Humanitarianism Podcast Series, Nov. 2025) [access]

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: General (20 Nov. 2025)

Thematic Focus: General

Short pieces:

Addressing the “Root Causes” of Irregular Migration: Four Lessons for the EU-AU Summit (CGD Blog, Nov. 2025) [text]

IMISCOE Bulletin, no. 12 (June 2025) [text]

UNHCR High Commissioner’s statement to the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly (UNHCR, Nov. 2025) [text]

- See also related UN News story.

Reports: 

2025 Global Compact on Refugees: Indicator Report (UNHCR, Nov. 2025) [access]

- "Tracks progress towards achieving the four objectives of the GCR." Follow link for report and companion webpage.

Event Report: The Marketplace on Forced Displacement Research, September 18-19, 2025, Sanremo, Italy (IIHL & Joint Data Center, Oct. 2025) [access]

- "The Marketplace will provide a transparent, virtual space where stakeholders (policymakers, practitioners, donors, etc.) can post research needs related to forced displacement, while researchers will be able to assess and propose relevant solutions. It will function as a platform with entries from entities seeking evidence-based recommendations, allowing researchers to navigate and address the posted needs." Follow link for report and JDC's presentation.

Global Appeal 2026 (UNHCR, Oct. 2025) [access]

- Follow link for the publication as well as a companion webpage that provides an overview of funding needs and that lets you view information by country, region and emergency.

Interim report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Nazila Ghanea - Freedom of religion or belief of people on the move, UN Doc. No. A/80/205 (UN General Assembly, July 2025) [access]

International Migration Outlook 2025 (OECD, Nov. 2025) [access]

- "The 2025 edition of International Migration Outlook analyses recent developments in migration movements and the labour market inclusion of immigrants in OECD countries. It also monitors recent policy changes in migration governance and integration in OECD countries." Available in English and French.

Mixed Migration Review 2025: Migration in the context of geopolitical turmoil (Mixed Migration Centre, Nov. 2025) [access]

- This report "offers...timely insights and intervention. Through thematic essays, feature interviews with leading migration thinkers, voices from the Global South, 4Mi survey data and deeply personal migrant narratives, this review paints a nuanced – and ultimately human – picture of realities of migration amid geopolitical turmoil."

Overcoming Misinformation about Migration and Migrants (Tufts Univ. & Club de Madrid, Aug. 2025) [access]

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Paula Gaviria Betancur, UN Doc. No. A/80/212 (UN General Assembly, July 2025) [access]

- Available in multiple languages. See also related press release.

Should Rejected Asylum Seekers Stay? A Response to Hadj Abdou and Kollar (2024) (EUI Migration Policy Centre, Sept. 2025) [text]

- Note: This is the original article and the collection it is a part of.

Journal articles:

"Critical transitions in migration studies: Comparative Migration Studies’ 10th anniversary issue," Comparative Migration Studies, 13:83 (Nov. 2025) [open access]

- Editorial introducing the special anniversary issue and the articles that are a part of it.

"Geopolitical Uses of Organised Forced Migration," International Migration, vol. 63, no. 6 (Nov. 2025) [open access]

"IDP Perspectives on IDP Participation," Journal of Refugee Studies, Advance Articles, 14 Nov. 2025 [open access]

"The nature and extent of migrants, immigrants, and refugees' trust in the social institutions of their host countries: A scoping review," Frontiers in Political Science, 29 Sept. 2025 [open access]

Related posts:

- Thematic Focus: General - Pt. 1 (4 Nov. 2025)

- Thematic Focus: General - Pt. 2 (4 Nov. 2025) 

Thematic Focus: General - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

"Cash-strapped UNHCR shed 5,000 jobs this year," AFP News, 6 Oct. 2025 [text via Barron's]

- See also earlier related Reuters article.

Christian anti-communism and the history of refugee relief (Refugee History Blog, Sept. 2025) [text]

"Pope Leo, after Trump critique, urges Catholics to help immigrants," Reuters, 5 Oct. 2025 [text]

- See also the pope's message for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.

"Sweden nominates IKEA veteran Jesper Brodin as UN refugee chief candidate," Reuters, 14 Oct. 2025 [text]

The UN at 80: What lies ahead for internally displaced persons? (RID Blog, Sept. 2025) [text]

The UNHCR conclave: has anything changed in 25 years? (Refugee History Blog, Oct. 2025) [text]

*"Who could be the next UN refugee chief?," The New Humanitarian, 15 Oct. 2025 [text]

Reports:

2025 Annual Report (US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Oct. 2025) [access]

The HIDDEN Toolkit: Tackling Ethical Concerns in Migration Research (History of Identity Documentation in European Nations: COST Action CA21120, Sept. 2025) [text]

Mobilizing Cities across the World to Support Migrants and Displaced People: A Five-Year Evaluation of the Mayors Migration Council (Urban Institute, Oct. 2025) [text]

*UPDATED

Related posts:

- News: EXCOM 2025 Wrap-up (14 Oct. 2025)

- Thematic Focus: General - Pt. 1 (29 Sept. 2025)

- Thematic Focus: General - Pt. 2 (29 Sept. 2025)

Thematic Focus: Humanitarian Assistance

Short pieces:

"Chief justice keeps Trump funding freeze in place for now," PBS, 9 Sept. 2025 [text]

- See also related CGD blog post.

"The democratic deficit in global aid: Why humanitarian power needs public accountability," The New Humanitarian, 19 Aug. 2025 [text]

How international aid cuts are eroding refugee protections in the Global South (The Conversation, Sept. 2025) [text]

Humanitarian Resets Past and Present – where have we come from and where shall we go? (Activism, Influence and Change Blog, Aug. 2025) [text]

The humanitarian–development–peace nexus and UN 2.0: a field practitioner’s perspective on bridging silos for humanitarian impact (HPN, Sept. 2025) [text]

There’s a Lot We Don’t Know about the Status of US Assistance Delivery. That Should Worry Congress (CGD Blog, Aug. 2025) [text]

"Trump's Most Lethal Policy," New York Times, 20 Sept. 2025 [text]

- See also related Facebook post and Bloomberg article on the cost to US taxpayers for shutting down USAID.

The UN at 80: Broke, blocked and still indispensable (The Interpreter Blog, Sept. 2025) [text]

"UN’s humanitarian work is ‘underfunded, overstretched, and under attack’," UN News, 15 Sept. 2025 [text]

"Why we need a new playbook for refugee inclusion," The New Humanitarian, 14 Aug. 2025 [text]

Reports:  

Adapting the OECD criteria for the evaluation of humanitarian action (ALNAP, Sept. 2025) [text]

Aid Worker Security Report 2025 – Defenceless: Aid worker security amid the humanitarian funding collapse (Humanitarian Outcomes, Aug. 2025) [text]

- See also related Figures at a Glance.

The FCDO’s Approach to Displaced People (UK Parliament, Sept. 2025) [text]

- Note: FCDO = Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Humanitarian Access Overview: Spotlight on bureaucratic and administrative impediments (ACAPS, July 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

Protection Advocacy Toolkit (Global Protection Cluster et al., Aug. 2025) [access via ReliefWeb]

Scenarios for US Foreign Aid in 2035: Examining possible directions for U.S. assistance and their geopolitical consequences (Stimson Center, Sept. 2025) [text]

Journal articles:

Critical Perspectives on the Future of Aid (Sept. 2025) [access]

- New virtual issue with articles from Development Policy Review and Disasters.

"From ‘aidland’ to ‘homeland’: what the lived experiences of Ukrainian crisis leaders indicate about humanitarian response," Disasters, vol. 50, no. 1 (Jan. 2026) [open access]

"The localisation of humanitarian response to conflict and displacement: a scoping review from a health systems perspective," BMJ Global Health, vol. 10, no. 9 (Sept. 2025) [open access]

"Reclaiming Power and Partnerships in the Wake of Donor Retraction through South–South Partnership," Disasters, vol. 49, no. 4 (Oct. 2025) [open access]

Multimedia:

Rethinking Humanitarianism Podcast Series (The New Humanitarian, Sept. 2025)

- Two recent episodes focus on ) "The UN and the crisis of liberalism", and "The UN’s 20th-century diplomacy for 21st-century problems." 

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Humanitarian Assistance (7 Aug. 2025)

Thematic Focus: General - Pt. 1

Short pieces:

High Commissioner Filippo Grandi’s message on World Refugee Day 2025 (UNHCR, June 2025) [text]

Seeing the unseen: Disaggregating IDPs by sex and age (IDMC Blog, June 2025) [text]

UNHCR Records and Archives: Interesting Times (UNHCR Blog, June 2025) [text]

Why reforms are necessary to protect the UN-led system (WEF Blog, June 2025) [text]

Reports:

Conflict Trends: A Global Overview, 1946–2024 (PRIO, June 2025) [text]

Global Peace Index 2025 (Institute for Economics and Peace, June 2025) [access via ReliefWeb]

Global Report 2024 (UNHCR, June 2025) [access]

- Follow link for highlights, the text of the report and access to the data set.

Inhuman: Torture Along the Mediterranean Migration Route, and the Support of Survivors in a Fragile System (Médecins Sans Frontières, June 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

Internal displacement in the context of organized criminal activity: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, UN Doc. No. A/HRC/59/46 (UN Human Rights Council, June 2025) [text]

Phenomenon of migrants going missing or subjected to enforced disappearance – human rights analysis: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Gehad Madi, UN Doc. No. A/HRC/59/49 (UN Human Rights Council, April 2025) [access]

UNHCR Statistical Quality Assurance Framework for Official Statistics (UNHCR, June 2025) [text]

Where and How is Money Spent on International Migration and Refugees by World Bank Operational Projects?, Policy Research Working Paper, no. 11141 (World Bank, June 2025) [text]

World Refugee Day: Global Attitudes Towards Refugees (IPSOS & UNHCR, June 2025) [access]

- Follow link for press release, report and summary.

The world's most neglected displacement crises in 2024 (Norwegian Refugee Council, June 2025) [access]

- Available in English and French. See also the companion website.

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: General (29 May 2025)

Regional Focus: Africa

Opportunities:

Seminar: What does Trump’s refugee suspension mean for Africa?, Online, 4 June 2025 [info]

Call for applications: AfOx Visiting Fellowship Programme, Oxford Univ. [info]

- "Opportunity for African researchers holding an advanced degree to pursue independent academic research on forced migration." Application deadline is 6 June 2025.

Short pieces:

"Dadaab Voices: What aid cuts mean for Kenya’s refugees," The New Humanitarian, 23 May 2025 [text]

- See also related UN News story.

Mauritania: Mass Arrests and Deportations as EU Continues Efforts to Create “Bulwark” Against Irregular Migration (Immigration Detention Monitor, May 2025) [text]

Shrinking Spaces of Refuge Leave Displaced Eritreans Asking ‘Where to Next?’ (RLI Blog, May 2025) [text]

UNHCR statement on reduction of food assistance at the Agadez Humanitarian Centre in Niger (UNHCR, May 2025) [text]

Reports & journal articles:

"The age of intra-African migration: shifting patterns of regional mobility between two global diasporas, 1850–1960," Comparative Migration Studies, 13:32 (May 2025) [open access]

"The ‘Borders of Berlin’: West African protests and the coloniality of Euro-African deportation cooperation," Geoforum, vol. 161 (May 2025) [open access]

"Explaining re-migration preferences among assisted returnees: evidence from Discrete Choice Experiments in Sudan, Somalia, and Ethiopia," Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Latest Articles, 20 May 2025 [open access]

"'Internal localisation' and early action: exploring decision-making and power amongst humanitarian actors in South Sudan," Third World Quarterly, vol. 46, no. 1 (2025) [open access]

Lost Land, Broken Homes: The Struggles of Returnees and Relocated Persons in Northeast Nigeria (Housing, Land, and Property Area of Responsibility et al., May 2025) [text via ReliefWeb]

Shifting protection experiences of displaced Eritreans (Mixed Migration Centre, May 2025) [text]

Supporting Mutual Aid in Sudan: Conflict-Sensitive Approaches to Risk and Accountability, BASIC Research Working Paper, no. 40 (Institute of Development Studies, May 2025) [text]

Related post:

- Regional Focus: Africa (29 May 2025)

Thematic Focus: General

Opportunities:

Special forum: Migration Foresight: Lessons from researching emerging migration trends, Toronto, 26 May 2025 [info]

Launch event: Forced Migration Review, no. 75, Online, 3 June 2025 [info]

- The theme of this issue is "Dangerous journeys: Saving lives and responding to missing migrants and refugees."

Event: World Refugee Day, 20 June 2025 [info]

- This year's theme is "Solidarity."

Short pieces:

Can the UN’s Migration and Refugee Agencies Become One? (PassBlue, May 2025) [text]

How UNHCR protects people forced to flee (UNHCR, May 2025) [text]

The IOM and the Trump administration: a turning point in the organization’s history? (Border Criminologies Blog, May 2025) [text]

Secretary-General, Briefing on UN80 Initiative, Lays Out System-Wide Reform Plans to Make United Nations More Effective, Nimble, Fit for Today’s Challenges (UN, May 2025) [text]

- See also related Global Observatory posts here and here, as well as an ICG commentary here.

New open access books:

The International Politics of Migration: Interstate Relations and the Peoples Who Cross Borders (Springer, Feb. 2025) [open access]

- "While there is already a vast amount of literature on immigration, it often focuses on issues such as human rights, citizenship, and social integration, reflecting the contemporary interests of Western countries. However, as long as the most fundamental norm of international politics remains the mutual recognition of exclusive jurisdictional rights over territory by sovereign states, people crossing borders pose various challenges to this system of sovereign states. It is this awareness of the issue that makes this book unique."

New Directions in South-South Migration (Springer, April 2025) [open access]

- "This open access book...explores crucial migration themes such as migrant integration in urban areas, migration and rural transformation, urban migration policy environment, migration corridors, and migrant precarity and survival, especially food security. It features contributions from eminent scholars in the Global South, namely, Africa, Asia, Latin America & Caribbean and the Middle East. Chapters in the book present theoretical perspectives and practical case studies building on the results of detailed surveys, in-depth interviews, field observations and other materials. The book highlights new findings and research outputs from recent and ongoing collaborative projects between multiple researchers from the Global South and North."

Reports:

The Contribution of Volunteering in Human Mobility Contexts (UN Volunteers, May 2025) [text]

Missing Migrants and Countries in Crisis: IOM Missing Migrants Project 2024 Annual Report (IOM, April 2025) [access]

- See also related press release.

Neglected Displacement Crises Report: Methodology (Norwegian Refugee Council, May 2025) [text]

Sustaining an essential dataset: The global baseline on internal displacement (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, May 2025) [text]

Journal articles:

"Representing Illiteracy: Methodological Challenges and Ethical Ramifications in Research on Illiterate Refugees," Ethics and Social Welfare, Latest Articles, 8 May 2025 [open access]

"The spatial dimensions of migrant politics: to the border and beyond," Journal of Refugee Studies, Advance Articles, 13 May 2025 [open access]

- Introduction to forthcoming special issue.

"Why grateful refugees are epistemically harmed," Ethics & Global Politics, Latest Articles, 15 May 2025 [open access]

Multimedia:

Supporting Migrants Returning to Fragile Contexts: Lessons from Iraq and Somalia, 6 May 2025 [access]

Related posts:

- News: 2025 Global Report on Internal Displacement (13 May 2025)

- Thematic Focus: General (28 April 2025)

Thematic Focus: Humanitarian Assistance

Opportunity:

CFP: Alternatives Humanitaires = Humanitarian Alternatives [info]

- Contributions sought for themed issue on "International aid under threat: What consequences? What responses? What reconfigurations?"; submit article proposals by 2 June 2025.

- *Note: I included the wrong link when I first published this post! It has now been corrected!

Short pieces:

Can anything positive come out of this crisis? (Alternatives Humanitaires, April 2025) [text]

Funding crunch increases risks of violence, danger and death for refugees (UNHCR, May 2025) [text]

The Future Delivery Problem Facing US Foreign Assistance (CGD Blog, April 2025) [text]

The humanitarian funding crisis: a looming health catastrophe for refugees and their host communities (UNHCR Blog, May 2025) [text]

The Impact of Shuttering the Millennium Challenge Corporation (CGD Blog, April 2025) [text]

- See also related post.

Life-saving, efficient and secure: humanitarian aid that gives refugees choices (UNHCR, May 2025) [text]

More than stability: Australia’s aid program needs hard decisions now (The Interpreter Blog, May 2025) [text]

Radical Simplification: A Practical Way to Get More Out of Limited Foreign Assistance Budgets (CGD Blog, April 2025) [text]

Redefining America’s Interests? Trump’s FY2026 Budget Proposes Sweeping Cuts to US Foreign Aid (CGD Blog, May 2025) [text]

Secretary of State Rubio’s Reorganization Plan Could Offer a Chance to Rescue U.S. Foreign Assistance — If He’s Smart About It (Just Security, April 2025) [text]

"UN food, refugee agencies plan deep cuts as funding slashed, memos show," Reuters, 25 April 2025 [text]

- An additional article discusses possible UN plans for merging entities and other structural changes. See also related opinion piece in The New Humanitarian on UN reform.

"What 100 Days of Foreign-Aid Cuts Looks Like to Those Still in the Field," Time Magazine, 30 April 2025 [text]

Reports & journal articles:

"Decolonising international development evaluation: rethinking OECD DAC evaluation criteria from a decolonial perspective," Development in Practice, Latest Articles, 17 April 2025 [open access]

"Holding Out for Better Weather: Foreign Aid and the Principle of Humanity in Armed Conflicts and Natural Disasters," American Univ. International Law Review, vol. 40, no. 3 (2025) [full-text]

"Into the discomfort zone of decolonising aid: how humanitarian actors can effect change," Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 10:9 (May 2025) [open access]

A new era for aid: Prioritising people and protecting progress (International Rescue Committee, May 2025) [text]

Preliminary Official Development Assistance Levels in 2024: Detailed Summary Note (OECD, April 2025) [text]

- The press release includes a link to interactive charts with more data. See also related McKinsey analysis.

Sustainable Programming (UNHCR, Feb. 2025) [text]

US Funding Freeze Global Survey (OCHA, 2025) [access]

- Round 1 reports were published in Feb. and Round 2 reports in April. 

*"USAID and the Trump Foreign Aid Doctrine," SAIS Review of International Affairs, 29 April 2025 [full-text]

What Is Happening to U.S. Humanitarian Assistance? Will the United States Continue to Save Lives? (CSIS, April 2025) [text]

Multimedia:

No one wants to depend on aid, including refugees (Power Shift Podcast, May 2025) [access]

*UPDATED

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Humanitarian Assistance (17 April 2025)

Thematic Focus: General

Short pieces:

Empowering development through data on forced displacement (Data Blog, April 2025) [text]

Europe Sanitizes, Africa Exposes: The Visual Politics of Irregular Migration (MPC Blog, April 2025) [text]

Pope Francis, tireless defender of migrants around the world (InfoMigrants, April 2025) [text]

Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi to the Security Council (UNHCR, April 2025) [text]

Reports:

2024 Public Health Global Review (UNHCR, April 2025) [access]

Annual Global Overview of Migration Routes 2024 (IOM, April 2025) [text]

- This report "aims to provide a global snapshot of migration in 2024 from a route-based perspective. This approach investigates routes across national and regional boundaries, requiring a multi-country perspective and holistic view of human mobility, which considers people at origin, in transit, and at their destinations."

Bibliometric Analysis of Refugee Policy Research: Mapping the Subfield (LERRN, April 2025) [text]

Strengthening the Participation of Internally Displaced Persons: Workshop Report (McGill Univ. et al., April 2025) [access via LERRN]

- Available in English, French, Spanish, and Ukrainian; also links to videos of the IDP leaders who presented at the workshop.

Journal articles:

Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 17, no. 1 (2025) [open access]

- Special issue on "Migration Research and Policy: Bridging the Divide in an Era of Complexity."

"The Refugee Political in the Age of Imperial Crisis, Decolonization, and Cold War, 1930s–1950s," The Historical Journal, FirstView, 17 April 2025 [open access]

"Why Should Organizational Scholars Study Migration," Organization Science, Ahead of Print, 22 April 2025 [open access]

Multimedia:

ECOSOC Special Meeting on "Forced Displacement and Refugee Protection," 24 April 2025 [access]

- Follow link for the agenda, concept note, statements, and a video recording of the meeting. 

Global South Perspective on Internally Displaced Persons, 13 Feb. 2025 [access]

Refugee Protection and the Narrative of Possibility: A Talk with Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 10 April 2025 [access]

- See also related KCL news release.

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: General (16 April 2025)

Thematic Focus: Children & Families - Pt. 2

Journal articles:

"Age determination of unaccompanied migrant children: An appraisal of the jurisprudence of the Committee on the Rights of the Child," Nordic Journal of Human Rights, vol. 43, no. 1 (2025) [open access]

- Focuses on Europe.

"A dual dilemma: protecting children’s rights in the context of COVID-19 and conflict," Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 10:4 (March 2025) [open access]

"Exposure to Natural Disaster and Polytrauma Among Somali Youth in Urban Kenya," Global Social Welfare, Latest Articles, 27 Feb. 2025 [open access]

"Family Against the Odds: The Psychological Impact of Family Separation on Refugee Men Living in the United Kingdom," Social Sciences, vol. 14, no. 3 (March 2025) [open access]

"Host and Refugee Children’s Definition of Happiness: 'Give Me a Room'," Child Indicators Research, Latest Articles, 27 Feb. 2025 [open access]

- Focuses on Syrians in Turkey.

"Intersections of Peace: Refugee Children’s Unique Perspectives Through Storytelling and Arts-Based Methods," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Latest Articles, 22 Feb. 2025 [open access]

- Focuses on sub-Saharan refugee children in Algeria.

*"The sexual abuse of adolescent boys in humanitarian emergencies: A qualitative study of how international humanitarian organisations are responding," Child Abuse & Neglect, vol. 163 (May 2025) [open access]

"'What other option did I have?' The effect of conflict and displacement on child marriage and early childbearing among displaced Rohingya adolescents," Conflict and Health, 19:16 (March 2025) [open access]

- Focuses on Bangladesh.

*UPDATED

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Children & Families - Pt. 1 (17 March 2025)

Thematic Focus: Law/Policy Items

Short pieces:

Evacuations in Armed Conflict: A Fine Line Between a Life-Saving Measure and Forced Displacement (EJIL: Talk Blog, Oct. 2024) [text]

Keynote address at the Refugee Law Initiative Annual Conference, 3 June 2024 [text]

- Theme is "Reinforcing rights and legal principles in the face of global challenges: the Global Compact on Refugees."

Reports & journal articles:

AJIL Unbound, vol. 118 (2024) [open access]

- Theme is "Symposium on Unsettling the Sovereign 'Right to Exclude'," with a preface and seven articles.

Interim Report: The Right to Enter (ILA Committee on International Migration and International Law, 2024) [text via Refworld]

Legal considerations on asylum and non-refoulement in the context of ‘instrumentalization’ (UNHCR, Sept. 2024) [text]

- "The term ‘instrumentalization’ has been used, including in some national and supra-national legislation, to describe movements of persons which are forced, encouraged or facilitated with the aim of disrupting essential State functions."

"'Nowhere home'," London Review of International Law, vol. 12, no. 2 (July 2024) [open access]

- "This essay explores the concept of home in international law, the role of international law in the global regime of homemaking, and the prospects and limits of criminalising the destruction of home." Focuses on Gaza.

"A Primer on Trauma-Informed Practice in Refugee Law," Bond Law Review, vol. 36, no. 1 (2024) [open access]

"Toward a Taxonomy of Freedom of Movement Claims: Identifying Rights-Based Pathways for Today’s Refugees Beyond the 1951 Refugee Convention," Harvard International Law Journal, vol. 65, no. 2 (2024) [full-text]

Resource:

Platform of Independent Experts on Refugee Rights (PIERR) [access]

- "The Platform of Independent Experts on Refugee Rights brings together independent human rights experts from the UN and regional systems to address areas of concern and cooperate on joint initiatives to enhance the protection and promotion of human rights of refugees and asylum-seekers." This press release provides more info.

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Law/Policy Items (9 Sept. 2024)

Thematic Focus: Humanitarian Assistance

Short pieces:

Dignity through dialogue: redefining language in humanitarian aid (Humanitarian Practice Network, Oct. 2024) [text]

"Fixing trust, pacts for the future, and who’s missing: A humanitarian lens on UNGA," The New Humanitarian, 23 Sept. 2024 [text]

Humanitarian NGOs and international transfer of personal data: An attempt to reconcile the rights of data subjects with their needs as affected populations (EJIL: Talk Blog, Oct. 2024) [text]

"Local aid is missing from the UN’s new reform pact," The New Humanitarian, 3 Oct. 2024 [text]

The Pledge for Change: uniting to build a stronger aid ecosystem (HPN, Sept. 2024) [text]

Reports & journal articles:

"Are Goodwill Ambassadors Good for Business? The Impact of Celebrities on International Organization Fundraising," Journal of Experimental Political Science, FirstView, 1 Aug. 2024 [open access]

High-Level Humanitarian Donors Briefing Note: The State of Protection in 2024 (Global Protection Cluster, Oct. 2024) [text]

"Mapping refugee populations at high resolution by unlocking humanitarian administrative data," Journal of International Humanitarian Action, 9:14 (Oct. 2024) [open access]

"'A season in hell': The Rwandan genocide and the ICRC's Fundamental Principles," International Review of the Red Cross, FirstView, 27 Sept. 2024 [free full-text]

Stronger Faster Safer for People on the Move (IFRC, Aug. 2024) [access]

- Report is available in English, French, Russian and Spanish.

"Towards common ground: Strategies for effective collaboration between the humanitarian and peacebuilding communities," International Review of the Red Cross, FirstView, 2 Oct. 2024 [free full-text]

Why They Gave: CARE and American Aid for Germany after 1945 (Franz Steiner Verlag, 2024) [open access]

- "Embedding a diverse selection of case studies in the social, cultural, and political debates of the early postwar era, the study finds that these acts of giving were much more than altruistic deeds. In fact, donors used humanitarianism for their own purposes. Some gave to people who reflected their own worldview and sense of importance, or who could strategically advance their power on either side of the Atlantic. Others supported causes they considered essential to the progress of German-American relations in the early Cold War. In all cases, humanitarianism was at least as much about the donor as it was about the recipient."

Related post:

- Thematic Focus: Humanitarian Assistance (13 Sept. 2024)

Regional Focus: MENA

Short pieces:

 

"But Where Can We Go?": Fear and Instability for Displaced Syrians in Türkiye (Wilson Center, Aug. 2024) [text]

Escalating violence and human rights violations in the West Bank (NRC, July 2024) [text]

Gaza Humanitarian Snapshots (Care International et al.) [snapshot #1] [snapshot #2]

- New sitrep that "provides a detailed account of the immense obstacles that impede aid delivery in Gaza, with concrete examples from organization working in the Strip. It offers a glimpse into the daily challenges faced by humanitarian workers, made worse by conflict, bombardment and gunfire, and the siege tactics. We aim to complement ongoing reporting from UN agencies and civil society groups to paint a picture of these harsh realities." See also related article in The New Humanitarian.

Majority of migrants in Tunisia are aiming for Italy, suggests research (InfoMigrants, July 2024) [text]

"Migrants flock to Libya despite lack of law and order," DW, 12 July 2024 [text]

Migration Diplomacy in Lebanon: Its Transit Role, Issue Linkages and Mutual Gains (Borders and Limitations Blog, July 2024) [text]

The role of Courts in the era of EU externalization policies: A focus on Libya, Tunisia, and Niger (RLI Blog, July 2024) [text]

The UN as ‘first responder’: the case of the Middle East (HPN, July 2024) [text]

"US Gaza pier to close after costing $230m for a day’s worth of aid," The New Humanitarian, 16 July 2024 [text]

Yazidi genocide a decade on: Iraq camp closures loom, but survivors still live in fear of Islamic State (The Conversation, Aug. 2024) [text]

Reports & journal articles:

"Are Syrians in Türkiye vulnerable to ‘epistemic injustice’?: A ‘narrative inquiry’ in the case of Bursa," International Migration, Early View, 18 July 2024) [open access]

Cairo Review of Global Affairs, no. 50 (Spring 2024) [full-text]

- This issue on "Destroying Hope" "explores the role of UNRWA in supporting Palestinian refugees and the challenges the organization faces in light of Israel’s military and political campaign."

"Health in Crisis: A Paradox of Access for Syrian Refugees and Lebanese Hosts," Health Services Insights, 31 July 2024 [open access]

"The Impact of War Trauma and Housing Environment on Mental Wellbeing of Syrian Refugees in Jordan: A Comparison between In-Camp and Urban Populations," Issues in Mental Health Nursing, vol. 45, no. 2 (2024) [preprint]

Research on Diaspora Engagement in Humanitarian Response and Economic Recovery in Selected Areas of Lebanon: Final Report (Danish Refugee Council, June 2024) [text]

The risks and perils of an EU-Lebanon migration deal (Access Center for Human Rights & PAX, 2024) [text via ReliefWeb]

Solutions from the Start: Adapting the Deliverables for Humanitarian Country Teams to Ensure Better Outcomes for Internally Displaced Persons - Learnings from Responses in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, RID Working Paper, no. 43 (Researching Internal Displacement, July 2024) [text]

Related post:

- Regional Focus: MENA (10 July 2024)