Regional Focus: Americas

Opportunity:

Funding opportunity: NGO Programs Benefiting Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Colombia [info]
- Proposal submission deadline is 21 April 2016.

Publications:

2016-2017 Framework for Cooperation between the United States Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (U.S. Dept. of State, March 2016) [text]

Asylum in Canada is not for Everyone (Sorry aboot That) (The Asylumist Blog, March 2016) [text]

Canada’s Oppressed Minority Policy and the Resettlement of Ugandan Asians, 1972-1973 (Canadian Museum of Immigration, March 2016) [text]

Challenges in Accessing Early Childhood Education and Care for Children in Refugee Families in Massachusetts (Migration Policy Institute, March 2016) [text]

Closed Doors: Mexico's Failure to Protect Central American Refugee and Migrant Children (Human Rights Watch, March 2016) [text]

Is the War on Drugs a "Humanitarian Crisis"?, Policy Brief, no. 2 (PRIO, 2016) [text via ReliefWeb]

Overview of UNHCR's Operations in the Americas, 65th Meeting of the Standing Committee (EXCOM, Feb. 2016) [text]

"Retos actuales en la implementación de la Ley sobre Refugiados y protección complementaria en México: identificación, admisión y acceso al procedimiento de asilo = Current Challenges in the Implementation of the Law on Refugees and Complementary Protection in Mexico: Identification, Admission and Access to the Asylum Procedure," Anuario Mexicano de Derecho Internacional, vol. XVI (Enero-Diciembre 2016) [full-text]

The U.S. Immigration Court: A Ballooning Backlog that Requires Action (Human Rights First, March 2016) [text]

Syrians in the U.S.:

"Syrian Refugees Receive Green Light from U.S. Courts, Mixed Reception from States and Congress," Migration Information Source, 31 March 2016 [text]

What do Americans Really Think about Syrian Refugees? (Markaz Blog, March 2016) [text]

Who We Really Are: A Conversation with Syrian Refugees in America, Washington, DC, 19 Feb. 2016 [info]
- Follow link for video and transcript.

Related post:
- Regional Focus: Americas (9 March 2016)

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities. 

Regional Focus: Americas

Finding a New Home in the U.S. (Birdsong's Law Blog, June 2014) [text]

Fleeing Mexico's Gangs (RI Blog, June 2014) [text]

How to Protect Refugees and Prevent Abuse at the Border (Human Rights First, June 2014) [text]
- See also related factsheet, infographic and press release.

Mexico's Displaced: Caught in the Crossfire (RI Blog, June 2014) [text]

"The New Wave: Forced Displacement Caused by Organized Crime in Central America and Mexico," Refugee Survey Quarterly, Advance Access, 10 June 2014 [open access]

"An Overview of Pending Asylum and Refugee Legislation in the US Congress," Journal on Migration and Human Security, vol. 2, no. 2 (2014) [open access]

What Is the Right Policy toward Unaccompanied Children at U.S. Borders? (Migration Policy Institute, June 2014) [text]

Related posts:
- Thematic Focus: Children (4 June 2014)
- Regional Focus: Americas (28 May 2014)

Tagged Publications.

New Issue of RSQ

The latest issue of the Refugee Survey Quarterly (RSQ) is now available.  Articles in vol. 32, no. 4, Dec. 2013 include:

• From Zero Tolerance to Harm Reduction: “The Asylum Problem Problem” [abstract] [earlier version]
• Assessing Refugee Camp Characteristics and the Occurrence of Sexual Violence: A Preliminary Analysis of the Dadaab Complex [abstract]
• The UNHCR and Zimbabwean Refugees in Mozambique, 1975–1980 [abstract]
• Coping Strategies of Sudanese Refugee Women in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya [abstract]
• EU Labour Immigration Policy: Discourses and Mobility [abstract]
• Consistency in Refugee Decision-Making: A Judicial Perspective [abstract]

Tagged Periodicals.

Regional Focus: Americas

Bench-Pressed: A Judge Recounts the Many Blessings and Heavy Lessons of Hearing Immigration Asylum Cases (iUniverse, March 2013) [info]
- Self-published memoir of a former U.S. Immigration Judge that focuses on the stories of five asylum applicants and how they changed her as both a judge and a person.

Canada/USA Bi-National Roundtable on Alternatives to Detention of Asylum Seekers, Refugees, Migrants and Stateless Persons, Buffalo, New York/Fort Erie, Ontario, 24-26 September 2012 [summary conclusions]

"Drug Cartels in Mexico," Forced Migration Review, no. 37 (March 2011) [open access text]

Guatemalan Migration in Times of Civil War and Post-War Challenges (Migration Information Source, March 2013) [text]

Key Refugee and Immigration Issues for Women and Girls (Canadian Council for Refugees, March 2013) [text]

Leahy Bill Would Restore America’s Commitment to Refugee Protection (Human Rights First, March 2013) [text]

"Refugee Law Initiative Hosts International Conference on Latin American Asylum Policy," Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter, no. 36 (April 2013) [text]

Situation of the Rights of Children in the Context of Migration in the Americas, 147th Session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Washington, DC, 7-22 March 2013 [access]
- See also related CGRS news story.

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities. 

Protection-related Items

Assessment of Credibility in Refugee and Subsidiary Protection Claims under the EU Qualification Directive: Judicial Criteria and Standards (IARLJ, 2013) [text]

CGRS Helps Young Salvadoran Girl in Asylum Bid to Escape Gang Violence (UC Hastings College of the Law, Feb. 2013) [text]

Continuing Forms of Persecution: An Examination of United States Policy Concerning Female Genital Mutilation and the Chinese "One Child" Policy (Birdsong's Law Blog, Feb. 2013) [text]

The Case for Mexican Asylum Seekers Fleeing Cartel Violence (Birdsong's Law Blog, Feb. 2013) [text]

"Organization of African Unity and African Union Engagement with Refugee Protection: 1963–2011," African Journal of International and Comparative Law, vol. 21, no. 1 (Feb. 2013) [extract]

"Temporary Protection, Derogation and the 1951 Refugee Convention," Melbourne Journal of International Law, vol. 13, no. 2 (Nov. 2012) [full-text]

Too Much Pain: Female Genital Mutilation and Asylum in the European Union - A Statistical Overview (UNHCR, Feb. 2013) [text]

Tagged Publications. 

Regional Focus: Americas

Desplazamiento Forzado y Necesidades de Protección, Generados por Nuevas Formas de Violencia y Criminalidad en Centroamérica (CIDEHUM & ACNUR, May 2012) [text]

Evaluating the Implementation of the Persecutor Bar to Asylum: The Case for a Defense of Duress in U.S. Asylum Exclusions (ExpressO, 2013) [text]

Haiti Three Years On: Overpromised and Underdelivered (UpFront Blog, Jan. 2013) [text]
- References new book entitled The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster (Palgrave Macmillan, January 2013).

"How the Charter Has Failed Non-Citizens in Canada – Reviewing Thirty Years of Supreme Court of Canada Jurisprudence," McGill Law Journal (Forthcoming, 2013) [preprint via SSRN]

"The Mexican Drug War and the Consequent Population Exodus: Transnational Movement at the U.S.-Mexican Border," Societies, vol. 3, no. 1 (2013) [open access text]

Seeing Migrants, Selecting Refugees: A Historical Study of Chinese Settlement in Canada and New Zealand, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 252 (UNHCR, Jan. 2013) [text]

A Shared State: Iraqi Refugees and American Veterans in the Aftermath of War, Honors Thesis (University of California at Berkeley, Jan. 2013) [text]

Tagged Publications. 

Focus on the Americas

"A Chronic Displacement Crisis in the Western Hemisphere" is the focus of the first in a new series of briefings sponsored by Rep. Sam Farr after the Summit of the Americas meeting in Cartagena.  It will be held 26 April 2012 in Washington, DC.

Other resources focusing on countries in the Americas region include:

Andina Migrante, no. 12 (Marzo 2012) [text]
- Focus is on "Desplazamiento forzado en la Región Andina: entre el conflicto armado y la ocupación territorial violenta en Colombia, Ecuador y Perú."

Cartagena Diary (Refugees International Blog, April 2012) [part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4]

Colombia Situation: Indigenous People (UNHCR, 2012) [text]

Colombian Refugee Migrant Experiences of Health and Social Services in Ottawa, Canada: Navigating Landscapes of Language and Memory, Dissertation submitted to the School of Graduate Studies (McMaster University, Spring 2012) [text]

A Commentary on the February 2012 Jamaica Operational Guidance Note (Still Human, Still Here, April 2012) [text]

Justice for Refugees and Immigrants Coalition Update (Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers, April 2012) [text]
- Links to a series of five articles expressing protection concerns about Bill C-31.

U.S. Should Embrace Inclusive Refugee Protection (IntLawGrrls, April 2012) [text]

Violence in Colombia Displacing More People into Ecuador (UNHCR, April 2012) [text]

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

New Publications on Asylum Seekers, Durable Solutions

Asylum and the 'Forced Marriage' Paradox: Petitions, Translation, and Courts as Institutional Perpetrators of Gender Violence (SSRN, Sept. 2011) [text]

Boosting Regional Settlement of Migrants and Refugees in Australia: Policy Initiatives and Challenges, Paper presented at the Australian Political Science Association Conference, Canberra, 26-28 Sept. 2011 [text]

Kidnapping, Hostage-Taking and Ransoming of Eritrean Asylum Seekers in the Sinai Desert (Release Eritrea, March 2011; posted Sept. 2011) [text via SSRN]

Mexico's "Narco-Refugees": The Looming Challenge for U.S. National Security (Strategic Studies Institute, Oct. 2011) [text]

UNHCR Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2012 (UNHCR, July 2011) [text]

- See also related post.

Tagged Publications.

New Law/Policy Items

"Asylum for Former Mexican Police Officers Persecuted by the Narcos," Boston College Third World Law Journal, vol. 31, no. 2 (Spring 2011) [full-text]

- Scroll down to p. 245.

Independence for South Sudan, Uncertainty for Those Displaced from the South (Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, July 2011) [text]

Indications of Progress? Assessing the Use of Indicators in UNHCR Operations, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 214 (UNHCR, July 2011) [text]

Unequal Before the Law? The Future of Legal Aid (Solicitors Journal & Jures, June 2011) [text]

The United Nations Rule of Law Indicators: Implementation Guide and Project Tools (UN Dept. of Peacekeeping Operations & OHCHR, 2011) [text via ReliefWeb]

Tagged Publications.

Journal Articles & Comment on Delivery Mechanisms

Here are four newly published journal articles (and one yet to be published one). I know many readers are particularly interested in accessing scholarly journal/law review articles, and this random selection provides a useful example of the different models being used to deliver free full-text articles online:

"Constructing 'Modern Gendered Civilised' Women and Men: Gender-mainstreaming in Refugee Camps," Gender and Development, vol. 19, no. 1 (2011) [free full-text]

- This is an Oxfam journal published by Routledge. The full-text requires payment on the Routledge site, but is free through Oxfam. While it is free to read, it is still subject to copyright and distribution restrictions.

"Is Germany the New Canada? One American Deserter's Request for German Asylum," Military Law Review, vol. 205 (Fall 2010) [free full-text]

- Scroll to p. 94. This journal is published by the U.S. Department of the Army; there is a print version available by subscription and a freely-available online version. Government publications are generally not copyright-protected.

"Fleeing the Drug War Next Door: Drug-related Violence as a Basis for Refugee Protection for Mexican Asylum-Seekers," Merkourios: Utrecht Journal of International and European Law, vol. 27, no. 72 (2011) [open access]

- This is an open access journal, which means it is made freely available online, and it places no restrictions on re-use and distribution. The journal has elected to "provide immediate open access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge."

"The International Legal Challenges of Climate-Induced Migration: Proposal for an International Legal Framework," Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy, vol. 22, no. 3 (2011) [preprint via SSRN]

- This article is due to appear in a forthcoming issue of the a/m fee-based journal, but it is being made available now as a preprint through the subject repository, Social Science Research Network (SRRN). A preprint is the version of an article submitted for consideration to a journal. Depositing eprints in a repository represents one way to more widely and more rapidly disseminate your work before it is subjected to restrictions imposed by a publisher.

Batterers as Agents of the State: Challenging the Public/Private Distinction in Intimate Partner Violence-Based Asylum Claims (ExpressO, 2011) [text]

- Another example of a preprint: This paper has not yet been published in a journal; however, it has been submitted to law reviews via Berkeley Electronic Press' ExpressO service.

Tagged Publications.