Things to do in August and September...

Strengthening Prevention and Response to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Refugee and Internally Displaced Person (IDP) Settings, Nairobi, 2-13 August 2010 [info]
- Training organized by the Centre for African Family Studies.

Delivering Relief in Emergencies: Saving lives and protecting livelihoods through relief assistance, Nairobi, 23-26 August 2010 [info]
- This course "covers the main approaches of emergency relief, including an introduction to nutritional assessments, and focuses on the planning and implementation of various types of relief interventions." Registration deadline is 12 August 2010.

Basics of International Humanitarian Response Workshop, Hua Hin, Thailand, 27 September-4 October 2010 [info]
- Workshop which aims "to acquaint the participants with the purpose and practices of emergency management." Apply by 20 August 2010.

Call for Papers: Drowning Island Nations: Legal Implications and Remedies, Spring 2011 [info]
- A conference will be convened in the Spring of 2011 at Columbia Law School’s Center for Climate Change Law to explore legal issues facing low-lying island nations as climate change causes sea levels to rise, including "statehood and statelessness." Submit abstracts by 1 September 2010.

Protecting Unaccompanied Child Asylum Seekers – Improving Local Provision Through Multi-Agency Working, Westminster, UK, 9 September 2010 [info]

7th Pan-European Conference on International Relations, Stockholm, 9-11 September 2010 [info]
- The section on "Emergency of Humanitarian World Politics" includes a round table and four panels on different aspects of humanitarianism.

Faith-based humanitarianism: The response of faith communities and faith-based organizations in contexts of forced migration, Oxford, 22 September 2010 [info]
- Hosted by the Refugee Studies Centre.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

New Issue of IJRL

The International Journal of Refugee Law's latest issue (vol. 22, no. 3, Oct. 2010) includes the following articles:

• What Assumptions about Human Behaviour Underlie Asylum Judgments?
• The Mandate Refugee Program: a Critical Discussion
• Beyond Borders: Cosmopolitanism and Family Reunification for Refugees in Canada
• Human Rights, Non-refoulement and the Protection of Refugees in Hong Kong

Also in this issue are two book reviews and a German legal decision.

Tagged Periodicals.

New Issues of Dev. in Pract., HR Brief, Intl. J. Migr. Health & Soc. Care, JCR, JIMI, JPR

Development in Practice, vol. 20, no. 6 (2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Human Rights Brief, vol. 17, no. 4 (Spring 2010) [full-text]
- Special edition issue, featuring presentations from the conference "Strengthening the Prohibition against Torture: The Evolution of the UN Committee against Torture."

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 6, no. 1 (Feb. 2010) [contents]
- Theme for this issue is "Migration, Health and Social Networks." Includes "Refugees from Myanmar and their Health Care Needs in the US: A Qualitative Study at a Refugee Resettlement Agency."

Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 54, no. 4 (August 2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles including "Burden Sharing in the Funding of the UNHCR: Refugee Protection as an Impure Public Good."

Journal of International Migration and Integration, vol. 11, no. 3 (August 2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles including a book review of Jason Hart's Years of Conflict: Adolescence, Political Violence and Displacement.

Journal of Peace Research, vol. 47, no. 4 (July 2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles including "Armed Conflicts, 1946—2009."

Tagged Periodicals.

New Issue of Georgetown Immigration Law Journal

Georgetown Immigration Law Journal's latest issue (vol. 24, no. 2, Winter 2010) features several articles on asylum seekers and refugees, including:

• The Development of Gender as a Basis for Asylum in United States Immigration Law and Under the United Nations Refugee Convention: Case Studies of Female Asylum Seekers From Cameroon, Eritrea, Iraq and Somalia
• Prosecution or Persecution: Contradictions Between U.S. Foreign Policy & the Adjudication of Asylum Claims Involving the Harboring of North Korean Refugees
• A Solution: An Approach to Addressing Fear-Based Claims Within the Religious Conservative Community and its Application to a Current Refugee Concern
• North Korean Border-Crossers in Yanbian: The "Protection Gap" Between the Economic Migrant and Refugee Regimes

Also in this issue is a discussion of temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians.

Tagged Periodicals.

Publications: Asylum Policy/EU, Classified Info./NZ, Climate Change/Asia, Detention/Greece, Health Services/Uganda, Land & Natural Dis.

Asia's Response to Climate Change and Natural Disasters: Implications for an Evolving Regional Architecture (CSIS, July 2010) [text via ReliefWeb]

"Casualties of Disharmony: The Exclusion of Asylum Seekers Under the Auspices of the Common European Asylum System," Emory International Law Review, vol. 24, no. 1 (2010) [full-text]

Greece: Irregular migrants and asylum-seekers routinely detained in substandard conditions (Amnesty International, July 2010) [text]

Land and Natural Disasters: Guidance for Practitioners (UNHABITAT et al., 2010) [text via UN Pulse]

"Perceptions about human rights, sexual and reproductive health services by internally displaced persons in northern Uganda," African Health Sciences, vol. 9(S2) (Oct. 2009) [full-text]

Safeguarding New Zealand's Borders? (IARLJ, posted July 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Blogs: Asylum Seekers/Hong Kong, Humanitarian Assistance, PRRN, UNHCR/Central Europe

Global Humanitarian Assistance Blog [access]
- Commentary on funding for humanitarian assistance.

PRRN: The Blog of the Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet [access]
- Forum for personal observations on the Palestinian refugee issue from members of the PRRN.

Seeking Refuge [access]
- Provides a forum for asylum seekers in Hong Kong to tell their stories and share their experiences.

UNHCR Central Europe Blog [access]
- Stories and anecdotes from refugees in Central European countries.

Tagged Web Sites/Tools.

Publications: Burmese/Malaysia, Darfur Voices, FIDH Regional Seminar, IDPs & Reinteg., Tuberculosis,

Darfurian Voices: Documenting Darfurian Refugees' Views on Issues of Peace, Justice, and Reconciliation (24 Hours for Darfur, July 2010) [text]

The end of the road? A review of UNHCR's role in the return and reintegration of internally displaced populations, PDES/2010/09 (UNHCR, July 2010) [text]

Migrations internationales: Travailleurs migrants, demandeurs d’asile et réfugiés en Europe de l’Est, Asie centrale et Caucase du sud (FIDH, July 2010) [French text] [English text]
- Conference report from FIDH's regional seminar.

"Tuberculosis: evidence review for newly arriving immigrants and refugees," CMAJ, early release (July 2010) [text]

World Refugee Day, June 20th: Reflecting on the Plight of Burmese Refugees in Malaysia (Untold Stories Blog, June 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

Statelessness Focus: Information Resources, Job Opportunities

Information resources:

"Forced migration and asylum: stateless citizens today," Chapter 10 in Migration in a Globalised World: New Research Issues and Prospects (Amsterdam University Press, 2010) [text]
- Scroll down to p. 183.

Locked out: The 12 million people without a country, and their need to become a citizen (Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, July 2010) [text]

The Struggle against Statelessness Advances in Strasbourg (Open Society Blog, July 2010) [text]

UNHCR Executive Committee Conclusions related to Statelessness (UNHCR, July 2010) [text]

United Nations General Assembly Resolutions of particular relevance to statelessness and nationality (UNHCR, July 2010) [text]

Viet Nam ends stateless limbo for 2,300 former Cambodians (UNHCR, July 2010) [text]

Job opportunities:

Asylum Aid is seeking to fill two consultancies for its joint project with UNHCR on statelessness in the UK: a Senior Legal Researcher and a Demographer/Statistician. Apply by 29 July 2010.

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

New SSRN Papers

A Different Way Home: Resettlement Patterns in Northern Uganda (posted May 2010) [text]

Enhancing the Capacity of the Externally Displaced in the Post-War Reconstruction of Sudan: An Exploratory Qualitative Study on Development, Civil Society, and Good Governance with Sudanese Refugees at Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya (posted May 2010) [text]

From the Right to Asylum to Migration Management: The Legal-Political Construction of 'A Refugee' in the Post-Communist Czech Republic (posted July 2010) [text]

Internally Displaced Persons: Protection Measures Under International Human Rights Framework (posted June 2010) [text]

Media Representation of Human Trafficking in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada (posted July 2010) [text]

News Frames and Story Triggers and in the Media’s Coverage of Human Trafficking (posted July 2010) [text]

Refusing 'Refuge' in the Pacific: (De)Constructing Climate-Induced Displacement in International Law (posted July 2010) [text]

Understanding Human Trafficking in South Africa: A Theoretical Perspective (posted June 2010) [text]

UNHCR's Parallel Universe: Marking the Contours of a Problem (posted June 2010) [text]

Women, Vulnerability and Humanitarian Emergencies (posted May 2010) [text]

Tagged Publications.

50 Years of EXCOM: 1959-2009

To mark the 50-year tenure of UNHCR's Executive Committee (EXCOM), the UNHCR Global Report for 2009 includes a brief history and timeline that highlights the major refugee events of the past decades and the important role that EXCOM has played over the years. To learn more about EXCOM, its mandate, members, rules of procedure and much more, visit the relevant section of the UNHCR web site. You can also access full-text documents disseminated during annual meetings as of the 41st session in 1990.

Not much has been written about EXCOM generally. In 1990 the now-defunct Centre for Documentation on Refugees (CDR) compiled EXCOM in Abstracts: A Bibliographic Description of Documentation Issued in the Context of UNHCR's Governing Bodies and Major International Refugee Conferences 1951-1990, which summarizes the official documentation submitted to the advisory bodies of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1951 to 1990, that is, EXCOM and the two entities which preceded it: the High Commissioner's Advisory Committee and the United Nations Refugee Fund (UNREF) Executive Committee. The editor's introduction provides a useful overview of these three bodies, while a separate article by Anders Johnsson reviews the origins of the current Executive Committee and its mandate.

Elsewhere, some additional background information on and analysis of the role of EXCOM can be found in:

Jackson, Ivor, "Some International Protection Issues Arising During the 1970s and 1980s with Particular Reference to the Role of the UNHCR Executive Committee," Refugee Survey Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 1 (2008) [abstract]

Mason, Elisa, "Resolving Refugee Problems: An Introduction to the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner's Programme and Its Documentation," Journal of Government Information, vol. 27, no. 1 (January 2000) [abstract]

Sztucki, Jerzy, "The Conclusions on the International Protection of Refugees Adopted by the Executive Committee of the UNHCR Programme," International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 1, no. 3 (1989) [abstract]

Warner, Daniel, "Forty Years of the Executive Committee: From the Old to the New," International Journal of Refugee Law, vol. 2, no. 2 (April 1990) [abstract]

[Picture credit: "UNHCR: 2009 Executive Committee Meeting," UN-NGLS]

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.

Asylum Claims based on Accusations of Witchcraft

UNHCR and Fahamu Refugee Programme are co-hosting a course entitled "Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights: A course for lawyers and legal advisers." It promises to "to arm lawyers and legal advisers with the information, networks and resources they require to represent those accused of witchcraft. Participants will learn how to best represent those whose claims to asylum are based upon accusations of witchcraft, an emerging area of refugee law in which there is a need for specialized knowledge and training." This event will be held 4-5 September 2010 in Oxford. The deadline for registering is 21 August 2010.

Other witchcraft-related resources:

Children Accused of Witchcraft: An anthropological study of contemporary practices in Africa (UNICEF, April 2010) [text]

Victims of Accusations of Witchcraft (Rights in Exile Programme) [access]
- Resource page.

Witchcraft allegations, refugee protection and human rights: a review of the evidence, New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 169 (UNHCR, Jan. 2009) [text]

"Witchcraft and Displacement," Forced Migration Review, no. 31 (Oct. 2008) [text]

Witchcraft, Displacement and Human Rights Network [access]
- A blog with regular news and information updates.

Witches in the 21st Century (OHCHR, August 2009) [access]
- News report from the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Philip Alston.

[Picture credit: "Examination of a Witch," in Salem Witch Trials, Wikipedia]

Tagged Publications and Events & Opportunities.

New Issues of Child Dev., Diversity in Health & Care, Global R2P, Refugee Watch, Women's Asylum News

Child Development, vol. 81, no. 4 (July/August 2010) [contents]
- Includes a special focus on disasters and their impact on child development; a number of the preprint versions of these articles are available in the documents section of the Society for Research in Child Development web site, including "Defining Best Practice in Care and Protection of Children in Crisis-Affected Settings: A Delphi Study."

Diversity in Health and Care, vol. 7, no. 2 (June 2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles; includes "Social support and health: immigrants' and refugees' perspectives" and "Improving reach: promoting engagement by building bridges between refugee women and the voluntary sector."

Global Responsibility to Protect, vol. 2, no. 3 (June 2010) [contents]
- Focus is on R2P and international law.

Refugee Watch: A South Asian Journal on Forced Migration, no. 35 (June 2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles; published by the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group.

Women's Asylum News, no. 93 (July 2010) [full-text via Refworld]
- Lead article is "Women's Asylum Charter: Two Years On."

Tagged Periodicals.

Publications: Asylum Stats./EU, Detention, Humanitarianism/Afgh. & Sri Lanka, IDP Stats., Natural Disaster Resp., Rescue at Sea, Stateless Persons

Asylum applicants and first instance decisions on asylum applications in Q1 2010 (EUROSTAT, July 2010) [text]

Distant Voices, Shaken Lives: Human Stories of Immigration Detention (Refugee Action Group, 2010) [text]

How do International Financial Flows to Developing Countries Respond to Natural Disasters? (IMF, July 2010) [text via ReliefWeb]

Internal displacement caused by conflict and violence (IDMC, July 2010) [text]

New Research on the State of the Humanitarian Enterprise (FIC, 2010) [access]
- Two papers on Afghanistan and Sri Lanka now available.

Sovereignty at Sea: The law and politics of saving lives in the Mare Liberum (DIIS, July 2010) [text]

Unraveling Anomaly: Detention, Discrimination and the Protection Needs of Stateless Persons (Equal Rights Trust, July 2010) [text] [summary]

Tagged Publications.

Events & Opportunities: Courses, Jobs, Lists, Meetings, Survey

Courses:

ELENA Training Course, "The Common European Asylum System," Athens, 17-18 September 2010
- Register by 21 July 2010.

New introductory e-course on rights of refugees and displaced persons [info]
- Offered by Human Rights Education Associates.

Job vacancies:

Research Fellow/Post-Doctoral Fellow in Statistics or Demography, FMSP [info]
- Apply by 1 August 2010.

Senior Policy Officer - Forced Displacement, ICVA [info]
- Apply by 1 August 2010.

Lists:

Immigration Detention Discussion List
- "We are convening a new, moderated email list-serve. It will be of interest to academics and practitioners who would like to continue exploring the issue of immigration detention raised at the workshop. You are welcome to join whether or not you attended the workshop. Please email Stephanie Silverman for more details: stephanie.silverman@sant.ox.ac.uk."

SRLAN List [info]
- Circulates announcements relevant to refugee legal aid.

Meetings:

Environmental Degradation and Conflict: From Vulnerabilities to Capabilities, Bielefeld, Germany, 5-9 December 2010 [info]
- "Aims to shed light on the complex dynamics of environmentally induced migration and the associated societal processes." Submit abstract for paper by 15 August 2010.

Responding to Internal Displacement in Colombia: Perspectives from Government, International Organizations and other Stakeholders, Washington, DC, 23 July 2010 [info]
- Convened by the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement.

Survey:

FMO User Survey 2010 [access]
- Help FMO with future planning.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.

Publications: Asylum/EU, Cessation, Children in Detention, Education, Human Traff. & AIDS, Livelihoods/Ethiopia, Malta

Asylum Policy in the European Union: An Examination of the Reception Conditions Directive and Housing Facilities for Asylum Seekers in Malta (SSRN, June 2010) [text]

Detention of Children (Refugee Council, July 2010) [text]

ECRE Memorandum to the Belgian Presidency (ECRE, July 2010) [text]

Focus on Education in Emergencies (IIEP, May-August 2010) [access]

Practicing Cessation (IntLawGrrls Blog, July 2010) [text]

"Sex Trafficking and HIV/AIDS: A Deadly Junction for Women and Girls," Human Rights, vol. 37, no. 2 (Spring 2010) [text]

Struggling to Make a Living in Ethiopia: Surviving in the Informal Economy (Women's Refugee Commission, July 2010) [text]

[Picture credit: IIEP]

Tagged Publications.

Thematic Reports: ECRE Country Reports, Global Humanitarian Assistance, UPR Submissions

Country Reports 2009: Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine (ECRE, July 2010) [access]
- "ECRE’s Eastern Europe project is publishing reports on the situation for IDPs, refugees and asylum seeker in the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation and Ukraine in 2009. As well as describing the situation for these groups of people, the reports also contain recommendations to governmental and international agencies on how to improve their protection."

Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2010 (Development Initiatives, July 2010) [access]
- "...GHA Report 2010 attempts to track: the response to need, the provision of finance, the actors involved, the funding mechanisms used, and the countries and projects prioritised."

UNHCR Submissions for the "Universal Periodic Review" (July 2010) [access]
- Includes submissions for Australia, Estonia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Niger, Rwanda, St. Kitts & Nevis, and St. Lucia.

Tagged Publications.

Periodicals: New Issues of Fahamu Refugee News, Humanit. Exch., Intervention; FMR CFP

New Issues:

Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter, no. 5 (June 2010) [full-text]
- News and information for refugee legal aid providers.

Humanitarian Exchange Magazine, no. 47 (June 2010) [full-text]
- Focus is "Humanitarian Security Management."

Intervention: International Journal of Mental Health, Psychosocial Work and Counselling in Areas of Armed Conflict, vol. 8, no. 2 (July 2010) [contents]
- Mix of articles.

Call for Papers:

Forced Migration Review (FMR) has issued a call for papers for its upcoming issue on "non-state armed groups." The deadline for submissions is 1 November 2010.

Tagged Periodicals and Events & Opportunities.

Human Trafficking Resources Explore Linkages with Gender Issues, Migration, Labour

The Global Alliance against Traffic in Women (GAATW) held its international conference in Bangkok, 6-7 July 2010. The theme was "Beyond Borders: Trafficking in the Context of Migrant, Labour and Women's Rights." Here is the agenda.

This theme is further explored in a series of working papers, entitled "Beyond Borders: Exploring Trafficking's Links to Gender, Migration, Labour, Globalisation and Security" (see four titles listed to the right of the home page) and in the July 2010 issue of Alliance News, GAATW's magazine.

Among the articles included in this issue are "The Migrant Worker, The Refugee, and The Trafficked Person: What’s in a Label?," "The Trafficking-Refugee Nexus: When return and reintegration becomes refoulement," and "Somali Migrants in Nairobi: Challenges of recognising urban refugees and their contributions to the economy."

Tagged Events, Publications, and Periodicals.

Haiti Update

Six months have passed since the earthquake in Haiti. Here are a few updates on the status of emergency response and reconstruction efforts taking place and assessments of how the population is faring.

Emergency Response after the Haiti Earthquake: Choices, Obstacles, Activities and Finance (MSF, July 2010) [text]

Haiti earthquake survivors living in appalling circumstances (JRS/USA Blog, July 2010) [text]

Haiti Six Months On (Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, July 2010) [text]

Hope for Haiti? (IntLawGrrls Blog, July 2010) [text]

Response to the Humanitarian Crisis in Haiti: Achievements, Challenges and Lessons To Be Learned (OCHA, July 2010) [text]

Six Months Later: Reproductive Health Needs Still Critical in Haiti (Women's Refugee Commission Blog, July 2010) [text]

"Special Focus on Haiti," Coping with Crisis, no. 2 (2010) [full-text]

For more news and analysis, visit ReliefWeb's Haiti pages.

[Map source: OCHA, Jan. 2010]

Tagged Publications.

Two job opportunities in the U.S.

Assistant Researcher, Humanitarian Need Analysis Support Project, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, Medford, MA [info]
- The advert here notes that the closing date for applications is 18 July 2010.

Protection Officer, UNHCR, Washington, DC [info]
- Apply by 30 July 2010.

Tagged Events & Opportunities.