High Commissioner For Refugees Research Articles

UNHCR and Access to Justice: Mixed-Method Dispute Resolution for Encamped Refugees

Equal access to justice is enshrined as one of the most important, well-documented, and wide-spread human rights. The UN has positioned itself to uphold due process guarantees, especially in the functioning of its service providing branches. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is tasked with advocating for encamped refugees and upholding their right to access a competent system of justice. Unfortunately, UNHCR has proven incapable of providing accessible and reliable systems of justice. Refugee camps, therefore, have a high index of crime and recidivism, but very little access to mechanisms offering justice or enacting change. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) systems are rooted in dismissing the status quo of justice systems and implementing access to justice that meets the needs of the disputants. For UNHCR, an ADR system does not incorporate radical change. The High Commissioner for Refugees has the necessary funding flexibility, judicial infrastructure, and mandate to implement the ADR system proposed below. This paper introduces two integral components of UNHCR’s new vision for access to justice and structures a system capable of eliminating risks in restoring UNHCR’s service providing mandate.

International Organizations as Global Migration Governors: The World Bank in Central Asia

Numerous international organizations play a key role in generating and sustaining migration governance across the world in the absence of a global migration regime. However, global governance scholarship lacks grounded understanding of their role, which is often rejected or simply left unnoticed. In rare cases when IOs do get academic attention, light is shed on two referent “migration” IOs—the International Organization for Migration and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees—while other IOs remain in their shadow. Drawing on the case of the post-Soviet Central Asia, which is characterized by both significant migration dynamics and multilayered governance but has so far escaped attention of migration governance scholars, this article takes two steps for establishing a new research agenda. First, it deploys and applies to IOs the concept of global migration governors defined as authorities who exercise power across borders for the purpose of affecting migration policy. Second, it moves discussion beyond th...

Why be a refugee camp doctor: the challenges, rewards and medical education aspects.

Since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recorded the number of Syrian refugees registered in Lebanon, as of December 2016, to have reached 1,011,366, making Lebanon a country with the highest refugee population per capita approaching 2:1.1 In addition, close to 27% of households among the displaced Syrian population count at least one member with a specific need such as a chronic disease or disability. More than 50% of the children are deeply traumatized.2 Most refugee camps struggle to access primary care services, and the lack of doctors willing to commit to that particular practice makes it even harder to provide camps with appropriate care.3 In response to those distinctive needs of refugees, some non-governmental organizations try to provide these camps with volunteer doctors that are recognized as “refugee camp doctors”. Nowadays, most modern medical curricula are based on clinical experience that is learned in an almost “ideal setting”. At the hospital or the clinic, medical students and residents will take patients history, perform physical exams, order a workup or start treatment, while issues related to finance, gender, politics or even climate are rarely taken into consideration in their routine. However, when practicing as a refugee camp doctor, one discovers that those factors become part of the main elements that constitute medical practice. The experience gained in the field is somehow different from that offered by the traditional medical education. As a remedy, the adoption of a novel approach that promotes new medical skills is required. Hence, this perspective aims to describe the experience of both authors as volunteer camp doctors and to stress the added value to their medical curriculum. It also identifies the skills that are needed to address the challengesencountered under precarious field conditions adequately. Health and humanitarian response The authors (H.A.N. and W.W.) accepted the commitment as volunteer camp doctors. Armed with insatiable curiosity, hands-on skills, they decided to enrich their experience in community medicine by exploring a new location that had neither a curriculum nor an advanced medical facility. While both completed medical school at the same time, H.A.N. had a one-year internship in internal medicine and an additional year of residency in paediatrics, and W.W. had completed his second post-graduate year in plastic and reconstructive surgery. While their previous experience as residents in an underserved area had already exposed them to complex wound cases, challenging psychosocial issues and common paediatric viral cases, the health problems at the camp were by far more varied. No residency program could have prepared a doctor for the spectrum of issues encountered in the camp.

How Solidarity Influences Political Actors to Manage the Refugee Crisis: the Case of Proactiva Open Arms

Europe is facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II, and the Mare Nostrum has become the path that millions of people are using to flee from the armed conflict, especially since the Syrian war began in March 2011. In this sense, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 1,014,973 people arrived to Greece, Italy and Spain by sea in 2015. Nevertheless, the Mediterranean area has become the scene of not only a humanitarian crisis but also citizens’ solidarity. In this sense, Proactiva Open Arms, an NGO mostly formed by lifeguards, has helped 135,000 people to reach the coast safely, 10,273 of whom sailed in wandering boats. Of these individuals, 475 fell into the water and 9,067 were trapped on the cliffs. Proactiva Open Arms’ work has driven European and Greek authorities to respond to refugees. In this paper, we analyse through this case how solidarity among civil citizens can change political actions and encourage other citizens to act in solidarity, as part of the H2020 European funded research project SOLIDUS.

Towards global management on flight and migration? A comparison of refugee politics in Europe and Asia

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and leading Western and East Asian politicians demand coherent global management of migration and flight. This article wants to explore whether global management on refugees is feasible. It attempts to make these very different regions and regional mechanisms comparable aiming to contribute to a better intraregional understanding to raise common awareness. It compares the data on refugees and migration of the recent years to or within both regions, looking for interconnections. Then, it compares the structure, namely the legal framework in Europe and in Asia. This analysis will be followed by an agency analysis, under consideration of identity politics and discourse. The politicization of identity politics in both regions frames, and is framed by, decision makers towards global management options.This paper concludes that global management of flight and migration has become more probable in recent years since the awareness has risen in both regions about this issue. The legal foundations in many Asian states are strengthened and orientate towards the UN refugee conventions, while the restrictive rich East Asian economies have begun to realise their responsibilities.

Introduction: Non-state Actors in Mediterranean Politics

Introduction: Non-state Actors in Mediterranean Politics

Syrian Refugee Crisis: Role of Turkish Non-Governmental Organizations in Humanitarian Relief

The Syrian civil war is one of the on-going catastrophic events in which international community deals with turbulent impacts in the region and beyond. This intra-state conflict leashes out to a full-fledged war influenced by state and non-state actors, both are equally contributing to make it vulnerable to the extend of “the worst humanitarian disaster since the end of the cold war”. Within a span of four years since the beginning of civil war, international community have seen a huge influx of refugees from Syria to neighboring countries in search of safety and security as remarked by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, as “the world’s worst refugee crisis in a generation”. The conflict has now driven more than four million people from Syria with at least 7.6 million people forced from their homes within Syria, almost half of the population are either refugees or internally displaced. The civilian causality increasing by time more than 4,00,000 people. The response of international community towards the Syrian exodus can be analyzed with contrary interests and capabilities, generally failing to meet the tremendous needs of these individuals. This paper discusses about the role of Turkish Non-Governmental Organizations in humanitarian relief- internal and external spheres of the country- and its significant contributions and limitations. Turkey is now the largest refugee hosting country in the world, sheltering more than 1.8 million Syrians. The government has spent over $4 billion on the refugees and providing camps and free health care facilities. Turkey maintains an open door policy for refugees and it has accorded temporary protection to Syrians on their territory, which precludes repatriation, however legally they are not refugees in Turkey, but ‘guests’. The major NGOs working among refugees are IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, Rizk, Turk Kizilayi, Caritas Turkey and Deniz Feneri, who are maintaining a large number of tent camps, orphanages, guest houses and container camps with the warm support of international humanitarian organizations such as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Turkish Red Crescent and Amnesty International. The paper would analyze various kinds of activities and machinaries of these NGOs in facilitating humanitarian assistance and relief to the Syrian refugees living in Turkey and towards the internally displaced people in Syria.

Απόλιδας: an analysis of the international legal framework in the field of statelessness and the U.N.H.C.R.’s communication campaign

ABSTRACTIn her The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt described the condition of apolidia (statelessness) – through words that still resonate today – as that of persons who have lost their rights because they have fled their homeland. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (U.N.H.C.R.), there are about 10 million stateless persons worldwide, 600,000 of whom live in the European Union (E.U.). It seems impossible to imagine the concept of statelessness, which although it has a very specific definition in international law, remains a vague notion for the intellect and common sense. This paper will firstly focus on the historical evolution of the concept of nationality under international law. Secondly, it will deal with the international legal framework, and in particular the 1954 and 1961 Conventions on the improvement of the conditions of stateless persons and the prevention of statelessness. It will then turn to the U.N.H.C.R.’s mandate in relation to statelessness, and how this organization contributes to the promotion of an effective right to nationality. Finally, U.N.H.C.R.'s communication campaigns to end statelessness will be analyzed, in order to stress the positive impact of an effective communication strategy.

The Contemporary Global Refugee Crisis

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cited the 65.3 million displaced persons in 2015 as the highest since the Second World War. These totals, which are only surpassed by the p...

Implementers? The role of international organisations in EU funding for external migration policy

The EU is a major funder of migration projects around the world. There is a relationship of interdependence between the EU and international organizations, with the former offering funding and the latter offering implementation capacity. This paper explores this relationship in more detail. In particular, it explores how these international organizations are involved in the EU funds beyond implementation. This paper employs an organization theory approach to explain this central role of international organizations. This article argues that these organizations carefully navigate between the 'company' and 'political' organizational types. Moreover, the Commission and these organizations can be better conceptualized as forming a 'partial' organization. This holds implications for transparency and accountability in this area of growing spending. Three organizations are looked at in the context of this paper: The International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

Experiences of Burmese Chin Refugee Women: Trauma and Survival From Pre- to Postflight

Since 1988, persecuted people primarily from the Chin state in Burma have fled into India due to large-scale human rights violations. A qualitative study was conducted to understand the narratives of 5 Burmese Chin refugee women retrospectively. Using their drawings as a stimulus, an unstructured interview was employed to help participants recall their life trajectories across 4 temporal periods: (a) preflight, (b) experience of traumatic events, (c) experience of flight, and (d) present status. Results highlighted 2 main concepts—systemic gender inequalities and hope. Participants’ gender-specific experiences of inequalities during their trauma in Burma and postdisplacement lives in India were a result of masculinized ideological frameworks of institutions such as the Burmese military and the Indian police. Simultaneously, they described a sense of hope to return to their home country and work toward its development while also desiring a sense of self-sufficiency through the Burmese model of family economy. Additionally, their means of hope was evident in their continued faith in God. Findings merit the attention of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), local nongovernmental organizations, policymakers, and government officials in India for proposing gender-specific policies and suggesting initiatives for psychosocial issues related to women refugees’ employment opportunities, vulnerability to sexual abuse, and local xenophobic sentiments in India.

Reflections on sensing practice and power: A Response to Fleur Johns

One of the great strengths of Fleur Johns’ approach is her conceptual starting point: that sensing and knowing are intimately connected but distinct, and that therefore “sensing practice … encompasses those ways of knowing, or claims to knowledge, that are mobilized in the course of perception.” To borrow John Berger’s phrase, sensing practice is a “way of seeing” and whether we are viewing European oil paintings or the human-readable rendering of an algorithmic reading of data from a satellite, it is only possible to fully understand this process by recognizing that “sights” cannot be understood separately from society. Johns’ exploration of the questions of power and agency that are posed by an investigation into the implications of adopting new sensing technologies by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is important and timely because it opens up a wider discussion about the role played by Machine Learning (ML) in a wide range of social contexts, prompting us to ask about the social relations through which the technology itself is produced and used.

Securing Protection for De Facto Refugees: The Case of Central America's Northern Triangle

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that the number of requests for international refugee or asylum protection increased fivefold from 2010 to 2015. In the United States these requests are mainly filed by citizens from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—the countries collectively referred to as the Northern Triangle of Central America (TNCA). These applicants flee their countries of origin to escape threats to their lives and personal safety from gang violence, organized crime, and even police and military agents. Though the violence cannot be classified as a “war,” the daily life of many Central Americans is currently marked by human tragedies comparable to those experienced during the regional armed conflicts of past decades.

Heeding the Clarion Call in the Americas: The Quest to End Statelessness

Statelessness, or the condition of being formally excluded from citizenship everywhere, has been deemed a “scourge” and “the most forgotten aspect of human rights in the international community” by the newly elected UN Secretary-General, António Guterres. In 2014 the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which has the mandate for the protection of stateless people globally, launched the #IBelong Campaign to eradicate statelessness by 2024. A key component of the campaign is its Global Action Plan to End Statelessness (GAP), which consists of ten actions for governments and other interested parties to undertake to end statelessness worldwide. Since the campaign's ability to end statelessness is only as strong as the regional and local actors who implement the GAP on the ground, this essay examines how the campaign has been implemented regionally. Given that Guterres and others have identified the Americas as having the potential to be the first region to end statelessness by 2024, the current essay evaluates the region's progress toward this goal.

The February Revolution of 1917 and the Fate of Prisoners of the First World War

The First World War put a number of practical issues before the Russian diplomats. The first one was sending home Russian citizens stranded in foreign countries, and the second, helping numerous prisoners. Total 1.451.160offoreign prisoners of war was registered in Russia, and in enemy countries, 2.501.250Russians. After the February Revolution, the scope of activities of Russian MFA foreign institutions expanded significantly. Diplomats were to ensure the repatriation of political refugees, among which dominated either monarchical or revolutionary sentiments. The Provisional Government has sought to drop on the Ministry, as much as possible, all the complex issues related to discrimination between desirable and non-desirable returnees. After the October Revolution of 1917 under the Treaty of the Armistice between Russia and Bulgaria, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey 2 (15) in December 1917 and the agreement between Russia and Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey from March 3, 1918, prisoners of both sides had to be exchanged and sent home. The number of Russian prisoners of war by the middle of 1917 was 2.417.000. Until 1918 in Russia came from captivity 715.000 people with disabilities and 60.000 fled from the camps. At the beginning of 1918 in captivity were 1.642.000 (68 %). Except 190.000 died in captivity, 95.000 remained in Europe, 215.000 have returned to the Baltic States. Thus, 500.000 (21 %), Russian prisoners of war did not return to Russia. Issues of humanitarian cooperation are still the focus of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Russia is making a worthy contribution to the work of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration, cooperates with the Council of Europe and the OSCE.

Responsibility to Redress: Global Harm, Obligation and the Afghan and Iraqi Refugee Crises

The U.S. led invasions and occupations of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 created displacement crises that continue to this day. Yet despite the on-going consequences of these actions, and immediate needs of millions of people, U.S. and allied responses have been slow, narrow, and inadequate with regard to basic humanitarian aid and protection. In 2006, for example, the U.S. Government created programs to issue Special Immigrant Visas to a limited number of Afghans and Iraqis who worked for the U.S. military in various capacities. These programs were created to help the “friends” of the U.S. that assisted in its war effort. In this way the U.S. Government recognized a limited duty to redress harm while millions of others who were negatively affected by the invasions and occupations are given no such consideration. This paper first considers “cosmopolitan” and “anti-cosmopolitan” justifications for redressing harm done to outsiders. Then, following what Shelley Wilcox calls the global harm principle I argue that the states involved in military action in Afghanistan and Iraq have an obligation to assist everyone negatively affected, not just “friends.” In order to fulfill this obligation, the U.S. and its allies should expand their refugee resettlement programs to admit any non-combatants from Afghanistan or Iraq who wishes to resettle. For those who do not wish to resettle in the United States or Europe, greater funds should be made available in the form of direct cash transfers to individuals and greater funding for international organizations such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). I draw upon precedents of reparations in international law and practice, such as those made following cessation of wars, to support this recommendation. Finally, I consider several of the key trade-offs implied by the GHP when implemented in a “non-ideal” world.

UNHCR and protection and assistance for the victims of climate change

This contribution argues that despite the fact that the United Nations Refugee Convention does not cover persons subject to climate change induced displacement, these people should be protected by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This is the case because UNHCR's own Executive Committee has incorporated the broader African definition of a refugee that does include climate refugees into their protection mandate. We therefore conclude that UNHCR should exercise protection activities over climate refugees to be consistent with the mandate given to this United Nations programme by international law. To arrive at this conclusion we first briefly introduce the question about the protection of climate change induced displacement in the social science debate. We examine the legal definitions of refugees, agreeing with the most common interpretations of both United Nations and regional instruments. We then indicate how, by expressly extending its mandate, UNHCR itself has taken on the responsibility for the protection of people subject to climate change induced displacement. Finally, we report how, despite this mandate, UNHCR is still refusing to exercise its mandate properly, and that if it were to do so, a significant step could be taken in ensuring the protection of people subject to climate change induced displacement.

Resilience of children with refugee statuses: A research review.

Countries around the world, including Canada, are becoming more culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse because of the reception of children and families through involuntary migration. Refugees are defined by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as children and adults who have migrated to other countries due to fear of persecution in their country because of factors such as race, religion, nationality, or political opinion (Fantino & Colak, 2001). As of 2014, 51% of the 19.5 million registered refugees across the globe were children and youth, the highest figure in more than a decade (UNHCR, 2014). Every day, nearly 5,000 children become refugees, with a vast number growing up and spending their entire lives in refugee camps (UNHCR, 2014). Approximately 34,000 children are unaccompanied at the point of arrival or separated from family after arriving in a new country (UNHCR, 2014), which is notable given that unaccompanied minors often experience greater time in refugee camps awaiting decisions about placement and are at greater risk for mental health concerns (Fazel, Reed, Panter-Brick, & Stein, 2012; Wilkinson, 2002). Therefore, it is critical to identify factors that promote resilience at each stage of the migration process for refugee youth.Refugee Children in CanadaCanada has demonstrated a well-established effort toward resettling families and children as well as a public interest in providing support through active volunteer groups at the individual, community, and agency level (Government of Canada, 2016). Refugees from nearly every country have migrated to Canada over the years, including countries from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Central and South America, and more recently Iraq and Syria. According to UNHCR (2014) over the last 10 years, approximately 26,000 refugees arrived in Canada each year, with 42% of this number successfully claiming refugee status, of which 36% are children. The countries where families are migrating from at any given time reflect the current world crises. For example, because of the current humanitarian crisis in Syria, Canada has welcomed more than 29,000 refugees from Syria from November 2015 to July 2016 (Government of Canada, 2016) and is planning on receiving thousands more. This sizable increase in the number of refugees entering Canada may yield economic concerns as the refugee population continues to increase and requires more resources. Given that the European Union (EU) has started to set restrictions on the number of refugees who can enter from Syria, Canada's role in receiving Syrian refugees as well as understanding how to promote their resilience is critical. The unique resilience factors that accompany Syrian children and families, such as peer support and a sense of community, may be protective against the development of psychosocial concerns throughout the migration process (Daud, af Klinteberg, & Rydelius, 2008).Current ReviewBecause of the substantial growth in refugee children that are entering Canada and other countries around the world, there is global interest in identifying factors that are associated with risk and positive adaptation of children. Refugee children can experience numerous stressors and traumatic events because of their migration, resettlement, and acculturation experiences. These stressors can fall broadly within three periods: premigration (e.g., trauma experienced while in their country of origin), migration (e.g., hostility encountered while travelling through supposedly safe countries before reaching their host country), and postmigration periods (e.g., separation from family after migration; Pacione, Measham, & Rousseau, 2013). Although the literature on refugee youth is filled with examples of risk for many types of mental health and educational challenges associated with each period of migration (Fazel et al., 2012), researchers are increasingly holding the viewpoint that it is important to view refugee children's experiences through a lens of recovery and resilience (Masten, 2012) because focusing on risk alone paints an incomplete picture of refugee youth's lives. …

Status Determination of Indochinese Boat Arrivals: A ‘Balancing Act’ in Australia

This article examines the assessment of Indochinese refugees through Australia’s first formal refugee status determination procedure between 1978 and 1983. Drawing from a unique set of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) records, this is the first study to detail how the newly established Determination of Refugee Status (DORS) Committee’s decision-making on Indochinese boat arrivals evolved over time. The Committee provided a basis on which the then Fraser government could process the Indochinese who sailed directly to Australia, while attempting to reassure the Australian public that it remained in control of their arrival. Through revealing new details of DORS’ deliberations, this article provides an insight into inter-departmental debates about the Indochinese boat arrivals, and provides historical context for the Fraser government’s public insistence on accepting only ‘genuine’ refugees.

Global Migration and Extraterritorial Controls: The Case of International Refugee Policy in Ukraine

Countries of immigration—old and new—have developed a range of methods to control the arrival of potential refugees on their territory. Migration scholars have paid increasing attention to the extraterritorial control of migration by Global North countries beyond their borders, while refugee scholars have investigated the ways in which United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) policies may reproduce the exclusion in camps within the Global South. However, studies of humanitarian affairs rarely converge with studies of migration control. Using an institutional ethnography of an European Union-led refugee integration initiatives in Ukraine, this case study seeks to bridge this gap, exploring the consequences of the securitization of migration in this recent destination and gateway to Europe. The findings identify the ways in which local nongovernmental organizations and international humanitarian agencies may inadvertently reinforce social exclusion and extraterritorial control through refugee integration policies transposed from Global North to Global South. The article concludes with suggestions for studying the link between securitization and refugee studies, pointing to a sociospatial definition of the Global South.