Nations High Commissioner For Refugees Research Articles

Correlates of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among the forcibly displaced: evidence from Libya

BackgroundVaccine hesitancy and refusal can hinder the control of infectious diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although forcibly displaced individuals are at high risk of contracting COVID-19, evidence shows that they are less likely to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. Given their predicament, the factors influencing vaccine uptake in the general population might differ vastly from those in displaced populations. Given the limited evidence on vaccine uptake from humanitarian settings, the current study examined the determinants of COVID-19 vaccine uptake among the forcibly displaced in Libya.MethodsData were extracted from the World Bank/United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) microdata repository. Data were collected between April and July 2021 after the rollout of the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in Libya. Percentages, means, and standard deviations were used to quantify the distribution of the sample population. Logistic regression models were employed to identify factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine uptake.ResultsOdds ratios (ORs) with p values are used to present the regression analysis results. The study revealed that people unaffected by COVID-19 were less likely (OR = .71, 95%CI = 0.67–0.89) to accept the vaccine. Similarly, individuals with access to free COVID-19 vaccines were more likely to be vaccinated than those without free vaccines (OR = 38, 95%CI = 0.19–0.28). Finally, the results indicated that individuals were six times more likely to be vaccinated at mass vaccination sites ((OR = 6.31, 95%CI = 5.46- 7.94) and 1.92 times more likely to be vaccinated at local health centers (OR = 1.92, 95%CI = 0.1.72–3.11) than they were at hospitals and distant health facilities.ConclusionImplementing comprehensive mass vaccination venues, public education initiatives, and awareness campaigns regarding the importance of vaccination can decrease vaccine hesitancy among the forcibly displaced.

Fleeing a Well-Founded Fear of Persecution to Be Persecuted Again? The Case of LGBTIQ+ Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Uganda

Abstract This work focuses on the legal promotion and protection of the rights of LGBTIQ+ asylum seekers and refugees in Uganda. Uganda’s treatment of LGBTIQ+ communities is one of the harshest in Africa, with the adoption of legal instruments criminalizing LGBTIQ+ people, as well as same-sex relations. These instruments apply to all LGBTIQ+ people present in Uganda, including asylum seekers and refugees. Refugees have never been granted refugee status on the basis of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Asylum claims based solely on sexual orientation and/or gender identity are systematically rejected by the Ugandan Commissioner for Refugees. This article shows that, despite efforts by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and non-governmental organizations, Uganda remains a country hostile to LGBTIQ+ asylum seekers and refugees specifically, and to LGBTIQ+ communities generally. LGBTIQ+ refugees must conduct a discreet life to avoid being penalized because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. The ambiguous positions of African institutions, such as the African Union, do not help in securing such people’s rights and protection. Serious changes are needed if Uganda is to adhere to human rights principles that safeguard the rights of LGBTIQ+ communities.

Aligning United States Law with International Norms Would Remove Major Barriers to Protection in Gender Claims

Abstract The protection of women and girls fleeing gender-based harms has been controversial in the United States (US), with advances followed by setbacks. The US interpretation of particular social group and its nexus analysis, both of which diverge from guidance by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is the most significant barrier to protection. It has become almost impossible for women and girls to rely upon the particular social group ground because of current requirements that social groups not only be defined by immutable or fundamental characteristics, but also be socially distinct and have particularity. Establishing nexus is also a significant obstacle, with the US requirement of proof of the persecutor’s intent. In the first month of his administration, President Biden issued an executive order on migration, which raised hopes that these obstacles to protection would be removed. The order committed to protecting survivors of domestic violence and to issuing regulations that would make the US interpretation of particular social group consistent with international standards. The target date for the regulations was November 2021, but they have yet to issue. This article examines how the evolution of the US interpretation of particular social group and nexus has diverged from UNHCR recommendations. It shows how protection has been denied in gender cases involving the most egregious of harms. The article concludes by providing recommendations for realignment with international standards, which set a benchmark for evaluating the promised Biden administration regulations on the issue.

Legal obstacles in registering the birth of a child who has reached the age of one or more according to the civil law of Ukraine

The article is devoted to the study of the issue of legal obstacles in the registration of the birth of a child who has reached the age of one or more, in civil registry offices. It was analyzed a number of legal acts of domestic legislation in the field of civil and family legislation of Ukraine, scientific research on birth registration was done. An analysis of the legal acts regarding the registration of the birth of children in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, for which the general rules for the registration of newborns apply: it is carried out in the nearest departments of civil registry offices in the safe territory of Ukraine.
 The article analyzes the international document - the Convention on the Rights of the Child, according to which the participating states undertake to provide the child with such protection and care as is necessary for his well-being, taking into account the rights and obligations of his parents, guardians or other persons who meet for her by law, and for this purpose all appropriate legislative and administrative measures are taken.
 Thanks to the analysis of data from the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), was investigated the issue of the lack of birth registration for a significant number of newborns in the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions not under the control of the government of Ukraine, due to which they may be at risk of statelessness, since at the age of 14 they will not be able to apply for a passport of a citizen of Ukraine. It was emphasized that there is a need to protect the rights and interests of children regarding their birth registration.
 Since parents, when applying to the civil registry offices with an application for state registration of the birth of a child who has reached 1 year or older, may face an obstacle in registering the birth of their children, due to the lack of a complete package of documents, namely: certificates of the child’s stay under the supervision of the institution health care, certificates from the child’s place of residence. Proposals regarding the simplified procedure for the state registration of the birth of children have been provided.
 It was emphasized that there is a need to protect the rights and interests of children regarding their birth registration, and proposals were made for a simplified procedure for registering their birth. In particular, it is proposed to amend Article 13 of the aforementioned Law of Ukraine «On State Registration of Civil Status Acts» regarding state registration of the birth of a child, namely: regarding the possibility of carrying out state registration of birth at the place of residence of the child and at the place of residence of the parents or one of them, excluding the requirements for presenting a certificate from the place of residence of the child during the state registration of the birth of a child who has reached one year or more, a certificate about the child’s stay under supervision healthcare facility.

Teaching spanish to migrants in the Soconusco region, Chiapas, Mexico

This research was conducted in the state of Chiapas, throughout the Soconusco region. Students from BA in English Language Teaching at UNACH (Universidad Autonoma de Chiapas) participated as teachers in basic Spanish courses for the migrant population, from January 2020 to April 2021. This paper aims to give an account of the partial results of a study; its main objective is to analyze the nature of teaching Spanish to migrants and people in mobility from different countries. Migratory movements are a phenomenon of special incidence in contemporary societies according to the Manifest of Santander (2009), one of the first works carried out in Spain in terms of language teaching to migrants and refugees. Given the need to incorporate the teaching of the target language into the global policies of care for immigrants, since their learning of the target language depends a lot on the active insertion in the host community (Manifest of Santander cited in Garcia et al. 2014). The Language school at the UNACH is a public educational institution with social responsibility that has collaborated with COMAR (Comisión Mexicana de Ayuda a Refugiados) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) seeking to protect the rights and welfare of refugees, migrants and people in mobility during their stay in Mexico. Thus, the Language School has carried out the implementation of teaching basic Spanish courses as a foreign language to refugees and migrants from countries such as Haiti, Surinam, the United States, Jamaica, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and Canada. However, due to the COVID-19 contingency, these courses were changed from face-to-face sessions to virtual mode during that period and after the contingency, the courses had been taught in face-to-face sessions again.  In this sense, this research yields interesting contributions that can be taken into account for a significant teaching-learning process of Spanish as a foreign language or as a second language in the region of Soconusco answering the following research questions: What is the training of teachers who teach Spanish as a second language in the Soconusco region? What difficulties did they have while teaching Spanish as a second language? How effective were Spanish classes for migrants and refugees?

Girls on the Move

As we write these words to introduce this Special Issue, scores of girls and young women around the world are facing a myriad of challenges as they are forced to flee their homes, leaving behind friends, family, communities, and being propelled into uncertain and very often precarious migratory journeys. Without a doubt, we live in deeply troubling times. While numbers provide a mere glimpse into the devastating humanitarian crisis of forced displacement, they are shocking. Forced displacement, migration, and (re)settlement following conflict, violence, human rights violations, persecution, disasters, and the impacts of climate change, both in nations and across borders, is an ever-escalating crisis affecting tens of millions of people worldwide. Acknowledging that these numbers are unprecedented, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2023a) reported that by the end of June 2023, over 110 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide and projected that this number would increase to 130 million by the end of 2024. This projected increase takes into account the mass displacement caused by the war between Israel and Hamas as well as ongoing and escalating conflicts in Sudan, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. While current headlines focus principally on the continuing crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, we cannot lose sight of the millions of forcibly displaced persons elsewhere in the world, including those in Eritrea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Syria, Türkiye, Myanmar, India, Venezuela, and Haiti. Recognizing regional diversity in the staggering numbers serves to underscore forced displacement as a transnational issue that requires urgent global attention.

Examining the Impact of Living in an Asylum on the Mental Health of Middle Eastern Refugees

Refugee aid is seldom a topic of American political conversations despite rising global refugee populations (American Immigration Council, 2020). Refugees who have fled or been forced out of their native country seek asylum, or protection from persecution, in a host country (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2015). Thus, an asylum country is one in which refugees can live without fear of persecution or deportation to their native country, while they apply for permanent residence or resettlement (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2015). Many Middle Eastern nations including Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Palestine are currently experiencing war and subsequently, hundreds of thousands of individuals from these nations have been forced to seek asylum elsewhere (International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2022). Adjusting to asylum countries may affect mental health, which is an individual’s state of psychological wellness (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023; United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 2022). Thus, this paper will examine how relocation to an asylum country impacts the mental health of Middle Eastern refugees.

Predictors of Acculturation and Adaptation in a Sample of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon

While the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has a record of approximately 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, no studies have focused on understanding the processes of acculturation and sociocultural/psychological adaptation among them in Lebanon. The aim of this study was to evaluate Syrian refugees’ patterns of acculturation and adaptation; to evaluate their association with social and psychological factors such as perceived discrimination, cultural distance, and attachment; and to look for predictors of acculturation and adaptation. The sample consisted of 241 Syrian refugees between 18 and 64 years of age. Correlations were found between acculturation and adaptation, both of which were impacted by reasons for displacement. Moreover, results showed that low cultural distance, perceived discrimination, and insecure attachment predicted both psychological and sociocultural adaptation, whereas lower perceived discrimination, attachment avoidance, and high attachment anxiety predicted high host acculturation. Findings are discussed in light of potential interventions facilitating refugees’ adaptation to the Lebanese culture.

Should we stop talking about empathy?: Virtual reality, refugee children and the ethics of technology-mediated moral education

ABSTRACT Given much-discussed innovations in Virtual Reality as the ‘ultimate empathy machine’, we offer three provocations regarding the use of Virtual Reality to cultivate empathy: is empathy possible? Is empathy enough? Who controls how empathy is produced, and who is left out? As a case study, we examine the VR films that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has produced about the refugee crisis. Using this as an entry point to discuss the implications for technology-mediated moral education, our analysis aims to provide insights for educators and scholars interested in the use of VR to teach about marginalised communities facing structural injustice. In conclusion, we offer a set of practical considerations to foster reflection on the ethical and effective use of technology in moral education. We advocate for a nuanced approach that emphasises empathy as a catalyst for meaningful change, transforming passive empathy into active solidarity.

Criminal Law Protection of the Ukrainian External Voting to the State Authorities in Post-War Conditions (A Case Study of Poland)

Background. The article explores the potential of conducting elections for state authorities of Ukraine in the foreign electoral district (external voting) in the conditions caused by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on 24 February 2022. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), with the caveat that the real numbers may be higher due to not all migrants from Ukraine being able to register as refugees, 6.2 million Ukrainians currently reside abroad, with 5.8 million of them situated in Europe. The Republic of Poland hosts the largest number of Ukrainian refugees with temporary protection status, exceeding 1.5 million. Therefore, the research focused on the case of the Republic of Poland, expecting that its findings could be extrapolated to other states where a significant number of Ukrainian citizens reside. Considering that about 20% of Ukrainian citizens reside abroad, including both refugees and those who permanently lived abroad until 24 February 2023, Ukraine must devise effective mechanisms for organising external voting; otherwise, if measures are not taken, less than 0.5% of voters abroad will be able to vote. In particular, it is necessary to develop models ensuring the criminal legal protection of external voting, as election abuses can affect voting outcomes significantly, distort the process, and even lead to the usurpation of power. Methods. Throughout the research, various methods, including logical (analysis, synthesis, generalisation, extrapolation, analogy, modelling, hypothesis), historical, systemic-structural, comparative-legal, and dogmatic methods, have been used. Logical methods played a crucial role in analysing the operation of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, regarding possible electoral offences committed outside Ukraine during Ukrainian elections held abroad. The historical method was utilised to analyse the experience of the Ukrainian parliamentary elections in 2019. The system-structural method has been applied to formulate proposals for ensuring the legal protection of elections to state authorities outside of Ukraine. The comparative legal method was applied when comparing provisions in the criminal legislation of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland, specifically those pertaining to liability for election offences. The dogmatic method has been used in the interpretation of the norms of the Penal Code of the Republic of Polandestablishing liability for election offences, in the understanding of the norms of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses regarding their application to election offences committed outside Ukraine. The article delves into two primary aspects. Firstly, it examines the jurisdiction under which criminal liability for election offences in Ukrainian external voting is imposed, explicitly identifying the relevant legislation of the involved state. Secondly, it addresses the problems of applying the principles of the operation of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in space concerning the prosecution of electoral criminal offences, including foreigners. Result and conclusions. The authors substantiate the necessity of creating supplementary election precinctswithin the territory of the Republic of Poland, designated for conducting Ukrainian elections beyond the premises of diplomatic institutions of Ukraine and equating them in terms of legal status to the premises of diplomatic institutions of Ukraine. The latter is possible by concluding a bilateral agreement between Ukraine and the Republic of Poland on assistance in conducting Ukrainian external voting on the territory of the Republic of Poland.

Refugee fiction as world-literature: Rethinking registration in the contemporary refugee novel

ABSTRACT The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees #IBelong campaign reinforces the importance of national belonging in crisis resolution. However, both the “refugee crisis” and world-literature complicate this classification of belonging. Whilst research into refugee fiction is abundant, readings of refugee fiction as world-literature are sparse. This paper re-examines the impact of the “refugee crisis” on classifications of belonging, arguing that a reading of refugee fiction through the Warwick Research Collective’s definition of world-literature enables an understanding of the systems and forces underlying the crisis. Synthesizing the work of the Warwick Research Collective, Hannah Arendt, and Judith Butler, it explores contemporary social (rather than national) belonging in Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West, enabling a critique of the United Nations-led assignment of rights in the contemporary world. Through reading registration in refugee fiction, we can re-examine literature’s role in crisis, critiquing contemporary responses to the “refugee crisis”, and contributing alternative approaches based on collective belonging.

Nationality and the Right to Enter: Assessing the Impact of Refusal of Entry for the Purpose of Statelessness Determination

This article considers the legal situation of migrants, including rejected asylum seekers, who are unable to enter what was, until then, regarded as their country of nationality. This is because that country, without explicitly disputing their nationality, either prohibits their entry or de facto prevents them from entering its territory by failing to issue travel documents or respond to requests for consular assistance for organising return. By examining the conceptualisation of nationality in international law on the one hand, and the international legal definition of a stateless person on the other hand, the article argues that the right to enter the territory of one’s state is so essential to the concept of nationality that refusal of entry and denial of consular assistance for arranging return should be regarded as evidence that the state does not consider a person as its national. Based on this argument, the article further assesses the suitability of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ guidance on statelessness determination in cases of direct or indirect denial of entry. Ultimately, this contribution aims to clarify the scope of the international legal definition of a stateless person by strongly grounding its interpretation in the conceptualisation of nationality in international law.

International bureaucrats’ attitudes toward global climate adaptation

The 2015 Paris Agreement has fueled debates about how the international bureaucrats driving international organizations’ engagement with climate adaptation ought to address adaptation challenges. While previous research has predominantly focused on the structural constraints in adaptation governance, this paper develops a distinct argument about the cognitive frames through which international bureaucrats view climate risks. The evidence comes from a survey among bureaucrats in three organizations that have engaged with adaptation to different extents: United Nations Environment, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the World Health Organization. The results suggest that the majority of the surveyed bureaucrats view climate risks as a multidimensional problem. The evidence indicates that bureaucrats are more likely to view climate risks through multiple than through single issue frames, the more certain they perceive the knowledge about climate impacts in their issue area to be. By way of conclusion, the paper sketches broader implications for adaptation and international bureaucracy research.

EU migration policy: policy of humanism vs threat to national security

Uncontrolled migration sweeping Europe is a priority of the political leadership led by a number of European states such as France, Italy, as well as their allies in the United States. The climate crisis in Europe also plays an important role here, which can be resolved, according to Germany, with the help of future “new citizens” who arrived from countries in Africa and the Middle East, exclusively with a Muslim population. What are the migration and immigrant policies in EU countries? How is the immigration policy of European countries being transformed? A detailed analysis of the current state of affairs in Europe is based on official data from the national statistical services of Germany, France, Great Britain, the Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia, the Department of Civil Liberty and Immigration of the Italian Republic, as well as international organizations - the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Eurostat, World Bank. The article examines the security problem in connection with the penetration of radical Islam along with refugees. The authors reveal the consequences of the migration crisis in Europe and make an attempt to answer the question: is the reception and integration of refugees an act of humanity or a problem of national security for EU countries.

Refugee Labour Mobility to the EU: A Tool Contributing to Fairer Sharing of Responsibilities in the Context of Forced Displacement?

Abstract The idea of facilitating labour mobility for refugees as a pathway for admission is back on the policy agenda. Such complementary pathways are promoted in the Global Compact for Refugees as means to facilitate access to protection and solutions in addition to resettlement, and praised by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees as directly contributing to easing pressure on host countries by promoting a fairer sharing of responsibilities. Yet, a significant shortcoming of work-based pathways is that in most cases they do not lead directly to a durable solution but rather offer “a journey to a durable solution” on the basis of temporary residence permits. This begs the question, to what extent can we rely on such pathways to support responsibility sharing and what happens in cases where beneficiaries of such complementary pathways lose residence rights? By comparing the different approaches applied to Ukrainian and Syrian refugees in the European Union, this article concludes that refugee labour mobility in its current state has the potential to contribute to fairer responsibility sharing only cumulatively with other durable solutions and complementary pathways, and when it provides admission facilitation coupled with a fast and clear path to permanent residence or legal mechanisms, ensuring possibilities for extension of residence rights and legality of stay.

A Systematic Review of Evidence-Based Interventions for Afghan Refugee Mental Health: A Cultural Adaptation Analysis

Under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) seven-decade mandate, Afghan refugees have faced some of the largest and most protracted experiences with forced displacement. This intergenerational exposure to forced migration has had innumerable consequences for the mental health of this population across different stages of their displacement. Afghan refugees who have resettled into Western nations face a unique set of challenges as they must navigate resettlement into societies that are linguistically, culturally, and spiritually distinct from their own backgrounds. This systematic review explores the (a) effectiveness and (b) cultural adaptation of interventions that have addressed the mental health of Afghan refugees resettled into Western countries since the year 2000. This systematic review will employ the Cultural Treatment Adaptation Framework (CTAF) to organize the extent of cultural adaptations. Through the systematic search of four databases, 1709 studies emerged from our search terms, seven of which met the criteria for this review, for example, study includes more than 2/3 Afghan participants; study includes outcome variables. Studies included programs in Germany, Serbia, Sweden, and Austria. The most common outcomes that interventions addressed included posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ( n = 5), depression ( n = 3), and quality of life ( n = 3). Program modalities ranged between Cognitive Behavioral Therapy ( n = 4), emotion regulation ( n = 1), family therapy ( n = 1), and multimodal interventions ( n = 2). Most studies only incorporated peripheral changes to interventions in the service of cultural adaptation, and only one intervention included core changes. This program reported the highest effect sizes in reducing PTSD and depressive symptoms when compared with the rest of the studies. These findings provide a direction for future studies as they consider whether the extent of cultural adaptations can influence the effectiveness of programs for Afghan refugee populations. We provide recommendations for mental health practice with this population, including a special attention to the role of daily stressors, the significance of faith and culture-based meaning making in the service of coping, and the salience of isolation.

Peran United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee dalam Membantu Kebutuhan Kesehatan Pengungsi Konflik Tigray di Ethiopia (2022-2023)

This article aims to explain the health conditions of Tigray Conflict refugees and the role of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in assisting the health needs of Tigray Conflict refugees in Ethiopia in the period 2022-2023. The author uses the theory of international organizations which sees that international organizations have five important roles in resolving problems. This theory is very relevant to the context of the author’s research by looking at UNHCR as an international organization which has one of the five important roles of international organizations, namely as an Aid Provider in resolving conflict in the Tigray region. The type of research used in this article is descriptive, using a library study method which is carried out by collecting data from journals, books, websites and articles as a data collection technique. Based on the results of this research, UNHCR as an international organization working in the field of refugees took part in handling refugees due to the conflict that occurred in Ethiopia, specifically in the Tigray region, namely the conflict between the central government and the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), so the author found that UNHCR had plays a role in providing assistance in the form of basic health services, distribution of vaccines and immunizations, as well as workshops and mental health services.

Characteristics of hemoglobin distributions in preschool children and non-pregnant women of reproductive age and their implications for establishing quality control criteria for hemoglobin data in field surveys: evidence from 483 surveys conducted in refugee settings worldwide

BackgroundCurrently, there is a lack of clear guidance on hemoglobin (Hb) data quality parameters and plausible flagging ranges for population-representative surveys. There is a need to determine which properties of Hb data indicate lower data quality and increased measurement error and which represent intrinsic statistical properties of Hb distributions rather than quality problems.MethodsWe explored statistical characteristics of Hb distributions and plausible exclusion ranges in population-representative surveys of non-pregnant women of reproductive age (WRA) (15–49 years, n = 401 surveys) and children (6–59 months, n = 461 surveys) conducted in refugee settings by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Hb distribution characteristics [standard deviation (SD), skewness and kurtosis] were compared to those from Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS).ResultsOverall, 0.08% of child and 0.14% of WRA Hb values were outside of the previously proposed 4.0–18.0 g/dL plausible range. Surveys conducted in Uganda tended to have unusually high SD compared with surveys from other settings, possibly an indication of problematic measurement quality. We therefore used summary results on SD, skewness and kurtosis excluding surveys from Uganda when comparing with DHS results or proposing plausible ranges. Both WRA and child Hb distributions tended to be left-skewed and had excess positive kurtosis. Mean survey-level SD was greater, mean skewness more negative, and mean kurtosis more positive in WRA surveys compared to child surveys. All these findings were broadly similar to those from DHS surveys. Mean SD in DHS surveys was higher than that in our data for both children (1.48 vs. 1.34) and WRA (1.58 vs. 1.43).ConclusionsWe observed several statistical characteristics of Hb distributions that may not necessarily be indicative of data quality problems and bear strong similarities with the characteristics found in DHS surveys. Hb distributions tended to be negatively skewed and positively kurtotic, and SD in many surveys exceeded 1.5 (previously proposed upper plausible range). Based on our empirical evidence, surveys with skewness above + 0.2 and kurtosis below -0.5 or Hb SD outside the range of 1.1–1.55 g/dL for children (6–59 mo) or 1.1–1.65 g/dL for non-pregnant WRA (15–49 y) may require further quality investigation.

Saudi Arabia and the International Refugee Regime

Abstract As a non-signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, Saudi Arabia is often portrayed as a State that refuses engagement with the global legal norms and supporting institutions focused on the protection of refugees. This article contends that this is not the case, and closely examines Saudi Arabia’s relationship with the international refugee regime by asking what was Saudi Arabia’s role in the drafting of the main refugee protection instruments, and what is its approach – past and present – to acceding to the 1951 Convention? How does Saudi Arabia engage with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) – on the global plane but also through UNHCR’s activities in the country? Drawing on hitherto unresearched material from the UNHCR archives pertaining to the years 1962–94, as well as interviews with key government and UNHCR actors, this article argues that Saudi Arabia engages substantively with the international refugee regime. It discusses how Saudi Arabia participated in the drafting processes of the main refugee protection instruments and shows that accession to the 1951 Convention appears to have been seriously considered at certain junctures. The article also explores Saudi Arabia’s relationship with UNHCR. In addition to focusing on Saudi Arabia’s role in the UNHCR Executive Committee, it looks more closely at UNHCR’s activities in the country, identifying three phases of UNHCR involvement – establishment (1987–97), expansion (1998–2005), and consolidation (2005–). It finds that UNHCR’s approach to Saudi Arabia is characterized by pragmatism rather than by principle, and that Saudi Arabia has been able to influence the way UNHCR implements its mandate in the country, as well as beyond. Importantly, Saudi Arabia is a gatekeeper for UNHCR operations in the Gulf region and in Muslim-majority countries more generally. Similarly, UNHCR is an important vessel for Saudi Arabian humanitarianism.

Doing Refugee Right(s) with Technologies? Humanitarian Crises and the Multiplication of “Exceptional” Legal States

Abstract Like borders, refugee protection settings beyond the EU often serve as testing grounds for technologies. This article takes a socio-legal perspective to show how humanitarian experimentation in these contexts is made possible through different, interacting challenges to sovereignty. It argues that the understanding that actors or their positions are “exceptional” allows for and justifies data practices that would otherwise not be legally permissible. Examples of data practices in refugee protection settings are connected to work in geopolitics, science and technology studies, and sociology of law. The article shows how the position of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as negotiator on behalf of refugees and an emergency-driven techno-solutionism not only interacts with the already precarious legal context most people seeking refuge find themselves in. It coincides with the legal positioning of International Organisations and with citizenship-oriented conceptions of privacy, further constituting people seeking refuge as (digital) rights optional. This is problematic not least because of concerns about adequate data protection or the implications of bias. Data flows and algorithms are generative of the politics of contemporary societies, implying that the structural undermining of digital rights of people seeking refuge in the present can also hinder their access to rights in the future.