Number Of Refugees Research Articles

Disease burden in older Ukrainian refugees of war: a synthetic reanalysis of public records data

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24, 2022, more than 6 million Ukrainians, including hundreds of thousands of older people, have sought safety abroad. Older people generally have a higher burden of disease than younger people and the aim of our study was to estimate this burden in older Ukrainian refugees, given the potential financial and logistical impacts on the health-care systems of receiving countries. On May 20, 2022, we searched the official websites of the Polish Ministry of Digitisation for data on Ukrainian refugees who had applied between Feb 24, 2022, and May 19, 2022 for a Polish personal identification number (PESEL). We extracted the number of older people (ie, of pension age, which in Ukraine is 60 years or older for men, and 55 years or older for women). We calculated the percentage of older people among these PESEL applicants then extrapolated this percentage to two groups, for which population data had been extracted from UN, WHO, and Polish Border Guards websites: refugees who had crossed into Poland but had not applied for a PESEL and refugees who had fled to neighbouring countries other than Poland. Between April 4 and May 19, 2022, we searched the Ukrainian Ministry of Health official website for data on the prevalence and incidence of various diseases in the Ukrainian population of older people. We asked the Ukrainian Ministry of Health to confirm and expand on the website data, and thereby obtained annual data for 2010-17. The ministry did not supply tuberculosis statistics, so on May 21, 2022, we searched the Ukrainian Ministry of Health website and extracted the most recent tuberculosis data, which were for 2020. We then calculated the absolute prevalence and incidence of diseases in older refugees. As of May 19, 2022, 6·3 million Ukrainians had fled their country, including 3·5 million (56%) who had entered Poland. 1 114 418 people applied for a PESEL, including 109 985 older people (91 349 Ukrainian women aged 55 years or older and 18 636 Ukrainian men aged 60 or older). We estimated that the overall number of older Ukrainian refugees was 624 690. We estimated that these older refugees have a mean of 2·5 diseases each, the most frequent of which are cardiovascular diseases, followed by gastrointestinal, respiratory, musculoskeletal, and genitourinary diseases. We estimated that the expected absolute incidence is greatest for pulmonary disorders (71 689 diagnoses), followed by cardiovascular (49 327), ocular (24 100), musculoskeletal (20 367), and genitourinary (16 836) disorders. The estimated number of new diagnoses per year was 4578 for tuberculosis and 7827 for cancer. Our data indicate that the disease burden of older Ukrainian refugees is considerable. Although our estimates are only approximations, they provide a basis for predicting which areas of health care will most need to be reinforced to meet the challenge of the potential financial and logistical impacts on receiving countries. There was no funding source for this study.

The continuation of clinical trials in times of war: A need to develop ethics and situationally adaptive clinical research guidelines.

This paper focuses on the following challenges for clinical trials in war settings: - War creates a fundamental disruption of healthcare provision, including patient access to clinical trials. - Within the context of the essential need to care for war victims and refugees, attention to ongoing and even new clinical trials may be crucial for the protection of health and the well-being of many patients. - In the current setting of the war in Ukraine, a substantial number of refugees already engaged as clinical trial participations have been transferred from sites in Ukraine to sites in other countries. - We need to revisit the principles of research ethics considering both human rights law in peace settings and humanitarian law in war or conflict settings.

REFUGEE STUDENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF INTERSECTIONALITY APPROACH

Turkey is the country hosting the highest number of refugees in the world, and a large majority of this population is refugees with temporary protection status from Syria. In this immigrant group, where the number of young populations is quite high, the number of students enrolling in universities in Turkey is increasing. However, education life provides advantages on the one hand, and on the other hand brings the disadvantages experienced by immigrants to the surface. The study is based on the intersectionality approach in order to reveal the advantages and disadvantages of students under temporary protection in their education life. Thus, the study aims to give a different and original perspective to the subject of migration and education. The intersectionality approach refers to the social position of an individual that emerges when different categories such as race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic class, age, disability, intersect and affect each other. In the study, which has a qualitative research design, in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 students studying at Hatay Mustafa Kemal University using semi-structured question forums. As a result of the study, it has been revealed that it is insufficient to explain the inequalities experienced by Syrian students in the education process by simply linking them to being refugees/immigrants. Instead, it has been understood that factors such as gender and roles, academic language deficiency, low socio-economic status, digital inadequacy and division, family and work environment, etc. affect each other.

The economic and fiscal effects on the United States from reduced numbers of refugees and asylum seekers

AbstractInternational migrants who seek protection also participate in the economy. Thus the policy of the United States to drastically reduce refugee and asylum-seeker arrivals from 2017 to 2020 might have substantial and ongoing economic consequences. This paper places conservative bounds on those effects by critically reviewing the research literature. It goes beyond prior estimates by including ripple effects beyond the wages earned or taxes paid directly by migrants. The sharp reduction in US refugee admissions starting in 2017 costs the overall US economy today over $9.1 billion per year ($30,962 per missing refugee per year, on average) and costs public coffers at all levels of government over $2.0 billion per year ($6,844 per missing refugee per year, on average) net of public expenses. Large reductions in the presence of asylum seekers during the same period likewise carry ongoing costs in the billions of dollars per year. These estimates imply that barriers to migrants seeking protection, beyond humanitarian policy concerns, carry substantial economic costs.

MALAYSIA'S RESPONSE IN DEALING WITH REFUGEES: HAS IT BEEN ENOUGH TO PROTECT CITIZENS?

Due to sovereignty, security, and economic concerns, Malaysia has neither become a state party to any United Nations Protocol Relating to Refugees nor developed integrated national legislation for refugees. Therefore, this has led to the informal acknowledgement of the refugees' status as 'illegal migrants' in Malaysia. As illegal migrants, they are subjected to legal and social persecution, hence the negative connotations they have in society and the host country. Today, the increasing number of refugees fleeing to Malaysia has become a concern towards the country's interest of its citizen's safety and its value as a tourist destination. In addition, many believe that the Malaysian government is inept in handling and controlling the sudden influx of refugees, affecting citizens' rights. This discomfort has led the government to be criticised for dismissing the citizen's rights in favour of the refugees. Residents also believe the Malaysian government has jeopardised citizens' rights to a safe environment and decent income. As a result, they demand that the government prioritise citizens' rights over refugees' rights. This paper examines the effectiveness of Malaysia's response to the issue of refugees and the protection of its citizen's rights. In the presence of comprehensive efforts by the Malaysian government, this paper further recommends some appropriate measures to balance the rights of refugees and its citizen.

THE ROLE OF YOUTH IN THE WORLD’S DEVELOPMENT AND POST-WAR REHABILITATION PROGRAMS IN UKRAINE

The article contains results of the scientific study of the research in several post-war and post-conflicts countries performed by an international team. It is devoted to the generalization of the youth policy experience in terms of solutions to economic and social problems provoked by war conflicts. Adolescents and youth, as a subject of study, in such a post-war situation are considered as important agents and actors in this process. Many young people are not only among the most vulnerable groups affected by armed conflict, poverty, unemployment, they are also the generation that will reach adulthood during the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 Agenda. In addition to the sustainable development goals, policymakers must not neglect to prioritize the needs of young people and make room for them to carry the next development agenda forward. Young people should be involved in all aspects of the process. Only through meaningful representation by and collaboration with youth will it be possible to move away from an entrenched mindset of delivering basic services to youth towards an approach that empowers young people and enables them to realize their potential with special attention to the conditions of countries that suffered from the armed conflicts. The article offers a number of recommendations on improvement and development of the youth policy in Ukraine as a country that was subjected to a brutal attack by the russian army, an occupation of part of its territory, destruction of the economic and social infrastructure, emergence of a large number of refugees and internally displaced persons, primarily those young and economically active. This paper is addressed to demographers, economists, sociologists and experts in state administration and social policy.

Social entrepreneurship as a new business model. The case of refugee integration

The aim of this paper is to analyse the definition of the new ‘buzzword’ of Social Business in general, as well as to analyse its contribution to the refugee integration and touch upon their challenges and barriers they encounter. In the past few years, Austria has witnessed a massive increase in the number of asylum-seeking refugees, which has sparked a heated debate about the methods of their integration process. Politicians have proposed several measures, still problems such as social inclusion or effective and targeted integration into the labor market have remained untouched. In order to answer the research questions, this study applies the qualitative method and is based on both primary and secondary data. The data is gathered from 10 interviews of social businesses in the field of refugee integration in Austria. Based upon this finding, it is of the utmost importance that social businesses garner the attention of the government and policies which should support their creation and development.

Geriatrik Hastalarda Yanık Yaralanmalarının Epidemiyolojik İncelenmesi: 10 Yıllık Analiz

Özet Amaç: Yanık epidemiyolojisi, her bölgenin sosyo-ekonomik etkenlere ve kültürel özelliklerine bağlı olarak değişiklik göstermektedir. Bu travmaların önüne geçilmesi veya azaltılması için alınması gereken tedbirler açısından her bölgede yanık travmalarının etiyolojisine yönelik verilere ihtiyaç vardır. Bu çalışmadaki amacımız 2012- 2021 yılları arasında Yanık Merkezimizde tedavi gören yaşlı Türk ve Suriyeli hastaların demografik ve epidemiyolojik olarak incelenmesidir. Materyal ve Metot: Kurum onayı alındıktan sonra Ocak 2012 ile Aralık 2021 tarihleri arasında, 10 yıllık dönemde, hastanemiz yanık merkezinde yatarak tedavi gören toplam 21531 hastanın kayıtları incelendi. Toplamda 155 hastanın (136 Türk, 19 Suriyeli) demografik ve epidemiyolojik verileri kaydedildi. Ayakta tedavi gören, başka bir merkeze sevk edilen veya kronik yanığı olan hastalar çalışma dışı bırakıldı. Çalışmaya alınan hastanın yaşı, cinsiyeti, yanık nedenleri, yanık lokalizasyonları, yanık şiddeti (toplam vücut yüzey alanı (TBSA) yüzdesine göre hafif, orta, şiddetli ve kritik olarak gruplandırıldı), başvuru zamanı, hastaların ikamet ettikleri yer, hastanede takip süresi ve sonuçları kayıt edildi. Yanık nedenleri; haşlanma, alev, elektrik, kimyasal yanık olarak sınıflandırıldı. TBSA dokuzlar kuralına göre hesaplandı. Yanık lokalizasyonları baş-boyun, gövde(ön ve arka), üst ekstremite ve alt ekstremite, kalça ve genital bölge olarak sınıflandırıldı. Hastaların başvuru tarihleri sonbahar, kış, ilkbahar ve yaz olarak sınıflandırıldı. Hastaların yaşadıkları bölge kentsel ve kırsal olmak üzere iki grupta değerlendirildi. Bulgular: Çalışmaya 97’si (%62.7) kadın, 58’i (%37.3) erkek olmak üzere toplam 155 hasta dahil edildi. En sık görülen neden haşlanma yaralanmalarıydı. Bunu alev yanıkları ve elektrik yanıkları takip ediyordu. Hastaların yanık derecelerinin toplam vücut alan yüzeyine göre sınıflandırdığımızda en yüksek oranda orta (%10-30 TBSA) derecede yanık olduğunu gördük. Yine en sık yanan vücut anatomik bölgesi ise kol(%51.6) ve bacak(%50.3) olmak üzere ekstremitelerde olduğu görüldü. Hastaların 136’sı Türk, 19’u Suriyeli olduğu görüldü. Yanık nedenlerinin analizinde ise kimyasal ve elektrik yanıklarının Suriyelilerde hiç görülmediği, alev ve haşlanma yanıklarının ise Türklerde istatistiksel olarak anlamlı şekilde daha fazla olduğu saptandı. Yanık vücut alanları incelendiğinde ise her iki ırkta da en sık ekstremite yanıklarının olduğu tespit edildi. Takiplerde 15 (%9.7) hastanın öldüğü görüldü. Ölümler arasında ise en sık ölümün %80 oranla 65 yaş altında gerçekleştiği saptandı (p=0.027). Sonuç: Yaşlı nüfustaki yanık yaralanmalarını incelediğimiz bu çalışmada bölgesel nüfus, Suriyeli mülteci sayısı, yaşam koşulları gibi etkenler göz önüne alındığında genç hastalara kıyasla bu özel hasta grubunda tıbbi bakım ihtiyacının fazla ve önemli olduğunu söyleyebiliriz. Geriatrik yanık hastalarında gerek komorbid hastalıklar gerekse yaşlanmanın sistemsel etkisi nedeniyle her adımda multidisipliner yaklaşım ile azalan mortalite ve morbiditeyi yakalayabiliriz.

A new asylum law for theKRIand Iraq: Reality or wishful thinking?

AbstractDespite having its own internal population displacement due to conflict and civil war, Iraq and the Kurdistan Region continue to accommodate large numbers of refugees from Iran, Palestine, Syria and Turkey. However, Iraq has not ratified the internationally recognized legal framework for the protection of refugees. Currently, the protection offered to asylum seekers in Iraq is regulated by secondary legislation, mostly in the form of administrative circulars. The lack of an applicable law regulating the status of asylum seekers has led to local‐level ad hoc policy implementation. Similarly, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has no legal provisions in its domestic legislation to regulate the status of refugees. This study presents: (a) the argument that Iraq must adopt legislation to regulate the entry, exit and stay of migrants, in line with international protection for both asylum seekers and the provision of adequate rights to refugees, and in accordance with international human rights standards; (b) a proposal for provisions for such legislation in Iraq; and (c) a timely impetus to re‐energize local strategies aimed at filling these normative legal gaps through domestic agreements rather than regional and/or international ones.

Shape analysis of the subcortical structures in North Korean refugees with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder

BackgroundDespite the growing number of refugees and their mental health issues, neurobiological mechanisms to explain clinical symptoms resulting from traumatic events, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depressive disorder (MDD), have not been extensively investigated. Research on the mental health of North Korean refugees (NKRs) who defected to South Korea for resettlement is still at an early stage but commonly reports structural and functional abnormalities in brain regions related to reward and motivational processing. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventral pallidum (VP) are the major sites in subcortical structures that play key roles in reward and motivation. MethodsThe present study examined subcortical structural abnormalities of 28 NKRs and age-, sex- matched South Korean Controls (SKCs) using shape analysis at the vertex level. ResultsAmong the 28 NKRs, 18 had psychiatric disorders, including PTSD and MDD. The NKRs showed significantly reduced volumes in the right NAc and bilateral VP compared to the SKRs. The volume of the right VP showed a significant negative correlation with current PTSD severity in the NKR group. ConclusionsOur findings demonstrated that structural alterations of the NAc and VP may explain PTSD and MDD observed in the refugees and further suggest that the aftereffect of trauma, manifested as anhedonia and anxiety, may show chronically.

Susceptibility to threatening information and attitudes toward refugee resettlement: The case of Japan

A growing number of news articles and politicians’ statements treat refugees as potential terrorists. However, existing research has yet to thoroughly examine how threatening information about refugees affects natives’ attitudes toward refugee resettlement. To address this issue, we conducted a survey experiment in Japan, where the number of refugees accepted each year is extremely small, despite the rapid increase in news about refugees. Our results show that opposition to refugee resettlement is associated with its proximity. Specifically, we find two types of NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) attitudes – within-country and between-country NIMBY-ism – toward refugee resettlement among Japanese people. Additionally, respondents become more strongly opposed to refugee resettlement when exposed to threatening frames that depict refugees as harmful, regardless of the proximity to threats and potential resettlement. These findings add nuance to the scholarly literature on threat perceptions and public attitudes in intergroup relations. First, our findings suggest that NIMBY attitudes toward refugee resettlement (shown in Ferwerda, Flynn & Horiuchi, 2017) are not a US-only phenomenon. Second, we provide empirical evidence to support the theory that subjectively perceived threats affect people’s hostility toward out-group members, even in the absence of actual threats. Finally, we contribute to the recent debate on the effects of proximity to threats. Our results support the argument that the psychological effects of terrorism on negative attitudes toward immigrants and refugees are more pronounced in homogeneous societies, irrespective of proximity to the threat.

Challenges and Perspectives of Multicultural Education for Young Children in the Context of Greek Nurseries: Educators' Views

In recent years, Greece has received very high numbers of migrants and refugees from the Middle East, North Africa and Ukraine, including children of all ages. This new and evolving socio-cultural environment has an impact on education, since the application of multicultural principles in education is considered necessary for the development of multicultural respect. To achieve that level of mutual respect, the role of educators is particularly important. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the views of 196 educators working in Greek nurseries on the difficulties they face in implementing multicultural education in young children (children under the age of 3) and the perspectives of that method. Furthermore, the research investigates the goals set by educators, the practices they choose and how competent they consider themselves in implementing multicultural education. A questionnaire with closed-ended questions was used to collect the data. The results of the survey show that educators mainly choose fairy tales/books for managing and highlighting cultural diversity, while cooperation with parents is practiced to a very small extent. As for the difficulties that the educators face during that process, these are mainly attributed to the xenophobic attitudes of native parents. Finally, they feel that their knowledge on multicultural education is inadequate, and they express the need for appropriate training. In summary, the survey can provide useful information for educators on multicultural education in the nursery and can be used as a guide for their future training on that field.

Migration, Borders and “De-bordering” in Pandemic Times: Voices as Interlocution from Quarantine Ships in Italy

ABSTRACT The Covid-19 pandemic has deeply affected the configuration of border regimes worldwide, resulting in further selective restrictions to individual cross border mobilities. The Mediterranean space, where sea-crossings have been a structural part of migration for over two decades, has been targeted by multidimensional and transversal re-bordering policies: from externalization to search and rescue, from asylum to detention. The “unsafe harbour strategy” and the resulting implementation of offshore isolation, de facto detention, on quarantine ships were key components of these re-bordering policies. These strategies have prevented a number of potential refugees from accessing asylum, thereby reinforcing the so-called hotspot approach. Combining traditional qualitative research methods with digital ethnographic research on “quarantine ships” in Italy, this paper explores migrants' reactions and responses to border enforcement via offshore isolation. By focusing on the voices emerging from quarantine ships, and on the subsequent interlocution between different actors and stakeholders, we highlight the emergence of various forms, tools and strategies of debordering. These are the outcome of the ongoing interaction between confined migrants, civil society stakeholders and the “onshore” world. We eventually discuss the implications of these interlocutions for research on the interplay between bordering and de-bordering in migration management and control.

Implications and opportunities of the international refugee protection regime for national human rights institutions in Africa

The upsurge in the global numbers of refugees and asylum seekers since 2015 and the resultant protection failures witnessed particularly in Europe led to renewed debates on the need to reform the refugee protection regime to identify pathways that would enhance protection. Key in these debates was the need to identify actors that could enhance the refugee protection regime, including accountability for failures to protect. Among such actors identified are national human rights institutions. This article situates NHRIs within the nexus between international human rights law and international refugee law to frame an understanding of their role in the refugee protection regime. It then considers the evolution of the international refugee protection regime in light of the emergence of NHRIs and critically reviews their positioning with reference to the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration. Specific opportunities at the African regional level are subsequently discussed to support the assertion that NHRIs can perform a specific role in promoting the effective implementation of refugee rights, including as avenues for state accountability.

The Refugee Paradox During Wartime in Europe: How Ukrainian and Afghan Refugees are (not) Alike

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in March 2022, Ukrainians have been displaced from their country in record pace and in massive numbers. Although some have been displaced within Ukraine, most have fled to Poland, Moldova, and other European countries. The European and American public’s reaction to these large refugee numbers has been overwhelmingly positive, with outpourings of humanitarianism and solidarity. This reaction stands in stark contrast with the apprehensive and rather negative reactions from Europeans toward Afghan refugees following the Taliban’s violent takeover in May 2021. In this IMR Dispatch from the Field, I reflect on the similarities and differences in reactions to Ukrainian refugees in the current crisis and Afghan refugees following the Taliban takeover in May 2021. Despite important similarities between these two refugee groups, there are, I argue, various reasons why the European and American public may feel closer to Ukrainian than Afghan refugees or why they perceive the former to be more deserving of aid. I highlight the role of symbolic threat, a conscience collective, and ethnicity. Furthermore, the looming fear of the aggressor in this conflict (Russia) may play a larger role in the European and American public’s reactions than in other refugee crises.

The War in Ukraine and Food Security in Eastern Europe

This dispatch outlines some of the immediate consequences and long-term challenges posed by the Ukraine war on food security and production systems in Eastern Europe. We draw particular attention to the food aid and provisioning realities around many million (and increasing) numbers of Ukrainian refugees, and the current lack of systemic, government-coordinated responses to the humanitarian crisis. Further, we outline the distinct forms of agriculture characterizing Eastern Europe, notably, the short supply chains and farming networks that are socially and environmentally unique and valuable, and are a result of the persistence of smaller, family-led farms. However, these farms and farmers are facing increasingly difficult times as a result of inflation, rising fuel prices, rationing, climate stress, export bans, and now large numbers of refugees arriving to some already very poor rural areas. We highlight the need for these multiple stresses to be discussed together, for their consequences on food production in the short and long term, especially as the effects of the war extend beyond the region. These stresses include, in the immediate, a lack (and a lack of reliability on) of state aid and infrastructures for refugee hosts and food aid organizations and, in the longer term, persisting EU-policy and market pushes toward intensification that will greatly challenge the smallholder system in Eastern Europe.

Refugee Entrepreneurship and the Limits of Inclusion: Syrian Refugee Entrepreneurs in Turkey

Refugee numbers nearly doubled in the last ten years, exceeding 30 million worldwide. Turkey hosts close to 4 million refugees, mainly from Syria. Syrian refugees are highly active in the Turkish business system and opened more than 10,000 firms. Refugee entrepreneurship literature argues it has an emancipatory impact. It helps people overcome their constraints, act more independently, and make their own decisions in transforming their lives, making social inclusion easier. Our study aims to critically examine refugee entrepreneurship’s limits and boundary conditions leading to inclusion and integration with the host country environment. We qualitatively studied how Syrian refugee entrepreneurs experience their entrepreneurial process concerning their embeddedness, inclusion or exclusion. We interviewed 42 Syrian refugee entrepreneurs and key informants in seven Turkish cities. A qualitative analysis of these interviews identified three types of refugee entrepreneurs facing different conditions for inclusion or exclusion: survival, ethnic-targeting, and integrating refugee entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs in each category are embedded in multiple contexts, i.e., social, political, institutional, spatial, at different levels. However, unlike prior literature, our findings indicated that as integrating refugee entrepreneurs become more embedded in a host country, they also potentially face more exclusion. As a result, they develop several strategies to respond to exclusionary actors and structural barriers. The study also discusses practical implications for policymakers.

War, immigration and COVID-19: The experience of Afghan immigrants to Iran Amid the pandemic.

IntroductionAfghanistan's domestic upheaval following the Taliban's invasion leads to massive displacement of its population. The number of Afghan refugees in Iran has dramatically increased since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. Multiple pre-and post-migratory traumatic experiences affect immigrants' physical, psychological, social, and economic wellbeing. The coronavirus outbreak, considered a traumatic experience in human life in the 21st century, added to their problems in Iran and exposed them to new challenges. This qualitative study aimed to investigate their experiences early before, during, and after immigration and the pandemic's challenges to their lives in Iran.MethodsIn the present qualitative study, ten Afghan residents living in Iran who immigrated to Iran legally or illegally since the summer of 2021 and the last year after the second Taliban invasion were selected via purposive sampling. A semi-structured interview was applied to gather the data, and the data were analyzed through Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis method.ResultsTen male participants with a mean age of 26 y/o were interviewed. Their residence in Iran was between 20 days and 8 months. Four main themes were extracted. The first theme, the Tsunami of suffering, represents a disruption of the normal flow of life. Six subthemes, including loss, being near death, insecurity, sudden hopelessness, leaving the country involuntarily, and reluctance to explore underlying emotions, are included in this category. The second one, Lost in space, describes the participant's attempt to leave Afghanistan following the extensive losses and violent death threats. Their experiences are categorized into four subthemes: the miserable trip, encountering death, life-threatening experiences, and being physically and verbally abused. The third theme, with its five subthemes, try to demonstrate the participants' experiences after getting to their destination in Iran. The last one, Challenges of the COVID-19 explained the experience of Taliban return, war trauma, running away, and living as a refugee or immigrant coincided with the COVID pandemic.DiscussionOur interviewees explained multiple and successive traumatic experiences of war, migration, and the pandemic. The central clinical features of survivors are fears of losing control, being overwhelmed, and inability to cope. They felt abandoned because not only lost their family support in their homeland but could not also receive support in Iran due to the pandemic-related social distancing and isolation. They were dissociated and emotionally numb when describing their experience, which is a hallmark of experiencing severe, unprocessed traumas.ConclusionGaining a better understanding of Afghan refugees lived experiences may help provide them with better social and health care support. Proper mental and physical healthcare support and de-stigmatization programs may reduce the impact of multiple traumas on their wellbeing.

Oceanic cosmopolitanism: the complexity of waiting for future climate refugees

ABSTRACT Waiting may feel like wasted time for people inhabiting small, low-lying, and extremely vulnerable island states as they await rising sea levels. Their homes may soon become uninhabitable due to climate change. The interplay between accelerating natural hazards, an increasing number of climate refugees, and the lack of adequate international refugee protection can prolong their waiting time. Therefore, I examine this experience within the complexity of the waiting framework consisting of existential, legal, and natural waiting. I explore the negative implications of climate refugees’ waiting and how such waiting may be prevented.

Stress, Marginalization, and Disruption: A Qualitative Rapid Situational Assessment of Substance Users and HIV Risk in Lebanon.

Lebanon is a diverse and dynamic nation of six million people that has experienced considerable disruption for the last two decades. The Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011, resulted in the displacement of 1.1 million Syrians to Lebanon. Today, Lebanon is the country with the largest per capita number of refugees in the world. In addition, the country experienced a social, economic, and political crisis in 2019 that destabilized the entire society—circumstances that were further complicated by COVID-19 pandemic. With all of the competing calamities in Lebanon, there has been limited scientific investigation into substance use and the risk of HIV infection among the country’s population. To address this gap in knowledge, a qualitative rapid situational assessment (RSA) of substance use and risk of HIV infection in and around Beirut, the nation’s capital, was conducted. The goal of this analysis is to describe the demographics and drug use patterns of this population, explore their HIV knowledge and risks, and build knowledge about their perceptions of and access to substance use treatment and other social services.