Refugee Phenomenon Research Articles

Qu'est-ce qu'un réfugié ? La construction politique d'une catégorie juridique

L’ampleur et la complexité des questions soulevées par le phénomène des réfugiés ont contraint la communauté internationale, au lendemain de la Première Guerre mondiale, à se saisir du problème pour tenter d’y apporter des solutions. Mais les instruments élaborés dans les enceintes de la diplomatie internationale restent étroitement tributaires des intérêts étatiques ; et la définition du « réfugié » reflète, à travers ses mutations successives, les enjeux politiques sous-jacents aux catégorisations juridiques.

Refugees, trauma and Adversity-Activated Development

The nature of the refugee phenomenon is examined and the position of mental health professionals is located in relation to it. The various uses of the word ‘trauma’ are explored and its application to the refugee context is examined. It is proposed that refugees’ response to adversity is not limited to being traumatized but includes resilience and Adversity-Activated Development (AAD). Particular emphasis is given to the distinction between resilience and AAD. The usefulness of the ‘Trauma Grid’ in the therapeutic process with refugees is also discussed. The Trauma Grid avoids global impressions and enables a more comprehensive and systematic way of identifying the individual refugee's functioning in the context of different levels, i.e. individual, family, community and society/culture. Finally, I discuss implications for therapeutic work with refugees.

The Evacuation of the Noncombatant Population in the 1948 War: Three Kibbutzim as a Case Study

During the 1948 Israeli War of Independence thousands of Jewish civilians, mainly women and children, became refugees when the fighting came dangerously near to their homes in the towns and agricultural settlements (moshavot, moshavim and kibbutzim). While the Jewish victory in the war turned the refugee phenomenon among the Palestinians into an ongoing tragedy, the Jewish refugee phenomenon proved temporary, lasting on average only several months, and has almost been forgotten by the Israeli collective memory. This article examines this episode in the history of the 1948 war from the viewpoint of the evacuees in three kibbutzim, and proposes a number of possible directions for research: the organizational, personal-psychological and ideological aspects of the evacuation, along with the role of national myths and symbols.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees: Continuing Challenges after a Half Century

The world’s refugee phenomenon attracted oscillating levels of interest from governments as early as the inter-war era. Only with the establishment of UNHCR a half-century ago, however, did governments reluctantly acknowledge that managing the refugee phenomenon required an institutional structure and a genuine, continuous, multilateral effort by the international community. Since the founding of UNHCR, its role, operational approach, and, according to some observers, even its mandate have changed remarkably. Governments, frequently wavering in their support for these modifications, have at least begrudgingly endorsed UNHCR’s efforts in order to limit the spread of political instability, which too often resulted in regional economic turmoil and widespread despair. This paper analyzes how effectively and at what political and fiscal cost UNHCR has dealt with intensifying refugee flows in light of shifting priorities of governments, themselves the policy and budgetary masters of this UN body. To achieve this, the reasons behind UNHCR’s expanded responsibilities are identified, the agency’s important advocacy work is analyzed, and its expanded role and constantly altering operational approach are examined. Despite the innumerable obstacles that have confronted the agency over the past half century, the conclusions suggest that at least partial success has been achieved.

Refugees, Humanitarian Emergencies, and the Politicization of Life

The concept of "humanitarian emergency" has come to be largely synonymous with contemporary refugee situations. The purpose of this paper is to critically explore the connections between the categorization of refugees as an "emergency" situation and the way in which "humanitarianism" has come to constitute a hegemonic discourse in which academics, policy-makers, international organizations, and refugee advocates must formulate their arguments and actions. Humanitarianism is often portrayed as posing a challenge to the codes and practices of state sovereignty because it is a form of action which is purportedly motivated by a sense of obligation and responsibility to "humanity" that goes beyond the responsibility one feels for fellow citizens. This paper analyzes a series of recent UNHCR representations of refugees to suggest that humanitarianism must instead be understood as an inherently political concept. Drawing upon the writings Giorgio Agamben, this paper demonstrates how humanitarianism is always already (bio)political to the extent that it relies on a conception of "bare human life" which is consistent with the practices of state sovereignty. From this perspective, framing the refugee phenomenon as a "humanitarian emergency" works to sustain constitutive practices which stabilize and reproduce statist resolutions to questions of political identity, community, and world order.

Refugees in Inter-War Europe: The Emergence of a Regime.

This book examines the refugee phenomenon, specifically refugees in inter-war Europe, and international responses to that phenomenon. In Part I, the causes and consequences of refugee movements throughout this century are explored. In Part II, international responses to European refugee movements from 1919 until 1939 are presented and analysed. In Part III, the impact of international efforts on government policy toward refugees is evaluated. The major argument of this book is that international assistance efforts of the inter-war era composed an international regime, and this regime had - and continues to have - significant impact on refugee policy.

Capturing the Central American Refugee Phenomenon: Refugee Law-Making in Mexico and Belize

Capturing the Central American Refugee Phenomenon: Refugee Law-Making in Mexico and Belize

In Another Life: The Refugee Phenomenon in Two Novels of the Nigerian Civil War

In Another Life:The Refugee Phenomenon in Two Novels of the Nigerian Civil War Maxine Sample (bio) During the latter part of the 1960's as America was preoccupied with Vietnam abroad and its own social revolution at home, the West African Republic of Nigeria was engaged in a bloody civil war in which the federal government fought the secession of the Eastern Region, an area declaring itself at the moment of its revolt, the Republic of Biafra. Some of us may remember Biafra in the context of the sunken eyes and bloated bellies of the starving children whose faces haunted us from the cover of Time magazine—others from the illogical admonitions of over-zealous parents who warned us to eat everything on our plates because children were starving in Biafra. The Nigerian Civil War was one in which hundreds of thousands of civilians, many of them children, perished in the thirty months of its duration. It was a war that neighboring African nations, with their own newly-won independence, were saddened to witness. It was a war in which non-African nations, protective of their own economic interests, plied the Nigerian federal government with weaponry to exact a quick, albeit brutal and genocidal end to what they perceived as simple tribal rivalries. Surely, we know from our own nation's history [End Page 445] that simplistic explanations for civil war are suspect, and such was the case with Nigeria.1 Nigeria, during its colonization by the British, was divided into four regions: the Northern Region, the Western Region, the Mid-West Region, and the Eastern Region. Three major ethnic groups dominated the country: the Hausas in the North, the Yorubas in the West, and the Ibos in the East. Some 200 other ethnic groups comprised the rest of the population. Colonial interests had resulted in the amalgamation of these African peoples solely for the benefit of that European power. These geopolitical lines continued to exist on January 15, 1966, when a bloody coup d'etat ushered in a military government. It ended the young civilian government that had been plagued by an assortment of abuses and a degree of corruption bemoaned by many Nigerians and chronicled in such fictional pieces as Chinua Achebe's A Man of the People. This prophetic novel aptly portrayed the cluster of political events that created the conditions for the military coup of January 1966. Any hope following the first coup was shortlived as the call for a unified Nigeria promulgated by Major Ironsi, the head of the new Federal Military government, led to another military coup and his death. What confronted the new military leader, Lt. Colonel Gowon, were the continued civil and military disturbances that existed. Rumors surrounding the first military coup alleged that the event had been an attempt by the Ibos of Eastern Nigeria to seize control of Nigeria. In response to the hysteria incited by such allegations, some 30,000 to 50,000 Ibos in the north were massacred, their homes looted and burned, their property confiscated.2 Even more appalling was the federal government's inability and/or its alleged unwillingness to protect the Ibos or compensate the families and dependents of the victims. In the Eastern Region, Lt. Colonel Ojukwu called Ibos home, and what proceeded was the exodus of some two million Ibos from the northern regions of the country. Gowon's intention to split the country into twelve states and the failure to assure the security of Ibo lives led to the secession of the Eastern Region on May 30, 1967, when it declared itself an independent republic. The revolt represented, according to Ojukwu, "the crystallization of the black man's search for independence and recognition" (200). [End Page 446] The response was a federal "police action" that lasted thirty months. With Nigeria receiving arms from Britain and Russia, one Biafran city after another fell: Enugu, its capital, Calabar, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Aba, Umuahia, and Owerri, culminating in a blockade that threatened to starve the Biafran people into submission. The extent of the military hardware and the bombing of hundreds of civilians certainly would lead one to question the intentions of the federal government...

Escape from violence: conflict and the refugee crisis in the developing world

In this eloquent and comprehensive study, the authors examine the refugee phenomenon originating in Latin America, Africa, and Asia and suggest means by which the international community can assist those in greatest need.

Round Tables in San Remo on the Refugee Phenomenon

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