Refugee Situations Research Articles

The Comparison of Skin Prick Test Results of the Refugees with the Citizens of the Republic of Turkey with Atopic Asthma

Amaç: Astım ve atopi çevresel maruziyetler ile değişkenlik gösterir. Göç ve Mültecilikte Alerjik astım hastaları için dezavantajlı grupta yer alır. Materyal ve Metod: Kesitsel tasarımlı 431 hastada, Ocak 2015-2017 tarihleri arasında, Atopik astımlı Türkiye Cumhuriyeti vatandaşı ile Çadır kampta yaşayan Suriyeli Mültecilerin Deri Prick Test (DPT) sonuçlarının değerlendirilmesi amaçlandı. Bulgular: Atopik Astım tanılı %45,7 Suriyeli Mülteciler olmak üzere toplam 431 hastaya SPT yapıldı. Kadın cinsiyet %75,4 ‘tür. Yaş ortalaması 30,5 ’tir. Hem TC vatandaşı hem de Mültecilerde en çok görülen alerjen Ev tozu akarıdır. Uyruğa göre: Mantar karışımı (13,343/0,000), Hamam Böceği (8,541/0,003) ve Tahıl karışımına (6,556/0,011) gruplar arasında anlamlı fark izlendi. Cinsiyete göre: Mantar Karışımı (6,173/0,013) ve Hamam Böceğine (4,495/0,034) gruplar arasında anlamlı fark izlendi. Yaş gruplarına göre: 17-34 yaş grubunda Mantar Karışımına (21,567/0,000), 45 ve üzeri yaş grubunda ise Ağaç polenine (6,062/0,048) karşı gruplarda anlamlı fark bulunmuştur. Sonuç: Göç ve Mültecilik durumlarında Alerjik Astım önemli bir sağlık sorunudur. TC vatandaşı ve Mültecilerde en sık alerjen pozitifliği ev tozu akarında görülmektedir. Suriyeli Mültecilerde sırayla Ev tozu akarı, Ot karışımı ve Mantar karışımı şeklindedir. Bu çalışma Mültecilerde Aeroalerjenleri gösteren ilk çalışma olmasıyla literatüre katkı sunacaktır.

Making digital ‘home-camps’: Mediating emotions among the Sahrawi refugee diaspora

The concept of home relates to feelings of belonging coupled with emotionally meaningful relationships. In protracted refugee situations, the concept of home is re-signified by the material and symbolic conditions of living in exile. This article focuses on the Sahrawi refugee diaspora in the Tindouf refugee camps in Algeria to examine the role of emotions in the relationship between home and digital technology practices. Based on the narratives of Sahrawi refugees who were living in the camps at the time of the research fieldwork in 2016 as well as interviews with media activists, this article details Sahrawi refugees’ transnational dynamics in consolidating their camps as a home through feelings of digital connectivity. Thereby, it analyses multiple scales of digital home-making among Sahrawi refugees while exploring the ways in which refugees have generated emotional strategies to create a sense of home through their everyday digital practices.

A Comparative Analysis of the Application of the 1951 Refugee Convention to Victims of Sexual Violence in South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda

This article seeks to ascertain whether refugees who are victims of sexual violence in contracting states enjoy access to courts per Article 16 of the United Nations (UN) Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Refugee Convention). It does so by comparing the situation of urban refugees in South Africa with that of refugees in camps in Tanzania and settlements in Uganda, beginning with a description of what "accessing courts" entails in the respective domestic criminal justice systems and of what mechanisms are in place for addressing sexual offences. It further uses the qualitative analysis of documented prosecuted cases of sexual violence in South African, Tanzanian and Ugandan courts between 2013-2017, 2009-2016 and 2013-2017 respectively to establish if these countries prosecute cases of sexual violence suffered by their citizens and whether claims of such violations affecting refugees also enjoy the same treatment. The enquiry found that of 328 documented prosecuted cases of sexual offences in South Africa, victims who were citizens were a majority in number. In Tanzania there appeared to be few prosecuted cases of sexual violence against refugees, but given that limited documentation is available, it is difficult to assess the actual figures. In Uganda the 187 recorded prosecuted cases of sexual offences in the years of investigation all related to citizens, despite the introduction of a mobile court to refugee settlements. Overall, this paper recommends that the countries under review adopt measures to ensure the prompt prosecution of cases of sexual violence against refugees and thereby enable them to access courts and testify against their assailants.

MOBILIDADE HUMANA INTERNACIONAL EM TEMPOS DE PANDEMIA: reflexos da covid-19 nos direitos dos migrantes e refugiados

A pandemia da COVID-19 trouxe desafios à mobilidade humana internacional, considerando-se as restrições de viagens e o impedimento de ingresso no território de vários Estados, entre eles o Brasil. Ademais, a situação dos migrantes e refugiados que já estavam no Brasil também foi impactada. Assim, o presente artigo busca estudar as medidas impostas e sua conformidade com o ordenamento jurídico, especialmente no que tange ao impedimento de ingresso no Brasil, além da prestação de assistência social e de saúde aos grupos citados. Para tanto, analisam-se as normas internacionais e nacionais aplicáveis à saúde pública, aos migrantes e refugiados. Por fim, avalia-se a efetividade da proteção aos grupos vulneráveis em estudo, no que tange às políticas de seguridade social.

Türkiye’deki Suriyeli Sığınmacıların Sosyo-Ekonomik Yaşama Etkileri: Fayda Maliyet Ekseninde Bir Bakış

Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, Turkey has been exposed to different waves of migration after certain regime changes in some of the countries within close proximity to it. In some countries in the Middle East and North Africa regions, anti-regime actions eventually turned into conflict; After these conflicts, also known as the Arab Spring, an influx of immigrants and asylum seekers/refugees started to emerge from these countries to our country. Turkey has been forced to host millions of Syrian refugees in a short space of time due to growing internal turmoil in neighbouring Syria and due to its open-door policy towards people fleeing from other countries. The uncertainty of the deployment of these refugees in Turkey, not to mention the uncertainty surrounding the duration of this situation, has led to the emergence of new problem areas in Turkey’s socio-economic life. This article examines the benefits and costs of Syrian refugees to our country’s social and economic life. In this context, the aim of this study is to demonstrate the effects of Syrian refugees on the socioeconomic life of Turkey, which has been involved in a mass migration movement for the first time in its history. Our primary aim in this study will be to examine the legal status of Syrian refugees and then the positive and negative effects of the refugee situation on education, health, safety, employment and the economy will be shown.

Nyere nordisk homiletikk: Empirisk vending, fremmedhet ogresonans

The field of homiletics is situated in a tension field between biblical texts, theological traditions and contemporary contexts. The history of homiletics shows a continuous shift of focus from a theology of preaching, preaching texts, listener and preacher. The most recent development of homiletics in the Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark) appears to have favored an emphasis on specific groups of listeners of preaching and the world in front of the biblical texts - rather than the worlds behind or within the text. Examples of this are empirical studies of sermons in light of the refugee situation in 2015, World War II, children’s and youth’s interaction with preaching, collaborative preaching, casualia-preaching etc. The question to be pursued in the following is whether the turn toward the listener and worlds in front of the text happens at the exclusion of the other points of focus - and to what extent it leads to renewed interest and insight in some of the other aspects of preaching. In order to discuss these questions, the recent development is analyzed in light of the theories of the German sociologist, Hartmut Rosa’s concept of Resonance (Rosa 2016, 2018) as well as the Northern-American paradigm, Other-wise preaching (McClure 2001).

Socioeconomics situation and animal food consumption characteristics of Syrian refugees residing in Ankara

This study aims at analyzing some social and economic characteristics of Syrian refugees residing in Ankara. 50.1% of total 1,022 individuals in 178 households that participated in the survey consist of females and 49.9% thereof consist of males. It was determined that 80% of the family members were below the age of 35, 48% of the housewives is primary school graduates and 40% of the male head of households is primary school graduates. The average number of individuals of the families was calculated as 5.78 (±0.18), number of employed persons as 1.19 (±0.05) and average family income as TRY 1,282.30 (±60.31). It was also determined that 82 families are receiving monetary aid and that this aid is to TRY 745.30 (±28.64) per family. The refugees who participated in the survey were mostly working as tradesmen, casual workers, private sector employees (in descending order) before coming to Turkey. The duration of staying in Turkey of the refugees, who are the subject matters of the study, was calculated as average 3.43 (±0.10) years and the duration of their staying in Ankara as average 2.88 (±0.10) years. Upon inspection of current food consumption of refugees after coming to Turkey, it was seen that their vegetable, fruit, meat and dairy product consumptions decreased in general and their carbohydrates (pasta, bread, rice, bulgur, etc.) and chicken consumption increased. The increase in carbohydrate consumption of refugees is caused by the decline in their income. On the other hand, it was determined that their legumes (lentil, chickpea, bean, etc.) remained the same.

A lifespan developmental science perspective on trauma experiences in refugee situations.

Developmental science theory and empirical research on refugee situations requires an updated approach to the study of trauma as a multi-systemic and multilevel phenomenon. We present a theoretical framework that integrates developmental science approaches to highlight critical threats to development in situations of violent displacement. Given the complexities of displacement (causes, trajectories, and living circumstances once displaced), this theoretical model highlights the utility of an approach that recognizes the person-age-context fit in which displaced individuals live their lives and how both trauma and ongoing major disruption to daily life affects outcomes. In so doing, we aim to broaden understanding for future trauma and intervention research as well as practice with those who experience potentially traumatic events and severe disruption to their social ecology at different points in the lifespan.

Soft Law in EU Migration Cooperation with Associated Countries – A Comparative Perspective

The war in Syria transformed the temporary stay of refugees in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon into a protracted situation. These countries represent strategic partners to the EU in the governance of transit migration. The EU adopted three non-binding bilateral arrangements: The Turkey Statement, the Jordan Compact and the Lebanon Compact. This thesis pursued the following research question: What are the legal effects of the Turkey Statement, the Jordan Compact and the Lebanon Compact on the relations between the EU and these three associated countries in terms of migration and how do they impact the situation of Syrian refugees hosted in these countries? The Compacts had facilitating and strengthening legal effects on the association links with the EU. In contrast, the Turkey Statement had transformative and multilevel legal effects that contributed to an informalization of relations. This study provided one approach to the lack of legal research on the external dimension of EU governance.

The Refugee Game: The Relationship between Individual Security Expenditures and Collective Security

This paper studies a three player hierarchical differential game (with a large country, a small country, and a terrorist organization), to analyze the actual European refugee situation. Terrorists may enter Europe as refugees, taking advantage of the Open Door Policy, to attack both countries. There are two scenarios: myopia and full awareness. Countries are myopic when they ignore each other’s security efforts, and the terrorist group only considers the weakest link’s security efforts. A comparison between the scenarios shows that for an extremely impatient large country, full awareness yields a greater level of security effort for the large country, a greater level of security effort for the small country, and more terrorist attacks. This is, however, an unstable equilibrium. The full awareness model with a patient large country is stable and lies in between the previous model and the myopic model. Although it yields larger investments in security, this still results in more terrorist attacks than the myopic model. Continental safety is higher in the myopic model than in the full awareness model.

Jewish Organizations of Western Siberia during the First World War and the Civil War and the Problem of Jewish Refugees

The measures to improve the situation of Jewish refugees in Western Siberia in the conditions of social and political cataclysms of the beginning of the XX century are discussed in the article. It is noted that legislative documents clearly regulated issues related to the migration of Jews, so not all settlements in Siberia were available for their residence. It is emphasized that due to a number of factors, including the economic plan, forced migrants preferred to settle in Western Siberia. It is indicated that, in addition to state authorities, support for arriving refugees was provided by local Jewish communities: a branch of the Petrograd society, the Jewish Committee for Assistance to War Victims (JCAWV), was opened in the Tomsk province; there was a branch under the auspices of JCAWV in Mariinsk, Novonikolaevsk and Kainsk; in Omsk, the All-Russian Union of Cities supported the creation of national committees. Based on the involvement of a wide range of sources, the following areas of activity of Jewish organizations in helping co-religionists were characterized: providing housing, teaching the Russian language, employment, medical support, etc. It is concluded that for a number of reasons, not all of the tasks assigned to organizations were implemented, primarily due to the lack of stable sources of funding.

Exploring the link between personality traits and European attitudes towards refugees

Attitudes towards refugees are formed via complex interactions between socioeconomic factors, perceptions of cultural threat and personality traits. Yet despite the widespread social changes the European refugee situation has generated throughout the continent, no previous literature has adequately examined these interactions in that context. This study addressed that gap by testing the relationship between personality traits and European attitudes towards refugees in the context of the European refugee crisis by conducting an ordinal regression analysis of data obtained from online surveys that we distributed in four European countries (N = 6,000).Questions were aligned with descriptors used in the Five Factor model of personality traits and a proxy of the Honesty-Humility trait used in the HEXACO model. Our results indicate that Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Honesty-Humility are negatively associated with refugee prejudice. Findings about Neuroticism, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness are mixed. Moreover, our results revealed that intercultural contact has a positive impact on attitudes towards refugees and that the valence of this contact plays a more significant role than the frequency of contact. Given that attitudes towards refugees have been found to correlate with asylum policy preferences, these discoveries are of considerable value to people working in asylum policy settings, as they provide them with a more nuanced understanding of the factors influencing election results; especially during a period where refugee resettlement is a salient issue.

Cancer care for refugees: time to invest in people and systems

Cancer care for refugees: time to invest in people and systems

Wandering Money: Valuating and Mediating Post-War Remittances in Vietnam

AbstractRemittances from the Vietnamese diaspora have played an important role in Vietnam's post-Cold War economic development, providing important inputs to a range of household spending areas, from education to health care. In the case of Vietnam, however, remittances are also caught up with memories and traumas of war, betrayal, separation, and exodus. This article traces that history and illustrates how Vietnam's particular post-war refugee and remittance situations and channels illuminate networks and exacerbate inherent contradictions and comparisons in the mobile flows of finance, people, and goods across borders. Examining genealogies of remittance reception and management offers insight and intervention into analytical assumptions of the distancing and mediating functions inherent to classic conceptions of money, as well as the reciprocity and recognition perceptions mapped onto gift economies.

Arab American Novel: Development and Issues

The novel in the Arab-American literature is absolutely considered a modern writing in its existence and styles except The Book of Khalid (1911) which was written in the first decade of the twentieth century. It becomes the main genre in the body of Arab-American literature and the large numbers of Arab-American novels have been published as a result of the considerable efforts made after the eighties of 20th century. Arab-American novels generally tackle issues such as the problem of identity, anti-Arab racism, marginalization, immigration and situations of refugees, nostalgia, and exile. They also foreground social problems Arab-American communities face as heterogeneity, generational differences, oppression, stereotype, social injustice and anti-assimilationist discourses. Moreover, the Arab-American novels try to create reconciliation between the Western and oriented cultures and reconciliation between the culture and values of the West and the East, the displacement of Palestinians, war and poverty in the Middle East, and so forth. This paper aims at providing an overview of the development of Arab-American novel as well as exploring the most common issues and themes discussed by this kind of genre in the Arab-American literature. It also tries to investigate in detail the concept of identity as a debatable issue in the contemporary Arab-American literature.

Extractive Landscapes: The Case of the Jordan Refugee Compact

In a climate of immigration securitization, recent years have seen a global move away from humanitarian resettlement responses in sites of displacement. Instead, wealthy governments in the Global North often finance poorer third countries and rural regions of territories to abet border enforcement. The Jordan Compact, in particular, has been upheld as an economic development model that provides an “innovative alternative” to refugee camps, as well as to protracted refugee situations. Yet, as much research shows, the direct economic gains from this trade concessions scheme have been limited. This raises the question, What value does the Jordan Compact hold with such ample evidence of failure? Importantly, how is this failure experienced by refugees in practice? Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Amman and northern Jordan, this article advances a framework centred on extractivism to better detail how value is extracted from migrants and displaced persons at the expense of their well-being. The article illuminates the disjuncture between the lack of profit achieved directly from the Jordan Compact’s trade concessions and the forms of value extracted from refugees’ immobility. Overall, I argue that these economic development policies formalize precariousness, allowing the international community to abdicate global responsibility and reap the benefits of a purported altruism.

Precarity of refugees: the case of Basmane-İzmir, Turkey

ABSTRACT Over the last decade, the precarity of refugees and temporary migrants and its associated ambiguities is an increasing focus of scholarly inquiry and policy debate. In particular, the Syrian conflict since 2011 has led to dramatic refugee crises especially in terms of the number of people displaced into neighbouring countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, with Turkey hosting the largest refugee population in the world. Within Turkey, Syrian refugees are concentrated in camps, border towns, major cities and particular urban neighbourhoods. The Basmane neighbourhood, an old inner city quarter of İzmir, Turkey, is a special case, and we directly observe and detail various dimensions of the precarity of Syrian immigrants there at the apex of the refugee flow, and assess how temporary migration affected İzmir's permanent residents. Focusing on physical and social transformations in Basmane, we concentrate on the intra-relationships among place, refugees, and locals and seek to contribute to the debate of how (un)settled situations of refugees produce differential pathways for adaptation and experiences of precarity. The research indicates that socio-spatial dynamics in Basmane contributes to the adaptation of refugees and affects their precarity as the hub for temporary immigrants in İzmir.

Regulatory Enforcement Approaches for Mass Population Displacement

AbstractDuring the European Refugee Situation in 2015, Sweden received an influx of forcibly displaced persons seeking asylum, the highest number of asylum seekers per capita among European Union m...

Protection of Refugees under International Law: The Case of Iraqi Kurdistan Region Refugees

Refugeehood is a state that does not only occur due to political matters. It is a state that can come about as a result of natural disasters – famine, earthquakes, drought and flood.  International law principles safeguard the protection of refugees as stated in the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, as well as in other international and regional instruments. The rights of refugees mainly includes non-refoulement, no penalties on the illegal entry of refugees, right to life, right of physical security, life necessities, right of family unity, education, access to justice, employment, and other fundamental freedoms. This paper aims to examine the living situation of refugees in the Iraqi Kurdistan region and whether their rights are provided by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). This paper will also look at whether the financial aid of KRG corresponds with international law standards for protecting the refugees rights. This paper focused on secondary sources to analyze various opinions and come to conclusions. The study found that refugees’ rights have international legal protection and that states and governments have a responsibility to respect those rights. The findings also showed that the aid provided by the KRG corresponds to international law principles.

The Dream’s Door: Educational Marginalization of Rohingya Children in Malaysia

In Malaysia, refugees remain mostly invisible and face various challenges in terms of protection, healthcare and education. They are often preserved as ‘illegal immigrants’, therefore always at risk of arrest, detention, punishment and deportation. The worse sufferers of these are the children and youth, who are also considered to be illegitimate and deprived of rights including the right to education. This is a case study of a young Rohingya refugee man whose dedication and struggles, despite his problematic identity imposed by various authorities, continue to find a way out and serve fellow refugees through a community organization. However, the dream to have an education and flourish as a full-fledged human being remains a far cry for those marginalized, underprivileged Rohingya refugees and their children. Their experience in Malaysia is far from exceptional, of the sufferings that refugees are forced to bear in many countries in South and Southeast Asia. Nonetheless, this case aims to facilitate the basic understanding of displacement, the refugee situation, international law and particularly refugee children’s rights to education. It provides a deeper understanding of the root causes of Rohingya’s current ‘stateless’ situation in Malaysia, identifies the challenges faced by a refugee community organization, refugee children’s struggles and rights to education. It initiates thoughts to examine the government policies and look for alternative strategies that may benefit the refugee children as well as the national development in the long run. Dilemma: Are Rohingya in Malaysia ‘refugees’ or ‘economic migrants’? Should the children of Rohingya be given access to education? Should Malaysia sign the 1951 Refugee Convention? Theory: Statelessness theory Type of the Case: Experience-based applied single case study Protagonist: Present Options Malaysia can take the stand that being nonsignatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol, it is not bound to come up with policies for refugees. By providing ‘temporary’ shelter to a significant number of refugees and asylum-seekers, Malaysia has done enough for the refugees. At the international level, Malaysia is considered to be sympathetic towards refugees. Refugee and asylum seekers’ presence has been exerting pressure on Malaysian culture and society. In contrast, refugee and migration issues are receiving attention from the government and civil society in Malaysia. Former government has tried to adopt some policies like providing short-term work permit for a small number of registered Rohingya refugees in certain plantations and manufacturing sectors on an experimental basis to avoid social and economic risks posed by unemployed refugees. Malaysia should sign the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol because it is a member of the United Nations (UN) and party to many other major international human rights documents such as Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to name a few. Discussions and Case Questions What are the root causes of Rohingyas’ current statelessness situation and how should the Malaysian government tackle the issue? What are the challenges faced by Rohingya community organizations in integrating with the society? Should Malaysia look at improving the Rohingya children’s access to education or the community should take on the responsibility?