World's Refugees Research Articles

Entangled or 'Extruded' Histories? Displacement, National Refugees, and Repatriation after the Second World War

This article uses ‘national refugees’ in Italy after 1945 as a starting point for broader reflections on the classifications of displaced persons (DPs) employed in both international refugee law and historical accounts of the refugee in the postwar world. After 1945, Italy became temporary home to many persons displaced by the war and the consolidation of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe. At the same time, Italy had its own refugees forced to leave territories (including African colonies) lost with the collapse of fascism. Scholarship on flows resulting from decolonization (including settler returns) has remained distinct from that on post-war DPs. The analysis demonstrates the productiveness of conceptualizing these various experiences of displacement as ‘entangled histories’ marked by asymmetries of various types. In addition to reconsidering these global population movements as ‘entangled’, scholars might reframe the histories of imperial displacements as ‘extruded’. The notion of extrusion highlights the ways in which these histories and their bearers (particularly colonial repatriates) often prove uncomfortable, as in the Italian case.

Free World? The Campaign to Save the World's Refugees: 1956-1963. By Peter Gatrell.

Free World? The Campaign to Save the World's Refugees: 1956-1963. By Peter Gatrell.

Unlocking the Protracted Displacement of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: An Overview

The protracted displacement of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) constitutes a pressing yet seemingly intractable challenge facing the international community.1 In countries where state fragility, conflict, and persecution have persisted for years, the majority of the world's refugees and internally displaced people live in conditions of protracted exile with little or no prospect of a durable solution to their predicament. Usually marginalised and often subject to the violation, or a lack of protection of human, economic, social, and cultural rights, well over half the world's 10 million refugees are currently to be found in protracted exile. Enduring conditions of internal displacement persist in over 40 countries including three (Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Sudan), each with over one million IDPs throughout the decade ending in 2010.2 Conceiving a label “protracted displacement” implies a “state of exception”, situations which somehow depart from a more “normal”...

Resilience of refugees displaced in the developing world: a qualitative analysis of strengths and struggles of urban refugees in Nepal.

BackgroundMental health and psychosocial wellbeing are key concerns in displaced populations. Despite urban refugees constituting more than half of the world's refugees, minimal attention has been paid to their psychosocial wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to assess coping behaviour and aspects of resilience amongst refugees in Kathmandu, Nepal.MethodsThis study examined the experiences of 16 Pakistani and 8 Somali urban refugees in Kathmandu, Nepal through in-depth individual interviews, focus groups, and Photovoice methodology. Such qualitative approaches enabled us to broadly discuss themes such as personal experiences of being a refugee in Kathmandu, perceived causes of psychosocial distress, and strategies and resources for coping. Thematic network analysis was used in this study to systematically interpret and code the data.ResultsOur findings highlight that urban refugees' active coping efforts, notwithstanding significant adversity and resulting distress, are most frequently through primary relationships. Informed by Axel Honneth's theory on the struggle for recognition, findings suggest that coping is a function beyond the individual and involves the ability to negotiate recognition. This negotiation involves not only primary relationships, but also the legal order and other social networks such as family and friends. Honneth's work was used because of its emphasis on the importance of legal recognition and larger structural factors in facilitating daily coping.ConclusionsUnderstanding how urban refugees cope by negotiating access to various forms of recognition in the absence of legal-recognition will enable organisations working with them to leverage such strengths and develop relevant programmes. In particular, building on these existing resources will lead to culturally compelling and sustainable care for these populations.

Therapeutic Practice With Cambodian Refugee Families: Trauma, Adaptation, Resiliency, and Wellness

Since the events of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants World Refugee Survey has reported that globally, refugees are moving about the world in numbers that are unparalleled. Cambodians are one community of refugees that are a growing part of the Asian American population; they have been spread out across the country in primarily poor urban areas and have few support services available to them, remaining a fairly invisible group in the United States. In this article, the authors examine Cambodian pre- and postimmigration history, culture, and refugee experience. Because family is the center of life for Cambodians, the authors stress that healing must occur within its context. As an illustrative guide, the authors present portions of two actual case studies involving multigenerational Cambodian refugee families.

Protection by Persuasion: International Cooperation in the Refugee Regime

In 2002, UNHCR estimated that approximately 72 per cent of the world's refugees lived in the global South. Seven years on, in 2009, UNHCR estimated that approximately 80 per cent of the world's refugees lived in developing countries and there is no reason to think that this distribution will change substantially in the coming years. This is probably unsurprising. The South is disproportionately affected by poverty and civil disorder and, as a result, is by far the largest producer of refugees. As northern countries pour what seems like an ever-increasing amount of resources into the protection of their own borders, most refugees are effectively trapped in the countries and regions that are least able to provide them with effective protection. What many good-hearted refugee advocates (in both the North and the South) hope is that southern countries, conscious of the many shared challenges in the region, will take heroic steps to extend protection to displaced people in a spirit of solidarity. Frequently, given the disproportionate burden which these states continue to bear, these aspirations are well justified. However, these states retain their own political and developmental priorities (and the protection of refugees does not necessarily rate highly amongst them) and many states also lack the resources to ensure effective protection. They are, further, no less sanguine about the security concerns raised by large-scale influxes than their northern counterparts (particularly in states with weak institutional capacity) and are not insensible to the unfairness of the burden thrust upon them.

Unpacking World Refugee Day: Humanitarian Governance and Human Rights Practice?

Unpacking World Refugee Day: Humanitarian Governance and Human Rights Practice?

‘The World Is Flat’: Is Us Rural Social Work Flattening Too?

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsEmilia Martinez-BrawleyEmilia E. Martinez-Brawley John F. Roatch Distinguished Professor and Professor of Social Work, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA. Email address: eemb@asu.edu

World Refugee Day in One Country: Celebrating Refugees and UNHCR in Malaysia

While UNHCR and its local partners in Malaysia have commemorated World Refugee Day with a number of ‘awareness-raising’ activities and festive events each year, starting in 2005, the Malaysian authorities have pursued a range of increasingly punitive measures targeting ‘illegal migrants’ during this period. In the context of a country which is, at the same time, a non-signatory to the 1951 Convention and a destination for significant refugee populations in the region, the celebration and commemoration of the figure of the refugee raise a number of questions. First of all, how does the figure of the refugee appear, as such, in Malaysia when seen through the prism of the various activities, events and campaigns held in conjunction with World Refugee Day since 2005? Second, how is it possible for this figure—an ‘illegal migrant’ under the Immigration Act—to emerge, however sporadically and incompletely, in Malaysian public discourse as another Other, one deserving of ‘our encouragement, support, and respect’, to quote UNHCR's official website? Third, how does the case of Malaysia help illuminate our understanding of the slippage produced in the encounters between national body politic and international humanitarian spirit?

Refugee Children and their Future

Although children constitute half of the world's refugee population, the long-term future of refugee children still does not receive sufficient attention in the general debate on the refugee issue, and in particular on so-called durable solutions. The positive impact of the successful integration and assimilation in the past of millions and millions of refugees is largely discarded as irrelevant under “today's changed conditions”. Equally ignored are the lessons that should have been learned from having allowed during the last 60 years millions and millions of generations of children to be born and raised as refugees with the only future promised to them being a “return” to the past. The conclusion of the present article is that refugee children represent a tremendous potential for the good and also for future crises and suffering. Thus, one of the principal litmus tests of the quality of refugee policies should be: “What do they do for the long-term future of refugee children?”

Who is the New European Refugee?

This paper highlights the unforeseen or unintended effects of the European Union's refugee law on the World's most vulnerable refugees, those forgotten by the law. The paper focuses on those refugees automatically denied protection in Europe by being impliedly defined out out of the EU's refugee definition. Not only must refugees seeking protection in Europe meet the legal definition, but they are also assumed to have the means to reach Europe. Due to the limitations on legal access routes, often only those who can afford to pay a smuggler have the chance to reach Europe. The great majority of the World's refugees remain outside Europe. Therefore, an exploration of the external policies of the EU institutions which are designed to counter the limiting affects of its restrictive migration policy is required. The paper examines the move towards the establishment of Regional Protection Programmes, Protected Entry Procedures and Resettlement Schemes as providing possible hope for enduring protection for those refugees trapped outside Europe.

The State of the World's Refugees: Human Displacement in the New Millennium

The State of the World's Refugees: Human Displacement in the New Millennium

Such a Long Journey: Protracted Refugee Situations in Asia

While the international community focuses on major humanitarian and refugee emergencies, 60–70 per cent of the world's refugees displaced by conflict and human rights violations have been languishing in a state of neglect and insecurity in camps and urban slums—some for over twenty years. Protracted situations exist in the Caucasus, the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East and West Africa. This article will focus on protracted displacement in Asia. It begins by providing an overview of the scale of displacement in the region. It then examines some of the causes and consequences of long-term displacement and recent efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other humanitarian and development agencies to provide relief, protection, and durable solutions for over a million displaced people in Asia.

The Iraqi Refugee Disaster

Research Article| September 01 2007 The Iraqi Refugee Disaster Ben Sanders; Ben Sanders Ben Sanders is assistant editor of the World Refugee Survey, which has been published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants since 1961. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Merrill Smith Merrill Smith Merrill Smith is director of international planning and analysis for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, as well as editor of the World Refugee Survey. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google World Policy Journal (2007) 24 (3): 23–28. https://doi.org/10.1162/wopj.2007.24.3.23 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Ben Sanders, Merrill Smith; The Iraqi Refugee Disaster. World Policy Journal 1 September 2007; 24 (3): 23–28. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/wopj.2007.24.3.23 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsWorld Policy Journal Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2004 World Policy Institute2004World Policy Institute Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: ARTICLE You do not currently have access to this content.

Creating Legal Space for Refugees in India: the Milestones Crossed and the Roadmap for the Future

The whole of South Asia is devoid of any standards and norms on any dimension of refugee reception, determination and protection. The fact that a quarter of the world's refugees find themselves in a non-standardized, if not hostile, refugee regime is a situation which does not augur well for either the mandate of UNHCR or for any civilized society. The South Asian nations have their own apprehensions, real or imaginary, about the utility of CSR 1951 to their situations. Because of historical mishaps, political ignorance, unstable democracies and exaggerated concern over national security, there is hardly any motivation for, or any environment in which there is a possibility for, the enactment of national legislation.Non-governmental agencies, in their own way, have been trying to influence the States to accede to the Convention and, also, to promulgate national laws. The most noticeable contribution is the draft national law for India, ‘Refugees and Asylum Seekers Act’, discussed and approved by the Fourth Informal Consultations on Refugees and Migratory Movement Sessions in their Dacca Session. The draft legislation has been under consideration by the Indian government for some time but the issue, nonetheless, remains both important and urgent. There is an almost complete absence of discussion about it in any forum, even the media. This paper is an attempt to examine the provisions of the draft law, insofar as it conforms to the international standards, and to show where it is found wanting. The paper also evaluates the competence of the draft law to answer security considerations after 9/11. The paper suggests suitable amendments that may make the enactment of national law a reality, so that the void in the international regime of refugee protection can be filled effectively and fast.

“My Body Is Broken Like My Country”: Identity, Nation, and Repatriation among Afghan Refugees in Iran

Iran has one of the world's largest refugee populations, comprised primarily of Afghans and Iraqi Kurds.1 As of 2001, there were approximately 2.5 million Afghan refugees living in Iran. About 1.8 million of those were documented and the rest undocumented. With aggressive repatriation efforts under the supervision of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the Afghan population in Iran in 2004 dropped to around one million documented and another 500,000 undocumented migrant workers.2 Based on ethnographic research among Afghans and low-income Iranians in urban and rural Isfahan, this paper examines how Afghans who access Iran's health services interpret health and family planning education in the face of Iran's repatriation efforts and increased social tension. Further, I investigate divergent views toward Afghan repatriation and notions of home, self, and identity. Ultimately, this paper addresses the various borders—physical, national, ethnic, religious, gendered, urban/rural—and how these borders can be redefined through the refugee experience, leaving hope for the future. 1 UNHCR 2000 Report of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (New York, 2000). 2Abbasi-Shavazi, D. Glazebrook, G. Jamshidiha, H. Mahmoudian, & R. Sadeghi, “Return to Afghanistan? A Study of Afghans Living in Tehran,” Afghan Research Evaluation Unit (Tehran, 2005). This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0220594, the University of California, San Francisco Academic Senate, and the American Association of Iranian Studies.

The protection of refugees and internally displaced persons: Non-Refoulement under customary international law?

After decades of inter- and intra-State wars, the United Nations named 20 June 2004 as World Refugee Day with ‘A Place to Call Home’ as its theme. However, whilst citizens in war-free countries were able to commemorate this significant day in the safety of their homes, for millions of refugees and internally displaced persons who yearn for safety and security, a home is but a distant hope. In the light of the plight of these unfortunate persons, this article will examine whether a state is under a duty, under customary international law and independent of the 1951 Refugees Convention and the 1967 Refugees Protocol, to offer a home – asylum – to refugees and internally displaced persons.

Le dernier caravanserail (Odyssees) (review)

Reviewed by: Le Dernier Caravansérail (Odyssées), Part One: Le Fleuve Cruel (The Cruel River), Part Two: Origines Et Destins (Origins and Destinies) E. Teresa Choate Le Dernier Caravansérail (Odyssées), Part One: Le Fleuve Cruel (The Cruel River), Part Two: Origines Et Destins (Origins and Destinies). Directed by Ariane Mnouchkine. Théâtre du Soleil, Lincoln Center Festival, Damrosch Park, New York City. 24072005. They are desperate; they are invisible to most of us, and yet they are legion. The 2005 World Refugee Survey estimates a total of 11.5 million global refugees. These men, women, and children flee home countries filled with violence, poverty, misogyny, and religious fanaticism. They follow the light that shines, in theory, beside the golden doors of such countries as England, France, Australia, and New Zealand. When they arrive (if they survive the journey), some few find an oasis, but others face a locked door and are denied entrance. In confronting this global issue, Ariane Mnouchkine, herself the daughter of a Russian immigrant, continues to serve as the fierce theatrical moralist of France who founded the Théâtre du Soleil in 1964. In Le Dernier Caravansérail(The Last Caravan Stop), Mnouchkine makes visible the labor of refugees through the alchemy of thirty-six actors taking on 169 named characters in sixty-two scenes. The subtitle, Odyssées, echoes the epic nature of these two three-hour productions. It also ironically suggests a striking mirror image: Odysseus's struggle to return to his home juxtaposed against the refugees' struggle to escape theirs. Interviews and correspondences with refugees from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Kurdistan, and Russia provided the script's genesis. The company credits no playwright, but rather lists the names of forty-three adults and six children in alphabetical order as having recounted, heard, improvised, and created the script (among them Mnouchkine and her frequent collaborator, French philosopher and writer Hélène Cixous). Caravansérailrelates their stories in alternating scenes occurring in a myriad of locations, including Tehran, Moscow, Kabul, Chechnya, Serbia, London, Calais, unidentified locations in Africa and central Asia, and some notorious refugee camps in France and Australia. Dialogue and voice-overs occur in many languages, creating the Tower of Babel that Mnouchkine views as the human race. Translations are often, but not always, provided in a disturbingly beautiful script that scrolls across various locations on the curtains and set pieces. The actual words of refugees confront us during scene changes. "A man can take charge of himself, but not a woman." "The God of anger is not God, he is the devil." "Love must be hidden deep within the house. God must be hidden deep within the house." "How can a woman not work?" "The time is coming for the friends of God and the followers of Truth to live on this Earth." Le Dernier Caravansérailseems a labor of passion for the members of Mnouchkine's theatre collective (representing some twenty-five nationalities, including most of the countries depicted in the production). Their high-octane performances pay tribute to the desperate attempts of the exiles they represent. And Mnouchkine clearly expects the audience to partake in this labor as well. The stories are seldom easy to follow. Episodes from various story lines interface at a rapid rate. Some stories are related chronologically, while others occur out of chronological order. We eventually hear many stories in toto, but the company also presents incomplete fragments. Characters' experiences occasionally echo each other, and characters from one storyline sometimes cross paths with those in another. Could it be that Mnouchkine wants her audience to experience just a little of the confusion, frustration, and exhaustion that mark the lives of those 11.5 million? When Mnouchkine presented Les Atrides, she had Les Euménidesbegin at 2:00 A.M.so the audience would be sufficiently [End Page 95]exhausted and react in reptilian brain panic at the appearance of the Furies. At any rate, during the curtain call an exhausted and exhilarated audience met an exhausted and exhilarated cast with sustained applause and a well-deserved standing ovation. We applauded a profound experience aided by an extraordinary design team who...

The significance of protracted refugee situations

Protracted refugee populations not only constitute over 70% of the world's refugees but are also a principal source of many of the irregular movements of people around the world today. The long-term presence of refugee populations in much of the developing world has come to be seen by many host states in these regions as a source of insecurity. In response, host governments have enacted policies of containing refugees in isolated and insecure camps, have prevented the arrival of additional refugees and, in extreme cases, have engaged in forcible repatriation. Not surprisingly, these refugee populations are also increasingly perceived as possible sources of insecurity for Western states. Refugee camps are sometimes breeding grounds for international terrorism and rebel movements. These groups often exploit the presence of refugees to engage in activities that destabilise not only host states but also entire regions.

Defining the problem

Protracted refugee populations not only constitute over 70% of the world's refugees but are also a principal source of many of the irregular movements of people around the world today. The long-term presence of refugee populations in much of the developing world has come to be seen by many host states in these regions as a source of insecurity. In response, host governments have enacted policies of containing refugees in isolated and insecure camps, have prevented the arrival of additional refugees and, in extreme cases, have engaged in forcible repatriation. Not surprisingly, these refugee populations are also increasingly perceived as possible sources of insecurity for Western states. Refugee camps are sometimes breeding grounds for international terrorism and rebel movements. These groups often exploit the presence of refugees to engage in activities that destabilise not only host states but also entire regions.