The Microphysics of Participation in Refugee Research

This paper examines the involvement of refugees in the productionand reproduction of knowledge of which they are ultimately meantto be beneficiaries. By using examples from research with CentralAmerican refugees and Rwandan displaced children, it considersforced migrants’ roles as participants in research, theirposition in ‘participatory’ research, and the representationof refugees’ voices in refugee-centred research. Poweris intimately connected to the diverse ways in which participationunfolds, and the last part of the paper examines refugees’participation in research in terms of ‘power that circulates’(Foucault) to show that they are not more or less powerful butvehicles for the circulation of power, simultaneously undergoingand exercising it.     

Forced Migration Studies: Could We Agree Just to 'Date'?

This essay questions the soundness of a scholarly shift awayfrom ‘refugee studies’ in favour of ‘forcedmigration studies’. It contends, first, that subsumingrefugee studies into the broader framework of forced migrationstudies may result in a failure to take account of the specificityof the refugee's circumstances which are defined not just bymovement to avoid the risk of harm, but by underlying socialdisfranchisement coupled with the unqualified ability of theinternational community to respond to their needs. Second, itargues that forced ‘migration’ (rather than, forexample, forced ‘migrant’) studies encourages afocus on a phenomenon rather than on the personal predicaments,needs, challenges, and rights of refugees themselves. It maythus contribute to a lack of criticality in relation to policieswhich subordinate refugee autonomy to the pursuit of more systemicconcerns. The first concern is illustrated by reference to theemergence of the ‘internally displaced persons’category, the second by reference to the determination to findand mandate ‘durable solutions’ to forced migration,including to the movement of refugees.     

A Profile of Poverty for Palestinian Refugees in Jordan: the Case of Zarqa and Sukhneh Camps

This is one of few known studies on poverty and poverty relatedissues among Palestinian refugees in Jordan. The camp refugeehouseholds identified in this research represent concrete manifestationsof the ways in which the political and historical legacy translatesinto economic hardship today. Poverty among the refugees inJordan represents a legacy of the refugees’ inabilityto generate sufficient income in order to provide for themselvesthe ‘minimum basic needs’. Therefore, poverty shouldbe understood not only in terms of the social and economic circumstancesof Palestinian camp refugees but also as a particular consequenceof various policies pursued by the state over the past fivedecades, including the Jordanization of public and militarysectors of employment, the provision of public services, andwage determination policy. In this context, the paper examinesthe causes of poverty and considers how various ‘implicit’policies contribute towards luring and ‘locking’a large number of camp refugees in poverty.     

More Labels, Fewer Refugees: Remaking the Refugee Label in an Era of Globalization

This paper revisits the concept of refugee labelling I elaboratednearly two decades ago. In radically different conditions, thecontemporary relevance and utility of the concept are re-examinedand re-established. Formulated at a time of regionally contained,mass refugee migration in the south during the late 1970s andearly 1980s, the paper argues that the concept still offersvital insights into the impacts of institutional and bureaucraticpower on the lives of refugees in a globalized era of transnationalsocial transformations, mixed migration flows, and the continuingpresence of large scale refugee migration. The core of the paperargues that the ‘convenient images’ of refugees,labelled within a co-opting humanitarian discourse in the past,have been displaced by a fractioning of the label which is drivenby the need to manage globalized processes and patterns of migrationand forced migration in particular. The paper re-evaluates theconcept using the three original axioms—forming, transformingand politicizing the label ‘refugee’. The core argumentis that in the contemporary era: a) the formation of the refugeelabel reflects causes and patterns of forced migration whichare much more complex than in the past, contrasting with anessentially homogeneous connotation in the past; b) respondingto this complexity, the refugee label is transformed by an institutional‘fractioning’ in order to manage the new migration;c) governments, rather than NGOs as in the past, are the pre-eminentagency in the contemporary processes of transforming the refugeelabel, a process driven by northern interests; d) the refugeelabel has become politicized by the reproduction of institutionalfractioning and by embedding the wider political discourse ofresistance to migrants and refugees.     

Realistic yet humanitarian? The comprehensive plan of action and refugee policy in Southeast Asia

The 1989 Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA) has recently beendescribed as a successful example of how to manage large protractedrefugee flows. However, this article revisits the circumstancessurrounding the CPA used to resolve the prolonged Indo-Chineserefugee crisis to highlight that part of its development waslinked to the fact that Southeast Asian states refused to engagewith proposed solutions, which did not include repatriationfor the majority of the Indo-Chinese asylum seekers who weredeemed to be ‘non-genuine’¹ (UNGA, 1989a) refugees.This resulted in the CPA often forcibly repatriating ‘non-genuine’refugees, particularly near the end of its program. This articlereviews the CPA in order to assess whether its practices andresults should be repeated. Received for publication September 18, 2006. Accepted for publication October 10, 2007.     

The New 'Dubliners': Implementation of European Council Regulation 343/2003 (Dublin-II) by the Greek Authorities

The paper analyses a recent practice applied by the Greek asylumauthorities in the case of many asylum applicants who are returnedto Greece by another European Union Member State by virtue ofthe ‘Dublin-II’ Regulation. This practice consistsin interrupting the examination of their asylum claim on thegrounds that the applicants have arbitrarily abandoned theirplace of residence. Greek legislation provides for this actionin similar cases but was not used, up till recently, on casesof ‘Dublin’ returnees. The paper examines the reasonsthat led the Greek authorities to adopt this policy and itsfoundation in Greek asylum law and procedures, and challengesthe practice legally and politically. It argues that, in adoptingsuch a stance, Greece seems not only to go against the mainobjective of the Dublin-II Regulation (that an asylum applicationis examined once, and once only in the EU) but to contradictand undermine European Union policies on asylum, breaking theprinciple of good faith in its relations with its EU partners.In addition, it considers the possibility of similar problemsbeing repeated in other national legal orders.     

'No! I'm Not a Refugee!' The Poetics of Be-Longing among Young Oromos in Toronto

This paper presents some findings from an empirical study carriedout with young Oromos living in Toronto. To capture the complexitiesof negotiating be-longing, the paper offers dispersal–affinity—anew conceptual framework empirically grounded in an innovativemethodological design. Using participants' narratives in theempirical material, the paper contests the dualism created betweenessentialist and constructionist perspectives. It employs dispersal–affinityto explore participants' understandings of ‘the refugee’and the wider processes of refugeeization and refugee be-longing.Findings suggest that be-longing is a project of selfhood thatis both fixed and constantly shifting. It is argued that be-longingis constructed from the same movements of selfhood within andthrough social relationships. Young Oromos employ both essentialistand constructionist discourses to weave multiple layers of fixedand mobile be-longing. Implications for refugee studies arediscussed wherein dispersal–affinity is offered to criticallyengage the recent debate on ‘deceit and trickery’among refugees.     

'Spying for Hitler' and 'Working for Bin Laden': Comparative Australian Discourses on Refugees

This paper argues that the complexity of recent debates about‘illegal’ refugee arrivals in Australia, held sincethe prominent MV Tampa incident of August 2001, might be betterunderstood by placing them in a comparative historical context.Towards this end, an investigation of previous debates on thesubject of Jewish refugees in Australia prior to the SecondWorld War is suggested. Such an exploration reveals a seeminglyidiosyncratic ‘Australian’ slant towards refugeesthat demonstrates a subtle process of marginalization and exclusionbased on notions of ‘good’ and ‘bad’refugees. Such an approach further demonstrates the contradictoryattitudes of immigrant societies towards refugees notwithstandingthe cultural pluralism supposedly inherent in their outlooks.     

Agents of Change or Passive Victims: The Impact of Welfare States (the Case of the Netherlands) on Refugees

This paper explores the impact of a regulated society such asthe Netherlands on the lives of refugees in general and on thoseof Iranian women refugees in particular. Two periods are distinguishedin regard to Dutch asylum policies: the 1980s and post-1990.For the 1980s when refugee reception was less restricted, Iuse empirical material collected between 1995 and 2000. Thewomen I interviewed during this period were leftist activistsinvolved in the Iranian revolution of 1979 and had to leaveIran because of their political backgrounds. The material usedfor the post-1990 or more restricted period, is mainly fromsecondary sources, supplemented by occasional, informal visitsto asylum seeker centres. The paper argues that a strict refugeepolicy—especially the policy that was put in place duringthe 1990s—has a direct effect on the affected refugeesby making them dependents of the state. These restricted policiesreinforce the image of refugees as problems in society and havean effect, albeit less direct, on the lives of the refugeeswho arrived prior to the 1990s and who are now Dutch citizens.     

Refugee movements in the post-Cold War era

"This article briefly describes the scope and dimensions of contemporary refugee movements by analyzing some of the forces which shape these flows. Democratization, problems of nationality and minority rights, and structural, political, economic, environmental and social changes in the post-Cold War world (especially in large parts of the developing world and in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union), are likely to result in growing numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons in the years ahead. Refugees and asylum seekers are increasingly regarded not only as a major humanitarian challenge but as a political problem and a threat to the national security of Western states. Refugee policy involves much more than defining or adjudicating claims for asylum, safe haven and refugee status for those who seek to enter or stay in the West. It is now apparent that an effective response to these issues will have to involve major Western foreign policy and international actions." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

EU-Libya Cooperation on Migration: A Raw Deal for Refugees and Migrants?

Libya's emergence as a key jumping-off point for entry intoEurope by sea has created a sense of urgency within the EU,which seeks to prevent arrivals from this new point of departure,and has led to the initiation of EU–Libya cooperationon migration. This article argues that the EU is failing toadopt an integrated approach to migration management in Libya,despite its repeated assurances to the contrary. It examinesEU–Libya cooperation, still in its early stages, and analysesthe experiences of refugees and migrants in Libya and on theirjourneys to Europe. Both elements strongly indicate that thecurrent approach, which focuses on border control and surveillance,is likely to meet with limited success in achieving the EU'saims of stemming the flow of irregular migrants arriving fromLibya in Italy and Malta, protecting the human rights of thosein transit and ensuring humanitarian outcomes for them.     

Cultural and Spiritual Constructions of Mental Distress and Associated Coping Mechanisms of Tibetans in Exile: Implications for Western Interventions

The Tibet-TPO project in Dharamsala, North India aims to provideculturally sensitive psychosocial support to Tibetan refugees.In this study we have examined the cultural and spiritual constructionsof mental distress of Tibetan exiles from a secondary analysisof previously published data. Tibetans refugees' constructionsof mental distress were intimately linked to cultural, religiousand political factors. Family and religious support were regardedas key coping strategies, yet many new refugees lacked bothfamily support and detailed knowledge and understanding of TibetanBuddhism. Not all of those interviewed were positive about ‘westernapproaches’ to dealing with mental distress, but thoseusing the service seemed to do so in a pragmatic and integrativeway. We conclude that culturally sensitive psychosocial supportcan usefully ‘fill a gap’, especially for new refugeeswho lack both family support and access to, or understandingof, traditional religious coping mechanisms.     

Tools for Anticipating Asylum Denials: An Application to Afghan Refugees in Pakistan, 1997-2001

The growing tendency toward non-compliance with internationalobligations to refugees requires UNHCR to make contingency plansfor asylum denials. Making such plans calls for tools, suchas game theory and confrontation analysis, that link non-compliancein refugee asylum with the configuration of interests for asylumand donor countries in a potential crisis. We illustrate suchtools in a case study of Afghan refugees in Pakistan in 1997–2001,which generated asylum denials by Pakistan ranging from briefborder closings to threats of mass refoulement, linked to thewithholding of assistance by the United States and other donors.We also consider the prospects for using these tools to informcontingency planning for an impending crisis.     

Islamism in the Diaspora: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon

In recent years there has been increasing academic interestin Islamism in the Middle East, not least in Palestinian Islamismchampioned by groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad, whichare waging a war of attrition against the Israeli occupationof the West Bank and Gaza. There has been less concern withIslamism among the Palestinian refugees dispersed in MiddleEastern countries such as Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. The articleoutlines the sources of Islamism (‘political Islam’)among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. The rise of Islamismis a complex mix of contingent factors that is fuelled by socialand political deprivation and shaped by divergent views on Palestiniannationalism (secular vs. Islamist), the Islamist revival inLebanon and ‘strategic localization’ that turnsrefugee camps into battlefields between Palestinian factions.The Islamist groups cater for narrowly defined segments of therefugee population and have been unable to attract wider support.Instead, they cater for minor, camp-based constituencies whichcompete with secular groups for internal control of the campsand, by implication, of the Palestinian nationalist cause itself.     

Narratives of the Past and Present: Young Refugees' Construction of a Family Identity in Exile

Little attention has been given to the ‘refugee experience’of children who follow their parents in escaping violence. Thisstudy examines how the experiences of violence become importantevents in the lives of a group of young refugees who were bornin the Middle East, but escaped with their parents to Denmarkten years ago. On the basis of a narrative analysis the studyshows that the adolescents' experience of being a refugee isgreatly influenced by the stories of the past narrated aboutthe family, and the internal relations and conflicts withinthe families. Adolescent refugees who have grown up with violencein their family relations experience greater difficulties increating new homes in exile than adolescents whose memoriesof violence are connected with a narrative of the historicalpersecution and suffering of their family and people.     

Settling Like a State: Acehnese Refugees in Vancouver

In Canada, the phenomenon of urban refugees is largely an expressionof state-managed practices, not spontaneous migration and settlement.This study focuses on the distinctly North American, and specificallyCanadian, experiences of pre-meditated, state-planned, government-managedmigration and settlement for urban refugees from the Aceh regionof Indonesia to Vancouver, British Columbia in 2004. It exploreswhy and how these refugees came to Vancouver; the state policydecision that located all of them in one city; and how theyhave fared in acquiring official language proficiency and employment.Whereas many refugees move to urban centres to enhance educationaland employment opportunities, this study illustrates the obstaclesto accessing both in Vancouver. Despite full legal status andaccess to employment sanctioned by the host state, there isno guarantee that refugees will have an easier time creatinglivelihoods under dramatically new conditions. The analysisis based on research conducted between January and August 2005during which a survey of housing, employment, and income issueswas conducted with 70 of the 104 Acehnese refugees who had relocatedto Vancouver since February 2004. In addition, a one-day, three-partseries of focus groups was held during which 47 members of theAcehnese community took part. Discussions centred on three keymoments during their migration: (1) while in Malaysian detentioncamps; (2) upon arrival in Vancouver, British Columbia; and(3) during the first year of settlement in the city, to ascertaincommon settlement experiences, policy implications, and theshort-term ‘success’ of the resettlement.     

Refugee Law and Protection in Brazil: a Model in South America?

Brazil has been committed to International Refugee Law sincethe 1950s. For much of this period, however, the country wasunder a dictatorship which made the implementation of refugeeprotection precarious, although refugees and asylum seekerscould count on the assistance of UNHCR and its implementingpartners—NGOs connected to the Catholic Church which remainpartners of UNHCR till today. Following re-democratization,Brazil has not only passed a specific law on refugees, but hasevolved to become a resettlement country. These changes haveled Brazil to be regarded as a model in refugee protection inSouth America. This paper aims to assess whether or not Brazilis fulfilling the said role by describing the evolution of refugeelaw and protection in the country.     

Sometimes You Just Have to Leave: Domestic Threats and Forced Migration, 1964-1989

In this study we explore why persons flee their homes to become refugees and internally displaced persons. We contend that individuals will tend to flee when the integrity of their person is threatened. Further, we argue that they will flee toward countries where they expect conditions to be better. We conduct statistical analyses using fixed effects least squares, on a pooled cross-sectional time-series data set, consisting of data from 129 countries for the years 1964-1989. Our findings support the conclusion that threats to personal integrity are of primary importance in leading people to abandon their homes. Measures of state threats to personal integrity, dissident threats to personal integrity, and joint state-dissident threats each have statistically significant and substantively important effects on migrant production. We also find that countries making moves toward democracy tend to have greater number of forced migrants, once other factors are considered. We conclude the analysis by identifying several lucrative areas for further investigation.     

Social determinants and risk factors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in South Asian migrant populations in Europe

In Europe, policies, strategies and interventions to address the growing burden of non-communicable diseases have generally neglected to take into consideration the impact of migration on health outcomes of increasingly multicultural and diverse societies. Research has shown that migrants of South Asian origin living in Europe are more at risk of acquiring non-communicable diseases than their counterparts in their country of origin or than the host European population. Using the example of migrants of South Asian origin, this paper highlights the migration-related social determinants of health and risk factors for non-communicable diseases. This paper calls for a more integrated, multi-sectoral approach to promote migrant-friendly health and social services to address non-communicable diseases in South Asia and Europe.     

'The Suffering is Too Great': Urban Internally Displaced Persons in the Casamance Conflict, Senegal

The paper addresses the dearth of studies of displaced peopleliving in urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa through a surveyof a particular group of internally displaced persons (IDPs)created by Senegal's Casamance conflict. They originate in arural area along the Guinea-Bissau border and were displacedinto Ziguinchor, the regional capital, mostly in the first halfof the 1990s. Analysis of survey data reveals the dynamics ofdisplacement and reception, showing how IDPs used pre-existingrural–urban migration chains and social integration processes.The livelihood activities of IDPs are compared with those oftwo other groups who have largely remained in situ: people normallyresident in the periphery of the urban reception area; and peopleremaining in the rural home area. Relative to both groups, IDPlivelihoods are restricted by reduced access to primary productionsites, and IDP livelihood activities are thus more urban-basedeven than those of ordinary townsfolk.