Refugees in Russia: the Law on Refugees and its Implementation

Since the adoption of a new Russian Law on Refugees in 1997,the number of recognized refugees has dropped drastically. TheLaw has a definition of the term ‘refugee’ almostidentical to that of the 1951 Convention. But many provisionsof the Law are contradictory to Russia's international obligations.After a short look at the background to the issue, the Law onRefugees is examined. Then the implementation of the Law iscompared with the situation before its entry into force. Thedifficult life conditions of refugees and asylum seekers areconsidered to be partly a result of the legal provisions andtheir realization. The factors that contribute to the presentsituation are discussed. While certain provisions of the existingLaw need to be amended, it has to be implemented in order toprovide international protection to asylum seekers.     

难民与安曼城市发展探析

难民是国际热点问题。第二次世界大战后,安曼城市发展常常遭遇周边国家周期性的难民潮影响。由于约旦政府在难民安置和保护上的相对宽松政策,使其周边国家特别是巴勒斯坦、伊拉克的许多难民来此寻求保护,约旦首都安曼首当其冲成为难民的积聚地。难民不仅与城市发展安全、经济安全密不可分,而且在很大程度上影响着城市人口结构、城市规划与城市生活状况。安曼难民的走向与约旦政府、国际社会政策紧密相连。     

Refugees, Institutional Invisibility, and Self-Help Strategies: Evaluating Kurdish Experience in Rome

The article investigates the way in which asylum reception hasbeen organized in Italy in response to Kurdish refugees. Theanalysis suggests that Italy, as compared to northern Europeancountries, has failed to develop a public system of reception,which has been counterbalanced by the parallel development ofa private one. The abandonment of the vast majority of asylumseekers to their own survival strategies should read as an institutionalfailure to develop adequate reception policies and serious protectionplans. The ‘Kurdish crisis’ has exposed the importanceof state intervention in providing reception, which could nolonger be left to local NGOs, self-help strategies and migrants'networks. In particular, the article looks at the way in whichItaly, during the 1990s, has organized refugee reception; the(non) reception system in the municipality of Rome; and finallysome private survival strategies that Kurdish asylum seekershave resorted to once no public help was made available to them.     

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.     

Place and Afghan Refugees: A Contribution to Turton

This article contributes to the discussion on place/space/identityrecently re-opened by David Turton, who introduces the notionof ‘place-making project’ to describe the relationbetween a group of Ethiopian agro-pastoralists and place. Thisarticle aims to expand Turton's framework to situations otherthan the one he depicts, as well as to develop some of the conceptspresented therein. With reference to Afghans in Pakistan, thefollowing arguments are made. First, a vast array of overlappingplace-making projects simultaneously encompass territory andindividuals, attributing a different significance to them onthe basis of peculiar logics. Second, the interaction betweensuch projects has material effects on spatial and institutionalpractices of migration and assistance. Third, these materialeffects have different significance for refugees, since eachof them is differently encompassed by such projects. The articleconcludes by highlighting how such a framework can be used toassess power relations and challenge de-politicized narrativesof refugee protection and assistance.     

Hearts, as well as Minds: Wellbeing and Illness among Greek Cypriot Refugees

Recently the psycho-social health of refugees has rightly receivedemphasis, but the physical health of long-term refugees warrantssimilar attention. This paper uses qualitative and quantitativedata on informant-reported health outcomes for two Greek Cypriotvillage cohorts, one displaced, the other not displaced. Supplementarydata from a national diabetes prevalence study confirmed a possiblelink between refugee status and greater probability of cardiovascularillness. Depressive illness also seemed higher among the refugeevillage cohort. But it is not only the illness of some of theserefugees, but their surviving this, and the comparative wellnessof others which is important, compared with the ‘demographicshock’ victims of post-socialist Europe, 1989–1995.The paper suggests why the Greek Cypriots have done rather betterin health terms than the post-socialists of Eastern Europe,1989–1995, but argues that refugees in failing statesmay have much worse health outcomes.     

大冲击,大分化,大角逐,大变革--伊战后的中东形势走向

伊战后,美全面铺开“整合”中东的摊子,构成对该地区多角度和多层面冲击,各类新旧矛盾交织释放。本地区国家为应对变局,重新界定利益组合及取向。地区外大国不愿将中东拱手让予美国,调整角逐方略,争取利益共赢。求新思变的社会潮流扩展,国家强力难以扼杀或逆转,整个中东地区发轫深刻的历史变革。