On the Media Effects of Immigration and Refugee Board Hearings via Videoconference

Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board conducts some of itsrefugee hearings via videoconferencing. As part of a reviewof the fairness of this practice, a theoretical approach andreview of the empirical literature was commissioned. Particularlyunder ‘high stakes’ conditions, it was found thatvideoconferencing reduces mutual trust and understanding, exacerbatescultural differences in non-verbal communication, and increasesthe propensity to lie while decreasing the ability to detectfalsehoods. Further, the inherent power imbalance between thetribunal and the claimant is widened as the tribunal membersbecome acclimatized to the technology. In general, the differencein sensory perception of a mediating technology creates cognitivedifferences between mediated and non-mediated environments.Further, sensory perception that feeds narrative constructionvaries by culture. The process of conveying and understandingmeaning across cultures is sufficiently difficult; adding thecomplexity of videoconference mediation introduces the possibilityof inconsistency, inaccuracy, and altered judgement.     

Project 0395A.ĐC | Performing disorientation

The end of the Vietnam/American War lead to one of the largest exoduses of the latter part of the twentieth century: more than 3 million people escaped from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos over the course of two decades starting in 1975, many by boat and an estimated 1 million died at sea. How do you witness and retell stories of violence in the aftermath of war and dispossession at sea in the context of U.S. empire and Vietnamese socialist revolution? Project 0395A.?C, a multi-media installation by Vietnamese artist, Ly Hoang Ly, intentionally structures and choreographs disorientation to grapple with the condition of being dispossessed at sea, as the Vietnamese refugee is suspended at sea and entangled in histories of French colonialism and caught at the crux of U.S. imperial war and Vietnamese socialist revolution. I argue that disorientation is a performative experience and method that performs an act of refusal to break voyeuristic modes of consuming histories of violence and reorients the body to another theory of Vietnamese refugee subjectivity. I analyze how Ly creates a performative installation and performs with water as the core aesthetic material used to frame, dialogue, and re-narrate a story of Vietnamese refugee subjectivity.     

The Baltic Question in West German Politics, 1949–90

While previous research by international lawyers has emphasized Bonn's value-neutral legalistic approach to the Baltic question from 1949 to 1990, this article–based on documents from the German Foreign Ministry archives–shows that the West Germans saw the Baltic issue as a political problem that interfered with their highest national aim: German unification. It addresses the following questions: first, why Bonn never made an official announcement of, and never publicly gave a justification for, its stance on the Baltic question; and second, why Bonn granted Baltic refugees the same rights that it offered other Heimat-less foreigners, whereas the remnants of Baltic diplomatic services or self-proclaimed exile governments found no official recognition in Germany. Finally, it comments on the role of the so-called German Balts in West German politics, and in Bonn's Baltic policies specifically.     

Using the Citizen to Bring the Refugee In: Gerardo Ruiz Zambrano v Office national de l'emploi (ONEM)

The decision of the CJEU in Zambrano was seen as another example of an over‐active judiciary in Luxembourg. This comment suggests, on the contrary, that the case has too little reasoning to open any ‘floodgates’ but that in setting out a new logic for EU citizenship, the Opinion offers an approach which limits the global approach to free movement case law and uses citizenship status to include rather than exclude the refugee.     

The Rise of the Far Right in Europe and the Refugee Crisis

The rise of the far right in Europe has captured the attention of the international community in recent years.Its specific features are:an unprecedentedly strong influence,an obvious trend towards the moderate line,horizontal collaboration to expand its reach,and a very adept use of social media networks.The refugee crisis has given the far right an historical opportunity.The rise has also had a profound effect on European politics;it has deepened the political divide inside EU member states,and shaken up the traditional political values and the foundation of the union.The rise of the far right will likely not change Europe's political landscape,but problems of EU governance over its handling of the refugee crisis cannot be ignored.     

赖昌星“难民”案的法律分析

赖昌星携家人潜逃加拿大后,向加拿大移民部提出了"难民"申请,由于加拿大难民制度完善而复杂,该案也一波三折。本文就赖昌星"难民"案所涉及的加拿大难民法律制度、该案争讼的焦点和该案目前的进展与前景做了简要介绍和分析。     

Irregular Secondary Movements to Europe: Seeking Asylum beyond Refuge

This study examines the contrast between initial and secondarymovements, and explores exile in relation to broader forms ofsecurity and need. It tests the assumption that safety is themost important consideration for refugees and looks at additionalinterests that they have and why. It contrasts conditions ininitial places of exile (experienced or anticipated) with thoseexpected of the UK and highlights reasons for subsequent movements,arguing that distinctions between stages are false and thateach is part of what exile means. This study shows that initialand irregular secondary movements arise because of the interestspeople have in accessing safety, as well as quality of lifeand certainty in exile. It concludes that it is only by wayof how refugees are defined that these are overlooked or aredistrusted by host areas, and recommends that hosts should revisitexpectations and properly respond to refugees’ needs.     

Refugee Camp Economies

This paper describes the economy of a refugee camp. Key distortionsto the economy of Kyangwali Refugee Settlement in Uganda arenoted and the findings are used to construct a generic modelof a refugee camp economy. Camp economies are influenced byhost country policies, such as restrictions on refugees’movement and work, as well as by the physical and economic isolationof the site. Moreover, market outcomes interact with the natureof humanitarian assistance and the special demographic compositionof the refugees to determine the prices and quantities thatcharacterize the market. An awareness of the dynamics of therefugee camp economy has important implications for practitionersand scholars alike.     

Determinants of the Psychosocial Adjustment of Southern Sudanese Men

Our study examines the psychosocial adjustment of 164 SouthernSudanese men who are resettling in a western Canadian city.Special emphasis is placed on the role of financial and emotionalstrain associated with their sending money to relatives in Africa.Key findings point to the importance of religiosity in predictingtheir psychological adjustment, and social support and reducedfinancial role strain in predicting their social adjustment.Findings serve to guide the provision of culturally appropriateservices and policies for African immigrants and refugee claimantsin Canada.