The limits of hospitality: coping strategies among displaced Syrians in Lebanon

Based on qualitative fieldwork in the Sunni village of Bebnine, located between Tripoli and the northern Syrian border, this paper explores how displaced Syrians adjust to life in Lebanon under the threat and actuality of violence. The marginalised refugees do not only appear as passive victims of crisis but draw on a diverse repertoire of coping strategies to deal with displacement and dispossession. Self-settled Syrians have exploited social networks, savings, aid, education and work opportunities to create a new livelihood system for themselves. Nevertheless, everyday life in Lebanon is not conceptualised as a safe zone. Syrian refugees are increasingly being used as scapegoats for the poor economy and political challenges in the country. While practices of hospitality towards the Syrian refugees were widespread, ambivalent feelings and prejudice frequently surfaced. Refugees expressed concern that the Syrian civil war would escalate into further sectarian violence in Lebanon, pushing the country closer to war.     

AFGHAN REFUGEES: THE IMPACT ON PAKISTAN

One of the most important arenas that have been profoundly affected by the security situation in Afghanistan is Pakistan's internal security environment. The instability in Afghanistan has had a negative spill-over effect on Pakistan's domestic security scenario, as the Afghan quagmire poses immense implications on Pakistan's domestic framework. One of the important consequences of the Afghan conflict since the 1970s has been the massive inflow of the Afghan refugee population to the neighbouring Pakistan which in following years has brought about a number of demographic and security challenges to the Pakistani society. Therefore along with a number of factors, at this present juncture, Afghan refugees have also become a principal factor in determining Pakistan's Afghanistan policy.     

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.     

Somali Community Organizations in London and Toronto: Collaboration and Effectiveness

This article considers the high number of Somali community organizationsin both London and Toronto. Drawing on interviews in both locationswith Somali women refugees and discussions with those involvedin their resettlement, evidence shows that many Somalis continueto feel marginalized in terms of service provision and thatcollective representation is limited, despite the high numberof specifically Somali organizations that exist. Through a comparisonof the Somali community organizations in London and Toronto,this article highlights factors which have inhibited the developmentof a united, collaborative Somali voice. Contributory factorsare shown to derive partly from the persistent clan dynamicsamong Somalis and the solutions Somalis find, and partly fromfailings in service and funding provision. It is argued that,in the Somali case, exclusionary dynamics undermine the roleof community organizations in rebuilding community and belongingand providing a safe and empowering setting in which individualsand communities may regain confidence and begin the processof integration within the receiving society.     

Urban Refugees in Nairobi: Problems of Protection, Mechanisms of Survival, and Possibilities for Integration

This article examines the legal status and economic livelihoodsof refugees in Nairobi, focusing on Somalis, the largest urbanpopulation residing in the city. The results of the study challengethe Government of Kenya's (GOK) official position and the popularlocal perception that refugees are an economic burden, and showinstead that these urban refugees are economically self-sufficient.Despite this economic independence, conditions for most refugeesin Nairobi are extremely difficult. Urban refugees live largelywithout material assistance or legal protection from the GOKor UNHCR, are vulnerable to police arrest at any time and facehigh levels of xenophobia from the local population. By highlightingrefugee self-sufficiency in Nairobi, this article lends supportto the idea of local integration as a viable, durable solutionto their situation of protracted exile.     

‘Very Brave or Very Foolish’? ‘Gallant Little’ Botswana’s Defiance of ‘Apartheid’s Golden Age’, 1966–1980

The period from 1966 to 1979 is claimed to have been ‘apartheid’s golden age’ when the anti-apartheid forces were alleged to have largely acquiesced in the well-resourced South African government. However, this paper observes that Botswana, a country of about one million people and almost entirely surrounded by extremely hostile white minority regimes, demonstrated a spirit of defiance to apartheid’s golden age. Botswana defied military intimidation and reprisals from South Africa (an African giant) and its ally Rhodesia by continuing to host large numbers of refugees despite Botswana’s severe budgetary constraints. Botswana did this even though it was landlocked and overwhelmingly dependent on South Africa for economic survival. Botswana felt that it was a moral obligation to make sacrifices for the benefit of the oppressed black people of South Africa. This article attempts to demonstrate that despite being defenceless and dependent on South Africa for economic survival, Botswana did not yield in its principled stand against apartheid, a stand which won international acclaim during the period from 1966 to 1980 – apartheid’s golden age. It concludes that in its own small way Botswana demonstrated that apartheid was not entirely invincible.     

Setting a new framework for co-operation between the Commonwealth and the European Union

This paper proposes a new approach to understanding the relations between the European Union (EU) and the Commonwealth. There has been a long-standing lack of mutual insight between the Commonwealth and the EU, chiefly due to a general lack of knowledge of the modern-day Commonwealth and its role on the international stage. The relations between both organisations are currently limited, despite the fact that there are areas of common interest, where cooperation would not only be feasible, but also beneficial. An agreement, such as that proposed in this paper could contribute significantly in the fight to eradicate poverty and uphold human rights.