Introduction: Refugee and Forced Migration Studies in Transition Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Gil Loescher, Katy Long and Nando Sigona. It was then realized (thanks, Claire) that there was no single, comprehensive body of work accompanying the development of the multidisciplinary field of refugee and forced migration studies as it exists today.
List of Abbreviations
UN.GIFT United Nations Global Initiative to Combat Trafficking in Persons UNAIDS Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. UNAMA United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan UNCCP United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine UNCRC United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child UNDP United Nations Development Programme.
List of Contributors
Dawn Chatty is Professor of Anthropology and Forced Migration and Fellow at St Cross College, University of Oxford. Katy Long is a lecturer in international development at the University of Edinburgh and a research fellow at the Refugee Studies Center at the University of Oxford.
Introduction: Refugee and Forced Migration Studies in Transition
Abstract and Keywords
Although the field of refugee and forced migration studies itself emerged in the 1980s, there is a long and important history of research on refugees and forced displacement across the humanities and social and political sciences. Hathaway 2007), in practice, however, most researchers can easily identify work belonging to the field of refugee and forced migration studies.
At the same time, the contributors to the Handbook analyze the main contemporary and future challenges facing academics and practitioners working with and for forcibly displaced populations around the world, thus exploring where the field is going: the chapters therefore not only offer thematic overviews of state-of-the-art research, but also detailed assessments of the direction of current cutting-edge analyzes and suggestions for future research agendas.
Shifting Spaces and Scenarios of Displacement
Legal and Institutional Responses to Forced Migration
Root Causes of Displacement
The final chapter, by Stephan Scheel and Vicki Squire, examines how many of those refugees and asylum seekers who undertake transnational journeys are labelled. The final chapter in this volume, by Bridget Anderson, in turn examines the multiple connections that exist between human trafficking, smuggling and forced migration and, by tracing a genealogy of current discourse and policies on human trafficking, problematizes the binary between voluntary and forced migration.
Lived Experiences and Representations of Forced Migration
Rethinking Durable Solutions
Regional Studies: Current Realities and Future Challenges
Refugee and forced migration studies will also shift to include new understandings of not only the consequences but also the causes of forced migration. It is therefore important that refugee and forced migration studies maintain a critical, independent edge.
But on the other hand, there is a real risk that refugee and forced migration studies may lose its distinctive identity and the strengths that come from its rich cross-disciplinary tradition and humanitarian roots. We argue that engagement with refugee and forced migration studies should not be based on a purely intellectual pursuit, divorced from the human realities of displacement and deprivation.
Notes
He is visiting professor at the Refugee Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford. He is a Birmingham Fellow at the School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham.
Histories of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies
An important trend concerns the study of displaced persons as part of history. Historians have studied the development of labels, particularly in relation to the history of the international regime and the functioning of international organizations.
The International Law of Refugee Protection
The Statute of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was adopted on 14 December 1950, and the Office became operational on 1 January 1951. Article 1A(1) of the 1951 Convention applies the term 'refugee' first to any person who considered a refugee under previous international agreements.
Persecution and the Reasons for Persecution
However, in practice, states' freedom of action is significantly affected by "external" constraints, which derive from an internationally recognized definition of refugees, the application of the principle of non-refoulement, and the general impact of human rights law. The 1951 Convention is often described as a "human rights treaty", to be treated as a living instrument, evolving to meet the needs and challenges of the day.
Political Theory, Ethics, and Forced Migration
This survey not only illustrates the vitality and scope of normative discussion in the field of forced migration; it clearly shows how forced migration's central questions connect with contemporary academic discussions about the character of morally decent political communities. No topic related to forced migration has received more attention from a normative perspective than the question of whether some forced migrants should have a special right to cross borders in search of international protection, or asylum.
Who is a Refugee?
Furthermore, many of the world's Convention refugees do not necessarily need (or obtain) citizenship in another country (cf. Bradley 2013b). There is also no reason to believe that a state that offers protection to victims of generalized violence, or even to those covered by the Refugee Convention's exclusion clauses, does not (or cannot) express a degree of moral condemnation in the sense of Price.
Nevertheless, refugee puritans fail to establish good moral reasons for giving preference to Refugee Convention refugees in the allocation of asylum. But it is only recently that the idea of harm as a basis for asylum has systematically developed, with the conceptualization of asylum as a form of reparation for the injustices inflicted on refugees by third countries through military aggression, the supply of weapons that have fueled civil wars, and even support for regimes that violate human rights (Souter 2013).
What are the Limits of State Responsibilities to Refugees?
What is the Value of Citizenship?
For her, the normative core of the two groups was the same: each was denied political agency through the actual loss of membership, and each faced a situation of 'disenfranchisement' (Arendt 1986: 296). To be incorporated into the order of national citizenship is to assume a series of obligations (as well as rights) and to be a member of an international system that chains people to states in a way that mocks consent-based governance and delegitimizes some of the world's inhabitants to appallingly low life chances (Carens 1992).
Who is a Member?
Agamben signals some of this change by noting that the refugee (or stateless person) is “nothing less than a border concept that radically questions the principles of the nation-state while helping to clear the field for a no.” longer-delayed renewal of categories' (1995). There is wide variation among scholars about the specifics of when individuals become isolated from deportation power.
When is Forced Migration Justifiable?
Some scholars argue that any claim to membership through residency should be qualified by other indicators of integration (law-abiding, signs of involvement in society, payment of taxes, etc.) (Elshtain 2009; . Shachar 2009).
Under What Conditions Should Refugees Return?
This chapter shows that the ethics of forced migration is a diverse, growing and vibrant field of scholarship. Significant gaps remain: normative scholars in particular have tended to be disproportionately concerned with the ethics of forced migration as it relates to the concerns and value frameworks of developed, Western, liberal states.
International Relations and Forced Migration
At almost every moment of the evolution and development of the international system, the refugee has been a central figure. Within the work on IR and Forced Migration, the two main lines of work are focused on their analysis.
International Security
International Cooperation
Much scholarship on asylum policy in the North has been normative rather than interpretive (see, for example, Gibney 2004). Most of the theoretical literature on participation in the refugee regime focuses on explaining the burden sharing in the North.
Global Governance
One of the most striking academic features of refugee studies and forced migration is that it is transnational. The study of the international politics of forced migration provides a unique space within which transnationalism and the state can be brought together and the question of how they interact.
Non-state Actors
Monahan (ed.), Refugees and International Relations. 2003) Public interest institutions: international protection regimes in international society. The need for better diagnosis and prescription”. ed.), Prolonged refugee situations: political, human rights and security implications.
Anthropology and Forced Migration
Academic interest in the study of migration as a specific field developed in the late nineteenth century with the work of the British demographer Ravenstein (Ravenstein 1889). Peter Loizos was in many ways a pioneer in the study of the plight of refugees and in the emerging postmodernist perspective.
Anthropology and the Formal Founding of the Discipline of Forced Migration Studies
The RSC has grown in the intervening decades and successfully integrated into the academic teaching and research program of the University of Oxford. The homeland that exists in the imagination and memories of the uprooted may no longer correspond to realities on the ground.
Sociology and Forced Migration
Instead of the decolonization process that Zolberg used to build his hypothesis, politics in the 2000s associated the risk of forced migration with problems of (p. 89) governance and the legitimacy of 'fragile states'. This would take into account many situations of forced migration that are not related to the state.
Labels and Categorization
Refugee creation is part of the modern system of sovereign, territorial states, and state-building processes have indeed been cited as important drivers of forced migration (Zolberg 1983). Nevertheless, apart from this tendency, we distinguish classical sociological themes and issues that have had an impact in forced migration studies.
Re-)integration and Citizenship
The political and bureaucratic dynamics of labeling constitute a constructive field of study in itself, although such studies tell us more about the agents, structures, and effects of labeling than about the people labeled. An example is the politically important notion of 'mixed flows', the 'complex' population movements of irregular migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, stateless persons, unaccompanied minors and other vulnerable persons who travel irregularly across similar routes, using similar means of travel.
Gender, Class, and Ethnicity
However, a distinguishing factor of the sociology of forced migration is that it has developed alongside the studies of. As mentioned, the state has occupied an important position in the sociology of forced migration.
Livelihoods and Forced Migration
Livelihood assets are more than just material – such as land, livestock or money – they include human capital such as health, education, skills and experience and social capital. Refugees are often unable to utilize their human capital, such as skills and experience acquired in their home countries, because they are denied permission to work, lack the appropriate credentials, or face discrimination in the workplace.
Lack of Data
For example, many Iraqi refugees arrived in Cairo with more assets, including education and financial resources, and are far less impoverished than other groups such as Ethiopians or Sudanese. In areas of conflict and displacement, reliable secondary data such as census data or household surveys are often unavailable because data collection is dangerous or logistically difficult.
Loss, Trauma, and Impoverishment
Although these are valuable, there is a significant lack of comparative analyzes or population-based studies. However, the scope of such data is still relatively small and unsynthesized compared to other areas of refugee research, and there is much room for further investigation if we are to understand how best to address the livelihood issues of forced migrants.
Obstacles and Enablers in the Host Context
Encampment
However, recovering the loss of assets after displacement due to social exclusion at work in the host country can be extremely difficult.
Legal Status and Documentation
For example, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, refugee Rohingya fishermen become victims of loan sharks. This exploitation continues because refugee fishermen rely on loans that are also used for bail when they are arrested by the police (WFP 2012).
Government authorities and many in civil society see the success of refugee survival in terms of Asylum Access Ecuador (2011) 'Having a job means having a life': refugees' experiences with the right to work in Ecuador'.
Geographies of Forced Migration
Secondly, geographical research has dominated investigations into the relationship between the environment and forced migration, but here, too, definitions and categories are important. The next three sections consider these aspects of the geography of forced migration in turn: data, environment and location.
Data and Categorization
Before that, this chapter turns to a large body of geographical research on the impact of the environment on forced migration. This chapter has highlighted the extraordinary breadth of geographical perspective on issues related to forced migration.
Encampment and Self-Settlement
First, there is concern about how large numbers of refugees can be integrated into the society of the country of asylum. The figures clearly show that the camping policy is one that is applied almost exclusively in the poorest regions of the world.
Urban Refugees and IDPs
As noted, much of the research and discussion on displaced people in urban areas focuses on the content of the policies themselves and the supposed impact on refugees and other people of concern. In summary, there are three analytical and practical divides that must be overcome when studying and acting on behalf of the displaced in urban space.
Protracted Refugee Situations
The response of UNHCR and the wider UN system also contributed to the increase in protracted refugee situations. Despite the scale and importance of the issue, responses to protracted refugee situations have been limited in their impact.
Internal Displacement
One of the current debates concerns the issue of whether or not it makes sense to look at IDPs as a distinct category of concern. That IDPs, as citizens or permanent residents of the country in which they are displaced, are protected by human rights exactly like the rest of its population and are not necessarily more vulnerable than non-displaced persons, is often used as a key argument for looking at IDPs as a specific category of concern.
The Universal Level: The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement
Principles regarding protection against displacement (principles 5-9) contain, among other things, the prohibition of arbitrary displacement, which is violated, for example in the case of ethnic cleansing and similar practices; during 'armed conflict, unless the safety of the civilians involved or compelling military reasons so require'; or 'in the case of disasters, unless the safety and health of those affected require their evacuation' (Principle 6). Depending on the context, they must also have access to and exchange of personal and other documentation; reunification with family members;.
Legal Character
The Principles on Protection During Displacement (Principles 10-23) contain an extensive list of safeguards that address the specific needs and vulnerabilities of internally displaced persons. Finally, the Principles on Return, Resettlement and Reintegration (Principles 28-30) address the issue of durable solutions to end displacement.
On the other hand, it would be premature to conclude that the Guiding Principles have already matured into international customary law (Schmidt, although they largely reflect existing customary law (Goldman 2009: 68).
The National Level: Laws and Policies
Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement (ed.) (2008) Protection of Internally Displaced Persons: A Guide for Law and Policy Makers. The text of national internal displacement laws, policies and strategies can be found at.
Refugees, Diasporas, and Transnationalism
Moreover, people in diasporas increasingly use the label themselves, partly because of its strong presence in the policy world, but also because of the realization of their growing influence on the world (Sökefeld 2006; Jeyaraj 2009). One of the main resources diasporas contribute to conflict relief and post-conflict recovery is remittances and other transfers.
Spheres of Diaspora Engagement in Conflict Settings
Perhaps a distinction should be made between the capacity and willingness to engage in conflict settings (Al-Ali, Black and Koser 2001). However, as in more stable settings, diaspora engagement in conflict settings tends to be privately family and community oriented rather than concerned with broader social renewal, as the next section shows.
Diasporas, Lives, and Livelihoods in Conflict Settings
It addresses the framing, targeting and active production of 'forced migrants as illegal migrants' in the literature and highlights the importance of labelling. From this point of view, the title "forced migrants as illegal migrants" is less controversial than it is symptomatic of the contemporary conjuncture in mobility politics.
Human Rights and Forced Migration
First, human rights law provides a basis on which protection can be granted to an individual fleeing harm. This is because human rights law sets out the minimum standards of treatment that countries must afford to individuals within their territory or jurisdiction.
Settled Grounds of Human Rights-Based Non-refoulement
This is where the comprehensive principle of non-refoulement in human rights law can provide protection. This is because of the minimum standards of treatment set out in human rights treaties that states have agreed to guarantee to all persons within their territory or jurisdiction.
Additional Grounds
One of the main obstacles to the fulfillment of human rights in practice is their translation from international obligations into domestic law. European Convention on Human Rights (Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) (drafted on November 4, 1950, entered into force on September 3, 1953) ETS No.
UNHCR and Forced Migration
In the past, the UN General Assembly has played a key role in expanding UNHCR's mandate. It was only with the global expansion of the office in the 1970s and 1980s that UNHCR's budget began to increase dramatically.
UNRWA and Palestinian Refugees
According to the most recent Palestinian Refugee and Displaced Persons Survey (BADIL 2010–12), the Palestinian population worldwide is 11.2 million, 66 percent of whom are displaced persons or refugees. Over half, or 5.8 million, are 1,948 refugees and their descendants, 4.8 million of whom are registered with UNRWA.
The United Nations Conciliation Commission on Palestine (UNCCP)
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)
Despite opposition on the grounds that RAO's "protection" activities went beyond UNRWA's mandate, they remained active until the early 1990s, until the signing of the Oslo Agreements. Within its five areas, UNRWA's mandate extends to groups or categories of vulnerable Palestinian refugees and displaced persons, based on aid or protection criteria.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Palestinian Refugees
UNRWA; commending UNRWA for taking certain safeguards; and recognizes the fact that UNRWA's activities include "assistance and protection". UNRWA's mandate covers five geographic areas – Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon – and no more.
Defining Palestine/Palestinian Refugees
First, they argued that 'the existence of Palestinian refugees... was the direct result of a decision taken by the UN itself with full knowledge of the consequences. As for the clause "that the position of such persons shall be finally determined in accordance with the relevant resolutions adopted by the General Assembly", the drafting history also provides guidance.
Eligibility for and Cessation of Refugee Status
UNRWA also lists protection and durable solutions as separate components of its mandate towards Palestinian refugees (Morris 2008: 3). Recognition of refugee status is therefore the necessary and essential element that triggers international protection in the form of the right to durable solutions.
Access to Durable Solutions
However, Article 1C's termination clauses do not apply to Palestinians, as Article 1C states: 'This Convention shall cease to apply to any person falling within the terms of Section A'. Article 1D refugees do not fall under the terms of Section A, and therefore 1C does not refer to Palestinians at all.
UNRWA’s Protection Role and Weaknesses in its Mandate
None of the Arab host states is a party to the Refugee Convention or a regional convention that protects refugees (such as in Africa or America). UNHCR (2002) Note on the applicability of Article 1D of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees to Palestinian refugees.
Refugees and Humanitarianism
