New Reports from Human Rights Watch

 

“I had to run away”

“I Had To Run Away”: The Imprisonment of Women and Girls for “Moral Crimes” in Afghanistan.
By Human Rights Watch.

Further Information on the Report:

This 120-page report is based on 58 interviews conducted in three prisons and three juvenile detention facilities with women and girls accused of “moral crimes.” Almost all girls in juvenile detention in Afghanistan had been arrested for “moral crimes,” while about half of women in Afghan prisons were arrested on these charges. These “crimes” usually involve flight from unlawful forced marriage or domestic violence. Some women and girls have been convicted of zina, sex outside of marriage, after being raped or forced into prostitution.

[Access]
(Source: Human Rights Watch)

 

Second Class Citizens

Second Class Citizens: Discrimination against Roma, Jews, and Other National Minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
By Human Rights Watch.

Further Information on the Report:

This 62-page report highlights discrimination against Roma, Jews, and other national minorities in politics and government. Much of this discrimination stems from Bosnia’s 1995 Constitution, which mandates a system of government based on ethnicity and excludes these groups from high political office. The report also shows the wider impact of discrimination on the daily lives of Roma in accessing housing, education, healthcare, and employment.

[Access]
(Source: Human Rights Watch)

 

In Cold Blood

In Cold Blood: Summary Executions by Syrian Security Forces and Pro-Government Militias.
By Human Rights Watch.

Further Information on the Report:

This 23-page report documents more than a dozen incidents involving at least 101 victims since late 2011, many of them in March 2012. Human Rights Watch documented the involvement of Syrian forces and pro-government shabeeha militias in summary and extrajudicial executions in the governorates of Idlib and Homs. Government and pro-government forces not only executed opposition fighters they had captured, or who had otherwise stopped fighting and posed no threat, but also civilians who likewise posed no threat to the security forces.

[Access]
(Source: Human Rights Watch)

 

“You Will Not Have Peace While You Are Living”

“You Will Not Have Peace While You Are Living”: The Escalation of Political Violence in Burundi.
By Human Rights Watch.

Further Information on the Report:

This 81-page report documents political killings stemming from the 2010 elections in Burundi. These killings, which peaked toward the middle of 2011, often took the form of tit-for-tat attacks by members of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy-Forces for the Defense of Democracy (Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie, CNDD-FDD) and the opposition National Liberation Forces (Forces nationales de libération, FNL). In the vast majority of cases, justice has been denied to families of the victims.

[Access]
(Source: Human Rights Watch)

 

“They Burned My Heart”

“They Burned My Heart”: War Crimes in Northern Idlib during Peace Plan Negotiations.
By Human Rights Watch.

Further Information on the Report:

This report documents dozens of extrajudicial executions, killings of civilians, and destruction of civilian property that qualify as war crimes, as well as arbitrary detention and torture. The report is based on a field investigation conducted by Human Rights Watch in the towns of Taftanaz, Saraqeb, Sarmeen, Kelly, and Hazano in Idlib governorate in late April.

[Access]
(Source: Human Rights Watch)

 

Criminal Reprisals

Criminal Reprisals: Kenyan Police and Military Abuses against Ethnic Somalis.
By Human Rights Watch.

Further Information on the Report:

This report provides detailed documentation of human rights abuses by the Kenya Defence Forces and the Kenyan police in apparent response to a series of grenade and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks that targeted both the security forces and civilians in North Eastern province. Rather than conducting investigations to identify and apprehend the perpetrators, both the police and army responded with violent reprisals against Kenyan citizens and Somali refugees.

[Access]
(Source: Human Rights Watch)

 

New Publications from the TSO on the UK Border Office; Immigration and The US-UK Extradition Treaty

The following reports have recently been published by the UK Stationary Office:

Work of the UK Border Agency

Work of the UK Border Agency (August–December 2011):  HC 1722, Twenty-first Report of Session 2010-12 – Report, Together with Formal Minutes, Oral and Written Evidence.
Author: House of Commons – Home Affairs Committe

‘Immigration: The Points Based System – Student Route: Home Office: UK Border Agency (HC 1827)’ examines how students from countries outside the European Economic Area can study in the UK, provided they are sponsored by educational institutions licensed by the UK Border Agency. This points-based route is known as “Tier 4″.
(Source: The Stationary Office)

[Access]
(Source: The Stationary Office)

The US-UK Extradition Treaty

The US-UK Extradition Treaty: HC 644, Twentieth Report of Session 2010-12 – Report, Together with Formal Minutes, Oral and Written Evidence.
Author: House of Commons – Home Affairs Committee.

The report ‘The US-UK Extradition Treaty (HC 644)’ urges the Government to act immediately to deal with growing public unease about the fairness of the US-UK Extradition Treaty as highlighted by the cases of Gary McKinnon, Richard O’Dwyer and Christopher Tappin.
(Source: The Stationary Office).

[Access]
(Source: The Stationary Office)

Immigration: The Points Based System – Student Route

Immigration: The Points Based System – Student Route: Home Office: UK Border Agency: HC 1827, Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Session 2010-12.
Author: National Audit Office (NAO).

‘Immigration: The Points Based System – Student Route: Home Office: UK Border Agency (HC 1827)’ examines how students from countries outside the European Economic Area can study in the UK, provided they are sponsored by educational institutions licensed by the UK Border Agency. This points-based route is known as “Tier 4″.
(Source: The Stationary Office).

[Access]
(Source: The Stationary Office)

Event: Displaced Childhoods: Oral History and Traumatic Experiences

*** Apologies for Cross-Posting ***

From the Oral History Society Website:

Displaced Childhoods: Oral History and Traumatic Experiences

Oral History Society Annual Conference: Friday and Saturday 13-14 July 2012

Southampton Solent University in association with Modern Languages, University of Southampton

Conference venue: Southampton Solent University Conference Centre, Sir James Matthews Building, 157-187 Above Bar Street, Southampton, Hampshire, SO14 7NN

Download provisional programme | Download conference registration form

Displaced Childhoods: Oral History and Traumatic Experiences

Please click the poster above to download and print an A4 copy for your institution

This multidisciplinary conference will showcase how oral history is increasingly being used to explore the impact of traumatic events such as war, evacuation, conflict and growing up in care has on children and their adult selves. We have an exciting line up of speakers from both the UK and overseas, presenting papers on a range of topics around displaced childhoods, as well as on methodological and ethical issues. The conference will be of interest to all those working in the field of oral history.

Key themes of the conference include:

• Internal migration and the global movement of children from Spain, India, the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda
• The ‘Forgotten Children’ forcibly migrated to Australia
• Childhood experience of civil disasters
• The effects of growing up in care and long-term hospitalisation
• The development of therapeutic environments for children and young people with emotional, social and behavioural disorders.

Keynote Speakers

Dr Joanna Sassoon , project manager of the Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants oral history project at the National Library of Australia; and

Professor Lynn Abrams, author of The Orphan Country: Children of Scotland’s Broken Homes and Oral History Theory

We are pleased to be holding the conference at Southampton Solent University as this year the city commemorates the 75th anniversary of the little known story of Los Niños, the children evacuated to the UK during the Spanish Civil War. An oral history project on Los Niños will be discussed at the conference.

Southampton is well connected by air, coach, rail, road, and sea. And the university is only 10 minutes walk from Southampton rail station.

A conference registration form can be accessed by clicking this link.

Event: Applied Research Methods with Hidden, Marginal and Excluded Populations (30 July – 3 August 2012)

*** Apologies for cross posting ***

Applied Research Methods with Hidden, Marginal and Excluded Populations
School in Social Science Data Analysis, University of Essex (UK)
30 July – 3 August 2012

The course (8th Edition) provides an introduction to research methods in conducting research, both qualitative and quantitative, with marginal, hidden and excluded populations, with a specific focus on equity related research. The course introduces the main theories and research approaches on hard-to-reach populations using different frameworks and techniques.

This intensive course will provide tools to address key issues such as the lack of known sampling frame; the difficulties in reaching the target group; the concepts of impact, attribution and contribution; and the political dimension of research findings. The course explores topics such as: estimation and sampling techniques; participatory research; evidence-based policy versus policy-based evidence; innovation, crowdsourcing and the use of technology; the art of combining qualitative and quantitative methods; and ethical considerations arising when conducting research with hidden and marginalized populations.

A course description and detailed outline are available at
http://www.essex.ac.uk/summerschool/media/pdf/Outlines/2R%20Applied%20Research%20Methods%20with%20Hidden%20and%20Marginal%20populations.pdf


Topics in this year’s course:

Innovation and the use of technology: SMS, crowd sourcing and mapping
- Using SMS and mobile phones for research and data collection
- Crowdsourcing and mapping: Ushahidi (introduction)

Qualitative methods
- Participatory research methods
- Rapid assessment
- KAP (Knowledge Attitude and Practice)
- Positive deviance

Quantitative methods:
- Cluster sampling
- Adaptive cluster sampling
- Time location sampling
- Lot Quality Assurance (LQAS)
- Small area estimation
- Capture and recapture
- Respondent Driven Sampling RDS (intro)
- Social network analysis applied to hard-to-reach populations (introduction)

Description

http://www.essex.ac.uk/summerschool/courses/session2/2r.html


Note:  Applications will be accepted until 1 June 2012, but apply soon as courses fill up quickly!

Contacts and registration
For information please contact :
Ms. Melanie Sawers, Administrative Director
Essex Summer School In Social Science Data Analysis, University of Essex UK
email: mels@essex.ac.uk
tel: +44 (0) 1206 872502

Event: Film Showing – Love in the Time of the Frontier

*** Apologies for Cross Posting ***

Film showing | UCL Anthropology Department

Love in the Time of the Frontier
Three short films on migrations, detentions and expulsions across the Mediterranean

by Alexandra D’Onofrio
produced by FortressEurope

http://fortresseurope.blogspot.it/


Wednesday 16th May
5-7pm
UCL Anthropology Department
Daryll Forde Seminar Room

Three short films that trace the lives of Kabbour, Nizar and Abderrahim and their encounters with the North Africa/Europe border, Italian immigration centres and expulsion procedures, but also with love, paternity and solitude.

Love in the time of the Frontier (20 minutes)
Luck will save me (18 minutes)
Daddy’s not coming back (15 minutes)

(Arabic, Italian, English and French, with English subtitles)

The films will be followed by discussion with the director, Alexandra D’Onofrio, and the producer, Gabriele Del Grande

All welcome!

for information: a.elliot@ucl.ac.uk

Film Showing

New Publication: The State of the World’s Refugees 2012: In Search of Solidarity

The State of the World’s Refugees 2012

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in conjunction with Oxford University Press, have just published the latest edition of their flagship publication entitled The State of the World’s Refugees.

The State of the World’s Refugees 2012: In Search of Solidarity (UNHCR & Oxford University Press) has just been published (May 2012) and the aim of the publication is to discuss:

Sixty years after the establishment of the UNHCR, refugees – people who flee across an international border to escape war or persecution – remain at the core of the agency’s work. But UNHCR is also called upon to aid people who are displaced within the borders of their own countries, and to address the plight of stateless persons – those not considered as citizens by any country. The book looks at UNHCR’s work with these three groups, bringing readers up-to-date on developments since 2006, when the last edition in this series was published.

Drawing on UNHCR’s direct experience, eight chapters address key challenges, starting with the diminishing space for humanitarian action in places like Somalia and Afghanistan. Protracted conflicts mean that fewer refugees are able to return home, yet restrictive state policies limit possibilities for local integration and resettlement, and threaten the institution of asylum. Rising numbers are displaced within their own countries, driven from their homes by climate change and natural disasters, as well as by conflict and human rights abuses. Refugees and displaced people increasingly live in cities rather than in camps, and are harder to reach. Statelessness, an anachronism in the 21st century, is prevalent on all continents, leaving millions of lives in limbo. The closing chapter addresses the book’s central theme: how to develop international solidarity to help states shoulder their responsibilities for the forcibly displaced. Case studies drawn from UNHCR’s work in the field illustrate the issues.
(Source: Oxford University Press Website).

In a circular email from the Forced Migration Discussion List, there is the possibility for a 20% discount, enter the code AAFLY12 in the promotional code box at check out.
[Access]
(Source: Forced Migration Discussion List).

New Publications on Family Reunion; Compensation for Trafficking Victimsand Others

Compensation for Trafficked and Exploited Persons in the OSCE Region

Family Reunion for Refugees in the UK: Understanding Support Needs (British Red Cross, 2011) [text via Refworld]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog).

Compensation for Trafficked and Exploited Persons in the OSCE Region.
Report published by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
[Download Full Report]
(Source: OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)).

2011 Humanitarian Accountability Report (HAP International, April 2012)
[Download Full Report]
(Source: Forced Migration Discussion List).

A Commentary on the April 2012 Sri Lanka Operational Guidance Note (Still Human, Still Here, May 2012)
[Download Full Report]
(Source: Forced Migration Discussion List).

“EASO’s On-going Activities to Support the Completion of a Common European Asylum System,” Interview with Dr. Robert Visser, Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) (Eurasylum, May 2012)
[Access]
(Source: Forced Migration Discussion List).

Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter, no. 26 (May 2012)
[Download Full Newsletter]
(Source: Forced Migration Discussion List).

Humanitarian Space: A Review of Trends and Issues, HPG Report, no. 32 (ODI, April 2012)
[Download Full Report]
(Source: Forced Migration Discussion List).

International Conference on the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees to Support Voluntary Repatriation, Sustainable Reintegration and Assistance to Host Countries, Geneva, 2-3 May 2012
[Download Full Report]
(Source: Forced Migration Discussion List).

The Interpretation of the Convention Ground of “Membership of a Particular Social Group” in the Context of Gender-related Claims for Asylum: A Critical Analysis of the Tribunal’s Approach in the UK, Working Paper, no. 3 (Refugee Law Initiative, Jan. 2012)
[Download Full Report]
(Source: Forced Migration Discussion List).

The Researcher, vol. 7, no. 1 (April 2012)
[Download Full Newsletter]
(Source: Forced Migration Discussion List).

Romani Studies, vol. 22, no. 1 (2012)
[Access]
(Source: Forced Migration Discussion List).