New Publications on Asylum; Climate Change; Detention; Displacement; and Others

Publications on Asylum Issues

 The Causes, Character and Conduct of Armed Conflict, and the Effects on Civilian Populations, 1990-2010, Legal and Protection Policy Research Series, no. 26 (UNHCR, April 2012) [text]

- Understanding the “complex reality of armed conflict in the global system…has considerable implications in understanding the dynamics of forced displacement, and in any determination of who should receive international protection.”

(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

The Inefficiencies of American Refugee Law as Highlighted by the Current Plight of Mexican Immigrants, Submission to National Collegiate Honors Council Annual Conference, Boston, MA, 14-18 November 2012 [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Focus on Europe: ECHR Rule 39 Interim Measures

ECRE/ELENA Research on Rule 39 Interim Measures (ECRE, April 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Toolkit on How to Request Interim Measures under Rule 39 of the Rules of the European Court of Human Rights for Persons in Need of International Protection (UNHCR, Feb. 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Hungary as a Country of Asylum (UNHCR, April 2012) [text]
- See also related press release.
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Focus on Climate Change

Climate Change, Migration, and Conflict in Northwest Africa: Rising Dangers and Policy Options across the Arc of Tension (Center for American Progress, April 2012) [text]
- See also video of related event.
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Climatic Factors as Determinants of International Migration, CESifo Working Paper, no. 3747 (CESifo, Feb. 2012) [text via SSRN]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Life as a Climate Refugee (Huffington Post, April 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Country of Origin Information

Reviews of Country Information Reports (Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, 2012) [access]
- Countries covered include China, Nigeria and Uganda.
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Thematic Review on the Coverage of Women in Country of Origin Information (COI) Reports (Centre for Migration Policy Research, Sept. 2011) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Focus on Afghanistan/Pakistan

 Displaced Afghans:

An international conference on Afghan displacement wrapped up today in Geneva. The “International Conference on the Solutions Strategy for Afghan Refugees to Support Voluntary Repatriation, Sustainable Reintegration and Assistance to Host Countries” was held 2-3 May 2012 to discuss a strategy developed by Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and UNHCR to address the protracted Afghan refugee situation.  The text of the “Solutions Strategy” is available here; a Joint Communique issued today notes that conference participants “welcomed and supported” it.
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

IDPs in Pakistan:

Daily Updates on Khyber IDP Influx (UNHCR, 2012) [access via ReliefWeb]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Initial Observation Report: Focusing on Off-camp Internally Displaced People from Bara Tehsil in Khyber Agency, FATA, Pakistan (Save the Children, April 2012) [text via ReliefWeb]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Inter-Agency Rapid Assessment: Report on Khyber off-camp IDPs in Peshawar, Nowshera and Kohat-KP (IOM, WFP & IVAP, April 2012) [text via ReliefWeb]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Tough Times for IDPs Living Outside Camps (IRIN, May 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Development Displacement/Forced Evictions

 Forced Evictions: Global Crisis, Global Solutions (UN-Habitat, 2011) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Publications on Detention

 Bill C-31: Tories’ Human Smuggling Reforms Could Land More Asylum Seekers in Canada’s Jails (Huffington Post, April 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Concerns over the Detention and Deportation of Asylum-seekers in Hungary (UNHCR, April 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

The Harmful Effects of Detention and Family Separation on Asylum Seekers’ Mental Health in the Context of Bill C-31, Brief submitted to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration concerning Bill C-31, the Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act (April 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Immigration-related Detention (Congressional Research Service, Jan. 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Joint Select Committee on Australia’s Immigration Detention Network: Final Report (Parliament of Australia, March 2012) [access]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Lack of Immigration Court Review of Detention Violates U.S. Commitments under International Law (Human Rights First, April 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Not Crossing Red Lines: A Negotiator’s Checklist on Minimum Detention Safeguards (ECRE et al., May 2012) [access]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Walls of Shame – Accounts from the Inside: The Detention Centres of Evros (Pro Asyl et al., April 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Memories of Displacement

 Several books and journal articles have recently been or are due to be published that focus in some way on “memory”; here’s a partial listing:

Children of the Greek Civil War: Refugees and the Politics of Memory (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2012) [info]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

The Lost German East: Forced Migration and the Politics of Memory, 1945-1970 (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2012) [info]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

“Negotiating the Humanitarian Past: History, Memory, and Unstable Cityscapes in Kampala, Uganda,” Refugee Survey Quarterly, Advance Access, 3 Feb. 2012 [abstract]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Oral History, Community, and Displacement: Imagining Memories in Post-Apartheid South Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) [info]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

“Palestinian Autobiographical Memory Regarding the 1948 Palestinian Exodus,” Political Psychology, vol. 32, no. 2 (April 2011) [abstract]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

The oral history approach is one of the main methodologies used for capturing memories of displacement experiences. This training toolkit explains how to undertake an oral history project. As an example, here’s a collection of “refugees’ stories of loss, exile and rebuilding.”

 Other methodologies are described in the “Education” section of the Mapping Memories: Experiences of Refugee Youth web site, in the companion book entitled Mapping Memories: Participatory Media, Place-based Stories & Refugee Youth, and in “Mapping Memories of Displacement: Oral History, Memoryscapes, and Mobile Methodologies,” a chapter in Place, Writing, and Voice in Oral History (Palgrave Macmillan, Nov. 2011).
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Armed Conflict and Transitions

The concept of “transitions” is also addressed in this recent policy paper from the International Peace Institute: “Aid Effectiveness in Fragile States: Lessons from the First Generation of Transition Compacts.” Moreover, the Refugee Studies Centre has issued a new policy briefing that examines legacies of past conflicts entitled, “Displacement, Transitional Justice and Reconciliation: Assumptions, Challenges and Lessons.”
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Recent resources that focus on armed conflict include:

Alert 2012! Report on Conflicts, Human Rights and Peacebuilding (Escola de cultura de pau, 2012) [info]
- Check back for the PDF.
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

The Causes, Character and Conduct of Armed Conflict, and the Effects on Civilian Populations, 1990-2010, Legal and Protection Policy Research Series, no. 26 (UNHCR, April 2012) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Conflict Barometer 2011 (Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research, 2012) [access]
- Place an order for the print version or follow the instructions for downloading the digital version.
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

“Predicting Armed Conflict, 2010-2050,” International Studies Quarterly, Forthcoming, 2013 [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Real-time Analysis of African Political Violence, Conflict Trends, no.1 (Armed Conflict Location & Event Dataset, April 2012) [text via ReliefWeb]
- “Focus countries include Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, and Somalia.”
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

New Publications on Mali; Harmonsdworth; Forced Labour; Family Migration; UKBA; Asylum Statistics; The New Londoners

Forced labour in the UK: the business angle

UNHCR Position on Returns to Mali, 7 May 2012.
Written by UNHCR.
[Download Report]
(Source: UNHCR).

Independent Monitoring Board:  Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre Annual Report 2011.
A new report by the Independent Monitoring Board.
[Download the Report]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network – Mental health provision for immigration detainees continues to cause concern, says Watchdog)

Forced labour in the UK: the business angle
A new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
[Download the Report]
JRS Press release – Forced labour in the UK: the business angle
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network – New report from JRF: Forced labour in the UK: the business angle)

Keeping Families Apart: The impact of a new income threshold for family migration.
A new report by Migrants’ Rights Network.
[Download the Report]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network – ‘Keeping families apart’ – MRN briefing on family migration policy)

Independent Chief Inspector for the UKBA Inspection Plan for 2012-13
A new report by The Independent Chief Inspector for the UKBA.
[Download the Report]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network – UKBA Chief Inspector publishes inspection plan for 2012-13)

Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries 2011.
A new statistical report produced by the UNHCR.
[Download the Report]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network – UNHCR reports big rise in refugees claiming asylum in industrialised countries)

Getting support for dependants under Section 95 and Section 4 support
A new factsheet by the Asylum Support Appeals Project.
[Download the Factsheet]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network – ASAP factsheet on obtaining Section 95 and Section 4 support for family dependents)

The New Londoners New Edition.
[Download the Report]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network – Latest issue of online magazine ‘New Londoners’ now available)

 

 

New Publications on Internal Displacement; FCO Annual Report; Indonesia; Bahrain; asylum; UK Border Agency

Internal Displacement Global Overview 2011

Internal Displacement Global Overview 2011:  People internally displaced by conflict and violence.
The latest annual publication from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, (IDMC).  The report details:

The circumstances of people’s displacement and their long- term prospects were as diverse as the situations of violence or conflict which had forced them to flee. For example, while the Arab Spring uprisings resulted in short-term spikes of dis- placement throughout the year, in Iraq well over two million people remained locked in situations of protracted internal displacement. In Afghanistan, displacement was becoming increasingly protracted by 2011. As 60 per cent of the internally displaced population in Afghanistan are children, the prospects for this next generation are particularly bleak.

[Download Full Report]
(Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre).
IDMC Press Release – Conflicts worldwide uproot millions; six-­fold increase in Middle East.

Nepal: Unresolved property issues and IDP policy hiatus undermine search for durable solutions.
By the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, (IDMC).
[Download Full Report]
(Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre).

Afghanistan: Durable solutions far from reach amid escalating conflict.
By the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, (IDMC).
[Download Full Report]
(Source: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre).

Human Rights and Democracy

Human Rights and Democracy: The 2011 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report (Cm. 8339).
The latest annual report published by the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
[Access]
(Source: The Stationary Office).
News: The Daily Telegraph – New immigration rules will keep out human rights abusers.

Indonesia: Excessive force: Impunity for police violence in Indonesia. A new report published by Amnesty International.  The report argues:

Despite moves towards reform, Indonesia’s police continue to be implicated in beatings, shootings and killings. Reports of human rights violations committed by the police continue to emerge, with police routinely using unnecessary and excessive force and firearms to quell peaceful protests. Illustrative examples are given in this briefing. Although the authorities have made some attempts to bring alleged perpetrators to justice using internal disciplinary mechanisms, criminal investigations into human rights violations by the police are all too rare, leaving many victims without access to justice and reparations.

[Download Full Report]
(Source: Amnesty International).
Amnesty International Press Release – Indonesia must end impunity for police violence.

Bahrain: Flawed reforms: Bahrain fails to achieve justice for protesters.
By Amnesty International.
[Download Full Report]
(Source: Amnesty International).
Amnesty International Press Release – Bahrain: Reforms risk appearing hollow as violations continue.

A briefing from The Children’s Society Highlighting the gap between asylum support and mainstream benefits.
Published by The Children’s Society.
[Download Policy Brief]
(Source: The Guardian – Young migrants living ‘far below poverty line’).
The Children’s Society Press Release – UK asylum system forces thousands of children to live in severe poverty.

Work of the UK Border Agency (August-December 2011).
The latest report by the UK Home Affairs Committee.
[Access] and the [Table of Contents]
(Source: UK Parliament)
Press Coverage:  Refugee Council – Home Affairs Select Committee Report on the work of the UK Border Agency – Our response ; and
The Guardian – UK Border Agency unable to fulfil its basic functions, MPs warn.

New from UNHCR: 2011 Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have just circulated a press release detailing the publication of their latest statistical bulletin, namely the `Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries, 2011.’

The press release outlines the the key findings of the publication as follows:

A.  The number of asylum-seekers in the industrialized world shows that new conflicts and a rising outflow from older crisis spots such as Afghanistan together contributed to a 20 per cent rise in asylum claims in 2011.

B.  An estimated 441,300 asylum applications were recorded in the 44 countries included in this report, some 73,300 claims or 20 per cent more than in 2010 (368,000). The 2011 level is the highest since 2003 when 505,000 asylum applications were lodged in the industrialized countries.

C.  The largest relative increase in annual asylum levels occurred in the eight Southern European countries which received 66,800 asylum requests during 2011, an 87 per cent increase compared to 2010. This increase is due mainly to boat arrivals in Italy and Malta and to the registration of greater numbers of individual requests for international protection in Turkey (+74%).

D.  Among individual countries, the United States of America was the largest single recipient of new asylum claims among the 44 industrialized countries. France was second with 51,900 asylum applications, followed by Germany (45,700), Italy (34,100), and Sweden (29,600). The top five receiving countries together accounted for more than half (53%) of all asylum claims received in the countries included in this report.

E.  With 35,700 asylum claims lodged in 2011, Afghanistan was the most important source country of asylum-seekers in the 44 industrialized countries, followed by China (24,400 claims), Iraq (23,500), Serbia (and

Kosovo: Security Council resolution 1244 (1999))  (21,200), and Pakistan (18,100).

F.  For asylum-seekers from Côte d’Ivoire, Libya, the Syrian Arab Republic, and Tunisia, levels were at a record high among the industrialized countries. Asylum-seekers originating from these four countries submitted in total 16,700 claims more than in 2010.

[Download Full Report]

(Source: UNHCR Statistics – Asylum claims in industrialized countries up sharply in 2011).

New Publications: State of the World’s Children 2012; Asylum; Europe; Asia-Pacific; Integration

State of the World's Children 2012

State of the World’s Children 2012:  Children in an Urban World.  The latest annual flagship publication produced by UNICEF.   This report reflects on the fact that:

Urbanization leaves hundreds of millions of children in cities and towns excluded from vital services, UNICEF warns in The State of the World’s Children 2012: Children in an Urban World.

Greater urbanization is inevitable. In a few years, the report says, the majority of children will grow up in towns or cities rather than in rural areas. Children born in cities already account for 60 per cent of the increase in urban population.

Cities offer many children the advantages of urban schools, clinics and playgrounds. Yet the same cities the world over are also the settings for some of the greatest disparities in children’s health, education and opportunities.

Link to full report (PDF; 3.97 MB)
Link to executive summary (PDF; 1.07 MB)
Link to publication web page for statistical tables, videos, and related content
(Source: DocuBase)

Asylum Support for Women who are Victims of Domestic Violence, Factsheet no. 13 (Asylum Support Appeals Project, Dec. 2011) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

The Irish Refugee Council has launched the European Database on Asylum Law (EDAL). It houses summaries of case law from 11 EU Member States that address asylum and refugee law issues. Links are provided to the full-texts of the original decisions. Also included are overviews of several countries’ asylum policies and procedures, key legislative texts and other related policy documents.

(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

“Déplacements de populations et identités dans la vallée de Ferghana: les limites du paradigme ethnique,” Cahiers d’Asie centrale, no. 19-20 (2011) [full-text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

From Pillar to Post: The Plight of Afghans Abroad (IRIN, Feb. 2012) [text]

- See also references to related stories in this article.
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Creating the conditions for integration.
A new report by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
[Download Full Report]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network).

New Publications on Women Asylum Seekers, International Student Restrictions, and Asylum Issues

I feel like as a woman

“I feel like as a woman I’m not welcome.”  A new report by Asylum Aid which aims to provide a gender analysis of UK asylum law, policy and practice.   Asylum Aid argues that:

This research draws on interviews with asylum-seeking women and their advocates across the UK, and detailed analysis of the asylum jurisprudence and policies most relevant to women, to test the Government against these promises.

Further details and information can be found in an article outlining the issues considered in the report by its author, Christel Querton, has been published on the openDemocracy website, and entitled ” Unfair, unsafe and undignified: the treatment of women seeking asylum in the UK.“
[Download Executive Summary]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network)

Tier 4 tears: how government student visa controls are destroying the private HE sector.  A new briefing report produced by the Liberal Democrat thinktank, Centre Forum.
[Download Report]
See earlier CentreForum publications ‘Tier 4 Fears: why government student visa proposals are unfair’ (June 2011) and ‘Pathway to prosperity: how to make student immigration work for universities and the economy’ (February 2011)
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network)

Credibility Determinations are not Credible (The Asylumist, Jan. 2012) [Part one] [Part two] [Part three]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

Guidance for Adjudicating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Refugee and Asylum Claims (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Dec. 2011) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

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) [text]
(Source: Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog)

New Publications on Asylum, Development, Humanitarian Emergencies, Survey of London, Family Migration

Mapping Asylum

“Mapping Statelessness in the United Kingdom”.  A joint UNHCR and Asylum
Aid study, 22 November 2011.  Further details:

“The research maps the number and profile of stateless persons in the UK and puts a human face on their situation. It also examines the UK’s
legal obligations to stateless persons under international law and analyses the impact of current policy and practice. Based on these
findings the report makes recommendations for improvement. While the work owes a debt to previous studies, this is the first time that this
hidden issue has been subject to such comprehensive quantitative and qualitative research.”

[Download the Full Report]
[Download the Executive Summary]
(Source : UNHCR Refworld – http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4ecb6a192.html)

Least Developed Countries Report 2011, produced by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, (UNCTD).  Read the UNCTD Press Release.
[Download Full Report]
(Source: DocuTicker – http://web.docuticker.com/go/docubase/65583)

The City of London Corporation published a research report, entitled Access to Global Talent: the impact of migration limits on UK financial and professional business services.
[Download Full Report]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Watch – Survey of London business suggests that immigration policy will become a bigger problem as firms fight to return to growth).

Responding to Migration from Complex Humanitarian Emergencies: Lessons Leaned from Libya.  A new research briefing produced by Chatham House.
[Download Full Briefing]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network – Responding to Migration from Complex Humanitarian Emergencies.)

Points Based System: Review of the minimum income requirement for sponsorship under the family migration route.  A new report by the Migration Advisory Committee, (MAC).  See Also Migrants’ Rights Network briefing on the report – `MAC family settlement report – Not just a matter of pounds and pence‘.[Download Full Report]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network – MAC publishes report on the family migration route).

Publication: UNHCR: Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries,First Half 2011

The latest UNHCR statistics publication has just been published.  Further details and a link can be found in the press release below which was circulated to me by email today:

UNHCR: Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries,First Half 2011

This is to inform you that the following report has been published
today and is available from the UNHCR statistics website at
www.unhcr.org/statistics .

- Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries, First Half
2011

Key findings
A.  An estimated 198,300 asylum applications were recorded during the
first six months of 2011 in the 44 industrialized countries included in
the report. This is 17 per cent more than during the  same period 2010
(169,300), and is nearly identical to the number of applications
recorded  during the second half of 2010 (197,600).

B. As application rates normally peak during the second half of the
year, UNHCR projects that 2011 may see 420,000 applications by year’s
end – the highest total in eight years.

C. 2011 has so far seen major forced displacement crises in West,
North, and East Africa. The report finds related increases in asylum
claims among Tunisians, Ivorians, and Libyans (4,600, 3,300 and 2,000
claims respectively) but overall, the impact of these events on
application rates in industrialized countries has been limited.

D. Taking the 44 countries surveyed in the report as a whole, the main
countries of origin of asylum-seekers remained largely unchanged from
previous reports: Afghanistan (15,300 claims), China (11,700 claims),
Serbia [and Kosovo: SC Res. 1244] (10,300 claims), Iraq (10,100 claims),
and the Islamic Republic of Iran (7,600 claims).

E.  By country, the United States of America had more claims (36,400)
than any other industrialized nation, followed by France (26,100),
Germany (20,100), Sweden (12,600), and the United Kingdom (12,200).

F. The Nordic region was the only part of Europe to see a fall in
asylum applications. The largest relative increase was registered in
southern Europe which received 25,100 asylum requests during the first
semester of 2011: a 57 per cent increase compared to the first six
months of 2010 (16,000 claims).

The report itself in PDF format can be downloaded here : Asylum Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries,First Half 2011

Home Sweet Home Exhibition

An article in The Observer newspaper on Sunday details an interesting upcoming exhibition due to take place at the House of Commons from 12 September 2011 and the the Riverside Studies from the 18 September entitled, “Home from Home”.  The exhibition has been developed by a charity, Women for Refugee Women, which describes the exhibition as :

the show is not about individual asylum cases but about the “importance of letting people know how difficult circumstances are for these women. The vast majority who come to this group have fled serious human rights abuses, including sexual violence, ethnic and political persecution. They are traumatised by the loss of their homes and families. And what is so awful about their experiences here is that the struggle to find asylum can traumatise them all over again; they have to negotiate a very complex system, and however real their persecution, they are very often disbelieved.”

Further details and a selection of the photographs can be found in the Guardian articles at :

Asylum life: the trials of women refugees, through their own eyes

Asylum life: the daily struggles of women refugees – in pictures

“Home Sweet Home” can be seen at the House of Commons from 12 September by prior arrangement (email admin@refugeewomen.co.uk for details) and at Riverside Studios, London W6 from 18 September