Event: Gender, Migration and Religion Symposium

GENDER, MIGRATION AND RELIGION
Friday 4 November 2011
Social Policy Research Centre,
Middlesex University
Hendon Campus, London

This symposium brings together leading scholars in the field who will share
their experiences of researching different faith groups and communities.
Through the lens of gender and migration, this event provides the opportunity to analyse comparisons and contrasts across these diverse communities – including Jewish, Muslim, Jainist, Hindu and Christian.
This comparative approach is particularly innovative given that most research tends to focus on a single religious group.

The symposium is free to attend but places must be booked by 14th October.

Please click here for further information about the conference and booking details:

http://gendermigrationreligion.blogspot.com/

The symposium is organised by Dr. Louise Ryan, Dr. Elena Vacchelli and
Clare Choak, Social Policy Research Centre, Middlesex University, London.

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

Refugee Council 60th Anniversary Seminar Series in partnership with the The Refugee Law Initiative, University of London

News from the Refugee Council:

Dear Colleagues,

Refugee Council

The Refugee Council is delighted to announce a series of six seminars presented in partnership with The Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) at the Human Rights Consortium of the School of Advanced Study, University of London.

This seminar series ‘New Challenges in Refugee Integration’ continues our 60th Anniversary celebrations by bringing together leading academics in the field of refugee integration.

The first seminar, presented by Professor Loren B Landau from the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa) will examine Authority and inclusion: reconsidering the meaning of integration in a fragmented age.  The seminar will be chaired by Refugee Council Chief Executive Donna Covey.

Date: 26th October, 2011
Time: 5.30pm
Venue: Chancellors Hall, Senate House, London 

Admission free – All welcome. Please email to reserve your place. RLI@sas.ac.uk

The remaining seminars are as follows:

30 November 2011, 5.30pm | Refugee-centred versus State-centred approaches to integration: processes, practices and narratives.  Dr Maja Korac-Sanderson, University of East London.  Chair: Dhananjayan Sriskandarjah, Director, Royal Commonwealth Society

14 December 2011, 5.30pm | Employment: integration, exclusion and human rights. Professor Alice Bloch, City University London. Chair: Sir John Ashworth, President, Council for assisting refugee academics (CARA)

26 January 2012, 5.30pm | Changing identities, declining protection: the securitisation of asylum and refugee policy in Europe. Professor Roger Zetter, University of Oxford. Chair: Medhi Hasan, Senior Editor (Politics), the New Statesman

23 February 2012, 5.30pm |Integration: global perspectives on the transition from being apart to being a part (of something). Professor Alastair Kenneth Ager, Columbia University (USA). Chair: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Journalist and Author

15 March 2012, 5.00pm | Open debate with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Refugees. Chair: Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Cambridge

For more details on the series go to http://www.sas.ac.uk/rli.html or email RLI@sas.ac.uk to reserve your place

New Periodicals and Reports Published

Environment and Urbanization, vol. 23, no. 2 (Oct. 2011) [contents]
– Focus is on “Community-Driven Disaster Risk Reduction.”
(Source : Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog – http://fm-cab.blogspot.com/).

Global Public Health, vol. 6, no. 5 (2011) [contents]
– Special issue on “Violent Conflict and Population Health in the Middle East.” Includes “Conflict, displacement and health in the Middle East” and “Predictors of displacement behaviour during the 2006 Lebanon war.”
(Source : Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog – http://fm-cab.blogspot.com/).

Torture: Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture, vol. 21, no. 3 (2011) [full-text]
– Mix of articles, including “Comparison of two methods of inquiry for torture with East African refugees: Single query versus checklist.”
(Source : Forced Migration Current Awareness Blog – http://fm-cab.blogspot.com/).

Thinking Behind the Numbers : Understanding Public Opinion on Immigration in Britain.  A new report by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.
[Download Report]
(Source : The Refugee Council – http://bit.ly/qmHOJN).

Forced labour and UK immigration policy: status matters?  A new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
[Download the Report]
(Source: Migrants’ Rights Network – http://bit.ly/qhbvZg).

Barriers to Support Appeals for Asylum-Seeking Women.  A research report undertaken by the Asylum Support Appeals Project, (ASAP).
[Download Report]
(Source : Migrant’s Rights Network – http://bit.ly/okMs9c).