New Report: Measuring well-governed migration – The 2016 Migration Governance Index

New Report:

Measuring well-governed migration – The 2016 Migration Governance Index

Poorly managed migration can lead to harm, danger and insecurity, says a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. It can encourage migrant smuggling and human trafficking, as well as social unrest, xenophobia and discrimination—as observed amid Europe’s ongoing “migration crisis”. It can also create missed opportunities when receiving and sending countries are blocked from harnessing the development gains available through mobility.

Well-governed migration brings profound benefits to both “receiving” and “sending” countries. Receiving countries get productive workers who fill key gaps in the labour market and help their demographic profiles. Sending countries receive billions of dollars in remittances from their overseas workers, attract investment from affluent members of their diaspora, and leverage the benefits of “circular migration” when returning emigrants bring back their skills, expertise, contacts and personal wealth.

Text courtesy of Migrants’ Rights Network – Poorly managed migration harmful says report.

 

New Report: Shifting Ground: Views on immigration during the long term and during election campaigns

A new study by Ipsos MORI looking at how British attitudes towards immigration have changed over the long term and during election campaigns is published today. The report, “Shifting Ground”, combines existing data with new findings from a longitudinal study which followed voters during, throughout, and after the 2015 General Election campaign in order to track changes in individuals’ attitudes.

The study finds concerns about immigration have indisputably risen over the long term. The importance of immigration as an issue facing Britain on the Economist/Ipsos MORI Issues Index reached record levels in 2015, with 56% of the public mentioning it in September; the highest level ever recorded since the series started in the 1970s.

As well as growing concern overall, there were changes in the profile of people who are concerned about the issue. In particular, in the early 2000s there was relatively little difference between the oldest and youngest generations on concern about immigration, but in the last few years there is a growing generational divide with older generations having become much more concerned than younger generations.

Download PDF

Read Full Article: Shifting Ground: Views on immigration during the long term and during election campaigns.

 

 

New Report: OU research highlights benefits and risks of smartphones for refugees

New Report:

OU research highlights benefits and risks of smartphones for refugees

Today (16 May) marks the launch of a new academic report by the Open University, Mapping Refugee Media Journeys: Smart Phones and Social Media Networks. The research identified a huge gap in the provision of relevant, reliable and timely news and information for and with refugees that is endangering their lives.

“Our research suggests that the information and news needs of refugees are not sufficiently taken into account by governments and news organisation as they make perilous journeys from war-torn parts of the world to Europe and when they arrive. EU member states have failed to develop a coherent policy strategy to deal with refugees entering Europe,” said Marie Gillespie, OU Professor of Sociology and a member of the OU’s Citizenship and Governance priority research area.

“News and government agencies are effectively reneging on their responsibility under the UN Refugee Charter to provide information and news that can assist their search for protection and safety because they fear that they might be accused of facilitating and encouraging refugees to come to Europe. It’s now such a politicised issue.”

“Quick tech fixes don’t work.”

The research uses an innovative mix of methods: serial interviews with Syrian and Iraqi refugees as they make their journeys, an analysis of news media coverage of refugees and a ‘big data’ analysis of refugee social networks on Facebook and Twitter by computer scientists. It involves interviews with staff at the European Commission, among international broadcasters and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). It provides a best practice guide for those providing digital resources for refugees.

The report reveals that refugees access the news and information they need through their mobile phones mainly via links sent by trusted friends and family, as well as by smugglers. The smartphone is both a resource and a threat on their journeys. It is an essential navigation, translation and networking tool but it is also a threat as the digital traces refugees leave behind make them vulnerable to surveillance by extremists and smugglers. The smartphones also contain an ever-expanding photo album of violence and abuse that they may have witnessed.

The need for security forces refugees to go underground digitally where they use avatars and encrypted services to get vital information from smugglers and handlers whom they have to rely on and sometimes trust more than government sources and mainstream media.

Read full press release – OU research highlights benefits and risks of smartphones for refugees.

Mapping Refugee Media Journeys: Smart Phones and Social Media Networks was produced by The Open University and France Mèdias Monde.

Read more about OU research in Citizenship and Governance.

 

New Publication: Entitlement and belonging: social restructuring and multicultural Britain

New Publication:

Entitlement and belonging: social restructuring and multicultural Britain

An IRR discussion paper on the Housing and Planning and Immigration Bills 2015-16.

The Housing and Planning and Immigration Bills, currently going through parliament, contain measures which are central to the Conservatives’ stated belief in cohesive ‘One Nation’ government. In a discussion paper published by the IRR today, criminologist Dr Jon Burnett argues that the rapid social transformation that will inevitably take place through these mutually-reinforcing housing and immigration measures will be destructive for social cohesion. In fact, the break-up and displacement of multicultural neighbourhoods, coupled with the extended reach of immigration policing, will accentuate extremes of inequality in the inner city and lead to a marked deterioration in the quality of life for BAME communities.

Focusing largely on London, Entitlement and belonging suggests that a ‘SUS culture’ is developing in the UK as the ‘hostile environment principle’, long- established in immigration policy, is extended into housing. The government argues that nationally-implemented ‘right to rent’ checks, imposing a duty on landlords to carry out immigration profiling and allowing summary eviction of  tenants, are ‘justifiable’ measures aimed at forcing out those who have no legal right to stay in the country. Yet even its own evaluation provided compelling evidence of discrimination against BAME citizens.

According to Dr Burnett, author of the research: ‘In rolling out the measures, the government risks rolling out discrimination. Equally concerning though is the ideological assumptions underpinning the legislation about “who” belongs in particular localities. The poor in multicultural neighbourhoods are being dispossessed of their rights and uprooted from where they live. They have been deemed eminently disposable.’

The IRR hopes that this publication can encourage as wide a discussion as possible about the legislation as well as the wider goals of ‘One Nation’ government. IRR Director, Liz Fekete, asks: ‘Given that the cosmopolitan and multicultural nature of London was our brand in the  Olympic bid,  shouldn’t we be concerned when multicultural London is abandoned in favour of  a more elitist and monocultural urban future?’

Entitlement and belonging: social restructuring and multicultural Britain can be downloaded here (pdf file, 401kb)

Article reblogged from the Institute of Race Relations – www.irr.org.uk/news/entitlement-and-belonging-social-restructuring-and-multicultural-britain/

 

New publications: ‘EU Asylum Procedures and the Right to an Effective Remedy’; ‘The Reception of Asylum Seekers under International Law’ (discounts available)

New publications: ‘EU Asylum Procedures and the Right to an Effective Remedy’; ‘The Reception of Asylum Seekers under International Law’ (discounts available).

Adequate and fair asylum procedures are a precondition for the effective exercise of rights granted to asylum applicants, in particular the prohibition of refoulement. In 1999 the EU Member States decided to work towards a Common European Asylum System. In this context the Procedures Directive was adopted in 2005 and recast in 2013. This directive provides for important procedural guarantees for asylum applicants, but also leaves much discretion to the EU Member States to design their own asylum procedures.

This book examines the meaning of the EU right to an effective remedy in terms of the legality and interpretation of the Procedures Directive in regard to several key aspects of asylum procedure: the right to remain on the territory of the Member State, the right to be heard, the standard and burden of proof and evidentiary assessment, judicial review and the use of secret evidence.

Table of contents: http://www.hartpub.co.uk/pdf/9781849465458.pdf

Marcelle Reneman is Assistant Professor in the Migration Law Section of the Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law at the VU University Amsterdam.

May 2014, 428pp, Hbk, 9781849465458
RSP:  £60 / €78
Discount Price: £48 / €62.40
To receive the 20% discount online write ref: AM9 in the voucher code field and click ‘apply’: http://www.hartpub.co.uk/BookDetails.aspx?ISBN=9781849465458

 

Publication: The evolving picture of displacement in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan: An evidence-based overview

From the IDMC website:

Some 4 million people were displaced when Typhoon Haiyan hit the central Philippines on November 8th 2013. In spite of the wealth of information generated, it has been difficult to form a coherent understanding of the evolving and complex displacement situation, which is critical to guide policy and prioritize responses on the ground.

Six months on, while most displaced people have remained in their original homes areas or returned to them, more than 2 million people are still without adequate housing. This includes over 26,000 displaced people in temporary shelter sites. Many thousands more are unclear on whether they will be permitted to return to live in unsafe locations.

This report shows how gaps in the information – and in the way that information is created and shared – leaves some of the most vulnerable people invisible and potentially excluded from sustainable return or relocation and resettlement options. With the next typhoon season just around the corner, the importance of recognizing their particular needs becomes all the more urgent.

Download the pdf

 

New publications: “Every Day the War Continues in My Body: Examining the ‘Marked’ Body in Postconflict Northern Uganda” – International Journal of Transitional Justice

Source: Forced Migration Jiscmail List

The International Journal of Transitional Justice recently published an article titled: “Every Day the War Continues in My Body: Examining the ‘Marked’ Body in Postconflict Northern Uganda”. This article, authored by the research coordinator of the Refugee Law Project’s National Memory and Peace Documentation Centre, Theo Hollander, and RLP Research Associate, Bani Gill, is a follow-up project to RLP’s documentary, “Untreated Wounds” (http://refugeelawproject.org/resources/video-documentaries/video/latest/untreated-wounds.html), and also draws from RLP’s work with people living with untreated wounds in northern Uganda.

In a nutshell, the article argues that, while human bodies have assumed centre stage in modern warfare, a focus on the body is largely missing in peace processes and transitional justice. The article examines the embodied, gendered and socio-economic features of bodies marked by injuries, wounds, disfigurements and disabilities in the aftermath of the war in northern Uganda. Considering these various features, it becomes clear that for most people whose bodies were marked, the war continues in their bodies, long after the guns fell silent.

The article argues that, in the aftermath of armed conflict, where so many bodies have been marked, disability mainstreaming should become a quintessential element in transitional justice, but cautions that this goes beyond medical interventions.

While medical interventions, such as those offered by RLP by referral, can make an important impact in the lives of people living with marked bodies, medical interventions on their own are not enough. The challenges, experiences, needs and aspirations of people whose bodies are marked should enter mainstream thinking in transitional justice, meaning that in all transitional justice activities and mechanisms, it should be considered how marked bodies can be included, participate and benefit.

For everyone who has a subscription to Oxford journals, the article can be accessed via the following link: http://ijtj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/iju007?ijkey=sQIdCvmGvGD2cZC&keytype=ref

For further information, please contact us at ctj@refugeelawproject.org or info@refugeelawproject.org

The Refugee Law Project, a community out-reach project of the School of Law, Makerere University, was created in 1999 to promote the enjoyment of human rights for all refugees within Uganda. Over the years, the Refugee Law Project has established its reputation as the leading centre for justice and forced migrants in Uganda.

 

 

For more information about the work of Refugee Law Project visit www.refugeelawproject.org

 

New publications: ‘How and why immigration detention crossed the globe’ – Global Detention Project

Source: Forced Migration Discussion List.

 

HOW AND WHY IMMIGRATION DETENTION CROSSED THE GLOBE
Global Detention Project Working Paper No. 8
April 2014
Dr Michael Flynn
http://www.globaldetentionproject.org/publications/working-papers/diffusion.html

Today in countries across the globe, immigration-related detention has become an established policy apparatus that counts on dedicated facilities and burgeoning institutional bureaucracies. Before the decade of the 1980s, however, detention appears to have been largely an ad hoc tool, employed mainly by wealthy states in exigent circumstances. This paper details the history of key policy events that led to the diffusion of detention practices during the last 30 years and assesses some of the motives that appear to have encouraged this phenomenon. The paper also endeavors to place the United States at the center of this story because its policy decisions were instrumental in initiating the process of policy innovation, imitation, and—in many cases—imposition that has helped give rise to today’s global immigration detention phenomenon. More broadly, in telling this story, this paper seeks to flesh out some of the larger policy implications of beyond-the-borders immigration control regimes. Just as offshore interdiction and detention schemes raise important questions about custody, accountability, and sovereignty, they should also spur questions over where responsibility for the wellbeing of migrants begins and ends. As this paper demonstrates, when it comes to immigration detention, all the answers cannot be found just at home.

Read the paper here: http://www.globaldetentionproject.org/publications/working-papers/diffusion.html

 

CMRB Online Publications

CMRB is delighted to announce the publication of the two latest instalments in our on-line publications series.

The first is ‘Sociology, Politics, Thinking and Acting: A festschrift for Nira Yuval-Davis’ and is based on presentations given at the event. The second is ‘London: City of Paradox’ and is based on presentations given at a conference of the same name, hosted at the University of East London in April 2012. Both are edited by Paolo Cardullo, Rahila Gupta and Jamie Hakim.

Both publications are available to download from www.uel.ac.uk/cmrb/publications.htm.

UK Home Office Report: Impacts of migration on UK native employment: An analytical review of the evidence

UK Home Office Research and analysis

Impacts of migration on UK native employment: an analytical review of the evidence

Ref: ISBN 978 1 78246 330 6, Occasional Paper 109 PDF, 1.15MB, 77 pages

Impacts of migration on UK native employment: an analytical review of the evidence”), and its references (ISBN: 978 1 78246 330 6, Unique reference: Occasional Paper 109).

The impacts of migration on the UK are complex and wide-ranging, affecting economic, social and cultural aspects of life in the UK. This evidence review does not cover any of the social or cultural aspects. It focuses narrowly on one of the potential economic effects, the impact on the employment of existing UK residents.

Link:-  www.gov.uk/government/publications/impacts-of-migration-on-uk-native-employment-an-analytical-review-of-the-evidence

See also: Migrants’ Rights Network – Controversial civil service report on impacts of migration on employment now available on Government website. 

New Reports and Publications

A collection of newly released reports and publications on Refugee and Forced Migration issues:

No Place like Home: Returns and Relocations of Somalia’s Displaced.
By Amnesty International.

“The environment in Kenya is now so hostile that some refugees feel they have no option but to return to Somalia where the ongoing conflict in parts of the country continues to destroy lives. This is tantamount to forced return” said Sarah Jackson, Deputy Regional Director at Amnesty International. Amnesty International’s report “No Place Like Home” reveals how life for Somali refugees has been made unbearable. People are denied access to registration, meaning they are illegally staying in Kenya, and are actively targeted by the police with indiscriminate arrests.
(Source: ReliefWeb).

[Download Full Report]

Country Profiles by the Global Detention Project.
[Download Full Report]

Detention of Asylum Seekers: Analysis of Norway’s International Obligations, Domestic Law and Practice.
Produced by NOAS.
[Download Full Report]

Facilitating the Transition to Employment for Refugee Young People: A Data Update and Review of Recent Literature with a Focus on “What Works”
By the Centre for Multicultural Youth.
[Download Full Report]

Abused and Expelled: Ill-Treatment of Sub-Saharan African Migrants in Morocco.
By Human Rights Watch.

This 79-page report found that beatings and other abuses occurred as Moroccan security forces took custody of Sub-Saharan migrants who had tried unsuccessfully to reach the Spanish enclave of Melilla, or—prior to September 2013—as they were rounding up migrants without any semblance of due process to expel them to Algeria. Subsequent to the publication and printing of this report, the practice of summarily expelling migrants at the border with Algeria appears to have stopped. However, research in late January and early February 2014 in Oujda, Nador, and Rabat indicates that Moroccan security forces are still using violence against migrants expelled from Melilla. (Source: Human Rights Watch).

[Download Full Report]

Protection Checklist – Addressing Displacement and Protection of Displaced Populations and Affected Communities along the Conflict Cycle: A Collaborative Approach.
By OSCE and UNHCR.
[Download Full Report]

Overview of Research Literature and Reports about Violence against and amongst Refugees with a Focus on Sexual and Gender-based Violence.
Center for Conflict Studies.
[Download Full Report]

Preventing and Responding to Gender-based Violence in Humanitarian Contexts.
HPN Network Paper, no. 77.
Humanitarian Practice Network.
[Download Full Report]

The Human Rights of Stateless Rohingya in Thailand.
By the Equal Rights Trust.
[Download Full Report]

Guide to Dataset Use for Humanitarian and Development Practitioners.
By the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.
[Download Full Report]

Securing Borders: The Intended, Unintended, and Perverse Consequences.
By the Migration Policy Institute.
[Download Full Report]

Between Destitution and a Hard Place: Finding Strength to Survive Refusal from the Asylum System – A Case Study from the North East of England.
By the University of Sunderland.
[Download Full Report]

The Organisation of Reception Facilities for Asylum Seekers in Different Member States.
By the European Migration Network.
[Download Full Report and Summary.]

 

Publication: UNHCR Report: Asylum Trends 2013

UNHCR Report: Asylum Trends 2013

This is to inform you that the following report has been published today and can be downloaded from the UNHCR website at http://www.unhcr.org/532afe986.html.

– Asylum Trends 2013 (Levels and Trends in Industrialized Countries)

Key findings:

Copyright: UNHCR

A.  An estimated 612,700 asylum applications were registered in 2013 in the 44 industrialized countries covered by the report, some 133,000 claims more than the year before (+28%). This is the third consecutive annual increase and the second highest annual level of the past 20 years.

B.  With 109,600 new asylum applications registered during 2013, Germany was for the first time since 1999 the largest single recipient of new asylum claims among the group of industrialized countries. The United States of America was second with an estimated 88,400 asylum applications, followed by France (60,100), Sweden (54,300), and Turkey (44,800). The top five receiving countries together accounted for six out of ten new asylum claims submitted in the 44 industrialized countries.

C.  The Syrian Arab Republic, the Russian Federation, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Serbia (and Kosovo: Security Council resolution 1244 (1999))  were the five top source countries of asylum-seekers in the 44 industrialized countries in 2013. Among the top-10 countries of origin six are currently experiencing violence or conflict – Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Iraq and Pakistan.

D.  The Syrian Arab Republic became for the first time the main country of origin of asylum-seekers in the 44 industrialized countries. Provisional data indicate that some 56,400 Syrians requested refugee status in 2013, more than double the number of 2012 (25,200 claims) and six times more than in 2011 (8,500 claims). The 2013 level is the highest number recorded by a single group among the industrialized countries since 1999.

New Reports and Publications on Children; Refugee Law; North Africa; Syria; Trafficking Humanitarian Evidence

A collection of newly released reports and publications on Refugee and Forced Migration issues:

Children on the Run: Unaccompanied Children Leaving Central America and Mexico and the Need for International Protection.
A new report by UNHCR.

WASHINGTON, DC, United States, March 12 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency, in a report released on Wednesday, said it was concerned at the increasing numbers of children in the Americas forced from their homes and families, propelled by violence, insecurity and abuse in their communities and at home.
(Source: UNHCR).

[Download Full Report]

Children’s Report: Stand with me, Our Uncertain Future.
By World Vision.

A new report, written and researched by refugee children three years after the beginning of the Syrian conflict, reveals children are burdened by financial insecurity, physical and verbal abuse and increasingly uncertain futures.

In the report, supported by international agency World Vision, the children found that 86 percent of their peers have been exposed to violence in their new communities.
(Source: ReliefWeb).

 

[Download Full Report]

Guide on Establishing a Refugee Law Clinic.
By the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
[Download Full Report]

Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Handbook for the North African Region
By IOM.

Description: In response to the growing need to facilitate and assist the voluntary return and reintegration of vulnerable migrants in North Africa, IOM Egypt has produced the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Handbook for the North African Region. This handbook will serve as a tool to build the capacities of governments, NGOs, international organizations and other relevant partners in North Africa to establish effective assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) programmes in accordance with IOM standards. AVRR is an indispensable part of IOM’s comprehensive approach to migration governance that supports the orderly and humane return and reintegration of migrants who are unable or unwilling to remain in host countries and wish to voluntarily return to their countries of origin.
(Source: IOM).

[Download Full Report]

Syria: Squeezing the life out of Yarmouk: War crimes against besieged civilians.
By Amnesty International.
[Download Full Report]

Humanitarian Action for Children 2014: Overview.
Published by UNICEF.
[Download Full Report]

“I wanted to lie down and die”: Trafficking and Torture of Eritreans in Sudan and Egypt.
A new report published by Human Rights Watch.
[Download Full Report]

Tip of the Iceberg? Improving the Interpretation and Presentation of Trafficking Data By. ICMPD,
[Download Full Report]

Insufficient Evidence? The Quality and Use of Evidence in Humanitarian Action.
Published by ALNAP.
[Download Full Report]

 

 

 

Publications: New MPC/CARIM-East Regional Migration Report: South Caucasus

Source: Forced Migration Discussion List.

The Migration Policy Centre (MPC) is delighted to present you the following CARIM-East “Regional Migration Report: South Caucasus”: http://www.carim-east.eu/publications/regional-migration-report/

Human mobility in the South Caucasus is a dynamic phenomenon that has been changing social, economic and even political realities there. The three countries considered in the present report, namely, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, have been through very different post-communist transitions, which have influenced the conditions for short- and long-term migration to, from and across their territories. South Caucasus is a region of relatively high instability with frozen conflicts and constant geopolitical struggles. Each political decision naturally influences migration dynamics: the volume, the character and, of course, the direction. The present report testifies to this ever changing reality and offers a solid basis for understanding its dynamics. It gathers the fruits of over two years work carried out by the CARIM-East network of correspondents. It proposes a collection of informative chapters on various migration topics, developed from three perspectives: demographic, legal and socio-political.

Come and visit the MPC website: http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/
Come and visit the MPC blog: http://blogs.eui.eu/migrationpolicycentre/
Come and visit the MPC Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/MigrationPolicyCentre/

New Reports and Publications on Syria; Women; Malawi; and the West Bank

A collection of newly released reports and publications on Refugee and Forced Migration issues:

A Devastating Toll: the Impact of Three Years of War on the Health of Syria’s Children
By Save the Children

Syria’s shattered health system is forcing health workers to engage in brutal medical practices and a series of epidemics have left millions of children exposed to a plethora of deadly diseases, Save the Children says in a new report.

The report, “A Devastating Toll: the Impact of Three Years of War on the Health of Syria’s Children”, sheds light on a broken health system and its consequences: children not just dying from violent means but from diseases that would previously either have been treatable or prevented.
(Source: ReliefWeb).

[Download Full Report]

Life can change: Securing housing, land and property rights for displaced women.
By the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Despite more than US$4 billion invested in justice in conflict-affected and developing countries in one year alone, displaced women are still denied their housing, land and property rights during and after conflict, according to an NRC report launched today. The report shows that returnee women in Afghanistan are evicted from family homes after divorce. In Gaza they miss out on shelter when it is allocated to male heads of households. And in South Sudan returning widows are denied inherited land by customary authorities.
(Source: ReliefWeb).

[Download Full Report]

The Gender Advantage: Women on the front line of climate change.
By the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The report, The Gender Advantage: Women on the front line of climate change, shows that successful adaptation to climate change means recognizing the role of women smallholder farmers. It describes the lives of millions of women around the world who have been able to better support their families and communities because on gender-sensitive adaptation. “At IFAD, we believe in people-centered solutions that include solutions for climate change,” said Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD. “We need adaptation solutions that build on the diverse knowledge, priorities and capacities of women and men.”
(Source: ReliefWeb).

[Download Full Report]

Malawi’s Open Aid Map.
By the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and others.
[Download Full Report]

In the Spotlight: Area C Vulnerability Profile.
By the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
[Download Full Report]