https://www.diigo.com/user/Refugeearchives Mon May 20 12:32:48 UTC 2013 Mon May 20 12:32:48 UTC 2013 http://ijtj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/04/23/ijtj.ijt008.abstract.html?papetoc <p>"Why have some democracies made considerable progress in prosecuting dictatorship-era human rights violations or in publicly exposing the truth about repression while others still have amnesty laws that prevent, or at least hinder, even the judicial review of such abuses? This article compares Spain, Chile and Argentina to understand the impact of their contrasting histories of repression on how they have dealt with their violent pasts. I assess whether a greater degree of legal repression and direct judicial involvement in repression explains why there is more resistance to prosecuting those responsible for human rights violations, establishing truth commissions or annulling the political sentences of the past during democratization. Once democracy has been consolidated, different dynamics may emerge, but this history of judicial complicity has proved to be a key factor in understanding the continuous lack of judicial accountability in Spain. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Mon May 20 10:22:32 +0000 2013 Mon May 20 10:22:32 +0000 2013 http://ijtj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/05/16/ijtj.ijt011.abstract.html?papetoc <p>"This article explores the intersections of silence and transitional justice in Serbia, where, it is often suggested, the general public is silent and indifferent about human rights abuses that took place during the former Yugoslav conflicts. It considers both the ‘silent’ public and the ways in which transitional justice may be complicit in silencing it. Based on scholarship that suggests silences are not absences but rather sites of silent knowledge or a result of silencing, the article explores some of the dynamics hidden within the public’s silence: shared knowledge, secret practices and inability to discuss violence. It also considers the ways in which audiences subvert and resist organized transitional justice initiatives or are caught up in a ‘silent dilemma’ in which they are unable to speak about the past under the discursive conditions created by transitional justice practitioners. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Mon May 20 10:22:22 +0000 2013 Mon May 20 10:22:22 +0000 2013 http://ijtj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/05/16/ijtj.ijt009.extract.html?papetoc <p>"Writing about the relationship between relief and famine, Alex de Waal suggests that the ‘humanitarian international appears to have an extraordinary capacity to absorb criticism, not reform itself, and yet emerge strengthened.’1 The act of critique, he argues, may serve to strengthen the ‘moral capital’ of existing institutions rather than to propel reform or reconstruction. While the field of transitional justice has never been without its critics, a recent spate of works suggests that the ‘era of transitional justice’ may simultaneously be one of particularly sophisticated and far-reaching critique. In the past decade, works have emerged that problematize the politics and ideology of the field,2 its privileging of civil and political rights3 and its depoliticization and fetish for legalism,4 among many other characteristics. Joining this critical wave, the works under review suggest that questions of distribution and structure must be considered central to the project of transition. In analyzing the effect of such critiques, we might apply de Waal’s challenge to the field of transitional justice: Do critiques of transitional justice fundamentally change its nature or potentially reinforce a problematic status quo? "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Mon May 20 10:22:11 +0000 2013 Mon May 20 10:22:11 +0000 2013 http://migration.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/05/08/migration.mns011.long <p>"Deportation, understood as the physical removal of someone against their will from the territory of one state to that of another, has moved to the forefront of academic and policy agendas. Although there is a growing literature on legislation and policy, there is very little in-depth data on what happens post-deportation. In this article, we examine possible post-deportation outcomes. We argue that, whatever reasons existed for people to migrate in the first place, deportation adds to these and creates at least three additional reasons that make adjustment, integration, or reintegration difficult, if not impossible. These include the impossibility of repaying debts incurred by migration, the existence of transnational and local ties, the shame of failure, and the perceptions of ‘contamination’. We draw on a mixture of quantitative and qualitative data gathered in Europe and Afghanistan to argue that many deported Afghans attempt and succeed in re-migrating. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Mon May 20 10:21:58 +0000 2013 Mon May 20 10:21:58 +0000 2013 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/imre.12032/abstract <p>"The aim of this article is to investigate the remittance behavior of host country-born children of migrants – the second generation – in various European cities. We address the following question: Are second-generation remitters driven more by altruism or by self-interest? Data from “The Integration of the European Second Generation” (TIES) survey are utilized and encompass individuals with at least one migrant parent from Morocco, Turkey, or former Yugoslavia. Using logistic models, we test different classical theories on microeconomic determinants of remittances and add some additional expectations for the second generation. The results show that those second-generation Moroccans, Turks, and former Yugoslavs who send money are motivated by two main reasons: Emotional attachment to their parents' home country (altruism motive) or to pay people who look after their investments or other material assets that are likely to be part of their preparation for “returning” (self-interest – exchange motive). These two motives are not necessarily exclusive: As part of a well-prepared return, to integrate easily once back “home,” it is not only relevant to ensure that people take care of one's investments and other material assets, but also to strengthen social ties and be well informed about the situation in the country of origin. This interpretation fits closely with the return model, which deserves more attention in the theoretical literature on remittances."</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Thu May 16 14:01:36 +0000 2013 Thu May 16 14:01:36 +0000 2013 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12033/abstract <p>"Informal settlements (often called ‘slums’) seem to defy the realisation of social rights. The UN Special Rapporteurs, in their reports, present informal dwellers mostly as the victims of human rights violations. Informal dwellers are not merely victims, however; they also produce non-state welfare through economic and social practices on the margins. Considering the human right to housing (as promise of social citizenship) and informal settlements, we discuss the ‘everyday social contract of informality’ that frames the production of non-state welfare in densely populated urban areas in the global South. Planning theorists, by introducing ‘insurgent citizenship’, examine the potential of bottom-up initiatives that claim the ‘right to the city’. Insurgent citizenship focuses on the enjoyment dimension of human rights. In this vein, we suggest that human rights cannot be implemented in informal settings without full consideration to the spatiality and sociality of non-state welfare."</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Thu May 16 12:42:22 +0000 2013 Thu May 16 12:42:22 +0000 2013 http://cdj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/05/11/cdj.bst025.abstract.html?papetoc <p>"This paper provides a clearer conceptual exposition of the nature of social transformations around large-scale mining by theoretically delineating the place of corporate community development (CCD) initiatives in the transformations that mining brings to adjacent communities, and the livelihoods and developmental prospects of the affected peoples. We illustrate this argument with reference to an examination of CCD initiatives at four Papua New Guinea mine sites. This highlights the diversity of contexts (geographic, institutional and transnational), structures, activities and motivations that drive these activities. One aspect that is particularly apparent is the conservative nature of these CCD initiatives in the face of the often chaotic social transformations that the presence of the mine has sparked. We conclude with reflections on how such CCD activities can be shaped to provide more positive, sustainable outcomes for communities and livelihoods. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 16:35:02 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 16:35:02 +0000 2013 http://cdj.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/05/11/cdj.bst019.abstract.html?papetoc <p>"Relationships between the extractive industries, society and development are often symbolized by unfulfilled expectations and even conflict. Poor, rural, politically marginalized and indigenous communities are often significantly impacted by the extraction of fuel and non-fuel minerals. This paper explores the challenge of resource-led development in Zambia's ‘New Copperbelt’ (i.e. the Northwestern Province). It explains how Kansanshi, a mid-tier mining company, has struggled with various community development aspects, including resettlement and compensation, hiring and employment, the maintaining of local government interactions and formulating a coherent corporate social responsibility (CSR) and infrastructure project strategy. Findings suggest that community capacity to hold Kansanshi and local government to account is relatively weak. Recommendations include aligning CSR strategies with district, regional and national development objectives, as well as building linkages between local civil society organizations and national/international non-governmental organizations. This would enable communities around the mine to share experiences, lessons learnt and effective company and local government engagement strategies."</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 16:34:37 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 16:34:37 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/193.extract <p>"As its title suggests, Daniel Wilsher’s book tackles the contentious and complicated issue of immigration detention from a historical, political and legal perspective. First of all, from the historical perspective, the first chapter examines the development of immigration detention in the UK and USA up until the early 20th century, focussing on the questions of constitutional principle (the extent of state power to detain persons outside the scope of the criminal process, and the reviewability of state discretion). The second chapter then takes the historical survey up to the present day, adding analysis of the law in two additional countries (Australia and France). "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:18:44 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:18:44 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/190.extract <p>"The scale and complexity of the contemporary challenges of refugee protection and humanitarianism may not have been envisaged over sixty years ago, but the drafters of UNHCR’s statute1 did have the foresight to create a role for the organization that would allow it to guide and influence international refugee law. In doing so, as meticulously chronicled by Corinne Lewis, UNHCR has had significant influence on how international refugee law has evolved. Lewis takes a largely chronological approach to the link between UNHCR and international refugee law by beginning with an examination of the predecessors to UNHCR in order to demonstrate how the lessons learnt from their experience and ultimate demise influenced the strong emphasis on legal protection in UNHCR’s statute. Early emphasis in the book is on UNHCR’s statutory role, which Lewis identifies as comprising two separate functions, being the ‘development’ and ‘effectiveness’ of international refugee law. These functions, which are based upon paragraph 8(a) of UNHCR’s statute,2 are used throughout the book as the foundation for an examination of the evolution and challenges of UNHCR’s statutory role. As the focus shifts to the evolution of this role, which Lewis explores by reference to UNHCR’s statute, the means by which the organization interprets its own functions (that is, implied powers) and the development of ‘UNHCR doctrine’, the reader begins to get a sense of UNHCR as a dynamic and autonomous organization, rather than, as has been argued, a mere ‘handmaiden’ for states’ concerns.3"</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:18:35 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:18:35 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/187.extract <p>"In introducing her latest book, Climate Change, Forced Migration, and International Law, Jane McAdam makes the observation that the relationship between climate change and forced migration has recently emerged ‘as an increasingly studied – but contested – field of inquiry’. This may be the understatement of the decade. In political as well as scientific discourse, climate change has spawned what, after John Connell, McAdam calls a ‘garbage can’ effect, ‘where once isolated phenomena become systematically inter-related’. Likewise, on the advocacy front, in which the weapons of international law and global justice have been used without moderation, the climate change platform has become the ultimate bandwagon, to the legitimate irritation of those who have a clear sense of priorities – the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions being first and foremost among these. The causal chains both upstream and downstream (the famous ‘impacts’) of climate change are extraordinarily complex, and the risk of over-simplification is pervasive. Forced migration is a contested label in its own right – and the environmental/climate refugee discourse has fanned the flames of an old and rather sterile debate over voluntariness versus compulsion in human mobility, triggering in the process defensive, often parochial, reactions from both ‘refugee’- and ‘IDP’-centric communities. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:18:18 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:18:18 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/178.extract <p>"On 19 and 20 July 2012, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) organized a Roundtable on Temporary Protection, held in San Remo, Italy, with the support of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (IIHL). Participants included 19 experts from 15 countries, drawn from NGOs, academia and regional and international organizations. A discussion paper, produced by UNHCR, informed the discussion.1 The roundtable aimed to discuss the scope and meaning of temporary protection, and to examine what it is or should be, what it does or should guarantee, and in what situations it could apply. The following summary does not necessarily represent the individual views of participants or of UNHCR, but reflects broadly the themes, issues and understandings emerging from the discussion. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:18:01 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:18:01 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/175.extract <p>"2011 and 2012 witnessed a number of civil uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, toppling several autocratic regimes but also provoking widespread violence, public disorder and armed conflict. These events caused more than 1 million persons, both refugees and migrants, to cross international borders seeking protection. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called for temporary protection to be provided pending the granting of refugee status or, in the case of migrants, their evacuation home.1 The Syria crisis has also seen over 350,000 persons cross into neighbouring countries,2 with Turkey formally granting temporary protection pursuant to Executive Committee Conclusion No 22 of 1981.3 In the Asia-Pacific region, where all but a few countries are party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention), temporary protection has been an important feature of the international humanitarian response, not least in the context of the Indo-Chinese crisis of the 1970s and 1980s."</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:17:51 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:17:51 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/157.extract <p>"(Directive 2004/83/EC – Minimum standards for determining who qualifies for refugee status or subsidiary protection status – Stateless persons of Palestinian origin who have in fact availed themselves of assistance from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – The right of those stateless persons to recognition as refugees on the basis of the second sentence of Article 12(1)(a) of Directive 2004/83 – Conditions under which applicable – Cessation of UNRWA assistance ‘for any reason’ – Evidence – Consequences for the persons concerned seeking refugee status – Persons ‘ipso facto … entitled to the benefits of [the]Directive’ – Automatic recognition as a ‘refugee’ within the meaning of Article 2(c) of Directive2004/83 and the granting of refugee status in accordance with Article 13 thereof) "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:17:40 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:17:40 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/130.extract <p>"1. These appeals are concerned with a little used provision in article 1F(c) of the Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees (“the Refugee Convention”). This excludes from refugee status and protection “any person with respect to whom there are serious reasons for considering that . . . he has been guilty of acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.” For the time being at least, however, the Home Secretary accepts that these appellants cannot be returned to their home countries because they face a real risk of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment there. It is the grant of refugee status, rather than the right to stay in this country, which is in issue in these proceedings. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:17:31 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:17:31 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/120.extract <p>"I am pleased to have the chance to engage with you on the important topic of protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) refugees and asylum-seekers. This symposium provides a good opportunity to deepen our knowledge about the issues facing LGBTI individuals in the forced displacement context, as well as the challenges confronting those who are working to address them. I would like to thank the organizers of this conference, HIAS, one of the leading NGOs in this area and an important UNHCR partner, for this valuable initiative. LGBTI asylum-seekers and refugees face a myriad of threats, risks and vulnerabilities throughout all stages of the displacement cycle. The persecution they flee from is at times repeated in the country of asylum and also within refugee communities, making it difficult for them to access community support networks and humanitarian services. Even those responsible for providing protection and assistance may not always fully appreciate the challenges LGBTI refugees and asylum-seekers face. This being said, there is much greater awareness today within the human rights and humanitarian community about the specific protection concerns of LGBTI refugees and asylum-seekers. The last few years have, for example, seen the emergence of a body of research on this topic. However, just as homophobia and discrimination against LGBTI persons are not new phenomena, neither is that of LGBTI people being part of asylum flows. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:17:20 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:17:20 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/87.abstract <p>"The question of whether the assessment of the inclusion clause must precede the application of the exclusion clauses under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (CSR51) is a recurring theme in many jurisdictions. This article shows that the case law of the top national courts shifted decisively in favour of the ‘exclusion before inclusion’ position. Subsequently, this article looks for guidance at the Qualification and Procedures Directives. It claims that although it is generally assumed that the European Asylum Acquis left this issue untouched, it endorses the ‘exclusion before inclusion’ position and it does so even more overtly than the CSR51. However, this article also puts forth the argument that the Qualification Directive taken in conjunction with the Procedures Directive creates an obligation for the EU member states that goes beyond the CSR51, namely to address inclusion in the interview with the applicant even in cases when the refugee adjudicators plan to apply the exclusion clause. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:17:07 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:17:07 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/65.abstract <p>"This article analyzes the Canadian Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal decisions assessing the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States (STCA). It examines how each court’s treatment of the location and operation of the Canada–US border influences the results obtained. The article suggests that both in its treatment of the STCA and in its constitutional analysis, the Federal Court decision conceives of the border as a moving barrier capable of shifting outside Canada’s formal territorial boundaries. The effect of this decision is to bring refugee claimants outside state soil within the fold of Canadian constitutional protection. In contrast, the Federal Court of Appeal decision conceives of the border as both static and shifting. In its treatment of the STCA, the Court conceives of the border as a moving barrier that shifts outside Canada’s formal territorial boundaries to extend state power outwards. Yet, in its constitutional analysis, the Court conceives of the border as a static barrier that remains fixed at the state’s geographic perimeter to limit access to refugee rights. By simultaneously conceiving of the border in these opposing ways, the Court of Appeal decision places refugee claimants in an impossible legal bind: it requires them to present at the (static) border to claim legal protection, but at the same time shifts the border in ways that preclude them from doing so. The decision thus suspends refugee claimants between two opposing directives, deprives them of otherwise actionable rights, and denies them recourse to meaningful legal action under Canadian law. The article argues that, in this key way, the Federal Court of Appeal decision does much more than clarify the executive discretion of the Governor-in-Council, as it purports. Rather, it redefines the Canadian refugee regime as fundamentally exclusionary towards STCA claimants, and calls into question the central principles by which this regime is distinguished and defined. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:16:56 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:16:56 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/39.abstract <p>"Article 5 of the United Nations Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air, to which Australia is a state party, requires states not to criminalize migrants for being the object of migrant smuggling. This international obligation raises questions about Australia’s response to migrant smuggling and its treatment of asylum seekers. This article examines the principle that smuggled migrants should not be punished for seeking refuge through illegal entry to a receiving state. It explores the extent of the obligations created by article 5, and, on that basis, assesses the compatibility of Australia’s legislative and practical responses to the smuggling of migrants. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:16:39 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:16:39 +0000 2013 http://ijrl.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/1/1.abstract <p>"Discussion of Middle Eastern refugee law and policy has focused largely on Palestinians, with relatively little analysis of non-Palestinian refugees and the legal framework that applies to them in Middle Eastern countries. This article seeks to address this gap through a wide-ranging examination of the treatment of Iraqi refugees in Jordan (a non-signatory state to the Refugee Convention), following the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. In so doing, it also examines certain issues with wider global implications, such as the nature of refugee protection, the importance of identity, and the need for improved ‘burden sharing’. The article provides a brief outline of the background to refugees in Jordan, together with a discussion of the legal regime applicable to asylum seekers and refugees. It assesses the importance of legal status and labelling to the Iraqis in Jordan, not only for access to rights and provision of needs, but also for identity. The tension between UNHCR’s concepts of ‘protection’ and ‘protection space’ and the Jordanian Government’s own approach to sanctuary are explored, with reference to five key areas: employment, health, education, resettlement and return. The article concludes by reflecting on the extent to which the Jordanian case study can assist improved management of mass flight in the future. "</p> <p class="diigo-tags"><strong>Tags:</strong> <a href='https://www.diigo.com/user/refugeearchives/newjournalarticles' rel='tag'>newjournalarticles</a> </p> Tue May 14 13:16:27 +0000 2013 Tue May 14 13:16:27 +0000 2013