Refuge

This study examined the literacy development of teenage refugee boys in a one-month intensive summer literacy camp. Th e study intervention sought to abate literacy regression among language minority students in a suburban southern US city by combining physical training and promotion of literacy culture. Students experienced an intensive schedule of athletics and reading/writing workshops. Data were collected regarding student writing, reading proficiency, and dispositions toward literacy practices. Outcomes included increased expressed student enjoyment expressed for both reading and writing, especially for the experience of older students reading to younger peers. In addition, data indicated that summer literacy regression was largely avoided. However, reading proficiency level assessments foreshadow obstacles for students in achieving timely high school graduation. Finally, means used by mainstream teachers of assessing the literacy of refugee students, especially compared to ass...

As part of a multi-phased study exploring the experiences of refugee claimants in Atlantic Canada, this article focuses on the experiences and perceptions of immigrant service providers in relation to gender and women refugee claimants. Given the paucity of research on refugees in Atlantic Canada and on the particular perspectives of service providers, we have located this part of our research in the intersection of state policies and civil society practices , in particular service providers' and NGO practices vis-à-vis refugees and refugee claimants. To contextualize our study we briefly trace global and national trends in migration and refugee issues, specifically increasing refugee deterrence policies that restrict claimants' access to protection and settlement services. Findings highlight the recognition of gender-specific needs but also the lack of a gendered analysis of women refugee claimants, uneven accessibility to support services across the Atlantic region, challe...

Why did youth move from their trans-Himalayan villages at very young ages to attend school with the risk of prolonged family separation? An in-depth study of youth from rural trans-Himalayan villages who travelled to Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, to live and study at a (free) boarding school, funded by both national and international donors, provides a starting point to address this question. The “People’s War” from 1996 to 2006 in Nepal contextualizes the study, given that the Maoist insurgency in the Himalayan hinterland aimed to recruit youth to the rebel cause. The study of youth from the trans-Himalayan region living at the boarding school as students was conducted between April and July 2014 in Kathmandu. The youth arrived at the school between the ages of four and ten years, and did not see their families for several years after their arrival, given the significant distances between their villages and the associated costs of travel. Drawing on scholarship in children’s geograp...

There is little longitudinal research that directly compares the effectiveness of Canada's Government-Assisted Refugee (GAR) and Privately Sponsored Refugee (PSR) Programs that takes into account possible socio-demographic differences between them. This article reports findings from 1,921 newly arrived adult Syrian refugees in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. GARs and PSRs differed widely on several demographic characteristics, including length of time displaced. Furthermore, PSRs sponsored by Groups of 5 resembled GARs more than other PSR sponsorship types on many of these characteristics. PSRs also had broader social networks than GARs. Sociodemographic differences and city of residence influenced integration outcomes, emphasizing the importance of considering differences between refugee groups when comparing the impact of these programs.

Higher education remains unattainable for many people seeking asylum in Australia, where temporary visa status renders individuals ineligible for a range of government services including assistance with financing tertiary study. Many universities have responded by offering scholarships and other essential supports; however, our research indicates the challenges associated with studying while living on a temporary visa can affect the success of educational assistance. Here we highlight the importance of scholarships and other supports for facilitating access to tertiary study, particularly given the continuation of restrictive government policies, and identify the need for people seeking asylum to inform institutional and community responses. **** Note that the pagination of this article has been adjusted due to resolving a production error in another article in this issue.***

Displacement and exile have been recurrent and durable phenomena affecting Iraqi society for the last 90 years. The process of forming an Iraqi state from the ruins of the Ottoman empire, which Aristide Zolberg has analyzed as a prime factor generating refugee flows,has been ongoing since 1920. Unfinished endeavours to build a state and nation have been characterized by almost incessant antagonistic claims over the nature of the state and national identity, the exercise of and access to political power, control of natural resources and border sovereignty. Political repression, violent regime change, redefinition of national identity, demographic engineering, and domestic or international armed conflicts have resulted in eviction, deportation, denaturalization, political emigration, and flight from violence. A large part of displacement in Iraq has been internal. But vast numbers of refugees and exiles have also formed a regional and global diaspora extending from Iran, Jordan, Israe...

A highly informed and detailed analysis of the intimate rela tionship between structural adjustment programs and the thriving drug and sex trade in the Upper Mekong Region of Thailand, providing additional perspective on illicit trafick-ing and trade in the larger Southeast Asian context, Attention is specifically drawn to the harsh and disproportional impact of IMF economic policies upon women andgirls, also acknowledging the great impmtanceof a &understand-ing of international traffic in persons, in terms of migration problems and labour exploitation, rafher than solely in relation to sex. Une analyse tr2s fouillke de la relation intimequislCtablit entreles programmes d'ajustement structurauxet leflorissan t commerce de la drogue et des faveurs sexuelles dans la dgion du Haut Mkkong en Thailande; ce cmmerceayan t comme principale caracthistique de fournir un aperpcomplhwtairesur toutes lesfOT-David A. Feingold, Ph.D., is n research anthropologist andfilmmaker assodated with th...

Aims: Rhododendron ponticum L. is reputed to be a post Plio-Pleistocene relict plant species with a disjunct distribution that comprises the Iberian Peninsula to the west and the Euxinian region plus some restricted Mediterranean areas to the east. We analysed the ecological range (of subsp. baeticum) in the western area (Aljibe Mountains, north of the Strait of Gibraltar) to understand the factors determining the present area limitation.

Location: Sierra del Aljibe, north of the Strait of Gibraltar (Iberian Peninsula).

Methods: We selected 20 riparian sites where R. ponticum is common, and compiled data on the ecological diversity of associated woody species and ferns. We established a 500-m main transect in each site, along the stream or river course, in which we placed five 20-m-long plots at regular intervals. We recorded physiographic habitat features, woody plants and fern abundance, and the number of R. ponticum individuals.

Results: Rhododendron ponticum in southern Spain is restricted to riparian forests in acidic soils (pH 4.0–6.4), and is mainly found on the banks of inclined and enclosed streams. In our inventory we recorded 59 woody taxa and 12 ferns, with R. ponticum being the dominant species of the understorey (mean abundance 78.6%). The communities are characterized by a high incidence of the humid warm temperate element, both in number of species (18.8 ± 3.7 per site) and abundance; meanwhile, the presence of the modern Mediterranean element (mean number of species 3.4 ± 3.8 per site) appears to be favoured by disturbance. These ecological–historical groups of taxa also show distinct patterns of typological habit, frequency of endemism, infrageneric diversity and geographical range. Populations of R. ponticum are characterized by a very variable density of seedlings in many sites, and the virtual lack of juveniles.

Main conclusions: Riparian forests of the Aljibe Mountains constitute a refuge for R. ponticum where the species persists, but populations appear to be in decline. The narrow ecological range of R. ponticum in the area strongly contrasts with its wide amplitude in the eastern natural area, mainly the Euxinian region, where R. ponticum probably finds better conditions due to the environmental heterogeneity of the region, and the lack of a hot dry season.

This article explores the implications of language and dis- course for the experiences of separated refugee children in Canada, and the ways in which anti-refugee and anti-child discourses shape the terrain of resettlement. The article begins by tracing the academic and popular discourses of refugee populations generally, and separated children specifically. Given the formulaic and rigid portrayals and representations, we introduce the concept of social navigation, which provides a useful framework to study the resettlement experiences of separated children. Following an overview of the study’s methodology, we explore the social navigation and resettlement experiences of seventeen youth. In particular, we highlight the creative, resourceful, and thoughtful ways in which the youth navigated the refugee determination system, experiences of discrimination and isolation, as well as separation and loss during the resettle- ment process. The article ultimately underscores the ways in whic...

Some important innovations within Bill C-31, Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act, run contrary to the biblical ethics espoused in the book of Deuteronomy, from the Judeo-Christian scriptures. Components of Bill C-31—such as mandatory detention, no right of appeal, and a five-year delay for application for permanent residence (all these apply to only certain groups of claimants)—are challenged by the ethics, system of justice, and polity of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, the Hebrew word “ger” (“stranger”) occurs twenty-one times, indicating the importance of ethics concerning the stranger for this book. Townships and families in Israel have the responsibility to include the stranger in their agricultural, ritual, and cultural lives. Deuteronomy’s ethic towards the stranger is embedded in Israel’s own history of being a “stranger” or “refugee.”

Against the background of the recent international trend of a greater reliance on deterrence measures in managing the flow of asylum seekers, this paper discusses the implementation of the temporary protection visa (TPV) in Australia. It focuses on the psychological impact of the TPV policy on individual asylum seekers and how this unlimited temporary status affects the overall process of settlement. This study is based on personal narratives constructed by individual asylum seekers during one-onone interviews aimed at sketching the mental and psychological manifestations of stressful events in their lives as TPV holders. What is particularly revealing among many of these TPV holders is the fact that their pre-migration traumatic experiences are compounded by a post-migration condition of being in indefinite “temporary” protection. This is further exacerbated by a prevalence of racialized discourses and exclusionary policies advocated by the host government. Past trauma and persecut...

This paper reports on a comparative study of temporary protection (TP) mechanisms in Australia and selected European jurisdictions.Specifically, it analyzes policy developments and trends in the use of TP mechanisms in Denmark, Germany, and Australia through a systematic examination of the evolution of “substitute protection” mechanisms; their implications for “effective protection” and their impacts on key stakeholders.The policy analyses are augmented by interviews and survey questionnaires with key NGO service providers in the three target jurisdictions.The paper argues that the traditional link between Refugee Convention protection and national territorial jurisdiction and responsibility is being undermined by extraterritorial processing and offshoring arrangements.

Since the expulsion of more than ten million ethnic Germans from Central and Eastern Europe after the end of the Second World War, the political and cultural organizations of the expellees have advocated the interests of this segment of the Federal Republic’s population. The article examines the various ways in which activists in the expellee organizations have used the ambiguity of homeland and belonging in the political process in Germany and increasingly in Europe to further a political agenda that, while it has undergone major changes, remains deeply problematic in some of its objectives and many of its implications.

Resettling refugee women may be at greater risk than other women for several harmful reproductive health out- comes as a result of their migration experience. The objec- tive of this study was to determine differences in reproductive health status between refugee women in countries of resettlement and non-refugee counterparts. A systematic review of the literature culled from five elec- tronic

In 2011, a massive flood occurred in the Canadian province of Manitoba, and provincial government officials decided to divert water to Lake St. Martin and First Nation land to protect urban, cottage, and agricultural properties. As a result of this artificial flood, all community members were evacuated, with infrastructures and housing at Lake St. Martin First Nation permanently destroyed. Three years later, 1,064 Lake St. Martin First Nation members reside in urban hotels and other temporary residences. Data from participatory videography and community workshops were analyzed using the sustainable livelihoods framework. Environmentally and developmentally induced displacement transformed an entire First Nation community into refuges in their homeland. Jurisdictional issues and racism prevented provisioning of services to meet their basic needs, help rebuild their lives, and relocate their community. Inclusive evacuation, relocation, and water-management policies and procedures are ...

This paper presents findings from research conducted in two primary schools in South Australia with New Arrivals Programs (NAPs). The paper draws upon two forms of data: questionnaires administered to teachers and ethno-graphic observations of children at play in the schoolyard. These data are used to examine two aspects of education for refugees and other migrants: (1) the assumption that English language acquisition is central to the "integration" of refugees and other newly arrived migrants (and both that integration is of key importance and that the work of integration must primarily be undertaken by refugees and other migrants, not the broader community); and (2) the impact of power differentials between NAP and non-NAP students in the use of playground spaces. We argue that the education provided to refugee and newly arrived migrant students in NAPs needs to move beyond treating English language acquisition as a requirement to "fit in," and we call for scho...

This article proposes that the UNHCR-supported “durable solution” programs for former refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and from Croatia were at odds with the actual exilic experiences of former refugees. It introduce homemaking as an essential aspect of a successful durable solution and proposes supplementing the usual ethno-politicized understandings of home in the specific context with analyses of the process of homemaking at different scales—house (dwelling), community (the wider space of settlement containing natural, cultural, social, and economic aspects) and nation. The article also argues that repatriation and local integration in the country of first asylum—two allegedly distinct and opposite solutions to refugee crises—should be viewed as intertwined processes within a broader transnational context. It is concluded that their combination brought a durable solution to refugee predicaments in the specific case.

This paper, based on personal interviews, analysis of Egyptian administrative regulations, and observation of practice of international and regional agreements on refugees, considers the effects of displacement on the Palestinians’ legal status and hence on the way they have conducted their livelihoods in Egypt. While Arab countries have offered to provide temporary protection to Palestinian refugees, as a result of political developments, including relations between the PLO and the host states, the rights afforded to Palestinians in Arab host states have varied greatly over time. Palestinians in Egypt, since 1978, do not receive assistance from the government of Egypt and do not have access to any of its public services. Palestinians also do not receive any assistance or protection from UN bodies in charge of refugee issues. Both regional and international pledges and agreements have not been respected. The ambiguous legal status of Palestinians has affected their livelihoods inman...

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 calls for a more active role for women in the prevention and reconciliation of conflicts. Focusing on the Palestinian Right of Return and the work of a feminist organization called the Jerusalem Link, this paper examines Resolution 1325’s premise that women can make a unique contribution to peace building. As “transfer” or the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza looms on the horizon, scholars, advocates, and policy-makers must pay more attention to the work of women peace-builders because they might be able to help chart a path towards a real and just solution on seemingly intractable issues such as the Right of Return.

D epuis une quinzaine d'années, la prise en compte du rôle des pères dans le développement psychoaf-fectif de l'enfant commence à avoir droit de citée dans le cadre d'interventions périnatales au niveau microfa-milial 1. On sait par ailleurs que le fonctionnement de l'unité familiale est déstabilisé par l'expérience traumatique d'un ou de plusieurs de ses membres 2 , et se complique sous les eff ets du déracinement et de l'exil 3. Néanmoins, lorsqu'il s'agit de s'attacher aux questions des conséquences trans-générationnelles du traumatisme, les études et pratiques se portent généralement vers les dyades mère-bébé 4. Aussi le travail thérapeutique père-enfant constitue-t-il un terrain vierge pour la pratique humanitaire, particulièrement dans le cadre d'interventions psychosociales auprès de populations réfugiées 5. Rappelons que les expériences traumatiques-il serait plus juste de dire traumatogènes-ont pour principe d'action sur la ps...

Detention and deportation of migrants is a clear performance of state sovereignty that relies on discretionary practices and policies. The ongoing conflict in Syria highlights the strain and social disruption in neighbouring countries that host the majority of the world's Syrian refugees. This article looks at Jordan's policies to detain and deport Syrian refugees. Documented reasons for detention and deportations include work permit infractions, including the deportation of Syrian doctors and medical practitioners, as well as deportations for communicable diseases. Detention and deportation policies in Jordan are highly discretion-ary, making interventions and advocacy on behalf of those detained difficult. Detention and deportation can also have disproportionate impact on populations that are already marginalized, including members of the LGBTI community, survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, and those engaged in sex work. Résumé La détention et la déportation des...

UNHCR’s Women at Risk Program is designed to identify and respond to refugee women at extreme risk in countries of asylum who are in desperate need of resettlement. Many women who have been resettled under this program have been raped or faced forced engagement in survival sex, forced marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth as a result of rape. Drawing on a decade of research undertaken by the authors across 18 international sites, this article explores the experience of refugee women at risk resettled to Australia. It discusses the impacts of sexual violence on their settlement, including those of shame and stigma. It identifies that, while for some women at risk, resettlement offers hoped for safety and protection, for others the abuses they faced prior to resettlement resurface and are compounded by new risks and violations of their rights. It introduces a risk assessment tool designed to assist service providers to identify and respond to these risks.

This paper examines the intersectionality of race and gender in refugee situations, and the multiple forms of discrimination experienced by refugee women. It explores the notion of racism as a root cause of refugee generation, and the gendered nature of the refugee experience. The manner in which racism and sexism intersect to compound the human rights violations that refugee women experience is explored in the treatment of sexual violence in international and domestic law and policy; during armed conflict; in refugee camps; in countries of first asylum; and in countries of resettlement. Using a case study of one strand of refugee policy in Australia, it illustrates the impact of this discrimination on refugee women. The forthcoming World Conference against Racism offers a unique opportunity for this phenomenon to be addressed by the international community.

Many states have responded to mass influxes of refugees fleeing generalized violence and war by setting up ad hoc and/or temporary protection regimes. These regimes have had various degrees of success, depending particularly on the length of stay of the refugees. This article will compare the approach of states to three separate refugee influxes—Kuwaiti refugees in the Gulf, Bosnian refugees in Germany, and Syrian refugees in Turkey—and will argue that efforts to harmonize temporary protection measures are desirable, but given that these situations tend to be prolonged, there must be greater responsibility sharing between states, in order to lead to greater integration of refugees in the host states.

This article examines the development of the legislation on asylum law and refugee policies in Portugal. The assessment begins in 1975, the year when democracy was re-established in the country, following the 1974 Carnation Revolution, and ends in 2015, the year the European asylum crisis started. We want to discuss whether, during this period, the policies established indicate an open regime, with an integrationist perspective, or whether they proclaim a closed regime with an exclusivist position; in other words, whether the asylum system promoted an active policy of receiving and integrating refugees, or whether the policies pursued intended to limit the access of refugees to the borders of the state. In order to understand these developments, we analyze asylum application figures and asylum laws, trying to understand the main circumstantial contexts that influence them, namely Portugal’s integration in the European Union.

This article examines the memories of a group of Cameroonian asylum-seekers in South Africa, analyzing personal accounts of memories of fear, suffering, and pain as well as resilience and heroism during their forced migration. The article argues that the legitimacy of applications for asylum often depends on accurate and consistent memories of specific life-threatening episodes at home and during migration. Drawing on theoretical conceptions such as construction of memory, autobiographical memory, and politics of storytelling, this article teases out how personal memories of asylum-seekers provide a discursive space to access and understand the asymmetries of seeking political asylum in post-apartheid South Africa.