This is a report of an international academic research workshop held at the University of York, a... more This is a report of an international academic research workshop held at the University of York, as preparatory for a Special Issue publication in the Journal of Human Rights Practice which is to practitioners, scholars and human rights defenders (HRDs) building on research collaboration working together to make a significant contribution to knowledge and practice concerning HRDs at risk. In developing this Special Issue, the 3-day Research Workshop in York in May 2013 has two aims: 1) To provide feedback as a peer group to each author's draft paper for the Special Issue; and 2) To develop ideas for future research that can inform practice on protection of human rights defenders. This report has two sections: Section one is a report of the main points during the presentation of papers and the discussions that followed. Section two is a write-up of the second half of the research workshop where participants reflected collectively on key themes in HRD protection and identified pote...
A vibrant and functioning civil society needs spaces to express itself in a variety of ways and o... more A vibrant and functioning civil society needs spaces to express itself in a variety of ways and opportunities to unfold. However, shrinking civic spaces are more and more to be traced. Many groups such as human rights activists and artists are affected and the declining of pre-political spaces takes many forms. To assist these activists an increasing amount of protection programmes have been developed in recent years.<br> This study examines the protection programmes from different angles in order to formulate the challenges of these initiatives and to seek solutions for an increasing effectiveness in future programmes.
Social theorists examining the impact of globalisation on state power argue that sovereignty is b... more Social theorists examining the impact of globalisation on state power argue that sovereignty is being respatialised and rescaled and that it is no longer adequate to understand state sovereignty as operating evenly on a national scale over a population within a bounded territory. Nevertheless, ASEAN states continue to adopt such a national framing of people and place, particularly in the construction of immigration control regimes. I argue that in order to understand the localised and spatialised exercise of graduated sovereignty and the selective introduction of neoliberal practices, it is necessary to recognise the significance of the immigration status of individuals and examine how the dividing practices of immigration control regimes permit the selective allocation of rights to non-citizens. This paper examines Malaysia’s approach to international labour migration, noting that it makes different biopolitical investments in different types of non-citizens on the basis of a calcu...
Refugees know that their safety and wellbeing dependon their accurate reading and careful negotia... more Refugees know that their safety and wellbeing dependon their accurate reading and careful negotiation ofdifferent spaces and landscapes in urban areas.
The article proposes the notion of emotional attrition to capture the process through which activ... more The article proposes the notion of emotional attrition to capture the process through which activists working in high-risk environments may develop a lasting state of emotional exhaustion caused by protracted exposure to adversarial conditions. Combining insights from clinical psychology and the sociology of emotions, it outlines a novel framework to understand the relationship between activism, emotions, and disengagement. We argue that activists can develop an emotional state characterized by dispiriting emotions and disengaging attitudes that affect their well-being and ability to sustain their activism. This argument is grounded on an in-depth analysis of more than 130 interviews with local human rights activists in Colombia, Kenya, and Indonesia. By examining their experiences and pressures in relation to the arena of repression, their immediate social circle, and the broader sociopolitical and cultural context, we shed light on the complex intersections between activists’ emot...
ABSTRACT How do people engaged in risky forms of activism understand and manage their mental and ... more ABSTRACT How do people engaged in risky forms of activism understand and manage their mental and emotional wellbeing? What factors shape these responses? How is this significant for the sustainability of activism and human rights movements around the world? Drawing on a study with 407 participants who experienced high risks in human rights practice in Colombia, Mexico, Egypt, Kenya, and Indonesia, this article argues that cultures of human rights practice shape the way that mental and emotional wellbeing is understood and practiced. Gendered ‘feeling rules’ that valorize bravery, commitment, sacrifice, and selflessness complicate conversations about mental and emotional wellbeing, triggering feelings of guilt and self-indulgence in relation to self-care. Discussions about mental and emotional wellbeing are sensitive, culturally mediated, and laden with social and political implications. Some leaders are concerned that revealing their fears and vulnerabilities will lead to movement demobilisation. Mental health issues are thus made invisible. Participants in this study tended to rely on private rather than collective coping strategies; relatively few human rights groups and organisations adopted wellbeing practices. Crucially, however, activists affirm that their human rights practice enables them to experience and attain individual and collective wellbeing. This article discusses the maintenance of practices for self- and collective care that can sustain people engaged in activism in the face of high risks.
Scholars have criticized the ways in ways in which policymakers, decision-makers and practitioner... more Scholars have criticized the ways in ways in which policymakers, decision-makers and practitioners treat ‘refugees’ and ‘migrants’ as given categories, thus justifying the exclusion and containment of some people who move across borders. However, in places where ‘refugees’ are not recognized in domestic law and where there is little public understanding about their circumstances, actors concerned about their protection have had to invest tremendous effort into signifying ‘refugees’ as a legitimate type of non-citizen in need of protection. Focusing on Southeast Asia, and the case of Malaysia specifically, this paper examines how an international organisation with field presence, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), reinforces the distinction between ‘refugees’ and ‘migrants’ through regular, practices of identification, intervention, and advocacy. Conducted in environments hostile to migrants with irregular status, these resource-intensive practices have resulted in the partial, impermanent protection of some refugees. This article argues that in complex migration contexts, UNHCR may take on properties of a ‘surrogate state’ but it does so without sovereignty. Instead, it negotiates the domestic level protection of refugees in urban and rural areas with ambiguous authority vis-a-vis state authorities. This ambiguity results from the lack of clarity over its role and its powers as an international organization operating at the domestic level within a state. This ambiguity has resulted in protection gains for some refugees, but also causes uncertainty about the strength of UNHCR’s negotiating position. Regional political developments shape the willingness of state authorities to cooperate with UNHCR. Especially since 2017, Rohingyas have become the archetypal refugee in Southeast Asia, easily recognised as deserving of protection. To the consternation of civil society actors, however, UNHCR has argued that other refugees in protracted situations – in particular, Chins from Myanmar – are no longer considered in need international protection. This article argues that contemporary constructions of ‘refugees’ fail to address the complexities of migration but has become necessary in convincing states of the need to protect a certain ‘ideal type’ of non-citizen. Alternative ways are needed to recognize and address the precarity of diverse mobile subjects living in the Southeast Asian region.
This is a report of an international academic research workshop held at the University of York, a... more This is a report of an international academic research workshop held at the University of York, as preparatory for a Special Issue publication in the Journal of Human Rights Practice which is to practitioners, scholars and human rights defenders (HRDs) building on research collaboration working together to make a significant contribution to knowledge and practice concerning HRDs at risk. In developing this Special Issue, the 3-day Research Workshop in York in May 2013 has two aims: 1) To provide feedback as a peer group to each author's draft paper for the Special Issue; and 2) To develop ideas for future research that can inform practice on protection of human rights defenders. This report has two sections: Section one is a report of the main points during the presentation of papers and the discussions that followed. Section two is a write-up of the second half of the research workshop where participants reflected collectively on key themes in HRD protection and identified pote...
A vibrant and functioning civil society needs spaces to express itself in a variety of ways and o... more A vibrant and functioning civil society needs spaces to express itself in a variety of ways and opportunities to unfold. However, shrinking civic spaces are more and more to be traced. Many groups such as human rights activists and artists are affected and the declining of pre-political spaces takes many forms. To assist these activists an increasing amount of protection programmes have been developed in recent years.<br> This study examines the protection programmes from different angles in order to formulate the challenges of these initiatives and to seek solutions for an increasing effectiveness in future programmes.
Social theorists examining the impact of globalisation on state power argue that sovereignty is b... more Social theorists examining the impact of globalisation on state power argue that sovereignty is being respatialised and rescaled and that it is no longer adequate to understand state sovereignty as operating evenly on a national scale over a population within a bounded territory. Nevertheless, ASEAN states continue to adopt such a national framing of people and place, particularly in the construction of immigration control regimes. I argue that in order to understand the localised and spatialised exercise of graduated sovereignty and the selective introduction of neoliberal practices, it is necessary to recognise the significance of the immigration status of individuals and examine how the dividing practices of immigration control regimes permit the selective allocation of rights to non-citizens. This paper examines Malaysia’s approach to international labour migration, noting that it makes different biopolitical investments in different types of non-citizens on the basis of a calcu...
Refugees know that their safety and wellbeing dependon their accurate reading and careful negotia... more Refugees know that their safety and wellbeing dependon their accurate reading and careful negotiation ofdifferent spaces and landscapes in urban areas.
The article proposes the notion of emotional attrition to capture the process through which activ... more The article proposes the notion of emotional attrition to capture the process through which activists working in high-risk environments may develop a lasting state of emotional exhaustion caused by protracted exposure to adversarial conditions. Combining insights from clinical psychology and the sociology of emotions, it outlines a novel framework to understand the relationship between activism, emotions, and disengagement. We argue that activists can develop an emotional state characterized by dispiriting emotions and disengaging attitudes that affect their well-being and ability to sustain their activism. This argument is grounded on an in-depth analysis of more than 130 interviews with local human rights activists in Colombia, Kenya, and Indonesia. By examining their experiences and pressures in relation to the arena of repression, their immediate social circle, and the broader sociopolitical and cultural context, we shed light on the complex intersections between activists’ emot...
ABSTRACT How do people engaged in risky forms of activism understand and manage their mental and ... more ABSTRACT How do people engaged in risky forms of activism understand and manage their mental and emotional wellbeing? What factors shape these responses? How is this significant for the sustainability of activism and human rights movements around the world? Drawing on a study with 407 participants who experienced high risks in human rights practice in Colombia, Mexico, Egypt, Kenya, and Indonesia, this article argues that cultures of human rights practice shape the way that mental and emotional wellbeing is understood and practiced. Gendered ‘feeling rules’ that valorize bravery, commitment, sacrifice, and selflessness complicate conversations about mental and emotional wellbeing, triggering feelings of guilt and self-indulgence in relation to self-care. Discussions about mental and emotional wellbeing are sensitive, culturally mediated, and laden with social and political implications. Some leaders are concerned that revealing their fears and vulnerabilities will lead to movement demobilisation. Mental health issues are thus made invisible. Participants in this study tended to rely on private rather than collective coping strategies; relatively few human rights groups and organisations adopted wellbeing practices. Crucially, however, activists affirm that their human rights practice enables them to experience and attain individual and collective wellbeing. This article discusses the maintenance of practices for self- and collective care that can sustain people engaged in activism in the face of high risks.
Scholars have criticized the ways in ways in which policymakers, decision-makers and practitioner... more Scholars have criticized the ways in ways in which policymakers, decision-makers and practitioners treat ‘refugees’ and ‘migrants’ as given categories, thus justifying the exclusion and containment of some people who move across borders. However, in places where ‘refugees’ are not recognized in domestic law and where there is little public understanding about their circumstances, actors concerned about their protection have had to invest tremendous effort into signifying ‘refugees’ as a legitimate type of non-citizen in need of protection. Focusing on Southeast Asia, and the case of Malaysia specifically, this paper examines how an international organisation with field presence, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), reinforces the distinction between ‘refugees’ and ‘migrants’ through regular, practices of identification, intervention, and advocacy. Conducted in environments hostile to migrants with irregular status, these resource-intensive practices have resulted in the partial, impermanent protection of some refugees. This article argues that in complex migration contexts, UNHCR may take on properties of a ‘surrogate state’ but it does so without sovereignty. Instead, it negotiates the domestic level protection of refugees in urban and rural areas with ambiguous authority vis-a-vis state authorities. This ambiguity results from the lack of clarity over its role and its powers as an international organization operating at the domestic level within a state. This ambiguity has resulted in protection gains for some refugees, but also causes uncertainty about the strength of UNHCR’s negotiating position. Regional political developments shape the willingness of state authorities to cooperate with UNHCR. Especially since 2017, Rohingyas have become the archetypal refugee in Southeast Asia, easily recognised as deserving of protection. To the consternation of civil society actors, however, UNHCR has argued that other refugees in protracted situations – in particular, Chins from Myanmar – are no longer considered in need international protection. This article argues that contemporary constructions of ‘refugees’ fail to address the complexities of migration but has become necessary in convincing states of the need to protect a certain ‘ideal type’ of non-citizen. Alternative ways are needed to recognize and address the precarity of diverse mobile subjects living in the Southeast Asian region.
Uploads
Papers by Alice Nah