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'Refugee camps reconsidered'
... This is not surprising because refugee settlements often are located in border areas. Refugees initially arrive in border regions and often are unable, owing to movement restrictions or a lack of financial means, or unwilling to move further to remain close to their place of origin (Crisp and Jacobsen 1998;Schmeidl 1997). Host governments intentionally place refugee settlements in border zones in order to avoid exchange and possible conflict with the local population (Chalinder 1998). ...
... Yet, as we see, violent events involving clashes between refugees and local communities, government actors and rebels, that constitute almost half of our records, primarily happen in these border areas. Case studies also have shown that refugee settlements in border regions frequently lack security (Corsellis and Vitale 2005; Crisp 2000) because they can be attacked by the home state or misused by local or transnational rebel groups (Crisp and Jacobsen 1998;Gerdes 2006;Stedman and Tanner 2003). ...
... Previous work has shown that insecurity in refugee settlements is a consequence of a lack of protection (e.g. Corsellis and Vitale 2005;Crisp 2000;Crisp and Jacobsen 1998;Lischer 2005). In fact, the lack of assistance from and neglect by the host government increases discontent and grievances among refugees and is one of the main sources of insecurity and violence among refugees. ...
Politicians regard refugees increasingly as a security threat. Yet, systematic knowledge on the types, locations and frequency of security incidences involving refugees is limited. While existing conflict datasets include refugees as actors and refugee settlements as event locations, they do not provide more micro-level data on violent events involving refugees. This article introduces a novel subnational geo-coded dataset on refugee-related security incidences that records all instances of violence in Central and Eastern Africa between 1999–2010 that take place within refugee settlements or involve refugees, independently of where it happened. Using the new data, we show that most events are sexual and gender-based violent events and occur among refugees, while security incidences involving rebel groups occur relatively seldom. We demonstrate in an analysis at the administrative unit level that different types of refugee accommodations, camps and self-settlements, are both associated with refugee-related violence. Hence, stakeholders urgently need to upscale the protection of refugees at these locations, particularly in Kenya where most incidences were recorded.
... And as UNRWA put it in 1955, the strong desire of the refugees to return to their homeland also influenced the policies of Near East governments in this matter. 7 The refugee camps have since then embodied the humanitarian and political plight borne by the palestinian refugees. They have also been portrayed as the guardians of a preserved intrinsic "Palestinian-ness" in exile (Farah, R. 1997); the ultimate custodians of the "right of return"; or, as a UN official recently put it after a visit to the Irbid camp in 2008, "the real face of Palestine outside Palestine". ...
... km in the early 1950s camps; and from 34,000 to 69,000 persons/sq. km in the post-1967 "emergency camps" (see (Crisp, J;Jacobsen, K., 1998). As can be seen in table "Camps of Jordan, main characteristics according to UNRWA sources" below, some of the camps that were erected in the 1950s host four times as many refugees (Crisp, J;Jacobsen, K., 1998). ...
... km in the early 1950s camps; and from 34,000 to 69,000 persons/sq. km in the post-1967 "emergency camps" (see (Crisp, J;Jacobsen, K., 1998). As can be seen in table "Camps of Jordan, main characteristics according to UNRWA sources" below, some of the camps that were erected in the 1950s host four times as many refugees (Crisp, J;Jacobsen, K., 1998). ...
Although they are presently home to less than one-fifth of the total refugee population living in Jordan, namely 350,000 refugees), the refugee camps epitomize the dilemma pertaining to the refugees' dual Palestinian/Jordanian identity. Generally viewed as the most vivid markers of the refugees' commitment to the right of return, they are simultaneously portrayed either as hubs of potential political dissent or as places of social marginalization that affect the country's drive towards liberal modernization. This article explores this dilemma through the analysis of the camp management policies pursued by national and international stakeholders since the early 1950s. Following a first historical section that investigates the origins of the camps in Jordan and tackles their representations within the Jordanian society at large, the article goes on highlighting the political and socioeconomic stakes involved in the development of camps’ physical and housing infrastructure. In so doing, it sheds a new light on the “right of return”. A rallying slogan across the Palestinian society and the Arab world as a whole, the “right of return” has also constituted an operational norm that has deeply influenced the camps’ evolution patterns as well as Jordan’s urban landscape.
... Another relevant work published in that year was the article Refugee camps reconsidered (Crisp and Jacobsen 1998). In the article, the authors expose issues in the assumptions made by people against camps; for instance, that self-settled refugees were in better conditions than those in organized settlements, and that refugees were forced to settle in a camp, demonstrating that those assumptions were incorrect. ...
... Although not precisely normative, works from authors such as Harrell-Bond (1986), and Crisp and Jacobsen (1998), as well as many reports from gray literature provided a significant contribution to the understanding of the conditions in refugee camps by highlighting problems, including those related to the human or refugee rights, having influenced the development of documents with normative strategies. One of those documents derived from the Sphere Project-a consortium of representatives of the largest humanitarian organizations, created as an answer to problems that occurred during the response to the Rwandan crisis of 1994-1995. ...
... The temporary refugee camps often become the permanent settlements that compromise the integrity of the local environment and undermine the safety of both the refugee population and local host communities (J. Crisp & Jacobsen, 1998). Environmental threats such as scarcity of land and to water and forest resources, the disposal and management of solid waste as well as environmental degradation could potentially lead to conflicts and hostile relationships between the refugee population and local host communities (Addo, 2008;Karen Jacobsen, 2002). ...
... Refugee camps or settlements in some Sub-Saharan African countries are often situated in "fragile" or "distant rural regions" creating additional challenges on existing social, economic and environmental systems (J. Crisp & Jacobsen, 1998;Harrell-Bond, 1998). ...
Liberian refugees have been seeking refuge at the Buduburam Refugee Settlement (BRS) in Ghana for more than two decades. There have been two successfully held elections in Liberia since the end of the 14-year civil war in 2003. Drawing from these elections, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) terminated all humanitarian assistance to Liberian refugees in hope of a return. In spite of this, Liberian refugees continue to live at the BRS in deplorable sanitary conditions. This thesis explores the environmental security implications of the indiscriminate disposal of municipal solid waste in the local environment at the BRS. In this study, I used a mixed methods approach to collect data through personal observations, freelists, pilesorts, surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups directed with refugees, state and non-state actors. Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) data were collected from the sanitation team of the National Catholic Secretariat (NCS) at the BRS and the use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) to record specific waypoints of open dumpsites. The results indicate that the indiscriminate disposal of MSW in the local environment is associated with elevated increase of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), land pollution and the outbreak of water-borne diseases at the Buduburam Refugee Settlement.
... The GoU policy that refugees must live in rural settlements in order to receive material aid has a significant impact on the livelihood opportunities, participation and potential for self-reliance refugees living under the aid umbrella in Uganda. The issue of encampment of refugees has been the subject of fierce academic debate (Kibreab, 1989;Crisp and Jacobsen, 1998;Harrell-Bond, 1998;Veridame and Harrell-Bond, 2005) and advocacy campaigns against refugee 'warehousing' (USCRI, 2006). Essentially, as the debate between Crisp and Jacobsen (1998) and Black (1998) shows, the question is between whether camps and settlements are often inevitable outcomes due to host government preferences (Crisp and Jacobsen's position) or outcomes of institutional and bureaucratic priorities and biases (Harrell-Bond 1998, Black 1998. ...
... The issue of encampment of refugees has been the subject of fierce academic debate (Kibreab, 1989;Crisp and Jacobsen, 1998;Harrell-Bond, 1998;Veridame and Harrell-Bond, 2005) and advocacy campaigns against refugee 'warehousing' (USCRI, 2006). Essentially, as the debate between Crisp and Jacobsen (1998) and Black (1998) shows, the question is between whether camps and settlements are often inevitable outcomes due to host government preferences (Crisp and Jacobsen's position) or outcomes of institutional and bureaucratic priorities and biases (Harrell-Bond 1998, Black 1998. In this context, it is significant to note that UNHCR has not raised the issue of rural settlements as an obstacle to self-reliance, recognising the interests GoU has in maintaining these structures and hoping to implement the SRS in this context, despite the tensions this entails. ...
... Governments have to apply a more liberal asylum policy and humanitarian agencies like the UHNCR need more fi nancial support to provide the highest possible supply of nutrition, basic materials and security. (Crisp & Jacobsen 1998) Regardless, even when all these requirements are fulfi lled, it is not very likely that camps will suddenly be abolished. Refugee camps are complex socio-economical structures which develop their own urban infrastructure, character and identity. ...
Th is paper provides a comprehensive overview of the devastating conditions in refugee camps in the Middle-East and their contribution to the European refugee crisis. Th e selection of case studies includes refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey, and Jordan, which are the major host countries for Syrian refugees, since the civil war in Syria began in 2011. Every case is analyzed by factors of accommodation, nutrition, and health care. Furthermore, the funding requirements of these camps are also taken into consideration. While Turkey was able to handle the migration movements mainly from Syria much more effi ciently than Lebanon and Jordan, the other countries were completely overwhelmed by the crisis and the international community did not provide suffi cient funding in order to support these two states. Earlier anticipation of the crisis could have prevented the mass migration movement from Syria to Europe, which started mainly in 2015 and remains still one of the major issues in European policy. Th e fi ndings of this article show that providing proper accommodation, nutrition, and health care locally in the respective camps gives people incentives to stay in the region and not fl ee to Europe. In any case, a new development strategy for refugee camps in general is required.
... 3. For the benefits and why states often prefer camps as a form of sanctuary in the global south: (Crisp & Jacobsen, 1998;Bakewell, 2014, p. 134;Holzer, 2013), 846; For arguments against refugee camps: (Black, 1998;Harrell-Bond, 1998;Kaiser, 2006). 4. Some authors may interpret the all-subjected principle to also justify the value of democracy. ...
Should refugees govern refugee camps? This paper argues that they should. It draws on normative political thought in consulting the all-subjected principle and an instrumental defense of democratic rule. The former holds that all those subjected to rule in a political unit should have a say in such rule. Through analyzing the conditions that pertain in refugee camps, the paper demonstrates that the all-subjected principle applies there, too. Refugee camps have developed as near distinct entities from their host states. They have formed their own economic, legal and even political systems within which refugees are subjected to political rule. The paper then demonstrates that democratic rule should be preferred over any other decision-making procedure. No amount of experts can replace the institutions that would lead to the accountability of decision-makers and to the incorporation of refugees as situated and epistemically diverse knowers of the problems they face and the solutions that would work best.
... Despite political incentives to host refugee caseloads in large camps, where refugees are supposedly better controlled and isolated from the local population, humanitarian organizations and researchers agree that large camps are the least desirable solution (see e.g. Bakewell 2014; Crisp and Jacobsen 1998). Refugees in large camps often are exposed to insecurity, lack livelihood and integration opportunities and have limited access to sanitation, which intensifies the current risk of Covid-19 contagion. ...
The Covid-19 pandemic severely threatens refugees: Most refugees live in developing countries with poor health care systems, the lockdowns left many refugees without income, border closures prevented forced migrants from their right to seek asylum and anti-refugee sentiment as well as insecurity in refugee settlements increased. Building on past refugee research and reports on refugee-related challenges during the Covid-19 crisis, we explain how bad sanitation, inadequate accommodation, additional restrictions of movement and employment and language barriers increase grievances among refugees and tensions between refugees and host populations. Particularly in large and overcrowded settlements these issues can lead to violent conflict, as we demonstrate with a case study of the Moria refugee camp in Greece. Yet, the impact of Covid-19 on refugees generally lacks politicization, and many governments are reluctant or unable to provide adequate housing and sanitation to refugees. We present policy recommendations for improving refugee protection amidst Covid-19, including not only the prevention of further spread of the virus but also that of insecurity.
... Additionally, the immediate actions taken by the international community in the response phase and, to some extent, in the post-emergency phase have often lacked the sustainability vision that guarantees a better future for these vulnerable populations (Pomponi et al. 2019;Leeson et al. 2020). Crisp and Jacobsen (1998) highlighted four constraints for the difficulty of implementing the international standards related to the size and location of refugee camps: ...
Although the refugee phenomenon is not new and refugee camps are rarely temporary, in most cases, the procedures implemented within refugee camps have failed to apply principles of sustainability to ensure refugees’ dignity and improve their quality of life, thereby helping them become independent and self-reliant. This improvement, in turn, may help them return to their homes in the future or may, at least, reduce the high cost and negative coping strategies associated with refugee camps and instead increase refugees’ social integration within the host community. This paper discusses the procedures applied in both the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan and the Dadaab Refugee Complex in Kenya and provides evidence regarding the extent to which they meet the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development without leaving refugees behind. Furthermore, this paper shows how sustainable development goals (SDGs) are interconnected in a refugee camp setting. This study concludes that refugee camps not only failed to align with 2030 agenda but failed to ensure refugees’ basic rights where a more inclusive and sustainable approach is required to improve the refugees’ quality of life and to help them live in dignity and reach self-reliance that can benefit both refugees and their host communities.
... 42 In this line of thought, the rise in global humanitarian aid has been propelled by the growing number of disaster victims. 43 This literature, however, fails to understand how aid agencies have defined the problem that they wanted to tackle. The conventional narrative considers the problems addressed by relief aid (diseases, hunger, etc.) as universal per se. ...
... At the same time, it is not clear how much weight the displaced give to assistance. Again, in some cases, the placement of camps is guided by the choices of the displaced themselves (Crisp & Jacobsen, 1998). Returning to the case of Iraq, the presence of UNHCR camps in Jordan did not significantly affect the predominant form of resettlement that emerged in 2006, when IDPs remained within Baghdad or their home region. ...
This article proposes a descriptive typology of civilian resettlement patterns in civil wars. The patterns vary in two dimensions: whether or not displaced civilians cluster together or resettle independently, and if they remain within their home country or not. The combination of the factors leads to four resettlement patterns: expulsion, segregation, integration, and dispersion. Expulsion and segregation occur when the displaced cluster, either within the home state (segregation) or beyond it (expulsion). Integration and dispersion occur when the displaced do not cluster but seek to blend in with other communities, either abroad (dispersion) or within core cities and towns in the state (integration). After introducing the typology and illustrating it with examples, the article engages in theory-building to explain variation in resettlement patterns. It argues that resettlement forms are based on the type of displacement that civilians experience, and the perpetrator of the violence. The displacement type influences individuals’ best strategy for achieving relative safety. Within and across wars, groups that experience political cleansing are likely to cluster together for safety. The best destination options for the displaced to resettle depend on the perpetrator, which lead to clustering either within a state if the actor is non-state, or outside the state if the actor is the state or an ally. The argument is illustrated with examples. Finally, the article considers the implications of resettlement patterns for violence, conflict, and state-building.
... However, the accounts of our participants show that camp conditions can create many adversities. Camps can secure effective delivery of humanitarian assistance and facilitate repatriation arrangements (Crisp and Jacobsen, 1998), but in the case of a protracted crisis they can be a threat to refugees' psychological wellbeing and undermine their sense of responsibility for their own lives. Refugees complain of their inability to visit loved ones in other camps or cities, crowded shelters, lack of privacy and a sense of confinement. ...
This qualitative study aims to explore the difficulties experienced by Syrian refugees living in the camps of Turkey in the pre‐migration and post‐migration environment and the impacts thereof on their mental wellbeing. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with Syrian refugees living in three different camps on the Syrian border of Turkey. Syrian refugees were highly exposed to traumatic events in the pre‐migration period, including armed conflicts, human rights violations, and social and economic devastation. Participants reported a wide range of difficulties in the post‐migration environment, including separation from and loss of close ones, camp difficulties, gender‐based, adaptational and economic adversities. They reported a number of psychological and social effects of these pre‐migration and post‐migration difficulties. The implications of the findings are discussed and recommendations are made concerning the necessity of a rights‐based approach to policies and interventions for mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of Syrian refugees.
... Crisp and Jacobsen criticise scholars who fail to appreciate the full significance of the role played by host governments in determining refugee policies -particularly in the decision to establish temporary refugee camps. 34 Yet it is argued here that their criticism fails to account for the role played by NGOs and INGOs in the establishment of the building blocks of the international refugee regime, as created and refined in the seven decades since the end of the Second World War. Indeed, once a host state such as Kenya allows the initial establishment of a refugee camp, the refugee policies and procedures that surround and support that camp are almost wholly driven by the demands of donors and humanitarian organisations rather than the host state. ...
Kenya’s decision to close the Dadaab refugee camp complex highlights structural flaws in the international refugee regime. While much attention has been paid to Kenya’s reasoning, less has been given to the reactions of organisations and states. Given the state’s primacy in the international system and uncertainty about refugees, Kenya’s decision is perhaps unsurprising. It is contended that the stakeholders were unprepared because of path dependence and disbelief that Kenya would repatriate the refugees. While stakeholder reactions arguably demonstrate concern for refugees, the international refugee regime remains unquestioned, sustaining revenue streams that may fuel corruption, encourage lengthy encampment and prolong conflict.
... Natural disaster, as an unforeseen and sudden event that often causes great damage, destruction and human suffering, has an increased occurrence rate in recent decays [1]. Housing provision has been one of the major problems that should be addressed as soon as a disaster happened [2][3][4]. Temporary prefabricated houses (PH s) can be very effective in providing disaster victims with a temporary living place quickly whenever there is a natural disaster [5]. However, due to lack of suitable environmental control systems, unacceptable indoor thermal environment can be often experienced by PH s' occupants [6][7][8]. ...
Temporary prefabricated houses (PHs) can be effective in quickly providing disaster victims with a temporary living place whenever there is a natural disaster. Unfortunately, PHs commonly used for disaster relief purpose do not ensure a thermal comfortable internal conditions for their occupants. In order to search for approaches of improving PH's thermal environment, a simulation model was firstly developed using Energyplus, and validated by comparing the simulated data with the measured data obtained from a purposely built experimental PH. An analysis on summer heat gain based on the validated model showed that PH’s windows were responsible for the lion’s share of the total heat gain, followed by the roof and east wall. Besides, the effectiveness of applying various passive measures to the PH was studied. The study results suggested that adding a thin movable fabric layer of 0.9 reflectance to the walls and roof, and external window blinds would lead to a very high percentage reduction in unacceptable hours, without however the need to implement all four passive measures, to save the cost of implementation.
... This camp was created in 1992 and now holds a population of 263,036 (as of 15th September 2016) and three generations of Somali refugees ( [UNHCR] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 2015a). When camps such as this were established, it was not envisioned that they would develop into the permanent structures that they have become (Crisp & Jacobsen 1998;Zetter & Long 2012;Crawford et al. 2015), with thousands of children being born inside the camps never knowing any other life. However, this trend is resulting in more and more refugees seeking independence and better opportunities in cities, with 58% of all refugees now residing in urban areas (Urban Refugees 2016). ...
This paper examines the asset vulnerability and livelihood strategies of refugees and the urban poor in slum settlements of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Asset Vulnerability Framework is used as the analytical framework of how household's assets are affected by vulnerability. Using qualitative analysis, factors which impact on the livelihood assets of both groups are examined. The paper focuses on the five main assets as indicated by Moser, while conceptualising further the assets which both populations aspire to accumulate, and which are necessary for them to prosper – rights, in this case the Right to the City. The paper, therefore, attempts to develop linkages between these areas: asset vulnerability, displacement and the Right to the City.
... Refugee camps continue to attract support from humanitarian actors who argue that centralized distribution outlets provide the most effective means of administering aid, and host governments who believe that containing people in camps makes it easier to prevent activities that would threaten the security of the host country (Black 1998; see also Hartigan 1992). Even among some refugee studies scholars, refugee camps remain the least-bad option (Crisp and Jacobsen 1998). If policymakers incorporated political and human costs into their efficiency calculations, they might reach a different conclusion, but as long as these beliefs hold weight, measures will be needed to ameliorate the conditions that produce political failures in camps. ...
This article analyses political breakdown in a refugee camp with a case study of the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana. The analysis focuses on a series of social protests by Liberian refugees that prompted the intervention of host police and ended with the hostile repatriation of thousands of people back to Liberia. I argue that the transformation of the social protests into 'criminal acts' subject to police action constituted a political breakdown, and highlight three institutional bases for this: inadequate grievance practices, poor communications systems, and constricted durable solutions policymaking. The analysis is based on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana (March-April 2006; September 2007-August 2008; June-July 2011) and research in the online archives of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). © The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
... This amounts to approximately three percent of the world's population [1]. Illegal immigration is considered a punishable crime by many governments [2]. Illegal immigrants, also referred to as undocumented immigrants, constitute, under certain conditions, a refugee population in a host country. ...
Objectives:
As Afghans make up the largest group of foreign nationals in Iran, the aim of this study was to assess the proportion of Afghan immigrants among those afflicted by the most prevalent infectious diseases in Iran.
Methods:
National and international online scientific databases were searched through November 2013. The reference lists of included studies were also searched. All descriptive studies concerning the most common infectious diseases in Iran, including tuberculosis, multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis, malaria, cholera, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, leishmaniasis, and hepatitis B were retrieved. The nationality of patients was not considered. The selection of studies and data extraction was performed separately by two authors. Results were reported using a random effect model with a 95% confidence interval (CI).
Results:
The overall proportion of Afghan immigrants with the aforementioned infectious diseases was 29% (95% CI, 21 to 37). According to a stratified analysis, the proportion of Afghan immigrants afflicted with tuberculosis was (29%), multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis (56%), malaria (40%), cholera (8%), Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (25%), leishmaniasis (7%), and hepatitis B (14%).
Conclusions:
It is highly recommended to monitor the health status of the Afghan immigrants when entering Iran, to reduce the spread of communicable diseases, which are viewed as serious in international health regulations.
... Drawing on Aristotle's definition of place as a portion of geographical space occupied by a person or thing, place here could refer to the camp as a physical space occupied by the refugees which restricts them to an exact part of space, but that is as far as this definition goes. This is especially the case as the usefulness or not of placing refugees in camps rages on in academic circles (see Black 1998 a, b;Crisp and Jacobsen 1998) My use of place though is place as "the location of experience, the container of shapes, powers, feelings and meanings" (Walter 1988). This has got to do with "identity of place" ...
... Evidence also suggests that assistance solely to settlements in areas surrounded by rural poor host communities can create tension within society. 52 In regards refugees' livelihoods within the settlement system, Crisp and Jacobsen (1998) argue that some conflicts forced refugees from urban areas, and therefore they may not have knowledge of agriculture or be interested in making agriculture their livelihood. Even for those who wish to make agriculture their livelihood, settlements make accessing markets more difficult. ...
The phenomenon of urban refugees poses many challenges to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), host governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are providing services to them, thereby posing many challenges to the refugees themselves in having their needs addressed. My research with the Darfurian refugee population in Kampala, Uganda provides evidence on this relatively new Diaspora. Data was collected from June 2011 to August 2011, with the assistance of members of the Darfurian Refugee Association in Uganda (DRAU). Sixty-six respondents participated in the research, through methods including a questionnaire with open-ended questions to fifty-two refugees, fourteen semi-structured interviews, and five focus groups. Data findings illuminate issues related to refugee rights, refugee livelihoods and durable solutions. My research provides evidence among a larger body of literature which addresses the increasing amount of refugees in urban areas. This body of literature lacks adequate examination of the challenges that urban refugees face in accessing services, the livelihood strategies urban refugees that employ, as well as how agencies can more effectively provide assistance to these hidden populations. Darfurian refugees who come to Kampala as a result of the conflict are removed from their families and their culture, and must try to secure a livelihood without support around them other than their collective resources within their community. Refugees are seeking recognition and an increase in assistance by humanitarian agencies. It is necessary that agencies such as the UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations offer more support and services to refugees in Kampala.
... The debate about how to manage large numbers of refugees has rumbled on for many years (Crisp and Jacobsen 1998;Black 1998;Stein 1987;Smith 2004). There appears to be consensus among most actors that refugee camps are undesirable, but questions revolve around whether there is an acceptable alternative-acceptable not only to refugees, but also to host governments, donors and other key stakeholders. ...
Given that research into forced migration is looking at processes of enormous human suffering and often involves working with people who are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and physical harm, it seems difficult to justify if it has no relevance for policy. This article argues that the search for policy relevance has encouraged researchers to take the categories, concepts and priorities of policy makers and practitioners as their initial frame of reference for identifying their areas of study and formulating research questions. This privileges the worldview of the policy makers in constructing the research, constraining the questions asked, the objects of study and the methodologies and analysis adopted. In particular, it leaves large groups of forced migrants invisible in both research and policy. Drawing on a case study of self-settled refugees, the article explores how these limitations affect the research process, despite the efforts of the researcher to move beyond policy categories. In order to bring such 'invisible' forced migrants into view, the conclusion calls for more oblique approaches to research, which recognize the 'normality' within their situation rather than privileging their position as forced migrants as the primary explanatory factor. Such studies may help to bridge the gap between refugee studies and broader social scientific theories of social transformation and human mobility. By breaking away from policy relevance, it will be possible to challenge the taken-for-granted assumptions that underpins much practice and in due course bring much more significant changes to the lives of forced migrants. © The Author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
... Certainly in the case of Tanzania, the government made it clear that camps were the only option. In many ways, though, it is not camps per se that cause problems; instead, their size, location, and other characteristics determine their ultimate impact (Crisp and Jacobsen 1998). As the current research demonstrates, it is possible for refugee camps to have a positive local impact depending upon such factors. ...
This paper examines the impact of more than one million refugees from Rwanda, Burundi, and Congo on host communities in western Tanzania. It argues that the burdens and benefits associated with the refugee presence were not distributed evenly among local hosts. Some Tanzanians benefited substantially from the presence of refugees and international relief agencies, while others struggled to maintain access to even the most basic resources. The impact varied within host communities based on factors such as gender, age, and class. Host experiences were also different from one area to another depending on settlement patterns, existing socio-economic conditions, and the nature of host-refugee relations. In the end, hosts who already had access to resources, education, or power were better poised to benefit from the refugee presence, while those who were already disadvantaged in the local context became even further marginalized.
... Some of the literature that addresses debates regarding the assistance and protection of refugees, or specifically, the pros and cons of refugee camps and settlements, tangentially addresses the question of integration. For instance, those opposing camps and settlements have often argued their case by stating that these measures preclude refugee integration (Harrell-Bond, 1998;Crisp and Jacobsen, 1998;Black, 1998). Other works have examined the determinants of success for local integration and characteristics of forms of integration in different contexts. ...
This research guide provides an in-depth examination of local integration as a durable solution and focuses on three key developments within research, policy and practice. Firstly, it looks at local integration at a policy level, as a potential durable solution to the impasse of protracted refugee situations. Secondly, it examines the increased policy, scholarly and advocacy interest related to the issue of self-settled refugees. Thirdly, contemporary work on 'refugee livelihoods' has revealed that integration can be a form of livelihood strategy for refugees. It also examines local integration as a process of interaction between refugees and host communities, examining the issue of 'de facto' local integration as well as self-settled refugees. As such, this research guide will also examine the implications of an 'actor-oriented' view of local integration. This requires analysis of what integration implies for refugees and host community members. Fieldwork-derived examples are presented that display the importance of host and refugee relations in the process of integration, thus emphasizing the 'local' in local integration. The research guide aims to outline and delineate these debates and issues. Beginning with definitional issues, the guide will also outline the various methodological challenges in researching local integration. Some of these issues are generalizable to research in forced migration more broadly. Nonetheless, researching local integration does raise some specific challenges, including identification of integrated refugees and methods of measuring integration.
Dissimilar to several countries of the world including some African countries such as both Namibia and Botswana, South Africa continues to be without refugee camps nor camp policy. The problems arising from the lack of such measures have become apparent in recent years, as increasing numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers living in host communities have become victims of violent situations. Among some of the challenges resulting from this absence is that during the heightening of xenophobia or at times during public protests, both unsuspecting refugees and asylum- seekers are left without protection. To this end, this paper relied upon literature and employed a missio politica framework to align the urgent need for refugee camps in South Africa with the objectives of the Missio Dei. Although South Africa is the case in point, the objective was to argue for the establishment of refugee camps in all of Africa permanently open to accommodate refugees and asylum-seekers. In this way, the main goals of the Missio Dei, especially with regard to total salvation, are achieved at the continental level. Consequently, the scope of this paper provided an opportunity to further examine a new and relatively unexplored significance of refugee camps from a theological and missiological perspective.
Refugee camps are among the most prevalent institutional responses to global displacement. Despite a quasi consensus among scholars, activists, and humanitarians that camps are undesirable, and should only ever be temporary, little work has charted the political project and practices of camp abolition that challenge their spatial unfreedom. Rather than life‐supporting spatial technologies of care that unwittingly signal political failures of inclusion, camps form part of a calculated system of “carceral humanitarianism”. This article draws on experiences from Kenya where aid interventions have shaped politics, social dynamics and economic life since the 1990s. Kakuma camp and Kalobeyei settlement serve as empirical windows to explore the limits of institutional decampment and reform policies, while demonstrating that more radical, abolitionist struggles are enacted through everyday mobilisation and acts of fugitivity among refugees themselves. Advancing critical studies of humanitarianism and forced migration, this article contends that only abolishing camps and their carceral logics helps to build more viable, safe, and humane futures for people on the move.
This edited volume approaches waiting both as a social phenomenon that proliferates in irregularised forms of migration and as an analytical perspective on migration processes and practices.
Waiting as an analytical perspective offers new insights into the complex and shifting nature of processes of bordering, belonging, state power, exclusion and inclusion, and social relations in irregular migration. The chapters in this book address legal, bureaucratic, ethical, gendered, and affective dimensions of time and migration. A key concern is to develop more theoretically robust approaches to waiting in migration as constituted in and through multiple and relational temporalities. The chapters highlight how waiting is configured in specific legal, material, and socio-cultural situations, as well as how migrants encounter, incorporate, and resist temporal structures.
This collection includes ethnographic and other empirically based material, as well as theorizing that cross-cut disciplinary boundaries. It will be relevant to scholars from anthropology and sociology, and others interested in temporalities, migration, borders, and power.
The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com , has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
This article argues that dynamics among rivals can affect how host states respond to refugees. Particularly, refugees from rival states can motivate host countries to promote inclusive action because they are exiled from an adversary. By treating refugees well and openly respecting their human rights, host states can, in effect, shame their rival, thereby undermining the adversary's legitimacy and discrediting the opposing government in the eyes of the international community. In the absence of a strategic rivalry, host governments do not have this incentive to support refugee human rights. Using statistical analyses, I find support for these hypotheses. In particular, the arrival of refugees from a neighboring rival state are associated with the strongest increase in respect for human rights within the host country, whereas refugees from a noncontiguous, nonrival state are related to a decrease in respect for human rights.
Tens of thousands of Eritreans make perilous voyages across Africa and the Mediterranean Sea every year. Why do they risk their lives to reach European countries where so many more hardships await them? By visiting family homes in Eritrea and living with refugees in camps and urban peripheries across Ethiopia, Sudan, and Italy, Milena Belloni untangles the reasons behind one of the most under-researched refugee populations today. Balancing encounters with refugees and their families, smugglers, and visa officers, The Big Gamble contributes to ongoing debates about blurred boundaries between forced and voluntary migration, the complications of transnational marriages, the social matrix of smuggling, and the role of family expectations, emotions, and values in migrants’ choices of destinations.
There are numerous explanations for why Tanzania withdrew from the CRRF (Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework). Being aware that the decision was the sum of multiple coinciding factors the article argues that the decisive features were, firstly, a failed dialogue about the basis and the goals of CRRF between the Tanzanian government and the UN (United Nations); secondly, a disillusion on the Tanzanian side related to the history of international cooperation on refugee issues; and thirdly, a perceived contradiction between the goals of the CRRF and domestic policies, specifically in relation to the agenda of national sovereignty propagated by the incumbent Tanzanian government. Numerous publications on the New York declaration, the CRRF, and the GCR (Global Compact on Refugees) have portrayed the evolution of ideas, principles, and political compromises in question. Yet few analyses highlight which core messages were received on the ground or what impact they had on the very people concerned. This article, therefore will touch only briefly on declarations and statements of the UN and instead focus on a bottom‐up perspective.
Are areas that host encamped refugees more likely to experience communal conflict, and under what conditions? Building on insights from the refugee studies literature suggesting that settling refugees in camps can intensify intercommunal tension in host communities, this article investigates the effect of refugee encampment on the occurrence of communal conflict at the subnational level in sub-Saharan Africa. It first tests for a general relationship
between the overall presence and population intensity of encamped refugees and communal conflict before assessing whether this relationship is moderated by local-level characteristics, including interethnic linkages and political and economic marginalization within the host region. The basic findings show that communal conflict occurs more
frequently in regions where refugees are camp-settled. Tests for interactive effects indicate that refugee camps have a significant marginal effect on conflict only if they are located in areas with politically marginalized host groups. Origin country/host region ethnic ties are shown to exert significant moderating effects. Moreover, results from an extended set of analyses show that the form of refugee settlement matters, as the presence and population intensity of self-settled refugees are related to decreases in the occurrence of communal conflict.
This article constitutes an effort to examine the prospect of long-term refugee radicalization, beyond the dominant “short-sighted” debate on the possibility of radical Islamist militants posing as refugees. The main argument of the article is that refugees are inherently different from second-generation economic migrants, on whom most radicalization models are based. The article proposes a composite model that enriches our understanding of radicalization drivers with insights from refugee militarization studies. The model demonstrates that not only do some radicalization drivers present different dynamics in refugee populations, but that there are also other important factors, such as refugees’ cause of flight or prior political organization, which are absent in traditional radicalization models. Moreover, the article highlights the importance of a host state’s will and capacity to address refugees’ needs and the influence of external actors in policy formulation, particularly in weak or struggling host states. One implication of this study is that early-stage policies largely predetermine future radicalization. Another implication is that the possibility of refugee radicalization is not the same for every refugee population and in every (European) country. Thus, the policies the European Union or specific states adopt should be tailored to the specific needs of each community and state.
A presente dissertação buscou analisar criticamente as medidas protetivas a direitos das mulheres nos campos de Dadaab (Quênia), onde boa parte da população está em
situação de refúgio prolongado. O Alto Comissariado das Nações Unidas para Refugiados (ACNUR) enquadra nessa situação as populações a partir de 25 mil refugiados que vivam no exílio por cinco anos ou mais (ACNUR, 2004). Fundado em 1992, Dadaab consiste atualmente no maior complexo de campos de refugiados do mundo, com quase 260 mil pessoas registradas; na maioria, somalis com até seus 18
anos. Nesses campos como em outros, o ACNUR atua junto a órgãos, governamentais
ou não, a que denomina parceiros na proteção a refugiados. As normas que embasam tal proteção nessas situações, em particular no continente africano, são descritas no Capítulo 1. As medidas protetivas às principais violações de direitos das mulheres em campos são alvos do Capítulo 2. O Capítulo 3 aborda os campos de Dadaab e as medidas de proteção a direitos humanos das mulheres nesses locais, fazendo o contraponto aos dados oficiais. Na Conclusão, inquietações com os dilemas dessa proteção são retomadas com vistas a fomentar o debate a respeito dos campos e assentamentos de refugiados no Direito contemporâneo.
When developing countries are faced with a refugee crisis, their policy selection simultaneously invites humanitarian aid into the country, addresses domestic political interests associated with inviting outsiders in, and creates potential space for a neighboring country’s rebel group to exploit refugees fleeing a civil war. Inviting humanitarian aid into a developing country might at first glance seem like a welfare-improving decision. However, this choice involves delegation with foreseeable consequences. International humanitarian groups will organize refugees and the provision of aid efficiently, which armed actors can exploit. Delegating international protection in a way that appeases domestic constituents and does not alter interstate relationships, may prove impossible. This article shows that strategic refugee policy involves asylum countries carefully balancing demands of domestic constituents against efficient provision of aid and the provocation of armed actors across an international border. The research offers an alternative explanation for refugee policy that relies on neither illiberal intentions toward refugees nor the incapacity of countries to control their territory. Refugee policy outcomes are the product of strategic balancing between domestic demands and foreign policy interests. In the Analytic Narrative tradition, the claims of this article are based on a series of case studies. The theory and its implications, though, provide insight into refugee policy selection across the developing world.
The Sahrawi people, who have long lived in the western part of the Sahara, have been housed in refugee camps in Tindouf, Algeria, since 1975—the year that Morocco took de facto control of Western Sahara. Their situation poses many questions, including those regarding the status of their state-in-exile, the role of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, and the length of their displacement. The conditions in the Tindouf camps present a paradigmatic case study of the liminal space inhabited by long-term refugees. Over the decades, residents have transformed these camps into a state-like structure with their own political and administrative institutions, which has enabled the international community to gain time to search for an acceptable political solution to the long-term conflict between the Polisario Front (the Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement) and the Moroccan government. The existence of a state-like structure, however, should not itself be understood as the ultimate solution for the thousands of people in these camps, who are currently living in extreme poverty, surviving on increasingly meager international aid, and enduring an exceptionally long wait for the favorable conditions whereby they may return to their place of origin.
As of 2011 there were 42.5 million people around the world who had been forcibly dislocated from their homes and communities due to persecution or armed conflict (UNHCR 2012). This number subsumes all categories of displaced persons including refugees, asylum seekers, and the internally displaced. (UNHCR 2012).
Introducing a new cross-national dataset on the ethnicity of refugees, covering the years 1975–2009, this study analyzes refugee flight patterns. We argue that the asylum destination of refugees is not haphazard but determined by trans-border ethnic linkages. Building on migration theories, we elaborate a theoretical framework for the direction of refugee movements, which includes spatial, temporal and cultural pull factors. The statistical results suggest that refugees flee to nearby countries with ethnic kin populations and a history of accepting other co-ethnic refugees. Thus, sub-national refugee characteristics, such as ethnicity, are essential to understanding the flight direction of refugees.
In Uganda, refugee policy and programming is focused al-most exclusively on providing protection and assistance to refugees residing in rural settlements. While international law allows refugees the right to freedom of movement and choice of residence, Ugandan legislation restricts refugees' residency to rural settlements, subjecting those who wish to live outside of settlements and in urban centres to se-vere restrictions. This study sheds light on the reasons refu-gees choose to reside in Kampala as opposed to rural settlements and the challenges they endure while attempt-ing to sustain and support themselves. Research findings indicate that at all stages of exile, refugees in Uganda are put under pressure, either implicitly or explicitly, to relo-cate to settlements. The lack of progressive thinking and hence over-reliance on settlements as the mainstay of refu-gee protection and assistance has hampered reforms of refugee policy and hindered the broader involvement of municipal authorities in responding to protection and as-sistance needs of refugees in urban areas. Research find-ings suggest that many refugees have talents, skills, and abilities which would enable self-sufficiency in Kampala and other urban areas. However, these capabilities are currently undermined by a refugee regime which only pro-motes self-reliance in rural settlements. In an effort to en-hance refugees' overall human security and to support their own efforts to become independent and self-reliant, this paper asserts that refugee policy in Uganda should be reformed to support refugees' decisions to choose their own places of residence, instead of restricting them to ru-ral settlements.
Abstract This paper,reviews,literature on protracted,refugee,situations and,constructs,a theoretical,structure to explain the entrenched ,nature ,of refugee ,camps ,– a de facto ,fourth ‘durable ,solution.’ It argues ,that the relations among UNHCR, state governments (developed and developing), and refugees are often rigid and create a
Drawing on qualitative research with refugees in and outside formal settlements, this article challenges characterisations of Uganda's UNHCR-supported refugee settlement system as un-problematically successful. It shows that by denying refugees freedom of movement, the settlement system undermines their socio-economic and other rights. Refugees who remain outside the formal system of refugee registration and settlement are deprived of the refugee status to which they are entitled under international law. The article questions the conventional opposition between refugees living in and out of refugee settlements in the Ugandan context, revealing a more complex and interconnected dynamic than is often assumed. It suggests that those refugees with some external support may be able to escape the confines of remote rural settlements, where refugee agricultural livelihoods are seriously compromised by distance from markets, unfavourable climatic conditions, exhausted soil and inadequate inputs. It argues that refugee livelihoods face more rather than fewer challenges as exile becomes protracted, and concludes that the government and UNHCR's Self Reliance Strategy (SRS) has not yet managed to overcome the contradiction inherent in denying people freedom of movement, without supporting them effectively to meet their needs in the places to which they are restricted.
This paper argues that the problems of educational access for non-nationals in South Africa lie not simply in failures of the current policies, although there are certainly instances where policies need modification, but largely in the implementation of existing policies, and the ways in which they are developed and modified. The paper reviews evidence in the international literature and draws on empirical evidence from a small study of a group of Zimbabwean migrant children to illustrate more clearly the dynamics that serve to exclude them from access to schooling, despite official policy commitments. Key research questions that are addressed are what main barriers to educational access exist for non-national and are these a result of policy gaps; how does the implementation of existing educational policies affect the educational access of non-nationals; what approaches to policy and practice would be more effective in ensuring non-nationals participate fully in basic education? The paper ends with some observations on how to address the policy gaps and how to develop a more effective approach to policy formation and implementation in order to improve both policy and practice.Research highlights► I examine the impact of five policies on educational access of non-national children in South Africa. ► Gaps in the policies add additional barriers to access for this marginalised group. ► The uneven implementation and enforcement of the policies yield varied results for access for non-nationals. This means that strategic responses need to be based on solid contextual analysis, and provide for a range of different approaches adapted to local conditions. ► The problems of educational access for non-nationals lie not simply in the failures of current policy, but largely in the implementation of existing policies, and how they are developed and modified. Donors and development partners should therefor focus additional energy and resources on supporting policy implementation.
This article reviews the growth of the field of refugee studies, focusing on its links with, and impact on, refugee policy. The last fifty years, and especially the last two decades, have witnessed both a dramatic increase in academic work on refugees and significant institutional development in the field. It is argued that these institutions have developed strong links with policymakers, although this has often failed to translate into significant policy impacts. Areas in which future policy-orientated work might be developed are considered.
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