Forced Migration Online: Blog

This podcast was recorded at the Refugee Studies Centre’s Annual Harrell-Bond Lecture which was on Wednesday 18th November 2009 at the Museum of Natural History, University of Oxford. The Harrell-Bond Lecture is held annually in honour of Dr Barbara Harrell-Bond, founding former director of the Centre and of the academic field of refugee studies or forced migration studies. Jan Egeland, former UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator and currently director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs gave the 2009 lecture on the subject of political deals and durable solutions for the displaced.

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Two new resource summaries are now available on Forced Migration Online. The summaries on ‘Islam, Human Rights and Displacement’ and ‘Statelessness’ complement the 2009 Special Issue and Issue 32 of Forced Migration Review and provide links to related key resources, websites and documents.

• Islam, Human Rights and Displacement
• Statelessness

One year on from the war between Georgia and the Russian Federation, thousands of civilians remain stranded from their homes with little prospect of imminent return. An estimated 30,000 people are displaced according to a new Amnesty International report released August 7th. Civilians continue to endure human rights violations and remain directly affected by the aftermath of the conflict.

• Amnesty International Report ‘Civilians in the Aftermath of War: The Georgia-Russia Conflict One Year On’
• Oxfam, Georgia Crisis – One year on
• BBC New story ‘Geneva Conventions’ struggle for respect’

Forced Migration Online have launched a new resource summary to commemorate 10 years since the launch of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. This Resource Summary was prepared to complement Forced Migration Review’s special edition GP10: Ten Years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

• Resource Summary

Increasingly, there is widespread recognition that the environment, people’s lives and livelihoods are being transformed as a result of climate change. This has been linked to increased levels of environmental and weather-related disasters and higher levels of displacement. The RSC has produced a set of resources which debate the issues – including numbers, definitions and modalities – and the tension between the need for research and the need to act. Prepared to complement Forced Migration Review 31 and the FMO Research Guide on Climate Change and Displacement, FMO also hosts a new Resource Summary on the topic which provides links to many key resources, websites and documents related to climate change, environmental change, disasters and forced migration.

• Resource Summary
• Research Guide
• Forced Migration Review 31

This podcast was recorded at a lecture organised by the Refugee Studies Centre and sponsored by Clifford Chance, the event was held on Wednesday 18th June 2008 at the offices of Clifford Chance, London. Lord Malloch-Brown, Minister of State for Africa, Asia and the UN gave the lecture which was entitled ‘Reputational Hazard: Rescuing Refugees in the Era of Illegal Immigration and Terrorism’.

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This podcast was recorded by Radio Netherlands Worldwide at the first of The Hague Debates on Thursday, 22 May 2008 in the Peace Palace and is entitled ‘When home gets too hot: Human Displacement and Climate Change in International Law’. The debate features Professor Roger Zetter, Director of the Refugee Studies Centre.

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The film ‘3 Years On’ is now available to view online. The film presents the views and experiences of representatives from NGOs working in Aceh on tsunami reconstruction in 2007. By this stage the majority of reconstruction and resettlement of residents of Aceh has taken place or was close to completion. The interviews offer reflections on the completion of this process and problems that still need to be overcome.

• 3 Years On

The film ‘Forgotten in the Mountains‘ is now available to view online. The film looks at the issue of forced displacement of indigenous Papuans in (West) Papua, Indonesia.

Papuan fears for their future have recently become focused on the issue of migration from the rest of Indonesia into their homeland. Following the failure of special autonomy since 2001 to deliver health, education and infrastructure benefits to Papuan villagers, or even a small measure of indigenous autonomy in key security and political matters, Papuans have come to feel that divide and rule sums up Jakarta’s approach across the board. Jakarta has been busily creating unwanted new regencies and provinces in Papua as well as pouring booming mineral revenues into the region. But this has merely succeeded in creating a few new elite Papuan beneficiaries of Indonesia’s endemic corruption and setting Papuans against Papuans for control of this corruption. More seriously it has been the pretext and occasion for bringing even more potential settlers – both bureaucrats and soldiers – into Papua as new military commands as well as bureaucracies proliferate. The new demographic balance in Papua pits a large minority of settlers – both “old”, officially sponsored transmigrasi ones and ongoing “spontaneous” ones (mostly traders and small bisnis people from eastern Indonesia) – against an almost dwindling Papuan one, beset by discriminatory birth control policies, an unchecked HIV-AIDS pandemic and 45 years of repression and displacement.

• Forgotten in the Mountains

Issue 30 of Forced Migration Review with its feature theme on Burma is now in the digital library. FMR is one of five journals available.

With the ‘Saffron revolution’ of September 2007, Burma was catapulted into the centre of international attention. It was briefly headline news as people monitored the regime’s response and watched for hints of progress towards democracy and the restoration of rights. With little action on either front (and no visible resurgence of violence or protest), interest has since waned. This issue of FMR aims to help bring the crisis of forced displacement of Burmese people back into the international spotlight.

The feature section on Burma includes 29 articles exploring the extent of the displacement crisis, factors affecting displaced people and the search for solutions. The issue also includes 19 articles on other aspects of forced migration.

• FMR 30: Burma’s displaced people