Forced Migration Online: Blog

Forced Migration Online has recently published a new resource summary, focusing on Algeria.

The summary provides an outline of present and historical causes of forced migration within Algeria. It also gives an overview of Algeria’s relationship to various international refugee conventions and its role as host to several thousand refugees including the Sahrawi, as well as refugees from Palestine and Sub-Saharan Africa.

All our summaries provide links to key resources, websites and documents exploring contemporary debate on on key issues, in forced migration as well as links to wider issues concerned with human rights and displacement. Our full collection of resource summaries, focusing on specific regions and themes, can be accessed from the links below.

• Algeria resource summary
• Regional Resource Summaries
• Thematic Resource Summaries

We are pleased to announce that the ‘photo gallery’ section of Forced Migration Online has been re-launched. In addition to enjoying an improved layout when browsing individual albums, users will also be able to search our full database of photographs.

There are now over 600 photographs in the FMO image database, including a new album of photos on the topic of “Self-Settled and Settlement Refugees in Uganda” (© Ayla Bonfiglio, 2008).

Uganda is one of the few countries to allow refugees to either settle themselves within the national population, or to live in a refugee settlement. This collection of photographs was taken during a comparative study on self-reliance among refugees from these two settlement contexts.

If you have a collection of photographs relating to forced migration and are interested in submitting them for inclusion on FMO please visit our submissions page.

• FMO photo gallery
• New album: Self-settled and settlement refugees in Uganda

The right to work is a fundamental human right recognized in many international and regional human rights instruments. However, in many countries, refugees are denied access to the labour market and opportunities for self-employment.

The Fifth Michigan Colloquium on Challenges in International Refugee Law (November 2009) has produced a set of guidelines with the aim of assisting states in the proper implementation of the right to work for refugees and other similarly situated persons. The guidelines are intended for use by national policy and decision makers for example, those responsible for designing and implementing national asylum laws and national labour law.

Writing in the Michigan Journal of International Law (Vol.31 No.2), Penelope Mathew said:

“Unable to return to their country of origin or nationality, and being without the protection of their own country, refugees must have rights to work in the country of refuge. … Yet, the right to work is often denied to refugees and others seeking protection, compounding the persecution, fear, and displacement they have already suffered. … In order to uphold the right to work for refugees and others seeking protection, we have engaged in sustained collaborative study and reflection on the international legal norms and state practice relevant to refugees’ right to work.”

The guidelines were published in the Michigan Journal of International Law (Vol.31 No.2). A copy is available from the FMO Digital Library, where you can also read an explanatory note which accompanies the guidelines.

• The Michigan Guidelines On The Right To Work
• Explanatory note on the Michigan Guidelines

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.

• Local Integration Research Guide