Archive for the ‘unhcr’ Category

World Refugee Day 2010

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

Sunday 20 June is World Refugee Day. First marked in 2001, World Refugee Day is an attempt to get the international community to remember the plight of the world’s millions of refugees.

A series of events and activities in more than 100 countries will seek to promote a better understanding of why people become refugees, and to highlight the challenges involved in trying to help them. These events will involve government officials, humanitarian aid workers, celebrities, civilians and the forcibly displaced themselves.

Podcast: Protecting People in Conflict & Crisis: Opening address: Humanitarian space

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009

Photograph of Erika Feller. Oxford, 22th September 2009. Photo: Refugee Studies Centre.

FMO has launched the first of a series of podcasts recorded at the Protecting People in Conflict & Crisis conference, held by the Refugee Studies Centre (in collaboration with the Humanitarian Policy Group) between 22th and 24th September 2009 at Harris Manchester College, Oxford. The opening address was given by Erika Feller, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR. Further details about the conference can be accessed on the event page.

Refugee Week in the UK, 15-21 June 2009

Friday, June 12th, 2009

Refugee Week is a UK wide series of events and activities that celebrate the contribution made by refugees to UK life and seek to promote a better understanding of why people become refugees.
Refugee Week takes place every year in June during the same week as World Refugee Day on June 20th. The main focus of Refugee Week activities in 2009 is the Simple Acts Campaign, which is about inspiring people to use small, everyday actions to change perceptions of refugees.

Forced Migration Review: Islam, human rights and displacement

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

Cover of Forced Migration Review: Islam, human rights and displacement

A Forced Migration Review supplement ‘Islam, human rights and displacement’ is now in the digital library (FMR is one of five journals available).

The Forced Migration Review Editors have produced this 12-page supplement to enhance debate and understanding of the concepts and instruments of international human rights in the Islamic world.

The supplement includes the full text of the UDHR and the ‘Cairo Declaration’ in the hope that they will both inform and enable those concerned with assisting and protecting displaced people to advocate more strongly on their behalf. We have also included three articles that take up aspects of the debate over the applicability of international laws and conventions in Islam.

Full Issue

Individual Articles

Forced Migration Review: Ten Years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Cover of Forced Migration Review: Ten Years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement

A special issue of Forced Migration Review ‘Ten Years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement’ is now in the digital library (FMR is one of five journals available).

This 40-page special issue of Forced Migration Review (FMR), published by the Refugee Studies Centre of Oxford University, reflects discussions at the international conference on the Ten Years of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (‘GP10’) held in Oslo on 16-17 October 2008.

The FMR special issue includes shortened versions of some of the conference presentations, plus a selection of other articles, most of which present case studies on the application of the Guiding Principles in different countries.

Full Issue

Individual Articles

Podcast: The Instant Guide to Refugees

Monday, December 22nd, 2008

Instant Guide

Professor Roger Zetter, Director of the Refugee Studies Centre was among the experts interviewed for the recent BBC World Service programme, The Instant Guide to Refugees.

According to the latest official figures there are some eleven million refugees in the world, almost one in five of them from Afghanistan. This week the Instant Guide looks at the status of the world’s refugees – their rights, where they mostly are and at life in a refugee camp.

RSC Working Papers: Family Reunification, UNHCR & Primary and subsidiary forms of protection

Friday, December 12th, 2008

Cover of Refugee Studies Centre Working Paper 51

The RSC recently added three new titles to its Working Paper Series: ‘Salah Sheeks is a refugee: New insights into primary and subsidiary forms of protection’, ‘UHCR as an Autonomous Organisation: Complex Operations and the Case of Kosovo’ and ‘Family Reunification: A Right for Forced Migrants?’.

Iraqis in Egypt: Time is Running Out

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Photograph of Iraqi refugee couple. Cairo, Egypt, 2008 Photo: Joshua van Praag.

The film ‘Iraqis in Egypt: Time is Running Out’ is now available to view online. The documentary looks at the lives of six Iraqi families who have been forced to flee their homes and are now living as refugees in the massive urban sprawl of Cairo. As the years pass by, their situations are becoming increasingly desperate, with little or no rights in their country of first asylum.

UPDATE: Visit iraqisinegypt.org for the latest media releases, films, podcasts and more.

IASFM 11 Conference: Plenary 3 Podcast

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Photograph of Susan Martin, Aicha Belarbi, Ahmet Icduygu, Mark Schlakman, Susan Kneebone, and Jeffrey Crisp at the third plenary event of IASFM 11. Cairo, January 2008. Photo: Forced Migration Online/John Pilbeam.

The latest podcast in a series recorded at the bi-annual conference of the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) is now available online.

The third plenary event included a panel discussion ‘Regions at the Crossroads: Transregional Forced Migration’ chaired by Susan Martin, with presentations by Mark Schlakman, Aicha Belarbi, Jeffrey Crisp and Ahmet Icduygu and Susan Kneebone.

Updated: Iraq Research Guide

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

Iraq. A young boy views the devastated homes around him in Fallujah. © IRIN

The research guide on Iraq has been updated to reflect rising levels of displacement and other recent developments. Since 2003, UNHCR estimates that at least 2 million Iraqis have left Iraq and a further 1 million have been displaced inside the country. One in eight Iraqis has been forcibly uprooted, and according to UNHCR estimates, some 40,000 to 60,000 are leaving their homes on a monthly basis. There are an estimated 1.4 million Iraqis seeking refuge in Syria and a further 750,000 in Jordan. See also the resource summary which highlights a selection of web-based resources that focus on Iraq.

UPDATE: Also worth noting, the NGO Coordination Committee in Iraq have published a series of 6 briefing papers summarizing current issues, trends and lessons learned facing operational humanitarian organisations in Iraq. The papers address the following areas:

  1. Adapting to Insecurity in Iraq
  2. Operational Modalities
  3. Personnel Management
  4. Interactions Between Aid and Conflict
  5. Humanitarian – Military Interactions
  6. Perceptions of Humanitarianism