Forced Migration Online: Blog

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 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

The country of Afghanistan is ethnically, linguistically, and physically diverse. This updated Afghanistan research guide covers the nation’s long history, from ancient Sarzameen-e-Bay, through to the Soviet occupation, the rise of the Taliban, the aftermath of 9/11 and concludes with a current political overview.

Twenty three years of civil war in Afghanistan created large numbers of refugees and IDPs - many of whom have returned home over the last six years following the fall of the Taliban in 2001. For many, their search for employment, adequate and affordable housing, access to basic services, reclamation of property, and reintegration into communities has been fraught with difficulty. At the same time, return is made difficult or in some cases impossible as peace and security remains illusive in some parts of the country. As the country struggles along the long road of reconstruction, the durability of the return is dependent on the establishment of the state - its institutions and the establishment of the rule of law - and its ability to create opportunities within an environment of security which enables its citizens to thrive rather than simply survive. Throughout, significant challenges lie ahead as Afghanistan’s development indicators continue to be poor. An estimated 20-40 per cent of rural Afghans are malnourished, and roughly 70 per cent of the population live on less than USD 2 a day. Over two-thirds of Afghans over the age of 15 cannot read and write; and one in five children die before they reach their fifth birthday.

This updated research guide provides an overview of the influxes of Palestinian refugees to Lebanon since 1948 and subsequent conflicts in the country. It provides historical background to how the refugees came to be in Lebanon and examines the conditions under which they live. This research guide is one of five examining the situation of Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.