Forced Migration Online: Blog

A new collection of photographs: “No Peace of Mind – Stories of Displacement in the DRC” is now available on Forced Migration Online.

Around two million people are internally displaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in central Africa, and nearly 500,000 Congolese people are refugees in neighbouring countries. The DRC continues to be plagued by widespread violence and insecurity, which prevent many people from receiving vital assistance.

The photographs in this collection were part of an exhibition, “No Peace of Mind – Stories of Displacement in the DRC”, which was held by the Refugee Studies Centre in December 2010.

• View the photographs

Sahrawi boys playing football outside the precinct of the 27 February Women's School (2007). © 2007 Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh

A new collection of photographs: “The 27 February Camp: Sahrawi refugees in Algeria” is now available on Forced Migration Online.

Approximately 155,000 Sahrawi refugees are currently distributed amongst four major refugee camps in South-Western Algeria, named after the main cities in the Western Sahara (Aaiun, Ausserd, Smara and Dakhla).

A fifth camp, the ’27 February Camp’, is relatively small, having grown up around the National Women’s School. This collection of photographs focuses on life in the 27 February Camp.

The photographs in this collection were kindly provided by Dr Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Departmental Lecturer in Forced Migration at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford. Elena carried out fieldwork in the 27 February Camp between 2001 and 2009.

• View the photographs

The 2005 film ‘Ecuador: Migration and Remittances‘  is now available to view on Forced Migration Online.

This short video offers a general overview of current Ecuadorian migration to Europe and the United States. The work touches on relationships between migrant and employer and the impact on the Ecuadorian family unit, both abroad and at home. A commentary is provided by Andres Vallejo, a PhD candidate at Cambridge University.

• Watch the Video: Ecuador – Migration and Remittances

A new report, based on the the Refugee Studies Centre‘s workshop on ‘Faith-based Humanitarianism‘ is now available online. The workshop, which focused on the response of faith-based communities and faith-based organisations in the context of forced migration, took place on 22 September 2010.

Although faith communities and faith-based organisations are often at the forefront of humanitarian responses to people affected by conflict, crisis and forced migration across the globe, little is known about the scale, nature and impacts of their interventions.

Whilst discussing a range of faiths, the workshop primarily focused on Christian, Muslim, Buddhist and secular responses to forced displacement. This report provides a summary of the presentations and participant discussions, following the thematic structure of the workshop. Since one of the aims of the workshop was to highlight the need for further academic and policy engagement with faith-based humanitarianism in contexts of forced displacement, it concludes by presenting some avenues for further research and consideration.

• Workshop Report: Faith-based humanitarianism
• Podcast: Faith-based humanitarianism

This week is Open Access Week. Open access resources are made available (usually online) to anyone who wants to use them, completely free of charge.

You will generally be encouraged to use such materials in any way you like. As long as you remember to give credit to the author, open access resources can be read, downloaded, copied or printed without restriction.

Most of our readers are probably aware that nearly all the resources on Forced Migration Online are open access. FMO allows individuals to use, download, transmit, or print from the site for any private, research, or educational purpose.

Note: You may not alter, transform, or build upon these materials, or use them for commercial purposes. Please see our copyright statement.

Open Access Week aims to be:

“An opportunity for the academic and research community to continue to learn about the potential benefits of Open Access, to share what they’ve learned with colleagues, and to help inspire wider participation in helping to make Open Access a new norm in scholarship and research.”

We would therefore like to encourage you to celebrate open access week by:

• printing out copies of a document (or as many documents as you like) from our digital library
• finding an image to use in your next blog post or powerpoint presentation
• downloading a podcast onto your mp3 player
• screening one of our videos (at a school, conference, or other event)

Further details:

• Forced Migration Online
• Open Access Week

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees gave the 2010 Harrell-Bond Lecture at the Refugee Studies Centre on 18 October 2010.

In a lecture focusing on forced displacement, protection and humanitarian action, Guterres called for international action on global refugee crisis.

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.

• Listen to the podcast

Italy has been transformed in recent decades from a nation of emigrants to a destination country for mass immigration, receiving tens of thousands of immigrant from south-east Europe and north Africa each year.

Its long coast lines and developed economy make it both an attractive destination and an easy route into Europe. As immigration rates have risen sharply, relations between the Italian and immigrant population have often been tense.

FMO’s latest resource summary  highlights a selection of web-based resources that focus on Italy. Links are provided to full-text documents, journal articles, external resources, and organizations.

• Resource summary: Italy

FMO’s latest resource summary highlights a selection of web-based resources that focus on both on South Korean refugee policy and on the status of refugees from North Korea.

Links are provided to full-text documents, journal articles, external resources, and organizations.

South Korea joined the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees in 1992 and recognised its first refugee in 2001. Due to its democratic political system and successful economic growth in the 1980s, South Korea has seen a recent increase in the number of refugees claiming asylum.

The South Korean constitution stipulates that all North Koreans are entitled to South Korean citizenship. North Koreans are therefore admitted under a resettlement program that includes basic job training, healthcare services and financial subsidies. Due to this policy, the UNHCR considers North Koreans to be ‘persons of concern’ rather than refugees.

• Resource summary

The most recent RSC Policy Briefing “Protecting Palestinian children from political violence: the role of the international community” was launched in London on Thursday 30 September.

The briefing, written by Dr Jason Hart and Claudia Lo Forte, considers the role of international and UN organisations in protecting Palestinian children. Four distinguishing features of a rights-based approach to child protection are identified:

• the prioritisation of child protection over national self-interest;
• a focus on causes and not merely effects;
• the need for political engagement around international legal standards;
• the mobilisation of public opinion

Following the publication of this policy briefing, we have also updated our Resource Summary on Palestine.

• RSC Policy Briefing
• FMO Resource Summary: Palestine

In this podcast Dr Elizabeth Ferris, Senior Fellow at the Brookings-Bern Project on Internal Displacement, speaks on the subject of Faith-based Humanitarianism.

The title of her lecture was: ‘Improving responses: distinctiveness, partnership and professionalism’.

Dr Ferris was speaking at the Refugee Studies Centre‘s workshop on ‘Faith-based Humanitarianism: The Response of Faith-based Communities and Faith-based Organisations in the Context of Forced Migration’. The lecture took place in Oxford at The Vaults, University Church of St Marys, on Tuesday 22 September 2010.

• Listen to the podcast