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The paper aims to analyze the rights of refugees in the context of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and highlight the importance of respecting the fundamental rights of these vulnerable people. Among the protected rights is the right to asylum, which gives people persecuted or with a credible fear of persecution the right to seek and receive asylum in other countries. The Geneva Convention and its Protocol establish international norms regarding the granting of asylum, including the principles of non-refoulement and non-discrimination. Refugees enjoy rights similar to other residents of the country of asylum, including access to education, employment opportunities and medical services, and the granting of asylum is an international obligation. Humanitarian crises, armed conflicts and climate change contribute to the increase in the number of refugees, imposing the need for strengthened international cooperation to address the origins of forced migration. The rights to life, liberty and personal security, the right to education as well as the right to participate in public life, are essential in ensuring the integrity and security of refugees. The right to a decent standard of living, covering health, well-being, education and livelihood opportunities, is also crucial and involves promoting inclusion and eliminating discrimination. International best practices include effective integration policies adopted by countries such as Canada, Sweden, Germany and Norway. These countries combine support for refugees with strict screening procedures and extensive integration programs, including access to education and vocational training

Media and political discourse in the USA often depict migration as an invasion and people who cross borders as criminals dangerous to the nation. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two places on the USA-Mexico Southern border, we want to analyze how invasion narratives influence practices on-the-ground. We first explore how these narratives inform the views of a border militia who see themselves as protectors of the nation and understand people who cross borders as threats. We then argue that migrant women's presence in areas where the militia operates disrupts the dominant narrative that defines migrants as dangerous, as militia members come to understand migrant women as victims of the Cartel. Despite their innocence, to maintain the narrative's consistency, militia members still consider migrant women criminals for crossing the border "illegally." Finally, we move on to explore the materiality of these xenophobic discourses by examining how migrant women are mistreated at a family immigration detention center. Using the militias as an example, we highlight why political narratives circulate and have meaning for individuals and how discourses have material consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its efforts to control the mobility and whereabouts of its refugee populations, Turkey enforces registration requirements for refugees, tying refugee rights to continuing residency in a particular province. Drawing on the literature on rescaling of borders and illegalization of refugee mobilities, this article argues that the Turkish asylum regime creates internal borders, producing the province as the key legal geography of asylum. Based on qualitative data collected in 2018–19, this article illustrates that refugees gain their liminal legality only at the scale of the province. As a result, Turkey systematically creates a type of refugee illegality defined relative to internal borders. Unauthorized presence outside the province through illegalized, yet mundane, mobilities makes refugees susceptible to forced relocations to other provinces, detention centres, and refugee camps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounts by those seeking asylum are often challenged by the Home Office (HO) because of apparent inconsistencies and lack of credibility. Yet the ability to disclose everything at initial interview can be impacted by many factors. This study explores how applicants experienced interviews with the HO and its effects. Semi-Structured interviews were conducted with eight participants who had been through the UK asylum process. Transcripts of interviews were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four Superordinate themes were identified; "Confronted by a Hostile System", "Intra and Interpersonal Barriers at Interview", "Moments of Reprieve", "A Destructive Process". Participants identified experiences of a system that felt overtly and intentionally hostile. Psychological, practical and institutional factors were identified as affecting what they were able to disclose. Participants identified deterioration to their mental health because of the experience, which for some was not alleviated once leave to remain was granted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounts by those seeking asylum are often challenged by the Home Office (HO) because of apparent inconsistencies and lack of credibility. Yet the ability to disclose everything at initial interview can be impacted by many factors. This study explores how applicants experienced interviews with the HO and its effects. Semi-Structured interviews were conducted with eight participants who had been through the UK asylum process. Transcripts of interviews were analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four Superordinate themes were identified; "Confronted by a Hostile System", "Intra and Interpersonal Barriers at Interview", "Moments of Reprieve", "A Destructive Process". Participants identified experiences of a system that felt overtly and intentionally hostile. Psychological, practical and institutional factors were identified as affecting what they were able to disclose. Participants identified deterioration to their mental health because of the experience, which for some was not alleviated once leave to remain was granted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the emerging literature on migration studies has demonstrated, migrants who are seeking asylum around the world are increasingly finding that the process is mediated by a variety of new technologies. While the process of digitizing various aspects of migrant protection may promise improvements, new technologies also risk limiting access to asylum for migrants who are unable to overcome these new digital barriers to entry. This article explores the digitization of asylum by examining the context and consequences of the U.S. government's deployment of a smartphone app called CBP One in early 2023 which suddenly became one of the main pathways for migrants to seek asylum along the U.S.–Mexico border. In doing so, this article makes two contributions to the literature on the digitization of asylum. First, the article shows how CBP One, which was not initially designed for asylum seekers, morphed into a tool that took center stage in border enforcement statecraft during a period of exceptional migration policies. Second, this article examines the range of what have been referred to as "glitches" with CBP One, to demonstrate how the app created new digital barriers to asylum. Rather than accepting glitches as mere accidents, this article argues that these glitches are the result of a political decision to force already vulnerable migrants to rely upon experimental technologies that hinder rather than facilitate their asylum-seeking process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the ancient corpus we find depictions of people seeking refuge and protection: in works of fiction, drama and poetry; on wall paintings and vases, they cluster at protective altars and cling to statues of gods who seemingly look on. Yet the ancient evidence does not lend itself easily to exploring attitudes to refugees or asylum seekers. Hence, the question that begins this investigation is, representation of whom? Through a focus on the Greco-Roman material of the Mediterranean region, drawing on select representations, such as the tragedies Medea and Suppliant Women, the historical failed plea of the Plataeans and pictorial imagery of supplication, the goal of the exploration below is not to shape into existence an ancient refugee or asylum seeker experience. Rather, it is to highlight the multiplicity of experiences within narratives of victimhood and the confines of such labels as refugee and asylum seeker. The absence of ancient representations of a generic figure or group of the 'displaced', broadly defined, precludes any exceptionalising or homogenising of people in such contexts. Remaining depictions are of named, recognisable protagonists, whose stories are known. There is no 'mass' of refuge seekers, to whom a single set of rules could apply across time and space. Given these diverse stories of negotiation for refuge, another aim is to illustrate the ways such experience does not come to define the entirety of who a person is or encompass the complete life and its many layers. This paper addresses the challenges of representation that are exposed by, among others, thinkers such as Hannah Arendt, Liisa Malkki and Gerawork Gizaw. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the hostile environment manifests in UK higher education. Our findings highlight the specific challenges encountered by asylum seekers in negotiating access to, and participating fully in, higher education. This group are categorised as international students, rendering them ineligible for student finance to meet the cost of living and university tuition fees in addition to exclusion from mainstream benefits and the labour market. The empirical data generated through a survey of universities, students and support organisations is explored first through the concept of universities as sites of bordering and the original framing of the higher education border. Second, the data is used to picture the state of solidarity at this border, arguing that redistributive solidarity and solidarity as 'standing up beside' are needed, but both require further investment from HEIs. In conclusion, we argue that the hostile environment creates overlapping and intersecting restrictions on these students and that this, amplified by the complex relationship between HEIs and the state, causes a conflict of solidarity between, on the one hand, supporting students and, on the other, officiously complying with the Home Office. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Migración y Desarrollo is the property of Red Internacional de Migracion y Desarrollo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article addresses the question of the Muslim umma (the universal community of Muslims) which arises within the context of the ongoing debates about the status of refugees and their rights around the world, especially in the Muslim world, where a significant majority of migrants and refugees originate and are hosted. We question the existence of the Muslim umma under contemporary circumstances and discuss the extent to which the modern nation-state has undermined the principles of Muslim unity and solidarity beyond national borders. We also examine how Islamic ethics and law (fiqh) identify the imperatives of providing comfort and protection for refugees (whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim) individuals, groups, and communities when required or requested. We see this in principle, but not always in practice. Are refugee policies applied by Muslim-majority countries today in accordance with the fundamental Islamic teachings and experiences of the original hijra? Or have such principles been made redundant by the political-geographic imperatives of ethnicized nation-states? To what extent can applied policies in Muslim-majority countries be developed and enhanced in the light of umma principles that might alleviate the longstanding refugee crises in this troubled area of the world? The article consists of three main sections. The first provides a theoretical and religious analysis of the idea of the umma as an inclusive entity that encompasses all Muslims, contrasted with the modern nation-state as an exclusive geographically defined political institution. The second looks at three Muslim-majority countries that played a significant hosting role in refugee crises over the past decade, namely Jordan, Bangladesh, and Turkey. We offer some insight in understanding to what extent their policies or behavior were based upon ummatic principles, or secularist notions of national interest and humanitarian aid? The last section summarizes the recent innovation providing for Muslim refugees through a UNHCR arrangement and adaptation with the Islamic charitable obligation of Zakat. It is suggested that the UNHCR Zakat Fund is an ummatic manifestation that has already proved honorable and viable. The conclusion calls for a better understanding of the umma as it is in the Islamic consciousness towards an effective reforming of refugee policies and practices, suggesting a further enhancement of ummatic institutional collaboration between the OIC and UNHCR for refugee integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically engages with the long-term protection of trafficked persons. In particular, it assesses whether, and the conditions under which, trafficked persons can be considered as refugees under Article 1A of the Geneva Refugee Convention. The importance of international refugee law in this context is highlighted both by the number of trafficked persons seeking international protection and by its suitability to overcome the shortcomings of existing protection provisions in anti-trafficking instruments, which remain discretionary, conditional, and limited in scope. The paper begins by discussing the relevance of refugee protection for trafficked persons. It then applies the various components of the refugee definition to trafficked persons, focusing on the concepts of persecution and membership of a particular social group. Within these, it focuses on aspects of the debate that are currently missing from the broader literature. This includes the question of whether trafficking qua trafficking meets the threshold of persecution and the value of developments in international law in that regard, the merit of using race as a convention ground in cases of trafficked persons, and the contribution of legislative developments recognizing former victims of trafficked persons as members of a particular social group. It then concludes by highlighting the benefits of refugee protection for trafficked persons and indicating the challenges on the road to that protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the drivers and processes of forced migration may overlap for people seeking refuge or experiencing human trafficking, responses are invariably rooted in legislation and policy rather than empirical enquiry. In the UK, tightening of legislation around asylum has, for the past three decades, resulted in a 'hostile environment'. During this time, a discourse around human trafficking (also referred to as 'modern slavery' in the UK) has emerged. This paper looks at asylum and human trafficking in the UK to consider a fractioning of protection and resulting fractioning of support for basic needs and welfare provision, provided through the establishment of parallel systems of support for both populations. This paper explores the distinctions, interface, key points of contact, and disconnects between asylum and trafficking in the UK. It details the trajectory of asylum policy, provides an overview of the pre-history to the hostile environment, the impacts of fractioning refugee protection, and what this means for trust as a result. It is argued that trust is an essential component of UK government policies but that the trajectory of asylum policy from a focus on integration to a culture of hostility runs directly counter to efforts to identify 'victims' of 'modern slavery'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the ancient corpus we find depictions of people seeking refuge and protection: in works of fiction, drama and poetry; on wall paintings and vases, they cluster at protective altars and cling to statues of gods who seemingly look on. Yet the ancient evidence does not lend itself easily to exploring attitudes to refugees or asylum seekers. Hence, the question that begins this investigation is, representation of whom? Through a focus on the Greco-Roman material of the Mediterranean region, drawing on select representations, such as the tragedies Medea and Suppliant Women, the historical failed plea of the Plataeans and pictorial imagery of supplication, the goal of the exploration below is not to shape into existence an ancient refugee or asylum seeker experience. Rather, it is to highlight the multiplicity of experiences within narratives of victimhood and the confines of such labels as refugee and asylum seeker. The absence of ancient representations of a generic figure or group of the ‘displaced’, broadly defined, precludes any exceptionalising or homogenising of people in such contexts. Remaining depictions are of named, recognisable protagonists, whose stories are known. There is no ‘mass’ of refuge seekers, to whom a single set of rules could apply across time and space. Given these diverse stories of negotiation for refuge, another aim is to illustrate the ways such experience does not come to define the entirety of who a person is or encompass the complete life and its many layers. This paper addresses the challenges of representation that are exposed by, among others, thinkers such as Hannah Arendt, Liisa Malkki and Gerawork Gizaw.

Based on over three-years of fieldwork with a grassroots football initiative in inner-city Leeds, this paper highlights the different forms of pleasure experienced by forced migrant men within the space of the football sessions. The paper outlines how football can aid and instigate the experience of bodily, cognitive and social pleasures in spite of lives being heavily controlled by the sprawling nature of the UK border regime. Rather than isolating 'pleasure' as bodily sensation or mental stimulant, this paper moves these embodied feelings towards examining the social (in)significance of pleasures in the context of everyday lives of forced migrants. As a result, this research paper finds that these pleasures – whether bodily, cognitive, cathartic, convivial - act as a counter to the dehumanising effects of the UK asylum process by providing temporary moments of escape from pains from the past, anxieties of the present, and fears for the future. To this end, engaging in pleasure is seen here as a political act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Politicos (01215167) is the property of Universidad de Antioquia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

How have European asylum policies developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, from the perspective of the long-term political trajectory of the European asylum regime? When the pandemic broke out, EU member states had for three decades been trying without success to resolve the shortcomings of the 1990 Dublin Convention. The weaknesses in the regime persisted both due to the overloading of frontline member states and the efforts to control secondary flows of asylum seekers within the EU. The pandemic has proved neither a parenthesis nor a turning point in this regard, but has produced a fluid situation that has precipitated the United Kingdom's withdrawal and the consolidation of the long-term trend of using coercion with asylum seekers, among member states and at their external borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population movements between countries and continents are not recent phenomena. What is new today is that migration flows are increasingly linked to the globalization process and to environmental degradation. Most of the migrants leave their homes for economic reasons, but also due to the higher frequency of natural disasters. Of the total migrant population, those who escape from conflicts or persecution still represent a smaller fraction and are entitled to obtain refugee status. This thematic issue includes eight articles that analyse migration flows and migration governance from different analytical perspectives. Five of the eight contributions examine the role that several factors play in explaining international migration flows and its effects, namely cultural diversity, information technology tools, governance, terrorism, and attitudes towards immigration. The remaining three articles are country studies that analyse the socioeconomic causes/effects of migration flows to Portugal, Spain, and Germany, devoting special attention to forced migration and refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically engages with the long-term protection of trafficked persons. In particular, it assesses whether, and the conditions under which, trafficked persons can be considered as refugees under Article 1A of the Geneva Refugee Convention. The importance of international refugee law in this context is highlighted both by the number of trafficked persons seeking international protection and by its suitability to overcome the shortcomings of existing protection provisions in anti-trafficking instruments, which remain discretionary, conditional, and limited in scope. The paper begins by discussing the relevance of refugee protection for trafficked persons. It then applies the various components of the refugee definition to trafficked persons, focusing on the concepts of persecution and membership of a particular social group. Within these, it focuses on aspects of the debate that are currently missing from the broader literature. This includes the question of whether trafficking qua trafficking meets the threshold of persecution and the value of developments in international law in that regard, the merit of using race as a convention ground in cases of trafficked persons, and the contribution of legislative developments recognizing former victims of trafficked persons as members of a particular social group. It then concludes by highlighting the benefits of refugee protection for trafficked persons and indicating the challenges on the road to that protection.

During the global attempt to respond to the exodus of Syrians into neighboring countries and beyond, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) praised Canada for its intention to resettle 25,000 refugees. Even as many Canadians—and their government—were feeling proud of themselves, others responded with discomfort at the accolades being heaped upon Canada, worrying that they were undeserved. This article is an attempt to assess whether Canada's contribution to global refugee justice deserves accolades or criticism. Canada's central contribution to global refugee justice has been to resettle refugees; I argue that, compared to other resettling states, Canada does well with respect to admitting refugees for resettlement and with respect to the quality of its resettlement. This contribution is small, however, compared to the overwhelming need, not only for resettlement, but also for additional support for refugees throughout their entire journey. Canada's overall contribution to global refugee justice, then, is not exceptional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores why certain spaces of refuge continue to be excised from global maps of forced migration. It first reviews why this exclusion happens, before synthesising work on the movements of forced migrants to states that are not signatories to the dominant refugee law frameworks. This exposes the partiality of geographies of refuge that rest on Western legal-normative conceptualisations of hospitality and humanitarianism. It argues that a focus on alternative sites and forms of refuge is nonetheless critical for 1) sketching accurate experiential and geopolitical maps of forced migration and 2) challenging dominant moral geographies of asylum and responsibility-sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Law as a social science is compelled to propose or seek solutions to current problems in society. For this reason, it is a dynamic discipline that in the development of this exercise can invoke the creation, repeal, or enforceability of a norm. Thus, the analysis from this text arises from the need to create a scenario that guarantees the Subsistence Minimum for the Venezuelan migrant community who are within national borders and therefore invoke the binding effect of the Constitutional Preamble which includes a Latin American integration clause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Clivajes - Revista de Ciencias Sociales is the property of Universidad Veracruzana and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Nomadas (01217550) is the property of Universidad Central and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Introduction. In this article the authors examine in detail the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in the EU. Regulation of this area called “Dublin system”, which is one of the directions of building the Common European Asylum System in the EU.Materials and methods. The materials for the article were the works of Russian and foreign researchers in the field of international law and European law on forced migration in the EU. The methodological basis of the research consists of general scientific and special methods: dialectical method, methods of analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction, comparative legal and historical legal methods.Research results. As a result of the study the authors outline that Dublin system is part of the Common European Asylum System, which in turn is an integral part of the EU's goal of building the Area for Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ). The authors systematize the definitions and legal acts which form the basis of the Dublin system. On the basis of the current acts of EU, aspects of the Dublin system are analyzed, such as the criteria on the basis of which the Member State responsible are determined, the mechanism for early warning and the role of EU’s institutions in this field.Discussion and conclusions. The authors point out that the EU continues its policy of developing the Dublin system. The criticism of the Dublin system is an integral part of the deepening of integration processes in the EU. This process will be implemented by expanding the range of regulated issues and strengthening the role of supranational regulation in this field.

Abstract Background Eritrean migrants in Israel, the majority of whom are seeking asylum, have limited access to institutional support. While the temporary group protection granted to Eritreans by Israel ensures that they are not deported, it does not confer permanent legal status, nor does it allow access to the formal work sector. This study qualitatively explores how political and economic marginalization increases the risk of sexual and other forms of violence as well as the exploitation of Eritrean women asylum seekers living in Israel. Methods Twenty-five interviews with key informants, twelve individual interviews (six with men and six with women), and eight focus group discussions (four with men and four with women) were conducted among Eritreans of reproductive age in Tel Aviv, Israel. Qualitative data analysis was conducted using open, focused, and axial coding. Results Participants reported that Israel’s restrictive immigration policies laid the foundation for the political and economic marginalization of asylum seekers. This manifested in limited access to institutional support during and after arrival, and hindered access to formal employment and its associated protections. The Israeli government’s decision to grant provisional status with a stipulation banning Eritreans from the formal work sector was perceived to create direct and indirect conditions for a heightened sense of structural vulnerability, particularly for women. Participants reported that this structural vulnerability increased the risk of sexual and domestic violence in addition to the risk for the exploitation of women asylum seekers. Conclusions Israel’s immigration policies may contribute to women asylum seekers’ vulnerability to sexual violence upon arrival in their host country. These policies shape the social realities of women asylum seekers, potentially increasing their risk of violence and exploitation during their time in Israel. This study provides an example of the effects of political and economic marginalization on violence against women, a concept that may apply to other settings globally.

Gail Jones's fiction has received major critical attention due to its engagement with trauma, memory, modernity, the visual arts, and the Australian process of Reconciliation. This article seeks to extend the focus of research on Jones's work by looking at her little-discussed representation of forced migration. For this purpose, it examines how Jones's 2013 short story "The Ocean" and 2015 novel A Guide to Berlin respectively tackle the 2001 refugee Tampa affair and the 2013 Lampedusa refugee tragedy. It first offers an overview of the precarity suffered by contemporary asylum seekers and refugees and how this has been explored and fictionalized by contemporary writers. It then analyses and discusses the main narrative and stylistic strategies that Jones uses in order to represent the ties that bind together refugees and non-refugees in mutually dependent relationships, which challenge Australian and European governments' fostered xenophobia aimed at tightening border controls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the experiences of a Syrian refugee who journeyed from Aleppo to other countries until his resettlement in Malta. His harrowing story throws light on the politics of space in the context of forced migratory attempts. The study examines Ayman's subjectivities to demonstrate that the rights to asylum and to movement are continuously contested, negotiated and reimagined. Ayman's escape, journey and resettlement constituted physical and social spaces that determined his life prospects and forged his destiny. At all stages the struggle to survive triggered strong emotions that Ayman later expressed in order to transmit his appeal for global solidarity that he justified on the basis of the 'oneness' of the world. I employ an autoethnographic methodological approach to draw on the power of emotions in the telling of Ayman's story and make sense of it. Ayman's story calls for ethical sensibility, forgiveness, hospitality, communal sharing of resources and respect for cultural differences in the aftermath of forced displacement in an era which makes staying and leaving impermanent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I identify two key contributions that David Ingram makes to the migration ethics literature, one methodological and one substantive. Ingram's methodological contribution is to model how non-ideal theorizing can be done without abstracting away the complexities surrounding migration, including how the motivation to migrate is tied to existing institutional structures. He does this by beginning with the powerlessness and coercion experienced by certain classes of migrants, which he analyses using a rich conception of agency as social freedom. From here, Ingram develops his substantive contribution. Ingram argues that cosmopolitan and communitarian analyses cannot fully capture the dilemma surrounding forced migration: migrate to improve welfare or remain for the sake of identity and community. Ingram identifies the injustice of borders as occurring within the context of an interconnected international order operating without discursive accountability to most of those affected by its policies. Ingram argues that until international institutions are suitably reformed, asylum is owed to economic refugees because of the coercive circumstances existing in their countries of origin. This allows him to show, too, why specific states have obligations to asylum seekers: because they participate in the institutions that have contributed to these circumstances. Although I agree with Ingram's overall approach, I will question whether he downplays the demands of his conception of social freedom and consider the feasibility of institutionalizing his discourse theoretic framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of March 2016, 4.8 million Syrian refugees were scattered in two dozen countries by the civil war. Refugee smuggling has been a major catalyst of human trafficking in the Middle East and Europe migrant crises. Data on the extent to which smuggling devolved into trafficking in this refugee wave is, however, scarce. This article investigates how Syrian refugees interact with smugglers, shedding light on how human smuggling and human trafficking interrelated on the Balkan Route. I rely on original evidence from in-depth interviews (n = 123) and surveys (n = 100) with Syrian refugees in Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, and Germany; as well as ethnographic observations in thirty-five refugee camps or other sites in these countries. I argue that most smugglers functioned as guides, informants, and allies in understudied ways—thus refugee perceptions diverge dramatically from government policy assumptions. I conclude with a recommendation for a targeted advice policy that would acknowledge the reality of migrant-smuggler relations, and more effectively curb trafficking instead of endangering refugees.

Recent political developments and changes in Turkey’s asylum law have had a significantly injurious impact on the safety and legal certainty of refugees in Turkey.

This conclusion to the special issue highlights the role of scholars in advancing the public discussion about forced migration. As countries around the world are adopting increasing restrictions on the entry of refugees, academic research can help to dispel some of the myths and apprehensions regarding the risks that forced migration entails. While refugees may be linked to conflict and violence in limited circumstances, the research generally demonstrates that robust international cooperation to manage refugee settlements, provide adequate humanitarian assistance, and integrate refugees into host communities, among other policies, can help to mitigate potential risks. Directions for future research and analysis are also discussed. Forced migration scholars should endeavor to collect more individual-level data; seek to understand factors that exacerbate or reduce security risks associated with cross-border militancy; conduct research on the long-term integration of refugees; and seek to understand the causes and consequences of resettlement and repatriation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic is not a “great equaliser” as some have claimed, but rather an amplifier of existing inequalities, including those associated with migration. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is refugees, often the most marginalised of all migrants, who have had the most to lose. Refugees and displaced populations living in crowded and unhygienic conditions have often been unable to protect themselves from the virus, face increasing economic precarity and often find themselves excluded from measures to alleviate poverty and hunger. The threat to refugees comes not only from material (in)security, but from increasing exclusion and exceptionalism associated with the politics of protection. Evidence from the first nine months of the pandemic suggests that some governments, in Europe and US but also the Global South, are using COVID-19 as an excuse to double-down on border closures and/or dip into their migration policy toolboxes to demonstrate the robustness of their response to it. Refugees are increasingly prevented from accessing the international protection to which they are potentially entitled or used (alongside migrants more generally) as scapegoats by populist leaders exploiting the pandemic for political mileage. Some states have used the pandemic to push through controversial policies that further limit access to protection and/or institutionalize the marginalization of refugees. In this context, it seems likely that COVID-19 will accelerate the course of history in relation to refugee protection, rather than changing its direction.

This article discusses one of the major global challenges of our time – the demographic one. The paper analyzes the history of the problem ofrefugees and forced migrants for the purpose of its decision, cites statistics data and the main trends of global migration, the main regions of emigration and immigration. The paper makes conclusions on the further development of the situation, gives the recommendations on possible ways to solve the refugee problem.

This study aims to be an exploratory contribution about the refugee flows and the asylum regimes established in the Lusophone African Countries between 1975 and 2013. The goal is to assess the refugee flows in those countries, studying the historical context in which they occurred and its influence in the asylum regimes implemented in the context of the African policy towards refugees, namely the shift from an ‘open door’ model, liberal, solidary and welcoming, to another more restrictive which is in place nowadays.