Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter

The Journal of Refugee Studies, vol. 24, no. 4 (Dec 2011) is now available, and includes articles on reflections on research with refugees, and experiences of Somali refugees encountering Swedish healthcare, among others. 

‘Humanitarian emergencies are increasingly resulting in complex migration outcomes, where different categories of migrants move together, thus challenging the ability of the international community to distinguish those who are entitled to special protection or assistance in international humanitarian and refugee law’ — ‘Responding to migration from complex humanitarian emergencies: Lessons learned from Libya’. Khalid Koser. Chatham House. November 2011.

‘Once an individual is in the country, however, he or she is entitled to enjoy a set of fundamental rights granted to all human beings irrespective of their migration status. As this report demonstrates, access to basic rights, such as education or healthcare, by migrants in an irregular situation differs significantly among EU Member States in law and practice’ — Fundamental rights of migrants in an irregular situation in the European Union: comparative report. European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. November 2011.

‘The majority of Libyans are celebrating a new future; but certain groups — including suspected loyalist civilians, sub-Saharan Africans, and ethnic minorities — remain displaced and vulnerable to violent attacks’ — ‘Libya: Protect vulnerable minorities & assist civilians harmed’. Matt  Pennington and Kristele  Younes. Refugees International and CIVIC. 8 November 2011.

‘Seventeen years after the 1994 war and genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 people, Rwanda has made significant progress on stability and economic development but remains highly authoritarian, a country where dissent is not tolerated and regime critics are harassed, arrested, and sometimes killed’ — ‘Countries at the crossroads 2011 - Rwanda’. Timothy Longman. Freedom House. 10 November 2011.

‘Lack of English and unemployment exacerbate other top community problems, such as adjustment to their new community; securing government benefits; and access to healthcare and mental health services’ — From crisis to community development: Needs and assets of Oakland’s refugees from Burma. Russell Jeung, Joan Jeung, Mai Nhung Le, Grace Yoo, Amy Lam, Alisa Loveman and Zar Ni Maung. Cesar Chavez Institute and Asian American Studies, San Francisco State University and Burma Refugee Family Network. November 2011.

‘In its precedential decision, Matter of M-A-M-, 25 I&N Dec. 474 (BIA 2011), the Board of Immigration Appeals, for the first time, set forth a test for immigration judges to assess a respondent’s ability to participate in a removal hearing’ — ‘Practice advisory: Representing clients with mental competency issues under matter of M-A-M-’. The Legal Action Center and The University of Houston Law Center Immigration Clinic. 30 November 2011.

‘Operational experience of Red Cross National Societies as well as many reports on the situation of migrants outside EU borders have shown that the action taken by numerous EU Member States to prevent the illegal entry of migrants has not only an effect on irregular migration, but also seriously affects potential asylum seekers who are on their way to seek international protection in EU countries’ — Position paper on the right to access to international protection: Recommendations of the National Red Cross Societies of the Member States of the European Union and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Red Cross EU Office. 17 November 2011.

‘Bangladesh is not well placed to cope with [a] protracted refugee situation. The country is confronted with extreme poverty and high rates of population growth, and is increasingly affected by natural disasters and climate change. The refugees are to be found primarily in remote and impoverished areas of Bangladesh which have not benefited from the modest economic growth that has recently taken place in some other parts of the country’ — States of denial: A review of UNHCR’s response to the protracted situation of stateless Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. Esther Kiragu, Angela Li Rosi and Tim Morris. UNHCR Policy Development and Evaluation Service. December 2011.

‘Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who seek to improve their lives face intolerable restrictions and bureaucracy, forcing families to rely on child labor in many cases. Compounding their economic hardship, Lebanese bureaucracy places limits on refugees’ freedom of movement, with permits required for travel beyond their camps’ — ‘The unknown hell of Palestinians in Lebanon’. Tom Charles. Jadaliyya. 12 December 2011.

‘Exploited and persecuted, child soldiers live lives dominated by violence, fear, and death. Very few will find security within their own nations or abroad. Subjected to exclusionary bars or rigid interpretations of the particular social group ground for asylum, US asylum law frequently functions to exclude those lucky few children who are able to escape their persecutors’ — ‘Lost in doctrine: Particular social group, child soldiers, and the failure of US asylum law to protect exploited children’. Tessa Davis. Florida State University Law Review, vol. 38, no. 3 (Spring 2011).

‘[Age assessment] techniques often do not take into account ethnic variations, they are based on reference materials that for the most commonly used tests are out of date, and generate a margin of error that makes them too inaccurate to use’ — Review of current laws, policies and practices relating to age assessment in sixteen European countries. Maria Antonia di Maio. Separated Children in Europe Programme Thematic Group on Age Assessment and Save the Children Brussels. May 2011.

‘Although the [European Court of Human Rights] categorically ruled that the transfer of migrants to detention in Greece would expose them to prohibited abuse, an executive agency of the EU and border guards from EU member states knowingly facilitate such transfers’ — The EU’s dirty hands: Frontex involvement in ill-treatment of migrant detainees in Greece. Human Rights Watch. 21 September 2011.

‘While the smuggling of migrants by sea accounts for only a small proportion of the total number of migrants smuggled worldwide, it accounts for the highest number of deaths among smuggled migrants’ — Issue Paper: Smuggling of migrants by sea. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. December 2011.

‘The boy is asked if he wants to see a doctor now in Dover. Yes, he says. But he doesn’t see a doctor. That was just a question on the form’ — ‘A child, a bleeding anus, interrogation by the UK Border Agency’. Claire Sambrook. openDemocracy. 17 January 2012.

‘In breach of the government’s pledge to make the asylum system sensitive to the needs of women, officials are asking women to disclose information about sex work and abuse in the earshot of queuing strangers, and in front of their own children’ — ‘Unfair, unsafe and undignified: the treatment of women seeking asylum in the UK’. Christel Querton. openDemocracy. 24 January 2012.

‘[National Immigrant Justice Center] NIJC’s pro bono program relies almost entirely on volunteer attorneys, the great majority of whom have no previous experience in immigration or asylum law.  NIJC assists its pro bono partners by providing training, materials, support services and consultations’ — Basic procedural manual for asylum representation affirmatively and in removal proceedings. Heartland Alliance National Immigrant Justice Center. January 2012.

‘More and more asylum seekers are being detained, whether through tougher policies at national levels or through the inadequacy of open accommodation facilities through which asylum seekers are sent to detention facilities. At the same time, asylum seekers and refugees struggle to make themselves understood in all aspects of their lives with the limited interpretation services available’ — Participatory Assessment 2010 Report: Being a refugee: How refugees and asylum seekers experience life in Central Europe. UNHCR Regional Representation for Central Europe. 2011.

‘Rohingya children are deprived of the rights inherent to citizenship from birth. Despite UNHCR‟s advocacy efforts to address their lack of status with the government, little progress has been achieved to date’ — Submission to the Committee on the Rights of the Child: Issues to be raised concerning the situation of stateless Rohingya children in Myanmar (Burma). Chris Lewa. The Arakan Project. Updated January 2012.

‘Throughout the uprisings in North Africa, the EU has maintained a discourse of double standards: supporting calls for freedom and democracy but greeting resulting population displacement with hostility. This has contributed to a record number of people dying at Europe’s borders during the first seven months of 2011’ — ‘Analysis: The Arab Spring and the death toll in the Mediterranean: The true face of Fortress Europe’. Marie Martin. Statewatch. 2012.

‘The study looked at legislation and practice regarding the return of children, either unaccompanied or within families, who return voluntarily or are forced to return because of their status as illegally staying third country nationals. The study covered the 27 EU Member States and the [four] Schengen Associated States (Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland). Further research was also conducted in seven selected countries of return: Afghanistan, Angola, Kosovo, Morocco, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Ukraine’ — Comparative Study on Practices in the Field of Return of Minors. European Council on Refugees and Exiles and Save the Children. December 2011.

‘The phenomenon of statelessness in Lebanon continues to pass from one generation to another while nationality laws, lacking essential elements and containing many ambiguous provisions, undergo little change. Estimates place the number of stateless persons in Lebanon, excluding stateless Palestinian refugees, at between 80,000 and 200,000’ — Invisible citizens: Humiliation and a life in the shadows. A legal and policy study on statelessness in Lebanon. Frontiers Ruwad Association. 2011.

‘This second edition is fully updated to consider recent challenges faced by UNHCR, including new chapters on the changing dynamics of forced migration, new analytical sections to explore the challenges of protection, solutions and cooperation, and a forward-looking conclusion to propose a framework for UNHCR’s future direction’ — UNHCR: The Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection, Second Edition. Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher and James Milner. Routledge. November 2011.  

‘This report describes the events of this historic, tumultuous year, one which saw so much suffering and sadness but also spread so much hope within the region and beyond, to countries where other people face repression and everyday abuse of their human rights. Amnesty International too was challenged, as never before, to respond to the events by documenting the violations that were committed’ — Year of rebellion: The state of human rights in the Middle East and North Africa. Amnesty International. January 2012.

‘Since 2006, protracted displacements that began in the 1990s have been overlaid by new crises associated with severe drought, political violence and governance failures. The current situation, which involves both internally displaced people…and refugees, is widely acknowledged as among the worst in the world, both in terms of the number of people affected and the extent of their humanitarian and protection needs’ —  ‘Workshop report: Between protracted and crisis displacement: Policy responses to Somali displacement’. Anna Lindley and Martina Caterina. University of Oxford Refugee Studies Centre. 7 November 2011.

‘[I]mmigration detention should be the exception rather than the rule[;] that detention, to be justified, must be in accordance with law and must not be arbitrary, and…the conditions of detention must be humane and thus, not result in restrictions which are disproportionate to the goal sought’ — The human and financial cost of detention of asylum seekers in Canada. Delphine Nakache. UNHCR. 2011.

‘The [European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman for Degrading Treatment or Punishment] CPT acknowledges the challenges faced by the Greek authorities in coping with the constant influx of irregular migrants. However, the conditions in which irregular migrants are held would appear to be a deliberate policy by the authorities in order to deliver a clear message that only persons with the necessary identity papers should attempt to enter Greece’ — Report to the Government of Greece on the visit to Greece carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 19 to 27 January 2011. Council of Europe. 2011.

‘The Italian government and the EU are attempting to urgently re-establish readmission agreements with new regimes in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya with scant regard for the well-being of refugees and asylum seekers. A “state of emergency” has been declared in Italy which has allowed the government to derogate from certain laws and fast-track the application process’ — ‘Analysis: The EU’s self-interested response to unrest in North Africa: The meaning of treaties and readmission agreements between Italy and North African states’. Yasha Maccanico. Statewatch. 2012.

‘The border crossings to Greece and from Greece to other European countries are only one step of many. And so are the sad stories we are telling here[,] only few out of many of which we might never hear’ — ‘Lost at border: A journey to the lost and the dead of the Greek borders’. Marion Bayer, Salinia Stroux, Marily Stroux, Chrissa Wilkens, Regina Mantanika and Reimer Dohrn. Infomobile/Welcome to Europe Network. October 2011.

‘Over the past five years, more refugees in Nairobi have been registered, documented, provided with access to healthcare and education than in the whole of the Branch Office’s previous history. The city’s refugee population has also been protected to some extent from the threat of arrest, detention, extortion and conviction’ — Navigating Nairobi: A review of the implementation of UNHCR’s urban refugee  policy in Kenya’s capital city. Elizabeth Campbell, Jeff Crisp and Esther Kiragu. UNHCR Policy Development and Evaluation Service. January 2011.