Publications
‘Particularly important are the new rules concerning detention and the better standards for vulnerable persons’ — Reception conditions for asylum seekers: Better and more harmonised living standards and more effective rules for fighting abuse. Council of the European Union. October 2012.
‘These increasingly desperate conditions reflect the culmination of several long-standing trends in Central America’ — Forced from home: The lost boys and girls of Central America. Women’s Refugee Commission. October 2012.
‘Access to legal advice and representation was problematic, with legal aid restrictions and poor quality advice regularly cited as major difficulties’ — HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales: Annual Report 2011–12. House of Commons. October 2012.
‘Concerns have been heightened significantly by the cases… of Sri Lankan Tamils experiencing torture after returning voluntarily to Sri Lanka in the post-conflict period’ — Sri Lankan Tamils tortured on return from the UK. Freedom from Torture. Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. September 2012.
‘This report describes the horrific situation of trafficking of refugees in the Sinai desert, a crisis that started in 2009. The refugees include men, women, children and accompanying infants fleeing from already desperate circumstances in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan’ — Human trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees between life and death. Mirjam van Reisen, Meron Estephanos, and Conny Rijken. Tilburg University. European External Policy Advisors. September 2012.
‘Men and boy survivors of sexual violence often suffer silently because widely held social norms and perceptions of gender, social stigma, and cultural taboos regarding discussion of sex and sexuality make it difficult for them to come forward. Moreover, when they do speak, service‑providers frequently fail to listen to or believe them’ — Working with men and boy survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in forced displacement. UNHCR. 2012.
‘It is important that decisions on LGBTI refugee claims are not based on superficial understandings of the experiences of LGBTI persons, or on erroneous, culturally inappropriate or stereotypical assumptions’ — Guidelines on international protection No. 9: Claims to refugee status based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. HCR/GIP/12/01. UNHCR. 23 October 2012.
‘Article 31(1) of the Refugee Convention is supposed to act as a shield against punishment for illegal entry. However, the paper identifies four issues relating to the application of Article 31 which make the functioning of the shield difficult’ — Smuggling of asylum seekers and criminal justice, Refugee Law Initiative Working Paper no. 5. Vladislava Stoyanova. Refugee Law Initiative. June 2012.
‘The state security forces, intelligence services, members of the ruling party and members of opposition groups have all used violence to target real or perceived opponents’ — ‘You will not have peace while you are living’: The escalation of political violence in Burundi. Human Rights Watch. May 2012.
‘Despite the legal protections afforded to asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants in South
Africa, the detention and deportation of foreign nationals continues to be regularly carried out in an unlawful manner’ — Monitoring immigration detention in South Africa. Lawyers for Human Rights. June 2012.
‘The mental health needs of refugees are often not recognized as a priority and it is almost impossible for refugees and asylum seekers to access mental health services in Southeast Asia’ — APRRN Southeast Asia Refugee Mental Health Training Report (14–16 June 2012, Bangkok). Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network. October 2012.
‘It is a particular concern that more than a year after our first inspections, there remains no accredited training for use of force in the confined space of an aircraft. Indeed, some staff were clearly making up some untested techniques ad hoc.’ — Detainees under escort: Inspection of escort and removals to Afghanistan, 25 – 26 June 2012. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. HM Inspectorate of Prisons. 2012.
‘The security agencies routinely extract confessions by torturing suspects and detaining their family members; the agencies have almost unlimited authority to arrest suspects and detain them incommunicado for prolonged periods without being charged’ — Operational Guidance Note: Syria. UK Border Agency. 3 October 2012.
‘The research found that for CIE detainees judicial and legal processes can also be a great barrier to accessing rights because there is an absence of clear procedures and effective remedy’– Betwixt and Between: Turin’s CIE: A Human Rights Investigation into Turin’s Immigration Detention Centre. Shalini Iyengar, Carla Landri, Margherita Mini, Abigael Ogada-Osir, Emanuela Roman, Tatiana Skalon, Ulrich Stege, Maurizio Veglio. International University College of Turin. September 2012.
‘These increasingly desperate conditions reflect the culmination of several long-standing trends in Central America’ — Forced from home: The lost boys and girls of Central America. Women’s Refugee Commission. October 2012.
‘Access to legal advice and representation was problematic, with legal aid restrictions and poor quality advice regularly cited as major difficulties’ — HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales: Annual Report 2011–12. House of Commons. October 2012.
‘Concerns have been heightened significantly by the cases… of Sri Lankan Tamils experiencing torture after returning voluntarily to Sri Lanka in the post-conflict period’ — Sri Lankan Tamils tortured on return from the UK. Freedom from Torture. Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. September 2012.
‘This report describes the horrific situation of trafficking of refugees in the Sinai desert, a crisis that started in 2009. The refugees include men, women, children and accompanying infants fleeing from already desperate circumstances in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan’ — Human trafficking in the Sinai: Refugees between life and death. Mirjam van Reisen, Meron Estephanos, and Conny Rijken. Tilburg University. European External Policy Advisors. September 2012.
‘Men and boy survivors of sexual violence often suffer silently because widely held social norms and perceptions of gender, social stigma, and cultural taboos regarding discussion of sex and sexuality make it difficult for them to come forward. Moreover, when they do speak, service‑providers frequently fail to listen to or believe them’ — Working with men and boy survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in forced displacement. UNHCR. 2012.
‘It is important that decisions on LGBTI refugee claims are not based on superficial understandings of the experiences of LGBTI persons, or on erroneous, culturally inappropriate or stereotypical assumptions’ — Guidelines on international protection No. 9: Claims to refugee status based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. HCR/GIP/12/01. UNHCR. 23 October 2012.
‘Article 31(1) of the Refugee Convention is supposed to act as a shield against punishment for illegal entry. However, the paper identifies four issues relating to the application of Article 31 which make the functioning of the shield difficult’ — Smuggling of asylum seekers and criminal justice, Refugee Law Initiative Working Paper no. 5. Vladislava Stoyanova. Refugee Law Initiative. June 2012.
‘The state security forces, intelligence services, members of the ruling party and members of opposition groups have all used violence to target real or perceived opponents’ — ‘You will not have peace while you are living’: The escalation of political violence in Burundi. Human Rights Watch. May 2012.
‘Despite the legal protections afforded to asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants in South
Africa, the detention and deportation of foreign nationals continues to be regularly carried out in an unlawful manner’ — Monitoring immigration detention in South Africa. Lawyers for Human Rights. June 2012.
‘The mental health needs of refugees are often not recognized as a priority and it is almost impossible for refugees and asylum seekers to access mental health services in Southeast Asia’ — APRRN Southeast Asia Refugee Mental Health Training Report (14–16 June 2012, Bangkok). Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network. October 2012.
‘It is a particular concern that more than a year after our first inspections, there remains no accredited training for use of force in the confined space of an aircraft. Indeed, some staff were clearly making up some untested techniques ad hoc.’ — Detainees under escort: Inspection of escort and removals to Afghanistan, 25 – 26 June 2012. HM Chief Inspector of Prisons. HM Inspectorate of Prisons. 2012.
‘The security agencies routinely extract confessions by torturing suspects and detaining their family members; the agencies have almost unlimited authority to arrest suspects and detain them incommunicado for prolonged periods without being charged’ — Operational Guidance Note: Syria. UK Border Agency. 3 October 2012.
‘The research found that for CIE detainees judicial and legal processes can also be a great barrier to accessing rights because there is an absence of clear procedures and effective remedy’– Betwixt and Between: Turin’s CIE: A Human Rights Investigation into Turin’s Immigration Detention Centre. Shalini Iyengar, Carla Landri, Margherita Mini, Abigael Ogada-Osir, Emanuela Roman, Tatiana Skalon, Ulrich Stege, Maurizio Veglio. International University College of Turin. September 2012.
