Forced Migration Online: Blog

Forced Migration Online (FMO) is pleased to announce the launch of the redesigned FMO website at: www.forcedmigration.org

Forced Migration Online is home to a large collection of resources relating to refugees and forced migration. The website is designed for use by academics, practitioners, policy makers, the media, or anyone else interested in the field of forced migration.

What’s New:

• A cleaner, less cluttered interface.
• A more consistent layout and navigation structure.
• Clearer copyright information throughout the site.

We would like to reassure visitors to the site that all the content available on the old FMO site has been preserved. As far as is possible, individual page links (URLs) have been maintained, so that bookmarks and links from external sites should still work.

We hope that the redesign will make it easier for visitors to discover, download and share resources on forced migration. We would love to hear any feedback that you might have. Please email us at: fmo@qeh.ox.ac.uk.

The Forced Migration Online website is currently being redesigned. You may therefore notice that the current website is a bit quieter than usual, as we work to get the new-look site up and running.

The new site will have a cleaner interface, as well as a more consistent layout and navigation structure. We hope that this will make it easier for visitors to discover, download and share resources on forced migration and internal displacement. The new site will also allow individuals, or organizations, to submit their own resources for inclusion on FMO.

We would like to reassure you all that, while the new-look site will have a different design, all the content available on the current FMO site will be preserved. As far as is possible, individual page links (URLs) will also be maintained, so that bookmarks and links from external sites will still work.

The new site is expected to be launched over the summer.

Divided Island: Haitian Refugees in the Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic resumes mass deportations of Haitians after a one year moratorium since the devastating earthquake in Haiti. This 15-minute short video, produced by PBS, investigates reports that Haitians are being wrongfully removed from the country. Human Rights activists say race plays a role in the treatment of Haitians in the Dominican Republic.

• Watch the video

Since the mid-1980s, over two million Burmese migrant workers have entered Thailand, searching for a better future.

The jobs they have found are dirty, dangerous and difficult. Often undocumented, migrant workers risk arrest, extortion, deportation and other human rights abuses.

Something of these difficulties and tragedies faced by these workers are documented in these images by Thailand-based documentary photographer John Hulme.

The exhibit ‘In Search of a Job – Any Job: The Life of Burmese Migrant Workers‘, was held by the Refugee Studies Centre and International Migration Institute in Oxford. It ran from 17 – 25 February 2011.

• In Search of a Job – Any Job: The Life of Burmese Migrant Workers
• John Hulme’s website

This podcast was recorded at an Astor Visiting Fellow Lecture, held on Tuesday 25th January 2011 at The Taylor Institute in Oxford.

Sondra Hale, Professor of Anthropology and Women’s Studies, (UCLA)spoke on the subject of “Gendered Violence and the Politics of Memory in Sudan’s Conflict Zones“.

• Listen to the podcast

This term, the Refugee Studies Centre is holding a weekly seminar series on the topic of “Conceptual Problems of Forced Migration“.

Podcasts of these lectures will be posted on Forced Migration Online as they become available. The first two lectures.

Seminars are held at 5.00pm on Wednesdays, at either the University of East London or the Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford. More details about upcoming seminars in the series are available on the RSC website.

• Seminar 1: Refugees, Exiles and other Forced Migrants in the late Ottoman Empire
• Seminar 2: Citizenship, Autochthony and the Question of Forced Migration

In November 2010, the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) released the second edition of the “Guidebook for planning education in emergencies and reconstruction”.

The Guidebook supports national authorities in their efforts to provide quality education to children affected by crisis. It also puts forward strategies that can help countries take advantage of opportunities to reform an education system. A number of practical case studies throughout the Guidebook describe how different emergency-stricken countries have addressed key challenges.

The guidebook is published in three languages: English, Spanish and Chinese. An English interactive version of the Guidebook can be consulted free of charge on IIEP Website.

• Online English version
• Print versions (English, Spanish and Chinese)

Six new Working Papers published by the Refugees Studies Centre are now available on Forced Migration Online. The papers are:

• International cooperation and the anti-trafficking regime
• The struggle for belonging: Forming and reforming identities among 1.5-generation asylum seekers and refugees
• Tony Blair’s asylum policies: The narratives and conceptualisations at the heart of New Labour’s restrictionism
• Flowing into the state: Returning refugee youth and citizenship in Angola
• Negotiating childhood: Age assessment in the UK asylum system
• Ending internal displacement: the long-term IDPs in Sri Lanka

This podcast was recorded at a launch event for the fifth Refugee Studies Centre Policy Briefing which was held on Thursday 30th September 2010 at the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, London.

The talk given by Dr Jason Hart & Claudia Lo Forte, was on the subject of the Policy Briefing – ‘Protecting Palestinian children from political violence: the role of the international community’.

Drawing on extensive field and desk research, the briefing considers the role of international and UN organisations in protecting Palestinian children.

• Listen to the podcast
• Read the RSC Policy Briefing
• Read previous RSC Policy Briefings

A new RSC policy briefing, “Responding to Protracted Refugee Situations: Lessons from a Decade of Discussion” has been published.

In December 2009, the UNHCR adopted an ExCom Conclusion on protracted refugee situations. The purpose of this policy brief is to examine in detail the history and process of identifying protracted refugee situations as a significant international policy problem, the steps leading to the 2009 ExCom Conclusion and a consideration of the text of the Conclusion.

In presenting recommendations on addressing these constraints, this briefing first addresses the nature and scope of protracted displacement, some of its causes and consequences, and a short history of international responses to protracted refugee situations before examining in detail the process leading to the 2009 ExCom Conclusion and the steps required by states, UNHCR and NGOs to adequately respond to protracted refugee situations in the future.

• Responding to Protracted Refugee Situations: Lessons from a Decade of Discussion
• Other Policy Briefings from the RSC