By: Kathleen Sargeant,
on 12/28/2015
It's been another exciting year for international law at Oxford University Press. We have put together some highlights from 2015 to reflect on the developments that have taken place, from scholarly commentary on current events to technology updates and conference discussions.
The post International law at Oxford in 2015 appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Brittany Hobson,
on 6/19/2015
Calls for more to be done to respond to the plight of refugees will likely intensify as we get closer to 20 June, World Refugee Day, when groups in more than 100 countries will host events and issue reports to increase awareness about the needs of refugees and to mobilize a more effective response.
The post For refugees, actions speak louder than words appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Alice,
on 6/20/2014
World Refugee Day is held every year on 20 June to recognise the resilience of forcibly displaced people across the world. For more than six decades, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been tracking and assisting refugees worldwide. At the beginning of 2013, there numbered over 10.4 million refugees considered “of concern” to the UNHCR. A further 4.8 million refugees across the Middle East are registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
To mark World Refugee Day 2014, we’ve compiled a short reading list about issues in international law arising from the forced displacement of persons, including definitions of refugees, asylum, and standards of protection, international refugee legislation, international human rights legislation, the roles of international organisations, and challenges arising from protracted refugee situations and climate change. Additionally, Oxford University Press has made select articles from refugee journals freely available for a limited time, including ten articles from the International Journal of Refugee Law.
“Refugees” in The Human Rights of Non-Citizens by David Weissbrodt
Explore the legal definition of refugees and their rights under the 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
Dieter Kugelmann on “Refugees” from The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
Survey several legal definitions of refugees, refugee status, and refugee rights.
The Refugee in International Law by Guy S. Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam
Explore three central issues of international refugee law: the definition of refugees, the concept of asylum, and the principles of protection.
The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, edited by Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Gil Loescher, Katy Long, and Nando Sigona
How did Refugee and Forced Migration Studies emerge as a global field of interest? What are the most important current and future challenges faced by practitioners working with and for forcibly displaced people?
Population fleeing their villages due to fighting between FARDC and rebel groups, Sake North Kivu, 30 April 2012. Photo by MONUSCO/Sylvain Liechti CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol: A Commentary, edited by Andreas Zimmermann, Assistant editor Jonas Dörschner, and Assistant editor Felix Machts, including Part One Background: Historical Development of International Refugee Law by Claudena M. Skran
Analyze the Convention and Protocol that function as the indispensable legal basis of international refugee law. What provisions do they make for refugees?
Chapter 5 “Refugees” in International Migration Law by Vincent Chetail
Legislation relating to the movement of persons is scattered across numerous branches of international law. How does current law govern the movement of refugees, and how might legislation develop in the future?
Textbook on Immigration and Asylum Law, Sixth edition by Gina Clayton
How has the law relating to immigration and asylum evolved? And how does the asylum process operate for refugees and trafficking victims? Gina Clayton’s newly-revised volume provides clear analysis and commentary on the political, social, and historical dimensions of immigration and asylum law.
Climate Change, Forced Migration, and International Law by Jane McAdam
Climate change is forcing the migration of thousands of people. Should this kind of displacement be viewed as another facet of traditional international protection? Or is flight from habitat destruction a new challenge that requires more creative legal and policy responses?
“International refugee law” by Alice Edwards in D. Moeckli et al’s International Human Rights Law, Second Edition
Alice Edwards, Senior Legal Coordinator at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, examines international human rights laws relating to refugees.
Textbook on International Human Rights, Sixth Edition by Rhona Smith
Check chapter 22 “Group rights”, which focuses on four specific groups which are currently beneficiaries of dedicated human rights’ regimes: indigenous peoples, women, children, and refugees.
“Are Refugee Rights Human Rights? An Unorthodox Questioning of the Relations between Refugee Law and Human Rights Law” by Vincent Chetail in Human Rights and Immigration, edited by Ruth Rubio-Marín
While originally envisioned as two separate branches of law, refugee law and human rights law increasingly intersect as refugees are highly vulnerable and often victims of abuse. What framework can we use to ensure the best outcome for refugees?
The Collective Responsibility of States to Protect Refugees by Agnès Hurwitz
What legal freedom of choice do refugees possess? Can they choose the countries that will decide their asylum claims? States have devised several arrangements to tackle the secondary movement of refugees between their countries of origin and their final destination. See the chapter ‘States’ Obligations Towards Refugees’, which assesses the limitations of current safe third country mechanisms.
Complementary Protection in International Refugee Law by Jane McAdam
What obligations do – and should – States have to forcibly displaced persons who do not meet the legal definition of ‘refugees’?
‘The European Union Qualification Directive: The Creation of a Subsidiary Protection Regime’ by Jane McAdam in Complementary Protection in International Refugee Law
How does the European Union address the rights of persons who are not legally refugees, but who still have need of some other form of international protection?
Göran Melander on ‘International Refugee Organization (IRO)’ from The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law
What can the history of the IRO tell us about the development of international agencies working for refugees, and about its successor, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)?
African Institute for Human Rights and Development (on behalf of Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea) v Guinea, Merits, Comm no 249/2002, 36th ordinary session (23 November-7 December 2004), 20th Activity Report (January-June 2006), (2004) AHRLR 57 (ACHPR 2004), (2007) 14 IHRR 880, IHRL 2803 (ACHPR 2004), African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights [ACHPR] from ORIL
Case-study by the African Commission: was the treatment of Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea in 2000 in violation of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights?
‘Human Security and the Protection of Refugees in Africa’ by Maria O’Sullivan in Protecting Human Security in Africa, edited by Ademola Abass
What is distinctive about refugee flows in Africa, what are the challenges arising from mass influx and ‘protracted’ refugee situations? What are the implications of new UNHCR initiatives to protect refugees?
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The post World Refugee Day Reading List appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Alice,
on 6/20/2014
There seems to be an international day for almost every issue these days, and today, 20 June, is the turn of refugees.
When the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) releases its annual statistics on refugees today, these are likely to make for gloomy reading. They will show that there are more refugees today than any previous year during the 21st century, well over 16 million. They will demonstrate how in three years Syria has become the single largest origin for refugees worldwide – around one in seven Syrians has now fled their country, including one million children.
The statistics will also show that solutions for refugees are becoming harder to achieve. Fewer refugees are able to return home. Palestinian refugees still do not have a home; there are still almost three million Afghan refugees, many of whom have been outside their country for generations. The number of refugees who are resettled to richer countries remains stable but small, while the number offered the chance to integrate permanently in host countries is dwindling.
Afghan Former Refugees at UNHCR Returnee Camp. Sari Pul, Afghanistan. UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 via United Nations Photo Library Flickr.
The risk of World Refugee Day, like other international days, is that it will raise awareness of these and other challenges for a few days, before the media cycle and public attention moves on. But there are at least three ways that even passing interest can make a lasting difference.
First, a global overview provides the opportunity to place national concerns in a wider context. Many people and countries fear that they are under siege; that there are more asylum seekers, fewer of whom are recognised as refugees, who pose challenges to the welfare system, education and housing, and even national security. What the statistics invariably show, however, is that the large majority of refugees worldwide are hosted by poorer countries. Iran and Pakistan have hosted over one million Afghan refugees for over 30 years; there are millions of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. It is in these countries that refugees may have a real impact, on the environment or labour market or health services, for example, yet by and large these poorer countries and their citizens continue to extend hospitality to refugees.
Second, World Refugee Day should be the day not just to take stock of refugee numbers, but also to ask why their numbers are rising. Refugees are a symptom of failures in the international system. There is no end in sight for the current conflict in Syria. The withdrawal of most international troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014 is likely to make the country more insecure and generate a further exodus. Persistent and recurrent conflicts in Somalia, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to generate refugees. In all these countries poverty and inequality intersect with insecurity to drive people from their homes. Climate change is likely to exacerbate these effects.
In an effort to bring forth the latest research and make this World Refugee Day count, Oxford University Press has gathered a collection of noteworthy journal articles addressing the latest policies, trends and issues faced by refugees around the globe and made them freely available to you. Simply explore the map above for links to these free articles.
Third, World Refugee Day brings research to the fore. The statistics needs to be analysed and trends explained. The stories behind the statistics need to be explored. Why are so many asylum seekers risking their lives to travel long distances? What are the actual impacts – positive and negative – of asylum seekers and refugees? Researchers can also leverage passing media interest by providing evidence to correct misperceptions where they exist.
This is what I see as the purpose of the Journal of Refugee Studies: to publish cutting edge research on refugees; to correct public debate; to inform policy; and to maintain attention on one of the most pressing global issues of our time. Refugees deserve more than one day in the spotlight.
Dr. Khalid Koser is Deputy Director and Academic Dean at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy and Editor of the Journal of Refugee Studies. He was also recently appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to refugees and asylum seekers in the UK.
Journal of Refugee Studies aims to publish cutting edge research on refugees; to correct public debate; to inform policy; and to maintain attention on one of the most pressing global issues of our time. The Journal covers all categories of forcibly displaced people. Contributions that develop theoretical understandings of forced migration, or advance knowledge of concepts, policies and practice are welcomed from both academics and practitioners. Journal of Refugee Studies is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal, and is published in association with the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford.
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The post Making World Refugee Day count appeared first on OUPblog.
By: Paula Leyden,
on 6/20/2013
I was struck yesterday by a news item about a UN report that states that the number of refugees in the world is now at a twenty year high – with a person leaving their home to seek refuge and safety every four seconds. Every four seconds. That is the state of our world. Syria alone now accounts for 1.6 million refugees. And world wide 46 percent of refugees are under eighteen – essentially children by our own definition.
So last year approximately 2 million children left their homes, sometimes with parents, sometimes without, to find a safer place to live. Children born into war, prejudice and starvation. These two million joined the seven million who are already out there.
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Contrary to the image portrayed by some sectors of the media the majority of these refugees are being supported and looked after by the developing world – 86 percent of all refugees are in the care of the developing world.
And a statistic that took me by surprise, one in four of all refugees is from Afghanistan – and has been for the past 32 years. For 32 years there has been a steady stream of people fleeing Afghanistan in search of safety. A country that the US has spent $636,000,000,000 being at war with (and this number increases every second – see Cost of War website for the figures)
Today is World Refugee Day – the UN has a page detailing how people can help refugees and you can find it here. Small things can make a difference.
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By: Aline Pereira,
on 6/20/2012
An orphaned child
Oh! Oh! Oh!
Mother where are we?
My mind turned East, West, South and North
I could not believe
I looked all round; I could not get a sponsorOh! Oh! Oh!
Mother where is my father?
I cannot find my father
Who will pay my school fees?Oh! Oh! Oh!
Mother why is there no free education for refugees?
Shall we ever go back to our country?Oh! Oh! Oh!
Mother I wish I was in my country
I could continue with my education up to university
May god bring peace in our country Sudan?
Though I am an orphan
I would enjoy my sweet homelandName: Amoti Lillian, 15
School: Can-Rom Primary School, Primary 6
This poem comes from Refugee Children’s Voices: Thoughts and Art by Children Studying in UNHCR Settlements in Uganda, a booklet published by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in 2004 that can be downloaded from the Additional Resources in the Teachers’ Corner section of UNHCR’s website.
The UNHCR has just issued this video summarising the sobering 2011 UNHCR Global Trends Report…
This year the UNHCR invites us to show our support for the millions of refugees around the world by taking a pledge to spread the word of their plight – because “1 family torn apart by war is too many.”
By: Aline Pereira,
on 6/22/2008
In her post at the beginning of the month, Aline talked about books which help young people gain some insight into what it means to be a refugee, in light of World Refugee Day on the 20th June – and in fact we decided to bring her post up to the top on Friday to keep the day at the forefront of our minds.
She mentioned Four Feet, Two Sandals by Karen Williams and Khadra Mohammed (Eerdman, US 2008) and this really is a particularly special book for giving an idea of what life is like for children in a refugee camp.
Two other books for younger children which also highlight some of the difficulties faced by refugees but also, crucially, that in essence children are children the world over, are:
A True Person By Gabiann Marin, illustrated by Jacqui Grantford (New Frontier Publishing, 2007), in which a young girl, Zallah, is living with her mother in an Australian immigration detention centre, while they wait to hear if they will be allowed to stay in Australia - see our full review here; and…
One Green Apple by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Ted Lewin (Clarion Books, 2006), which tells the story of Farah, who has recently arrived in the US from the Middle East. She is not finding it easy to cope with a new culture and language – but on this, her second day of school, she is going on a field trip to an apple orchard and it is a chance for Farah and her classmates to make the first steps towards friendship and learn that there are ways to get over any barrier of language. Tone of voice, gestures, smiles – all these help to make Farah begin to feel welcome and recognise that some things can and will be just like they were at home.
Perhaps what makes the story so powerful is that Farah herself is the narrator – through the picture-book medium, Eve Bunting has given a clear voice to all those young people who arrive in a new place feeling vulnerable and unable to communicate. It is a story but it reflects certain aspects of reality – not everyone is nice and there are references to intolerance and impatience: but the overriding message for children in Farah’s situation is that it is possible to feel whole again; and it serves as a compelling reminder to children generally how to make a newcomer feel welcome and reassured.
Lewin’s stunning illustrations also deserve a special mention – they enhance the insight offered by the story through their perfectly attuned observation of body language as much as verbal communication; his children’s faces are perfect, whatever their expression. And the word luminosity comes to my mind every time I look at them, they are so enfused with dappled sunlight.
These are all well-written and beautifully presented books, which will make young children ponder, and probably ask lots of questions. Certainly they are best read aloud the first time they are introduced. Can anyone else recommend books for reading aloud to children which touch on the experiences of young refugees?
By: Rebecca,
on 12/20/2007
To celebrate the holidays we asked some of our favorite people in publishing what their favorite book was. Let us know in the comments what your favorite book is and be sure to check back throughout the week for more “favorites”.
Erin Cox, Book Publishing Director for The New Yorker, avid reader and lover of books.
Wow, to pick just one is actually quite hard. So, I’m going to actually list a few. Some old, some new.
Evidence of Things Unseen by Marianne Wiggins is a book that I’ve long mentioned I would like to read, but never actually had. One stormy afternoon this fall, I finished a book and thought, okay, now is the time. I started reading and didn’t look up until the room was so dark I couldn’t see anything. I spent the next two evenings ditching plans and reading into the night. I had to see what happened to Fos and Opal and Flash, the main characters of the book, who live in Tennessee post-World War I and are all enchanted by light in all its many forms. (more…)
