Research and publications

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10315/38507

Scholarship and research submitted to the Forced Migration Research Archive.

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Access status: Open Access ,
Immigration Lawyers as Para-State Actors: Deportation of Non-Residents in Aotearoa New Zealand
(MDPI, 2025-04-19) Fadgen, Timothy; Oldfield, Luke
This article considers the role of lawyers and immigration advisers in the deportation process for non-resident visa holders in New Zealand. In the process, this article adds to a small but growing literature on the role of immigration officials in the immigration policy space. We use Lipsky’s concept of the street-level bureaucrat and Lakhani’s notion of ‘para-state’ actors—those outside the formal apparatus of the state who nonetheless serve a central role in policy implementation—to advance our understanding of the deportation process. This qualitative study engaged in in-depth interviews with twenty-two (22) immigration lawyers and advisers to explore their experiences. We identify several themes about the importance of formal and informal networks for developing advocacy skills and tactics; how the features of the immigration system, lower levels of judicial scrutiny of decisions, and lower evidentiary requirements create spaces for lawyer advocacy and creativity; and how participants shared a commitment to social justice and camaraderie in their work that was essential to interactions with state officials and others. We contend that these efforts have the potential to reshape the state’s bordering practices yet are an often-overlooked area of study.
Access status: Open Access ,
Encampment policy and public perception: a cross-country analysis of host community responses to Rohingya refugees
(Springer Nature, 2025-07-06) Keeni, Minakshi; Takashino, Nina
This study examines the influence of encampment policies on host community perceptions towards Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and Nepal, with an emphasis on how these perceptions shape the future of the refugees. Bangladesh, which has implemented an encampment policy, contrasts with Nepal, where no such policy exists. The research employs ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis to evaluate host community attitudes towards government policies, citizenship for newborns, and access to essential services like healthcare, jobs, education, and social security. The findings reveal that in Bangladesh, wealthier community members perceive less economic competition from refugees, particularly in job markets, due to the restrictions imposed by the encampment policy. However, social media in Bangladesh exacerbates negative perceptions, particularly concerning citizenship for Rohingya newborns, potentially hindering social cohesion. In Nepal, the absence of an encampment policy correlates with more negative perceptions among younger and economically vulnerable groups, who view refugees as competitors for limited resources. The study concludes that while encampment policies may mitigate immediate economic tensions, they risk deepening social divisions. Conversely, the lack of such policies in Nepal may lead to heightened resource competition and social tension. The research highlights the need for adaptive policy strategies that balance economic integration with social cohesion, ensuring sustainable refugee-host relations in both countries.
Access status: Open Access ,
Special Focus: Migration, Asylum and Refuge during a Pandemic: Perspectives of Migrants, Researchers and Practitioners
(Emerging Scholars and Practitioners on Migration Issues (ESPMI) Network, 2022-01) Douhaibi, Dacia; Kuzemska, Lidia; Szelei, Nikolett
Volume V of the Refugee Review journal entitled ‘Migration, Asylum and Refuge during a Global Pandemic: Perspectives of Migrants, Researchers and Practitioners’ explores four thematic areas related to the impact of global pandemic. Our first area of interest is "the effects of border closures and establishment of strict health protocols on mobility and immobility." Górczyńska looks at severely curtailed access to asylum at the borders of Poland that took place well before the recent migration ‘crisis’ at the Polish-Belarusian border in 2021. She argues that pandemic restrictions were used by the Polish authorities to justify border closures and denying access to asylum well before the pandemic. Haden analyses the sub-Saharan migrant communities in Morocco to explore the consequences of the externalization and securitization of the European Union’s migration and border policies to its neighbour countries on migrants’ access to healthcare. Nabi looks specifically at the situation of refugees in Lesbos during the Covid-19 and argues that refugees’ lives became a biopolitical terrain of struggle between efforts for invisibility by the states and the EU and visibility by the refugees. Bendel, Fackler and Wiese summarise the series of three online events where experts debated challenges to human rights of refugees that arose due to Covid-19 taking the cases of Western Africa, Libya, Greek island of Lesbos and Bavaria (Germany). The second area of interest for us to explore is "the intersectionality and COVID-19." For instance, Bhat explores the impact of Covid-19 on transnational care practices of Nigerian migrant women in Southern Europe. The paper argues that cross-border lens allows us to see broader impact of pandemic restrictions on marginalised communities at origin and destination countries. Owigo analyses the challenges Somalian women-returnees from Saudi Arabia face and gendered vulnerabilities they experience during migration cycle. Hucke explores the case of lesbian migrant women in South Africa who feel themselves in a situation of ‘double quarantine’ due to dual restrictions caused by the pandemic and restricted access to support. The third theme of this volume is "the impact of pandemic on the welfare of migrant communities." Kinawi focuses on the protection gap experienced by the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, whose socio-economic rights are not protected. Tobin, Momani, and Al Yakoub compare the impact of coronavirus prevention measures on Syrian refugees in Jordan who reside in camps and those who live in urban areas. Taking example of Bengaluru (India), Mangur and Sengupta look at the help provided by the civil society organisations to migrant labourers stranded by the lockdown. Golesorkhi, Fortson and Riedmann explore the impact of pandemic-related immobility exacerbated by the restrictions paused by the racial justice protests on mental health and livelihoods of refugees in Portland (US). This section concludes with reflections of impacts of the pandemic on migrant communities through the lens of two artists. Moran’s poem ‘Old Age Home’ painfully traces the experiences of a family Elder, lamenting the way he or she was pushed out of the family in old age. Through his work ‘Selfish Healthy’, De Santo illustrates the silent environmental externality of the pandemic – the significant waste produced. Finally, we are interested in "what noticeable and tangible changes the pandemic brought to lives and work of practitioners and migrants in all aspects of their lives." Cabitza, Da Mosto, Lesi and Levi discuss not only the intersectional impact of Covid-19 on women refugees and asylum seekers residing in reception centre in Bologna. They also explore the impact of pandemic on social workers who face increased workload and stricter rules they needed to abound. Totah explores how migrant artists from Arab region experienced lockdowns and expressed resilience in the face of the pandemic through their artwork.
Access status: Open Access ,
Insights from Refugee Men as They Navigate Intersecting Settlement Challenges and Renegotiate Gender Identities
(Taylor & Francis, 2025-06-02) Hughes, Mandy
Many refugee men have experienced significant trauma and face complex, interconnected challenges when settling into a new country. While the men require immediate assistance to meet their daily needs, such as securing housing and employment, in the longer term, they need support to build their confidence to navigate their new lives. Refugee men must negotiate unfamiliar social norms and learn “how to be a man” in their new home. Framed by intersectionality, the author examined the experiences of participants from an Australian refugee men’s social group to consider the challenges they faced and how these experiences overlapped with acculturation processes, such as renegotiating gender roles. Although the men’s group was not openly identified as a Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) prevention program, it embraced behaviour change strategies to develop trusting relationships within the group that encouraged conversations around gender norms to promote gender equality and family safety.
Access status: Open Access ,
Vulnerabilities of people with different types of disabilities in disasters: a rapid evidence review and qualitative research
(Wiley, 2025-05-12) Nguyen-Trung, Kien; Thuy, Trinh Thi Thu; Anh, Nguyen Phuong; Cong-Lem, Ngo; Huyen, Do Thi; Diu, Le Thi; Giang, Nguyen Hong; Simon, Michael
Despite the growth of disaster scholarship, the topic of how and why climate-related disasters and extreme weather events vary among people with different types of disabilities remains unexplored. To help fill the gap, this study draws on a larger research project that was co-designed by Water Sensitive Cities Australia at Monash University and the Hanoi Association of People with Disabilities, Vietnam. It utilised the dataset of a rapid evidence review of 33 studies, key informant interviews with 26 local stakeholders, and 52 interviews with people with various disabilities in Hanoi and Nghe An province, Vietnam. Using thematic analysis, we identified eight themes pertaining to socially-constructed difficulties facing people with disabilities: barriers to accessing disaster risk information and warnings; difficulties in understanding emergencies; challenges in communicating needs; evacuation and mobility hurdles; decreased sense of belonging and isolation; increased risk of getting sick; increased risk of developing mental health and behavioural disorders; and disrupted livelihood and loss of income.
Access status: Open Access ,
‘Homing’ and the Desire for ‘Homing’: Reading/Teaching Kamila Shamshie’s Kartography Through a Migrant’s Experience
(Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, 2024-12) Bhattacharya, Indira Chakraborty
The first attempt that one should make while talking about Refugee Studies or Migration Studies especially while teaching to any group of migrant youngsters about any particular text is to define under which category does that particular text fall, i.e., whether the text has been written by any migrant author who pens his/her experience as a migrant, or the content of the text is about migrants and their experiences in a particular place. The texts are roughly classified by scholars as into sub-categories of Migration Literature or "Ecriture Migrante/Ecriture Immigrantes" within the discipline of Literature. In a classroom before teaching these migrant texts it is necessary to build trust between the migrant student, the institutional system and the teacher to develop a sense of inclusivity that might make the migrant student a little more comfortable about reading migrant literatures and corelate with its relevance.
Access status: Open Access ,
Protection of Refugees in the Non-Signatory States to the 1951 Refugee Convention: Bangladesh Case Study
(Brill/Nijhoff, 2024-12) Haque, Muhammad Ekramul; Siddique, Md. Abu Bakar
The elements of refugee protection, whether in signatory or non-signatory states, indicate a holistic framework to ensure efficient and effective functioning of refugee governance across multiple levels of institutions, sectors, and actors. Protecting the most persecuted refugee communities in the world involves adopting fair, clear, and implementable laws that adhere to the principle of equality and non-discrimination, accountability to the law, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness, and procedural and legal transparency. The best practices in refugee protection integrate critical refugee needs with essential human rights elements, providing a basis for enhanced constitutionalism within diverse geographical settings. This article sheds light on both the institutional and legal structures of Bangladesh, concluding that, among other factors, refugees in non-signatory states to the 1951 Refugee Convention can find hope in the steady and progressive constitutionalism achievable through judicial interpretations to close the protection gap and fulfill respective Customary International Law (CIL) obligations, despite Bangladesh’s non-recognition of Rohingya as “refugees,” since this poses a significant road block to any sort of “steady and progressive constitutionalism” or “judicial interpretations.”
Access status: Open Access ,
Between Cities and Borders: Environmental Migration and Urban Mobility in the GBM Delta
(Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, 2024-12) Bhattacharyya, Somali
This article explores how environmental degradation, and disasters act as a catalyst to the neo-liberal shifts in urbanisation of the Global South in the 21st Century that challenges traditional concepts of mobility, belonging, and citizenship within and across borders, reshaping urban and rural identities and economies in the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) Delta. The Bengal Delta's environmental challenges—flooding, salinity intrusion, erosion and frequent cyclones—serve as a backdrop for examining urbanisation in the Global South and its intricate relationship with borders. As displaced populations move toward metropolitan centres like Kolkata and Dhaka, the dynamics of borders and urban spaces become critical in understanding how environmental migration shapes cities and citizenship.
Access status: Open Access ,
Audio-Visual Resources in Teaching Migration to Students Enrolled in Professional Courses
(Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, 2024-12) Saleem, Azeemah
This article discusses the outcomes and results of a phenomenological study of the professional students’ perceptions of the vulnerable, when imparted a value-based education on forced migration reflecting on the wide indifferences of the society towards the refugees and migrants and discussing pathways to integrate, accommodate and accept refugees and migrants in the society with sensitivity, empathy and with an ethical sense of moral responsibility. The objective of this study is to underline the significance of value-based education for professional students and identify the impact of audio-visual aids enhancing the quality of value of the knowledge transfer, and how an inclusive pedagogy on forced migration can develop empathy and sensitivity among the students.
Access status: Open Access ,
Innovative Methods of Research
(Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, 2024-12) Çağlar, Ayşe; GRAPPI, GIORGIO; Potts, Lydia; Farhad, Saima; MEZZADRA, SANDRO
In 2020, Calcutta Research Group organised a two-day Teachers’ Workshop on “Research Methodology and Syllabus Making in Migration and Forced Migration Studies”. Lydia Potts, Saima Farhad, Sandro Mezzadra and Giorgio Grappi and Ayse Caglar participated online in a roundtable titled “Innovative Methods of Research” that, as the title clearly indicates, was a discussion centred around the relatively new thematic approaches to migration studies for researchers and faculty. The discussion was moderated by Lydia Potts while Saima Farhad responded to the panellists. The following is a transcript of the discussion, edited only for grammar, otherwise, unchanged.
Access status: Open Access ,
Teaching Literature of Economic Migration
(Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, 2024-12) Karinkurayil, Mohamed Shafeeq
Teaching literatures of migration in a multicultural classroom cannot be isolated from the textual entanglements with other media through which such a literature maps on to a culture. This essay will deliberate on how economic migration in the contemporary world differs from the earlier phases of diasporas, reflect on the critical analysis of its representation in contemporary literature on migration and highlight the fault lines of such conceptualisation. Further, it delves on practices in classroom in the teaching of this literature, and possible outcomes of such a course on literatures of migration.
Access status: Open Access ,
For whom is the house kept? Making ICESCR work to counter discrimination against migrants and refugees in access to adequate housing
(Sage Journals, 2025-03-13) Atalay, Serde
With a critical focus on the interpretative work of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, this article sets out the parameters of applying non-discrimination under article 2(2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in conjunction with article 11(1) on the right to adequate housing to discrimination suffered by migrants and refugees in access to existing housing. By placing a specific emphasis on understanding states parties’ obligations under the Covenant, the article clarifies the standards applicable for examining discrimination against migrants and refugees in access to housing through a structured account. This account contributes to existing scholarship both on the Covenant in general, and the right to adequate housing in particular. Offering a methodical explanation of how state accountability could be secured to remedy the harms of discrimination against migrants and refugees in access to housing, the article shines light on the normative value and potential of the Covenant in this context.
Access status: Open Access ,
The Uncounted and Unseen Challenges of Refugee Foster Families in Kampala, Uganda
(Sage Journals, 2024-12-24) Oriel Kagan, Manya; Shanee, Noga
Uganda is known for its open-door policies towards refugees, currently hosting over 1.5 million refugees, 60–65% of whom are children. National self-reliance strategies grant refugees who live in urban settings freedom of movement and employment and expect them to be mostly self-sufficient in exchange. Families within the refugee community are fostering unaccompanied refugee children, as this is considered the best solution for them by the Ugandan state and international organisations. We used ethnographic and quantitative methods, including in-depth interviews, questionnaires and participant observation, to assess the living situation of refugee foster families in Kampala. Our sample included 52 foster families who were caring for a total of 289 children. The findings raised four overarching themes: (1) Circumstances and reasoning for fostering unaccompanied children; (2) Formalisation of explicit foster registration; (3) Differences in care and living conditions; and (4) Ambiguous organisational support. Fostering was either direct by family members or friends, or indirect through the intervention of a church or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) implementing non-governmental organisations (NGOs) but has never followed national processes to formalise fostering or adoption. Based on the self-reliance policies, refugee foster families in Kampala do not receive adequate support or supervision from any institution, and fostered children remain acutely vulnerable, especially since the economic crises related to Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine. We argue that the lack of recognition and financial and emotional support for foster families hinders community-based solutions. These conditions, coupled with the lack of proper supervision and control, encourage less altruistic fostering and more abusive and exploitative treatment of unaccompanied children.
Access status: Open Access ,
Dilemmatic Border Protection: Indonesia’s International Obligation for Refugees vs National Interests
(Brill/Nijhoff, 2024-12) AFRIANSYAH, ARIE; Hatta, Muhammad Syahravi
The global refugee crisis has placed significant strain on host and transit countries, with Indonesia facing its own challenges amid rising numbers of Rohingya refugees. This article examines Indonesia’s maritime border protection architecture in the context of its international obligations and national interests. Indonesia, an archipelagic nation with vast maritime borders, has historically welcomed refugees but struggles with limited resources, legal complexities, and security concerns. The influx of Rohingya refugees, particularly from Myanmar’s ongoing conflicts, has sparked tensions within local communities, exacerbated by misinformation and social unrest. Indonesia’s response involves balancing humanitarian commitments with border security. While the country is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it adheres to the principle of non-refoulement and collaborates with the UNHCR to manage refugee arrivals. However, concerns over human smuggling and organized crime challenge law enforcement efforts. This article explores how Indonesia reconciles legal enforcement with refugee protection, analyzing policy frameworks, enforcement mechanisms, and regional implications. The study highlights the need for a clearer national strategy to manage maritime border security while upholding international human rights standards. It concludes that stronger coordination and regional cooperation are crucial in addressing Indonesia’s refugee dilemma.
Access status: Open Access ,
Navigating contradictions: justifications and imaginaries of the initiators of European migration information campaigns
(Wiley, 2024-12-27) Schenetti, Cecilia; Mazzucato, Valentina; Wyatt, Sally; Schans, Djamila
European states employ migration information campaigns (MICs) to discourage irregular migration to Europe by people from the Global South. Campaigns are justified by their initiators in various ways. On the one hand, campaigns are said to protect ‘potential migrants’ by helping them to make informed decisions (‘care’). On the other hand, campaigns respond to Europe's security objective of restricting migration flows (‘control’). Researchers have looked at various intermediaries involved in these campaigns. Yet, little attention has been given to individual European policy actors who decide on the funding and design of campaigns and how they navigate between campaigns' contradictory intentions to care for ‘potential migrants’ and to control borders. How do European campaign initiators justify the need for MICs? And what does this tell us about the migration imaginaries of those who develop migration governance measures? Based on interviews with European policymakers and campaign designers in the Netherlands and Senegal, this article examines their discursive acts of legitimation. It shows that in justifying their everyday work, they imagine themselves as humanitarian actors, and ‘potential migrants’ as depoliticized subjects in need of care. While initiators do sometimes examine campaigns critically, they build a worldview in which care is instrumental to border enforcement and in which compassion becomes a form of repressive ‘soft’ bordering.
Access status: Open Access ,
Public Health, Migrant Workers, and a Global Pandemic: Towards a New Politics of Life
(Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, 2021-06) Mitra , Iman
Access status: Open Access ,
Gender, Development Induced Displacement, and Resistance: Women Uprooted by River Erosion in West Bengal and Bangladesh
(Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, 2016-06) Sen, Sreya
Approximately three quarters of the world refugee and IDP population is comprised of women and children. Due to numerous factors, including restricted access to employment, resources and education, inadequate reproductive health care, and exclusion from matters of decision making, women constitute one of the most vulnerable categories among the internally displaced. In South Asia particularly, the power of the state is always weighted largely against women, and women often end up being the worst victims of the phenomenon of displacement. In spite of their victimisation, displaced women are often seen to create and organise movements for seeking justice. Hence, displaced women should never only be viewed as victims, as doing so would be a negation of their experiences and agency. Recurrent river erosion on the banks of south western Bangladesh in areas such as Khulna has resulted, since early 2000, in a massive displacement of the local population due to different development projects, for example, shrimp farming. Simultaneously, the slow but steady erosion of the river Ganges, owing to the construction of the Farakka Barrage in the district of Malda in West Bengal, India, has resulted in the people residing in the area losing their homes. This paper will draw upon archival sources of data – national and state government reports on policy and planning, district human development reports, reports generated by non-governmental organisations (both local and international) working in the river erosion affected areas of Malda and Khulna, the UN Charters on Internal Displacement, news material from national and sub-national dailies, and local newspapers published in Malda and Khulna – to examine the impact of river erosion induced displacement on the lives of women. It will also explore how these women have emerged as forces of resistance to the process of displacement instead of being victimised by it. In what ways do women depend on resettlement policies undertaken by the government and other organisations for their wellbeing? How do they cope, and what are the means by and through which they combat the phenomenon of displacement?
Access status: Open Access ,
Invisibilization of the unwanted Others? Feminist, queer, and postcolonial perspectives on the 1951 Refugee Convention’s drafting
(Elsevier, 2024-09-18) Krause, Ulrike
The 1951 Refugee Convention represents the legal cornerstone of today’s global refugee protection, which is supposed to apply to all refugees regardless of their origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation. But did the Convention’s drafters have such a complex approach in mind? This paper analyzes the Convention’s drafting at the United Nations and the final conference in the late 1940s and early 1950s from feminist, queer, and postcolonial perspectives. By drawing on subalternity and absence, and using interpretive analysis of historical sources, the paper focuses on politics—who was (not) involved in debates—and policy—who was (not) considered under the refugee definition. The analysis reveals pervasive asymmetries, with western androcentrism inherently shaping the drafting. The western, white, heterosexual man was the standard filter for the powerful decision-maker and the protection subject, whereas women, LGBTQ+ and colonized people were neglected in politics and policy. Their exclusion was not merely a side effect of the political landscape at the time but reflects the reproduction of western androcentric power, which ultimately invisibilized the subaltern Others in the creation of international refugee law.
Access status: Open Access ,
Surviving Exile. Queer Displaced People’s Lived Experiences of Aid, Risks and Coping in Kakuma
(Springer Nature, 2024-10-12) Krause, Ulrike; Segadlo, Nadine
This paper examines the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ displaced individuals in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya. Drawing on situated knowledge and relational agency, it delves into how queer people experience the humanitarian-aid system on-site, what risks they encounter, and how they exert agency to cope with the prevalent challenges of day to day life. Findings reveal that, in a country context where same-sex relations are illegalized and queer people criminalized, those displaced face heightened risks. They are confronted with the heteronormative paradigms inherent to the humanitarian-aid system, ones resulting in their neglect and denied access to much-needed assistance and protection. Structural and physical violence such as discrimination, exclusion, harassment and threats of murder exacerbate unrelenting fears and tangible risks in the camp. To navigate these challenges, they employ diverse individual and especially collective coping strategies, creating safe spaces for mutual support, exchange and hope.
Access status: Open Access ,
Making sense of peace in exile? Displaced people’s intersectional perceptions of peace
(Taylor & Francis, 2024-11-12) Edler, Hannah; Krause, Ulrike; Segadlo, Nadine
This article enquires into how people with lived experiences of conflict and displacement make sense of peace in exile. For the analysis, the article focuses on displaced individuals in Kenya and Germany and theoretically complements the varieties of peace framework, situated knowledge and an intersectional approach. Findings reveal multifaceted perceptions revolving around the three dimensions of structural, collective and individual peace, outlooks shaped by gender-specific experiences, religious beliefs and familial relations. Interlocutors associate structural peace with experiences of sociopolitical, economic and legal conditions in exile, collective peace with support systems and harmonious interactions in communities, and individual or inner peace with desires for and feelings of happiness, hope and healing. Although analytically distinguishable, these three dimensions are inherently intertwined in interlocutors’ daily lives due to their lived experiences prior to and once in exile.

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