This paper reviews the existing research examining the impacts of refugee hosting through economic, social, political, environmental and security perspectives, identifying areas of consensus and debate and gaps in knowledge, policy and practice. It draws from the literature on forced migration and other research to consider how these assessments are made and where further tools […]
Refugees and the City: The Twenty-first-century Front Line — Research Paper No. 2
Robert Muggah, Adriana Erthal Abdenur Today, more than 60 percent of all refugees and 80 percent of all internally displaced persons are living in urban areas. While cities are periodically overwhelmed by sudden mass influxes of forced migrants, they are remarkably effective at absorbing populations on the move. With some exceptions, the international community — […]
From Rhetoric to Reality: Achieving Gender Equality for Refugee Women and Girls — Research Paper No. 3
Eileen Pittaway and Linda Bartolomei This paper addresses the international refugee regime’s failure, despite significant international law and policy developed over the past 30 years, to address the protection needs of refugee women and girls and to promote gender equality in policy and service provision. This failure results in serious human rights abuses and squanders […]
Mobilizing Political Will for Refugee Protection and Solutions: A Framework for Analysis and Action — Research Paper No. 1
Many commentators have suggested that the displacement of people across international borders is caused by a lack of “political will,” and that refugee situations could be averted, mitigated or resolved if only such will existed. However, there has been little serious analysis as to what “political will” means and how to generate and sustain it in a refugee context.
Keeping the Promise: Three Proposed Accountability Mechanisms for the Global Refugee Regime — Discussion Paper No. 1
Accountability is lacking at every point in the refugee cycle — from upstream, where refugee flows are triggered violently and with impunity by criminal regimes and non-state actors, to downstream, where governments shirk their treaty commitments and moral obligations for political gain. In many ways, the modern refugee regime represents a classic case of strong […]