tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/refugees-318/articlesRefugees – The Conversation2024-03-27T03:24:35Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2267132024-03-27T03:24:35Z2024-03-27T03:24:35ZThe consequences of the government’s new migration legislation could be dire – for individuals and for Australia<p>The Albanese government came to power with <a href="https://twitter.com/AlboMP/status/1154510763433684992?lang=en">a promise</a> to be “strong on borders without being weak on humanity”. </p>
<p>But there was little humanity in parliament yesterday as the government tried to force through some of the most draconian migration laws this country has seen in decades. The draft legislation was distributed to MPs and introduced in the lower house for debate <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-26/government-suddenly-brings-on-legislation-deportation-powers/103632704">just hours</a> later.</p>
<p>Today, the senate <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-27/coalition-wont-support-immigration-legislation/103638462">stopped the bill</a> in its tracks, referring it to a committee instead of passing it just before a parliamentary break.</p>
<p>In a radical departure from the existing framework, the government is seeking to further criminalise the migration system. The consequences could be disastrous.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-is-fighting-a-new-high-court-case-on-immigration-detainees-whats-it-about-and-whats-at-stake-226120">The government is fighting a new High Court case on immigration detainees. What's it about and what's at stake?</a>
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<h2>What would the laws do?</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r7179">Migration Amendment (Removal and Other Measures) Bill</a> proposes amendments to the Migration Act to deal with situations where non-citizens subject to removal are not cooperating with government authorities, or where their own government refuses to take them back. </p>
<p>It is widely understood to be a response to the High Court’s ruling in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-high-court-has-decided-indefinite-detention-is-unlawful-what-happens-now-217438">November 2023</a> that found indefinite immigration detention to be unlawful. </p>
<p>It’s also considered an attempt to pre-empt <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/government-sweats-on-critical-new-court-challenge-on-immigration-detainees-20240315-p5fcro.html">further litigation</a> scheduled in the High Court. The case of an Iranian man refusing to cooperate in his deportation is due before the court <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-is-fighting-a-new-high-court-case-on-immigration-detainees-whats-it-about-and-whats-at-stake-226120">next month</a>.</p>
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<p>However, the amendments introduced in the bill go far beyond addressing this issue. They have wide-ranging impacts for how non-citizens are treated in Australia, and indeed for Australia’s relationship with governments around the world. </p>
<p>As such, it is particularly concerning the government tried to rush the bill through parliament without the opportunity for proper scrutiny or review. While a senate committee hearing is a welcome development, it won’t fix everything. </p>
<h2>Criminalising non-cooperation</h2>
<p>The bill gives the minister new powers to compel people who have exhausted their options to stay in Australia to cooperate and take steps towards their own removal. This would apply not only to people affected by the High Court’s ruling last year, but also to certain bridging visa holders. </p>
<p>Extraordinarily, it would also apply to “any other non-citizens” the minister might seek to designate through the migration regulations. </p>
<p>The powers include directing individuals to sign and submit documents to facilitate their departure, attend appointments, and provide any other information as required. In the case of families, if the parents are affected non-citizens, they can be directed to help facilitate the removal of their children, irrespective of whether it is in the child’s best interests.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/government-rushing-through-bill-to-crack-down-on-uncooperative-non-citizens-it-is-trying-to-remove-226615">Government rushing through bill to crack down on 'uncooperative' non-citizens it is trying to remove</a>
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<p>Anyone who fails to comply with these directions without a “reasonable excuse” will face a mandatory jail term of between one and five years, a A$93,900 fine, or both. The fact that someone faces a real risk of persecution or other serious harm will not be considered a reasonable excuse. </p>
<p>These are extraordinary provisions without precedent in Australia. Even in the context of terrorism offences, a failure to comply with a direction does not result in mandatory imprisonment. </p>
<p>The closest comparisons are offences under various state laws concerning failure to disclose identity, which may be punished by up to 12 months’ imprisonment. In some states, reportable offenders, such as child sex offenders, who fail to produce electronic devices when directed by police, may face up to five years in prison. </p>
<p>However, in all these cases, these are maximum sentences, not a mandatory minimum sentence. As the Law Council of Australia President <a href="https://lawcouncil.au/media/media-releases/removal-bill-causes-rule-of-law-and-human-rights-concerns">put it</a>: “In effect, this Bill will implement mandatory sentencing”.</p>
<h2>Concerns for fast-track asylum seekers</h2>
<p>Section 199D of the bill attempts to ensure that the new powers are not used to remove individuals to a country where they would face a real risk of persecution or other serious harm. </p>
<p>But there is a risk the bill could still lead to people who do have protection claims being forced to return to countries where their life or freedom is threatened. There are particular concerns for people assessed under Australia’s fast-track asylum processes. </p>
<p>The Labor party has acknowledged these processes have not been <a href="https://alp.org.au/media/2594/2021-alp-national-platform-final-endorsed-platform.pdf">“fair, thorough and robust”</a>, meaning people with genuine refugee claims may have been denied protection. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-the-governments-preventative-detention-bill-heres-how-the-laws-will-work-and-what-they-mean-for-australias-detention-system-219226">What is the government's preventative detention bill? Here's how the laws will work and what they mean for Australia's detention system</a>
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<p>Others could also be at risk of removal contrary to Australia’s protection obligations if their personal circumstances or the situation in their home country has changed since their original protection claim was determined. </p>
<p>The Refugee Council of Australia has warned about these risks and shared its <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/new-legislation-puts-refugees-failed-by-fast-track-process-at-risk/">concerns</a> that “those who do have strong claims, but have not had a fair hearing or review, will be sent back to real harm.” </p>
<h2>Countries can be blacklisted</h2>
<p>The bill also gives the minister a new power to “blacklist” entire countries and prevent their citizens from applying for Australian visas.</p>
<p>This is a discretionary power that requires little consultation and is unlikely to be subject to administrative or judicial review. The only limitations on this power are that the minister first consults with the prime minister and minister for foreign affairs. The immigration minister must also detail why they think it is in the national interest to make such a decision.</p>
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<p>The travel bans are intended to force targeted countries to cooperate and accept the return of their own nationals. But in practice, they will prevent people who may wish to work, study in or visit Australia from leaving – through no fault of their own. </p>
<p>Travel bans could also have unintended consequences. Diplomatic relations between countries may sour following such decisions, and countries may opt to <a href="https://sgp.fas.org/crs/homesec/IF11025.pdf">retaliate</a> in other ways, whether through trade, tourism or other matters of international concern. </p>
<p>The issue of international cooperation concerning the return of nationals to their home country is a diplomatic one that should be negotiated in good faith between political leaders. It is quite likely that inducements rather than threats would work better. </p>
<p>Other countries may also simply be unmoved to take any further steps to facilitate returns, or may even welcome their citizens not being able to visit Australia. It is important to remember that not all countries wish for their citizenry to be able to leave.</p>
<h2>Walking the walk</h2>
<p>At a time when the immigration minister has <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AndrewGiles/Pages/refugee-communities-assoc-aust-conf-21092023.aspx">emphasised</a> the “importance of lived experience in shaping national and international dialogue and policy” and claimed that the “government walk the walk on meaningful participation for refugees”, it is disappointing to see attempts to rush this bill through parliament without any consultation with refugee communities and other stakeholders, and very limited scrutiny. </p>
<p>The Albanese government is continuing the tradition of governments before it by attempting to ram legislation through parliament that severely curtails human rights and is disproportionate to its stated objectives. Both the government and the opposition have a vested interest in passing laws that further expand the minister’s discretionary powers, which are already ill-suited to a liberal democracy. </p>
<p>But the changes will have far-reaching consequences for both our migration program and our foreign policy objectives, and demand further democratic scrutiny.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane McAdam receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a member of the expert sub-committee of the Ministerial Advisory Council on Skilled Migration. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Ghezelbash receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the NSW Government. He is a member of the management committee of Refugee Advice and Casework Services and Wallumatta Legal, and a Special Counsel at the National Justice Project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeline Gleeson and Tristan Harley do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government has failed in its attempt to ram unprecedented changes to the migration act through parliament. The laws, now being reviewed by a senate committee, could be disastrous.Jane McAdam, Scientia Professor and Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyDaniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW SydneyMadeline Gleeson, Senior Research Fellow, Andrew & Renata Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyTristan Harley, Senior Research Associate, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2245152024-03-27T00:47:11Z2024-03-27T00:47:11ZGangs, kidnappings, murders: why thousands of Rohingya are desperately trying to escape refugee camps by boats<p>Late last week, a boat crammed with Rohingya refugees fleeing a squalid camp in Bangladesh capsized off the coast of Indonesia. Around 75 people were rescued, including nine children, but <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-25/three-rohingya-found-at-sea-indonesia-aceh/103626938">more than 70 are missing and presumed dead</a>. </p>
<p>This tragedy isn’t an isolated incident. The number of Rohingya people trying to escape refugee camps by boat has skyrocketed in recent months. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/myanmar">UN High Commissioner for Refugees</a>, 1,783 Rohingya refugees boarded boats from Bangladesh from January to October 1, 2023. Since then, around 3,100 people have embarked on these treacherous journeys – an increase of nearly 74%.</p>
<p>Since January 2023, around 490 Rohingya have been reported dead or <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/myanmar">missing</a>, including 280 since October 1. </p>
<p>Their attempts to reach countries like Malaysia and most recently Indonesia are <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/indonesia/rohingya-refugees-facing-hostile-reception-aceh">being met with refusals and pushbacks</a>, leaving many Rohingya stranded at sea and vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking and even death.</p>
<p>Why are so many Rohingya trying to flee in recent months? And how should the international community respond to this increasingly desperate humanitarian crisis? </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379050392_As_long_as_we_are_stateless_we_will_have_tension_Idioms_of_distress_amongst_Rohingya_Refugees_in_Cox's_Bazar_Bangladesh">new article</a> recently submitted for peer review, we (two Australian academics and six anonymous Rohingya activists) describe the “push factors” that have been identified in community-based research in the camps, which are forcing many people to board boats to try to reach safety. </p>
<h2>Living with constant tension</h2>
<p>The nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees now living in Bangladesh are survivors of a massive Myanmar military operation in 2017 aimed at driving them from their homes in western Rakhine state. </p>
<p>Estimates of the number of people killed during the operation range from around <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(19)30037-3/fulltext">7,800</a> to <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3242696">24,000</a>. The United Nations has called it a “<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2017/09/564622-un-human-rights-chief-points-textbook-example-ethnic-cleansing-myanmar">textbook example of ethnic cleansing</a>” and <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/02/1133597">genocide</a>.</p>
<p>Even before they were forced across the border, the Rohingya people had been subjected to decades of discrimination, denial of citizenship, exclusion from schools and work, restrictions on freedom of movement and <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/myanmar-apartheid-against-rohingya">violence</a> from authorities. </p>
<p>Now, trapped in limbo in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh, they are experiencing many of the same things.</p>
<p>In 2019, we conducted on-the-ground interviews with 27 Rohingya community experts living in Cox’s Bazaar, including teachers, mothers, religious leaders, spiritual healers, youths and activists. We wanted to know how Rohingya people understand and describe the psychological impacts of genocide and displacement. </p>
<p>This understanding is important because most mental health services are based on Western terminology like “depression”, “anxiety” or “stress”. But these may not properly fit the Rohingya experience. Instead, we found the English word “tension” (in Rohingya, <em>sinta</em>) was used by many refugees, which conveys feelings of worry, concern and anxiety and captures the experience of being stateless.</p>
<p>As two anonymous adolescent Rohingya women described it to us:</p>
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<p>There is no opportunity to do anything, all we do is stay inside.</p>
<p>Tension is loss. We’ve lost land, children, husband, that’s why we feel tension. </p>
<p>Tension is neck pain. Tension is throat, shoulders and head pain. </p>
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<p>After conducting our interviews, we then developed a pictorial model of “tension”, as Rohingya is an oral language. The model (below) showed how being “opportunity-less” – from lack of work, education or freedom of movement – sits at the centre of tension. </p>
<p>Our interview subjects told us lack of opportunity leads to thinking too much, pain in the body and conflict in the family, between families and with the Bangladeshi community. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/584619/original/file-20240327-28-4jjhqs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=666&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Why the situation has become even more dire</h2>
<p>The six Rohingya activists who helped us to conduct this research have since described to us how these sources of tension have worsened since 2019.</p>
<p>Like so many in their communities, they have personally experienced arbitrary arrest, fabricated legal cases and <a href="https://www.fortifyrights.org/bgd-inv-2023-08-10/">imprisonment</a> by the Bangladeshi authorities.</p>
<p>After dark, the “night government” (armed groups) roam the camps, kidnapping and demanding ransoms from families, threatening people in their <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2417091/world">homes</a>, trafficking <a href="https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Armed-Rohingya-gangs-kill,-abduct-and-sow-fear-in-Cox's-Bazar-57510.html">drugs</a> and killing anyone who tries to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/16/armed-group-behind-rohingya-leaders-murder-bangladesh-police">speak up</a>. Women and girls are targeted for <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/opinion/closer-look/news/why-are-rohingya-women-and-girls-so-unsafe-refugee-camps-2911316">assault and trafficking</a>. </p>
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<p>The camps are also fenced off, like open-air prisons. This means the refugees are trapped when fires break out, which happens frequently. In January, a huge fire <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-12/rohingya-refugees-fire-coxs-bazar-january/103415134">spread quickly</a> in the congested encampments, destroying some 800 shelters and leaving 7,000 people homeless. </p>
<p>And with civil war raging inside Myanmar across the border, some Rohingya in Bangladesh have even been killed by <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/news/cross-border/news/2-killed-ghumdhum-mortar-shell-myanmar-explodes-bangladesh-3536756">stray mortar shells</a>.</p>
<p>Bangladesh, one of the most <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/344470001_COVID-19_pandemic_dengue_epidemic_and_climate_change_vulnerability_in_Bangladesh_Scenario_assessment_for_strategic_management_and_policy_implications">densely populated and poorest</a> countries in the world, cannot address these push factors in the camps without support. International aid for the Rohingya, meanwhile, continues to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/13/un-makes-appeal-calling-for-more-than-850-mn-for-rohingya-refugees">rapidly decline</a>. </p>
<h2>What Australia and regional partners should do</h2>
<p>What can – and should – the international community do to find a durable solution to this problem?</p>
<p>As a well-resourced regional partner, Australia can play a much bigger humanitarian role not focused solely on punishing people smugglers or the refugees themselves through <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/asylum-boats-statistics/">boat turnbacks</a>.</p>
<p>When people are faced with such dire conditions, they will move, no matter the cost. As recent refugee boat arrivals in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-19/beagle-bay-residents-on-asylum-seeker-arrivals-in-wa/103483398">Australia</a> and Indonesia demonstrate, boat turnbacks and arrests fail to address the root causes of forced migration. They do not “stop the boats”.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/amid-a-worsening-refugee-crisis-public-support-is-high-in-both-australia-and-nz-to-accept-more-rohingya-199504">Amid a worsening refugee crisis, public support is high in both Australia and NZ to accept more Rohingya</a>
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<p>Here are our recommendations for what Australia, New Zealand and their regional partners should do instead to help the Rohingya people:</p>
<p>1. Exert diplomatic pressure on the Myanmar junta to recognise Rohingya citizenship and facilitate a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict in Rakhine state so the refugees can return home.</p>
<p>2. Address the shortfall in <a href="https://humanitarianadvisorygroup.org/the-silent-decay-of-international-aid-to-rohingya-refugees/">funding</a> to humanitarian organisations working in Bangladesh to address the immediate needs of Rohingya refugees, including food, shelter, health care, proper education and psychosocial support. Invest in the resilience of refugees.</p>
<p>3. Increase pressure on Bangladesh to improve conditions in the refugee camps and provide livelihood opportunities for Rohingya refugees. This includes advocating for policies that allow refugees to work legally and contribute to the local <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/aug/23/five-years-rohingya-refugees-2017-bangladesh-myanmar-military-crackdown">economy</a>.</p>
<p>4. Prioritise resettlement opportunities for Rohingya refugees in third countries, especially those who have been displaced since the 1990s. Resettlement offers a durable solution for those in need of international protection, providing them with the opportunity to rebuild their lives in safety and with dignity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224515/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The number of Rohingya trying to escape Bangladesh by boat has risen 74% since October. Increasing lawlessness in the camps is one of the major push factors.Ruth Wells, Senior research fellow, Psychiatry and Mental Health, UNSW SydneyMax William Loomes, Senior Researcher, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2249572024-03-04T19:21:54Z2024-03-04T19:21:54ZNZ can help people fleeing Gaza with emergency family reunification – will the government act?<p>In the looming shadow of a threatened Israeli <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-rafah.html">invasion of Rafah</a> at the onset of Ramadan, New Zealand has the opportunity to extend a lifeline to families trapped in the middle of the war in Gaza. </p>
<p>The dire humanitarian situation has been <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/preliminary-assessment-economic-impact-destruction-gaza-and-prospects-economic-recovery-unctad-rapid-assessment-january-2024-enar">well-documented</a>: more than 30,000 lives lost, nearly a fifth of buildings destroyed, countless people injured and lacking basic necessities. </p>
<p>Estimates from Palestinian New Zealanders put the number of Gazans with a family connection to New Zealand at approximately 400. Some 40 Palestinian families have already committed to hosting family members trapped in Gaza. </p>
<p>Given New Zealand’s previous responses in similar refugee crises, such family-focused assistance would be possible. The government has yet to commit to an intake. But last December, the <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/301022516/pressure-mounts-on-government-to-help-families-of-nz-citizens-escape-gaza-conflict">immigration minister acknowledged</a> an openness to adjusting the response in light of the escalating conflict. Now is the time to make such adjustments.</p>
<p>Previous examples include the family reunification pathways created for Ukrainian nationals in 2022, and the intake of 200 human rights activists and 1,533 people from Afghanistan after the Taliban returned in 2021.</p>
<p>Further back, previous National or National-led governments have accommodated such intakes: 600 extra places were made available to Syrians when John Key was prime minister, 600 family places were offered to people in Kosovo when Jenny Shipley was in power.</p>
<p>Despite initial estimates of about 4,000 eligible Ukrainian family members, fewer than 1,000 have actually arrived in New Zealand. And it may be that only a fraction of the eligible Palestinians in Gaza would take up the offer. But acting quickly and giving those people a choice should be the priority right now. </p>
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<h2>Practical compassion</h2>
<p>Getting out of Gaza, of course, is not easy. Gazans given a visa to join family in Canada, for example, have been <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/palestinian-canadians-visa-delays-1.7105188">struggling to exit</a> at the Egyptian border. </p>
<p>Infrastructure is seriously damaged, making it difficult to communicate and determine where people are located. Social media platform WhatsApp is often the only way to connect with family trapped in Gaza. </p>
<p>Furthermore, issuing visas will not be enough. There needs to be robust consular assistance to get people out whenever possible. For such an intake to work, it would likely need coordination across diplomatic channels, with potential assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN Relief and Works Agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/other-nations-are-applying-sanctions-and-going-to-court-over-gaza-should-nz-join-them-224132">Other nations are applying sanctions and going to court over Gaza – should NZ join them?</a>
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<p>There is also the question of how to support family members once they arrive, albeit with a vibrant Palestinian community ready to welcome them. </p>
<p>However, as someone who specialises in refugee issues, I work with a team that has looked into the benefits of functioning family reunification pathways. The data is clear that a united family means better settlement outcomes, both for those who arrive and those who receive them. </p>
<p>Beyond the emotional and psychological benefits, reunified families show higher levels of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1177083X.2023.2214606">economic participation</a> and educational enrolment, challenging often misguided assumptions about the strain on host countries’ resources.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-egypt-refuses-to-open-its-border-to-palestinians-forcibly-displaced-from-gaza-223735">Why Egypt refuses to open its border to Palestinians forcibly displaced from Gaza</a>
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<h2>Better systems needed</h2>
<p>The humanitarian imperative of such a programme can’t be overstated. More than seven decades of political unrest and conflict – 15 wars, five since 2008 – has left countless families in Gaza fragmented and grappling with endless uncertainty. </p>
<p>Even if there’s a temporary ceasefire, given the scale of devastation and time needed for reconstruction, options to resettle families will be needed. </p>
<p>New Zealand’s normal annual commitment to taking in 600 family members in the Refugee Family Support Category reflects the importance of family bonds in the resettlement process. </p>
<p>However, the existing system has real limitations: lengthy processes – including a ten-year backlog – and narrow inclusion criteria. This means a more immediate and flexible approach is required. This is where emergency family intakes can play a pivotal role.</p>
<p>Lessons from the wars in Afghanistan, Ukraine and now Gaza should lead to a more formal and practical pathway for New Zealanders to sponsor families in war zones. Rather than the current case-by-case approach (often at ministerial discretion), an ongoing annual commitment to family reunification in acute crises should be considered.</p>
<p>This would also avoid the discrepancies of helping Ukrainian families, for example, but being silent on other less prominent crises.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gaza-war-will-israel-respond-to-us-pressure-to-tread-carefully-in-rafah-there-is-a-precedent-224171">Gaza war: will Israel respond to US pressure to tread carefully in Rafah? There is a precedent</a>
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<h2>Matching what others are doing</h2>
<p>While the situation in Gaza is making headlines, there are other largely <a href="https://www.nrc.no/news/2022/june/the-worlds-ten-most-neglected-crises-are-all-in-africa/">forgotten wars</a> where New Zealand could also step up to protect families. In Myanmar, Sudan, Cameroon and Ethiopia, for example, there are immediate risks to lives and an urgent need for assistance.</p>
<p>By instituting a formalised system of emergency family intake, New Zealand would not only honour its commitments to human rights principles, it would also match initiatives already taken by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/21/immigration-minister-andrew-giles-palestinian-visas-fearmongering-coalition-accusation-security-checks">Australia</a> and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2024/01/temporary-resident-pathway-opens-for-palestinian-extended-family-in-gaza.html">Canada</a>. </p>
<p>As one resettled refugee in New Zealand put it: “When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled.” </p>
<p>Establishing a fair and functional pathway to protect those families with connections to New Zealand aligns with the country’s commitment to upholding human rights on the global stage.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jay Marlowe receives funding from Te Apārangi Royal Society New Zealand as a current Rutherford Discovery Fellow. </span></em></p>Palestinian families in New Zealand are poised to sponsor relatives trying to flee Gaza. National-led governments have allowed such intakes in past crises – and here’s how it could work now.Jay Marlowe, Professor, Co-Director Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata RauLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2239572024-02-21T04:06:34Z2024-02-21T04:06:34ZBy boat or by plane? If you’re seeking asylum in Australia, the outcome is similarly bleak<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/576913/original/file-20240221-18-tl88st.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=18%2C0%2C4071%2C2299&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/refugees-boat-floating-on-sea-341539700">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-18/asylum-seekers-moved-to-nauru-mid-political-row/103481494">39 foreign nationals</a> arrived in a remote part of Western Australia by boat. This revived dormant debates about border security.</p>
<p>People without visas come to Australia by air and sea, though we only ever seem to hear about the latter. Unlike unauthorised air arrivals, unauthorised maritime arrivals (people without visas that arrive by boat without permission) are given high media visibility. This feeds a narrative that the country has lost control of its borders, which in turn creates a political problem for the government of the day. </p>
<p>But behind the headlines, what actually happens when people arrive in Australia without permission, whether by boat or by plane?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/boat-arrivals-sent-to-nauru-and-sovereign-borders-commander-warns-against-politicising-the-issue-223822">Boat arrivals sent to Nauru, and Sovereign Borders commander warns against politicising the issue</a>
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<h2>What is Australia obligated to do?</h2>
<p>Anyone who’s not an Australian citizen is required to have authorisation in the form of a visa to enter and remain in the country. </p>
<p>What Australia can do to deal with unauthorised arrivals is limited by its international treaty obligations. The United Nations Refugee <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/au/about-unhcr/who-we-are/1951-refugee-convention">Convention</a> and <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/protocol-relating-status-refugees">Protocol</a> oblige Australia to refrain from sending “refugees” (as defined in those treaties) to places where they will face a real chance of persecution. </p>
<p>Under other treaties to which it is a party, Australia is also obliged to refrain from sending anyone, not just refugees, to places where they will face a real risk of certain serious human rights violations. </p>
<p>These treaty obligations are referred to as “non-refoulement” or protection obligations. People who claim the benefit of such protection obligations are called asylum seekers.</p>
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<h2>What happens to asylum seekers when they arrive?</h2>
<p>The processes for people arriving by boat or plane have similarities, but are slightly different.</p>
<p>Australian policy is for unauthorised air arrivals to be given a screening interview to ascertain whether they could be entitled to Australia’s protection under international law. If not, they are returned to their most recent country of departure. Those who are found to have a possible case are given access to the protection visa application process. </p>
<p>The protection visa is Australia’s main domestic mechanism for implementing its international protection obligations. People who initially entered Australia on a valid visa can also apply for a protection visa. Most applicants fall into this group. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/who-counts-as-a-refugee-four-questions-to-understand-current-migration-debates-219735">Who counts as a refugee? Four questions to understand current migration debates</a>
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<p>Australia imposes penalties on airlines that bring non-citizens without valid visas here. It also posts its officials at overseas airports to help airlines identify people without visas so they can be refused boarding. As a result, there are <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/foi/files/2022/fa-220600105-document-released-part-3.PDF">very few</a> unauthorised air arrivals to Australia.</p>
<p>Like people who come by plane, unauthorised maritime arrivals go through a screening process. </p>
<p>Those who are deemed not to be asylum seekers are returned to their most recent country of departure. This is usually, but not always, Indonesia. </p>
<p>Unless the responsible minister grants an exemption, unauthorised maritime arrivals who are found to have a possible asylum claim must be transferred to a regional processing country to have their asylum claims determined there. </p>
<h2>How has regional processing worked?</h2>
<p>Regional processing has a complicated history.</p>
<p>In late 2001, the Coalition government under John Howard entered arrangements with Nauru and Papua New Guinea (PNG) to take unauthorised maritime arrivals to those countries to process their asylum claims. Those arrangements were ended by Labor shortly after it won government in November 2007. </p>
<p>However, a resurgence of unauthorised maritime arrivals led the Gillard Labor government to enter a new set of arrangements with Nauru and PNG in late 2012. These allowed Australia to transfer unauthorised maritime arrivals to processing centres in those countries to have their asylum claims considered by their governments. </p>
<p>The 2012 arrangements left open the possibility that transferees who were found to be refugees might be resettled in Australia. However, when boats kept arriving, the Rudd Labor government decided to get even tougher. In 2013, it <a href="https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20130730234007/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/79983/20130731-0937/www.pm.gov.au/press-office/transcript-joint-press-conference-2.html">announced</a> future unauthorised maritime arrivals would never be resettled in Australia.</p>
<p>After its election in September 2013, the Coalition government implemented Operation Sovereign Borders, which has been continued by the current Labor government. Many activities come under the Operation Sovereign Borders banner, including the interception of unauthorised maritime arrivals at sea by the Australian navy. Regional processing is now also characterised as being part of the program.</p>
<p>The regional processing arrangement with PNG <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220105030919/https:/minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/KarenAndrews/Pages/finalisation-of-the-regional-resettlement-arrangement.aspx">ceased</a> at the end of 2021. As of November 16 2023, there were still <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/operation-sovereign-borders-offshore-detention-statistics/2/">64 transferees</a> remaining in PNG. However, the Australian government’s position is that responsibility for these people lies entirely with PNG and not with Australia.</p>
<p>Nauru is still a <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2023L00093">regional processing country</a> but under a new agreement. At the time it was signed in late 2021, there hadn’t been any transfers for years. However, it was <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20211218062006/https:/www.dfat.gov.au/geo/nauru/memorandum-understanding-between-republic-nauru-and-australia-enduring-regional-processing-capability-republic-nauru">considered important</a> to maintain an “enduring regional processing capacity” on Nauru as a deterrent to people smugglers. </p>
<p>As previously, the Nauruan government is responsible for processing the asylum claims of transferees and managing them until they depart Nauru or are permanently settled there. However, Australia has contracted and is <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/foi/files/2023/fa-221201134-document-released.PDF">paying</a> the processing centre’s service providers.</p>
<p>On June 25 2023, it was reported there were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/25/last-refugee-on-nauru-evacuated-as-australian-government-says-offshore-processing-policy-remains">no transferees</a> remaining in Nauru. This did not mean that a durable solution had been found for everyone who had been transferred to Nauru up until that time. While some people had been resettled in third countries, others had simply been brought to Australia with the legal status of “transitory persons”. This status prevents them from applying for a visa to remain in Australia unless granted ministerial permission to do so. </p>
<p>Australia’s options for resettling this cohort are limited. It has at its disposal the remainder of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/01/white-house-australian-refugees-deal-resettle-extreme-vetting">1,250 refugee places</a> promised by the United States in November 2016 and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/mar/24/australia-agrees-450-refugees-can-be-resettled-in-new-zealand-nine-years-after-deal-first-offered">450 refugee places</a> over three years promised by New Zealand in 2022. Even if all these places are used, hundreds of people will remain in limbo.</p>
<h2>What happens to last week’s arrivals?</h2>
<p>Since Operation Sovereign Borders began, boats have either been intercepted at sea or have managed to make landfall in Australia <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadattachment?attachmentId=dc14c17a-6ca6-4082-8f77-c15a72b19314">every year</a> except 2021. </p>
<p>However, between the start of Operation Sovereign Borders and the end of August 2023, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/api/qon/downloadattachment?attachmentId=dc14c17a-6ca6-4082-8f77-c15a72b19314">only two</a> out of the 1,123 boat passengers involved to that point had ever been accepted for regional processing. Both cases were in 2014. </p>
<p>This statistic raised serious concerns about the reliability of the screening process as the people screened included many from known refugee producing countries. </p>
<p>Given this history, it was a little surprising when the Australian government transferred <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-27/nauru-new-group-detained-processing-centre/103014910">11 unauthorised maritime arrivals</a> to Nauru in September 2023. A further 12 were transferred to Nauru in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/23/wa-border-force-custody-12-asylum-seekers-nauru">November 2023</a>. The 39 people found in Western Australia have just been transferred there too. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aus-nz-refugee-deal-is-a-bandage-on-a-failed-policy-its-time-to-end-offshore-processing-180241">Aus-NZ refugee deal is a bandage on a failed policy. It's time to end offshore processing</a>
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<p>It seems the screening process has been abandoned or has been vastly improved. While the most reliable way for Australia to meet its international protection obligations would be to give all unauthorised maritime arrivals access to its protection visa application process, giving them all access to regional processing is certainly better than sending them back to their country of departure. </p>
<p>However, resettlement in Nauru of those found to be refugees is not realistic. The country, which has a population of approximately 13,000 people, is only <a href="https://www.adaptation-undp.org/explore/asia-and-pacific/nauru#:%7E:text=Nauru%20is%20an%20isolated%2C%20uplifted,120%20and%20300%20metres%20wide.">2,200 hectares</a> in land area. To put this in context, Melbourne airport <a href="https://www.melbourneairport.com.au/corporate/master-plan">is larger</a> than Nauru. </p>
<p>There is no reason to believe it will be any easier to find third country resettlement for transferees in the future than it has been up to now. For most, the only way out of limbo will be to return home, as eight of those transferred to Nauru in September have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/22/australia-asylum-seekers-nauru-returned-home-country">already done</a>. Regional processing continues to be a policy failure for which vulnerable people will pay the price.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Savitri Taylor has received funding from the Australian Research Council in the past. She is a member of the Committee of Management of Refugee Legal and a member of the Kim for Canberra party. Views expressed in this article are her own and not attributable to any organisations with she is associated.</span></em></p>With the arrival of 39 foreign nationals in Western Australia, debate around boat arrivals has been re-ignited. What happens if you come by plane instead?Savitri Taylor, Associate Professor, Law School, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2208532024-02-07T01:35:47Z2024-02-07T01:35:47ZHow international recognition of cultural practices could be a new way to protect refugees<p>More than <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/news/refugee-camps-explained/">6.6 million refugees</a> live in camps located largely in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. In these camp communities, unique cultural practices can arise. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jrs/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jrs/fead092/7484727?searchresult=1">In our new research</a>, we found the oral histories and healing practices of the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal changed over the decades they spent in camps.</p>
<p>In other words, camps foster new and unique cultural practices.</p>
<p>Camps are dynamic, culturally significant spaces. This finding does not celebrate refugee camps. It does recognise the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/refugees-living-with-loss-of-identity-family-language-culture-and-home/4wr7e4pil">strength and tenacity</a> of people living in these situations. </p>
<p>But the cultural practices in the Bhutanese camps are now threatened because the refugees and their cultural practices don’t have legal protections. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jrs/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jrs/fead092/7484727?searchresult=1">We propose</a> the significance of these cultural practices may provide an alternative pathway to protection.</p>
<h2>Protecting remaining refugees</h2>
<p>Camps managed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provide legal protection and basic support for people fleeing persecution. But what happens when camps officially close but refugees remain?</p>
<p>Last a year a Bhutanese refugee, and our long-term research partner, asked us this question. He was part of one of the world’s largest resettlement programs for refugees. After decades in camps, between 2007 and 2015 almost all <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/au/news/stories/resettlement-bhutanese-refugees-surpasses-100-000-mark">100,000 refugees</a> from Bhutan were resettled in the United States, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, and <a href="https://unsw.press/books/bhutan-to-blacktown/">Australia</a>. </p>
<p>Not everyone was resettled. Roughly <a href="https://kathmandupost.com/national/2021/12/04/nepal-preparing-to-issue-identification-cards-to-refugees-living-in-the-country">6,000 refugees</a> remain in Nepal due to old age, ill health and hope for repatriation to Bhutan, and some are newly arrived political prisoners <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/13/bhutan-freed-political-prisoner-describes-dire-conditions-0">only just released</a>. </p>
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<p>These people are still refugees. They cannot go home, and have limited ways to build a new life in Nepal. But the UNHCR has phased out its involvement in the camps. The refugees’ legal protections and food rations are being cut. These refugees are sitting in limbo, with their homes, their community and their unique culture having no legal protections. </p>
<p>For decades <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/enigma-bhutan/">Bhutan has refused to take back</a> the people they ethnically cleansed. Nepal refuses to grant them citizenship. There aren’t many pathways to protecting refugees once the UNHCR is not involved. </p>
<p>It is necessary to think creatively to identify possible solutions to protect these remaining refugees. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theyre-really-keen-for-us-to-do-better-than-they-did-how-refugee-parents-motivate-their-kids-learning-172308">'They're really keen for us to do better than they did': how refugee parents motivate their kids' learning</a>
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<h2>Unique cultural practices</h2>
<p>We were particularly interested in the refugees’ oral histories and the rituals of their traditional healers, known as jumping doctors. </p>
<p>Oral histories are a key way communities make sense of the past and find meaning in their current situation. While the oldest refugees understood their exile in terms of religious persecution, the generations raised in the camps saw their history primarily in terms of being advocates for democracy. </p>
<p>The oral histories of the Bhutanese refugees changed in the camps as they interacted with the governing organisation, which provided a robust education in democratic values. </p>
<p>Without protections, the remaining refugees may face restrictions in transmitting their oral histories. </p>
<p>Camp management also provided protection and certifications for traditional healers to practice their craft. Their healing rituals involve the creation of healing effigies, drumming, jumping and chanting. In Nepal, the number of traditional healers is <a href="https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/85900">dwindling</a> and healers are not recognised via a certification process. </p>
<p>Without the protections from the UNHCR, jumping doctors and their knowledge may disappear. </p>
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<p>UNESCO’s <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/en/convention">Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage</a> might be a way to protect these practices and, by extension, the refugees who remain after UNHCR withdraws from a camp. </p>
<p>We tend to think of UNESCO Heritage Sites as physical places like <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2024/01/12/might-paris-notre-dame-cathedral-steal-2024-as-much-as-the-olympics/?sh=7eb79f785adf">Notre Dame</a> or the <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/can-unesco-save-great-barrier-reef">Great Barrier Reef</a>. </p>
<p>But UNESCO also safeguards <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/12/08/1218354470/55-cultural-practices-added-to-unescos-list-of-intangible-cultural-heritage">cultural practices</a>, such as dance, theatre, food and craftsmanship. Through the intangible heritage convention, unique cultural practices and practices at risk of being lost can gain recognition. The hope is recognition will support <a href="https://ich.unesco.org/doc/src/34299-EN.pdf">sustainable development</a>, open up funding pathways and ensure cultural knowledge does not disappear. </p>
<p>To gain recognition, a cultural practice must be nominated. Ideally, communities will self-nominate a cultural practice they recognise as significant, is transmitted and recreated across generations, and provides a sense of identity. </p>
<p>We analysed the nomination process and found significant gaps between the goal of having communities nominate their practices and how it is implemented. This means the culture of communities based in refugee camps are at a significant disadvantage.</p>
<h2>Towards a fairer process</h2>
<p>Currently, nomination forms are only available in English and French. Communities that lack access to education in these languages may struggle to complete the forms. To be accessible to all communities, the form should be available in a variety of languages.</p>
<p>When examining the nomination process, it became clear some minority groups, refugees and stateless people will struggle to have their cultural heritage recognised. This is because governments of nation-states verify the community practice meets the nomination requirements and they ultimately have responsibility for the protection framework. </p>
<p>It is unlikely nation-states will nominate or accept responsibility for protection of cultural activities in refugee camps. The current process means refugees are subject to the whims of nations’ priorities.</p>
<p>It doesn’t have to be this way. The nomination process could be modified so communities can self-verify. Further, it may be necessary that organisations beyond or outside of the nation-state take on responsibility for the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/intangible-cultural-heritage-in-international-law-9780199679508">protection of intangible cultural heritage</a>. </p>
<p>Linking to a globally recognised brand like UNESCO could provide livelihood strategies for situations like the Bhutanese refugees. For example, the Bhutanese want to build a memorial centre to ensure their oral histories are recorded. International recognition could help them secure funding and create employment opportunities. Global recognition could attract visitors to the memorial centre. </p>
<p>This is not to suggest refugee camps should become tourist destinations, but it may provide a way for them to make decisions about their own cultural practices.</p>
<p>Refugee camps are not generally thought of as culturally significant sites. But it is clear from our work with Bhutanese refugees the <a href="https://ualbertapress.ca/9781772127034/the-elephant-has-two-sets-of-teeth/">camps are sites of important cultural practice</a> but refugees have limited scope to advocate for safeguarding these practices. </p>
<p>A truly community-driven path for cultural heritage protection through UNESCO could be an avenue to achieve this important goal.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-social-media-is-breathing-new-life-into-bhutans-unwritten-local-languages-210280">How social media is breathing new life into Bhutan’s unwritten local languages</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Camps are dynamic, culturally significant spaces. We propose the significance of these cultural practices may provide an alternative pathway to protection.Alice Neikirk, Program Convenor, Criminology, University of NewcastleRay Nickson, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Newcastle Law School, University of NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2225862024-02-05T22:32:00Z2024-02-05T22:32:00ZCutting UNRWA’s funding will have dire humanitarian consequences<p>Shortly after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) <a href="https://theconversation.com/ruling-by-uns-top-court-means-canada-and-the-u-s-could-be-complicit-in-gaza-genocide-222110">issued its ruling</a> in the case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/document-spells-allegations-12-employees-israel-participated-hamas-106757218">Israel accused</a> 12 members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) of being involved in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. In response, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/26/middleeast/unrwa-fires-staff-members-october-7-attacks-intl/index.html">UNRWA said it fired staff</a> accused of involvement.</p>
<p>Israel demanded that donor countries cease all funding to UNRWA and claimed the organization is <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-un-aid-refugees-29932f8d12c4fa748daa03e3689dc536">supporting Hamas</a>. Additionally, Israel called for the <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-seek-to-end-unrwa-gaza-activities-after-staffers-fired-for-oct-7-involvement/">cessation of UNRWA activities in Gaza after the war</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/news-releases/gaza-strip-humanitarian-crisis-deepens-time-funding-suspensions-put-unrwa-aid">Sixteen mostly western countries,</a> including Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, announced they were suspending their funding to UNRWA. </p>
<p>Western government officials <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/28/world/middleeast/gaza-unrwa-hamas-israel.html">said they have not been able to verify the allegations</a>. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/blinken-says-evidence-of-unrwa-staffers-oct-7-involvement-highly-highly-credible/">recently said</a>, “we haven’t had the ability to investigate [the allegations] ourselves. But they are highly, highly credible.” </p>
<p>While Canada <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-aid-gaza">pledged $40 million</a> for Palestinians in Gaza through alternative humanitarian channels, others like the U.S., U.K., Australia, Germany, Japan, Italy and Switzerland have completely suspended their aid, collectively representing over 60 per cent of UNRWA’s budget.</p>
<p>UNRWA has warned that unless funding is restored it may need to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/unrwa-could-shut-down-by-end-february-if-funding-does-not-resume-2024-02-01/">shut down by the end of February</a>. This decision may have serious consequences, not only for Palestine, but also Israel and the broader region.</p>
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<h2>What is UNRWA?</h2>
<p>UNRWA was established in 1949, and has been pivotal in providing humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees since its inception. Following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nakba-at-75-palestinians-struggle-to-get-recognition-for-their-catastrophe-204782/">Nakba (Catastrophe)</a> in 1948, the agency was formed to respond to the urgent needs of the displaced Palestinian population. </p>
<p>It currently supports over <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/1/what-is-unrwa-and-why-it-is-important-for-palestinians">six million Palestinians</a>, employing more than 30,000 staff members, with a significant portion dedicated to operations in Gaza. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.unrwa.org/what-mandate-unrwa-0">Operating under a mandate from the UN General Assembly</a>, UNRWA offers essential assistance and protection to Palestinian refugees across the Levant, including Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza. </p>
<p>UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently said “<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1146067">UNRWA is the backbone of all humanitarian response in Gaza</a>,” while UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said providing humanitarian assistance in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is “completely dependent on UNRWA being adequately funded and operational.”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/funding-for-refugees-has-long-been-politicized-punitive-action-against-unrwa-and-palestinians-fits-that-pattern-222263">Funding for refugees has long been politicized − punitive action against UNRWA and Palestinians fits that pattern</a>
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<h2>Israel’s accusations</h2>
<p>A recent article in the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-halts-funding-for-u-n-agency-amid-claims-staff-took-part-in-oct-7-attacks-3247918b"><em>Wall Street Journal</em></a> cited an Israeli “intelligence dossier” claiming 10 per cent of the <a href="https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2024/02/89970/gaza-aid-operations-peril-amid-funding-crisis">13,000 UNRWA employees in Gaza</a> have ties to armed groups. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has said <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2024/db240129.doc.htm">Israel has not yet shared the dossier with the United Nations</a>.</p>
<p>While these accusations are serious, maintaining an objective approach and refraining from drawing hasty conclusions about the <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/who-we-are/organizational-structure">UNRWA’s 30,000 employees</a> is crucial. The 12 employees accused of taking part in the Oct. 7 attack represent 0.04 per cent of the agency’s staff.</p>
<p>There are questions to be answered about the functioning of the UN agency, particularly regarding its recruitment and staff supervision processes. However, it would be misguided to generalize the conduct of one member or 12 to the entire organization. Particularly as the evidence Israel cites has not been made public.</p>
<h2>Funding cuts aren’t new</h2>
<p>Israel has long sought to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/1/31/israels-allegations-unrwa-effort-eliminate-agency">dismantle UNRWA</a> and the agency has faced the threat of funding cuts in the past. In 2018, former U.S. President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/31/trump-to-cut-all-us-funding-for-uns-main-palestinian-refugee-programme">cut funding</a> claiming it was an “irredeemably flawed operation.”</p>
<p>Trump’s proposed “<a href="https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/deal-of-the-century-what-is-it-and-why-now/">deal of the century</a>” was based on sidelining the Palestinians in a bid to push for normalization between Israel and Arab governments. </p>
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<p>Normalization has sparked controversy in Palestine and the broader region, particularly when it comes to the question of Palestinian refugees. Under Trump’s proposals, UNRWA would be dissolved and Palestinian refugees would lose their international legal status, a measure that would be challenging the historical right of return of Palestinian refugees.</p>
<p>UN General Assembly <a href="https://fmep.org/resource/un-general-assembly-resolution-194/">Resolution 194</a>, passed in 1948, enshrines the right of Palestinian refugees to return home and receive compensation for losses suffered. UNRWA is an organization that recognizes the status of Palestinian refugees and, by extension, their right to return at some point.</p>
<p>Palestinians, determined not to compromise their historical rights, rejected Trump’s agreement in the face of <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/948322497602220032">political</a> and financial pressures.</p>
<p>It is also important to contextualize the allegations against UNRWA within Israel’s — and the United States’s — broader relationship with the UN. In 2019, both countries announced they were pulling out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/u-s-and-israel-officially-withdraw-from-unesco">claiming it has an anti-Israel bias</a>.</p>
<p>In the months since Oct. 7, Israeli officials have <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/antonio-guterres-must-go-israel-want-un-chief-out/">called for the resignation</a> of the UN Secretary-General, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-says-israel-will-not-renew-visa-top-aid-official-2023-12-01/">denied UN staff visas</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/icj-decision-south-africa-israel-genocide-1.7095027">rejected the ICJ’s ruling</a>. </p>
<p>The humanitarian crisis in Gaza grows more dire by the day. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2024/jan/30/how-war-destroyed-gazas-neighbourhoods-visual-investigation">Vital infrastructure</a>, such as schools and hospitals, has been destroyed or severely damaged. </p>
<p>If UNRWA is unable to function, it could heighten political and social tensions in the region, especially in the countries hosting Palestinians, which will directly feel the repercussions of funding cuts. </p>
<p>It is imperative that foreign countries do not worsen the situation, but instead take steps to mitigate these negative repercussions and work towards finding humane, respectful and sustainable long-term solutions for the region.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222586/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emilie El Khoury receives funding for her postdoctoral research at Queen's University from Queen’s Research Opportunities Postdoctoral Fund.</span></em></p>Recent moves to cut UNRWA’s funding are not the first time the UN agency has come under threat.Emilie El Khoury, Postdoctoral fellow at Queen's University's Centre for International Policy and Defence (CIDP), Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222632024-02-01T13:40:51Z2024-02-01T13:40:51ZFunding for refugees has long been politicized − punitive action against UNRWA and Palestinians fits that pattern<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572695/original/file-20240201-17-5uj2y7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C197%2C4078%2C2546&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Palestinians await the distribution of UNRWA flour.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/palestinians-who-left-their-homes-and-took-refuge-in-rafah-news-photo/1899261787?adppopup=true">Abed Zagout/Anadolu via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At least a dozen countries, including the U.S., have <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1145987">suspended funding to the UNRWA</a>, the United Nations agency responsible for delivering aid to Palestinian refugees.</p>
<p>This follows allegations made by Israel that <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/at-least-12-u-n-agency-employees-involved-in-oct-7-attacks-intelligence-reports-say-a7de8f36">12 UNRWA employees participated</a> in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. The UNRWA responded by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-palestinian-refugee-agency-investigates-staff-suspected-role-israel-attacks-2024-01-26/">dismissing all accused employees</a> and opening an investigation. </p>
<p>While the seriousness of the accusations is clear to all, and the U.S. has been keen to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/us/politics/aid-gaza-israel.html">downplay the significance</a> of its pause in funding, the action is not in keeping with precedent.</p>
<p>Western donors did not, for example, defund other U.N. agencies or peacekeeping operations amid accusations of <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/01/11/un-peacekeeping-has-sexual-abuse-problem">sexual assault</a>, <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-un-general-assembly-president-and-five-others-charged-13-million-bribery-scheme">corruption</a> or <a href="https://www.hrw.org/legacy/summaries/s.bosnia9510.html">complicity in war crimes</a>.</p>
<p>In real terms, the funding cuts to the UNRWA will affect <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/gaza-strip">1.7 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza</a> along with an additional 400,000 Palestinians without refugee status, many of whom benefit from the UNRWA’s infrastructure. Some critics have gone further and said depriving the agency of funds <a href="https://jacobin.com/2024/01/unrwa-defunding-gaza-israel">amounts to collective punishment</a> against Palestinians.</p>
<p>Refugee aid, and humanitarian aid more generally, is theoretically meant to be neutral and impartial. But as experts in <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/reluctant-reception/558E2A93FF99B8F295347A8FA2053698">migration</a> <a href="https://www.routledge.com/UN-Global-Compacts-Governing-Migrants-and-Refugees/Micinski/p/book/9780367218836">and</a> <a href="https://press.umich.edu/Books/D/Delegating-Responsibility">international relations</a>, we know funding is often used as a foreign policy tool, whereby allies are rewarded and enemies punished. In this context, we believe the cuts in funding for the UNRWA fit a wider pattern of the politicization of aid to refugees, particularly Palestinian refugees.</p>
<h2>What is the UNRWA?</h2>
<p>The UNRWA, short for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, was established two years after about <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nakba-at-75-palestinians-struggle-to-get-recognition-for-their-catastrophe-204782">750,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled from their homes</a> during the months leading up to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent Arab-Israeli war.</p>
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<img alt="A man carrying luggage wades through water while another lifts an elderly man on his shoulders." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572692/original/file-20240201-15-47521c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572692/original/file-20240201-15-47521c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572692/original/file-20240201-15-47521c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572692/original/file-20240201-15-47521c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572692/original/file-20240201-15-47521c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572692/original/file-20240201-15-47521c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572692/original/file-20240201-15-47521c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Palestinians flee their homes during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-1948-palestinian-exodus-known-in-arabic-as-the-nakba-news-photo/1354487454?adppopup=true">Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Prior to the UNRWA’s creation, international and local organizations, many of them religious, provided services to displaced Palestinians. But after <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">surveying the extreme poverty</a> and dire situation pervasive across refugee camps, the U.N. General Assembly, including all Arab states and Israel, voted to create the UNRWA in 1949. </p>
<p>Since that time, <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/what-we-do">the UNRWA has been the primary aid organization</a> providing food, medical care, schooling and, in some cases, housing for the 6 million Palestinians living across its five fields: Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, as well as the areas that make up the occupied Palestinian territories: the West Bank and Gaza Strip. </p>
<p>The mass displacement of Palestinians – known as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nakba-at-75-palestinians-struggle-to-get-recognition-for-their-catastrophe-204782">Nakba, or “catastrophe</a>” – occurred prior to the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/who-we-are/1951-refugee-convention">1951 Refugee Convention</a>, which defined refugees as anyone with a well-founded fear of persecution owing to “events occurring in Europe before 1 January 1951.” Despite a <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/sites/default/files/legacy-pdf/4ec262df9.pdf">1967 protocol extending the definition</a> worldwide, Palestinians are still excluded from the primary international system protecting refugees.</p>
<p>While the UNRWA is responsible for providing services to Palestinian refugees, the United Nations also created the U.N. Conciliation Commission for Palestine in 1948 to seek a <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/4fe2e5672.html">long-term political solution</a> and “to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation.”</p>
<p>As a result, the UNRWA does not have a mandate to push for the traditional durable solutions available in other refugee situations. As it happened, the conciliation commission was active only for a few years and has since been sidelined in favor of the U.S.-brokered peace processes.</p>
<h2>Is the UNRWA political?</h2>
<p>The UNRWA has been <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/palestinian-refugees-dispossession">subject</a> to political headwinds since its inception and especially during periods of heightened tension between Palestinians and Israelis.</p>
<p>While it is a U.N. organization and thus ostensibly apolitical, it has <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">frequently been criticized</a> by Palestinians, Israelis as well as donor countries, including the United States, for acting politically.</p>
<p>The UNRWA performs statelike functions across its five fields – including education, health and infrastructure – but it is restricted in its mandate from performing political or security activities.</p>
<p>Initial Palestinian objections to the UNRWA stemmed from the organization’s early focus on economic integration of refugees into host states.</p>
<p>Although the UNRWA officially adhered to the U.N. General Assembly’s <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/content/resolution-194">Resolution 194</a> that called for the return of Palestine refugees to their homes, U.N., U.K. and U.S. <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">officials searched</a> for means by which to resettle and integrate Palestinians into host states, viewing this as the favorable political solution to the Palestinian refugee situation and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this sense, Palestinians perceived the UNRWA to be both highly political and actively working against their interests.</p>
<p>In later decades, the UNRWA <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">switched its primary focus</a> from jobs to education at the urging of Palestinian refugees. But the UNRWA’s education materials were <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">viewed</a> by Israel as further feeding Palestinian militancy, and the Israeli government insisted on checking and approving all materials in Gaza and the West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967. </p>
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<img alt="A woman holds a poster stating'Don't Defund UNRWA'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572697/original/file-20240201-17-qxb5zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572697/original/file-20240201-17-qxb5zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572697/original/file-20240201-17-qxb5zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572697/original/file-20240201-17-qxb5zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572697/original/file-20240201-17-qxb5zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572697/original/file-20240201-17-qxb5zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572697/original/file-20240201-17-qxb5zr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A protester is removed by members of the U.S. Capitol Police during a House hearing on Jan. 30, 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protester-leslie-angeline-of-codepink-is-removed-by-members-news-photo/1973436909?adppopup=true">Alex Wong/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>While Israel has <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">long been suspicious</a> of the UNRWA’s role in refugee camps and in providing education, the organization’s operation, which is internationally funded, <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/east-mediterranean-mena/israelpalestine/242-unrwas-reckoning-preserving-un-agency-serving-palestinian-refugees">also saves</a> Israel millions of dollars each year in services it would be obliged to deliver as the occupying power.</p>
<p>Since the 1960s, the U.S. – UNRWA’s primary donor – and other Western countries have <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">repeatedly expressed their desire</a> to use aid to prevent radicalization among refugees.</p>
<p>In response to the increased presence of armed opposition groups, the <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/refuge-and-resistance/9780231202855">U.S. attached a provision</a> to its UNRWA aid in 1970, requiring that the “UNRWA take all possible measures to assure that no part of the United States contribution shall be used to furnish assistance to any refugee who is receiving military training as a member of the so-called Palestine Liberation Army (PLA) or any other guerrilla-type organization.”</p>
<p>The UNRWA adheres to this requirement, even publishing an annual list of its employees so that host governments can vet them, but it also <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/east-mediterranean-mena/israelpalestine/242-unrwas-reckoning-preserving-un-agency-serving-palestinian-refugees">employs 30,000 individuals</a>, the vast majority of whom are Palestinian.</p>
<p>Questions over the links of the UNRWA to any militancy has led to the rise of Israeli and international <a href="https://cufi.org/issue/unrwa-teachers-continue-to-support-antisemitism-terrorism-on-social-media-un-watch/">watch groups</a> that document the social media activity of the organization’s large Palestinian staff.</p>
<h2>Repeated cuts in funding</h2>
<p>The United States has used its money and power within the U.N. to block criticism of Israel, vetoing at least <a href="https://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/scact_veto_table_en.htm">45 U.N. resolutions</a> critical of Israel.</p>
<p>And the latest freeze is not the first time the U.S. has cut funding to the UNRWA or other U.N. agencies in response to issues pertaining to the status of Palestinians.</p>
<p>In 2011, the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE79U5ED/#:%7E:text=WASHINGTON%20(Reuters)%20%2D%20The%20United,grant%20the%20Palestinians%20full%20membership.">U.S. cut all funding to UNESCO</a>, the U.N. agency that provides educational and cultural programs around the world, after the agency voted to admit the state of Palestine as a full member.</p>
<p>The Obama administration defended the move, claiming it was required by a 1990s law to defund any U.N. body that admitted Palestine as a full member. </p>
<p>But the impact of the action was nonetheless severe. Within just four years, UNESCO was <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1758-5899.12459">forced to cut its staff in half</a> and roll back its operations. President Donald Trump later <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/u-s-and-israel-officially-withdraw-from-unesco">withdrew the U.S. completely from UNESCO</a>.</p>
<p>In 2018, the Trump administration paused its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/31/us/politics/trump-unrwa-palestinians.html">US$60 million contribution to the UNRWA</a>. Trump claimed the pause would create political pressure for Palestinians to negotiate. President Joe Biden restarted U.S. contributions to the UNRWA in 2021.</p>
<h2>Politicization of refugee aid</h2>
<p>Palestinian are not the only group to suffer from the politicization of refugee funding.</p>
<p>After World War II, states established different international organizations to help refugees but strategically excluded some groups from the refugee definition. For example, the U.S. funded the <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/last-million-eastern-european-displaced-persons-postwar-germany">U.N. Relief and Rehabilitation Administration to help resettle displaced persons after World War II</a> but resisted Soviet pressure to forcibly repatriate Soviet citizens. </p>
<p>The U.S. also created a separate organization, <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ijrl/article-abstract/1/4/501/1598187">the precursor to the International Organization for Migration</a>, to circumvent Soviet influence. In many ways, the UNRWA’s existence and the exclusion of Palestinian refugees from the wider refugee regime parallels this dynamic.</p>
<p>Funding for refugees has also been politicized through the earmarking of voluntary contributions to U.N. agencies. Some agencies receive funding from U.N. dues; but the UNRWA, alongside the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration, receive the majority of their funding from voluntary contributions from member states.</p>
<p>These contributions can be earmarked for specific activities or locations, leading to donors such as the <a href="https://www.peio.me/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/PEIO12_paper_107.pdf">U.S. or European Union dictating which refugees get aid and which do not</a>. Earmarked contributions amounted to nearly <a href="https://unsceb.org/fs-revenue-agency">96% of the UNHCR’s budget, 96% of the IOM’s budget and 74% of UNRWA funding in 2022</a>.</p>
<p>As a result, any cuts to UNRWA funding will affect its ability to service Palestinian refugees in Gaza – especially at a time when so many are <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/30/middleeast/famine-looms-in-gaza-israel-war-intl/index.html">facing hunger, disease and displacement</a> as a result of war.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US is among more than a dozen countries to freeze funding to UN agency providing aid to displaced Gazans over allegations of complicity in the Oct. 7 attack.Nicholas R. Micinski, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, University of MaineKelsey Norman, Fellow for the Middle East, Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207182024-01-29T14:53:45Z2024-01-29T14:53:45ZFriendship is crucial for refugee children – here’s how to talk to your child about being welcoming<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570654/original/file-20240122-27145-ym7x2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=60%2C82%2C4943%2C3248&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girls-school-friends-support-each-other-2185200135">ShineTerra/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From playmates to emotional support, friendships are <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2011-27874-000">incredibly important</a> for children at all stages of growing up. For the thousands of children who come to the UK as refugees, a friendly smile from a classmate could make the difference between feeling welcome and feeling excluded.</p>
<p>In the year ending September 2023, many thousands of children, including 4,656 children travelling alone (unaccompanied minors) <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/how-many-people-do-we-grant-protection-to">claimed asylum in the UK</a>. </p>
<p>Many of these children have left war-torn countries, extreme poverty or other dangerous situations. Unaccompanied minors may have lost all of their family in a conflict or been separated from their family in the chaos of crossing a border.</p>
<p>Under the recently passed <a href="https://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Illegal-Migration-Act-2023-Conference-Briefing.pdf">Illegal Immigration Act</a>, children who arrive in the UK without the appropriate documentation will not be granted permission to stay and could be removed to a third country or returned to their home country, even if they have <a href="https://placetocallhome.org.uk/meet-our-young-refugees/">family in the UK</a>. Although unaccompanied minors have been listed as an <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/illegal-migration-bill-factsheets/illegal-migration-bill-children-factsheet">exception</a>, it is currently not clear what type of visa or permission to stay they will be granted.</p>
<p>The traumatic experiences that often force children and their families to claim asylum in another country can <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Therapeutic-Care-for-Refugees-No-Place-Like-Home/Papadopoulos/p/book/9781855752832">negatively impact</a> their ability to learn the language and make friends. Many feel <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335913809_From_individual_vulnerability_to_collective_resistance_responding_to_the_emotional_impact_of_trauma_on_unaccompanied_children_seeking_asylum#fullTextFileContent">isolated and excluded</a> as they try to adjust to a new language and culture.</p>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article-abstract/35/3/1160/6617969">In my research</a> I
conducted therapy sessions with 33 adolescent unaccompanied minors arriving in Ireland from the Middle East, Asia and Africa over a five-year period. I also listened to comments they made while they <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/14733250231180321">chose miniature objects</a> to create visual representations (called eco-maps) of the important relationships in their lives.</p>
<h2>Friends as family</h2>
<p>Displaced children are likely to <a href="https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/bjep.12282?casa_token=RBLf_-jX58YAAAAA:Oxog96CpZ7KNqXZpSYVnI7VyyggVK6gWrwOsGh2rEoI2woMAvm_4tp4aksD0QOyWFsenSnmgZhUSN7zd">lose friends</a> when they leave their homes and move elsewhere. At the same time, they are often also moving from childhood to adulthood. This experience has been described by scholars as a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2007.00101.x?">“double burden”</a>.</p>
<p>My research participants described the sense of safety they felt when connecting with new friends and the importance of knowing those friends were there for them. They described their friends, including those they had met along the migration route, as their “new family”, “brothers” and “sisters”. </p>
<p>They detailed deep emotional bonds resulting from shared experiences. Amina shared: “When thoughts just keep coming all the time into my head and I can’t stop them, she [my friend] will always be there for me ready to pick up the pieces.” </p>
<p>Mamoud talked about the importance of connecting with friends who have had similar experiences during times of stress, but also of his desire not to overburden them: “I know that they have so much of their own stuff going on so it’s sometimes unfair to talk about mine”. This is where new friends can help.</p>
<p>Many also chose miniature figures to represent God as a friend. Mamoud’s eco-map and narrative illustrate the power of having a proxy family:</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="On a tabletop, small figurines of princesses, knights and horses are gathered in a circle, while a miniature tank and two miniature planes are pointed at them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570873/original/file-20240123-23-xw7un1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570873/original/file-20240123-23-xw7un1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570873/original/file-20240123-23-xw7un1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570873/original/file-20240123-23-xw7un1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570873/original/file-20240123-23-xw7un1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570873/original/file-20240123-23-xw7un1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570873/original/file-20240123-23-xw7un1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mamoud’s eco-map shows his friends and family, represented by knights and princesses, with the threat of tanks and warplanes in the background.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<blockquote>
<p>I met Aboud when I was running away after the explosion. He’s the soldier with the flag in the picture beside me – I have the sword. I was only 12 years old and he took me into his home as his brother. His whole family accepted me. His mum is the angel horse and his sisters are the princesses – they are still protecting me as a true family member.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Amina said the most important thing happening to her since she arrived was when a girl invited her to sit with her in the canteen:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>She came over to me and asked if I would like to sit with her and her friend. I coudn’t get my words out, I was so surprised and then I was nervous that she wouldn’t like me. But she was patient and kind and she invited me every lunch time and now we are friends.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Talking to your children</h2>
<p>In Ireland, where I carried out my research, schools in every county are welcoming <a href="https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/7698f-department-of-education-confirms-15282-ukrainian-pupils-currently-enrolled-in-irish-schools/">Ukrainian refugee pupils</a>. In the UK, there are refugees in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-regional-and-local-authority-data">every local authority area</a>, and over 400 schools have become <a href="https://data.cityofsanctuary.org/schools/list">“schools of sanctuary”</a>, declaring their commitment to creating a culture of welcome and inclusion for refugees.</p>
<p>It is likely that your child will have refugees in their school and maybe their class. There are a number of very simple things parents can do to encourage their children to welcome displaced children rather than emphasising their differences.</p>
<p>It is important to first explain what refugee children <a href="https://www.savethechildren.net/news-stories">may have been through</a>. You can read with or to your children from <a href="https://childrensbooksireland.ie/sites/default/files/2021-08/CBI_Book_List_UNHCR_Together_With_Refugees.pdf">this reading list</a>, compiled by Children’s Books Ireland and the UN refugee council. It also includes books for older children to read themselves. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/childrens-books-on-the-refugee-experience-are-crucial-reading-28224">Children’s books on the refugee experience are crucial reading</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Talk to your children about the importance of being kind and inclusive to refugee children in their friend group, in class, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rachel-Hoare-2/publication/346229505_From_global_phenomenon_to_framework_for_living_using_the_beautiful_game_creatively_to_provide_therapeutic_care_for_unaccompanied_male_adolescents_seeking_asylum_in_Ireland/links/6364f5b954eb5f547ca26a91/From-global-phenomenon-to-framework-for-living-using-the-beautiful-game-creatively-to-provide-therapeutic-care-for-unaccompanied-male-adolescents-seeking-asylum-in-Ireland.pdf">in sports</a>, or walking to and from school. </p>
<p>You can encourage your child to stand up to <a href="https://www.unicef.org/parenting/talking-to-your-kids-about-racism">racism and discrimination</a>, but kindness does not have to be complicated: one of my participants described how another person smiling at him on the bus “made his day”.</p>
<p>Peer <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-020-01649-7">acceptance is critical</a> for children and adolescents to have a healthy adjustment to new contexts, whether that’s a new school or a different country. By encouraging your children to be welcoming and inclusive, you can make a world of difference to the lives of refugee children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220718/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rachel Hoare does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Your child may have classmates who have experienced potentially traumatic events fleeing their home country.Rachel Hoare, Director of the Trinity Centre for Forced Migration Studies, Trinity College DublinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2214872024-01-28T13:53:49Z2024-01-28T13:53:49ZHow art can challenge election-time rhetoric about immigrants<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/how-art-can-challenge-election-time-rhetoric-about-immigrants" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The coming year is expected to be one of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/4/the-year-of-elections-is-2024-democracys-biggest-test-ever">unprecedented election activity</a> worldwide. And as politicians gear up for the polls, immigrants are being pushed into the spotlight. </p>
<p>In the United States, Donald Trump has vowed to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/17/trump-muslim-ban-gaza-refugees">expand his Muslim ban and bar Palestinian refugees from Gaza</a> if he is re-elected. </p>
<p>In Germany, anti-immigration rhetoric has been on the rise ahead of <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/21/whats-behind-mass-protests-against-germanys-far-right-afd-party">regional elections</a> later this year. Protests erupted recently after reports of <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/german-remigration-debate-fuels-push-to-ban-far-right-afd/a-67965896">a mass-deportation plan by far-right political parties</a>. This would see the expulsion of asylum seekers, permitted residents, as well as citizens who are viewed as not integrating into society.</p>
<p>Foreshadowing an election in fall, a government bill in the United Kingdom enabling deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda is linked to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2024/jan/18/rishi-sunak-press-conference-rwanda-bill-conservatives-labour-fujitsu-post-office-horizon-uk-politics-latest?filterKeyEvents=false&page=with:block-65a956cf8f082472faf423f4#block-65a956cf8f082472faf423f4">inaccurate public perceptions</a> of immigration dominated by illegal entry into the country. </p>
<p>This situation challenges artists alongside journalists and media makers to represent the complexity of immigration realities with respect and accuracy. </p>
<h2>Immigration and electioneering</h2>
<p>Though not scheduled until October 2025, a Canadian election in 2024 could be added to the long list of countries going to the polls this year, alongside the U.S., Mexico, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Ghana, South Africa, as well as elections in the European Union parliament. </p>
<p>Anxieties over immigration and housing availability are <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-behind-the-dramatic-shift-in-canadian-public-opinion-about-immigration-levels-219193">rising in public discourse</a>. British Columbia Premier David Eby, who is expected to face the electorate for the first time as leader in 2024, has already expressed immigration concerns. “The anxiety I have is that the numbers are such that we can’t support these folks,” <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-91-the-early-edition/clip/16033140-is-canadian-dream-dead?share=true">Eby told the CBC</a> in a recent interview. </p>
<p>In 2016, I began a long-range art project called <a href="https://lightfactorypublications.ca/rml/rml-about/">Reading the Migration Library (RML)</a> at a similar time when election-related anti-immigration rhetoric was reaching a fever pitch in the U.S. </p>
<p>Trump’s campaign for the presidency pushed hard on immigration including promises to fortify the southern border with an impenetrable wall. Researching the responses of artists to human rights abuses at the time, I learned from human rights workers in San Diego, Tijuana, New Mexico, Texas, and Juarez of the direct link between border fortification and an <a href="https://missingmigrants.iom.int/region/americas">increasing death rate</a> of asylum seekers.</p>
<p>Also fresh in my mind at the time was the impact that a journalistic image had on public discourse during the Canadian 2015 election. That year the photo of two-year-old Syrian boy <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/08/31/642952840/an-aunts-memoir-remembering-the-drowned-syrian-boy-on-the-beach">Alan Kurdi</a>’s lifeless body on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea deflated anti-immigration election rhetoric and resulted in Liberal <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/syria-migrants-canada-drowned-migrants-leaders-respond-1.3213878">campaign promises</a> to increase the number of Syrian refugees admitted into Canada. </p>
<p>There was much <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1741659016672716">critical reflection</a> on the <a href="https://www.fmreview.org/sites/default/files/FMRdownloads/en/ethics/ethics.pdf">ethical challenge</a> presented by photos that pictured refugees in states of extreme vulnerability. </p>
<h2>Reading the Migration Library</h2>
<p>Since then, RML worked as a form of scholarly research-creation aimed at diversifying representations of migration and immigration from the perspective of individuals and their families or communities. RML invites artists, writers and community groups to produce artworks and short texts that explore displacement, diaspora or migration from the perspective of those with lived experience. </p>
<p>Some describe how the asylum process is experienced by detainees (<a href="https://lightfactorypublications.ca/rml-books/rml-notas-sobre-un-recorrido/"><em>Notes on a Tour: the El Paso Processing Center</em></a>). Others lament the internal and external displacement experienced by Ghanaians (<a href="https://lightfactorypublications.ca/rml-books/on-loss-two-poems-from-ghana/"><em>On Loss: Two Poems from Ghana</em></a>, <a href="https://lightfactorypublications.ca/rml-books/walking-on-water/"><em>Walking on Water</em></a>, <a href="https://lightfactorypublications.ca/rml-books/we-are-moulting-birds/"><em>We are Moulting Birds</em></a>), to memoirs about the impact of the British Home Children schemes (<a href="https://lightfactorypublications.ca/rml-books/charlie-henry-workman-1897-1976-the-unspoken/"><em>The Unspoken</em></a> and <a href="https://lightfactorypublications.ca/rml-books/henry-frederick-terry-1907-1980-i-remember/"><em>I Remember</em></a>). </p>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/650706735" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Ghana-based poet Epifania Amoo-Adare reads from the publication <em>On Loss: Two Poems from Ghana</em></span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the current phase of the project, <a href="https://lightfactorypublications.ca/artists-authors/deanne-achong/">Deanne Achong</a> and I are co-hosting artists who will address aspects of diaspora and mobility, including travel on Indigenous territories. Achong’s RML publication, <a href="https://lightfactorypublications.ca/rml-books/workin-for-the-yankee-dollar/"><em>Workin’ for the Yankee Dollar</em></a>, uses creatively altered family photos to represent the impact of a cultural and military invasion of Trinidad by the United States in the 1940s. </p>
<p>These included the appropriation and exportation of Lord Invader’s (Rupert Grant) Calypso song, Rum and Coca-Cola. In the RML project artists are challenged to publicly present creative responses to often hidden impacts of migration.</p>
<h2>Representing migrant stories</h2>
<p>I have learned from RML participants that people with immigration experience face demands to demonstrate their legitimacy to the country repeatedly through identity checks, immigration hearings and questioning over their place of origin. </p>
<p>Often, they are viewed by immigration and border officials with suspicion and essentially made to prove their innocence. It is an understatement to say that they carry an unfair burden of identification. At the same time, they are expected to demonstrate immediate and enthusiastic allegiance to the adopted country and culture. </p>
<p>The expectation for refugees to demonstrate gratitude for asylum, and for immigrants to show positive appreciation for their new country, is particularly problematic during times like elections when anti-immigration discourse threatens their safety and trust in the new country. </p>
<p>For Guatemalan artist Francisco-Fernando Granados, the evidentiary burden of his family’s long refugee adjudication is one that he chooses to refuse in art. In the <a href="https://publicationstudio.biz/books/who-claims-abstraction/">manifesto-like statement</a> “Propositions on minor abstraction” that accompanies the exhibit, <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/galleries/teck-gallery/who-claims-abstraction-.html"><em>who claims abstraction?</em></a>, Granados wonders “how experiences of displacement and other unspeakable moments can be presented in a critical manner, without being stereotyped or universalized.”</p>
<p>For Granados abstract art is a creative solution that challenges viewers to recognize his right, despite refugee history, to create a public image. <em>who claims abstraction?</em> is made up of a pair of digitally-drawn murals showing ribbons of colour in skin and landscape tones. A selection of abstract art by other queer and BIPOC artists from Simon Fraser University’s collection is also on view to expand Granados’s statement.</p>
<p>Elections by their nature put national and government identity under scrutiny. Politicians often unfairly displace that scrutiny by shifting onto those who are least able to defend themselves, the poor, homeless and of course, immigrants.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-premier-david-eby-trumpets-transformative-housing-initiatives-as-he-looks-back-on-2023-1.7067997">In Eby’s 2023 year-end interview</a> his “huge level of anxiety for the [population] growth that we are seeing in British Columbia” referred to foreign workers in service delivery, skilled immigrants, as well as international students. The diversity of these roles reflects overlapping government responsibilities and complex cultural conditions. </p>
<p>Election times threaten to narrow the meaning of immigration to the detriment of public safety, human rights and democracy. In these times, artists’ reflections on migration are a vital way to publicly assert the reality and diversity of what it means to be an immigrant today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221487/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lois Klassen receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. As the artist-host of "Reading the Migration Library" Klassen receives funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and British Columbia Arts Council.</span></em></p>2024 is expected to be a year of elections around the world, and as often happens, anti-immigrant rhetoric is on the rise. Art can play a critical role in challenging that rhetoric.Lois Klassen, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Critical Media Art Studio (cMAS), Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2209652024-01-12T12:45:18Z2024-01-12T12:45:18ZWhat One Life gets wrong about Nicholas Winton and the Kindertransport story<p>Barbara Winton self-published a <a href="https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/barbara-winton/if-its-not-impossible/9781472148650/">biography</a> of her father, Nicholas Winton, in 2014, which has now become a new major biopic, One Life. Already dubbed “the British Schindler” for his role in the rescue of 669, mainly Jewish, children from Czechoslovakia in 1939, with this new film Nicholas Winton’s fame is firmly established.</p>
<p>The film has a quality cast, including Anthony Hopkins as an aged Winton (the humanitarian died in 2015 aged 106), Helena Bonham Carter as his impressive mother, Babette, and Johnny Flynn as the young Winton. Romola Garai and Alex Sharp star as Doreen Warriner and Trevor Chadwick, the workers for the Czech Refugee Committee, who did all the dangerous and extensive rescue work in Prague. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6ethollg-PI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for One Life.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One Life is a useful beginners guide to the 1930s Jewish refugee crisis, of which few details are widely known. As late as 2002, former mayor of London Ken Livingstone, attending a Holocaust memorial event at Liverpool Street station where many of the refugee children arrived, was honest enough to <a href="https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719068836/">state that</a>: “Until today, I did not know that Jewish children had escaped to London before the second world war.” </p>
<p>Since then, the Kindertransport, through which 10,000 children came to the UK on temporary permits from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, has become the most famous refugee movement in British history. The intended UK Holocaust Memorial next to the Houses of Parliament, which was confirmed in the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-67351175">2023 king’s speech</a>, will feature it prominently. </p>
<p>There are, however, several elements of the Kindertransport story that have proved unpalatable, especially as they undermine the presentation of Britain as the saviour of the Jews during the Nazi era. </p>
<p>That reassuring narrative was at the forefront in 2015 when the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/398645/Holocaust_Commission_Report_Britains_promise_to_remember.pdf">British government announced</a> the creation of a national Holocaust memorial: “Ensuring that the memory and the lessons of the Holocaust are never forgotten lies at the heart of Britain’s values as a nation. In commemorating the Holocaust, Britain remembers the way it proudly stood up to Hitler and provided a home to tens of thousands of survivors and refugees, including almost 10,000 children who came on the Kindertransports.”</p>
<h2>The reality of Kindertransport</h2>
<p>Recent <a href="https://assets.cambridge.org/97805215/34499/frontmatter/9780521534499_frontmatter.pdf">researchers</a>, <a href="https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719068836/">including myself</a>, have <a href="https://iupress.org/9780253042217/the-kindertransport/">highlighted</a> one particular and obvious flaw in the Kindertransport scheme: that the children were separated from their parents. </p>
<p>Many (perhaps the majority, though there are no definitive figures) would subsequently lose at least one parent through the Holocaust. Indeed, as home secretary at the time, Sir Samuel Hoare, <a href="https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/1938-11-21/debates/133ef530-1ea4-4835-839b-c9889e0481c0/RacialReligiousAndPoliticalMinorities">acknowledged</a> when announcing the scheme in the House of Commons in November 1938, it would create a terrible dilemma for the parents who were aware that they might never see their children again. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568874/original/file-20240111-29-6il859.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="statue of a girl standing and boy sitting down." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568874/original/file-20240111-29-6il859.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568874/original/file-20240111-29-6il859.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568874/original/file-20240111-29-6il859.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568874/original/file-20240111-29-6il859.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=839&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568874/original/file-20240111-29-6il859.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1054&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568874/original/file-20240111-29-6il859.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1054&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568874/original/file-20240111-29-6il859.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1054&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The kindertransport memorial at Liverpool Street station, by Flor Kent.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Für_das_Kind.JPG">Wiki Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>The other major critique of the Kindertransport is there was insufficient care to make sure that the Jewish children kept their religious identity in the UK. Both problems are raised in One Life, but only fleetingly so. </p>
<p>When the young Winton asks a Prague rabbi to hand over lists of vulnerable Jewish children, the rabbi is reluctant. He asks: “What about the parents?” and queries the future Jewishness of the children who are entrusted to Winton. Rather than dwell further, the scene is used to present the Jewish past of the Winton family and Winton’s true British values.</p>
<p>In fact, in his desire to place the children somewhere, Winton accepted the offer from the Barbican Mission to the Jews to house a group of the Czech Jewish children. It took the efforts of <a href="https://ccj.org.uk/sites/ccj.hocext.co.uk/files/2020-06/Common%20Ground%202020.pdf">Reverend James Parkes</a>, a Church of England clergyman who worked ceaselessly against antisemitism, to rescue them from conversion.</p>
<h2>Unsung heroes</h2>
<p>Nicholas Winton was undoubtedly a decent man who insisted himself that he did not do that much and that others should get more credit. At least the film allows this, with some attention given to two humanitarians, the maverick Trevor Chadwick and the formidable Doreen Warriner. </p>
<p>It was these two young British refugee workers, among others, who looked after the children in Prague, arranging first their flights and then their train journeys and also gathering the necessary documentation for them to both leave Czechoslovakia and enter the UK.</p>
<p>Many others could have been included, but at least One Life makes a start. The film presents Winton as haunted by his failure to do more and frames his lifelong philanthropy as a way of not confronting the full horrors of the Holocaust. It would be better to see his supportive role in 1939 as a part of, rather than apart from, his other humanitarian work. </p>
<p>It was, very belatedly, the interest of others and the need for a secular saint in the rescue of the Jews that pushed Winton into the unwanted limelight and into mythical status as the British Schindler. What this fails to allow for is the agency of the former refugee children themselves. </p>
<p>In 1966, poet and former child refugee Karen Gershon curated <a href="https://archive.org/details/wecameaschildren00gers">We Came as Children</a>, a collective autobiography of the Kindertransport. It is one of the most important articulations of refugee status and its legacy ever published. </p>
<p>This was widely and positively received some 20 odd years before Nicholas Winton was “rediscovered” on the BBC television show That’s Life (1988). In two episodes, host Esther Rantzen introduced Nicholas Winton to many of the children he’d helped, now grown adults, in emotional scenes. </p>
<p>It is significant that while the alcoholic, womanising and child-abandoning Trevor Chadwick <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vyKVuRfLiQ8C&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">wrote an account</a> of his remarkable work in Prague and London in We Came as Children, Nicholas Winton was not mentioned. Ultimately I believe Chadwick would make a more fitting cinematic subject matter when dealing with the messy subject of Britain and the Holocaust – despite, or perhaps in part because of, his own messy private life. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tony Kushner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Recent researchers, including myself, have highlighted one particular and obvious flaw in the Kindertransport scheme: that the children were separated from their parents.Tony Kushner, James Parkes Professor of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of SouthamptonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2197352023-12-14T13:19:13Z2023-12-14T13:19:13ZWho counts as a refugee? Four questions to understand current migration debates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565506/original/file-20231213-23-i1glub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=95%2C95%2C4824%2C3157&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/border-between-serbia-croatia-3-nov-1820261090">Ajdin Kamber/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of refugees worldwide has been <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends-report-2022">increasing since 2012</a>. At the end of 2022, there were 35.3 million refugees globally.</p>
<p>While some politicians have suggested that the UK is being <a href="https://www.itv.com/news/2023-03-13/mps-to-vote-on-controversial-migration-bill-which-sparked-lineker-row">overwhelmed by refugees</a>, 76% of the world’s refugees are hosted in low- and middle-income countries. In Europe, Germany, France and Spain receive <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/migration-to-the-uk-asylum/">more asylum applications each year than the UK</a>.</p>
<p>As long as there is war and persecution, there will be people in need of protection. So how should countries handle the flow of people? </p>
<p>This is the question driving much political debate. The UK government appears committed to its policy of <a href="https://theconversation.com/rwanda-plan-rishi-sunak-has-insisted-on-pushing-ahead-heres-where-he-could-take-it-next-217865">sending refugees to Rwanda</a>. Charities are calling on political leaders to commit to <a href="https://togetherwithrefugees.org.uk/open-letter-to-political-leaders-we-need-a-fair-new-plan-for-refugees/">a fair new plan for refugees</a>. Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67692099">death of a man</a> on a barge housing asylum seekers has reinvigorated concerns about the welfare of people who seek refuge in the UK. </p>
<p>Here are four questions (and answers) to help you make sense of it all.</p>
<h2>Who counts as a refugee?</h2>
<p>Under the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/about-unhcr/who-we-are/1951-refugee-convention">refugee convention of 1951</a> – which the UK and most other countries are party to – a refugee is a person who fears being persecuted, to the point that it is unsafe to return to their home country. Persecution means a person faces a threat to their life or freedom, or fears another serious violation of their human rights, such as torture or sexual violence. </p>
<p>A refugee must be persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a social group. Examples of social groups include women, LGBTQ+ people and children.</p>
<p>A person who has left their home country to seek protection, but has not yet been formally recognised as a refugee, is often referred to as an “asylum seeker”. </p>
<h2>What obligations do governments owe refugees?</h2>
<p>As a party to the refugee convention, the UK is legally obliged to abide by its provisions, including the principle of “non-refoulement” – that is, not sending a refugee to a country where their life or freedom is threatened. This can be the refugee’s home country or any other country where there is a risk to their life or freedom.</p>
<p>This was why the UK supreme court found that <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-rules-rwanda-plan-unlawful-a-legal-expert-explains-the-judgment-and-what-happens-next-217730">the Rwanda plan was unlawful</a> – because there was a risk that Rwanda would not decide asylum claims properly and thus return genuine refugees to their countries of origin.</p>
<p>Governments should also ensure an adequate standard of living for new arrivals, including by providing access to shelter, healthcare and education for refugee children. The <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_RES_71_1.pdf">UN has emphasised</a> the importance of a people-centred, sensitive and humane approach to people seeking asylum.</p>
<p>The Bibby Stockholm, the barge where an asylum seeker reportedly took his own life, has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/performative-cruelty-the-hostile-architecture-of-the-uk-governments-migrant-barge-210300">criticised</a> by charities, experts and politicians. Many argue that the close quarters, health concerns and isolation of being housed at sea are not an <a href="https://theconversation.com/bibby-stockholm-legionella-is-not-the-only-health-threat-on-the-asylum-barge-211641">adequate standard of living</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The Bibby Stockholm barge in a port" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565505/original/file-20231213-21-hbylce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Conditions on the Bibby Stockholm have raised concerns about the welfare of refugees the UK is housing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/falmouthcornwall-070723-bibby-stockholm-leaves-falmouth-2328547695">JMundy/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>How many people who travel to the UK are genuine refugees?</h2>
<p>So far, in 2023, <a href="https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/channel-crossings-tracker">over 29,000 people</a> have travelled to the UK on small boats to seek asylum. </p>
<p>Government statistics indicate that <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/how-many-people-do-we-grant-protection-to#outcomes-of-asylum-applications">75% of people</a> who claim asylum in the UK are granted refugee status or another type of permission to remain in the UK. For <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/how-many-people-do-we-grant-protection-to#outcomes-of-asylum-applications">some nationalities</a>, the figure is higher – 100% of applicants from Eritrea, 99% of those from Afghanistan and 99% from Syria are recognised as refugees.</p>
<p>However, many of the people who have travelled to the UK in recent years are part of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/how-many-people-do-we-grant-protection-to#asylum-applications-awaiting-an-initial-decision">165,000 people</a> in the UK’s “asylum backlog”. This means they are still waiting for the government to decide their asylum claim. While the government is working to reduce the backlog, current schemes <a href="https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/hrlc/documents/2023/streamlined-asylum-processing-an-evaluation-of-recent-reforms.pdf">risk prioritising quick decisions over accurate decisions</a>.</p>
<h2>Why don’t refugees travel to the UK legally?</h2>
<p>There are many reasons refugees may not travel to the UK through regular, legal routes. One of the main reasons is that to come to the UK legally, a person must be granted a visa – for example, because they intend to work or study in the UK.</p>
<p>The government has created special visas for people fleeing Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. In the past year, the government has allowed <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-september-2023/safe-and-legal-humanitarian-routes-to-the-uk">112,000 people to come to the UK</a> through these routes, including 64,000 people from Ukraine. </p>
<p>However, refugees from other countries do not have access to the same opportunities to apply for a visa in order to seek asylum. The absence of safe and legal routes forces them to travel irregularly.</p>
<p>Contrary to popular belief, refugees are not required to seek asylum in <a href="https://freemovement.org.uk/are-refugees-obliged-to-claim-asylum-in-the-first-safe-country-they-reach/">the “first safe country” they enter</a>. A <a href="https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20130128103514/http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hors243.pdf">government report</a> found that refugees seek asylum in the UK for many reasons, including that they have relatives in the UK, speak English and because of the UK’s reputation as a safe and tolerant democracy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Hodgson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As long as there is war and persecution, there will be people in need of protection.Natalie Hodgson, Assistant Professor in Law, University of NottinghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165912023-12-11T13:14:25Z2023-12-11T13:14:25Z‘You reach a point where you have nothing. You will just die’ – in East African refugee camps, food scarcity is a mortal concern<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564320/original/file-20231207-19-l8y174.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C2526%2C1411&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Empty bowls at a refugee camp in Kenya.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For refugees living in settlements across Africa, life got more difficult in 2023. </p>
<p>Shortfalls <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/underfunded-report-implications-underfunding-unhcr%E2%80%99s-activities-2023">in the operating budget</a> of the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/chad/wfp-and-unhcr-call-urgent-funds-avert-more-ration-cuts-refugees-chad">and the World Food Program</a> have brought increased precarity into the daily lives of millions of displaced people across the continent.</p>
<p>Having fled <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/us/about-unhcr/where-we-work/africa">violence, famine and insecurity</a> in search of survival, many African refugees now find themselves faced with similar circumstances in the very spaces designed to protect them. Most notably, over the past year, refugees in Central and East Africa have watched as their food rations and living stipends – already meager – <a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/critical-funding-shortage-forces-wfp-slash-food-rations-refugees-tanzania">have been cut</a> to unsustainably low levels.</p>
<p>In Africa’s <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/operational/operations/uganda?year=2021">largest refugee-hosting country</a>, Uganda, the <a href="https://www.businessamlive.com/unhcr-warns-of-heightened-risks-to-refugees-as-funding-shortfall-hits-650m/">budget for UNHCR programs</a> is currently funded at only 39% of its needs. Burundi, which has experienced <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/burundi-funding-2023">a 35% increase in its refugee population</a> since 2018, as well as a large increase in the number of returned Burundian refugees, has seen its own budget increase by only 12% in that same period.</p>
<p>The reasons for these shortfalls are multifaceted, including the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the <a href="https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/february-2023/one-year-later-impact-russian-conflict-ukraine-africa">Russia-Ukraine war</a>, which has affected food production and <a href="https://www.ifpri.org/blog/how-will-russias-invasion-ukraine-affect-global-food-security">resulted in an increase of prices</a>. Though refugees themselves say they are offered little explanation – “They just tell us that the order came from Geneva,” one refugee told us in reference to UNHCR’s headquarters in the Swiss capital.</p>
<p>The resulting cuts in food security programs have had <a href="https://doi.org//10.19088/K4D.2022.125">devastating effects</a> on refugee families and communities.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.shu.edu/profiles/alfaniro.html">We spent</a> <a href="https://history.utk.edu/people/nicole-eggers/">three months</a> in Africa this past summer interviewing over 200 refugees across seven refugee camps and urban refugee havens in Burundi, Uganda and Kenya. While we were there to primarily investigate the role of faith and religious community among refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, our interviews touched on many aspects of the refugee experience. All names used in this article have been changed to protect the interviewees identity.</p>
<p><iframe id="4MtaN" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/4MtaN/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>‘Just not enough’</h2>
<p>Cuts in food rations were on the minds of nearly all of the refugees whom we interviewed this summer.</p>
<p>In Burundi, for example, a number of refugees explained to us how 2023’s rations for their daily dietary staple – cornflour used to make a hard porridge known locally as “bukari” – had been cut from 10 kilograms (22 pounds) per month to three kilograms (6.6 pounds). One refugee in the Bwagiriza refugee settlement in Burundi, Jean-Claude, explained how if you try to divide that amount of food into 30 piles, one for each day, it’s “just not enough.” Ultimately, he said, “You worry because you have no idea how you will finish the month. Little by little, the quantity of food goes down at home.”</p>
<p>Stories like Jean Claude’s offer a glimpse of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2021.43">psychological stress</a> that refugees experience daily as they engage in an unending search for enough food to feed their families – a search that too frequently fails.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/record-numbers-of-displaced-africans-face-worsening-prospects">rising inflation</a> has meant that the ability of refugees to draw on whatever modest resources they may possess to supplement their diets has been greatly undermined.</p>
<p>For parents, this leads to further trauma of explaining to their hungry children that there will be no food. One young mother in the Rwamwanja refugee settlement in Uganda told us how, in a desperate ploy to delay disappointment, she put an empty pot of water on the stove to boil just so that her children would go to bed with the hope that there would be food to eat in the morning.</p>
<h2>Hunger and exploitation</h2>
<p>Others resort to even more desperate ends, consuming inedible food that can sicken and even kill them.</p>
<p>“Whole families become sick. Some neighbors ate some roots because of hunger. All of them were vomiting,” a refugee mother named Mauwa explained to us in Burundi. “Mother, father, children … we are forced to eat food that doesn’t agree with us and makes us sick to our stomachs.” </p>
<p>Still others face the worst outcome imaginable.</p>
<p>Amina, a Congolese refugee living in Bwagiriza, described how, following days of not eating, her young child became violently ill after consuming some corn porridge, her severely malnourished body no longer able to digest it. The child’s condition should have been treatable, but because budget cuts had also recently ended medical transport assistance, they were unable to get to the hospital quickly enough and ultimately the child died.</p>
<p>“There is no food. There is no health care,” she said. “We are being trampled. You reach a point where you have nothing. You will just die.”</p>
<p>Other refugees emphasized how ration cuts contribute directly and indirectly to <a href="http://doi.org//10.1186/s13031-020-00336-3">heightening insecurity</a> in the settlements.</p>
<p>“Famine in the camp is torturing us,” said Amani, a father of seven. “Lack of food is causing our children to become thieves. The moment it is dusk, they break into homes seeking the food they saw you bringing into the house. They don’t look for anything else – just food.”</p>
<p>Refugees in Kyaka II and other settlements in Uganda described being exploited by local communities and how women and youths were <a href="https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/national/refugee-camps-in-northern-uganda-choke-on-sexual-abuse-cases-1749666">exposed to sexual violence</a>.</p>
<p>Vumilia, a mother from a Burundian camp, explained how young girls, including her own, were sexually exploited by adults in return for food: “These camps are harming our children. A child as young as 12 is getting pregnant. And it’s because of hunger that she is forced to consent so that she can get some food … and she is raped and she gets pregnant.”</p>
<p>Refugees also observed that ration cuts and food scarcity threaten to turn cordial relationships with local communities into ones defined by conflict.</p>
<p>“We will now be fighting with the [Ugandan host communities] and each other,” explained Furah, a Congolese woman in one of the Ugandan camps, “because you have brought insecurity in the camp. … This will then lead to conflicts. If they don’t kill me, I will kill them.”</p>
<h2>What chance self-reliance?</h2>
<p>In response to these cuts, the UNHCR is increasingly promoting <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/media/handbook-self-reliance-complete-publication">self-reliance</a> programs, but ration cuts <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13698249.2023.2209485">undermine such programs</a>. </p>
<p>Refugees are told that they must learn to depend on themselves and are taught various skills such as gardening, weaving and animal husbandry. But the strain on their resources leaves them unable to invest. </p>
<p>Marceline in the Kavumu settlement explained, “On this question of self-reliance, you ask yourself: With what resources are you supposed to become self-reliant? … If you’re going to tell someone to be self-reliant, you have to give them the materials to start with.”</p>
<p>We’ve seen that refugees work hard to help themselves and each other. But when resources are so minimal, it is impossible for them to bear the burden themselves.</p>
<p>Time and again, we’ve found that refugees are keen observers of the world around them and they can offer critical insight into the conditions that have been created on the ground, particularly in this context of increasing ration cuts. Listening to them reminds us that behind every budget cut is a human story.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216591/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roger B. Alfani has received funding (Collaborative grant) from the National Endowment for the Humanities.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicole Eggers has received funding from the National Endowment for Humanities Collaborative Grant.</span></em></p>Budget cuts have resulted in increased hunger in camps in Uganda, Burundi and Kenya that house refugees from across the region.Roger B. Alfani, Core Fellow of Religious Studies and International Affairs, Seton Hall UniversityNicole Eggers, Assistant Professor of History, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2140452023-11-30T10:21:07Z2023-11-30T10:21:07ZKindertransport’s complex legacy: saving children from the Nazis while leaving their families behind<p>When 200 unaccompanied child refugees arrived in Harwich, Essex, in early December 1938, they did so through a new visa-waiver scheme. These children from Berlin were escaping Nazi persecution, and eventually more than 10,000 children – mostly from Jewish families – would arrive in Britain via the same process. </p>
<p>December 2 marks the 85th commemoration of the <a href="https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kindertransport-1938-40">Kindertransport</a>. And compared to some of today’s anti-refugee rhetoric, the scheme looks like a successful official rescue mission. But is that true?</p>
<p>November 9 and 10 1938 saw state-sponsored <a href="https://www.pogromnovember1938.co.uk/viewer/">violence</a> perpetrated against Jewish citizens across the German Reich. The British government was subsequently put under <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/6-stories-of-the-kindertransport">pressure</a> from the public to help continental Jewish citizens.</p>
<p>But prime minister Neville Chamberlain’s government was <a href="https://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/speccoll/collection_catalogues/tclists/tc62.html">reluctant</a> to offer refuge to Jews, fearing for the UK’s security, the cost and the anti-foreign and antisemitic sentiments of some of the electorate. So, it came up with the compromise of only admitting unaccompanied children rather than whole families. Chamberlain also <a href="https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1938/nov/21/refugees-government-proposals">refused</a> to commit governmental financial or organisational help, saying: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The number of refugees which Great Britain can agree to admit … is limited by the capacity of the voluntary organisations dealing with the refugee problem to undertake the responsibility for selecting, receiving and maintaining a further number of refugees. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>To only admit the children but not their families, is clearly one of the most controversial aspects of the Kindertransport. Some experts have <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/42943756">suggested</a> that parting from your own children was seen as more normal in the 1930s. However, home secretary Samuel Hoare that year <a href="https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1938/nov/21/racial-religious-and-political-minorities">discussed</a> the pain that the parents were likely to experience when parting from their children: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I could not help thinking what a terrible dilemma it was to the Jewish parents in Germany to have to choose between sending their children to a foreign country, into the unknown, and continuing to live in the terrible conditions to which they are now reduced in Germany.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Without a doubt, it would have been better for all if the UK had admitted parents as well as children. My own <a href="https://issuu.com/acesupporthub/docs/aberystwyth_aces_and_child_refugees_report_eng__fi">research</a> has shown that child refugees were adversely affected by this separation. </p>
<p>Kindertransport refugee <a href="http://www.kindertransport.eu/">Eva Mosbacher</a> was a well-adjusted 12-year-old from Nuremberg who settled in successfully with her carers in Cambridge. Nevertheless, she continuously expressed her longing to be reunited with her birth parents in her letters. In 1942, her parents were deported with 1000 other Jews and murdered in the Belzyce ghetto in Poland. After the war, Eva stayed in the UK and worked as a nurse, but sadly took her own life in 1963. </p>
<p>The fact that the UK government did not financially and organisationally support the Kindertransport had undesirable consequences. Some MPs <a href="https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1938/nov/21/racial-religious-and-political-minorities">expressed</a> the view that only those children who would be of benefit to the UK should be admitted. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A statue showing a group of children carrying suitcases." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556867/original/file-20231031-27-v509p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556867/original/file-20231031-27-v509p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556867/original/file-20231031-27-v509p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556867/original/file-20231031-27-v509p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556867/original/file-20231031-27-v509p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556867/original/file-20231031-27-v509p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556867/original/file-20231031-27-v509p2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The bronze Kindertransport statue by sculptors Frank Meisler and Arie Oviada at Liverpool Street Railway Station in central London.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-october-11-2014-bronze-263419583">Philip Willcocks/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This was <a href="https://uclpress.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14324/111.444.jhs.2020v51.005">reflected</a> in the selection criteria of the refugee children’s committee, an interdenominational umbrella organisation based in the UK and tasked with overseeing the Kindertransport. Largely staffed by volunteers, it tried to only admit children who did not have any special needs or health issues. This seems especially cruel as by 1938, many of youngsters had lived under the stressful conditions of discrimination and persecution for years. </p>
<p>The refugee children’s committee also <a href="https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10100969/">rejected</a> applications if any illnesses or additional needs were mentioned. Even children whose parents had mental health problems were rejected. Born on April 26 1926, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9546261/">Herta Baumfeld</a> was not accepted for the Kindertransport because her mother was in a psychiatric institution. Herta was subsequently murdered at the Maly Trostinec concentration camp in Belarus on September 18 1942.</p>
<p>Financing the escape of the child refugees and their resettlement in the UK was especially difficult without the help of the UK government. In fact, the government <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Kindertransport/ztrfEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">demanded</a> that a “guarantee” of £50 per child was raised by volunteers to indemnify against any expense. This rule limited the number of children that could be given refuge.</p>
<h2>What made the Kindertransport possible?</h2>
<p>The Kindertransport happened because of the generosity and commitment of private citizens, charities and voluntary organisations in the UK. The majority of refugees were fostered by individual families who volunteered for the task. </p>
<p>Furthermore, the financial burden was shouldered by private sources. Former Prime minister Lord Baldwin had launched a <a href="https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1939/jul/05/refugee-problem">public appeal</a> raising more than £500,000 and the Anglo-Jewish community raised more than £5 million for refugees. </p>
<p>Some foster carers also managed to raise the £50 guarantee themselves. As my <a href="https://www.honno.co.uk/books/finding-refuge">research</a> shows, Lia Blum from Czechoslovakia was fostered by a teacher from Ynys Mȏn, north Wales, who put up the guarantee. </p>
<p>Others helped within their means. For example, the guarantee for <a href="https://www.nicholaswinton.com/the-list">Anneliese Adler</a> was raised by the Woodcraft Folk, a youth-led organisation for children and young people in Tooting, London. Anneliese was fostered by a woman near Bristol. However, the limited funds restricted the number of children that could be rescued.</p>
<h2>Reliance on volunteers</h2>
<p>In recent years, the UK government has once again relied on the support of volunteers to look after refugees. Following the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/news/stories/2015-year-europes-refugee-crisis">refugee crisis of 2015</a>, it launched the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/694051/Community_Sponsorship_LA_guidance.pdf">community sponsorship scheme</a>, which relied on volunteers to raise £4500 per adult they wished to sponsor. </p>
<p>And after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022, the UK government once again looked for volunteer hosts via the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/register-interest-homes-ukraine">homes for Ukraine</a> scheme. </p>
<p>Given what happened 85 years ago, it’s time we learned the lessons of the past and created a stable government scheme to assist refugees of all ages.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Hammel received funding from the National Heritage Lottery Fund via the Second World War Partnership Programme led by the IWM. She has also received funding from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Support Hub and receives funding from the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR). She is affiliated with Aberaid, a charity that assists refugees in Ceredigion, and internationally.. </span></em></p>10,000 children, from mostly Jewish families, were saved from the Nazis by the Kindertransport visa-waiver scheme, which started in 1938.Andrea Hammel, Professor of German, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2182632023-11-24T15:44:52Z2023-11-24T15:44:52ZUK’s failed asylum deportation plan puts Rwanda’s human rights and refugee struggles in the spotlight<p>The UK Supreme Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2023-0093-press-summary.pdf">ruled on 15 November 2023 that</a> sending asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful. The plan would have seen <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/14/tens-of-thousands-of-asylum-seekers-could-be-sent-to-rwanda-says-boris-johnson">tens of thousands</a> of asylum seekers sent from the UK to Rwanda, which would then process and host such refugees indefinitely.</p>
<p>Along with countless <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/10/uk-abandon-rwanda-asylum-transfer-plan">refugee and human rights groups</a> – including <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/what-we-do/uk-asylum-and-policy-and-illegal-migration-act/migration-and-economic-development#:%7E:text=UNHCR%20believes%20the%20UK's%20announced,established%20international%20refugee%20protection%20system.">the United Nations</a> – I raised <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uks-plans-to-send-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda-raise-four-red-flags-182709">red flags about the plan</a> and welcome the decision to halt it. My <a href="https://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/people/evan-easton-calabria">research and work</a> over more than a decade has focused on the livelihoods and survival of refugees in east Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-rules-rwanda-plan-unlawful-a-legal-expert-explains-the-judgment-and-what-happens-next-217730">UK court’s decision</a> is grounded in the view that Rwanda is unsafe for asylum seekers because it might force them to return to their home country. Forced return is against <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rights-of-refugees-in-africa-are-under-threat-what-can-be-done-182892">international human rights law</a> as refugees and asylum seekers may be persecuted again in their country of origin. </p>
<p>Much of the recent media focus has been on what the ruling means for the UK and its migration policy. But it’s also important to understand the implications for Rwanda itself and for the refugees already residing there. </p>
<p>Rwanda currently hosts <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/country/rwa">more than 135,000 refugees and asylum seekers</a>. Most are from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. It’s one of the <a href="https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/rwanda/#people-and-society">most densely populated</a> countries in Africa and has a <a href="https://databankfiles.worldbank.org/public/ddpext_download/poverty/987B9C90-CB9F-4D93-AE8C-750588BF00QA/current/Global_POVEQ_RWA.pdf#page=1">high poverty rate</a>, which matters for its ability to host refugees. In the UK’s effort to deter irregular migration, it sought to outsource the asylum-seeking process and ultimately refugee hosting to Rwanda. The east African nation would in return <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9568/#:%7E:text=In%20return%2C%20the%20UK%20has,around%20%C2%A312%2C000%20per%20person">receive development funds</a>. Neither side of this deal was taking the needs of asylum seekers into account. </p>
<p>The recent UK court ruling highlights two things that Rwanda and its development and humanitarian partners need to consider:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the east African nation’s human rights record</p></li>
<li><p>international support for refugees and asylum seekers. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Failing to address the current gaps in these two areas reflects a disregard for human rights that falls on the international community’s shoulders, too.</p>
<h2>Rwanda’s human rights record</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2023-0093-press-summary.pdf#page=4">evidence</a> considered in the UK ruling adds to ongoing documentation about Rwanda’s poor human rights record. Refugees and citizens in the country have experienced political repression, including being <a href="https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/refugees/articles/2018/04/04/please-tell-us-where-we-belong-a-deadly-refugee-protest-in-rwanda">killed during protests</a>. A recent <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/10/10/rwanda-global-playbook-abuse-silence-critics">Human Rights Watch report</a> documented Kigali’s use of threats, kidnapping and even killing of Rwandan refugees and migrants abroad who undertake or are affiliated to political activism. </p>
<p>Worrying past evidence of the treatment of asylum seekers includes the outcome of a <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/israel-secret-deal-over-deporting-african-migrants-reckless-and-illegal">secretive deal between Israel, Rwanda and Uganda</a> to receive African asylum seekers (mostly from Eritrea and Sudan) between 2014 and 2017. A majority of those deported from Israel to Rwanda immediately left, some through <a href="https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/10/moving-under">dangerous migration routes</a>. </p>
<p>In its recent ruling, the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2023-0093-press-summary.pdf#page=2">UK court concluded</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>there were substantial grounds for believing that there were real risks that asylum claims would not be properly determined by the Rwandan authorities. There were, therefore, real risks of refoulement {forced return}.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The evidence provided by the UN Refugee Agency highlighted <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/sites/uk/files/legacy-pdf/631f52a84.pdf#page=3">serious issues in Rwanda’s asylum system</a>. This included a lack of adequate legal representation, the risk of bias by judges and lawyers in politically sensitive cases, and current practices of forced return. A failure to comply with international law suggests Rwanda may well continue to benefit from development funding while sending asylum seekers home or <a href="https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/10/moving-under">pressuring them to leave the country</a>.</p>
<p>To rectify these failings, the government of Rwanda must commit to eliminating forced return. In the absence of enforcement mechanisms in Rwanda to do so, the international community – including the UN Refugee Agency and activists in the region – must continue to document evidence of human rights violations and speak out. If these violations don’t cease, Rwanda should no longer be funded as the “<a href="https://www.devex.com/news/q-a-new-book-puts-fresh-scrutiny-on-donor-darling-rwanda-99584">donor darling</a>” that it has been. </p>
<h2>Areas for improvement</h2>
<p>At the same time, the UK court ruling illustrates the need for humanitarian and development partners to support Rwanda to improve its conditions for refugees and its asylum-seeking process. In its written evidence for the case, the UN Refugee Agency <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/sites/uk/files/legacy-pdf/631f52a84.pdf#page=3">assessed that</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>long-term and fundamental engagement is required to develop Rwanda’s national asylum structures to fairly adjudicate individual asylum claims.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This statement is both a critique of the limitations to the existing asylum infrastructure in Rwanda and an important call for action. </p>
<p>As of 31 October 2023, the UN Refugee Agency’s Rwanda operation was only <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/rwanda-funding-2023">38% funded</a>. This means that refugees within Rwanda <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/rwanda-operational-update-6137">lack healthcare support and have limited access to legal counselling</a> and assistance.</p>
<p>These figures demand a closer look at the treatment of refugees in Rwanda and the region. These funding deficits restrict the rights of those refugees most in need.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supreme-court-rules-rwanda-plan-unlawful-a-legal-expert-explains-the-judgment-and-what-happens-next-217730">Supreme court rules Rwanda plan unlawful: a legal expert explains the judgment, and what happens next</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Efforts to improve the asylum system can and should build on the promising practices within Rwanda that relate to refugees. These include <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/rwanda-operational-update-6137">over 90%</a> of children born as refugees having their birth registered, and a provision on the <a href="https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports-briefs/turning-policy-into-reality-refugees-access-to-work-in-rwanda/">right to work</a>. Urban refugees and refugee students can also <a href="https://globalcompactrefugees.org/good-practices/community-based-health-insurance-urban-refugees-and-refugee-students-rwanda">access</a> the national community-based health insurance scheme. </p>
<p>Non-legal barriers – such as lack of access to capital for businesses and poor camp infrastructure, including limited electricity – still play a role in impeding access to these services for many refugees. However, these are important rights to continue to actualise – and ones that many other refugee-hosting countries don’t offer at all. </p>
<p>The court’s attention to Rwanda’s human rights violations may lead to restricted development funding or wider repercussions for the country from the international community. But there’s a need for more – not less – investment in refugee assistance in Rwanda. </p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>There are two best possible outcomes of the UK-Rwanda migration deal being deemed unlawful. </p>
<p>First is that it leads to commitments by the government of Rwanda to improve its treatment of refugees, including Rwandan refugees abroad. Second is that it encourages the UK and other countries to examine their own unlawful practices, such as the <a href="https://www.redcross.org.uk/stories/migration-and-displacement/refugees-and-asylum-seekers/scared-confused-alone-the-dark-truths-of-immigration-detention">indefinite detention of asylum seekers</a> and ongoing attempts to <a href="https://theconversation.com/outsourcing-asylum-seekers-the-case-of-rwanda-and-the-uk-180973">externalise asylum</a>. </p>
<p>Just as Rwanda’s human rights record should not be brushed under the rug, neither should the international community’s limited support for refugees.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evan Easton-Calabria receives funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Research conducted through these grants is unrelated to the contents of this article.</span></em></p>The government of Rwanda must commit to eliminating the forced return of refugees and asylum seekers.Evan Easton-Calabria, Senior Researcher at the Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, and Research Associate at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2179412023-11-23T15:01:09Z2023-11-23T15:01:09ZSouth Africa’s immigration proposals are based on false claims and poor logic – experts<p>The South African government recently issued a long-awaited policy statement – called a <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-aaron-motsoaledi-release-white-paper-citizenship-immigration-and-refugee">White Paper</a> – outlining proposed changes to the country’s asylum and immigration system. More than 20 years after its first post-apartheid immigration legislation <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a130-980.pdf">in 1998</a>, immigration remains a <a href="https://www.iom.int/countries/south-africa#:%7E:text=South%20Africa%20is%20the%20preferred,and%20border%20management%20processes%3B%20rising">pressing concern</a>. Getting this policy right could help with South Africa’s economic recovery, increase regional prosperity, and heighten security for citizens and migrants alike.</p>
<p>A general election is <a href="https://www.elections.org.za/pw/voter/voter-registration-campaign">due in 2024</a> and the issue is at the heart of <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/south-africa-faces-growing-xenophobia-problem/a-67305882">political debate</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-92114-9_5">Immigrant rights advocates and anti-immigrant activists</a> will welcome the far-reaching efforts to reform frameworks that currently work for none but a few <a href="https://pmg.org.za/committee-meeting/33573/">rent-seeking bureaucrats</a>. Most will embrace proposed initiatives to better train officials and reduce corruption but will agree on little else.</p>
<p>Human rights advocates will decry proposals to relocate the processing of asylum applications to the border and to narrow immigrants’ channels to permanent residency and citizenship. The stated imperative to “develop a well-coordinated strategy of tracking down illegal foreigners” will raise their hackles. Anti-immigrant activists and leaders will say the proposals <a href="https://www.politicsweb.co.za/politics/immigration-reforms-a-bandaid-on-bullet-wound--her">do not go far enough</a>. </p>
<p>Collectively we have <a href="https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?user=Hw4YkqoAAAAJ&hl=en">studied</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?user=932HsxAAAAAJ&hl=en">immigration policy and practice</a> in South Africa and elsewhere for almost 40 years. Based on this experience, we find that the White Paper does not provide an empirical foundation for effective, developmental policy reform.</p>
<p>Instead, it offers vague proposals to address problems that are less about immigration than bureaucratic and political mismanagement. It provides a smokescreen to hide government faults. Perhaps it’s intended to distract voters in the <a href="https://www.gov.za/speeches/electoral-commission-south-africa-launches-2024-national-and-provincial-elections-24-oct">2024 elections</a> from the <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/southafrica/overview">increasing inequalities and socio-economic challenges</a> in South Africa. </p>
<h2>False claims and lapses of logic</h2>
<p>What is most unsettling about the paper is how the government invents its own social reality, and then offers vague and poorly considered proposals to solve nonexistent problems.</p>
<p>Case in point: the document states that 150,997 people in South Africa have been granted citizenship by naturalisation (presumably since the 2002 <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/immigration-act">Immigration Act</a>). This number is used to justify radically narrowing pathways to citizenship. Yet, this figure represents less than 0.2% of the country’s population of <a href="https://census.statssa.gov.za/#/">62 million</a>.</p>
<p>The suggestion that citizenship is easily accessed – especially through the asylum process – is bizarre. This could only happen if asylum cases were effectively processed. <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2019/10/south-africa-failing-asylum-system-is-exacerbating-xenophobia/#:%7E:text=Despite%20its%20strong%20legal%20and,in%20Limbo%3A%20Rights%20of%20Asylum">They are not</a>. </p>
<p>Since the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/a130-980.pdf">Refugees Act was passed in 1998</a>, only <a href="https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/sar-53.pdf">about 300,000 people have been granted refugee status</a>. Many of these have since left South Africa or needed to reapply (so they may have been counted more than once). Of these 300,000, <a href="https://genderjustice.org.za/card/what-is-the-white-paper-on-international-migration/permanent-residency-and-citizenship/">only a small percentage</a> have become permanent residents, let alone citizens.</p>
<p>The White Paper reaches its tragi-comic apex by including a substantial list of legal cases that civil society has won against the Department of Home Affairs for <a href="https://www.citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/government/home-affairs-facing-more-than-r2bn-in-lawsuits/">not enforcing its own laws</a>. The cases are supposedly so numerous that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>there are several instances wherein the DHA has been slapped with court orders of which it has not been aware of the proceedings.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Rather than bring itself into line, the department wants the law altered to prevent these court challenges. And it argues that without legal reform, scapegoating and violence against immigrants will continue. </p>
<p>The White Paper reasons that excluding immigrants from South Africa will protect them by making Home Affairs more legally compliant, and South Africans more tolerant and welcoming.</p>
<p>The paper’s most remarkable self-delusion is in its estimates of between 5 million and 13 million immigrants. <a href="https://africacheck.org/fact-checks/spotchecks/are-there-15-million-undocumented-immigrants-living-south-africa-no-another">These estimates have been debunked</a>. The most reliable source of information on population data, <a href="https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=16716">Stats SA Census 2022</a>, indicates that the percentage of immigrants in the country has declined in the last decade. The numbers <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-2022-census-missed-31-of-people-big-data-could-help-in-future-215560">may not be perfect</a>, but the total number of foreign-born residents (including exiles, spouses, investors, and others) is <a href="https://census.statssa.gov.za/#/">close to 2.4 million</a> – somewhere around 4% of the total population of <a href="https://census.statssa.gov.za/#/">62 million</a>. The previous census (2010) put the figure at <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/census/census_2011/census_products/Census_2011_Census_in_brief.pdf">4.4% of a total population of 52 million</a>.</p>
<p>The White Paper suggests that strict laws are needed “to protect the rights” of South African citizens against “the harsh realities” that there are simply not enough resources for everyone. Yet the question is: what exactly do South Africans need to be protected from?</p>
<h2>Misplaced blame</h2>
<p>Immigration can be a challenge. But this does not explain why South Africans spend days without light, water, jobs, or hope of addressing <a href="https://www.eh-exhibition.uni-bayreuth.de/en/cs/South-Africa/index.html#:%7E:text=At%20the%20time%20of%20Mandela's,since%20the%20end%20of%20apartheid.">economic inequality</a>. Immigrants are not the reason why the <a href="https://theconversation.com/healthcare-in-south-africa-how-inequity-is-contributing-to-inefficiency-163753">health service is failing</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/johannesburg-fire-there-was-a-plan-to-fix-derelict-buildings-and-provide-good-accommodation-how-to-move-forward-213095">infrastracture is crumbling</a>. And immigrants are <a href="https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/sar-53.pdf">not responsible for most of the country’s crime</a>. </p>
<p>Missing too from the White Paper is a grounded discussion of how mobility and immigration schemes can meet skills gaps, promote investment, and create jobs across the region. Whether in the <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/mac.20190042">US</a> or <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/africacan/empirical-evidence-shows-migrants-in-south-africa-create-jobs">South Africa</a>, most careful research suggests immigration has positive economic effects. </p>
<p>Nowhere is there reference to the careful analysis of <a href="https://theconversation.com/zimbabwean-migrants-south-africas-anti-immigrant-sentiments-are-hindering-policy-reform-209884">connections between immigration and development</a>, or research involving the <a href="https://www.labour.gov.za/DocumentCenter/Publications/Public%20Employment%20Services/National%20Labour%20Migration%20Policy%202021%202.pdf">Department of Labour</a>, <a href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_protect/---protrav/---migrant/documents/publication/wcms_635964.pdf">the International Labour Organisation</a>, <a href="https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Restriction-and-Solidarity-in-New-South-Africa-migration-report.1.2014.pdf">unions</a>, and <a href="https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=Hw4YkqoAAAAJ&cstart=20&pagesize=80&citation_for_view=Hw4YkqoAAAAJ:_axFR9aDTf0C">scholars</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, the White Paper offers an almost Soviet style programme where experts will designate entry requirements based on predictions of needed skills. The unpredictability of the regional economy, the high economic and human costs of state-managed labour systems, and the diplomatic benefits of a more regionally integrated labour market suggest another model is needed. </p>
<p>It is another illusion that a government that <a href="https://mg.co.za/thoughtleader/opinion/2022-11-02-shape-and-size-matter-our-governments-structure-not-just-its-capacity-hamstrings-development/">cannot identify and respond to citizens’ basic needs</a> – <a href="https://theconversation.com/water-cuts-in-south-africa-are-hurting-hospitals-and-clinics-theres-an-increased-risk-of-infections-199425">water</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-power-crisis-will-continue-until-2025-and-blackouts-will-take-5-years-to-phase-out-206343">electricity</a>, <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/02/south-africa-broken-and-unequal-education-perpetuating-poverty-and-inequality/">education</a>, or <a href="https://www.hhrjournal.org/2018/11/contribution-of-the-health-ombud-to-accountability-the-life-esidimeni-tragedy-in-south-africa/">healthcare</a> – can somehow predict and carefully manage a regional migrant labour system. It is equally fantastical to think that it should.</p>
<h2>Imagined problems, impractical solutions</h2>
<p>The White Paper does not outline an approach to improve immigration policy. Its proposals are vague and the problems it seeks to solve are not about immigration. </p>
<p>This appears to be part of a trend: the poorly researched and largely unsubstantiated 2017 <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/reports/r-pr107-SXO-AdultProstitution-2017-Sum.pdf">South African Law Reform Commission’s Report on Adult Prostitution</a> similarly overlooked <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-01-24-sex-workers-and-moral-stigmatisation-where-criminal-law-has-no-place/">robust evidence-based research</a> in favour of “data” from religious NGOs in the US and <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2017-05-29-analysis-what-happened-to-the-sex-work-report/">personal blogs</a>.</p>
<p>Both examples point to a government lacking capacity to empirically analyse the world and develop solutions to real problems. If not that, they suggest a government wilfully deceiving its citizenry: making immigrants the scapegoat for its own failings. Given the content of the White Paper, it is likely both.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217941/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Loren B Landau receives funding from the South African National Research Foundation. Research informing this article was also supported by the Presidency of South Africa, the South African Local Government Association, the Open Society Foundation, and the US Agency for International Development. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Walker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The White Paper’s proposals are vague and seek to solve problems that are not about immigration.Loren B Landau, Co-Director of the Wits-Oxford Mobility Governance Lab, University of the WitwatersrandRebecca Walker, Research Associate at the African Centre for Migration & Society, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169822023-11-22T13:17:37Z2023-11-22T13:17:37ZIn the face of death, destruction and displacement, beauty plays a vital role in Gaza<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560196/original/file-20231117-30-92u3yz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C79%2C1273%2C769&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Palestinian boy climbs on a painted wall in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City in 2015.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/57cf18ae6b8f5ba693497e1a/1474043441471-IU9GCH5Y6Z8XP9M8EYQJ/ap_63282323864.jpg?format=2500w">AP Photo/Hatem Moussa</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A small group of children in Gaza sit on a lavender and white blanket around a small tray of beverages, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CzLUHMvtgo3/">singing “Happy Birthday”</a> to a young girl. Like kids her age around the world, she wears a sweatshirt with prints of Elsa and Anna, characters from “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2294629/">Frozen</a>”; unlike most kids, she’s celebrating against a backdrop of a war that, according to United Nations estimates as of Nov. 10, 2023, <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-44">has already killed more than 4,500 Palestinian children</a>. </p>
<p>Celebrating anything might seem odd or even inappropriate in the face of so much devastation – and in the middle of what <a href="https://time.com/6334409/is-whats-happening-gaza-genocide-experts/">many are calling genocide</a>.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75786">in the research</a> of refugees that I’ve conducted with interdisciplinary artist and scholar <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14036096.2013.789071">Devora Neumark</a>, we’ve found that the urge to beautify one’s surroundings is widespread and profoundly beneficial – particularly so in the harrowing circumstances of loss, displacement and danger.</p>
<p>When people find themselves displaced from their homes, finding or creating beauty can be just as vital as food, water and shelter.</p>
<h2>Gaza today</h2>
<p>In the first six weeks of the Israel-Hamas war, <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-40">70%</a> of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have had to leave <a href="https://sheltercluster.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/public/docs/Shelter%20Cluster_Gaza_Factsheet_%202%20November%202023.pdf?VersionId=yrMZO8faThzipir9nFzf8RNaOaefLSE5">or have lost their homes</a>. </p>
<p>Over half crowd into some type of emergency shelter, while others squeeze into relatives’ and neighbors’ homes. Food is scarce and increasingly expensive. According to the U.N., people are getting only <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-flash-update-10#:%7E:text=As%20hostilities%20entered%20the%20tenth,Ministry%20of%20Health%20in%20Gaza">3% of the water</a> they need each day. Much of the water they do have is polluted.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bird's eye view of buildings destroyed by bombs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560199/original/file-20231117-31-2b7ial.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The rubble of the Yassin mosque, at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, destroyed in an Israeli airstrike in October 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/AP23282360829019-1696857723.jpg">Hatem Moussa/AP Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Crops <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/6/our-hearts-burn-gazas-olive-farmers-say-israel-war-destroys-harvest">are dying</a>. Moms <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20231106-malnourished-sick-and-scared-pregnant-women-in-gaza-face-unthinkable-challenges">are not producing breast milk</a>. People are getting <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/disease-runs-rampant-gaza-clean-water-runs-rcna125091">sick</a>. There are severe shortages of <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190108-lack-of-medicated-baby-formula-puts-life-of-gaza-children-at-stake/">baby formula</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/gaza-hospital-procedures-without-anaesthetics-prompted-screams-prayers-2023-11-10/">anesthesia</a> for those <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/nightmarish-gazas-pregnant-women-endure-c-sections-without-anesthesia-15823792">needing surgery</a>. The lack of space and overwhelming stress and fear <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/oct/13/gaza-diary-we-survived-another-night-every-inch-of-my-body-aches-lack-of-sleep-is-torture">add sleep</a> to the list of things that are hard to come by.</p>
<p>These needs are urgent and essential. Without them people will die. <a href="https://www.ochaopt.org/content/hostilities-gaza-strip-and-israel-reported-impact-day-32">Too many already have</a>, while the conditions for those who live are horrific. They make it hard to see much else. </p>
<p>But the endless images of bombs and blood <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DaysofPalestine/posts/palestinian-school-girls-in-uniform-take-part-in-a-traditional-dabka-as-musician/2754532801440104/?locale=hi_IN">hide the story of the life</a>, <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gaza-colorful-neighborhood-video_n_55c26079e4b0138b0bf4dc42">color</a> and <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/features/%E2%80%9Cwe-paint-safeguard-our-heritage%E2%80%9D">creativity</a> that existed in Gaza. And they hide the beauty that persists despite war. </p>
<p>Beauty is often viewed as a luxury. But this isn’t the case. It’s the opposite.</p>
<h2>A human impulse</h2>
<p>Beauty has been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690900800205">a hallmark</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt28557b">every human civilization</a>. Art philosopher <a href="https://books.google.it/books/about/The_Abuse_of_Beauty.html?id=hUFMv8LxuVUC&redir_esc=y">Arthur Danto</a> wrote that beauty, while optional for art, is not an option for life. Neuroscientists have shown that our brains are biologically <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/12/how-the-human-brain-is-wired-for-beauty/672291/">wired for beauty</a>: The neural mechanisms that influence attention and perception have adapted to notice color, form, proportion and pattern.</p>
<p>We’ve found that refugees worldwide, often with limited or no legal rights, <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75786">still invest considerable effort in beautifying</a> their surroundings. Whether they’re staying in shelters or makeshift apartments, they paint walls, hang pictures, add wallpaper and carpet the floors. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392120927755">They transform</a> plain and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.587063">seemingly temporary</a> accommodations into <a href="https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.43234">personalized spaces</a> – into semblances of home. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three people cover a tent with decorative fabric" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560200/original/file-20231117-19-58ix1z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A decorative tarp added to a shelter at the Jeddah camp in Iraq.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://sheltercluster.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/public/docs/GSC-Achievements-Report-2022_0.pdf?VersionId=ZQC_sNMTIhYrmybN1zjKIvMgqHcbYSEp">Sami Abdulla</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Refugees <a href="https://doi.org/10.3167/ame.2021.160103">rearrange spaces</a> to share meals, celebrate holidays and host parties – to greet friends, hold <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1798747">dances</a> and say goodbyes. They burn incense, serve tea in decorative porcelain and recite prayers on ornate mats. These simple acts <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/75786">carry profound significance</a>, even amid challenges.</p>
<p>Urban studies scholars Layla Zibar, Nurhan Abujidi and Bruno de Meulder <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv25wxbvf.7">have told the story of Um Ibrahim</a>, a Syrian refugee. When she was pregnant, she and her husband transformed the tent they were issued at a refugee camp in the Kurdistan region of Iraq into home. They built brick walls. She planned paint colors and furniture. Around her, neighbors potted plants and set up chairs to create front porches on their temporary shelters to be able to gather with friends. They turned roads into places for celebrating special occasions. They painted a flag at the entrance of the camp. </p>
<p>They made a new home, but they also made it feel like it “<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv25wxbvf.7">used to in Syria</a>.” </p>
<h2>Creating hope in a hopeless place</h2>
<p>The benefits of beauty are both practical and transformative, especially for refugees. </p>
<p>Many refugees <a href="https://doi.org/10.1192%2Fpb.bp.114.047951">experience trauma</a>. All <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdt004">experience loss</a>. Beautifying is a way to exert agency, grieve and heal.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2013.789071">Simple acts</a> – rearranging a home, sweeping the floor or intentionally placing an object – allow refugees to infuse an area with their <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv25wxbvf.9">own identity and taste</a>. They provide a way to cope when one has little control over anything else. Often, once someone is labeled a refugee, all their other identities <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09502386.2015.1113633">are overshadowed or disappear</a>. </p>
<p>Devora Neumark’s study of over 200 individuals who experienced forced displacement found that beautifying the home helped <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2013.789071">heal intergenerational trauma</a> caused by forced displacement. </p>
<p>Neumark observed that as children participated in efforts to beautify their home, it seemed to positively influence their own coping mechanisms and well-being.</p>
<p>Furthermore, if children could imagine their homes prior to displacement through the stories and images shared with them – what scholar Marianne Hirsch calls “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/472334.Family_Frames">postmemories</a>” – then the actions taken to beautify their present-day homes could be transformative. They served as a bridge connecting the past with the present and facilitated the ongoing process of healing and preserving identity. </p>
<p>Ultimately, making a space feel more comfortable, secure and personalized is a tangible expression of hope <a href="https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40141">for a future</a>. </p>
<h2>Cultivating love and life</h2>
<p>Even prior to the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Palestinians lived in the face of immense injustice and violence. </p>
<p>Our Palestinian research partner, who must remain anonymous for security reasons, described that their home in the refugee camp feels like living in jail, but that they still make it a beautiful place to live. </p>
<p>Prior to the start of the latest war, neighborhoods featured <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/features/%E2%80%9Cwe-paint-safeguard-our-heritage%E2%80%9D">striking murals</a> and <a href="https://banksyexplained.com/the-segregation-wall-palestine-2005/">embellished walls</a>. <a href="https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/02/gaza-mosque-history-islamic-civiliation-mamluk.html">Intricate mosaics</a> adorned buildings, and <a href="https://unicornriot.ninja/2023/colorful-neighborhood-in-gaza-celebrates-ramadan-with-vibrant-colors/">paint livened</a> the facades of homes. Neighbors would gather to pray, putting on new clothes, spraying perfume and burning incense to prepare for the rituals. As Christmas approached, Palestinian Christians, along with some Muslims, would <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2221441/middle-east">decorate their homes</a>. Both faiths would gather for <a href="https://www.newarab.com/media/images/gaza-begins-christmas-celebrations">annual tree lightings</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People sit on a colorful carpet on a makeshift table eating prepared food." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560203/original/file-20231117-19-42v59b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Palestinians sit down for a meal of quail meat in a home at a refugee camp in Gaza in November 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/november-2020-palestinian-territories-khan-yunis-news-photo/1229669375?adppopup=true">Mohammed Talatene/Picture Alliance via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Geographer David Marshall described how youth living in a Palestinian refugee camp used beauty to focus on the positives in their environment and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13562576.2013.780713">dream about</a> a future beyond their camp – and the walls that constrained their lives. </p>
<p>In our community-based storytelling project in a Palestinian refugee camp this past summer, we witnessed the commitment to making homes beautiful in the thriving gardens that were created within very crowded quarters. Neighbors shared how their gardens <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pandemics-gardening-boom-shows-how-gardens-can-cultivate-public-health-181426">calm them</a>, provide a place to gather with friends and serve as a reminder of fields they once tended.</p>
<p>In her 2021 research, Corinne Van Emmerick, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology, described Fatena, a Palestinian who was living in a refugee camp. She had <a href="https://romatrepress.uniroma3.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/15.Aesthetics-from-the-Interstices.pdf">flowers on everything</a> – the roof, walls and windowsills. They were expensive and needed “lots of love.” But, Fatena added, they gave her “love back.”</p>
<h2>A form of resistance and resilience</h2>
<p>One Guinean refugee interviewed as part of Neumark’s study said, “As refugees we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14036096.2013.789071">lose our sense of beauty</a>, and when that happens, we lose our sense of everything, of life itself.”</p>
<p>If the opposite of this is true, then clearly beauty cannot be thought of as superficial or an afterthought. One study of Bosnian refugees found that their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01612840490506392">ability to notice beauty</a> was a sign of improved mental health.</p>
<p>Creating, witnessing and experiencing beauty offers a connection to the familiar, works to preserve cultural identity and fosters belonging. </p>
<p>It’s what ensures that a little girl in Gaza not only has her birthday celebrated, but that it is also made as beautiful as possible.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A girl wears a birthday hat and holds three balloons in front of a destroyed building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560541/original/file-20231120-23-8nqyl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Palestinian girl celebrates in front of a house destroyed by Israeli shelling during the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/palestinian-girl-during-a-party-amuse-children-in-front-of-news-photo/526077258?adppopup=true">Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p><em>Devora Neumark, an interdisciplinary artist and researcher whose trauma-informed work explores the intersections between a home beautification and the human experience in the context of displacement, contributed to writing this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216982/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Acker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When people find themselves displaced from their homes, finding or creating beauty can be just as vital as food, water and shelter − and serves as a form of resistance and resilience.Stephanie Acker, Visiting Scholar of International Development, Community and Environment, Clark UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2116862023-11-15T17:44:31Z2023-11-15T17:44:31ZHow the Welsh language is being promoted to help migrants feel at home<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550026/original/file-20230925-22-4zy1hu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C0%2C4819%2C3174&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Welsh government has announced plans to make Wales a 'nation of sanctuary'.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/second-severn-crossing-wales-november-2018-1229207257">Ceri Breeze/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>You can read this article in <a href="https://theconversation.com/maer-gymraeg-yn-cael-ei-defnyddio-i-annog-ymfudwyr-i-deimlon-gartrefol-217503">Welsh</a>.</em></p>
<p>The UK government alone decides who can enter the country and how migration and asylum policies are made. But devolved governments have scope to use <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-8599/CBP-8599.pdf">their powers</a> in fields such as housing, education, health and social services to shape the nature of the support that is subsequently offered to new arrivals.</p>
<p>In recent years, the Welsh government has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2023.2198809">looked for ways</a> to use its powers to help refugees and migrants integrate into Welsh society, taking into account the role of the Welsh language. </p>
<p>Overall, this is an approach that seeks to create a welcoming and supportive environment in Wales. It contrasts with the UK government’s commitment to <a href="https://migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/briefings/long-term-international-migration-flows-to-and-from-the-uk/">reducing net migration</a> and to create a “<a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/what-is-hostile-environment-theresa-may-windrush-eu-citizens-legal-immigrants-145067">hostile environment</a>” for refugees and asylum seekers.</p>
<p>The most prominent step taken to date was the publication of the Welsh government’s <a href="https://www.gov.wales/refugee-and-asylum-seeker-plan-nation-sanctuary">plan in 2019</a>, which set out measures aimed at turning Wales into a “<a href="https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-wales-nation-sanctuary">nation of sanctuary</a>”.</p>
<p>However, another significant – but less obvious – aspect of the Welsh government’s work are the steps taken to ensure that the Welsh language plays a more prominent role in the process of welcoming migrants and refugees.</p>
<p>Reflecting on this work, <a href="https://www.gov.wales/jane-hutt-ms">Jane Hutt</a>, Wales’ social justice minister, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/cymrufyw/64811421">has argued</a> that the Welsh language could become “an extremely powerful integration tool”.</p>
<h2>Hospitality and integration</h2>
<p>The shift to viewing the Welsh language as a resource that can facilitate integration is evident when tracing the evolution of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) provision in Wales.</p>
<p>In 2013, the formal link between ESOL provision and the process of gaining UK citizenship was <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/tougher-language-requirements-announced-for-british-citizenship">unpicked</a> by the then Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government.</p>
<p>An unforeseen consequence of this reform was that it created an opportunity to initiate a distinct approach to language education for migrants in Wales. Hence, a year later, the Welsh government published its first <a href="https://www.gov.wales/english-speakers-other-languages-esol-policy-statement">ESOL policy for Wales</a>. It was the first of its kind to be developed by any of the UK’s four governments.</p>
<p>The original ESOL policy did not make a link between the Welsh language and linguistic integration. But a <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2019-11/english-for-speakers-of-other-languages-esol-policy-wales.pdf">later iteration</a>, published in 2019, called on ESOL providers in Wales “to integrate the Welsh language into their classes”. </p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/esol-english-classes-are-crucial-for-migrant-integration-yet-challenges-remain-unaddressed-204415">Esol English classes are crucial for migrant integration, yet challenges remain unaddressed</a>
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<p>This was deemed necessary as the “the Welsh language can be a valuable skill in the workplace”. And also because learning Welsh can facilitate “social integration”, particularly in “predominantly Welsh speaking communities”.</p>
<p>Coinciding with this, the <a href="https://learnwelsh.cymru/learn-welsh-with-us-croeso-i-bawb/">National Centre for Learning Welsh</a> worked in partnership with <a href="https://www.adultlearning.wales/cym">Adult Learning Wales</a>, the umbrella organisation for adult education providers across Wales, to develop a novel Welsh for speakers of other languages (WSOL) provision. Introduced for the first time in 2019, <em><a href="https://learnwelsh.cymru/learn-welsh-with-us-croeso-i-bawb/">Croeso i Bawb</a></em> (“Welcome to Everyone”) is a bespoke course that aims to introduce the Welsh language to migrants and refugees.</p>
<p>A Welsh government-commissioned <a href="https://www.gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2023-07/review-english-speakers-other-languages-esol-policy-wales.pdf">review</a> of ESOL provision in Wales this year reiterated the value of introducing Welsh for promoting a sense of belonging. The review also called for the National Centre for Learning Welsh to be integrated fully into existing educational networks that work to support migrants in Wales. </p>
<h2>Implications</h2>
<p>It is important not to overstate the scale of these changes. Overall, English remains the primary medium of integration for the majority of immigrants and refugees settling in Wales.</p>
<p>Yet the increasing emphasis on the Welsh language in integration efforts reinforces the sense of a distinctive Welsh approach to welcoming migrants and refugees. The new WSOL provision <a href="https://wales.britishcouncil.org/en/blog/migrants-multilingualism-and-welsh-language">challenges</a> the monolingual image of life in the UK and promotes multilingualism and multiculturalism. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Adult Learning Wales’ information on WSOL.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Other <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10993-019-09517-0">research</a> suggests that learning Welsh can enhance the employment opportunities of migrants and refugees. It can also facilitate their ability to access a variety of new social networks. </p>
<p>But if there is to be a serious effort to offer a route to integration, it will not be sufficient to merely focus on offering formal opportunities to learn the Welsh language, important as that may be.</p>
<p>Policymakers and activists should consider other ways to make Welsh language learning more accessible. Providing opportunities for learners to interact socially through the medium of Welsh is also vital.</p>
<p>While the UK government seems set to continue emphasising English as the only way to integrate successfully, the current evidence suggests that Wales wants a different, more multilingual vision.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211686/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article has benefited from financial support offered by the Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) as part of a project on the ethics of linguistic integration.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Chick is affiliated with the Welsh Refugee Council as a Trustee.</span></em></p>The Welsh government has taken steps to ensure that the Welsh language plays a more prominent role in welcoming refugees and migrants.Huw Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Politics, Aberystwyth UniversityGwennan Higham, Senior Lecturer in Welsh, Swansea UniversityMike Chick, Senior Lecturer in TESOL/English, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2173632023-11-10T00:18:22Z2023-11-10T00:18:22Z‘I have no rights’: what happens to stateless people in Australia after the High Court’s ruling?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558737/original/file-20231109-17-q814h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C50%2C4803%2C3168&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/stateless-word-dictionary-concept-1155404044">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The decision by the High Court of Australia this week <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-08/indefinite-immigration-detention-ruled-unlawful-by-high-court/101569082">overturning the legality</a> of indefinite immigration detention marks a watershed moment in Australian legal history. </p>
<p>For almost two decades, stateless people have faced the prospect of spending their lives behind bars. </p>
<p>Now, a stateless <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-10/asylum-seekers-indefinite-detention-to-be-released/103088762">Rohingya refugee</a> has been released from detention.</p>
<p>With no “stateless” visa category or pathway to permanency, stateless people will continue to face a life of uncertainty in the Australia community, begging the question; what next?</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/government-must-use-trauma-informed-approach-to-end-uncertainty-on-refugee-visa-applications-203758">Government must use trauma-informed approach to end uncertainty on refugee visa applications</a>
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<h2>Overturning decades of precedent</h2>
<p>This week the Australian High Court <a href="https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/cth/HCATrans/2023/154.html">ordered</a> the immediate release of the stateless refugee, known as “NZYQ”, from immigration detention.</p>
<p>He’d been held there for more than five years. </p>
<p>The Court found that because there was no real prospect of his removal from Australia “becoming practicable in the reasonably foreseeable future”, his detention was unlawful.</p>
<p>This decision is highly significant, overturning almost twenty years of legal precedent established in <a href="https://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/showCase/2004/HCA/37">2004.</a> </p>
<p>In that case, the High Court upheld the ability of the Australian government to detain people for an unlimited period. </p>
<p>That looked to be the fate of the man at the centre of this week’s case.</p>
<p>Having had his visa cancelled due to a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/09/high-court-indefinite-immigration-detention-coalition-safety">criminal conviction</a> and unable to be returned to Myanmar as a stateless refugee, he faced potentially being detained for the rest of his life.</p>
<p>Australia’s system of mandatory indefinite detention, a bipartisan policy introduced in 1992, is unique, even when compared with countries with similar legal traditions, such as the UK. </p>
<p>Available <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/immigration-detention-statistics-31-august-2023.pdf">government statistics</a> indicate there are currently over 1,000 people in immigration detention, 31 of whom are stateless.</p>
<p>The average length somebody is detained in Australia is a staggering <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/research-and-stats/files/immigration-detention-statistics-31-august-2023.pdf">708 days</a>.</p>
<p>More than 100 people have been held for more than five years. </p>
<h2>What does is mean to be stateless?</h2>
<p>There is little understanding of statelessness in Australia, despite the fact it affects millions of people globally. </p>
<p>A stateless person is someone with no nationality. Legally speaking, they are recognised as “belonging” to no country in the world. </p>
<p>While the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/4460454/Statelessness_overview_factsheet_Feb_2023.pdf">causes of statelessness</a> vary, the dominant root cause is usually discrimination of one kind or another, including on the grounds of gender, race or religion.</p>
<p>The legal definition of statelessness does not do justice to the lived reality. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-migration-review-could-close-some-disability-discrimination-loopholes-but-not-for-people-already-waiting-or-refused-visas-215894">A migration review could close some disability discrimination loopholes – but not for people already waiting or refused visas</a>
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<p>Statelessness has the potential to impact almost every aspect of a person’s day-to-day life.</p>
<p>It can inhibit freedom of movement, access to education, housing, employment and medical care. </p>
<p>In Australia, these challenges are compounded by an often overwhelming sense of uncertainty about the future and the ever-present threat of detention.</p>
<p>The lived reality of statelessness is perhaps better understood in the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/3645547/StatelessChildrenReport.pdf">words of Amir</a>, a stateless father living in Australia:</p>
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<p>Being stateless has been a huge source of sadness for me in my life. At times it has made me question my very existence and made me wonder why my parents chose to bring me into this world. I’ve never felt like I have a future. Wherever I’ve gone, I have no rights.</p>
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<p>We must never forget that behind legal judgements are the lives of real people. Many stateless families we work with in the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness/engage/stateless-children-legal-clinic">Stateless Legal Clinic</a> have spent years in immigration detention, including Australian-born children who marked their <a href="https://firstdogonthemoon.com.au/cartoons/2014/11/12/baby-ferouzs-first-birthday/">first birthdays</a> behind the wire. </p>
<p>The ongoing health impacts of detention, especially on children, have been <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/2-findings-and-recommendations#:%7E:text=The%20Commission%20makes%20the%20general,prolonged%20detention%20on%20the%20mental">well documented</a>.</p>
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<h2>A lack of legal protections means an uncertain future</h2>
<p>Along with the harmful effects of detention is the gap in legal protections stateless people experience in the Australian community. </p>
<p>Australia doesn’t have a distinct visa category for stateless people or pathway to permanent residency. </p>
<p>Many live with crippling prohibitions on their ability to build a secure life for themselves and their children. Access to some of the basic rights many of us take for granted – such as education - can be challenging. In the <a href="https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/3645547/StatelessChildrenReport.pdf">words of stateless mother Nur:</a></p>
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<p>Being stateless makes things challenging for us here. My children feel Australian – yet we are often reminded they are not […] our eldest child, Iman started kindergarten this year. It was so difficult trying to enrol him – they asked about his passport, his visa, his status. I felt embarrassed having to explain he has no passport – no identity. No certainty of his future.</p>
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<p>Australian law does not adequately protect the rights of stateless people in this country. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-governments-plan-to-overhaul-the-asylum-system-is-a-smart-use-of-resources-and-might-just-work-215061">Why the government's plan to overhaul the asylum system is a smart use of resources – and might just work</a>
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<p>This week’s High Court decision is a critical first step in protecting stateless people from being indefinitely deprived of their liberty. What happens next is just as important. </p>
<p>In the absence of being recognised as citizens of any country in the world, Australia can – and must – do more to offer stateless children and adults a life of certainty in this country.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217363/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Foster receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katie Robertson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The overturning of almost 20 years of legal precedent allowing indefinite detention is a watershed moment. But stateless people in Australia have few rights and little say over their futures.Katie Robertson, Director - Stateless Legal Clinic, The University of MelbourneMichelle Foster, Professor, Melbourne Law School, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2149282023-11-05T13:01:57Z2023-11-05T13:01:57ZUnpacking Elon Musk’s convoluted U.S.-Mexico border visit<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557510/original/file-20231103-17-agxdj5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C67%2C680%2C438&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Elon Musk and Texas congressman Tony Gonzales stand in front of a group of South American migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://twitter.com/TonyGonzales4TX/status/1708142923626209519">(Twitter/Tony Gonzales)</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/unpacking-elon-musks-convoluted-us-mexico-border-visit" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In late September, Elon Musk, the tech billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX, set the internet ablaze with his visit to the Texas-Mexico border to provide what he called an “<a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/why-did-elon-musk-visit-texas-mexico-border-and-what-did-he-say-about-the-migrants/articleshow/104034433.cms?from=mdr">unfiltered</a>” perspective on the border crisis as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/migrants-cross-into-texas-undeterred-by-razor-wire-or-new-asylum-rules-2023-09-28/">thousands of migrants</a>, mostly from Venezuela, crossed the Rio Grande River.</p>
<p><a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1707565081750290910?s=20">In a video at Eagle Pass, Texas</a>, Musk calls for a “greatly expanded legal immigration system” that would welcome “hard-working and honest” people and “<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1707525800830828619?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1707525800830828619%7Ctwgr%5E3df67ff84fb408e2c51eceefcad89b5db37b30d0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailysignal.com%2F2023%2F09%2F29%2Felon-musk-visits-eagle-pass-livestreams-real-story-of-whats-happening-at-southern-border%2F">not let anyone in the country who is breaking the law</a>.”</p>
<p>Many were quick to highlight the absurdity of the world’s richest person, who is himself an immigrant, standing before a group of other immigrants calling for stricter policies. </p>
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<h2>Pro-immigrant but anti-asylum?</h2>
<p>Musk’s position on immigration appears convoluted. On the one hand, he says he is “<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1707525800830828619?s=20">extremely pro-immigrant</a>,” given he is an immigrant to the United States himself. This also makes sense from the perspective of his businesses, which rely on <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/n7z5px/twitter-employees-on-visas-cant-just-quit">highly skilled migrant workers</a>.</p>
<p>While Musk said he supports legal immigration, he said the U.S. should “not be allowing people in the country if they are breaking the law.” A day before his visit to the border, Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1707146779894951982?s=20">tweeted</a> support for a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-trump-wall-us-mexico-border-2023-9">Trump-style wall</a> to securitize the border. He implied that asylum seekers were entering without evidence to support their claims and they could “literally Google to know exactly what to say” to border officers.</p>
<p>Musk’s peddling of right wing anti-refugee rhetoric isn’t surprising, but the misinformation shared in Musk’s self-proclaimed “unfiltered” video may inadvertently bolster border militarization, increased repatriations and the criminalization of vulnerable asylum seekers. </p>
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<p>For example, during Musk’s border visit, congressman Tony Gonzales shares an anecdote about an asylum seeker he saw that had teardrop tattoos on their face. Musk calls this person a “serial murderer and proud of it” and made the leap that America has become the place people “go to escape the law.” </p>
<p>This kind of language plays into tropes that paint immigrants as dangerous and criminal. However, research has demonstrated that immigrants are not more likely to commit crimes. <a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/u-s-citizens-most-likely-to-commit-crimes-than-immigrants/">Research from 2022</a> found U.S. citizens are more than two times more likely to be arrested for a violent crime than undocumented immigrants. </p>
<p>In the video, Gonzales claimed there has been zero repatriation. However, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-border-doesnt-need-elon-musks-citizen-journalism">3.6 million people who have crossed into the U.S. illegally have been repatriated</a> since Biden took office. Soon after Musk’s visit, Biden announced that the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/us-resume-direct-deportation-flights-venezuelan-migrants-rcna119107">U.S. was resuming direct repatriation flights for Venezuelans</a> who unlawfully cross the border and have no legal basis to stay. </p>
<h2>An open border for all of Earth?</h2>
<p>The most troubling and sensationalist claim that Musk makes is that the U.S. southern border is an “<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1707565081750290910?s=20">open border for all of earth…an open border to 8 billion</a>.” Not only is this statement far from the truth, it plays into tropes that immigrants and refugees from the Global South are invading western countries. </p>
<p>It’s a dramatic misconception of the realities of global migration and displacement. The vast majority of refugees are hosted by countries in the Global South. </p>
<p>For example, displacement from <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/immigration-venezuela-refugee-crisis-us-border-policies/?fbclid=IwAR0qEfobBJ98gamFou7F0KpdQMo0XvcXivdfeccOs5NGC6-22oxyYbNnplI">Venezuela is now the largest refugee crisis</a> in the world, outpacing refugees from Ukraine and Syria. Of the <a href="https://www.r4v.info/es/refugiadosymigrantes">7.7 million displaced</a>, 85 per cent have moved to neighbouring Latin American countries. Only around <a href="https://www.r4v.info/es/refugiadosymigrantes">700,000 are in the U.S. under temporary protection status</a>, which is only nine per cent of the total displaced population. </p>
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<p>The claim that the U.S. border is open “for all of earth” is plainly wrong, and gives the U.S. credit for what has been a Latin American-led humanitarian response to the Venezuelan crisis. </p>
<p>Musk has been criticized for meddling in international affairs, most recently the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/21/23415242/elon-musk-starlink-ukraine-dod-twitter-david-sacks-russia">Ukraine war</a>. He has <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1576969255031296000?">tweeted a peace proposal</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/03/19/elon-musk-ukraine-starlink/">provided</a> then <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/07/ukraine-rips-musk-disrupting-sneak-attack-russian-navy.html">shut off Starlink’s satellite</a> network over Crimea and <a href="https://twitter.com/panoparker/status/1318157559266762752">seemingly supported</a> a U.S.-backed coup in Bolivia.</p>
<p>And we are seeing the implications for his misinformation at the border impact the lives of people seeking asylum in the U.S. being portrayed as “serial murderers” and “breaking the law.” As Musk wades into yet another political issue, it is crucial for the public to get their information from credible news sources and research, not billionaires on Twitter.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214928/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yvonne Su does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Elon Musk’s visit to the U.S.-Mexico border played into false tropes that paint asylum seekers as dangerous criminals.Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2149582023-11-01T19:54:40Z2023-11-01T19:54:40ZCanada’s refugee pilot programs risk making refugees prove their worth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557163/original/file-20231101-27-nsb8h2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C139%2C2973%2C2106&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Admitting refugees based on their skills risks setting a dangerous precedent, and Canada would be wise to proceed with caution.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/canadas-refugee-pilot-programs-risk-making-refugees-prove-their-worth" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Canada’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/economic-mobility-pathways-pilot/immigrate/eligibility.html">Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot (EMPP)</a>, intended to settle skilled refugees to fill urgent Canadian labour shortages, risks commodifying refugees and humanitarianism. A shift towards using <a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-needs-to-stop-wasting-the-talent-of-skilled-immigrants-182005">an asylum claimant’s economic potential to judge their claim</a> risks blurring the lines between humanitarian- and economically-driven migration to Canada. </p>
<p>Canada has garnered international praise for the way it has welcomed refugees. The country has a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/canada-role/timeline.html">long history of granting protection to individuals fleeing persecution, war and violence</a>. Since 1980, <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/in-canada/refugees-in-canada/">Canada has welcomed over one million refugees</a>, and takes pride in their contributions to the Canadian economy and its multicultural milieu. </p>
<p>Canada’s welcoming approach, and its <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-story-behind-the-worlds-first-private-refugee-sponsorship-program-126257">private refugee sponsorship program</a>, have been touted as a model for other countries to follow. Canada has also been celebrated for its <a href="https://www.fmreview.org/latinamerica-caribbean/dustin-ferreira">proceedings involving refugees who have suffered due to their sexual orientation or gender identity</a>.</p>
<p>Finding durable solutions to global refugee crises is a persistent challenge. However, admitting refugees based on their skills risks setting a dangerous precedent, and Canada would be wise to proceed with caution.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people holding signs that say welcome to Canada" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556956/original/file-20231031-29-iqfv1r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A family waits to welcome Syrian refugees at Toronto Pearson Airport. The EMPP risks jeopardizing Canada’s welcoming reputation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<h2>Economic Mobility Pathways Pilot</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/publications-manuals/economic-mobility-pathways-project-labour-mobility.html">The EMPP</a> was launched in April 2018 in collaboration with refugee-focused organizations like <a href="https://www.talentbeyondboundaries.org/">Talent Beyond Boundaries</a> and <a href="https://www.refugepoint.org/">RefugePoint</a>, and is designed to combine refugee resettlement and economic immigration. </p>
<p>Through the EMPP, around 10 to 15 “skilled refugees” in the Middle East and East Africa were referred to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/provincial-nominees/works.html">provincial nominee programs</a> in Canada. Through these programs, Canadian provinces are able to nominate people for permanent residence. The EMPP was intended to be another avenue for refugees seeking to come to Canada. </p>
<p>In the summer of 2023, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced two new immigration streams under the EMPP. Refugees who secured a full-time job offer could come to Canada through the EMPP Skills Job Stream. Those without a full-time job offer, but who <a href="https://www.unhcr.ca/in-canada/other-immigration-pathways-refugees/economic-immigration-skilled-refugees/#:%7E:text=To%20date%2C%20a%20software%20developer,other%20applications%20are%20being%20processed.">possessed skills that match with employers’ needs</a>, could apply through the EMPP Federal Skills Without a Job Offer Stream. </p>
<p>These newer pathways apply a skills distinction to refugee selection and admission in Canada. Essentially, they distinguish refugee applicants based on their perceived skills, education, training and experience. Such a practice is counter to <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-relating-status-refugees">international</a> and <a href="https://laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-2.5/page-1.html#h-274085">national</a> protocols that state refugees must be protected based on their fears of persecution. </p>
<p>More importantly, distinguishing refugees in this way only serves the private interests of employers and businesses, and not necessarily those of asylum seekers. </p>
<h2>Making refugees prove their worth</h2>
<p>The government states the EMPP gives Canadian employers access to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/economic-mobility-pathways-pilot.html">“a new pool of qualified candidates”</a> who can meet ongoing labour shortages.</p>
<p>Migrant-receiving countries in the Global North have long relied on immigration to enhance their economic competitiveness. This economic basis for immigration has a long history in Canada and can be traced back to the <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/immigration-policy">1967 introduction of the points system</a>. Under this system, people seeking to immigrate to Canada are ranked and assessed based on their skills and human capital.</p>
<p>This kind of skilled immigration has become the <a href="https://theconversation.com/immigrants-could-be-the-solution-to-canadas-labour-shortage-but-they-need-to-be-supported-194613">preferred solution</a> to Canada’s ongoing labour shortages, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pandemic-created-challenges-and-opportunities-for-canadian-immigration-194490">particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>These immigration systems can often create power imbalances between companies and their workers that are ripe for abuse. They can often give employers significant say in <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-regulations-on-migrant-farm-workers-should-tackle-employer-employee-power-imbalances-198489">who gets to stay in Canada and who does not</a>.</p>
<h2>Risks of abuse</h2>
<p>Inserting labour market objectives into refugee policy means the federal government risks not fully considering the dangers of exposing already vulnerable refugees to increased trauma and exploitation by <a href="https://theconversation.com/canada-the-good-myth-exposed-migrant-workers-resist-debt-bondage-90279">employers or unregulated recruiters</a>. </p>
<p>Assessing a refugee based on their employment or economic prospects fails to consider their other needs, <a href="https://policyoptions.irpp.org/fr/magazines/mai-2016/from-newcomer-to-canadian-making-refugee-integration-work/">such as health care, housing and language training</a>. The current EMPP pathways remain small and are intended to complement, rather than replace, the humanitarian impetus driving Canada’s refugee policy. </p>
<p>Now is the time to stop, think and apply caution. There is a need for more dialogue on the potential risks for refugees if Canada starts to assess their applications based on their economic prospects rather than the depth of their humanitarian needs. </p>
<p>This is especially important as Canada could serve as a model for other countries, which it has done in the past, and shape the lives of global refugees.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214958/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Romeo Joe Quintero does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Canada has cultivated a reputation for being welcoming toward refugees. However, a new pilot program risks jeopardizing that reputation by making asylum seekers prove their economic worth.Romeo Joe Quintero, PhD Student, Human Geography, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165792023-11-01T15:56:21Z2023-11-01T15:56:21ZGaza’s ‘graveyard’ for children: Why Palestinians must be included in the international refugee protection regime<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/gazas-graveyard-for-children-why-palestinians-must-be-included-in-the-international-refugee-protection-regime" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Israeli airstrikes <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/10/31/jabalya-refugee-camp-deaths-strikes-israel/">have destroyed apartment blocks and killed and injured hundreds of people at refugee camps in northern Gaza</a> in the midst of its unrelenting assault on Gazans in the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel. </p>
<p>Refugees represent <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/where-we-work/gaza-strip">81 per cent of Gaza’s population of 2.1 million people</a>. The displacement of these stateless refugees goes back to the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, an event known by Palestinians as <a href="https://www.un.org/unispal/about-the-nakba/#:%7E:text=The%20Nakba%2C%20which%20means%20%E2%80%9Ccatastrophe,ethnic%20and%20multi%2Dcultural%20society."><em>Al Nakba</em> or “the catastrophe.</a>”</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gaza-bombing-adds-to-the-generations-of-palestinians-displaced-from-their-homes-216142">Gaza bombing adds to the generations of Palestinians displaced from their homes</a>
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<p>In 1967, many of these refugees were displaced again by <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/6/10/the-1967-naksa-the-making-of-the-new-middle-east"><em>Al Naksa</em>, the war that resulted in Israel occupying the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem</a> in addition to parts of Syria’s Golan heights and Egypt’s Sinai desert. </p>
<p>Since <em>Al Naksa</em>, Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza have been subjected to a military occupation by Israel. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/15/nakba-mapping-palestinian-villages-destroyed-by-israel-in-1948">In 1948, Palestinian refugees were displaced from a mandated territory</a> and had no recognized state to represent them. </p>
<p>Today, Palestinians in Gaza are facing the threat of a new forced displacement that will lead them to a similar legal dilemma of 1948. They will likely be displaced from an occupied territory with no authority or state to protect them. </p>
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<h2>Thousands killed</h2>
<p>The continuous Israeli bombardment and invasion of Gaza are resulting in a mounting death toll of civilians. In addition to the military action, Israel has cut off water, electricity and fuel supplies to the region. </p>
<p><a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142687">Thousands have died, including children.</a> A United Nations expert has warned <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/un-expert-warns-new-instance-mass-ethnic-cleansing-palestinians-calls">the attacks amount to ethnic cleansing by Israel</a> and a UNICEF official has said Gaza <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/dozens-killed-after-israeli-airstrikes-on-gaza-refugee-camp">has become a “graveyard for children.”</a></p>
<p>Subjecting the people in Gaza to as much killing as possible and forcibly displacing those who survive is the beginning of a new catastrophe for the citizens of Gaza. </p>
<p>In a recent interview, former Israeli diplomat Danny Ayalon discussed Israel’s hopes <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231014-israeli-diplomat-theres-endless-space-in-egypts-sinai-desert-for-gazas-civilians/">to displace Palestinians from Gaza to the Sinai desert in Egypt</a>, an idea that <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/18/egypt-does-not-see-why-it-should-be-responsible-for-gazas-refugee-influx.html">was rejected by the Egyptian president</a>.</p>
<p>Israeli calls to force Palestinians out of Gaza in a second <em>nakba</em> have been repeated by other Israeli officials as an integral part of <a href="https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231009-israel-mk-calls-for-a-second-nakba-in-gaza/">their military operation in the Gaza Strip</a>.</p>
<h2>No access to protection</h2>
<p>Since the beginning of their forced displacement in 1948, the plight of Palestinian refugees spurred the formation of the <a href="https://www.unrwa.org/">United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East</a>, known as UNRWA.</p>
<p>UNRWA was designed to protect the social and economic rights of Palestinian refugees who had no access to international protection. They were excluded from the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/who-we-are/1951-refugee-convention">1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees</a> and from the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees — known as the UNHCR — preventing them from accessing international protection. No alternatives were provided to them.</p>
<p>Their physical security, human dignity and human rights were left to the discretion of their host governments, which to this day subject them to multiple levels of marginalization, violence and precarity whenever a conflict takes place, like <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2023/10/25/palestinians-lebanons-ein-el-hilweh-largest-refugee-camp-brace-for-conflict">in Lebanon</a> <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/syria-10-years-multiple-hardships-palestine-refugees">and Syria</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/un-warns-that-gaza-desperately-needs-more-aid-an-emergency-relief-expert-explains-why-it-is-especially-tough-working-in-gaza-216245">UN warns that Gaza desperately needs more aid − an emergency relief expert explains why it is especially tough working in Gaza</a>
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<p>In Gaza, Palestinian refugees live under Israeli military control, now with the threat of being killed in bombings or displaced again. </p>
<p>As a result of their exclusion from the international protection mandate of the UNHCR, Palestinian refugees are left with the UNRWA as the sole international agency responsible for them. But it has no mandate of protection and no authority to facilitate a durable solution to their statelessness. </p>
<p>More importantly, the exclusion of Palestinians from the UNHCR has resulted in the absence of any international strategic or operational structures to implement the recommendations of the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/israel/return/un194-rtr.htm">UN’s Right to Return resolution</a>. That resolution states that refugees who wish to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest possible date. </p>
<p>Their absence from the UNHCR challenges any international attempt to end their statelessness and multiple displacements since 1948. </p>
<h2>Urgent need for the UNHCR</h2>
<p>The ongoing human tragedy in Gaza and the catastrophic living conditions for the Palestinian refugees in the region make it crucial for the international community to act. It must enforce the mandate of the UNRWA and enhance its humanitarian activities as the key relief agency responsible for assisting Palestinian refugees in Gaza. </p>
<p>Amid their enduring statelessness and the ongoing risk of ethnic cleansing, Palestinian refugees should also be included in the UNHCR. </p>
<p>It’s the only international agency that can work towards co-ordinating global protection efforts and facilitating a lasting solution to their displacement, thereby shielding Palestinian refugees from a new wave of displacement, marginalization and death. </p>
<p>It won’t be easy. Israel <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2019/05/israels-refusal-to-grant-palestinian-refugees-right-to-return-has-fuelled-seven-decades-of-suffering/">has systematically rejected such efforts</a>, and multiple global crises involving refugees <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/news-releases/unhcrs-unprecedented-us700m-funding-gap-spells-catastrophe-millions#:%7E:text=Geneva%20%E2%80%93%20Over%20recent%20months%2C%20funding,of%20operations%20across%20the%20world.">have strained the resources of the UNHCR</a>. </p>
<p>But this vulnerable group of stateless refugees is in urgent need of sufficient and immediate protection. The time to act is now.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216579/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maissaa Almustafa does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Amid their enduring statelessness and the ongoing risk of ethnic cleansing, Palestinian refugees must be protected under the provisions of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.Maissaa Almustafa, Lecturer, Political Science, University of WaterlooLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155202023-10-30T19:03:52Z2023-10-30T19:03:52ZDarien Gap: As migrants take deadly risks for better lives, Canada and the U.S. must do much more<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/darien-gap-as-migrants-take-deadly-risks-for-better-lives-canada-and-the-us-must-do-much-more" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller recently announced that as many as 15,000 displaced people with extended family connections in Canada — most of them from Colombia, Haiti and Venezuela and located in Central or South America or the Caribbean — <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2023/10/statement-from-minister-miller-on-canadas-commitment-to-support-migrants-in-the-americas.html">are now eligible to apply to immigrate to Canada</a> on a humanitarian basis. </p>
<p>By announcing this measure, Canada affirmed its commitment to <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/04/27/fact-sheet-us-government-announces-sweeping-new-actions-manage-regional-migration">a joint initiative, known as Safe Mobility</a>, launched by the United States in April 2023 to stem the irregular crossings of hundreds of thousands of people into the U.S. by offering alternatives.</p>
<p>These 15,000 people represent a small number of as many as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/americas-migration-crisis-panama-texas-1.6982215">400,000 displaced people</a> expected to cross the Darien Gap, a 100-kilometre stretch of treacherous jungle shared by Colombia and Panama, in 2023 in search of safety, security and protection.</p>
<p>Forced to migrate by political instability, repression and other hardships, people from Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador and Haiti represent most of the displaced people who have crossed the Darien Gap in the last few years. </p>
<p>As many migrants told us when <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2441">we interviewed </a> them in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cag.12701">Tijuana</a> in northern Mexico and Tapachula in the south of Mexico between 2018 and 2022, crossing the continent is not for the faint of heart. </p>
<p>They may experience harassment, extortion or detention by migration authorities, violence perpetrated by criminals and abuse by deceitful unscrupulous smugglers. The number of lives lost in the Darien Gap, including children and adolescents, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)01635-5">is increasing</a>. </p>
<h2>Cracking down in Costa Rica</h2>
<p>In the past, at least for Venezuelans, it was not necessary to cross the jungle. They were able to travel to Costa Rica, for instance, by air. As many as 12,533 Venezuelans <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/costa-rican-migration-immigrant-integration-policy">applied for refugee status</a> in Costa Rica between 2015 and August 2021. </p>
<p>But to curtail this flow, the Costa Rican government introduced a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wss.2023.100151">visa requirement</a> in 2022 for Venezuelans, forcing people who wished to travel to the country to undertake the dangerous journey through the Darien Gap.</p>
<p>But the problems for Venezuelan asylum-seekers don’t end there. As the migrants and NGO representatives in our study told us, the current wait time for the first eligibility interview with Costa Rican immigration officials is 10 years. The Costa Rican refugee unit is <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/costa-rican-migration-immigrant-integration-policy">severely under-resourced and heavily reliant on international assistance</a>. </p>
<p>Further curtailing refugee rights, Costa Rica introduced <a href="https://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRTC&param2=1&nValor1=1&nValor2=98356&nValor3=133735&strTipM=TC&lResultado=2&nValor4=1&strSelect=sel">reforms in late 2022</a> that prevent asylum-seekers who have travelled through third countries from making refugee claims.</p>
<h2>Nicaraguan refugees</h2>
<p>Ironically, the vast majority of the refugee applications Costa Rica receives today are not from people who cross the Darien Gap. The <a href="https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2023/03/17/nicaragua-on-the-brink-protests-elections-and-mass-atrocity/">political violence and repression in Nicaragua since 2018</a> have propelled many to flee to Costa Rica. </p>
<p>As of June 2022, <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/record-emigration-nicaragua-crisis#:%7E:text=The%20erosion%20of%20democracy%20and,of%20the%20Cold%20War%20era.">Costa Rica hosted</a> 205,000 asylum seekers — 89 per cent of them from Nicaragua. </p>
<p>To deter new arrivals from Nicaragua from presenting refugee claims or obtaining the status, the Costa Rican reforms announced on December 2022 changed certain rules and regulations. These measures were criticized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and NGO representatives we interviewed in Costa Rica in 2023. In fact, the <a href="https://delfino.cr/2023/02/sala-iv-condena-al-estado-por-decreto-de-chaves-que-limita-libertad-de-transito-de-refugiados">Costa Rican Supreme Court</a> found some provisions of these reforms unconstitutional.</p>
<h2>The scene in Mexico</h2>
<p>Unlike Costa Rica, Mexico, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/02/02/executive-order-creating-a-comprehensive-regional-framework-to-address-the-causes-of-migration-to-manage-migration-throughout-north-and-central-america-and-to-provide-safe-and-orderly-processing/">under pressure from the U.S.</a>, encourages migrants in transit toward the U.S. border to seek asylum in Mexico. </p>
<p>By the end of 2022, the <a href="https://www.gob.mx/cms/uploads/attachment/file/792337/Cierre_Diciembre-2022__31-Dic.__1.pdf">number of refugee claimants</a> in Mexico from other Central American countries, Haiti, Venezuela and Cuba had reached 120,000. </p>
<p>However, they were forced to remain in the southern state of Chiapas while their claims were reviewed, and the migrants we interviewed reported harassment by official authorities and destitution.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wola.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/FINAL-Struggling-to-Survive-Asylum-Seekers-in-Tapachula.pdf">Other studies</a> support their claims. Furthermore, most migrants we interviewed in Mexico told us they had no intention of staying in Mexico even if recognized as refugees because they did not consider the country safe.</p>
<h2>U.S., Canada, must step up</h2>
<p>In April 2023, the U.S. State Department and the Department of Homeland Security announced new measures to deport all migrants and asylum-seekers who crossed the southern U.S. border by irregular means. The U.S. also introduced the <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/04/27/fact-sheet-us-government-announces-sweeping-new-actions-manage-regional-migration">Safe Mobility initiative</a> to process applications for admissions submitted in offices set up in Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Guatemala.</p>
<p>The U.S. promised to admit up to <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/CHNV">30,000 people</a> a month from <a href="https://movilidadsegura.org/en/">Venezuela, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Cuba and Haiti</a>. Not only is this protection status temporary — a two-year <a href="https://helpspanish.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-1639?language=en_US#:%7E:text=Humanitarian%20Parole%20is%20granted%20to,reason%20or%20significant%20public%20benefit.">humanitarian parole</a> rather than permanent residency — but it’s conditional upon a “supporter” present in the U.S. </p>
<p>Canada’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2023/10/statement-from-minister-miller-on-canadas-commitment-to-support-migrants-in-the-americas.html">recent announcement</a> fails to make it clear whether admitting 15,000 displaced people is a one-off measure or whether Canada is setting an annual target.</p>
<p>Regardless, it doesn’t come anywhere close to meeting the needs of the displaced people in the Americas. Canada should consider expanding its refugee resettlement program to assist more asylum-seekers in desperate conditions in this region, not only those with family ties in Canada.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Basok receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guillermo Candiz receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>Migrants who cross the treacherous Darien Gap between Panama and Colombia often experience violence and abuse, extortion or detention by migration authorities.Tanya Basok, Professor, Sociology, University of WindsorGuillermo Candiz, Assistant Professor, Human Plurality, Université de l'Ontario françaisLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157102023-10-16T19:43:42Z2023-10-16T19:43:42ZHamas-Israeli conflict: what’s at stake for Egypt<p><em>As the Israeli-Hamas crisis continues, a great deal of focus is shifting to Egypt. Egypt shares a border with both Israel and Gaza – the narrow strip of Palestinian territory which is currently <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/israel-opt-israel-must-lift-illegal-and-inhumane-blockade-on-gaza-as-power-plant-runs-out-of-fuel/">under blockade</a> following the violent attack against Israel by Hamas, a radical Islamist organisation that has controlled Gaza <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67039975">since 2007</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Moina Spooner, from The Conversation Africa, asked Ofir Winter, <a href="https://www.inss.org.il/person/winterofir/">who studies</a> Egyptian politics and the Arab-Israeli conflict, to provide insights into what the new war means for Egypt and the role it plays.</em></p>
<h2>What’s been the relationship between Egypt and Israel and Palestine in the past?</h2>
<p>Egypt performs a balancing act in managing relations between Israel and Palestine. </p>
<p>Egypt openly expresses <a href="https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/4598426-sisi-egypt-won%E2%80%99t-allow-termination-palestinian-cause-expense-other-parties">its commitment</a> to the Palestinian cause. This is because Palestine’s quest for self-determination is a central Arab and Islamic cause. Also, due to geographical proximity, any escalation in Gaza will have a direct impact on Egypt’s national interests.</p>
<p>This position is reflected in its reaction to the outbreak of violence between Israel and Hamas. Following the deadly killings and kidnappings of innocent Israeli civilians by Hamas <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-gaza-hamas-rockets-airstrikes-tel-aviv-11fb98655c256d54ecb5329284fc37d2">earlier this month</a>, Egyptian <a href="https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/1234/510287/Egypt/Foreign-Affairs/Egyptian-MPs-condemn-Israeli-aggression-on-Gaza,-s.aspx">members of parliament</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3sDlhRckI0">state-owned media</a>, have portrayed Israel as the aggressor and Hamas as the victim.</p>
<p>In accordance with <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/26/egypts-role-gaza-more-than-mediator">past actions</a>, Egypt can be expected to take several steps to demonstrate its solidarity with the Palestinians. These include; the provision of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, evacuation of some wounded to Egyptian hospitals, and increased role in mediation efforts for a ceasefire. These steps make Egypt a key actor in the conflict and would help strengthen its regional and international standing.</p>
<p>However, Egypt also doesn’t want to alienate Israel. Ultimately, they have a mutual interest: they do not want to see the resurgence of political Islam in the region. This is linked to Egypt’s own experience of Islamist organisations.</p>
<p>The current regime in Egypt <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/world/middleeast/egypt.html">ousted</a> the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 and outlawed them. The Brotherhood is a transnational Islamist organisation, <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/egypts-muslim-brotherhood">founded</a> in Egypt in 1928. It’s aims are to promote social and political change in Muslim-majority countries. After the Arab Spring in 2011, the Brotherhood held power in Egypt for one year <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2012/6/24/celebration-in-egypt-as-morsi-declared-winner">before being ousted</a>. </p>
<p>Hamas is an offspring of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is why Egypt perceives it as a threat. </p>
<p>But despite Egypt’s suspicious approach to Hamas, since 2017 there’s been <a href="https://www.inss.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/GazaCrisis_ENG-129-140.pdf">an understanding</a> between the two: Hamas’ cooperation in fighting terrorism in Sinai would be met with an easing of the Egyptian blockade on Gaza.</p>
<p>Though the relations between Egypt and Israel are cooperative, they’re not warm. Egypt signed a <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1977-1980/camp-david">peace agreement with Israel in 1979</a>. And, over the past decade, Israel has positioned itself as a key political, security and economic partner to Egypt. </p>
<p>In recent years, Egypt has been a <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/sada/85037">mediator</a> between Israel and Hamas and in the reconstruction efforts of Gaza. This is because of its proximity to Gaza and the fact that it controls the Rafah crossing – the only border with the Gaza strip that’s not under Israeli control. </p>
<p>But Egypt’s involvement with Gaza has certain lines that won’t be crossed. </p>
<p>There will be no Egyptian military involvement against Israel for the benefit of the Palestinians – a policy which primarily <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-and-egyptian-president-abdel-fattah-el-sisi-before-their-meeting/">derives</a> from Egypt’s commitment to the 1979 peace agreement between Israel and Egypt.</p>
<p>There will also be no sanctioned mass entry of Gazans into Egypt, <a href="https://sis.gov.eg/Story/187293/Sisi-Palestinians-must-'remain-on-their-land'%2C-contacts-ongoing-for-de-escalation-in-Gaza-war?lang=en-us">according to</a> declarations by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and other Egyptian officials. </p>
<h2>How does the current crisis affect Egypt?</h2>
<p>Egypt has so far rejected the idea of displaced Palestinians moving into Sinai. But there is the possibility that a large number of Gazans will seek entry. This is separate to the Gaza residents with foreign citizenship who are already <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-middle-east-67119233">waiting at the border</a> to cross. </p>
<p>Egypt is against allowing Gazans crossing the border in large numbers because it opposes any encroachment on its sovereignty in the Sinai Peninsula. Its major concern is that displaced Palestinians may establish a permanent residence in its territory, potentially undermining the already delicate security and economic situation.</p>
<p>The situation also poses a large security risk to Egypt.</p>
<p>First, border breaches by refugees from Gaza, some of whom may be armed individuals affiliated with Hamas or other radical groups, could export instability to Sinai. For Egypt, there is a danger that there could be more terrorist attacks and instability as there were in Sinai before the 2017 understanding with Hamas. Some of those attacks <a href="https://www.euromesco.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/EuroMeSCo36-Geopolitics-of-Violent-Extremism.-The-Case-of-Sinai.pdf">were carried out</a> by well-armed and trained Gaza-based militant cells.</p>
<p>Second, a massive blow to Hamas may lead to a lack of governance, chaos, and instability in Gaza. This will cause instability and could give rise to the smuggling of weapons and fighters along Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip.</p>
<p>The other security threat is that terrorist acts could be launched from Sinai into Israel by Palestinian militant groups putting the delicate relationship between Israel and Egypt at risk.</p>
<h2>How has Egypt reacted and what should it do next?</h2>
<p>Since the outbreak of the war, Egypt has been working to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and has been conducting talks with Israel, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, the US, Iran, and other regional and international players. </p>
<p>The Arab League has already convened in Cairo, and an international conference in Egypt is expected to take place this weekend. <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/16/egypts-tricky-calculation-as-israels-assault-on-gaza-continues">Egypt is also seeking</a> to establish a humanitarian corridor for the delivery of food and medicine to the Gaza Strip. </p>
<p>At this stage, Egypt has more control than most other regional international players over the outcomes of the conflict, as well as plenty of interests. </p>
<p>The outcome of the conflict could deliver some benefits. For example, Egypt <a href="https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-745511">desires</a> the return of the Palestinian Authority, who is more willing to engage in diplomacy and negotiations, as the governing authority in Gaza. A scenario where Hamas is significantly weakened could pave the way for new developments, possibly including the gradual return of the Palestinian Authority. In this case, Egypt and Israel could find a more pragmatic neighbour across their borders. </p>
<p>If Hamas loses power at the end of the war, Egypt will most probably be involved in the government transition phase. As in the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hamas-abdel-fattah-el-sissi-middle-east-egypt-africa-e016845c51bf45d9652fbe41ed09dab6">past few years</a>, Egypt is expected to be the conduit through which aid and funds from Arab countries and the international community will be transferred into Gaza, participate in its reconstruction process, and be a dominant influencing factor on shaping its future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215710/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ofir Winter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Egypt performs a balancing act in managing relations with Israel and Palestine.Ofir Winter, Senior Researcher, Institute for National Security Studies, Tel Aviv UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2146612023-10-09T15:26:06Z2023-10-09T15:26:06ZNagorno-Karabakh: What’s next for the South Caucasus region following Azerbaijan’s aggression against Armenians?<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/nagorno-karabakh-whats-next-for-the-south-caucasus-region-following-azerbaijans-aggression-against-armenians" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/09/19/1200311438/azerbaijan-armenia-nagorno-karabkh-russia">Azerbaijani forces attacked the breakaway and long-disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh</a> in September 2023. Less than a month later, and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66995976">the region is now all but deserted.</a></p>
<p>The declared aim of the attack was to eliminate the last forces of the Armenian-majority self-styled republic. <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/azerbaijan-launch-anti-terror-operation-nagorno-karabakh-armenia/">The lightning “anti-terror operation,” as Azerbaijan called it</a>, precipitated the collapse of the breakaway republic. Most importantly — given that it came after a debilitating blockade that lasted for almost nine months — it instilled fear among the Karabakh Armenian population.</p>
<p>Many fled their ancestral homeland. </p>
<p>As an endless convoy of cars transporting desperate refugees filled the winding road to an uncertain future away from their homes, <a href="https://theconversation.com/nagorno-karabakh-crisis-in-the-caucasus-could-destabilise-the-whole-of-eurasia-214400">regional entities were lining up</a> to influence the future shape of the South Caucasus region on the border of eastern Europe and west Asia. The conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia has been unfolding there for decades. </p>
<h2>Aliyev’s regime</h2>
<p>In Azerbaijan, President Ilham Aliyev has been investing heavily in cultivating nationalism and militarism over the past few years to shore up his authority and his regime.</p>
<p>Starting from the <a href="https://www.c-r.org/news-and-insight/analysing-second-karabakh-war">second Karabakh war in 2020</a> until the present, Azerbaijan’s Border Service and Armed Forces used inspirational <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSh5tm2Hmn0">pop music videos</a> to glorify the government’s military posturing and patriotic films to incite nationalism.</p>
<p>After Azerbaijan’s 2020 victory effectively cut off Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia — leaving only one precarious point of access to the outside world, the <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/russian-humanitarian-aid-nagorno-karabakh-/32589510.html">Russian-policed Lachin corridor</a> — the international community urged a negotiated peace settlement that would ensure Nagorno-Karabakh’s reintegration to Azerbaijan in exchange for local self-government. </p>
<p>But Aliyev’s preference for military action was no surprise, since a self-governed Nagorno-Karabakh would have required conflict resolution that was at odds with his preferred authoritarian and centralized governance approach over the rest of Azerbaijan.</p>
<p>Aliyev’s boldness was enabled by Russia’s and Turkey’s interests. Both are intent on regional peacemaking. This allows them to maintain their dominance in the South Caucasus region and keeps both the European Union and the United States at arm’s length.</p>
<h2>Russia, Turkey influence</h2>
<p>Russia and Turkey have developed a model I call “<a href="http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/114559/3/Peacebuilding_in_Turbulent_Times_1_.pdf">managed competition</a>” in the South Caucasus to ensure their often competing objectives don’t undermine their common goal to exclude states with opposing interests.</p>
<p>They worked together during the 2020 conflict to ensure they were the only powers to have a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/11/18/the-nagorno-karabakh-settlement-and-turkish-russian-relations">presence by stationing peacekeeping and monitoring forces</a> in Nagorno-Karabakh and the Lachin corridor, albeit Turkey assumed a lesser and mostly symbolic role. The Turks are intent on <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/while-russia-and-us-trade-barbs-over-karabakh-turkey-lays-ground-for-corridor-via-armenia/">doing so now</a> as well. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/turkey-to-continue-supporting-baku-with-all-means/1992169">“two states, one nation” slogan used by Turkey and Azerbaijan</a> to emphasize the ethnic kinship of their people underlies their strategic partnership, including co-ordination on foreign policy, energy and defence.</p>
<p>Turkey supported Azerbaijan with arms and by training the Azerbaijani Armed Forces in both the 2020 and 2023 conflicts. </p>
<p>Azerbaijan, in turn, has helped Turkey <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/azerbaijan-boost-gas-exports-turkey-by-19-10-bcm-2023-2023-02-03/">reduce its energy dependence on Russia and Iran</a> by boosting its own gas exports. </p>
<p>Both Russia and Turkey regard military action in Nagorno-Karabakh as an opportunity to open the <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/azerbaijan-armenia-negotiations-zangezur-corridor/32613002.html">Zangezur corridor</a> — a land bridge between the Nakhcivan (the only part of Azerbaijan sharing a border with Turkey and largely dependent on it) and the rest of Azerbaijan that will effectively provide a link between the two countries. </p>
<p>An increasingly isolated Russia sees in a friendly Azerbaijan a crucial link <a href="https://eurasianet.org/russia-and-iran-agree-on-new-rail-corridor-via-azerbaijan">to Iran</a> and its Persian Gulf ports and a valuable ally that gives it strategic depth in the South Caucasus.</p>
<p>By sacrificing its traditional alliance with Armenia and acquiescing to Azerbaijani aggression, Russia wants to convince Aliyev not to undermine Russia’s strategy of disrupting western natural gas supplies. </p>
<p>Furthermore, <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/2022/09/azerbaijan-planning-long-term-presence-armenia">the destabilizing effect</a> of a tense relationship between Armenia and Azerbaijan strengthens Russia’s role as an arbiter in the region. </p>
<h2>Stoking nationalism</h2>
<p>Aliyev knows how to stir nationalist fervour, and he’s likely to continue creating tensions if Russia allows him to. </p>
<p>He’s already been designating territories in Armenia as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/30/azerbaijan-is-hungry-for-land-armenians-fear-country-will-seek-to-grab-more-territory">“western Azerbaijani lands</a>” and vowed to work for “<a href="https://president.az/en/articles/view/58330">the return</a>” of western Azerbaijanis to Armenia. </p>
<p>Another reason Russia is turning a blind eye to Azerbaijan’s military posturing — including its <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/armenias-pm-azerbaijan-established-control-over-some-territories/a-63118664">occupation of 50 square kilometres</a> of Armenian territory — is the effect it has in destabilizing the current Armenian government. </p>
<p>Russia considers Armenia a reluctant ally that’s increasingly looking westwards. Already, Armenia’s pro-Russian opposition <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/armenia-grapples-multiple-challenges-after-fall-nagorno-karabakh-103633854">anticipates the demise of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan</a> and its return to power, despite its history of corruption and cronyism.</p>
<p>If the current developments provide any indication of what a post-conflict scenario underwritten by Russia and Turkey will look like in the region, the picture is bleak. </p>
<p>Russia and Turkey opt for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiab221">containment, not peace and reconciliation</a>, and so tensions will likely intensify in the South Caucasus until the next opportunity to forge a genuine peace presents itself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214661/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Spyros A. Sofos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What are the broader implications of Azerbaijan’s recapture of Nagorno-Karabakh in terms of peace and security in the South Caucasus?Spyros A. Sofos, Assistant Professor in Global Humanities, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2150612023-10-05T05:11:41Z2023-10-05T05:11:41ZWhy the government’s plan to overhaul the asylum system is a smart use of resources – and might just work<p>Immigration Minister Andrew Giles today <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/05/labor-to-prioritise-new-asylum-seeker-claims-as-part-of-160m-package-to-tackle-backlog">announced</a> significant changes aimed at restoring the integrity of Australia’s refugee protection system. </p>
<p>The key focus is on reducing the significant backlogs in the processing and reviewing of protection visa applications once people apply for asylum in Australia. </p>
<p>The aim is to ensure people who fear persecution or other serious rights abuses can be granted protection quickly. This will, <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AndrewGiles/Pages/restoring-integrity-protection-system.aspx">Giles</a> says, allow them to “rebuild their lives with certainty and stability”.</p>
<p>According to Giles, “Australians are rightly proud of our country’s generous refugee program”. But there is no denying the current onshore protection system is broken. </p>
<p>The focus of successive governments in recent years has been on blocking and punishing asylum seekers who attempt to reach Australia by boat. This has distracted both the public – and the government – from the serious systemic issues slowing down access to protection here in Australia.</p>
<h2>A decade for a final decision</h2>
<p>The onshore protection system covers people who arrive in Australia on a valid visa – such as a tourist or student visa – and then apply for asylum. </p>
<p>Some people have valid protection claims, some don’t. A key problem is that processing times for these claims have been ballooning in recent years. On average, it <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/refugee-council-welcomes-investment-in-protection-visa-reform/">now takes around</a> 2.4 years for an initial decision on a protection claim to be made by the Department of Home Affairs. If the application is denied, it takes another 3.6 years to seek a merits review of the claim at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. And if it’s denied again, there’s an additional 5.1 years for judicial review by the courts. </p>
<p>As a result, some people have had to wait as long as 11 years for a final decision. Such delays have a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00207640231159297#:%7E:text=The%20mental%20distress%20of%20asylum,ongoing%20uncertainty%20of%20legal%20status.">devastating impact</a> on people with genuine asylum claims, who are forced to live in limbo and uncertainty for lengthy periods of time.</p>
<p>On the flipside, these delays have also been “motivating bad actors” to take advantage of the system by lodging increasing numbers of “non-genuine applications for protection”, according to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/visa-exploitation-review-urges-tougher-penalties-and-a-ban-on-temporary-migrants-in-sex-work-would-this-solve-the-problem-214953">Nixon report</a>, a review into the exploitation of Australia’s visa system by Victoria’s former police chief commissioner, Christine Nixon, which was released this week.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/visa-exploitation-review-urges-tougher-penalties-and-a-ban-on-temporary-migrants-in-sex-work-would-this-solve-the-problem-214953">Visa exploitation review urges tougher penalties and a ban on temporary migrants in sex work. Would this solve the problem?</a>
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<h2>The proposed changes</h2>
<p>In this context, we welcome the A$160 million investment announced by the government today to implement a faster and fairer onshore protection system. This will increase the decision-making capacity across the whole asylum system. The funding includes:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>$54 million for the initial processing of claims by Home Affairs</p></li>
<li><p>$58 million for the appointment of ten additional members to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the body that reviews claims that have been rejected </p></li>
<li><p>and ten additional judges to the Federal Circuit and Family Court. </p></li>
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<p>Another $48 million will be provided for legal assistance to support people through the complex asylum application process – something we have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/01/scrapping-legal-aid-for-refugees-will-cost-australia-more-than-it-saves">long called for</a>.</p>
<p>There is a wealth of evidence demonstrating legal assistance increases the fairness and efficiency of the asylum process. Research by the <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/kaldor-centre-data-lab">Kaldor Centre Data Lab</a> found asylum applicants with legal representation are, on average, <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/breaking-down-data-what-numbers-tell-us-about-asylum-claims-aat">five times more likely</a> to succeed on a merits review than applicants who represent themselves. They are also <a href="https://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Issue-453-05-Ghezelbesh-et-al.pdf">six times more likely</a> to succeed at the judicial review stage. </p>
<p>There is a wealth of similar research from other countries, including <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/capa.12503">Canada</a>, <a href="https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/budapest/15098.pdf">Switzerland</a> and the <a href="https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=9502&context=penn_law_review">United States</a>, showing legal representation makes the entire system more efficient.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-refugees-succeed-in-visa-reviews-new-research-reveals-the-factors-that-matter-131763">How refugees succeed in visa reviews: new research reveals the factors that matter</a>
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<p>This is because refugee lawyers provide a very important “triage” service in the process. Their specialised understanding of the law – as well as the social and political conditions from which asylum seekers have fled – means they only take on cases they feel have merit. In this way, lawyers help reduce the number of unmeritorious claims reaching tribunals and courts.</p>
<p>Refugee lawyers also help asylum seekers prepare their statements coherently and systematically. They identify relevant evidence and legal principles, which assists decision-makers to focus on the key aspects of the claim. </p>
<p>When an asylum seeker is unrepresented, decision-makers have to spend much more time ensuring the applicant understands the process and possible outcomes. They also want to ensure the person feels they have had a fair hearing. Overall, this is an inefficient use of public resources.</p>
<h2>Smarter use of resources</h2>
<p>These reforms represent a significant departure from Australia’s previous attempts to increase the efficiency of Australia’s asylum processes. Over the past three decades, successive governments have instead limited the rights of people seeking asylum – including by cutting funding for legal support. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Submission_Administrative_Review_Reform.pdf">research</a> has made clear these efforts have almost always backfired, leading to more appeals and longer delays. </p>
<p>The most egregious example is the so-called “fast-track” procedure for processing the claims of certain asylum seekers who arrive by boat. Not only is the procedure unfair, but (contrary to its name) it has also been <a href="https://kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/sites/kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/files/Submission_Administrative_Review_Reform.pdf">excruciatingly slow</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-temporary-visa-system-is-unfair-expensive-impractical-and-inconsistent-heres-how-the-new-government-could-fix-it-185870">Australia's temporary visa system is unfair, expensive, impractical and inconsistent. Here's how the new government could fix it</a>
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<p>Now, to help speed up the asylum process more broadly, the government is implementing a new approach called “real-time priority processing” of protection visa applications at Home Affairs. This will involve a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/05/labor-to-prioritise-new-asylum-seeker-claims-as-part-of-160m-package-to-tackle-backlog">last in, first out</a>” approach that prioritises new asylum applications for rapid processing. </p>
<p>The rationale is this will de-incentivise unmeritorious applications and abuse of the asylum system.</p>
<p>While this makes sense as an interim measure as the government works through its significant backlogs, we still need a wider discussion on different approaches to prioritising claims. We need to ensure government resources are being used most efficiently and in the best interests of people seeking asylum. </p>
<p>There are potential lessons Australia can draw on from overseas. <a href="https://irb.gc.ca/en/information-sheets/Pages/less-complex-claims.aspx">Canada</a>, for example, prioritises and fast tracks applications that have a high likelihood of success. <a href="https://www.sem.admin.ch/sem/en/home/asyl/asylverfahren.html#:%7E:text=Under%2520the%2520revised%2520Asylum%2520Act,version%2520of%2520the%2520Asylum%2520Act.">Switzerland</a> accelerates cases with both high and low chances of success. Only complex cases requiring further investigation take longer to resolve. </p>
<p>To ensure fairness, Switzerland also provides universal access to government-funded legal representation. We need to spend more time examining these models to see what we can learn and adopt in Australia. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.kaldorconference.com/">Kaldor Centre</a> is continuing this process by hosting a conference in Sydney next month which will discuss how we can ensure fairness for people seeking protection in the decade ahead. However, the central focus of the announcement this week on increasing the quality and capacity of Australia’s asylum system is a welcome first step in the right direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215061/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Ghezelbash receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the NSW Government. He is a member of the management committee of Refugee Advice and Casework Services and a Special Counsel at the National Justice Project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane McAdam receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Eleven years is far too long for a final decision on asylum claims. The government’s vision is for a new system that will be both faster and fairer.Daniel Ghezelbash, Associate Professor and Deputy Director, Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Law & Justice, UNSW Sydney, UNSW SydneyJane McAdam, Scientia Professor and Director of the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.