Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 399-413).

In the 1990s Palestinian refugees sought to secure a seat in negotiations alongside the PLO and Israel in talks to resolve their situation. Their efforts raise a number of basic questions concerning the right to political participation and the negotiation of durable solutions to refugee situations. First and foremost is the question of whether peace negotiations comprise a conduct of public affairs under international law entailing a concomitant right to take part. Second and related is the question of whether citizens, refugees in particular, have a right to take part in the conduct of public affairs when they are outside their country of citizenship voluntarily or otherwise. This study examines these questions through legal analysis of the right to political participation under international treaty law, jurisprudence and soft law and through empirical analysis of all negotiated settlements to armed conflict between 1990 and 2000. The study concludes that while refugees did not have a "right" to take part in the negotiation of durable solutions during the period under consideration, the PLO and Israel may have nevertheless had an obligation to facilitate the participation of refugees in a manner that would have allowed for substantial influence on decisions affecting their lives with the objective of shared ownership of agreements reached. The study also finds that between 1990 and 2000 few refugees appeared to take part directly in the direct negotiations to their situation. The implementation of durable solutions and agreements reached along with unofficial or indirect peacemaking mechanisms appeared to comprise the primary or most common domains for political participation. The study concludes that the negotiation of durable solutions for refugees is nevertheless a developing area of law and practice which has arguably strengthened in the decade since Israel and PLO sought to achieve a negotiated solution to the Palestinian refugee issue.

published_or_final_version / Criminology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

No description available.

The social organization of Canada's inland refugee determination system is explored in this institutional ethnographic study. First listening to refugee claimants' experience from their vantagepoint on the margins of society, the research then explicates the complementary social relations of the refugee determination system in order to examine the contributing social organization and underlying ideology of the politico-administrative system. Three adult, English-speaking single Nigerian men, seeking Convention refugee status or permanent resident status, were interviewed. Phenomenological methods were utilized to analyze the data. An initial explication of the social relations of the system was conducted through the observation of refugee determination hearings and interviews with knowledgeable informants. Through these interviews and textual analysis, ideology at the politico-administrative level was explored. The findings reveal a contradiction between refugees' expectations based on Canada's international reputation in refugee protection and support of democratic rights, and their reception in Canada. Refugee claimants spoke of their dual experience as characterized by exclusion and marginalization from Canadian society at the very time that they needed to reconstruct their sense of self and adapt; of being held suspect as 'criminals' and 'illegals' by the refugee determination system until proven 'genuine'. Inclusion depended on success in the socially, culturally, and politically constructed Canadian refugee determination system; a process that was foreign to them. Comprehension and successful participation in this process depended in part on the support, resources, and information they accessed during their initial settlement period. The organization of the refugee determination system with a focus on the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) revealed complex independent decision-making in a highly decentralized, but hierarchical and non-transparent administrative system. Inconsistencies in decision making and in the degree to which refugees had the opportunity to relate their experience in refugee determination hearings were articulated and observed. Aspects of the system such as selection of members, institutional culture, independence of the IRB, and discourse on refugees in the Canadian media and society were indicators of how the social relations of the system were organized by an underlying ideology. Implications for the profession of social work and for social change were examined.

Public opinion, media and literature describe refugees as generally suffering, traumatised, dependent, helpless victims without power, in need of constant guidance and support in order to find solutions to their predicament. Humanitarian assistance may be accused of perpetuating this dependency and disempowerment. To me this may be true of refugees in encampment. The perception portrayed in the various media is unfitting and a sharp contrast to the perceptions and experiences of refugees learners encountered in this study. I questioned for myself the potential image of refugee learners being powerless and helpless and felt that if all refugees shared that view outlined above, it would worsen their situation instead of empowering their aspirations, history and capacities. So I chose to ask the refugee learners. This led to the purpose and core area of consideration of this study entitled "Perceptions and experiences of integration for refugee learners." In this study I focused on refugee learners from African countries Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Kenya. It offers them a voice and makes them actors in their own stories. My study is intended to inform the reader of the personal experiences of refugees within a South African context shedding light on the specifics of access to and support from social services and other institutional and informal actors. It was necessary to employ multiple research instruments to analyse the experiences of refugees who attend the site where I am currently based as an educator. Preliminary questionnaires completed by refugee learners revealed themes integral to their experience and perception of integration: living arrangements, social resources, and education. These themes were further explored one-on-one interviews, focus group discussion and a snap survey. It is my view that institutional resources already in place by stakeholders are not fully utilised as refugee learners are often an after-thought in the service provision for citizen children. Refugee learners encounter difficulties in accessing education facilities and living arrangements do not consistently meet protection requirements. As a result, refugee learners frequently experience isolation and confusion regarding their present and future stakes in South Africa. Based on these findings, this study will make recommendations for policy design and development of programme for refugee integration within the broader South African society. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

The thesis focuses on the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada's Guidelines on Women Refugee Claimants Fearing Gender-Related Persecution, released in 1993. The guidelines were designed to address a perceived shortcoming in international refugee law and its domestic applications, namely, the omission of gender-based persecution from the protection of the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The omission of gender from the UN Convention had resulted in gender inequalities in the evaluation of asylum claims, inequalities the Canadian guidelines were designed to correct. However, since the inception of the guidelines, critics have dismissed the directives as numerically ineffective, pointing to the low numbers of women requesting asylum on the basis of gender-related persecution. While such a numerical analysis may be useful, the thesis argues it is incomplete. The thesis centres instead on the vital consciousness-raising role played by the guidelines, both domestically and abroad, and on the concrete results engendered by this function in the international realm of women's human rights.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Canterbury, 2006. / Author's Master of Arts thesis. Includes bibliographical references (p. 173-184). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (D.Min.)--South Florida Center for Theological Studies, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992.