After being expelled from Bhutan in the 1980s and 1990s, more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees were forced to reside in refugee camps in Nepal. Twenty years later, in 2006, a global resettlement programme was initiated to relocate them in eight different nations: the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, and the UK. Since 2010, about 350 Bhutanese refugees have been resettled in Greater Manchester through the Gateway Protection Programme. This thesis is based on 14 months of ethnographic research with members of this community. This thesis analyses the complex relationship between forced migrants, social networks, and ruling, organisational entities, which facilitate refugee resettlement. This qualitative study looks at the structure, role and everyday utility of social networks amongst a small refugee community, and emphasizes that the creation of similarity and difference is an inherent part of community development. The research calls into question the assumptions of UK policy makers, service providers and academics alike, which hold that refugees are removed from their ‘original’ cultures through forced displacement, and thereafter strive to return to a state of ‘normalcy’ or ‘originality’, re-creating and re-inventing singular ‘traditions’, identities and communities. In response to these assumptions, policy makers and service providers in refugee camps and in the UK adopt a Community Development Approach (CDA). However, I argue that there is no fixed and bounded community amongst Bhutanese refugees, but that they actively reshape and adapt their interpretations, meanings and actions through their experiences of forced migration, and thus create novel communities out of old and new social networks. In the process, I juxtapose my informants’ emic understandings of community as samaj, with bureaucratized refugee community organisations (RCOs). This research shows that rather than a creating singular, formalized RCO to serve the ‘good of all’, the Bhutanese refugee community in Manchester is rife with divisions based on personal animosities and events stretching back to the refugee camps in Nepal. I conclude that RCOs may not be equipped to effectively deal with the divisive issues that arise due to refugee resettlement. The thesis is situated at the centre of anthropological investigations of forced migration, community, and policy, and uses interdisciplinary sources (such as policy documents, historical accounts) to highlight the complexities of forced migration and refugee resettlement. This critical research is also a response to the call to make qualitative, ethnographic research more relevant for policy makers and service provision, which is all the more important in this ‘century of the refugee’.

No contexto crescente de migrações forçadas e a consequência de refugiados e deslocados internos, evidencia-se o descumprimento dos Estados das obrigações internacionais e se mostra necessário a busca de meios para se efetivar uma proteção e prevenção eficazes. Baseado na complementaridade entre as vertentes de proteção da pessoa humana em sua função operacional, os órgãos de supervisão de direitos humanos se mostram como uma saída para a situação de descaso dos Estados para com as questões migratórias. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo verificar o modo pela qual o Sistema Interamericano de Direitos Humanos atua nas questões migratórias dos Estados membros da OEA por meio de seus órgãos de supervisão e se há alguma complementaridade possível do Sistema Interamericano para com o tratamento relativo aos refugiados e deslocados internos nos Estados. Primeiramente realiza-se um estudo das duas dimensões que caracterizam o resultado da migração forçada, o refugiado e o deslocado interno, as legislações internacionais e regionais pertinentes e os respectivos deveres dos Estados. No segundo momento, o Sistema Interamericano é estudado, juntamente com as suas possibilidades de interferência nas questões de migração forçada através da atuação da Comissão e da Corte Interamericana. / In the context of increasing consequence of forced migration and refugees and IDPs, there is evidence of noncompliance with the State’s international obligations and to seek ways proves necessary to effect an effective protection and prevention. Based on complementarity between the strands of protection of the human person in its operational role, the supervisory bodies of human rights appear as an exit to the situation of neglect of States on migration issues. This study aims to determine the way in which the Inter-American Human Rights System operates in migration issues of OAS member states through their supervisory bodies and if there is any possible complementarity of the Inter- American relating to treatment with refugees and IDPs in the States. First carried out a study of the two dimensions that characterize the result of forced migration, refugee and internally displaced person, relevant international and regional laws and the respective duties of states. In the second phase, the inter-American system is studied, along with their possibilities of interference in issues of forced migration through the action of the Commission and the Court.

O refúgio faz parte de uma trajetória histórica da humanidade, na qual o mundo moderno ainda resiste em adaptar-se. A figura do refugiado surge em uma paisagem social que se opõe às diferenças e, neste cenário, o discurso jornalístico, tomado como acontecimento e realidade sobre o fenômeno, constrói espaços limitados que restringem sua função social, estreitando realidades, identidades e significados. Sob tal perspectiva, esta pesquisa tem como objetivo principal compreender como a cobertura jornalística brasileira participa da construção do refugiado, apresentando-o a partir de elementos que enfatizam a guerra e/ou a paz. Para isso, utiliza-se como ponto de partida o jornalismo para paz, teoria criada por Johan Galtung, a qual seria capaz de tecer novos valores para o trabalho jornalístico. Sob a luz do conceito, a disciplina poderia atuar colaborando para a integração local destes sujeitos, bem como levantando possibilidades para a repatriação voluntária e o reassentamento, consideradas soluções duráveis da causa. Para chegar a um denominador comum, utilizamos como método a análise de conteúdo de 98 textos publicados por jornalistas brasileiros nos veículos Correio Braziliense, Folha de São Paulo, O Globo e Zero Hora durante os dez anos que sucederam os ataques terroristas de 2001. O estudo constrói um panorama sobre a imprensa brasileira e revela que, por encontrarem na violência e na vitimização o principal atrativo, as empresas jornalísticas apreendem o assunto com indiferença, apresentando o refugiado como ator social estereotipado e de caráter ameaçador. O que desponta no conteúdo brasileiro, então, não é uma realidade voltada para paz. / The refuge phenomenon is part of a historical trajectory of humanity in which modern world still resists to adapt itself. Refugees emerge in a social landscape that opposes to differences and, in this context, the journalistic discourse, taken as happening and reality on the cause, builds up limited spaces that restrict its social function inside the phenomenon, narrowing realities, identities and meanings. According to this perspective, this research aims to understand how the Brazilian journalistic coverage takes part on the construction of refugees, presenting them by means of elements that emphasize war and/or peace. To do so, it is used the peace journalism theory, by Johan Galtung, which should be able to create new values for the journalistic work. Under this paradigm, the field could work collaborating to the social integration of these people, as well as raising possibilities for voluntary repatriation and resettlement, considering long term solutions to the cause. To get to a common ground, the method used was the content analysis of 98 texts that were published by Brazilian journalists at the newspapers Correio Braziliense, Folha de São Paulo, O Globo and Zero Hora during the ten years that followed the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. With an innovative characteristic, this study builds up an image of the Brazilian press and reveals that, for finding in violence and in victimization its main attraction, journalism companies treat the subject with indifference, presenting refugees as stereotyped and threatening social actors. What comes up in the Brazilian content, then, is not a reality based upon peace.

Magister Human Ecology - MHE / Forced migration is a serious problem worldwide and it is always associated with political, ethnic or violent conflict accompanied by intensive human rights abuses. Africa has the largest number of refugees (more than 15 million) compared to other regions. Many Africans are forced to abandon their homes and go into exile because of ethnic conflicts, civil wars and ongoing violence which in turn cause millions of refugees to be separated from their families and loved ones. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of refugees in the Western Cape province with regard to their integration into the society. The objectives of the study were (1) to explore the experiences of refugees in the Western Cape, South Africa; (2) to explore the link between their experiences and integration into the South African society. This research employed an exploratory study design that was conducted qualitatively. Semi-structured interviews with refugees were conducted with the aim of understanding personal experiences and challenges that refugees face. The population of the study was refugees who visited two of the refugee centres in Cape Town. A purposive sampling method was used. A total of ten refugees were interviewed and a questionnaire was used to collect the demographic characteristics of the participants. Data was analyzed by thematic analysis method where the data was coded and categorized and discussed according to the aims and objectives of the study in relation to previous studies. The major themes identified were employment and financial independence, education, health, language, culture, emotional sustainability, support and xenophobia. The results of the study were made available to refugees and the centres participating in the study. The main findings were that most refugees are educated and have skills and relevant work experience yet they feel dissatisfied in their current work place because they are underutilized and not using their skills optimally. Emotional sustainability and integration is often challenged and refugees rely on spiritual faith to face their hardships. Issues of cultural differences and language gaps contribute to the lack of well being. Accessing treatment in public health care facilities was described as inadequate by refugees. Xenophobia contributes to the problems of integration. Participants felt to some extent their difficulties could be reduced if proper intervention could be made by the government in terms of support. The main recommendations resulting from the research were 1) government and non governmental institutions should work together to improve services delivery to refugees for integration purposes; 2) policy intervention is needed from the government to address the problems of refugees and 3) nongovernmental organizations should extend their services to community development to improve the interaction of refugees in adopted countries.

This thesis explores how LGBTQ*-Salvadoran applicants for international protection experience the influence of their own sexual orientation and gender identities in relation to the underlying motives behind their migration. In addition, it intends to draw some conclusions from the respondents' statements, gained insights from observations and what was found in literature. For this, two Salvadoran LGBTQ*- applicants for international protection, who applied for asylum in Belgium in the year 2019, were interviewed. Their discourses were analysed by using a thematic analysis.The study exposes the narratives and motivations which led them to flee their homeland and find a new life in Belgium.

The majority of the estimated four million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Colombia who have fled from their lands and homes have migrated to urban centers. This study, performed in Bogotá, Colombia between April and September 2009, examines how IDPs cope with living in a new, urban environment after violent displacement. I held interviews with IDPs, the non-displaced public, and government workers; performed participant-observation in government offices and neighborhoods; and examined archival material. The work examines cultural anthropological topics of violence, migration, and resistance. A discussion of state and structural violence reveals the current hardships many rural Colombians face. Analysis shows that symbolic violence manifests itself through 'othering' narratives and practices, which affect how IDPs resettle in Bogotá. The research demonstrates how IDPs' practices challenge state bureaucracy and government workers and refute the non-displaced public's stereotypes. IDPs agency both reproduces and transforms social structures in the city of Bogotá. I discuss how collective IDP agency leads to actions of resistance through public marches and takeovers. This research contributes to the field of anthropology by highlighting relations between power structures and individuals, examining how IDPs experience and resist symbolic violence, and demonstrating how IDPs create new identities in situations of forced migration.

The Syrian civil war and the subsequent displacement crisis it caused, changed the international community’s understanding of forced migration in the contemporary context. Even more than a decade after the conflict began, over half the population of Syria remains displaced indicating the continued importance of this crisis. The literature has overwhelmingly focused on those Syrians who crossed international borders. However, those who remain internally displaced, and the patterns that their displacement within Syria has taken, provide insightful information on the drivers of forced migration more widely. By looking at subnational variation in migration patterns, this study seeks to answer the question: what explains patterns of internal forced displacement within Syria? I argue that the patterns seen throughout the Syrian civil war are an outcome of state policies that push displacement in certain populations and regions of the country as a method of helping ensure regime victory. These tactics go beyond common decision-making explanations, putting culpability for displacement back onto government actors. A qualitative examination of strategies employed by the Syrian regime during the civil war as well as a spatial and temporal analysis of IDP movements within Syria between 2016 and 2019 show evidence for the tactics used by the regime that have driven Syrian internal displacement.

<p>According to the latest refugee statistics from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR 2011), the number of people forcibly displaced worldwide has reached 43.7 million, the highest number in 15 years. Roughly 80% of this population are women and children. Afghanistan continues to be the place of origin for the largest number of refugees under UNHCR responsibility across the globe. From 1979 to 1990, the largest and most enduring forced migration in human history occurred when 6.2 million Afghans were displaced and fled their homeland to neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Iran.</p> <p>During the processes of conflict, upheaval, exile, and resettlement, refugee women face numerous traumatic events and are exposed to various challenges at every stage of their refugee journey. Very little scholarly research has examined their strengths and resiliency during this time.</p> <p>The primary purpose of this study is to provide insight into the challenges that Afghan refugee women have faced during pre-migration, exile, and resettlement. Specifically, this inquiry using feminist theory and method examines (a) their experiences in all three contexts in which they have lived and managed, (b) the significant roles that they have played, and (c) the coping mechanisms that they have used to overcome the problems in these situations.</p> <p>The sample for this interpretive qualitative research was drawn from Afghan refugee women in the city of Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. The study was conducted with six in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The results provide contextually laden detail of the Afghan refugee women’s unique lived experiences. The results revealed Afghan refugee women as resilient and as strong leaders. The dominant discourse that portrays Afghan women as weak and oppressed should be challenged. Implications for social work practice, education and policy are identified, and recommendations for improved services are outlined.</p> / Master of Social Work (MSW)

No description available.

My dissertation research was a 14-month ethnographic study of the post-repatriation experience of forced migrants in South Sudan. It was designed to determine if alterations to gender norms and relations that refugees experienced during asylum differed as a function of the asylum environments and if these modifications remained intact upon the refugees’ return. The forced migrants in my sample, the Dinka of Bor from South Sudan, encountered two different asylum environments and experiences: Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya and Khartoum, in northern Sudan. After 10-15 years in asylum, these forced Dinka Bor migrants returned to South Sudan. I compared the pre-flight and post-repatriation behavior of these two groups of returnees to determine to what extent gendered behaviors could be attributed to each asylum location. I found that various global forces encountered during asylum were instrumental in forging new ways of life by changing gendered livelihood practices and gendered access to status, power, and resources after return. In addition, the resettlement context played an equally critical role in the gendered behaviors after return.