A research report submitted to the Faculty of Management, University of the Witwatersrand, in 50 per cent fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management (in the field of Public and Development Management). February, 2016 / This study focused on understanding the drivers of entrepreneurship amongst Somali migrants in South Africa. An administered survey questionnaire and in-depth case studies are used to explore the manner in which Somalia migrants, who arrive in South Africa, as refugees, establish enterprises and thrive in the business environment despite their uncertain status and limited access to investment capital or other supportive initiatives. Drawing on the wider available literature a broad conceptual framework was used to guide and shape the areas of detailed exploration. These broadly include, a) the socio cultural explanations, b) the push and pull factors that encourage entrepreneurial activities, and c) the environmental factors (economic and legal) that facilitate entrepreneurship amongst migrants. At an overall level, there are no ‘secret’ transferable ingredients for such entrepreneurship. The study reveals that it is a combination of historic factors and elements of ‘social capital’ that shape and motivate entrepreneurship activities amongst these migrants. The lessons derived can and are being be used to inform policy interventions to shape entrepreneurship in the wider society. However, there has to be appreciation of the unique circumstances and historic incentive opportunities that drive particular practices. In so doing, the study concluded on the need for further research in this terrain and the importance of building a deeper understanding on verifiable and substantive quantitative and qualitative data. Keywords: Migrant Entrepreneurship, Social Capital, Small Enterprises, Somali Refugees, South Africa / MT2016

Student Number: 0400580V Master of Arts in Forced Migration Studies. Graduate school for the Humanities and Social Sciences / This research report looks at Somali refugees’ conceptions concerning entitlement to protection and assistance. It seeks to find out what Somali refugees’ conceptions about assistance and protection are and on what they are primarily based. It explores how the personal and ideological beliefs of Somali refugees living in Johannesburg influence their expectations for receiving and extending assistance. Ethnographic methods, mainly, personal interviews and informal group discussions were used to find that, though Islam has a major role in the lives of Somali migrants and on their conceptions about assistance, religion is only one among many influencing factors on their conceptions. Daily lived experiences, pride, tribal affiliation, and conflict within the community equally impact Somali refugees’ conceptions of entitlement to protection and assistance.

This thesis examines the main implications, as well as future possibilities and challenges of a high-tech ID-system for refugees in Uganda. The implemented system captures biometric information and targets the UN sustainable development goal 16.9 legal identity for all. Through examining the involved parties’ experiences, perceptions and attitudes towards the digital ID system, the study contextualizes a global high-tech system in local rural areas. It moreover highlights the importance of social and geographical factors. The thesis is a result of a qualitative field study in Uganda where governmental and NGO representatives, working in the refugee settlements, were interviewed. The findings show that the IDs have improved the Ugandan refugee response and function as a base for delivering and receiving assistance in terms of food and cash distribution as well as access to SIM-cards. The IDs also give the providers more accurate data about the refugees, enabling population tracking for protection. The data is however sensitive and vulnerable to bias and misusage. Lastly, the provided IDs are important for an increased inclusion of refugees in Uganda aligned with the global goal.

Thesis advisor: Sarah Babb / Thesis advisor: Lisa Dodson / Through a qualitative thematic analysis of sixty-four semi structured interviews, this thesis focuses on the situation facing Burmese forced migrants in Thailand. In particular, I look at the ways in which forced migrants, their host government, and humanitarian actors negotiate the meaning of refugee status and what it means to be in a protracted space of transition. Findings for this study point to the ways in which the policies and norms of the Royal Thai Government and the offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees inadvertently interconnect to complicate the space for refugee protection. The paper also finds that refugee status can be gained or lost through interactions between asylum seekers and various parties on the Thai Burma border. Certain actors within the refugee community and among local and humanitarian authorities play the role of gatekeepers, granting access to a variety of services and protection at a cost and excluding those who cannot pay the cost. Underlying this context of asylum are themes of extreme repression and resistance that have implications not only for the lives of those who seek refuge, but also for notions of sovereignty and citizenship. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

My thesis examines dynamics of inclusion and exclusion within Somali social networks in East Africa. It focuses on Somali mobility patterns and financial practices to draw insights on the maintenance, reproduction, and transformation of both solidarity ties and inequalities. By examining Somali communities in Kenya, host of the largest Somali refugee population outside of Somalia, and Uganda, an increasingly important recipient of Somali refugees and migrants, this thesis seeks to understand how mechanisms of social stratification rooted in Somali socio-cultural structures are reproduced in mixed migration flows encompassing both forced and voluntary migrants. It analyses sets of relationships whose continuity and changes are regulated by the interaction of structure, agency, and institutions, and argues, on the one hand, that networks are dominated by groups who hold sway over economic and political resources, precluding others from accessing key assets that may help challenge relations of subordination. On the other, that pre-existing inequalities hinder on the capability to move across both physical and institutional categories. These inequalities can be traced back to asymmetric clan relationships shaped by Somali historical trajectories before and after the implosion of the state. However, this thesis suggests also that kin relationships only partially explain why and how bonds are sustained and forged. Instead, by observing the mechanisms that animate networks, reproducing both solidarity and marginalisation, this thesis teases out how new linkages are created and how Somalis communities accommodate to specific institutional settings, either adapting to narrowing windows of opportunity or maximising the benefits that may be yielded from their widening. The thread running throughout this thesis is the argument that mobility contributes not only to accessing and mobilising strategic resources but also to shaping processes of social stratification. By using ethnographic methods of data collection, this thesis seeks to shed light on rifts in Somali social networks often masked by the veneer of trust.

Contemporary population displacement trends are impacting cities located in developing countries in unprecedented ways. This scenario is reflected in the Mexican border town of Tijuana, which from May 2016 to January of 2017, experienced the massive arrival of Haitians seeking asylum in the United States. My thesis addresses the Haitians’ patterns of displacement and the actors involved in their migratory processes including governmental and non-governmental authorities in Mexico and the United States. Because of the complexity of displacement today, I argue that in order to comprehend patterns and responses to displacement, it is necessary to use a multi-scalar global perspective that addresses the relationship between time and space as well as the relationship between politics and power. Furthermore, I argue that the Haitians' arrival to the U.S.-Mexico border is an illustration of crisis migration, which views displacement as the result of a combination of social, political, economic, and environmental crises.

O deslocamento forçado de pessoas em decorrência de conflitos bélicos, dentre outros motivos, constitui um dos dramas mais impactantes da nossa época. Após a Segunda Guerra Mundial, os direitos humanos passam a possuir um grau mais alto de juridicidade, concretude, positividade e eficácia, e entre os direitos humanos positivados encontram-se os direitos dos refugiados. O princípio de non-refoulement, sedimentado na Convenção de 1951 sobre refugiados, expressa que um indivíduo perseguido não pode ser devolvido ao seu perseguidor. Existem interpretações jurídicas destoantes em relação a este princípio. Isto se deve à falta de conceitos comuns e pacíficos sobre os termos constituintes deste instituto, além de discussões referentes à aplicação territorial. Os instrumentos internacionais de proteção ao refugiado foram estabelecidos em decorrência de situações específicas dos países desenvolvidos. A partir disso, os desafios humanitários e relativos a populações deslocadas se alteraram no decorrer do último século, e os instrumentos legais internacionais não evoluíram de forma a prevenir a erosão da proteção efetiva a essa população minoritária. O presente trabalho propõe-se a realizar uma análise do Direito Internacional dos Refugiados na perspectiva da União Europeia atual. O objeto central do trabalho é duplo: (1) o estudo do instituto do refúgio, a análise de seus fundamentos jurídicos, com foco no princípio de non-refoulement, com uma breve explanação sobre a sua evolução histórica e fontes e (2) a análise do acordo UE-TURQUIA, o qual prevê a Turquia como país terceiro seguro. Os institutos de terceiro país seguro e primeiro país de asilo são atenuantes do princípio de non-refoulement. A análise da Turquia como país terceiro seguro terá como base os conceitos sedimentados na Diretiva Europeia referente aos procedimentos de Asilo. / The forced displacement of people as a result of war conflicts is one of the most shocking dramas of our time. After World War II, human rights have a higher degree of juridicity, concreteness and effectiveness. The principle of non-refoulement, the most important right codified in the 1951 Convention on Refugees, states that a persecuted individual cannot be returned towards his persecutor. There are different legal interpretations in relation to this principle. This is due to the lack of common and established concepts about the constituent terms of this institute, as well as discussions regarding to territorial application. International refugee protection instruments were settled as a result of specific situations in developed countries. Hence, humanitarian and displacement challenges have shifted over the past century, and international legal instruments have not evolved to ensure the effective protection for this minority population. The present work proposes to carry out an analysis of the International Refugee Law from the perspective of the current situation in European Union. The central object of the work is twofold: (1) the study of the refuge institute, the analysis of its legal foundations, focusing on the principle of non-refoulement, with a brief explanation of its historical evolution and sources; (2) The EU-TURKEY agreement, which establishes Turkey as a safe third country. The institutes of safe third country and first country of asylum assuages the principle of non-refoulement. The analysis of Turkey as a safe third country will be based on the concepts laid down in the European Directive on Asylum Procedures.

This dissertation explores the impact of refugee migration and American refugee resettlement policies on the religious lives of Hmong refugees resettled in the in the United States between 1976 and 1990. Despite efforts to make refugee assistance a secular and religiously neutral enterprise, resettlement placed pressure for religious conformity on Hmong refugees and set in motion several changes in Hmong religious life. First, refugee resettlement imposed pressures on the practice of indigenous Hmong religion. Second, refugee resettlement facilitated Hmong adoption of Christianity, which Hmong people incorporated into their religious lives for their own purposes and in their own ways. Finally, Hmong people adapted and reinvented their indigenous beliefs and practices, as well as its institutions and identifications, in order to preserve their indigenous religious traditions.

This review of the literature is third in a series of investigations into educational technology curriculum integration for the Tucson, Arizona office of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). It is a broad investigation into the theory, methods and delivery of supportive instructional materials to refugees via mobile learning. It examines current international program methods that will aid in design of U.S. mLearning programs to support the IRC’s mandated goal of promoting self-sufficiency for resettled refugees.

The United Kingdom’s acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) refugees has been heralded as a progressive shift in asylum law. Indeed, the scope for the protection of sexual minorities under the Refugee Convention has expanded. The interpretation of the Convention definition of refugee in Article 1A(2) has been continuously adapted, especially the “particular social group” (PSG) category as well as the recognised scope of “well-founded fear of being persecuted.” This thesis interrogates how “gay” refugees have been accepted under the Convention. The analysis considers the ways judicial decision-making has constructed the PSG and persecution of sexual minority asylum seekers. The sample consists of 22 appeals from 1999-2011 which were identified as major legal developments, beginning with the first significant recognition of “homosexual” refugees. Several additional tribunal determinations and key international cases are also considered. A socio-legal approach is taken to study the tensions between fluid sociological images of gender and sexuality and the fixed notions of identity found in the law (whether arising from individual cases, formal practice, or state imperatives). Through an examination of the legal discourse in the texts examined, the research deconstructs the jurisprudential debates in order to assess their impact on sexual minorities seeking asylum. This contextual, rather than doctrinal, approach reveals how the jurisprudence often obscures sociologically problematic assumptions made by adjudicators. This analysis offers an original contribution, concluding that UK protection is grounded on the assumption that sexual and gender identity are “immutable.” Far from opening the UK to persecuted sexual minorities, the prevalence of this assumption significantly narrows the apparently “inclusive” construct of the refugee. Building on the findings, the thesis proposes that adjudication should focus on the persecutory intent to suppress non-conforming acts and identities (or norm deviance) in order to identify sexual minority refugees rather than the categories of LGBT. Additionally, framing determination in the terms of relational autonomy develops a better understanding of the conditions necessary to realise a non-conforming sexual and gendered life free of persecution. The concept of norm deviance decentres the assumption of a knowable truth of identity, and relational autonomy asserts that the deprivation of self-determination and rights to relate may constitute a well-founded fear of persecution.