A shortcoming in the literature is the lack of information and research into how refugee children from Africa experience life in South Africa and what their degree of exposure to xenophobia is, from South Africans. This motivated the researcher to investigate the extent of xenophobia towards refugee children living in Shelters in Cape Town. A survey of refugee children was done by means of a questionnaire that assessed the forms of xenophobia and who it was that discriminated against refugee children because of their foreignness. The results of the study showed that refugee children do experience xenophobia, in various forms from different sectors of South African society. Although some of it is violent in nature, it is mostly prejudice and xenophobic comments that the children are exposed to. This research provided a baseline for more extensive research into this phenomenon. / Social Work / M.A. Diac.(Play Therapy)

In the autumn of 2015 one of the largest waves of refugees ever occurred in Europe. Sweden was the country that received the second highest number of refugees, which led to significant changes in Swedish refugee policy as an effort to reduce the number. This highlighted an issue; Has Sweden become less attractive as a country to immigrate to? The thesis analyses whether Sweden has potentially become less attractive as a country to seek refuge in after the implementation of the stricter refugee policy in 2015. This case study uses a theory-consuming research design and a qualitative content analysis as a method. The analytical model used in the study is the push and pull model, as this model in connection with the empirical material deals with how Sweden's changed refugee policy influences the Swedish pull factors. This qualitative study shows that the changes in the refugee policy does not affect the incentive structure much as only two pull factors, social rights and political stability, are affected by the changes in refugee policy.

A shortcoming in the literature is the lack of information and research into how refugee children from Africa experience life in South Africa and what their degree of exposure to xenophobia is, from South Africans. This motivated the researcher to investigate the extent of xenophobia towards refugee children living in Shelters in Cape Town. A survey of refugee children was done by means of a questionnaire that assessed the forms of xenophobia and who it was that discriminated against refugee children because of their foreignness. The results of the study showed that refugee children do experience xenophobia, in various forms from different sectors of South African society. Although some of it is violent in nature, it is mostly prejudice and xenophobic comments that the children are exposed to. This research provided a baseline for more extensive research into this phenomenon. / Social Work / M.A. Diac.(Play Therapy)

Originally the aim of this study was the exploration of the current situation of the right to education for refugee children in Burundi and Rwanda being the two countries with the highest number of refugees in Africa. However because of lack of information about the refugee situation in Rwanda, this study is limited to analysis of the situation in Burundi. This study then analyses the state of implementation of the international and national legal instrument by the government of Burundi and suggest ways of implementing the existing international and national legal framework. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2007. / Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Law University of Pretoria, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Masters of Law (LLM in Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa). Prepared under the supervision of Ass. Prof. Frederick Juuko, of the Faculty of Law, Makerere University Kampala, Uganda / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/ / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

This thesis investigates young refugee women’s experience of the process of seeking access to justice for cases of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Nakivale refugee settlement in Uganda. A Human Rights-based Approach (HRBA) is chosen as an analytical framework to help conceptualise access to justice and to recognise Uganda’s commitment to refugees. A qualitative explanatory approach follows the narrative of Burundian and Congolese women.    Findings show that Nakivale refugee settlement has an overwhelming demand for legal services and support. Refugee women can raise a claim for justice through the established administrative structures in place within the settlement. All refugee women were aware of their entitlements to a remedy and on the process of reporting SGBV. Yet, the analysis shows that none of the SGBV-survivors of rape or sexual exploitation was able to have access to justice. Several barriers were brought forward, such as corruption among refugee welfare committees; limited staff and resources among partner organisations; a bureaucratic referral system; poor police investigations and an inability to persecute perpetrators. The consequences without effective and timely remedies led the interviewed women into further poverty and a continuation of violence and abuse.   This thesis concludes that Refugee Welfare Committees have to be attributed to some sort of compensation as validation for their work as justice providers to mitigate corruption among their leaders. Further research is encouraged to look into possibilities of extending the mandate and training for Refugee Welfare Committees, for refugee-based structures to be able to handle cases of SGBV.

<p>This dissertation gives a number of answers to the following two research questions: given the storied nature of faith and displacement, what does literary studies have to offer church-based refugee activists in religious diasporas? And what might church-based activists, who are involved in daily struggles to interpret cultural, ethnic, and religious stories for the sake of cultural transformation, have to offer literary studies of displacement? The analysis of this thesis uses literary and cultural theory (diaspora studies, postcolonial theorizations of the exotic, discursive analysis, formalist textual examination, and more) to understand interethnic church-based refugee activism taking place within a specific religious diaspora, the Christian Reformed Church in Canada. The formation of diasporas and faith groups through shared allegiances to communal stories makes literary studies a fitting vantage point from which to examine a religious diaspora. Because religious diasporas have explicitly storied identities, their discourses are open to the potential of stories to effect communal change. Refugee novels and other cultural texts that are valued in diaspora and refugee studies can have a part in shaping the storied identity out of which church-based refugee activism is done, helping religious diasporas to more deeply understand the experiences specific to refugee-ed people and to more closely align their activism with the stated desires of refugee-ed people.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The global ‘refugee crisis’ is increasingly affecting Europe and especially Greece, which has been the country through which many people on the move enter Europe. Within refugee education the role of teachers is recognised as the key facilitator of education, yet there are few studies which centre on teachers. This paper aims to explore and compare how teachers re/construct their ideas about the value of education, their vision on education and their role as a teacher as a result of their experience working in refugee education. Key concepts of the study are a holistic approach to teachers’ professional development, construed as teacher identity, and refugee education. The study centralises the narratives of eight teachers of different nationalities who worked or are working in Greece, either on the mainland or on the islands. Data was collected through narrative interviews applying the biographical method. An inductive coding process led to four themes: teachers’ development, teachers’ profile, educating refugees, and vision on refugee education. Similarities and differences between the stories of teachers form the basis of comparisons about teaching refugees of different ages, female refugees, and at other locations. The findings are discussed in light of the principles and concepts of Life Course Theory and Transformative Learning Theory. The findings show that teachers’ choices and actions in teaching refugees are embedded in the contemporary context of time and place, motivated by the current global crisis. The experiences of teaching refugees impact teachers personally and shape not only individual but also collective attitudes through principles of linked lives, time, and place. Teachers describe their ongoing and cumulative teacher identity re/construction, including altering their perspectives on the narrative of refugees due to their work experiences, which aligns with key concepts and principles of (adult) learning in the Life Course Theory and Transformative Learning Theory.

Denna studie argumenterar för att dagens mediesamhälle fungerar som en hybrid, där sociala medier och traditionella medier lever och verkar i symbios. Det som får tillräckligt stor spridning på sociala medier kan påverka nyhetsdagordningen och därmed vad allmänheten anser vara viktigt för tillfället. Detta är betydelsefullt för biståndsorganisationer som, för att kunna nå ut till många och öka chanserna till att samla in pengar, är i behov av att deras sak får plats på dagordningen. Studien baseras på en kvantitativ innehållsanalys av samtliga publicerade videoklipp av Sverige för UNHCR på Facebook under 2015. Variablerna baserades på teorier om viralitet, som ursprungligen har utvecklats inom marknadsföring. Där ingick teori om social delning av känslor, social nätverksteori, self-determination theory samt marknadsföringsmodellen ”the Dragonfly effect”. Studien visade hur teorierna kunde utnyttjas även i detta sammanhang, om de anpassades utifrån kontexten. Resultatet visade att the Dragonfly effect tycks vara en lämplig modell i denna kontext. Videon ”Search for Syria” utmärkte sig i detta urval, genom att ha högst antal visningar kombinerat med en förhållandevis hög andel användarresponser, som bidrar till spridningen. Alla fyra steg inom Dragonfly-modellen kunde identifieras i denna video, vilket indikerar att detta är en lämplig modell för att öka chansen till spridning i denna kontext. Studien fann också att urvalet av videoklipp generellt inte var konstruerade på ett sätt som uppmuntrar till spridning. Vidare noterades att starka känslomässiga inslag, så som provokativa och obehagliga scener, förekommer mer i videor som fått flest visningar. Samtidigt tycks videoklipp med en större andel positiva och hoppfulla inslag få större användarrespons i form av ”gillningar”, kommentarer och delningar.

The purpose of this study is to examine how unaccompanied refugee children living in a care-institution are being prepared for a independent life in Sweden. The study wish to pay attention to how the treatment assistants perceice their work with these children. To create a deeper understanding from the staff's perspective, the study is also focusing on their personal experiences of working with the children. To analyze the results, we have using the theoretical perspectives empowerment and systems theory, so called "systemteorin". The results showed that the treatment assistants are in first place working to build a secure and reliable relationship with the unaccompanied refugee children. The results also show that the staff at the care-institution serves as "extra parents" for the children seeing that they come to Sweden without their biological parents. This also means that the staff are teaching the children everyday skills such as cooking and how to manage an economy, and how the swedish society is formed.

This study researches how communication provided by supervisors working in homes for unaccompanied refugee children about gender equality, sex and sexuality should be conducted and executed for children acclimating to Sweden. This studied topic was founded in the desire expressed by RFSU to demand sexual education for unaccompanied refugee children coming to Sweden. This desire was expressed after unaccompanied refugee boys were discovered to have sexually abused and harassed a number of girls during a youth festival in Stockholm. RFSU, and the president for the Unaccompanied Children’s Union in Sweden, brought to the attention that the cultural backgrounds URC commonly have differ from the Swedish culture concerning gender equality and sexuality. Thus, the issue with communication about gender equality, sex and sexuality intended for unaccompanied refugee children is that it needs to be befitting and susceptible to them according to their usual and previous context.  The method used in this study was to implement a qualitative research method of phenomenological nature. Data were mainly accrued through a questionnaire that was answered by supervisors that currently work with unaccompanied refugee children. These answers provided with an understanding, together with the compiled frame of reference, of how to befittingly and susceptibly communicate about gender equality, sex and sexuality with unaccompanied refugee children acclimating to Sweden. Keep in mind, not all unaccompanied refugee children who come to Sweden are in fact refugees. However, to distinguish these children who come from other countries from other children in general, the choice was made to continue calling them unaccompanied refugee children throughout this study.    The conclusions drawn from the result of this study ended up being four. The first is that not all unaccompanied refugee children are alike, and can therefore not be seen as one identical target group. The second is that unaccompanied refugee children’s previous cultural and religious contexts, with their previous experiences about gender equality, sex and sexuality, need to be considered, along with the suitability of how to execute such information. The third conclusion is to naturally, and clearly, discuss and debate on a regular basis with a suitable supervisor. The fourth is that media, for instance pornography, can provide misguided and biased information. The practical recommendations that these conclusions resulted in are also four, and are as follows; 1) to create multiple communication materials as to satisfy most children’s needs and attitudes, 2) to learn about URC’s previous cultural and religious contexts, and their previous experiences, and have different suitable information sessions based on the needed level of privacy, 3) to discuss and debate gender equality, sex and sexuality on a regular basis in a natural setting through a suitable supervisor, and 4) to include media, especially pornography, when discussing and debating about gender equality, sex and sexuality.