TY - JOUR
AU1 - White, Paul
AB - Forced Migration: Current Issues and Debates exposes the lives of the refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people, and voluntary migrants, who are all often in transit in the same place. It grapples with the complex reality that characterizes contemporary forced migration. Published at a time when reform of the humanitarian system is afoot after decades of little significant restructuring, the fertile thinkers who contribute to this book identify potential zones for structural resets and provide a timely reminder of the intricacies faced by practitioners working with people on the move. With a pandemic speeding up reform, and likely to reduce competition and duplication in the system, this volume helps identify some of the forces that compel structural changes. It is not quite ‘So long, it’s been good to know you’ to the humanitarian system; as the editors show, debates still rage. Yet, it is clear that many of the 15 contributors consider that the golden age of humanitarianism, that remained solid until soon after the turn of this century, is over. In rethinking concepts in the scholarly field of forced migration, Bloch and Donà structure their book around three current themes: the reconfiguration of borders, the expansion of prolonged displacement, and changes in protection and rights. Big ideas around these themes are vital as leaders of non-governmental organizations and the United Nations alike appear to exhibit a level of paralysis. Forced migration is not a stand-alone or lonely concept. The academic contributors use their teaching and research expertise in anthropology, law, gender, sociology, and a range of other disciplines to describe experiences stretching to most corners of the world. The deliberations revealed evolve from years of conversations, often in forced migration conferences, and point to an urgency around reform even though the trajectory of any reform is not so clear in our less globalized world. Chimienti, Counilh, and Ossipow (chapter 9), in their exploration of children of refugees in Switzerland as transnational actors, examine the impact on the second generation from refugee backgrounds and find the connections and ruptures result in a complexity of feelings for the parent’s country of birth amidst their strong feelings for Switzerland. Historical and intergenerational perspectives provide context to show that displacement today is significant for those displaced, and for future generations. Feelings of anger, of foreignness in the parent’s homeland, of detachment – amongst others – add some very human stories to academic analysis and reveal how different the perspectives of first- and second-generation migrants/refugees can be. Voutira (chapter 4) focuses on a bio-political approach to forced migration using Greece, where history repeats itself, to discuss intergenerational engagement and the significance of local history and living memory. Some of the discussion is about the field of study itself. ‘Forced migration’ is a term used – in part – because individuals, on an unprecedented scale and with reduced rights and expanding precarity, do not fit neatly into bureaucratic or legal boxes. Accurately conceptualizing forced migration is seen as vital because it helps provide the analytical tools for humanitarians, human rights actors, and international agencies to find new ways of recognizing vulnerabilities, rights, and needs. Crucially, it also prevents gaps arising as a result of a misunderstanding of displacement. To what extent is the conceptual familiarity and dominance around the ‘refugee’ on the wane? An increasing number of people are on the move and in need of some protection and other assistance, even though they are not subjected to persecution. Environmental changes and disaster, food insecurity, State fragility, generalized violence, and even development, are drivers resulting in millions of people moving to survive outside the extant normative refugee framework. Zetter (chapter 2) describes the limitations of academic literature in conceptualizing forced migration and suggests it insufficiently interrogates the term ‘forced migration’ to such an extent that the potential of the concept is not realized. Further, the exclusively legal distinction between ‘refugee’ and ‘forced migrant’ often suits political and policy interests rather than protecting the needs and rights of people on the move. Arguably, a broader interdisciplinary construct of the term can provide a more comprehensive understanding that will reduce the emphasis on borders and legal categories and ultimately include internally displaced people and perhaps the even more desperate people who are immobile. Banerjee and Samaddar (chapter 3) use South Asia to argue that forced migration must be postcolonial in nature. They contend that law dehumanized the field of refugee studies and that most displaced people do not depend on legal arrangements. They identify categories of internally displaced who may be more vulnerable than refugees, including those trafficked, and consider it important to make dialogic the principles of care and protection. No matter the conceptualization, it is clear that complex reality gets in the way, so that the pathway to certainty is neither obvious, nor unifying, for academics or practitioners. In their chapter on ‘Protracted Displacement: Living on the Edge’, Hyndman and Giles (chapter 5) provide a brief examination of the life of Amina, now 22, who has been in Ifo camp in Dadaab, Kenya, as a refugee since 1994. Their account illustrates how the hopes, dreams, disappointments, and enforced stasis of refugees combines with long-term humanitarian aid to provide mainly palliative care to objects of charity. Generally, those in protracted situations are the invisible, silent, and forgotten displaced people living in exile for over five years, although often for much longer. The end of the Cold War shifted the ground and durable solutions became harder to find. Although many are in dire need, the pendulum has not swung back. The authors show that resolving protracted refugee situations has been in the sights of humanitarians since it was raised by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees about 20 years ago; yet, the discourse around it has been stifled by a State-centric agenda linked to vested interests, and more recently entangled in the reform around the nexus between humanitarian, development, and security work. The imaginations of those responsible for finding solutions for those in protracted refugee camps remain constrained and individual agency has become more important. The current urban age means forced migrants more often journey to cities, seeking to navigate and capitalize on perceived opportunities provided by a large informal economy and perhaps better educational prospects. The most vulnerable in this setting are often those from rural areas, who are unfamiliar with city life, rather than those fortunate enough to have crossed an international border and gained a recognized legal status. Sometimes social invisibility is part of the urban trek, as stigma and insecurity associated with attacks by criminal elements or confrontation with hyperactive authorities are often at play. A bold contention by Landau (chapter 7) in his conclusion is that ‘humanitarians may need to all but abandon the language of rights and protection embedded in humanitarian law and guiding principles’ (p 120). He suggests organizations providing protection might move from the humanitarian status quo that suits their own interests to the more diverse spaces found through localized approaches that arise from a closer reading of politics, interests, and opportunities, and use rights and guiding principles more as a support. Better informed local responses, relying on social networks and group membership, become the lynchpins of protection, especially when legal status as a refugee or asylum seeker does not reflect need. This position is fraught with protection difficulties, yet worthy of deeper analysis. Bordering practices have changed – no longer is it just nation States on active patrol. Airlines, public institutions, vigilantes, service providers, employers, and citizen detectives are all now in the mix. Donà and Godin (chapter 10) examine the techno-borderscapes created in response to current migration management policies to reveal the blessing and the curse of technology. Mobile technologies help transit migrants facilitate their journeys, survive, and belong, yet are also instruments of surveillance, constraint, and control. Calais is an example that proved to be a hotbed of digital humanitarianism with, amongst other things, the formation of Facebook communities of solidarity. Some health, shelter, food, and sanitation needs were met through virtual platforms and, at times, vulnerable women and children benefited from targeted projects. The gender and age divides around the use of technology need careful assessment by humanitarians as technology appears to reinforce rather than upend social inequalities. The gender analysis that permeates other parts of the book, including around trafficked women from Bangladesh accessing credit and security in Johannesburg, is a reminder of the value of this exercise in the humanitarian response. In their conclusion, the editors caution that the chapters do not offer explicit solutions. Highlighting the gaps and limitations of the policy and theoretical framework is necessary for effective change and we are better equipped to make big decisions as a result of these contributions. We know why, and we know how, yet we still may not quite know what to do. So, for a practitioner, there is something a little unsatisfactory about the conclusion. © The Author(s) (2021). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model) © The Author(s) (2021). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
TI - Forced Migration: Current Issues and Debates
JF - International Journal of Refugee Law
DO - 10.1093/ijrl/eeab007
DA - 2020-12-31
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/forced-migration-current-issues-and-debates-Zrs2ZPx02f
SP - 730
EP - 732
VL - 32
IS - 4
DP - DeepDyve
ER -