https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97454 2026-04-05T13:55:17Z 2026-04-05T13:55:17Z Nair, Neeti https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97627 2019-04-12T12:42:00Z 2004-11-01T00:00:00Z

We Left Our Keys with Our Neighbours: Memory and the Search for Meaning in Post-Partitioned India Nair, Neeti In mainstream Indian and Pakistani nationalist master-narratives, Partition is a contested terrain. For India, it signifies independence and the end-note of a non-violent anti-colonial movement; for Pakistan, it embodies freedom from both British and Hindu domination and the creation of a homeland for Muslims. Recently, the debate in Partition historiography has moved from nationalist posturing to detailed analyses of the trauma and pain that accompanied Partition. This is usually conceived of through a distinction between ‘high politics’ and ‘subaltern’ voices. The ‘fragment’, it is contended, provides us with a perspective of the marginal, of a ‘history from below.’ My own journey to reckon with the embattled identities produced out of Partition began when my grandfather remarked that despite the fact of Partition, he would have gladly continued to work in Lahore. I was stunned. Why not, he said, don’t people work in Dubai? And wasn’t Lahore far closer than Dubai? In post-partitioned India, Lahore felt a million miles further from Dubai. His vivid memory of the desire to stay on in Lahore despite the high politicking that had resulted in Partition, despite the long years since Partition, form an unanalysed silence. This chapter uses oral history to grapple with memories and identities that evoke many such silences, gaps in Partition writing and thinking.

2004-11-01T00:00:00Z Olagunju, Olajide https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97626 2019-04-11T05:45:22Z 2006-10-01T00:00:00Z

Management of Internal Displacement in Nigeria Olagunju, Olajide This research examined the management of IDP’s (internally displaced persons) in Nigeria based on the February/May 2000 communal conflict at Kaduna, Northern Nigeria, as an example and a focus for the study. The research took place against a background of few empirical studies of IDPs in Nigeria specifically within the purview of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. The challenges faced by the IDP’s and by the various government agencies and NGOs involved in responding to the needs of the IDPs are assessed, documented, compared and analyzed. Recommendations for better responses to the management of IDP needs are given for the use of relevant governmental and NGO agencies.

2006-10-01T00:00:00Z Bauman, Peter Paul, Gazala Ayalew, Megistu https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97625 2019-04-09T17:01:27Z 2006-06-01T00:00:00Z

Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Tsunami and Tsunami Interventions on Conflicts in Sri Lanka and Aceh/Indonesia Bauman, Peter; Paul, Gazala; Ayalew, Megistu The objective of this field-based research was to assess the impact of natural disasters and disaster interventions on protracted intra-state conflicts and to provide insight for designing and implementing disaster interventions in conflict situations. The field research was conducted in Sri Lanka and Aceh/Indonesia as a comparative analysis. The researchers chose Sri Lanka and Aceh/Indonesia because both were severely hit by the tsunami in December 2004 and have been marred by intra-State conflicts. The distinct nature and intensity of these conflicts provided a platform to observe the implementation of humanitarian assistance and identify the strengths and limitations of the tsunami interventions. The researchers interviewed various experts and officials involved in humanitarian and conflict resolution activities. The researchers also had the opportunity to observe the realities on the ground and to discuss the situation with the tsunami and war affected people. By applying conflict resolution models and principles in humanitarian assistance this research established, among others, two major findings. First, the tsunami and the tsunami interventions had different impacts on the dynamics of the two conflicts. In Aceh/Indonesia, the major actors, GAM and the Government of Indonesia (GOI), successfully negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) ending almost 30 years of war. Conversely, in Sri Lanka the relations between the government and the LTTE deteriorated. The research analyzes these outcomes and attempts to explore the underlying causes of this disparity. Second, in both cases, the tsunami interventions suffered from one major shortcoming. The humanitarian assistance did not reach the thousands of conflict-affected, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who have been living in vulnerable conditions for many years. In addition, drawbacks including: lack of effective coordination, conflict insensitivity, low levels of participation by the beneficiaries, and undermining local capacities were observed by the researchers and identified by interviewees. The research provided several recommendations including: innovation in fund raising processes and assessment of inflexible and inappropriate mandates, judicious conditionality on debt relief measures so as to encourage the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and cross-learning between the fields of disaster relief, development, and conflict resolution. In addition, it is vital that serious steps are taken in regard to the consideration of unique contexts, local values, and domestic realities. Also, participatory approaches should be implemented at every level of intervention. The researchers suggest that if such and similar steps are taken into account, humanitarian assistance will not exacerbate conflict situations and can help to mitigate war and contribute to resolutions of conflicts between and among diverse groups. Due to the nature of a summary many of the intricacies and nuances will unfortunately be missing in this document. For a comprehensive discussion please contact Peter Bauman and he will happily forward a copy of the full report.

2006-06-01T00:00:00Z Nandy, Chandan https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97624 2019-04-10T16:25:53Z 2005-11-01T00:00:00Z

Illegal Immigration from Bangladesh to India: The Emerging Conflicts Nandy, Chandan Population movements have been a constant feature of the evolution of human civilisation. For a variety of reasons – social, political, economic, natural and climatic -migration occurs within the geographical limits of states and beyond. In recent years, globalisation has given a new thrust to the international labour market, adding a new dimension to inter-state migration. While migration between countries in the developed world is a two-way traffic, demographic mobility from the developing to the more advanced countries is generally uni-directional.

2005-11-01T00:00:00Z Offutt, Stephen https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97623 2019-04-11T05:45:18Z 2005-09-01T00:00:00Z

Culture Production and Social Networks: Case Studies of Local Churches in Former Refugee and Displaced Persons Communities in Nicaragua and El Salvador Offutt, Stephen This paper investigates how culture is produced and transmitted within communities populated by former Central American refugees and internally displaced peoples. Local churches in these communities produce culture and form social networks that powerfully counteract the social problems created by the region’s civil wars and exacerbated by poverty. Using a comparative case study approach, I argue that local churches build social capital, construct theological coping mechanisms to deal with the psychological and emotional scars of war, and have a positive impact on the economic development of communities by influencing both structure and agency.

2005-09-01T00:00:00Z Esser, Daniel https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97622 2019-04-12T12:41:34Z 2005-08-01T00:00:00Z

Determinants of IDP Voice--Four Cases from Sierra Leone and Afghanistan Esser, Daniel Using an interview-based case study methodology, this paper investigates how four groups of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Afghanistan and Sierra Leone engage in existing frameworks of local governance with the aim of influencing political processes. In accordance with IDPs' priorities to ensure individual and communal recovery and the (re)creation of sustainable livelihoods, security of land tenure and employment creation receive particular attention. The paper proposes two main causal factors of political leverage (voice): It hypothesizes that voice depends on IDPs' proximity to urban centers and on the concrete channels and means they employ to interact with policymakers, with "modern" channels and means expected to outperform more "traditional" approaches. The paper finds that only one group can directly influence policies that concern them, and that in this case the proximity to loci of political and economic decision-making is clearly advantageous. However, the other three cases demonstrate that location appears to be more of an enabling yet insufficient factor. Furthermore, mere reliance on externally modernized governance structures does not necessarily increase IDPs' voice, and greater political leverage seems to depend ultimately on how versatile their representatives are in terms of engaging with both governmental and societal institutions around specific issues and well-defined demands. Nonetheless, the thrust of national policies to "reruralize" urbanized IDPs appears ambivalent, and strategies that support national policy cohesion while simultaneously amplifying marginalized groups' voice and strengthening accountability in local governance structures should therefore be of significant concern to International Non-governmental Organizations (INGOs) working in a post-war context.

2005-08-01T00:00:00Z Greenhill, Kelly M. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97621 2019-04-11T05:45:04Z 2002-02-01T00:00:00Z

Engineered Migration as a Coercive Instrument: The 1994 Cuban Balseros Crisis Greenhill, Kelly M. This paper presents a case study of the August 1994 Cuban “balseros”—i.e. rafters—crisis, commonly known as Mariel II, during which over 35,000 Cubans fled the island and headed towards Florida. This paper argues that Castro launched the crisis in an attempt to manipulate the US’s fears of another Mariel boatlift, in order to compel a shift in United States (US) policy, both on immigration and on a wider variety of issues. As the end of the crisis brought with it a radical redefinition of US immigration policy toward Cuba, the paper further contends that from Castro’s perspective, this exercise in coercion proved a qualified success—his third such successful use of the Cuban people as an asymmetric political weapon against the US.

2002-02-01T00:00:00Z Lischer, Sarah Kenyon https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97620 2019-04-10T07:21:27Z 2001-12-01T00:00:00Z

Refugee-Related Political Violence: When? Where? How Much? Lischer, Sarah Kenyon Lack of information about the nature and extent of refugee involvement in political violence has long hindered researchers and policymakers. This paper presents new time series data in order to analyze the frequency, persistence, intensity, and type of political violence involving refugees for the years 1987 to 1998. The analysis reveals a number of interesting, and surprising, trends that contradict the conventional wisdom about refugee militarization. Overall, while absolute numbers of refugees involved in political violence have decreased, the number of states affected remains constant. The difference results from smaller refugee populations becoming involved in political violence. Another significant finding contradicts the assumption that political violence affects most refugee areas. In fact, very few refugee situations experience political violence. In most years, over one hundred states host refugees, yet 95% of all refugee-related violence usually takes place, on average, in fewer than fifteen states. The findings from this dataset reveal trends in refugee-related violence and change the terms of the current discourse on refugees and political violence.

2001-12-01T00:00:00Z Abusharaf, Rogaia Mustafa https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97619 2019-04-12T12:41:33Z 2004-08-01T00:00:00Z

Life in Khartoum: Probing Forced Migration and Cultural Change Among War-Displaced Southern Sudanese Women Abusharaf, Rogaia Mustafa This report is based on ethnographic data that I gathered in 2001-2003 to document the adjustment experiences of Southern Sudanese displaced women in one of the major shantytowns in the capital city, Khartoum. These women represent the majority of the 1.8 million internally displaced persons (henceforth IDPs) who arrived in Greater Khartoum after the reactivation of the civil war in 1983, and of whom 260,000 were resettled in government-designated camps (UN 2000). The objective of this project was to examine the factors influencing the recent adoption of the practice of female circumcision (FC) by a group of these war-displaced women after their arrival in the camps. Before these women were forced to flee, FC was unheard of in their home communities in Southern Sudan. However, the practice is prevalent in Northern Sudan; 91 percent of the population adheres to it (SDH 1995). Using qualitative ethnographic methods, I examined the prevalence of the practice among the displaced, the extent to which Southern women may have experienced coercion, and whether these women began to accept various Northern justifications for the practice such as restoring virginity and sexual integrity. The views of those who did not adopt the practice are also incorporated for further comparisons. An analysis of the findings demonstrated a strong link between war-displacement and the adoption of FC. In addition to expanding the anthropological and demographic literature on the practice of female circumcision, and that on displacement, this study explored the phenomenon of cultural responses in times of human trauma and suffering. In this respect, the study addressed new areas of research by exploring the social world of IDPs in host communities and the incidence of cultural change in the context of social fragmentation and political violence. In writing this report, I hope to provide a new way of explaining cultural responses during times of pervasive violence and to look at the attempts of a displaced population to gain security and a sense of belonging after experiencing violence. This study reveals that most of the practices that were adopted by Southern women were part of a creative process of adjusting to a new environment and of an attempt by a forced migrant population to create familiarity and interpersonal links in a harsh urban environment. These findings are firmly located within the wider political context of human responses to state-sanctioned violence. For this reason, the study located these cultural responses within the broader milieu of economic, social and cultural change and coping mechanisms.

2004-08-01T00:00:00Z Kibria, Nazli https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97618 2019-04-11T05:45:04Z 2004-07-01T00:00:00Z

Returning International Labor Migrants from Bangladesh: The Experience and Effects of Deportation Kibria, Nazli This paper reports on the findings of a study of former or returned international migrant workers from Bangladesh. The analysis focuses on the economic situation and return experiences of those who had been deported or officially repatriated back to Bangladesh by the destination state. Data collection took place in 2003, in the Dhaka, Chittagong, and Sylhet regions of Bangladesh. In-depth, face-to-face interviews were conducted with eighty-one returned workers, twenty-five of whom had been deported. Studyparticipants were recruited with the cooperation and assistance of the community-based organization WARBE—the Welfare Association of Repatriated Bangladeshi Employees. The data did not reveal a clear and statistically significant difference in the economic outcomes of the migration episode for the deported in comparison to the other returnees. Also of note was the high incidence, as reported by the informants, of returning to Bangladesh under conditions of duress; coercion and constraint guided not just the return experiences of the deported but were present throughout the sample. The findings point to the need for policies that target the reduction of such returns of duress for international migrant workers from developing countries.

2004-07-01T00:00:00Z Kamal, Sarah https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97617 2019-04-09T15:21:45Z 2004-02-15T00:00:00Z

Disconnected from Discourse: Women's Radio Listening in Rural Samangan, Afghanistan Kamal, Sarah Finding and maintaining good access to information is one of the most important coping skills for many Afghans in insecure and rapidly shifting situations. Returning refugee populations face deeply rooted structural problems on returning to their villages: millions of landmines continue to litter the countryside, ethnic tension is high, and lawlessness afflicts civilian populations. Due to poor communication infrastructure, villages are often isolated and disconnected from the resources and information that flow into Kabul and other major urban centres. Many villages continue to rely on informal information structures or the radio for the majority of their news. Understanding women’s radio access and listening, particularly in economically depressed, remote areas of Afghanistan is an important step in understanding the impact and effectiveness of the investments being made in the media sector. This report outlines radio reception issues for very vulnerable women in an effort to support radio organizations in Afghanistan in their service delivery. The following study was conducted in a remote mountainous region of Samangan province, and focuses on understanding women’s media use in a poor Hazara village, using a quantitative survey of female heads of households, focus groups with women, girls, and men, semi-structured interviews, and observation as the main sources of its data.

2004-02-15T00:00:00Z Cohen, Charles Werker, Eric https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97616 2019-04-14T06:53:16Z 2004-04-01T00:00:00Z

Towards an Understanding of the Root Causes of Forced Migration: The Political Economy of "Natural" Disasters Cohen, Charles; Werker, Eric Natural disasters occur in a political space. Although events beyond our control may trigger a disaster, the level of government preparedness and response greatly determines the extent of suffering incurred by the affected population. We use a political economy model of disaster prevention, supported by case studies, that explains why some governments prepare well for disasters and others do not. We also show how the presence of international aid distorts this choice and increases the chance that governments will under-invest. Policy suggestions that may alleviate this problem are discussed.

2004-04-01T00:00:00Z Heen, Stacy https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97615 2019-04-10T09:32:06Z 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z

The Role of Microcredit in Conflict and Displacement Mitigation: A Case Study in Cameroon Heen, Stacy This research, generously supported by the Mellon-MIT Inter-University Program on Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Forced Migration, sought to explore the question of whether the revolving fund of a small credit union in rural Cameroon contributed to the mitigation of conflict and displacement in the immediate area. The starting hypothesis was that the process by which loan recipients implemented their borrowed funds caused them to come into contact with people with whom they had major differences or tensions. This contact, it was argued, provided an opportunity to ameliorate the tension and thus stabilize the village.

2004-01-01T00:00:00Z Levitt, Peggy Wagner, Sarah https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97614 2019-04-11T05:45:04Z 2003-09-01T00:00:00Z

Refugee Rights and Wrongs: Global Cultural Diffusion among the Congolese in South Africa Levitt, Peggy; Wagner, Sarah Every day the media is filled with examples of the ways in which contemporary social, economic, and political life transcends national borders. Some researchers argue that these dynamics attest to the emergence of a global civil society, based on a set of universal norms and practices that works in tandem with or may even supercede national politics. Yet we know little about the ways in which global institutions resonate with the everyday lives of individuals and with the organizations that actually serve people on the ground. How do ordinary people learn about and conceptualize these universal rights and how do they claim them? To what extent do NGOs articulate comparable notions about rights, pursue common strategies to achieve them, and by so doing, contribute to this emerging architecture of transnational governance? This paper uses the case of Congolese refugees in South Africa to explore these questions. It examines how individuals learn about and use global norms and practices and how this learning process varies in their home and host-country context. It also explores the extent to which organizations operating both locally and internationally are exposed to a set of global approaches and expectations and how these influence how things get done.

2003-09-01T00:00:00Z Betancourt, Theresa Stichick https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97613 2019-04-11T05:45:04Z 2004-02-01T00:00:00Z

Connectedness, Social Support and Mental Health in Adolescents Displaced by the War in Chechnya Betancourt, Theresa Stichick This study presents an exploratory, cross-sectional investigation of factors associated with internalizing emotional and behavioral problems (anxiety/depression, emotional withdrawal, and somatic complaints) in a sample of adolescents displaced by the war in Chechnya and interviewed in the fall of 2000. Social support and connectedness with family, peers, and the larger community were given particular attention as potential protective processes explaining variation in internalizing mental health problems as measured by the Achenbach Youth Self Report (YSR) scale (1991). It was hypothesized that family, peer and community connectedness, and global ratings of social support would be associated with lower levels of internalizing mental health problems in this population. Findings indicated that, consistent with other studies of war-affected children, internalizing behaviors in this sample of displaced adolescents were higher compared to rates in samples published on non-war-affected Russian adolescents. Expected gender differences were observed, with girls reporting higher internalizing problems than boys. No differences by gender on social support or family connectedness were observed; however, males reported higher peer connectedness and community connectedness than did females. In multivariate analyses, family connectedness was indicated as an enduring and significant predictor of lower internalizing mental health problem scores upon adjusting for covariates and all other forms of support investigated.

2004-02-01T00:00:00Z Betancourt, Theresa Stichick https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97612 2019-04-11T05:45:03Z 2003-07-01T00:00:00Z

Stressors, Supports, and the Social Ecology of Displacement: Psychosocial Dimensions of an Emergency Education Program for Chechen Adolescents Displaced in Ingushetia, Russia Betancourt, Theresa Stichick This study explores the psychosocial benefits of an emergency education intervention serving adolescents displaced by the war in Chechnya. Interviews with 55 Chechen adolescents living in spontaneous settlements in Ingushetia, Russia were collected in the fall of 2000. The study set out to describe key stressors and sources of social support available to youth being served by the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) emergency education program. Of particular interest was the degree to which the education program addressed psychosocial goals such as increasing social support and alleviating strains including idleness, the lack of safe and structured places for youth to spend time, and concerns about lost years of schooling expressed by children and families. Findings indicated that young people and their families were facing a number of physical and emotional stressors. Regarding physical stressors, adolescents described the “living conditions” in the spontaneous settlements as the most difficult thing they faced. The physical and material deprivations experienced in the settlements were described in terms of living in an “abnormal” or “inhuman” way, including poor or crowded living conditions; infrequent supplies of food, medicines and educational materials; and concerns about parents and older adolescents being able to find work. Regarding emotional stressors, participants identified a variety of sources including loss of home, loss of time/idleness, separation from loved ones, tensions with the Ingush host community, and concerns about their ability to be productive in the future. Furthermore, a sense of humiliation linked to deprivation pervaded the experience of Chechen youth in these IDP settlements. The data indicated a number of ways in which the emergency education program provided benefits by enriching sources of support, providing meaningful activity and opportunities to learn, and a place and space for young people to spend time and connect to others. In particular, youth leaders described how the program had improved their confidence in working with others and had influenced their career goals. However, the contrast between the desire of adolescents “to live like other kids” and the options available to them presented a dilemma for the emergency education program: adolescents were craving normality, but for any intervention to be delivered, it had first to begin with creative and adaptive strategies that were by no means a complete replacement for formal, mainstream education. The programmatic and policy implications of these findings are presented in the discussion.

2003-07-01T00:00:00Z Mack, Jennifer https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97611 2019-04-12T12:31:56Z 2003-07-01T00:00:00Z

Ice Skating and Island Hopping: Refugees, Integration, and Access in a Segregated City Mack, Jennifer This paper analyzes the role of the environmental image in the process of integration for refugees living in Stockholm, Sweden. The research uses techniques that the urbanist Kevin Lynch developed to question residents of Boston, Jersey City, and Los Angeles regarding their “image of the city” in the late 1950s. While integration is generally measured in terms of quantitative successes—especially the percentage of refugees entering the Swedish labor market and at what level—this study uses Lynch’s qualitative methods, a combination of in-depth interviewing and mental mapping, to elicit personal feelings about a new existence in Stockholm, which is a highly segregated city. These interviews were conducted with participants in the Red Cross Refugee Introduction Program, a small-scale alternative to the City of Stockholm Integration Agency program but funded by the city. Additional information was gathered using more traditional interviews, held with government and Red Cross officials, and through analysis of the Swedish media coverage of integration issues. Naming three kinds of spaces where refugees participate in urban life with lesser degrees of social, psychological, and physical exclusion, this paper expands upon the context, methods, and findings, and then suggests some possible new directions for practice.

2003-07-01T00:00:00Z Jacobsen, Karen Landau, Loren B. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97610 2019-04-12T12:30:30Z 2003-07-01T00:00:00Z

The Dual Imperative in Refugee Research: Some Methodological and Ethical Considerations in Social Science Research on Forced Migration Jacobsen, Karen; Landau, Loren B. Social scientists doing fieldwork in humanitarian situations often face a dual imperative: research should be both academically sound and policy relevant. We argue that much of the current research on forced migration is based on unsound methodology, and that the data and subsequent policy conclusions are often flawed or ethically suspect. The paper identifies some key methodological and ethical problems confronting social scientists studying forced migrants or their hosts. These problems include non-representativeness and bias, issues arising from working in unfamiliar contexts including translation and the use of local researchers, and ethical dilemmas including security and confidentiality issues and whether researchers are doing enough to ‘do no harm’. The second part of the paper reviews the authors’ own efforts to conduct research on urban refugees in Johannesburg. It concludes that while there is no single ‘best practice’ for refugee research, refugee studies would advance their academic and policy relevance by more seriously considering methodological and ethical concerns.

2003-07-01T00:00:00Z Ballard, Brett M. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97609 2019-04-12T12:41:09Z 2003-03-01T00:00:00Z

Refugee Reintegration in Rural Areas: Land Distribution in Ban Pha Thao, Lao PDR Ballard, Brett M. The successful reintegration of refugee groups in rural areas often depends on people’s access to and control over productive land resources. The acquisition of land and the preservation of secure use rights depend on people’s ability to invest household labour and capital resources to intensify agricultural production. For the Hmong of Ban Pha Thao in Laos, people with social and political capital, as well as financial assets, were able to acquire and invest in better quality land following the introduction of an irrigation scheme. The unequal distribution of land has resulted in a rapid re-articulation of the village social structure, in which some people in the community have been able to re-integrate more successfully than others. Policy makers and planners must ask themselves if such outcomes are desirable in terms of how they envision "successful reintegration."

2003-03-01T00:00:00Z Clark, Cari https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97608 2019-04-09T18:22:36Z 2003-04-01T00:00:00Z

Gender-Based Violence Research Initiatives in Refugee, Internally Displaced, and Post-Conflict Settings: Lessons Learned Clark, Cari

2003-04-01T00:00:00Z Eckstein, Susan https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97607 2019-06-06T03:14:12Z 2003-02-01T00:00:00Z

Diasporas and Dollars: Transnational Ties and the Transformation of Cuba Eckstein, Susan For many Third World countries, remittances are becoming a more important source of funds than foreign aid, bank loans, and foreign investment, as families find their own transnational solutions to limited homeland economic opportunities. This is true in socialist Cuba as well as in poor market economies. The impact of remittances, however, is contingent on the social relations and social structures in which the foreign currency becomes embedded. What may be good for recipients may be a “mixed bag” for states with their own institutional concerns. Although as a Communist regime Cuba appears to be a strong state with a weak society, remittance dynamics are transforming and undermining as well as bolstering the state. Concomitantly, remittances are strengthening society, but within a transnationalized context, and differentially. Conditions conducive to remittance-sending and the results of the informal dollarization are described and analyzed below, with comparisons made to trends in Central American countries with similar “open” economies but different regime types.

2003-02-01T00:00:00Z Barberia, Lorena https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97606 2019-04-12T12:41:09Z 2002-09-01T00:00:00Z

Remittances to Cuba: An Evaluation of Cuban and US Government Policy Measures Barberia, Lorena Since the commencement of hostilities between Cuba and the US in the early 1960s, both governments have repeatedly attempted to influence private family money transfers across borders. This study undertakes a retrospective assessment of Cuban and US government policy on remittances from 1959 to the present. Tracing policy shifts and targeted outcomes, the paper argues that (1) the aggregate flow of remittances and their uses are highly sensitive to macroeconomic, political, and institutional factors in Cuba, the receiving country, and are less sensitive to the policies imposed by the sending country, the United States; (2) Cuban government policy has been successful in attracting remittances and partially successful in channeling these flows toward the State-controlled economy; and (3) Cuban government policies are encouraging the use of these flows for consumption and less so for savings and direct investment.

2002-09-01T00:00:00Z Punjani, Shahid https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97605 2019-04-12T12:30:30Z 2002-08-01T00:00:00Z

How Ethno-Religious Identity Influences the Living Conditions of Hazara and Pashtun Refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan Punjani, Shahid This paper examines how living conditions and settlement patterns differ between two ethnic groups belonging to the Afghan refugee population residing in Peshawar, Pakistan. Evidence from Peshawar suggests that the Pashtun, the largest and most dominant ethnic group in Afghanistan, migrate to the city largely in search of employment and/or because they no longer require humanitarian assistance. Approximately one-third of the Pashtuns interviewed had spent some time in a refugee village before settling in Peshawar. In contrast the Hazaras, among the weakest minority groups in Afghanistan, avoid refugee camps altogether. The Hazaras fear persecution in the refugee villages by other Afghans and choose to settle in cities almost immediately after entering Pakistan. Both groups, in almost equal number, cite the existence of family and friends in Peshawar as another reason for settling in Peshawar. Since refugee relief efforts are focused in refugee villages, Hazaras and other minorities living in cities tend to be excluded from aid. Relying on data collected from sixty interviews, the paper describes issues faced by both groups living in Peshawar. It concludes that organizations coordinating refugee relief efforts in Pakistan ought to consider how minority groups within the larger refugee population are affected by the concentration of humanitarian assistance in refugee villages. It argues that relief efforts sensitive to the ethno-religious identity and location of refugee can mitigate the hardships faced by those normally outside the scope of humanitarian assistance.

2002-08-01T00:00:00Z Gregg, Heather S. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97604 2019-04-14T06:54:12Z 2002-08-01T00:00:00Z

Divided They Conquer: The Success of Armenian Ethnic Lobbies in the United States Gregg, Heather S. The end of the Cold War has sparked considerable academic and policy debates on the direction and aims of US foreign policy. One aspect of that debate has centered on the role of ethnic groups in influencing foreign policy and determining the national interest. Two broad camps are visible in this debate. The first camp argues that ethnic lobbies are highly influential and a threat to US foreign policy and the national interest (Schlesinger, Jr.: 1992; Huntington: 1997; Smith: 2000). The second camp sees these groups as moderately influential but largely beneficial; specifically, they promote American interests abroad (Clough: 1992; Shain: 1999). Neither of these camps, despite their conclusions, has offered rigorous case studies aimed at measuring the impact of ethnic lobby groups on the US foreign policy process nor divulging how these groups attain their alleged influence. One US minority in particular, Armenian-Americans, has achieved considerable success in gaining political and material support from Congress. Such achievements include roughly $90 million in annual aid for the state of Armenia; maintenance of Section 907 of the Freedom of Support Act, which blocks aid to Armenia’s rival Azerbaijan; the stalling of an arms deal with Turkey; and increased support for official US governmental recognition of the Armenian genocide of 1915-1921. This case study of Armenian lobby groups in the US argues that the amount of aid and support for Armenia and Armenian issues is best explained by the intense lobbying efforts of Armenian-Americans in the United States. The lobbying success of this small US minority is largely the result of two factors: an intense inter-community rivalry between two factions within the Armenian-American population, which has led to hypermobilization of this ethnic group’s resources, and the formation of key alliances in Washington including members of Congress and other lobby groups and organizations.

2002-08-01T00:00:00Z Mahr, Christian F. https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97603 2019-04-12T12:41:08Z 2002-02-01T00:00:00Z

North Korea: Scenarios from the Perspective of Refugee Displacement Mahr, Christian F. Some 10,000 to 300,000 citizens of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) are currently reported to be living illegally in the Northeastern provinces of China. Based on bilateral treaties between the two countries, North Koreans are actively sought out, and forcibly returned to the DPRK, where they are likely under certain circumstances to encounter persecution at the hands of the authorities.

2002-02-01T00:00:00Z Snyder, Timothy https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97520 2019-04-10T23:27:30Z 2001-11-01T00:00:00Z

"To Resolve the Ukrainian Question Once and for All": The Ethnic Cleansing of Ukrainians in Poland, 1943-1947 Snyder, Timothy The end of the cold war has brought a new approach to the historical study of the early postwar period. So long as the cold war lasted, the actors of its histories were states: the superpowers in the first instance, and allies and satellites on the margins. Earlier debates concerning the immediate postwar years have thus concerned the responsibility of the major powers for the origins of the cold war. The revolutions of 1989, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the Yugoslav conflicts since have returned attention to national questions. From this perspective, the years immediately following the Second World War are important not only as the time when Europe's states were divided into two blocs, but also as the moment when several of Europe's nations were subjected to deportations. The mass forced deportations, as a result of the way in which they were carried out, and as a result of their place in state propaganda since, did much to consolidate Polish and West Ukrainian nationalism. The approach in this report thus concerns not only the choices of states, but the fate of social groups as they became nations.

2001-11-01T00:00:00Z Bonoan, Rafael https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97519 2019-04-12T09:53:14Z 2001-06-01T00:00:00Z

When Is International Protection No Longer Necessary? The "Ceased Circumstances" Provisions of the Cessation Clauses: Principles and UNHCR Practice, 1973-1999 Bonoan, Rafael The challenges posed by situations of mass influx and protracted refugee emergencies have prompted a reexamination of the international asylum regime established by the 1951 Convention and subsequent instruments. This has included increasing attention to the cessation clauses of the 1951 Convention and Statute of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. The cessation clauses establish the linkage between the duration of international protection and the basis for recognition of refugee status. To some, the clauses therefore appear to be a potentially useful method of ensuring that international protection is reserved for those who truly need it.

2001-06-01T00:00:00Z Shevel, Oxana https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97518 2019-04-12T09:53:11Z 2000-08-01T00:00:00Z

International Influences in Transition Societies: The Effect of UNHCR and Other IOs on Citizenship Policies in Ukraine Shevel, Oxana This paper analyzes the effects of international organizations on Ukrainian citizenship policies in the post-1991 period. As over 250,000 Crimean Tatars repatriated to Ukraine in the late 1980s and early 1990s after being forcefully deported in 1944, some 100,000 of them found themselves without Ukrainian citizenship, of which some 25,000 were stateless. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other international organizations have been working with the Ukrainian government to facilitate access to Ukrainian citizenship for these formerly deported people (FDPs).

2000-08-01T00:00:00Z Habasch, Rima https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97517 2019-04-10T13:16:56Z 1999-08-01T00:00:00Z

The Evolving Relationship between the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees and the Palestinian Authority Habasch, Rima The creation of Israel in 1948 led to the destruction of the Palestinian entity and the dispersion of approximately 750,000 Palestinians into neighboring Arab and into Western countries. The Arab-Israeli war of 1967 and the subsequent Israeli military control over the West Bank and the Gaza Strip caused a second wave of refugees. In an attempt to integrate and to mobilize the dispersed Palestinian community against the Israeli occupation, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was created in 1964 and has constituted since then the embodiment of the Palestinian national struggle.

1999-08-01T00:00:00Z Lischer, Sarah Kenyon https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97516 2019-04-12T09:53:10Z 0199-08-01T00:00:00Z

Militarized Refugee Populations: Humanitarian Challenges in the Former Yugoslavia Lischer, Sarah Kenyon This paper examines the conditions under which refugee flows cause conflict to spread across borders. In order to develop propositions, the paper studies a group of Bosnian Muslim refugees who formed an army to retake their hometown. The situation of those refugees suggests that external political conditions, especially support from the refugee receiving state, determined the ability of the refugees to mobilize militarily. The presence of non-civilian elements among the refugees and the influence of powerful refugee leaders acted as necessary, but not sufficient, conditions that led to violence. The Bosnian Muslim case confirms that the actions of humanitarian agencies are constrained by the level of available resources and the attitude of the receiving state. Within those constraints, UNHCR and NGOs may attempt to prevent, reduce, or ignore political violence that involves refugees.

0199-08-01T00:00:00Z Jacobsen, Karen https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97515 2019-04-12T09:49:07Z 1999-05-01T00:00:00Z

A "Safety-First" Approach to Physical Protection in Refugee Camps Jacobsen, Karen Many refugee camps today are places of insecurity and outright danger, both for refugees and relief workers, and, by virtue of their destabilizing effect, for those living around the camps. Camps are an essential element of the humanitarian response to refugees, and cannot and should not be eliminated (as has been suggested elsewhere). However, they need to be rendered secure in order to ensure the safety of displaced people and others living and working in and around the camps. During the past few decades, the main focus of the international humanitarian response in asylum countries has been to emphasize assistance at the expense of protection. Particularly in the initial emergency phase, physical assistance (“biological needs”) is given priority over protection and security concerns. It is proposed in this paper that this focus be re-directed, particularly in the contingency planning and emergency phases, so as to stress security and physical protection needs before assistance: that is, adopt a ‘security-first’ approach. Such an approach would be the basis of an overall strategy to ensure security and protection in refugee hosting areas. This strategy should be ‘regionally appropriate,’ that is, designed in accordance with the needs and capacities of the various state, international and nonstate actors that participate in the specific refugee situation. An important part of the strategy, it is argued, is the presence of a security force in the camps. Camps cannot be made secure without armed backup, but it is crucial that such a force be appropriately trained and prepared for refugee situations, and carefully controlled and monitored. The specific composition and mandate of such a force would vary from one host country to another, depending on needs and capacities.

1999-05-01T00:00:00Z Eriksson, Anne-Christine https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97514 2019-04-12T09:48:37Z 1999-05-01T00:00:00Z

Protecting Internally Displaced Persons in Kosovo Eriksson, Anne-Christine In early September 1998 a New York Times correspondent in Prishtina reported: As many as 40,000 ethnic Albanians, mostly women, children and old men, were trapped today on a dirt road south of here in western Kosovo as they tried to flee an advancing Serbian armored column, a United Nations official said. These images, and the subsequent ones of tens of thousands of Kosovars literally camping under sheets of plastic or branches in the forests of Kosovo shook all observers. Then followed the images of massacred families, and an eyewitness account by a survivor of one of these massacres prompted the major powers to take some stronger political action.

1999-05-01T00:00:00Z Boutroue, Joel https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97503 2019-04-10T08:30:41Z 1998-06-01T00:00:00Z

Missed Opportunities: The Role of the International Community in the Return of the Rwandan Refugees from Eastern Zaire, July 1994 - December 1996 Boutroue, Joel July 1994, the horror of the genocide in Rwanda was overtaken by pictures of an unprecedented exodus of Rwandan Hutus, led into Zaire by the iron and bloody hands of their leaders. The refugee emergency phase that started on 13 July 1994 was contained by the end of September. The two ensuing years witnessed a flurry of initiatives to find a way out of a refugee situation that, after the genocide, had all the ingredients to further poison the political and ethnic crises that had been brewing in the Great Lakes Region of Africa for some time. The stalemate eventually came to an end in October 1996, when a military offensive led by a coalition of rebel groups from eastern and southern Zaire resulted in a massive return of some refugees and the scattering of others. This offensive ultimately brought the rebel leader, Laurent Desire Kabila, to Kinshasa where he appointed himself President of the renamed Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

1998-06-01T00:00:00Z