Refugees

Question 1

IDP

Answer 1

Internal Displaced Person
person who has been forced from their home but reamins within the country

Question 2

refugee

Answer 2

a person outside their country of citizenship, who wishes to return but can’t due to fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or geopolitical opinion

Question 3

asylum

Answer 3

refugees’ application to be allowed to continue to live in a country

Question 4

conflicting rights asylum

Answer 4

the right of a person to request/gain asylum

vs.

the right of sovereignty of states

Question 5

'’securitization’’ of migration and borders

Answer 5

many countries have moved authority over migration policies to the Ministry of Defense or similar branches

Question 6

migrant camps

Answer 6

liminal space neither inside or outside of the country

esentially without formal governance from any state and without social systems for employment, education or public services

Question 7

aims of the international regime around (forced) human migration

Answer 7

• give arriving migrants a legal process by which they can cliam the right to enter a new country
• to support governmetns dealing with big waves of immigrants
• to provide physical care and support to people living in the liminal zones around the borders

Question 8

Institutions of the international regime around (forced) migration

Answer 8

1951 Convention on Refugees (treaty)

International Organization for Migration (stand-alone IO)

UN High Commission for Refugees (branch of the UN)

Question 9

International Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees

Answer 9

• 1951
• definition of ‘‘refugee’’ only focused on WW2 European Refugees
• Rights of Refugees (on par with citizens (access to school, ourts, public services) and on par with resident non-citizens (health insurance))
• obligations of states (non-refoulement, non-discrimination, acces, cooperate with the office of the UNHCR)

Question 10

global applicability of the refugee status

Answer 10

1967 Protocol

147 signatories

Question 11

Global Compact on Refugees

Answer 11

Organized by the UNGA in 2018

goals:
- resettlement in third party states
- lighten burden on host stats
- acknowledging that it isn’t easy to disentangle reasons of forced migration
- attention to global warming and climate refugees

!to agree on a set of standards and aspirations for the treatment of refugees and migrants

Question 12

UNHCR

Answer 12

1951 permanent program established by the UNGA to operationalize the conceptual goals set out in the 1951 Convention

only acts when invited by a government

received 2 Nobel Prizes

Question 13

UNHCR predecessors

Answer 13

1947 International Refugee Organization

1944
UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

Question 14

Structure UNHCR

Answer 14

main office in Geneva

Reports to the UNGA

executive committee of 79 member states (elected by the ECOSOC) meets once a year

Question 15

leadership UNHCR

Answer 15

High Commissioner for Refugees

Question 16

UNHCR financing

Answer 16

voluntary contributions
- makes the UNHCR dependent
- some countries pay twice (EU and by themselves)
- almost no unearmarked contributions
- raises questions about non-political character

Question 17

UNHCR activities

Answer 17

Refugee assistance: physical and legal support/protection

not to get involved in conflict that leads to refugees

Question 18

non-political character of the UNHCR

Answer 18

not non-political in any meaningful way: the rules it follows have encoded the vlaues and objectives of their authors (member states) + UNHCR is dependent on the cooperation of member states to realize its mandate

Question 19

IOM vs. UNHCR

Answer 19

IOM is an independent IO
UNHCR is a permanent program of the UNGA

The IOM is mostly to support states
The UNHCR is mostly to support refugees

The IOM is also for migrants
The UNHCR is only for refugees

Question 20

IOM members + headquarters

Answer 20

173 members
Geneva

Question 21

IOM UN-related

Answer 21

2016

cooperation with UN organizations and activities

Question 22

IOM funding

Answer 22

assessed and project based (voluntary/earmarked)

Question 23

mandate IOM

Answer 23

to assist the government in managing the various issues associated with mass migration

Question 24

IOM structure

Answer 24

council and committees with regular meetings (forum function)

Director-General responsible for supervising staff, setting the budget and overseeing operations
- elected by memberstates, always American, except now (2018 Portuguese): Trumps candidate was seen as racist and unqualified)

Question 25

IOM activities

Answer 25

migration management invited/hired by governments (bilateral)
- instrumental/tool function

Expertise/training of governmental staff

Operational to manage checkpoints, visa organization, repatriation, voluntary return

can address climate change, because it’s mandate is on all migrants

Question 26

Case: environmental refugees

Answer 26

aren’t legally seen as refugees

IOm is in the best position to respond to climate refugees
- led several projects (Environmental Migration Portal (website with figures) funded by the EU)

UNHCR made an informal amendment to the 1951 that asks states to include environmental issues in the legal definition of refugees
- not legally binding

UNHCR partners with non-refugee organizations to respond to disaster displacement more broadly
- ‘‘soft policy’’ to avoid claims that it is acting beyond its mandate

Question 27

Refugee regime or refugee governance?

Answer 27

Hurd speaks of a refugee regime

more and more people talk about refugee governance, as there are many different actors and rules.

governance allows non-state actors to be considered as to playing a role