Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration, Volume 2, Number 1

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2 Editorial Board Chloé Lewis James Souter Co-Editors-in-Chief Emma Tobin Ursula Wagner Field Monitor Editors Anne Peters Rachel Mayer First Hand Editors Ellie Ott Emily Bates Policy Monitor Editors Chloé Lewis Robyn Plasterer Law Monitor Editors James Souter Hanna Baumann Academic Articles Editors Bernd Bauerochse Cover Design Olaf Kleist Layout Disclaimer Opinions expressed by authors in OxMo do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of Editors. As we are an independent student publication, articles published in OxMo do not represent the views of the Refugee Studies Centre or the University of Oxford. Copyright for articles published in OxMo rest with the author(s). Materials may be downloaded, reproduced and circulated in entirety provided that the title, author and source (OxMo) is acknowledged. For more information about OxMo visit our website 2

3 Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration Volume 2, Number 1 June 2012 Table of Contents Introduction Editorial CHLOÉ LEWIS AND JAMES SOUTER 5 Policy Monitor 7 A Step Forward to Refugee Protection? South Korea s New Refugee Act CHULHYO KIM 8 A Phantom Returns: International Responses to North Korea s Food Shortage SHEENA CHOI 12 Evolving Roles of National and International NGOs in Protracted Urban Refugee Contexts: The Case of Iraqis in the Middle East PATRICIA WARD 17 Law Monitor 21 A Question of Discretion: A Critical Analysis of New Legal and Evidentiary Hurdles for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Asylum Seekers In the United Kingdom KATE OGG 22 Inhuman Detention Conditions in Bangkok? LOUISE COLLEWET 28 At the Crossroads of Structure and Agency: Investigating the Importance of Legality for International Migrants TESS HELLGREN 34 The Lost Children of Britain KATHERINE KARR 41 3

4 Field Monitor 47 The Resettlement Journey of Somali and Sudanese Refugees from Camps in Kenya to New Zealand JULIUS M. MARETE 48 The Education of Adult Refugees in Cairo: Influences and Impacts VALENTINA HIEGEMANN 53 First Hand Forced Migration and Global Citizenship: Reflections on My Transition From Refugee to an Immigrant and Scholar AHMED KHAN 59 Academic Articles 63 Caught in the Borderlands: Torture Experienced, Expressed, and Remembered by Eritrean Asylum Seekers in Israel LAURIE LIJNDERS 64 Where Do Forced Migrants Stand in the Migration and Development Debate? SASKIA KOPPENBERG 77 Perilous Territory: Non-Status People in Canada ANNA SHEA 91 Call for Papers 106 4

5 Editorial Contemporary forced migration is characterised both by its global character and its immense complexity. Despite attempts by Northern governments to contain forced migrants in their countries or regions of origin, forced migration continues to be a global phenomenon which straddles the divide between North and South. And, given the myriad ways in which forced migration both shapes and is shaped by social, economic, political, cultural and legal forces, both an interdisciplinary and a multidisciplinary approach is vital for making sense of the complexity of forced migration. Both this complexity and global character of forced migration are richly reflected in the range of articles on offer in this edition of the Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration (OxMo). In keeping with OxMo s core ethos, our authors describe the predicaments and strategies of forced migrants in countries ranging from Uganda to Canada, Iraq to Australia, Israel to North Korea, and analyse the responses of governments, courts and international fora worldwide. Our contributors herald from a wide range of disciplines, from Anthropology to International Relations, presenting articles which range from more policy-relevant arguments to theoretical discussions of issues such as the structure-agency debate and the boundaries of belonging and citizenship. Before introducing this edition s articles, we would like to express our gratitude for the very encouraging number of submissions from around the world, which reflects the current demand for OxMo as a forum for sharing ideas on issues and concerns falling within the ambit of forced migration. We hope to see this continued growth and commitment to the human rights of refugees and forced migrants reflected in our future issues. The first two articles of our Policy Monitor complement each other particularly well, by shedding light on a largely under-discussed area within refugee and forced migration studies. In the first article, Chulhyo Kim assesses South Korea s Refugee Act, which was passed in December of last year. While consciously seeking not to downplay the achievement which the Act symbolises on the part of refugee advocates, the author s analysis draws attention to the diluted nature of some of the original provisions and the implications of this for the country s Refugee Status Determination procedures in particular. Interestingly, this paper is almost mirrored by our second Policy article. Sheena Choi examines international responses to North Korea s chronic food shortage, focusing in particular on China s responses to North Korean refugees residing (irregularly) in the country. Finally, Patricia Ward illuminates the tangible implications of shifting donor interests for NGOs and Iraqi refugee communities as the plight of the latter progresses into an increasingly protracted phase. With particular reference to Iraqi refugees living in Jordan, her article offers insights into the challenges facing NGOs seeking to adapt to dynamic contexts and the implications of different responses for the protection spaces available. This issue s Law Monitor is characterised by heterogeneity, reflected in the regional, topical and disciplinary diversity of the four articles featured in this section alone. Our first article by Kate Ogg, offers a critical yet balanced legal analysis of recent developments in UK case law relating to Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) asylum claims. Louise Collewet provides readers with a rare insight into what she identifies as the inhuman conditions faced by immigration detainees in the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre (IDC). Adopting a socio-legal paradigm, in contrast, Tess Hellgren challenges readers to reconsider the conventional binaries of legality and illegality in contexts of migration and forced migration alike. Drawing on the experiences of migrants residing in the United States and Denmark, Hellgren highlights the structural power of legality in shaping the lives of migrants, while simultaneously emphasising the possibility of agentive responses. Finally, Katherine Karr s article on The Lost Children of Britain sent to former British colonies breaks away from the tendency within refugee and forced migration 5

6 studies to take a narrow and ahistorical focus on the present which has been critiqued by Philip Marfleet (2007) and Katy Long (2009). In the Field Monitor, our two authors shed light on the situations of forced migrants at various stages of their journeys. While Julius Marete compares the predicaments of refugees in the Dadaab refugee camps with the few who are resettled to New Zealand, Valentina Hiegemann describes the factors and stressors which affect the educational performance of refugees in Cairo, Egypt. In the First Hand Monitor we find Ahmed Khan s reflections on his own journey from refugee to Canadian immigrant and scholar, in which he weaves his personal narrative with broader questions of education, development and global citizenship. Unfortunately, we were unable to publish what we had hoped to be our second First Hand article, after it caught the attention of the Deputy Director of a prominent institution in the field of (forced) migration in Europe, and was subsequently withdrawn by the author. Our Academic Articles contains analyses on both the micro- and macro-levels, encompassing both individual experiences of forced migration and institutional responses to it. Laurie Ljinders highlights the situation of Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel, who have faced severe torture and abuse by human traffickers en route, analysing the complexities of how such asylum seekers shape their narratives of suffering and violence when seeking to make sense of their experiences. On a macro-level, in contrast, Saskia Koppenberg asks where forced migrants stand in the migration and development debate, pointing to the exclusion of forced migrants from discussions at the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) despite their proven capacity to contribute to development. Lastly, Anna Shea surveys the situation of non-status people in Canada, drawing on political theory to argue that, despite their apparent alterity, such individuals contribute to the constitution of Canadian citizenship in various ways. In drawing this Editorial to a close, we, as the incoming Co-Editors-in-Chief, would like to offer four very important thank you s. Firstly, we would like to thank our team of editors who have worked closely with authors to produce this edition. Secondly, we would like to extend our thanks to our contributors, without whom this edition of course would not have been possible. Thirdly, we would like to offer a huge thank you to OxMo s senior editors, and especially to the journal s founder, Tai Sayarath, for making her vision of OxMo a reality. We hope that in this edition we have managed to uphold and continue that vision. Finally, thank you to you, our readers, and we hope that you find this edition as engaging as we do. Chloé Lewis and James Souter Oxford, June 2012 References Cited LONG, K. (2009) Early Repatriation Policy: Russian Refugee Return , Journal of Refugee Studies 22(2): MARFLEET, P. (2007) Refugees and History: Why We Must Address the Past, Refugee Survey Quarterly 26(3):

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8 A Step Forward to Refugee Protection? South Korea s New Refugee Act By Chulhyo Kim A new law on refugees was introduced in South Korea in December The Act on the Status and Treatment of Refugees, etc. (Refugee Act) is celebrated as the first law dedicated to the status and entitlements of refugees and asylum seekers among East Asian countries. The new Refugee Act is generally welcomed by both the international community and local civil society groups. However, many of the original proposals of civil society groups and parliamentarians to protect the economic and social rights of refugees and asylum seekers were diluted during the political negotiations prior to the adoption the bill. Instead, new provisions for a simplified hearing (fast track) process were added at the insistence of the South Korean government (Ministry of Justice). Korean civil society groups and lawyers have already begun to seek amendments to the law. South Korea has a twenty-year long history of providing a legal framework for refugee protection, with its roots in the country s ratification of the Refugee Convention in According to the Constitution of South Korea, [t]reaties duly concluded and promulgated under the Constitution shall have the same effect as the domestic laws (Art. 6[1]) and [t]he status of aliens shall be guaranteed as prescribed by international law and treaties (Art. 6[2]). Logically, the Refugee Convention should apply automatically to refugees in South Korea without new legislation. However, the reality of South Korean legal practice is that no government policy or programme can be implemented without legislation of domestic acts and decrees that authorise the allocation and execution of the budget and human resources of government agencies. In 1993, the government of South Korea first legislated for the basic process for refugee status determination (RSD) by introducing eight new articles in the already existing Immigration Control Act. However, the State Party s basic obligations under the Convention, like the provision of social services, were never coded as domestic law; thus, there was no implementation. The South Korean government first granted refugee status in Since then, the number of refugees arriving in the country increased very rapidly. The accumulated number of refugee status applicants (asylum seekers) reached 4,186 by February 2012, and among them, 271 people (6.5%) were granted refugee status. The majority of them came from Asian countries like Pakistan, Nepal, China, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, but there are still many refugees from African countries like Uganda, Nigeria and Ivory Coast (Korea Immigration Service 2012). Korean civil society also became increasingly concerned about refugee issues. In 1999, the first refugee NGO was established, and now almost ten groups including lawyers and medical experts are working actively to support refugees and asylum seekers, and to monitor the government s policy and activities. In 2006, they initiated a discussion for the introduction of a separate, new piece of legislation for refugee protection, and actually prepared a draft bill, which was later taken up by a parliamentary group. The South Korean government s response to such changes was very slow. It added the provisions on the status of, and the social assistance to, refugees through two new articles in the Immigration Control Act only in These provisions grant refugees and long-standing asylum seekers work permits and other social services. Whether a refugee may be granted such benefits, however, depends on the discretionary power of the Minister of Justice, rather than 8

9 being automatic rights as outlined in the Refugee Convention. In 2010, asylum seekers were guaranteed the right of non-refoulement during the RSD process by a new clause on the prohibition of deportation during the process. The RSD process under the Immigration Control Act had often been criticised for failing to meet minimum international standards (Cheong 2010). The Act limited access to RSD to a foreigner in the Republic of Korea ; this has been interpreted in a way that denies access to RSD to those who claim asylum either at or before reaching an immigration checkpoint. Although the Act provided that the government may grant temporary landing permission under the discretion of the Minister of Justice, official immigration data show there was no single case as such. The number of asylum seekers who have been turned down at the airport before passing immigration control is not known. This limited access to the RSD process can also be interpreted as an expression that the South Korean government does not invite the resettlement of refugees who are outside its territory. Moreover, the rights of applicants during the RSD process were poorly defined; thus, several related legal rights have often been denied in practice, such as the right of asylum seekers to be assisted by legal representative during the interviews, and the right to review the interview reports after the interview. The provisions of social services to refugees were also problematic. Asylum seekers who were waiting for the RSD result for longer than one year might be granted a work permit, but again, this would have been at the discretion of Minister of Justice. This provision was criticised as downgrading the State Party s responsibility to protect the rights of refugees under the Refugee Convention, and making it a mere matter of discretion of a government official (Chung 2009). The administrative processes under the subsidiary regulations of the Act effectively required almost impossible conditions to be met: the employment contract had to be acquired from employers before work permit was granted by government officials. In practice, no employer would give an employment contract without government permission. Since no subsidy for subsistence is provided to asylum seekers, they often face serious problems of survival and/or resort to illegal employment (Kim et al. 2010). The new Refugee Act addresses many such problems of the previous law. It provides that the refugee status application may be made at ports of entry or the border prior to undergoing the immigration procedure (Art. 6). It also provides that refugee resettlement may be allowed in consideration with humanitarian concerns and international cooperation (Art. 24). The Refugee Act also comprehensively defines the rights of RSD applicants during the procedure of RSD. For instance, it enshrines the right to legal assistance (Art. 12); the right to be accompanied by a reliable companion during the interview (Art. 13); the right to the provision of appropriate interpretation (Art. 14); the right to review the validity of written record of interviews (Art. 15); the right to read and copy the interview record (Art. 16); and the right to have the applicant s information remain confidential (Art. 17). The Act also limits the detention of RSD applicants for the verification of identification to only the obvious cases of destroying documents to conceal one s identity or forging documents to receive refugee recognition more easily and for a maximum of twenty days (Art. 20). The Act also provides that refugees are entitled to the economic and social rights as accorded in the Refugee Convention: social security (Art. 31), basic livelihood (Art. 32), primary and secondary education (Art. 33), and family reunification (Art. 37). However, social adjustment training including Korean language training may be provided at the discretion of the Minister of Justice (Art. 34). Although the legal framework for the protection of refugee status holders has been significantly improved, many proposals for the protection of asylum seekers, which were made by parliamentarians and civil society groups through the original draft bill, were not found in the final version of the law. The Ministry of Justice, the governmental body in charge of refugee 9

10 affairs, was strongly against recognising its legal obligations to provide refugee status applicants with a living allowance, housing facilities with ensured freedom of movement, elementary and secondary education of minor refugee applicants and Korean language training (Lee 2012). Instead, such social services to RSD applicants were watered down to become matters of discretionary provision at the decision of the Minister of Justice (Art. 40, 41 and 43). This was the result of negotiations between those who proposed these provisions and the Ministry of Justice. The Act even allows the government to rule on the limitations of such social services for a certain group of refugee status applicants such as those in the appeal or re-application process and those who have stayed longer than one year in Korea (Art. 44). Work permits for those who are in the RSD procedure longer than six months and medical aid for all applicants still remains dependant on the discretionary power of the Minister of Justice (Art. 40[2] and Art. 42). The original draft bill also guaranteed the same entitlement of social services to humanitarian status holders, who were not determined to be refugees but whose circumstances meant their return would carry a reasonable ground of possible violation of their freedom or liberty. The adopted Refugee Act, however, does not allow any social service except discretionary work permits (Art. 39) to these individuals. The most controversial provision is the article on the simplified hearing process (fast track) that allows the Ministry of Justice to skip some parts of the RSD hearing process (Art. 8(5)). Since the submission of the original draft bill in May 2009, there have been several chances to discuss the bill in the National Assembly, including a public hearing in November However, no discussion or mention of the fast track is found throughout the minutes of parliamentary sessions. It is known that this clause was inserted at the last minute at the insistence of the Ministry of Justice. This clause specifies three conditions under which some parts of hearing process may be skipped: (1) when an applicant submits false documents or statements; (2) when an applicant re-applies without significant changes of case; or (3) when an applicant applies one year after arrival and it is close to the expiry date of their visa. There was an extensive debate over this clause at the last session of the National Assembly before the law was adopted. The Ministry of Justice insisted that normal asylum seekers apply for RSD immediately after arrival and therefore that application after one year may be considered as doubtful of abusive usage of the process for the extension of stay. However, a number of parliamentarians, including the original proposer, and expert groups, including the Korean Bar Association, questioned the possibility of unfair and inappropriate process. In the end, parliamentarians accepted the fast track procedure with the above three conditions, while rejecting another condition originally suggested by the Ministry: (4) when an applicant applies one year after arrival without the reason of serious health condition (National Assembly of the Republic of Korea 2011). The new Refugee Act is generally welcome by international community and local civil society groups, and certainly considered as a step towards better refugee protection in South Korea. However, Korean civil society groups expressed strong discontent with the watering down of original proposals for social services and, more importantly, with the introduction of the simplified hearing process. The movement for the amendment of the Act is already being discussed even before its entry into force (Kim 2012). Indeed, UNHCR raised a rather fundamental question on the status of refugees in South Korea in relation to the stable residence of refugees. The current law only grants a renewable three-year visa to a recognised refugee by a ministerial ordinance; it is questionable whether this will be changed under the new Refugee Act. This may be a fundamental problem for ensuring the full practice of refugees legal rights; thus UNHCR suggests that permanent residence should be considered for recognised refugees (UNHCR Representation to the Republic of Korea 2009). 10

11 South Korea s new Refugee Act will enter into force in July Although the Ministry of Justice generally welcomes the new Act, it has been very reluctant to fully appreciate the initiatives for refugee protection, as seen throughout the parliamentary debates over the bill (e.g. National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, 2010). The Ministry of Justice is now in charge of preparing subsidiary decrees and regulations as well as policies for the implementation of the Act. Thus, the real upgrade of refugee protection in South Korea in line with the fancy name of the first separate refugee legislation in Asia now relies on the sincere efforts of the Ministry of Justice of Korea. Chulhyo Kim is PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Sydney and is also working as a research assistant for the Social Transformation and International Migration project. He holds an MA in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights from the University of Essex, UK and a BA in Sociology from the Seoul National University, South Korea. Chulhyo worked with Amnesty International, the International Organization for Migration in Korea, and has also worked as a consultant with UNHCR and OHCHR. References Cited CHEONG, C. H. (2010) 'Basic Research on the Human Rights of Foreigners', in: MRTC, I. (ed.) IOM Migration Research and Training Centre Working Paper, Goyang, Korea, IOM Migration Research and Training Centre (Korean). CHUNG, I.-S. (2009) 'Korean Practice on Refugee Reception', Seoul International Law' Journal, 16 (Korean). KIM, H.M., LEE, H.T., CHOI, W.-G. and PARK, J.-K. (2010) Situation Report of Refugee, etc. in South Korea and Suggestions for the Improvment of Socal Services (Korean). KIM, J.C. (2012) 'The meaning of the legislation of Refugee Law and the Future Task', Monthly Welfare Trend, Seoul, South Korea, Social Welfare Committee, People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (Korean). KOREA IMMIGRATION SERVICE (2012) 'Monthly Report on the Statistics of Immigration and Foreigner Policy', Feburary 2012 (Korean). LEE, H.T. (2012) 'The Meaning of the Legislation of Refugee Law and the Future Task', Seminar on the meaning of the legislation of Refugee Law and the future task, Incheon University, Incheon, Korea, UNHCR, National Assembly Human Rights Forum, The Office of MP Hwang Woo Yea (Korean). NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA (2010) 'The Minutes of Legislation and Judiciary Committee (The First Sub-Committee on the Review of Bills)', the 289th National Assembly (Temporary Session), Seoul, National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (Korean). (2011) 'The Minutes of Legislation and Judiciary Committee (The First Sub- Committee on the Review of Bills)', the 304st National Assembly (Temporary Session), Seoul, National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (Korean). UNHCR REPRESENTATION TO THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA (2009) 'UNHCR's Comments on the 2009 Draft Bill on Refugee Status Determination and Treatment of Refugees and Others', Seoul, UNHCR. 11

12 A Phantom Returns: International Responses to North Korea s Food Shortage By Sheena Choi North Korean Refugees 1 in China 2 North Korea s chronic mass starvation is well known throughout the world. Widespread famine in the 1990s caused between 600,000 to two million deaths in North Korea approximately five to ten percent of the country s population (Natsios 2001). Now, world humanitarian agencies report that the coping strategies of vulnerable children, pregnant women, and elderly people are on a knife edge (Cohen 2011). North Korean children are chronically malnourished, and a staggering thirty-two percent of children experience stunted growth, a problem that is particularly severe in rural areas (United Nations 2011). Furthermore, as a result of the famine, a significant number of North Koreans have fled the country in search of food and safety. Neighbouring China has been one of the main destinations for North Korean refugees. The United States State Department estimates that 30,000-50,000 North Korean refugees are currently living in China, while some nongovernmental organisations estimate that the number is closer to 300,000 (Margesson et al. 2007). 3 Regardless of the precise figure, the large influx of North Korean refugees into China has meant that the issue has become a major area of both domestic and international policy concern for China. Domestically, the refugee flow has heightened issues of territorial integrity in a historically contested area. Internationally, the refugee flow has strained diplomatic relationships between China and the two Koreas. China has not allowed U.N. agencies, in particular UNHCR, to have access to North Koreans who are residing in China on the grounds that North Korean refugees are economic migrants who cross the border illegally, primarily in search of food (Margesson et al. 2007). The situation of North Korean migrants in China has been compared to the situation of Mexican migrants in the United States, who illegally enter the United States as economic migrants seeking to better their lives while remaining at constant risk of deportation (Cohen 2010). However, experts contend that the Chinese view of North Korean refugees as economic migrants is a violation of human rights and the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol, to which China has been a party since September 1982 (CRS Report for Congress 2007; 2008). Cohen summarises the legal grounds for the protection of North Korean refugees as follows: even North Koreans crossing into China for reasons of economic hardship may be refugees if they have been compelled to leave because of government economic policies 1 My use of the term refugee is for simplicity and is not an official term. While international humanitarian communities have argued that North Koreans who flee the country should be considered as such, the Chinese government simply views them as people who have made an illegal border crossing for economic reasons. 2 Experts agree that there are more than 2 million mines buried in the De-militarised Zone (DMZ) between South and North Korea by both Koreas, while coastal areas are also heavily guarded by both sides. As a result, direct crossing between the two Koreas is almost impossible. Although there are reports of increasing surveillance of the Sino-North Korean border by both countries, it is still relatively easy to cross when compared with the border between North and South Korea. 3 Collection and analysis of any reliable data on North Korean refugees in China is impossible as the nature of their existence in China as illegal border crossers means they often remain underground. Thus, multiple sets of data exist by multiple sources. 12

13 tantamount to political persecution many of the North Koreans outside their country fit the category of refugees sur place (Cohen 2010). According to the UNHCR, refugees sur place become refugees not because of their decision to leave their home country, but because of their fear of persecution should they return. North Koreans eligibility for refugee status can be further supported by the pattern of extreme human rights abuses on the part of the North Korean regime, including the denial of political, civil, and religious liberties and severe physical abuse. For example, it has been well established that North Korea has maintained prison camps, which are organised like the Soviet gulag system, and which house an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 inmates, including many political prisoners (U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 2003). Certainly, such factors complicate the claim that North Korean refugees are simple economic migrants (Margesson et al. 2007). According to experts, the famine in North Korea is only a symptom of such human rights violations. In short, poor management stems from a disregard for the welfare of the people and environment. Moreover, the tragedy of the food shortage is further exacerbated by a food distribution system that favours the ruling elite and military (Haggard and Noland 2005). 4 As illegal migrants, North Korean refugees in China face daunting living conditions: their daily lives are characterised by continuous uncertainty and insecurity. If found by Chinese authorities, victims are deported back to North Korea, where they may face harsh punishment, and may be subject to forced labor in DPRK labor camps (Hwang 2010). The vast majority of refugees are women, who face additional threats to their safety. In fact, [n]inety percent of those women become victims of sex trafficking once they arrive (Liebelson 2010). Although Chinese law grants citizenship to children of Chinese nationals, many fathers don t register their children because they fear the children s mothers could be arrested and repatriated to North Korea, or they can t afford the bribes required (Yoon 2009). As a result, thousands of children exist in legal limbo, living on the fringe of society, missing out on school and other state services because their mothers fear deportation (Yoon 2009). The human rights activist, Tim Peters, estimates that there are about 25,000 stateless children of North Korean-Chinese mixed heritage in China (Moon 2011). These stateless children born of Chinese fathers and North Korean mothers are barred from Chinese society and ignored by the international community (Global Times 2009). Upon repatriation, North Korean refugees face harsh punishment, since the North Korean regime considers leaving without state permission treason, and harshly punishes those caught with detention, torture, and sometimes death (Yoon 2009). Those who are repatriated during their pregnancy are forced to go through abortion to preserve the North Korean pure blood (Myers 2010). Recently, the new North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, publicly declared his intention to punish and even kill three generations of family members of anyone who tries to leave the impoverished North (LA Times 2012). Despite ongoing reports that repatriates face death and beatings back home (Hoffeman 2012), China has continued to send North Korean refugees back. Addressing this issue, Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, stated that we believe that refugees should not be repatriated and subjected once again to the dangers that they fled from...we urge all countries in the region to cooperate in the protection of North Korean refugees within their territories (Snyder 2012). Margesson et al. (2007) assert that China and South Korea want to avoid a massive outflow of refugees, which they believe could trigger the instability or collapse of North Korea. 4 As in all totalitarian states, North Korea strictly controls information. Thus, there is considerable gap in data provided by North Korea and the estimates offered by international experts. Some experts estimate there were as many as three million deaths by starvation during 1990s famine. 13

14 Conclusion and Future Considerations North Korea presents a well-established track record of violations of international law and human rights. Among these violations, the worst are the crimes of the state against its own population. In order to preserve its power, the North Korean regime cruelly starves its own citizens and drives many across the border. North Korea s pattern of human rights abuses and famine, as well as the international community s stated commitment to aiding refugees, require not only temporary food aid, but also the creation of long-term policy solutions to the humanitarian crisis. Since China remains the primary destination for North Korean refugees, such policy solutions should focus in particular on encouraging China to reevaluate its definition of economic migrants. North Korean refugees in China are living in great peril and constant risk of deportation. If sent back to North Korea, refugees face punishment upon their return. China s repatriation of North Korean refugees to North Korea where they will be severely punished is a clear violation of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. As a rising international superpower, China must set an example of protecting human rights. The international community must come together to support improved protections for North Korean refugees in China. For example, the creation of a refugee camp that would be overseen and monitored by an international organisation at the China-North Korean border would be an important step forward in protecting North Korean refugees. The international community could also be more generous in taking North Korean refugees. In October 2004, U.S. President George Bush signed the North Korean Human Rights Act and since then approximately one hundred North Korean refugees have settled in the U.S. While this is an excellent beginning and holds symbolic importance, the effort must be sustained and systematic. Japan, Russia, and the U.S. must recognise their historical role in the division of Korea and take an active role in working to resolve the refugee issue. Finally, South Korea, in particular, must recognise its historical destiny and be proactive in embracing the country s less fortunate brethren into its arms. South Korea must address this as a foremost and immediate national issue and create a comprehensive plan that goes beyond ineffective food aid to North Korea. Considering the North Korean refugee issue calls to mind Edmund Burke s insight that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Sheena Choi is a Korean-American scholar and holds a Doctoral Degree in Comparative and International Studies in Education from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Choi is an Associate Professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. This article is based on her study as a Fulbright Research Fellow ( ) during which time she researched Korea s globalization, demographic shift, and transition into a plural society. References Cited BROOKINGS (2011) Hunger in North Korea: Time for a Decision, July 16. Available from: < [Accessed 16 July 2011.] 14

15 COHEN, R. (2011) Hunger in North Korea: Time for a Decision, July 15. Available from: < [Accessed 16 July 2011.] (2011) Kim Jong Il and the Hunger Problem, March 16. Available from: < [Accessed 16 July 2011.] (2010) Legal Grounds for Protection of North Korean Refugees. Available from: < [Accessed 16 July 2011.] (2009) Raising Human Rights with North Korea, July 23. Available from: < July 2011.] (2009) Pressing Pyongyang on Rights, July 31. Available from: < opinions/2009/0731_north_korea_cohen.aspx> [Accessed 16 July 2011.] (2007) Human Rights and the North Korea Refugee Crisis, 25 October. Available from: < [Accessed 16 July 2011.] CRS REPORT FOR CONGRESS (2007) North Korean Refugees in China and Human Rights Issues: International Response and U. S. Policy Options, Congressional Research Service. Order Code RL Available from: < [Accessed 16 July 2011.] (2008) Congress and U.S. Policy on North Korean Human Rights and Refugees: Recent Legislation and Implementation, Congressional Research Service, Order Code RS Available from: < pdf> [Accessed 16 July 2011.] GLOBAL TIMES (2009) Sino-North Korean Stateless Children in Legal Limbo. Available from: < [Accessed 17 July 2011.] HAGGARD, S. and NOLAND, M. (2005) Hunger and Human Rights: The Politics of Famine in North Korea, in U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, Washington DC, U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. HOFMAN, H. (2012) China Deports North Korean Defectors Despite Fears for their Lives, Global Post, 24 February. Available from: < asia-pacific/china/120224/china-deports-north-korean-defectors-despite-fears-t> [Accessed 18 March 2012.] HAWK, D. (2003) The Hidden Gulag: Exposing North Korea s Prison Camps: Prisoners Testimonies and Satellite Photos, Washington, D.C., U. S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK). HWANG, D. (2010) N. Korea Remains Among 13 Worst Human Trafficking Countries: State Dept, 15 July. Available from: < AEN F.html> [Accessed 17 July 2011.] 15

16 KIM, Y. (2009) Making National Subjects: Education and Adaptation Among North Korean Immigrants in South Korea, Unpublished Dissertation, Honolulu, University of Hawaii. LAMBERT, C., PICKERING, S., and ADLER, C. (2003) Critical Chatter: Women and Human Rights in South East Asia. Durham, Carolina Academic Press. LIEBELSON, D. (2010) Nine out of Ten Women Escaping North Korea Are Trafficked. Available from: < [Accessed 17 July 2011.] MARGESSON, R., CHANLETT-AVERY, E., and BRUNO, A. (2007) CRS Report for Congress: North Korean Refugees in China and Human Rights Issues: International Response and U.S. Policy Options. Available from: < [Accessed 17 July 2011.] MOON, K. (2011) Helping Orphans Find Secure Refuge in China. In Korea JoongAng Daily, March 7. Available from: < [Accessed 17 July 2011.] MYERS, B.R. (2010) The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters, Melville House. NATSIOS, A. (2001) The Great North Korean Famine, Washington, D.C., U.S. Institute of Peace. PARK, S. (2003) The Growth Status of North Korean Refugee Children in China, Korea Journal 43(3): PICKERING, S. (2011) Women and Extra Legal Border Crossing, in Pickering Women, Borders, and Violence: Current Issues in Asylum, Forced Migration, and Trafficking, New York, Dordrecht. SNYDER, S. (2012) China: North Korean Refugees a Hindrance to Denuclearization? Asia Unbound. Council on Foreign Relations, 15 March. Available from: < 2012/03/15/china-north-korean-refugees-a-hindrance-to-denuclearization/> [Accessed 18 March 2012.] THE CHOSUN ILBO (2012) China Already Repatriated N. Korean Defectors, 24 February. Available from: < html> [Accessed 18 March 2012.] THE NEW YORK TIMES (2011) European Union to Send Food Aid to North Korea, July 3. Available from: < [Accessed 16 July 2011.] UNITED NATIONS (2011) DPR Korea: UN Agencies Begin Emergency Operations to Feed 3.5 Million People The Christian Science Monitor, 19 April. Available from: < 16 July 2011.] YOON, L. (2009) Stateless Children: North Korean Refugees in China, 4 September. Available from: < Central/2009/0904/p08s01wosc.html>[Accessed 17 July

17 Evolving Roles of National and International NGOs in Protracted Urban Refugee Contexts: The Case of Iraqis in the Middle East By Patricia Ward The Iraqi refugee population in the Middle East is receiving less interest from donors and policymakers as their plight enters into a protracted phase, as defined by UNHCR (Chatelard 2011). With the American declaration in late 2011 that the Iraq war is over, and with the crisis in Syria continuing to develop, the international donor community is shifting its interest away from the Iraqi case. As funding decreases, international relief organisations are reassessing their role and relevance in the post-emergency assistance context; some are choosing to operate within a development agenda framework, while others are choosing to exit completely. The former may lead to overlap with other organisations, both national and international, already working on development issues, and competition for development assistance may increase accordingly. In cases where non-governmental organisations (NGOs) leave, gaps in services may arise if this occurs in an ad hoc or rash manner. Serious implications thus exist regarding how such evolving roles and exits from the region will impact the protection space for the Iraqi population, especially in consideration of the diverse Middle East and North Africa (MENA) host country contexts and urban spaces in which refugees reside. This article explores the overall challenges of addressing urban refugee situations within the MENA region and uses the case of Jordan to highlight how NGO capacities, funding, coordination mechanisms, host country policies and relationships with UNHCR may impact refugee protection space within transition and protracted contexts. The author subsequently provides recommendations for both academics and practitioners to address these challenges in the future. UNHCR and NGOs face numerous challenges when operating in urban settings, specifically with regards to: the phenomenon of invisible refugees ; registration processes; obtaining resources to assist refugees from protracted situations in an urban context; assisting refugees without creating parallel structures that jeopardise the well-being of the urban poor from the host country; and effectively navigating strained relations between UNHCR and the host government in some cases (Crisp et al. 2009; Fábos and Kibreab 2007; Jacobsen and Landau 2005). Identifying refugees via registration processes can sometimes negatively stigmatise the refugee in the urban space, and there is sometimes no incentive for the refugee to register in the first place. UNHCR must also consider long-term solutions while simultaneously trying to move refugees towards independence. Assessing the case of Jordan provides insight into such challenges. Over the past year, UNHCR Jordan has been shifting its partnerships to national NGOs and working with international NGOs in a more informal, non-partnership manner. UNHCR has largely justified this shift as an attempt to move towards a more national, community-based approach to address the needs of a protracted population, with training, personnel turnover, and access to resources as some of the major obstacles they encounter in implementing projects. For example, the majority of national NGOs interviewed could not offer comparable salaries to those of international NGOs working on the Iraqi issue, leading qualified staff in national organisations to take positions in international NGOs during the crisis period. Thus, national NGOs in Jordan are, to a certain extent, still in the process of catching up to their international counterparts. 17

18 Most NGOs, both international and national, are also used to working within one-year funding cycles, making sustainability and strategic planning difficult. Coupled with this cycle is the fact that national NGOs tend to, as is often the case for NGOs in the global South, bend their organisations missions and projects to meet the objectives and agendas of the donors, even if they contradict their mandate and the needs on the ground (Washington 2010). With donor interests shifting away from the Iraqi issue and the continuation of one-year funding grants, it may be difficult for NGOs to establish strategic, long-term plans for the Iraqi population in Jordan. Even well-established, national NGOs who may not face sustainability challenges to the same extent as other NGOs may encounter the challenge of being responsible for the implementation of too many projects due to overwhelming donor trust and investment in these select organisations. It is also important to consider how such UNHCR partnership shifts affect coordination mechanisms that are in place to minimise overlap in service distribution to beneficiaries. From the author s own field research, international and national NGOs alike almost always noted UNHCR working group meetings as the main source of coordination. Nevertheless, it is often the case that overlap and competition still exist in the field in terms of service distribution and funding, respectively 5. Concurrently, no streamlined process exists for this transfer of responsibilities from international to national NGOs. International organisations have sometimes advocated for multi-year periods to coordinate successful transitions; yet this is not required (Skopec et al. 2010). With different actors now in leadership positions, how beneficiaries perceive this shift and trust these new actors accordingly must also be taken into account. UNHCR is also arguably a relatively new actor not only in Jordan, but also in the region generally. UNHCR did not have a presence in the Middle East until the mid-1990s when the agency established its first office in Cairo; later, other offices were opened in Damascus, Amman, Beirut, and Aleppo (Zaiotti 2006). Thus, the lack of institutional knowledge between UNHCR and local contexts may prove to be a challenge in meeting the needs of Iraqis and the growing numbers of urban refugees in the Middle East generally. It is, concurrently, important to highlight that UNHCR, and national and international NGOs alike are somewhat new to addressing protracted urban situations. It was not until the late 1990s and 2000s, for instance, that UNHCR began to seriously acknowledge the urban refugee phenomenon, vis-à-vis the 1997 UNHCR Comprehensive Policy on Urban Refugees; the 2008 Community-based Approach in UNHCR Operations that includes a section entitled Tips on Working in Urban Situations ; and the 2009 Challenges for Persons of Concern to UNHCR in Urban Settings from the High Commissioner s Dialogue on Protection Challenges. 6 Like other countries in the MENA region, Jordan is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and does not support local integration of Iraqis as a viable solution; resettlement and repatriation remain the only long-term options for Iraqis. However, resettlement procedures have slowed for Iraqis, leaving many waiting in Jordan. With conditions in Iraq still unstable, and local integration off the table as a long-term option (both under the law and also arguably promoted vis-à-vis one-year funding cycles), NGOs are forced to balance short-term policies and funding with long-term, protracted realities. 5 The UNHCR created the RAIS database in Jordan during the Iraqi crisis to facilitate communication among assistant NGOs and subsequent distribution of services to beneficiaries in a coordinated manner. The creation of RAIS represented a significant improvement, but it is critical to emphasise that late entries into the system regarding project outcomes undermines the usability of the system and subsequent service distribution efficacy. 6 The 1997 UNHCR document received considerable scrutiny from the international community due to its evident discouragement of refugee movement to urban spaces; see the 1997 Human Rights Watch Report cited in the reference section for more information. 18

19 Such partnership and shifting NGO roles will likely evolve in very diverse ways in the MENA countries hosting Iraqis (i.e. Lebanon and Syria) due to unique internal policy frameworks and political situations in each respective host state. Though the latter may be evident, more research is needed that delves beyond the regional level of analysis to assess the particular and unique challenges associated with addressing protracted refugee situations especially within the urban context. Academics and policymakers must also continue to explore how changing roles of international relief NGOs in the protracted context may have both positive and negative effects on protection space for refugees, overall country development, and NGO coordination generally within each country. Increased dialogue among donors, NGOs and policymakers is thus warranted and should be encouraged in order to move closer to a strategic approach framework and multi-year funding cycles for protracted situations. In conjunction with these initiatives, international organisations such as UNHCR must continue to develop standards and baselines for addressing urban, protracted situations in a manner that allows for case-sensitive flexibility, collaboration with local hosts, and adaptability at the country level. With an estimated 68% of all refugee situations considered protracted, and with over half of the world s refugees now residing in urban areas, considering such recommendations is critical (Sylvester 2011). This article s exploration of the case of Jordan emphasises the need to take such recommendations seriously within the MENA context where growing numbers of refugees reside. Such issues as national NGO capacity, funding resources, coordination and host countries policies and relationships with UNHCR are directly linked to the scope of the protection space for refugees. The development of a more robust information basis will thus create a fluid framework of communication and coordination between and among international and national NGOs and UNHCR that may guide future action not only in the case of Iraqis and the MENA region, but also in other protracted contexts in the global South Patricia Ward is a recent graduate from American University s School of International Service in Washington, DC, where she studied International Relations, specialising in the Middle East region. Patricia is the co-founder of the American University (AU) Forced Migration Working Group and is currently conducting research on refugee assistance NGOs in Jordan, funded under the UNHCR Small Grants Programme. References Cited CHATELARD, G. (2011) Iraqi Refugees and IDPs: From Humanitarian Intervention to Durable Solutions, Iraq Study Group, Middle East Institute. Available from: < [Accessed 3 February 2012.] CRISP, J. et al. (2009) Surviving in the City: A Review of UNHCR s Operation for Iraqi Refugees in Urban Areas of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, Geneva, UNHCR. Available from: < [Accessed 5 February 2012.] HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH (1997) Uncertain Refuge: International Failure to Protect Refugees, Human Rights Watch Report 9(1): Available from: < [Accessed 5 February 2012.] 19

20 JACOBSEN, K. and LANDAU, L. (2005) Recommendations for Urban Refugee Policy, Forced Migration Review 23: 52. Available from: < FMR23/FMR2322.pdf> [Accessed 31 January 2012.] SKOPEC, C. ET AL. (2010) Anticipating the Unexpected: Urban Refugee Programming in Jordan, Iraq Study Group, Middle East Institute. Available from: < cooperation.org/studygroups/iraq.php> [Accessed 3 February 2012.] SYLVESTER, A. (2011) Beyond Making Ends Meet: Urban Refugees and Microfinance, Master's Thesis. Durham, NC, Duke University. Available at: < [Accessed 31 January 2012.] UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) (1997) UNHCR Comprehensive Policy on Urban Refugees. Available from: < /41626fb64.pdf> [Accessed 31 January 2012.] (2008) A Community-Based Approach in UNHCR Operations. Available from: < [Accessed 20 January 2012.] (2009) UNHCR Policy on Refugee Protection and Solutions in Urban Areas. Available from: < [Accessed 20 January 2012.] (2010) Challenges for Persons of Concern in Urban Settings, Informal Summary from Third High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges, 8-10 December Available from: < [Accessed 3 January 2012.] (2011) UNHCR Global Appeal , Jordan: Available from: < [Accessed 20 January 2012.] WASHINGTON, K. (2010) Iraqis in Jordan: Urban Refugees, Data and the Implications for Emergency Education Programs, Iraq Study Group, Middle East Institute. Available from: < [Accessed 3 February 2012.] ZAIOTTI, R. (2006) Dealing with Non-Palestinian Refugees in the Middle East: Policies and Practices in an Uncertain Environment International Journal of Refugee Law 18(2):

21 Law Monitor 21

22 A Question of Discretion: A Critical Analysis of New Legal and Evidentiary Hurdles for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) Asylum Seekers in the United Kingdom By Kate Ogg Many Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) asylum seekers in the United Kingdom (and other jurisdictions such as Australia) have had their claims rejected on the grounds that, if returned to their country of origin, they could avoid persecution by remaining discreet about their sexuality. 7 Discretion could be achieved by, for instance, choosing to be celibate, referring to an intimate partner as merely a friend, refraining from being publicly affectionate with a same-sex partner or choosing not to tell friends and family about their sexual orientation. This approach was rejected by the High Court of Australia in Appellant S395/2002 v MIMA (2003) 203 ALR 112 (hereinafter S395/2002 v MIMA) and this decision was recently followed by the United Kingdom Supreme Court (UKSC) in HJ (Iran) and HT (Cameroon) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] UKSC 31 (hereinafter HJ and HT). However, the precedent established by HJ and HT still provides for the rejection of asylum claims if the applicant would, on return to their country of origin, voluntarily choose to remain discreet about their sexuality for reasons other than persecution within the meaning of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the Convention) such as the fear of social pressure from family and friends. This test was followed by the recent decision of SW (lesbians) Jamaica CG [2011] UKUT (hereinafter SW (lesbians) Jamaica CG). There has been little examination as to whether the conclusion reached in HJ and HT and SW (lesbians) Jamaica CG is consistent with the objectives and language of the Convention. This article argues that the test fails to properly consider the meaning of persecution and is inconsistent with international jurisprudence on the meaning of well-founded fear. Moreover, the test places an additional evidentiary burden on LGB asylum seekers that may be difficult to discharge. The case of HJ and HT concerns two gay asylum seekers, one from Iran and the other from Cameroon. HJ s asylum claim was rejected by the Court of Appeal on the ground that he could reasonably be expected to tolerate being discreet about his sexuality if returned to Iran. HT s asylum claim was unsuccessful because the Court of Appeal found that he would remain discreet about his sexuality if returned to Cameroon. Both men appealed against these decisions to the UKSC. The UKSC agreed that it is inconsistent with the objectives of the Convention to require an LGB asylum seeker to avoid persecution by concealing his or her sexuality. Lord Hope and Lord Roger, in their separate judgements, reasoned that if an LGB asylum seeker intended to be open about their sexuality upon return to their home country, and would suffer persecution as a result, he or she has a well-founded fear of persecution and is entitled to asylum pursuant to the Convention (HJ and HT per Lord Hope at 29 and per Lord Roger at 54-56). Both judgements also considered the position of an asylum seeker who intended to be discreet about his or her sexuality upon return. Drawing on the joint judgement of Justice McHugh and Justice Kirby in S395/2002 v MIMA, their Lordships held that an asylum seeker would be entitled to protection if the material reason they would be discreet is due to the persecution they may suffer if their sexuality was discovered (HJ and HT per Lord Hope at 35(d) and per Lord Roger at 69). However, if an asylum seeker would choose to remain discreet for reasons other than persecution (such as wishing to avoid family disapproval or social ostracism) his or her claim 7 For example, see LSLS v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2000); T v Special Immigration Adjudicator (2000); and WABR v Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs (2002). 22

23 must be rejected on the grounds that these social pressures do not amount to persecution within the meaning of the Convention (HJ and HT per Lord Hope at 35(d) and per Lord Roger at 61). This conclusion would be reached even in cases where the applicant is returning to a country where homosexuality is punished by execution or significant prison sentences or people of LGB orientation are subject to social punishment such as so-called corrective rape. This approach to discretion in LGB asylum cases was followed by the United Kingdom Immigration and Asylum Tribunal (UK IAT) in SW (lesbians) Jamaica CG. The decision of the UKSC in HJ and HT has been lauded by refugee advocates and LGB groups. It was the first time that a United Kingdom court directly addressed the jurisprudence regarding discretion outlined in S395/2002 v MIMA (the first decision in which an ultimate appellate court heard an LGB asylum claim) (Millbank 2009). The removal of the reasonably tolerable test is certainly a positive move that brings United Kingdom jurisprudence in line with other states such as Australia (see S395/2002 v MIMA), Canada (see Re XMU [1995]) and New Zealand (see Re GJ [1995]). It also means that LGB asylum claims will be judged in a similar manner to claims based on religion, political opinion and race: no court has, for example, required a person to be discreet about their religion or political opinion to avoid persecution (Millbank 2009). However, there has been little discussion of the legal and evidentiary implications of the UKSC s ruling that those who intend to remain discreet for reasons other than persecution, such as social pressures, are not entitled to protection. It is this aspect of the judgement that is the focus of this article. Was the UKSC Right to Hold that Social Pressures Such as Community Disapproval Cannot Amount to Persecution Within the Meaning of the Convention? To answer the above question, one must begin by unpacking the term persecution which is neither defined in the Convention nor interpreted uniformly across jurisdictions. In the United States of America, persecution has been defined as a threat to life or freedom, or the infliction of suffering or harm upon, those who differ in a way regarded as offensive (Matter of Acosta 1985). Alternatively, persecution has been interpreted by Australian courts to mean serious harm such as a penalty, serious detriment or disadvantage or denial of fundamental human rights (Chan v MIEA 1989 per Mason CJ at 388). Contrastingly, courts in New Zealand have adopted a core human rights approach (Refugee Appeal No / ). The New Zealand position is that the purpose of the Convention is to provide protection to those whose fundamental human rights are not protected by the state. To determine if an asylum seeker has a well-founded fear of persecution, the first step is to determine the nature of the human right in question and whether it is deemed fundamental. The New Zealand courts have refrained from stipulating a hierarchy of rights and instead provide that fundamental human rights must be understood in the context of the situation and developing human rights norms. If a fundamental right is violated, the next step is to consider how serious the harm is (the position being that the Convention protects against serious violations of core human rights it does not protect against minor restrictions of periphery human rights). The New Zealand core human rights approach is arguably closest to UNHCR s definition of persecution as all serious violations of human rights (UNHCR 1995: 3). Pursuant to the above jurisprudence, some social pressures, such as taunting or disapproval by family members, may not amount to persecution within the meaning of the Convention (Hathaway 2005). However, what the UKSC failed to articulate is that, if the social pressures inflicted on the asylum applicant render him or her unable to access work, education or healthcare, this may be serious violation of fundamental human rights amounting to persecution (see N98/ ; N03/ ; Foster 2007). Social pressures, such as community ostracism or being disowned by family members, are often classified as discrimination (Dowd 2011). In refugee law, the term discrimination has been used by courts to describe forms of 23

24 harm that do not meet the threshold of persecution (Dowd 2011). However, the position that such discrimination can amount to persecution in certain circumstances is supported by case law as well as UNHCR. The UNHCR Handbook of Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status (1992) provides that those who face discrimination are not always victims of persecution. However, if the discrimination leads to consequences of a substantially prejudicial nature such as serious restrictions on his right to earn his livelihood or access to normally available educational facilities, it may be considered persecution (UNHCR 1992: 54). In New Zealand, it has been held that discrimination can amount to persecution if of sufficient severity and of a sustained or systematic nature (Refugee Appeal No / at 30-33). Similarly, the UK IAT has held that an inability to earn a living or to find anywhere to live can result in destitution and at least potential damage to health and even life. If discrimination against which the state cannot or will not provide protection produces such a result, the Convention can be engaged (Secretary of State for the Home Department v Sijakovic 2001 at 16). Therefore, it appears that social pressures such as harassment or ostracism can to amount to persecution if they are systematic, ongoing and lead to a violation of fundamental human rights. To determine if discrimination amounts to persecution, consideration must be given, on a case by case basis, to factors such as the nature of the freedom or right threatened by the discrimination and how severely that freedom or right will be restricted (Goodwin-Gill and McAdam 2007). This analysis suggests that the UKSC s distinction between persecution and social pressure is misguided. If, as a consequence of community disapproval or discrimination, LGB asylum seekers cannot meaningfully access essential services such as employment, housing, education and medical assistance, this may lead to serious violations of fundamental rights such as access to shelter, food, education and healthcare. For example, in some countries an LGB asylum seeker may not be able to gain employment or rented accommodation due to social disapproval of same-sex relations. The arbitrary distinction between persecution and social pressure is demonstrated in SW (lesbians) Jamaica CG in which the UK IAT acknowledged that perceived lesbians also risk social exclusion (loss of employment or being driven from their homes). Despite this, the court nevertheless upheld the precedent in HJ and HT that social pressure does not amount to persecution within the meaning of the Convention (SW (lesbians) Jamaica CG at 107(5)). It is respectfully suggested that an alternative approach that is more in line with the Convention is the core human rights approach adopted in New Zealand. Such an approach eliminates the need for a distinction between social pressures and persecution by focusing instead on the human right threatened, the nature of the right and the seriousness of the violations of the right in question. Pursuant to this approach, social pressure can amount to persecution if it leads to a serious and systematic violation of a fundamental human right against which the state cannot or will not provide protection. Voluntary Discretion and the Test for Well-founded Fear The decisions of HJ and HT and SW (lesbians) Jamaica CG can also be critiqued on the ground that they conflate an asylum seeker s motivations for voluntary discretion with his or her wellfounded fear of persecution. As outlined above, these cases hold that, if an asylum seeker chooses to remain discreet about his or her sexuality due to the social pressures it may attract, as opposed to the persecution they may suffer, they do not have a well-founded fear of persecution (HJ and HT per Lord Hope at 35(d) and per Lord Roger at 61; SW (lesbians) Jamaica CG at 11(b)(i)). The following analysis of the meaning of well-founded fear will demonstrate that this position is untenable. 24

25 The meaning of well-founded fear has been interpreted and applied differently across jurisdictions. 8 In the United Kingdom the test is whether there is a reasonable degree of likelihood (Regina v Home Secretary, ex parte Sivakumaran [1988] per Lord Keith of Kinkel) or a real and substantial danger of persecution (Regina v Home Secretary, ex parte Sivakumaran [1988] per Lord Templeman and per Lord Goff), whereas UNCHR describes the test as simply a reasonable degree of likelihood that a person will be subject to persecution (UNHCR 1992: 42). There is also continued debate about whether well-founded fear requires only an objective finding of the risk of persecution or also an assessment of the applicant s subjective state of mind. While the UNCHR advocates for a combined subjective and objective approach (UNHCR 1992), many domestic courts, for example in the United Kingdom and Australia, adopt an objective approach (Adan v Secretary for the Home Department [1999]; Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Guo Wei Rong [1997]). Pursuant to the test for well-founded fear adopted in the United Kingdom, there is an objective reasonable degree of likelihood that an LGB asylum seeker will be subject to persecution even if he or she decides to conceal his or her identity in order to avoid the type of social pressure that may not amount to persecution within the meaning of the Convention. This is because, despite his or her best efforts and intentions, there is always a reasonable degree of likelihood that an asylum seeker s sexuality will be discovered. For example, he or she may be ousted by a former same-sex partner, potential partner or confidant. The asylum seeker may be caught engaging in same-sex activities which he or she assumed to be private. If the asylum seeker refuses to marry or have children they may be accused of being homosexual. The above possibilities were not considered in HJ and HT or SW (lesbians) Jamaica CG. Such occurrences are not fanciful, especially in societies where homosexuality is illegal and a social taboo. This analysis demonstrates that, by adopting an objective approach to the test for well-founded fear, it is arguable that there is a reasonable degree of likelihood that an LGB asylum seeker will face persecution even if they choose to remain discreet on account of social pressures. Contrastingly, the test formulated in HJ and HT adopts a subjective focus and deems that those who voluntarily remain discreet due to social pressures do not have a well-founded fear of persecution. Such a position is not in line with previous jurisprudence in the United Kingdom that insists on an objective approach and also fails to consider the consequences for the asylum seeker s sexuality being inadvertently discovered despite efforts to remain discrete. Additional Evidentiary Burdens for LGB Asylum Seekers The voluntary discretion test laid town in HJ and HT also places an additional evidentiary burden on LGB asylum seekers. The new test requires LGB asylum seekers to provide evidence that their decision to be discreet is motivated by fear of persecution as opposed to other reasons such as fear of family disapproval. The asylum seeker will therefore bear the burden of proof to evidence his or her motivations for discretion. The only evidence that will be available in most cases is the asylum seeker s testimony which will be scrutinised by the decision-maker and is often dismissed on the grounds of lack of credibility (Kagan ; Souter 2011) especially if the evidence does not match western notions of gayness (Millbank 2009: 392). For example, in HJ and HT, Lord Roger emphasised that male homosexuals are to be free to enjoy themselves 8 In Australia, to prove a well-founded fear of persecution, the applicant must establish that there is a real chance that they will be persecuted (see Chan v Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs [1989] 169 CLR 379). In America, the balance of probabilities approach has been rejected for the more liberal test of reasonable possibilities (see I.N.S. v Cardoza-Fonseca 46 U.S. 407 [1987]). Canada has also rejected the balance of probabilities approach and has defined well-founded fear of persecution to mean that there is a reasonable chance of persecution or a serious possibility as opposed to a mere possibility (see Joseph Adjei v Minister of Employment and Immigration [1989] 7 Imm. L. R. (2d) 169 (F.C.A.) at 72). 25

26 going to Kylie concerts, drinking exotically coloured cocktails and talking about boys with their straight female friends (HJ and HT per Lord Roger at 78). While his Lordship acknowledged that these descriptions were trivial stereotypical examples from British society (HJ and HT per Lord Roger at 78), it demonstrates that LGB asylum seekers may have difficulty establishing a well-founded fear of persecution on the grounds of sexuality if their narrative does not mirror what the decision-maker understands to be typical LGB behaviours. In addition, in a refugee status determination interview it may be difficult for an LGB asylum applicant make the distinction between being discreet due to persecution as opposed to social pressures, especially when LGB asylum seekers often have feelings of shame and self-hating or internalised homophobia (Millbank 2009: 403) and are discreet about their sexuality due to oppressive social forces rather than by choice (Millbank 2009: 392). Conclusion This article has provided a critical legal examination of the new approach to assessing claims for asylum on the basis of sexuality in the United Kingdom; a legal development that has attracted little academic critical analysis perhaps due to the initial euphoria resulting from the removal of the reasonably tolerable test. Continued critical legal analysis of developing jurisprudence regarding asylum claims based on sexuality is needed to address the issue of claims being refused on the grounds of discretion. Refusal of claims on the basis that LGB asylum seekers can conceal their sexuality is derived from a belief that such relationships should be hidden from public view (Millbank 2002). This position has been compared to expecting Anne Frank to remain in the attic to avoid her persecutors (Appellant S395 of 2002 v MIMA S395/2002 [2003]) and is inconsistent with The Preamble of Convention which affirms the principle that all human beings shall enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms without discrimination. Kate Ogg is an Australian national who holds a Bachelor of Laws (First Class honours, University Medal) and a Bachelor of Arts from Griffith University, where she conducted research on the criminalisation of asylum seekers. She is currently studying for an MSc in Refugee and Forced Migration Studies at the University of Oxford, where she is undertaking a feminist analysis of exclusion from the refugee regime on the grounds of criminality for her dissertation. References Cited ADAN V SECRETARY FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT [1999] 1 AC 293. APPELLANT S395/2002 V MIMA (2003) 203 ALR 112. APPELLANT S395 OF 2002 V MIMA S395/2002 [2003] HCATrans 664 (8 April 2003). CHAN V MIEA (1989)169 CLR 379. DOWD, R. (2011) Dissecting Discrimination in Refugee Law: An Analysis of its Meaning and Cumulative Effect, International Journal of Refugee Law 23(1): FOSTER, M. (2007) International Refugee Law and Socio-Economic Rights, Cambridge, CUP. GOODWIN-GILL, G. and MCADAM, J. (2007) The Refugee in International Law. 3 rd edition. Oxford, Oxford University Press. HATHAWAY, J. (2005) The Rights of Refugees under International Law, Cambridge, CUP. HJ (IRAN) AND HT (CAMEROON) V SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME 26

27 DEPARTMENT [2010] UKSC 31. I.N.S. V CARDO-FONSECA 46 U.S. 407 (1987). JOSEPH ADJEI V MINISTER FOR EMPLOYMENT AND IMMIGRATION (1989) 7 Imm. L. R. (2d) 169 (F.C.A). KAGAN, M. ( ) Is the Truth in the Eye of the Beholder? Objective Credibility Assessment in Refugee Status Determination, Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 17: LSLS V MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS [2000] FCA 21. MATTER OF ACOSTA, 19 I. & N. Dec. 211, 222 (B.I.A. 1985). MILLBANK, J. (2002) Imagining Otherness: Refugee Claims on the Basis of Sexuality in Canada and Australia, Melbourne University Law Review 26: (2009) From Discretion to Disbelief: Recent Trends in Refugee Determinations on the Basis of Sexual Orientation in Australia and the United Kingdom, The International Journal of Human Rights 13(2-3): MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND ETHNIC AFFAIRS V GUO WEI RONG (1997) 191 CLR 559. N03/46534, RRT, 17 July N98/22948, RRT, 20 November RE GJ [1995] Refugee Appeal 1312/93 (30 August 1995). RE XMU [1995] CRDD No 146. REFUGEE APPEAL NO.71404/99 RSAA, 29 October REFUGEE APPEAL NO /03 RSAA, 7 July REGINA V HOME SECTRETARY, EX PARTE SIVAKUMARAN [1988] AC 958. SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT V SIJAKOVIC (Unreported, IAT, Appeal No. HX , 1 May 2001). SOUTER, J. (2011) A Culture of Disbelief or Denial? Critiquing Refugee Status Determination in the United Kingdom, Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration 1(1): SW (LESBIANS) JAMAICA CG [2011] UKUT T V SPECIAL IMMIGRATION ADJUDICATOR [2000] EWJ UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) (1995) Agents of Persecution UNHCR Position. (1992) Handbook of Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. WABR V MINISTER FOR IMMIGRATION AND MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS [2002] FCAFC

28 Inhuman Detention Conditions in Bangkok? By Louise Collewet 9 Introduction Under Thai law, all illegal immigrants meaning all non-thai nationals who have entered Thailand or are staying in the country unlawfully are subject to arrest and detention (Immigration Act 1979). In Bangkok, arrested immigrants are detained in the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre (IDC). Among them are refugees and asylum seekers, who are often considered to be in the country unlawfully, as Thailand is not a signatory to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention). Immigration detention is by no means a policy unique to Thailand. Indeed, there has been significant academic scrutiny of, and litigation around, this issue in Europe, the United States, and Australia. However, far less attention has been brought to bear on such detention in countries where the Refugee Convention is not in force, including South East Asia generally, and Thailand in particular. The aim of this article, therefore, is to question provisionally whether Thailand s immigration detention policy is in breach of international law. Specifically, using personal accounts of detention conditions in IDC as reported by the detainees themselves, this article asks whether these conditions amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Research Methodology In June 2011, 96 Pakistani nationals (94 refugees recognised by UNHCR and 2 asylum seekers), a third of whom were children, were released from IDC on bail after months in detention. The author, along with two colleagues, 10 interviewed all of these 25 families about their detention conditions following their release. Interviews took place over three separate occasions between June and August An Urdu interpreter was provided for those who did not speak English 11 and set questions were agreed upon in advance by the interviewing team 12. At the beginning of each interview, the interviewees were explained the aim of the research and were told that they were under no obligation to answer any questions. The identities of the interviewees will remain confidential for ethical and security reasons. Refugee Law Framework: The Refugee Convention Article 31 of the Refugee Convention is the most cited provision in relation to the detention of asylum seekers and refugees. The provision provides that refugees should not be penalised for 9 The author is very grateful to the Pakistani community released from the Bangkok Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) on bail for sharing their difficult experiences with her, and to Michael Timmins, Legal Services Manager of Asylum Access Thailand, for his help and support on this project. 10 The author is very grateful to her co-researchers, Viviene Daepp and Naomi Taga, for their work on this project. 11 The author is very grateful to this interpreter (whose name will not be disclosed for reasons of confidentiality) for his great help with this project. 12 The author holds these questions on file and these can be obtained upon request. 28

29 illegal entry or presence, 13 and has been interpreted as meaning that the detention of asylum seekers shall only be used when it is necessary, reasonable, and proportionate to the objectives pursued (UNHCR 1999). According to UNHCR Executive Committee 14 Conclusions No. 44, detention [of refugees and asylum seekers] should normally be avoided and may be resorted to only on a few specific grounds (UNHCR 1986). Clearly, Thailand s policy and practice of detaining asylum seekers and refugees is contrary to the object and purpose of Article 31. However, given that Thailand is a non-signatory, the obligation does not apply. What is thus more pertinent is the state s obligation of non-refoulement enshrined in Article 33(1), 15 a provision which is generally considered by international refugee law scholars to be binding to all states as customary international law (Goodwin-Gill 1983; Helton 1989; Lauterpacht and Bethlehem 2003). 16 As articulated by Helton, the principle of non-refoulement extends beyond the obligation to refrain from expelling refugees to countries where they will be in danger; it also requires states to provide protection amounting to temporary asylum under humane and tolerable living conditions (Helton 1989: 40). Thus, even as a non-signatory to the Refugee Convention, Thailand remains obliged under customary international law to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers are not refouled to states where they may face cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and accordingly to provide temporary asylum free from these forms of irreparable harm. Beyond its obligations under customary international law, Thailand is also bound to the key human rights documents it has ratified. 17 The testimonies of former detainees indicate that the conditions in IDC may amount to violations of many of these ratified human rights provisions including (but not limited to): freedom from arbitrary detention, the right to privacy, and rights of children. However, as this is a preliminary report, this note will focus specifically on whether the conditions in IDC amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Conditions of Detention The primary concern reported was overcrowding. The interviewees indicated that, for females, 300 to 400 persons had to stay in a room built for 40 to 50 persons. Some young men also reported that, in their cell while some were sleeping, others had to stand. Due to overcrowding 13 Article 31 of the Refugee Convention states: 1. The Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of Article 1, enter or are present in their territory without authorization, provided they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence. 2. The Contracting States shall not apply to the movements of such refugees restrictions other than those which are necessary and such restrictions shall only be applied until their status in the country is regularized or they obtain admission into another country. The Contracting States shall allow such refugees a reasonable period and all the necessary facilities to obtain admission into another country. 14 It is worth noting that while Thailand is not a signatory to the Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, it is a member of the UNHCR Executive Committee, an international body that plays a significant role in establishing standards and guidelines for refugee protection. 15 Article 33 (1) of the Refugee Convention states: No Contracting State shall expel or return ( refouler ) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. 16 See also Hong Kong Court of Appeal, C, AK, KMF, VK, BF, and YAM v. Director of Immigration and another, 2011; for a contrary view, see Hathaway (2010). 17 These include: the 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the 1984 Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, the 2000 Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, and the 2006 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. 29

30 and the absence of a proper ventilation system, people complained of suffocation. In the room for the men, the interviewees reported that there was no window. A detainee also described her cell as an extremely filthy place. Another explained that there were many insects in the blankets and everywhere. Most interviewees complained of the dirtiness of the bathrooms as well. Women also mentioned that there were only two washrooms and toilets in their cell for 300 to 400 persons. For the males and due to overcrowding, ten persons took a bath at the same time. Some men recounted: we used the same water to take a bath, for the toilets and to drink... We shouldn t drink the water from the toilets!. Essential goods were not provided by the IDC staff: even simple things like tissues were very hard to get inside. There were no beds or mattresses in the cell, and detainees slept on the dirty floor or on blankets provided by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS). JRS also reportedly provided soap, tooth brushes, fruits all things not provided by the IDC. Interviewees reported that they used to be hungry because the food was insufficient. Some reported that it was harmful for us, for our health and there were insects inside the soup. For the men, at least initially, there was reportedly no clean, drinking water. It appeared that everyone, especially the children, suffered physically from these detention conditions. Detainees also complained of skin allergies, itching, asthma, fever, and other ailments, stating they were not properly medicated. While a nurse came to the cells once a week, she was only looking at us through the window [and] wrote down the symptoms according to her own mind. Most of the time, detainees were only taken to hospital in extreme circumstances: Some ladies had miscarriages in the cell. They were only taken to hospital after they lost lots of blood. Some detainees also reported that guards were abusive. One man explained: At night several guards were drunk They came to our cell and asked who wanted to fight. They took my son (who was 17 years old), clipped his hands and beat him. Women also reported that the body searches were done sometimes by males and sometimes by females. It was disgusting, we felt ashamed. The guards stood and watched during the body search and laughed. We felt insulted. Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment? In considering this question, it is constructive to look at European human rights law by way of analogy and the interpretation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Article 3 of the ECHR prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment and there is a significant developing body of jurisprudence from the Strasbourg court. In MSS v. Belgium and Greece, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights reviewed conditions of detention for asylum seekers and refugees in Greece (ECoHR 2011). In paragraph 230, the Court described the conditions of detention as follows: The detainees were obliged to drink water from the toilets...in a number of cells there was only one bed for fourteen to seventeen people...a number of detainees were sleeping on the bare floor. There was insufficient room for all the detainees to lie down and sleep at the same time. Because of the overcrowding, there was a lack of sufficient ventilation and the cells were unbearably hot...there was no soap or toilet paper...sanitary and other facilities were dirty...the sanitary facilities had no doors 30

31 This description is strikingly similar to the conditions described in Bangkok. In the MSS case, the Court held that the conditions amounted to a breach of Article Further, in Kupczak v Poland the European Court also found that lack of adequate health care in detention constituted inhuman and degrading treatment (ECtHR 2011). 19 Popov v France found that detaining children in immigration detention, as was reported in Bangkok, was a breach of Article 3 (ECtHR 2012). Accordingly, noting that this is a preliminary and necessarily tentative analysis, there is nevertheless a strong argument that the conditions of detention in IDC amount to inhuman and degrading treatment. This assessment is compounded by potential breaches relating to arbitrary detention, 20 indefinite detention, 21 and children in detention. 22 There is no information, at present, that the detention conditions in IDC have improved. As this report has demonstrated, current practice has given rise not only to tangible concerns from the detainees themselves, but also serious questions under international law. Thailand should therefore promptly take steps to ensure the conditions faced by refugees and asylum seekers are consistent with international legal norms. Louise Collewet is a French national who holds a Masters in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from the University Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas. She has also studied, as part of a student exchange, at the University of Warwick (UK). She has recently finished a one-year experience as a Volunteer Legal Advocate at Asylum Access Thailand in Bangkok and has previously worked with several NGOs and organisations in the area of immigration and refugee law in France, the United Kingdom and Morocco. This research was undertaken in a personal capacity and none of the opinions or views expressed in this preliminary report are held by Asylum Access Thailand. References Cited COUNCIL OF EUROPE (1950) European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 4 November Available at < 5C D7A/0/CONVENTION_ENG_WEB.pdf> [Accessed 5 April 2012.] FLOREA V ROMANIA (2010) European Court of Human Rights, case 37186/03, 14 September Available at < fr&action=request> [Accessed on 27 March 2012]. GOODWIN-GILL, G. (1986) International Law and the Detention of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, International Migration Review 20(2): (1983) The Refugee in International Law, 1 st ed., Oxford, Oxford University Press. 18 See also ECtHR: Kalashnikov v Russia 2002, Modarca v Moldova 2007, Florea v Romania 2010, Pavalache v Romania 2011, Mandic and Jovic v Slovenia 2011, Strucl and others v Slovenia See also ECtHR, Scoppola v Italy, See Goodwin-Gill 1986; England and Wales High Court, R (on the application of Suppiah and Others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, See UN Human Rights Committee, C v Australia, See 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, articles 3, 9, 22,

32 HATHAWAY, J. (2010) Leveraging Asylum, Texas International Law Journal 45(3): HELTON, A. (1989) Asylum and Refugee Protection in Thailand, International Journal of Refugee Law 1(1): HONG KONG COURT OF APPEAL (2011) C, AK, KMF, VK, BF, and YAM v. Director of Immigration and another, CACV /2008, 21 July Available from: < 7&QS=%2B&TP=JU> [Accessed April 2012.] IMMIGRATION ACT (1979) BE 2522, enacted on 24 February Available from: < [Accessed on 3 April 2012]. INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION (1965) adopted on 21 December Available from: < [Accessed 5 April 2012.] INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (1966) adopted on 16 December Available from: < [Accessed 5 April 2012.] INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS (1966) adopted on 16 December Available from: < [Accessed 5 April 2012.] KALASHNIKOV V RUSSIA (2002) European Court of Human Rights, case 47095/99, 15 July Available from: < /99&sessionid= &skin=hudoc-fr> [Accessed 27 March 2012.] KUPCZAK V POLAND (2011) European Court of Human Rights, case n 2627/09, 25 January Available from: < fr&action=request> [Accessed 27 March 2012.] LAUTERPACHT, E. and BETHLEHEM, D. (2003) The Scope and Content of the Principle of Non-refoulement, in Feller E., Türk V. and Nicholson F. (eds.) Refugee Protection in International Law UNHCR's Global Consultations on International Protection, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. MANDIC AND JOVIC V SLOVENIA (2011) European Court of Human Rights, cases 5774/10 and 5985/10, 20 October Available from: < fr&action=request> [Accessed 27 March 2012.] MODARCA V MOLDOVA (2007) European Court of Human Rights, case 14437/05, 10 May Available from: < fr&action=request> [Accessed 27 March 2012.] MSS V BELGIUM AND GREECE (2011) European Court of Human Rights, Grand Chamber, case n 30696/09, 21 January Available from: < Belgium&sessionid= &skin=hudoc-en> [Accessed 27 March 2012.] 32

33 PAVALACHE V ROMANIA (2011) European Court of Human Rights case 38746/03, 18 October Available from: < fr&action=request> [Accessed 27 March 2012.] POPOV V FRANCE (2012) European Court of Human Rights, cases 39472/07 and 39474/07, 19 January Available from: < fr&action=request> [Accessed on 27 March 2012]. R (ON THE APPLICATION OF SUPPIAH AND OTHERS) V SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (2011) England and Wales High Court, case CO/2844/2010, 11 January Available from: < [Accessed 3 April 2012.] SCOPPOLA V ITALY (2008) European Court of Human Rights, case 50550/06, 10 June Available from: < fr&action=request> [Accessed 27 March 2012.] STRUCL AND OTHERS V SLOVENIA (2011) European Court of Human Rights, cases 5903/10, 6003/10 and 6544/10, 20 October Available from: < fr&action=request> [Accessed 27 March 2012.] UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY (1984) Convention Against Torture And Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 10 December 1984, United Nations. Available from: < [Accessed 1 April 2012.] (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989, United Nations. Available at < [Accessed on 1 April 2012.] (1951) Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951, United Nations. Available from: < [Accessed on 27 March 2012.] UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) (1986) Detention of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, No. 44 (XXXVII), 13 October Available from: < [Accessed 1 April 2012.] (1999) UNHCR s Revised Guidelines on Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum Seekers, 26 February Available from: < [Accessed 1 April 2012.] UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE (2002) C v Australia, CCPR/C/76/D/900/1999, 13 November Available from: < [Accessed 4 April 2012.] Interviews Interviews with 25 Pakistani families bailed out of IDC in June

34 At the Crossroads of Structure and Agency: Investigating the Importance of Legality for International Migrants By Tess Hellgren Introduction Migration is not a crime. This mantra, articulated on graffiti images and advocacy posters, has been repeated by migrant rights supporters around the globe. Yet the distinction between legal and illegal movement continues to exert itself as a powerful categorisation in the realm of international migration. The reality of populations of illegal, or undocumented 23, immigrants worldwide in 2006, an estimated 12 million in the United States alone (Passel 2006) demonstrates that legal barriers to migration are not insurmountable. Migrants seeking humanitarian relief or greater economic opportunities regularly cross territorial borders illegally, their will undeterred by legal structures. Concomitantly, however, legality is by no means a neutral classification; instead, it remains a powerful distinction that is applied across the spectrum of forced and voluntary migration. 24 In his seminal research on the ambiguities of refugee classifications, Zetter (2007: 173) writes that a label recognizes both a process of identification and a mark of identity; implies something independently applied, but also something which can be chosen and amended; has a tangible and real world meaning, but is also metaphorical and symbolic. In this article, I argue that legal status is one such label, functioning as a strong structural force that acts practically and symbolically upon migrants livelihoods. Given the scope of attitudes and consequences linked to migrant legal status, how then should the nature and significance of migrant legality be understood? I argue that legality must be considered as a spectrum rather than a dichotomy, reflecting the range of interactions between migrants structural realities and their agentive responses. This paper begins by situating migrant legality at the intersection of the structure-agency relationship, underscoring the ways in which legal constructions both shape and react to migrants active decision-making. I then address the definition and relevance of legal status, considering how legal status poses implicit as well as explicit barriers to migrants independent livelihoods and societal incorporation. Subsequently, I explore the range of migrants legal statuses, drawing predominantly on examples from the U.S. and Denmark to demonstrate how the divide between legal and illegal is not a strict dichotomy but rather a tiered relationship. Having acknowledged the fluidity and gradations of this structural boundary, I show how legality, in its multiple experiences and forms, has varying consequences for migrants family life and individual agency. 23 Even the discourse utilised in migrant classification reflects the potency of this legal distinction: Given the criminal connotations of illegality, many scholars and advocates promote the terms undocumented or irregular to avoid the negative implications attached to illegal migrants (Duvell 2011; Gonzales 2011). As this paper aims to unpack the tangible implications and gradations of migrant status, I employ the terms legal/illegal to illustrate how this dichotomisation problematically oversimplifies migrants legal positions. 24 Given the inherent difficulty of separating categories of forced and voluntary migration and the strong relevance of legal status in both domains, my use of the term migrant in this paper references internationally mobile individuals in both categories, encompassing so-called economic migrants and asylum seekers alike. 34

35 Situating Migrant Legality at the Intersection of Structure and Agency Before investigating definitions and manifestations of migrant legality, I will first place the notion of legal status within the structure and agency debate (see e.g. Emirbayer and Mische 1998; Giddens 1984; Sewell 1992). While structure refers to the foundational societal frameworks that direct, organise and influence social relations (Scott and Marshall 2009), agency is understood as the element of free will exerted by individuals within these parameters. Otherwise stated, agency is the capacity for social actors to reflect on their position, devise strategies and take action to achieve their desires (Bakewell 2010: 1694). Although traditional structuration theory places individual agency within the constraints of structural social practices (Giddens 1984), the intertwined nature of structure and agency is often stressed in modern migration scholarship (Bakewell 2010). The significance of legal status on migrants lived experiences exemplifies the complicated relationship between these two spheres. Legal restrictions produce tangible structural forces that interact with agentive responses as migrants negotiate the boundary between legality and illegality, asserting life choices within a framework of legal classification that holds empowering as well as obstructive potential. While the role of legal structures in shaping migrants opportunities is undeniable, it is nevertheless important to note that structure is dynamic, not static; it is the continually evolving outcome and matrix of a process of social interaction (Sewell 1992: 26). Recognition of this interdependence is necessary for a holistic understanding of the state formation of, as well as migrant operationalisation of, legality. Construction(s) and Consequences of Legality In my discussion of legality, I define the term illegal as referring to those migrants whose presence and livelihood in a country of residence fails to align with nationally determined parameters of lawful residence in short, individuals who are not lawfully permitted, under their current conditions, to live within the territory of a specific state. For the relevant state and migrants, however, the full implications of a legal status are much more complex. The dictionary definition of the term legal makes reference to the multiple meanings nested within a migrant s lawful status. Among its various definitions, legal may mean deriving authority from or founded on law, conforming to or permitted by law or established rules, recognised or made effective by a court of law, or created by the constructions of the law (Merriam-Webster). The terms employed in these descriptions are significant to note. Legality implies compliance and acceptance according to authoritative norms; it is not an inherent characteristic, but rather actively delineated and selectively bestowed by relevant authorities. Reflecting its constructed nature, immigrant (il)legality also rests on inconsistent classifications. Decisions about who is deemed illegal vary greatly from country to country. As Duvell (2011: 293) explains, in the field of migration, the different cultures and policies offer different conditions, constraints and opportunities to immigrants and contribute to varying degrees to the emergence of irregular immigration. In the U.S., for example, De Genova (2004: 173) argues that that illegality has been produced through the historical construction of immigration law that has entailed an active process of inclusion through illegalization, delineating a specific and restricted sphere for illegal migrants to exist in American labor markets. Accordingly, within such specific national power dynamics, illegality is significant not for the actuality but rather the possibility of deportation that renders migrant labourers at the mercy of their employers authority (2004: 179). This economic vulnerability is only one example of the ways in which unequal power relations resulting from uncertain legal status exert a tangible impact upon 35

36 the experience of undocumented migrants, constraining their individual agency through the threat of expulsion. Shades of Grey: Variation in the Experiences and Nature of Legality It is also crucial to recognise the variation(s) in classifications of migrant legality. As Bloch et al. (2011: 1294) note, people move in and out of different statuses, by overstaying or violating visa terms, a legal migrant one day may be illegal the next. This is especially true for asylum seekers, whose sustained presence in a country of refuge may quickly change from legal to illegal dependent on the state s judgment about the extent and authenticity of their refugee claims (Zetter 2007). Changing policy agendas of successive governments, sweeping asylum drives, and bureaucratic reforms can also produce inconsistent legal thresholds that cause migrants legality to fluctuate significantly through no action of their own. In the case of the aforementioned Danish legislation limiting marriage migration, Rytter explains that administrators are constantly changing the legal landscape in fact, the rules often change from one day to the next (Rytter 2011: 12). This type of inconsistency means that legal structures may be perpetually shifting, regularly re-drawing the boundaries of legal and illegal with direct implications for migrants livelihoods. Legal status also comes in a multiplicity of in-between forms that fall between full lawfulness and total exclusion. Menjivar (2006: ) identifies such realities as the grey area between these legal categories, writing that this liminal legality is characterised by its ambiguity, as it is neither an undocumented status nor a documented one, but may have the characteristics of both. This potential range of migrant statuses, along with its shades of uncertainty that can leave migrants in various types of legal limbo, is important to recognise when analysing the relative importance of legality or illegality to a given individual. Within the dichotomised legal-illegal debate, there is thus room for a wide range of (il)legal statuses. The experience of legal status and access to it can vary greatly within a given immigrant group. Gonzales (2011) work with undocumented youth in the United States shows how the intensity and visibility of illegal status is strongly mediated by factors of age and generation. Specific skills, educational assets or economic resources may also determine migrants navigation of legal processes. Gender can play a significant role here as well: Hagan s (2008) fieldwork with Guatemalan migrants in Houston displays how undocumented female migrants integration in local social networks was limited by their employment as live-in domestics, which considerably precluded community involvement. Compared to their male counterparts, women s knowledge of legalisation was hindered by the unregulated domestic industry as well as their lack of social networks (Hagan 2008). Individual migrant characteristics can, therefore, either act as assets or obstacles to attaining legal status, revealing the highly hierarchical and arbitrary nature of legal prescriptions that create discriminatory tiers of migrants access to societal belonging. The Influence of (Il)legality on Family Life As previously established, legal status has serious impacts on multiple spheres of migrant livelihoods, encompassing the areas of personal, societal, and family life. Legal uncertainty can seriously impact the construction and dynamics of migrant families. Without a guaranteed right to re-entry, migrants separated from their families may be unable to return for even temporary visits without risking permanent exclusion from their new countries of residence (Menjivar 2006: ). This can cause great emotional strain, as Menjivar (2006) shows in the traumatic alienation of Central American migrants from their children left behind out of legal and economic necessity. The restrictive terms of legal migration channels may also influence major decisions about family formation, particularly vis-à-vis marriage. As Rytter (2011: 2) explains, 36

37 marriage migration has become one of the last legal ways in which non-european immigrants can gain access [sic to] Fortress Europe. Such parameters of legalisation may influence migrants marital timing as well as partner choice (Beck-Gernsheim 2011; Timmerman and Wets 2011), imposing an additional structural factor upon personal family decisions. In addition to shaping familial choices through practical legal considerations, legal structures may also exert normative expectations on migrants family decisions. Denmark s recent 24-year rule is a prime example (Danish Ministry of Refugee, Immigration and Integration Affairs 2002; 2006). This legislation severely limits the ability of Danish residents to legally bring foreign, non- EU spouses into the country without proving adequate levels of shared national attachment to Denmark (Fair 2011). As Rytter explains, these legal restrictions on family migration do not only establish significant tangible impediments to legal entry but also create deeply symbolic parameters for national identity. The current Danish immigration regime, he explains, is turning the territorial border of the nation-state (bureaucratic decisions about who can and cannot enter the country) into a moral boundary that stipulates how to contract marriages and organize family life (Rytter 2011: 14, emphasis in original). In its targeting of the transnational marriage practices of specific ethnic minorities, the 24-year rule is stringent enough that it resembles social engineering (Rytter 2011: 7). Similarly, the case of undocumented Central American migrants in the U.S. vividly shows how legal status may be dependent on normative expectations of ideal family structures: In court cases for suspensions of deportation, Coutin (2003) argues that migrants likelihood of gaining legal status was largely dependent on their perceived deservingness, determined substantially by their quality of family life as defined by traditional, hetero-normative standards. This type of legal boundary-drawing demonstrates how the explicit terms of legal migration status are often accompanied by substantial normative implications that exert equally powerful restrictions upon migrants agency. Acknowledging Agency: The Navigation of Legal Structures Despite such structural impediments, it is important to recognise the potential for migrant agency in the face of legal restrictions. Obstacles of illegality, or liminal legality, may restrain migrants decisions and even day-to-day life, but (il)legal status does not impede migrant livelihoods in toto. As Menjivar (2006: 1032) writes, alongside an appreciation of legality s serious structural effects, understanding the impact of legal status requires recognition of how in turn [migrants] adjust and attempt to conform to the law, possibly redefining structures in the process. Her work on undocumented Central American migrants in the United States displays ample examples of individuals contributing meaningfully and in diverse forms to their communities, schools, and families, from artistic outlets to political activism (Menjivar 2006: ). As previously noted, (il)legality is variously experienced by migrants; migrants agency is determined not only by their specific legal classification but, inter alia, by their support networks and individual attitudes regarding legal status. Within the diversity of national legal constructions, migrants may also find possibilities for strategic negotiation within immigration law. Bloch et al. s (2011) work with young irregular migrants in the United Kingdom reveals how migrants employ a variety of strategies for navigating the constraints and requirements of legal status, using forged documents, overstaying tourist visas, or buying time with asylum claims. While developed out of necessity, these tactics allow migrants to with varying success establish lives in Britain that may not correspond to legal parameters. The case of recent Danish migrants to southern Sweden also exemplifies this creative potential at the intersection of structure and agency. In response to Denmark s highly restrictive 24-year rule, thousands of first- and second-generation Danish migrants are 37

38 relocating to southern Sweden in order to exercise their right to spousal choice and legally bring a third-country-national partner to reside with them in the EU (Rytter 2011). By invoking their rights to family unification under EU law, migrants are able to set up a livelihood with non-eu spouses who are legally excluded from Danish residence under current legislation (Rytter 2011). Such migration to Sweden may be neither desirable nor advantageous to migrants overall livelihoods; for many Pakistani marriage migrants, relocation has taken place due to the absence of other viable or acceptable legal options, even as the move necessitated that migrants redirect their trajectories and future prospects (Rytter 2011: 6). While occurring within and in response to legal structures, this negotiation of legal status nevertheless demonstrates, as Schmidt (2011: 85-86) explains, how people can use or are forced to use space strategically to uphold aspects of their identity as transnationals. By invoking their EU rights to family unification based on their freedom of movement, 25 the thousands of Pakistani and Turkish couples who have moved to southern Sweden are also creating new forms of liminal legality through their day-to-day mobility. Rytter s work with Pakistani couples in southern Sweden shows the emergence of what he calls semi-legal status: by residing in Sweden while working and socially engaging across the border in Denmark, migrants are lawfully under-staying in Sweden and over-staying in Denmark in their attempt to balance personal ties, economic opportunities, and legal requirements out of structural legislative necessity (Rytter 2011: 7-8). This type of creative navigation of legal structures demonstrates both the challenges and agentive opportunities presented by immigration laws, underscoring the importance of legality for migrants lived experiences and complicating the perceived binary between legality and illegality. Conclusion This article has demonstrated the importance of legality in shaping migrants experiences and opportunities. After situating legal status at the cross-section of structural forces and agentive possibilities, I explored the technical, practical, and symbolic elements of the concept and consequences of legality. From a consideration of the varying importance and form of legal status, I focused on the ways in which legality interacts significantly with migrants family life. Finally, I explicitly acknowledged the potential for agency within legal frameworks, showing how migrants are actively and creatively reacting to the challenges of immigration constraints. As this paper shows, being legal is an important concern for international migrants and their families. Legality significantly impacts migrants daily and long-term livelihoods, shaping decision and opportunity structures, limiting but not precluding the power of migrant agency. This range of legal statuses deserves greater attention from academics and legal authorities alike. In the formation and application of migration law, misleading simplifications of the legal/illegal divide need to be examined with greater complexity; at the same time, opposition to this problematic dichotomisation should not discourage scholars from reclaiming legal discourses to more accurately reflect migrants realities. The nuanced relationship between migrants agency and the legal structures under which they are classified is much more than a question of labeling: Legal status shapes national boundaries of belonging and prescribes normative family expectations. 25 While the right to family life is guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), by invoking the fundamental EU right to free movement of labour (Council Directive 2004/38/EC OJ L 158, 30 April 2004), these transnational migrants are able to access family unification rights at the EU level that are stronger than those guaranteed to them as sedentary residents within Denmark s sovereign borders. For relevant cases addressing the special extension of EU rights to mobile individuals, see Akrich (Case C-109/01 Secretary of State for the Home Department v. Hacene Akrich [2003] ECR I-9607), Surinder Singh (Case C-370/90 The Queen v. Immigration Appeal Tribunal et Surinder Singh, ex parte Secretary of State for Home Department [1992] ECR I-4265), and Metock (Case C-127/08 Blaise Baheten Metock and Others v. Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform OJ C 236 of 13 September 2008). 38

39 The true impact of migrant (il)legality thus extends beyond debates of lawfulness to encompass the full spectrum of migrants realities within and beyond the legal realm. Tess Hellgren is an American national who is currently pursuing an MSc in Migration Studies from Oxford University. Her dissertation research examines the construction and implications of Danish marriage migration policy, exploring issues of identity and legality for transnational couples. While an undergraduate at Harvard University, she conducted multi-sited ethnographic research on Indian classical dance as a transnational cultural conduit for women in Boston, Paris, and three Indian cities. References Cited BAKEWELL, O. (2010) Some Reflections on Structure and Agency in Migration Theory, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 36(10): BECK-GERNSHEIM, E. (2011) The Marriage Route to Migration: of Border Artistes, Transnational Matchmaking and Imported Spouses, Nordic Journal of Migration Research 1(2): BLOCH, A., SIGONA, N., and ZETTER, R. (2011) Migration Routes and Strategies of Young Undocumented Migrants in England: A Qualitative Perspective, Ethnic and Racial Studies 34(8): COUTIN, S. (2003) Suspension of Deportation Hearings and Measures of Americanness, The Journal of Latin American Anthropology 8(2): DANISH MINISTRY OF REFUGEE, IMMIGRATION, AND INTEGRATION AFFAIRS (2002) Consolidation Act No. 608, 17 July. Available from: < (Accessed 7 May 2012). DANISH MINISTRY OF REFUGEE, IMMIGRATION, AND INTEGRATION AFFAIRS (2006) Consolidation Act No. 945, 1 September. Available from: < (Accessed 7 May 2012). DE GENOVA, N. (2004) The Legal Production of Mexican/Migrant Illegality, Latino Studies 2(2): DUVELL, F. (2011) Paths into Irregularity: The Legal and Political Construction of Irregular Migration, European Journal of Migration and Law 13(3): EMIRBAYER, M. and MISCHE, A. (1998) What Is Agency?, American Journal of Sociology 103(4): FAIR, L. (2010) Why Can t I Get Married? Denmark and the Twenty-four Year Law, Social & Cultural Geography 11(2): GIDDENS, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society, Cambridge, Polity Press. GONZALES, R. (2011) Learning to Be Illegal: Undocumented Youth and Shifting Legal Contexts in the Transition to Adulthood, American Sociological Review 76(4): HAGAN, J. (1998) Social Networks, Gender, and Immigrant Incorporation: Resources and Constraints, American Sociological Review 63(1):

40 MENJIVAR, C. (2006) Liminal Legality: Salvadoran and Guatemalan Immigrants Lives in the United States, American Journal of Sociology 111(4): MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY Legal. Available from: < (Accessed 4 February 2012.) PASSEL, J. (2006) The Size and Characteristics of the Unauthorized Migrant Population in the U.S., Research Report, Pew Hispanic Center, 7 March PORTES, A. (1978) Toward a Structural Analysis of Illegal (Undocumented) Immigration, International Migration Review 12(4): RYTTER, M. (2011) Semi-legal Family Life: Pakistani Couples in the Borderlands of Denmark and Sweden, Global Networks 12(1): SCHMIDT, G. (2011) The Powerful Map of Transnational Families: Marriage, Spaces and Life Trajectories, Nordic Journal of Migration Research 1(2): SCOTT, J., and MARSHALL, G. (2009) A Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford, Oxford University Press, Oxford Reference online edition. Available from: < = #FIRSTHIT> (Accessed 9 April 2012). SEWELL, W. (1992) A Theory of Structure: Duality, Agency, and Transformation, American Journal of Sociology 98(1): TIMMERMAN, C., and WETS, J. (2011) Marriage Migration and the Labour Market: The Case of Migrants of Turkish Descent in Belgium, Nordic Journal of Migration Research 1(2): ZETTER, R. (2007) More Labels, Fewer Refugees: Remaking the Refugee Label in the Era of Globalization, Journal of Refugee Studies 20(2):

41 The Lost Children of Britain By Katherine Karr Would you like to go to this wonderful place called Australia where the sun shines all day every day and you pick oranges off the trees, live in a little white cottage by the sea and ride a horse to school? Well, you know you're an orphan, your parents are dead, you've got no family you might as well go. Barkham (2011) This statement habitually preceded the long journey made by British child migrants, some of them orphans, sent from Great Britain to its former colonies and dominions. In this paper, I focus on the migration of children from Britain to Australia, one of the largest recipients of such schemes. Contextualising these schemes within their legal and historical framework, this article subsequently addresses the blurred question of consent, an issue which I suggest blurs the lines between forced and voluntary with regards to the migration of these children. Finally, I address the international and domestic legal standards breached by the schemes to show how one of the greatest world powers violated human rights law with these (forced) migration schemes. Britain s Unwanted Children 26 : The History of Child Migration In 1891, the passing of the Custody of Children Act, also known as Barnado s Act, legalised the migration of British children by private organisations, marking the official endorsement of such migration schemes. Child migration is conventionally defined as a social policy which involved the transfer of abandoned youth from the orphanages, homes, workhouses and reformatories of the United Kingdom to overseas British colonies, and once overseas, the children were placed with colonial employers usually in rural areas [While] the care and removal of the children was under the law as it then stood (Commonwealth of Australia 2001). It is important to note, however, that not all child migrants were abandoned or orphaned. In the earlier years in particular, most of these children were destitute or homeless, while others came from families who were unable to provide for them (Humphreys 1994). They were, therefore, purportedly being sent overseas with the prospect of a better life. Varying in size and interests, Canada, 27 Australia, New Zealand and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) were the main destination points for British child migrants. Although exact figures are difficult to ascertain, it is believed that from 1648 to 1967 over 100,000 children were sent to British Dominions, through various migration schemes usually led by charitable and religious 26 This phrasing is taken from the autobiographical account of a former child migrant, John R. Bricknell, who in his dedication wrote: I dedicate this book to all boys and girls who were emigrated to Australia from Great Britain. These boys and girls were not really part of the Stolen Generation. They were in fact small groups representing Unwanted Generations, which in my opinion is inestimably worse than being stolen, as at least the Stolen Generation hopefully was wanted (Bricknell 2004). 27 Canada s history with the child migration schemes is one that is more ambivalent. In 1925, the Canadian government banned the entry of unaccompanied minors who are under the age of fourteen. However, these restrictions were subsequently lifted in 1934 by Prime Minister Richard Bennett until 1936, when Canada withdrew from child migration schemes altogether (Commonwealth of Australia 2001). 41

42 organisations. The schemes were ostensibly designed to alleviate the financial burden of supporting children in care, while contributing to the growth of the population and providing the necessary labour force in the burgeoning colonies. Stanley Fairbridge, for instance, notably set up the Fairbridge Schools of farming, t[aking] as his personal crusade the twin goals of populating the empire and solving the problems of Britain s mounting army of poor and neglected children (Gill 2007: n.p.). While the migration schemes were controversial in and of themselves, and their history remains contested, the most controversial aspect was the racial dimension. This was most explicitly reflected in the so-called White Australia Policy. The British government wanted their colonies to be populated with whites, and more specifically, with British whites. According to Coldrey (1999: 148), in 1944 the Australian government refused to grant entry to 750 Polish child refugees being temporarily granted refuge in Iran. Moreover, the term good British stock was often used during this era to reflect not only the racial (or phenotypical) requirements, but also mental criteria, such as IQ (Humphreys 1994). These were especially pronounced in the 1940s under Australia s policy of populate or perish, when a Japanese invasion was seen as an imminent threat in the eyes of the country (Coldrey 1999: 24-27). John Hennessy, who arrived in Australia in 1947 when he was just eleven years old, recounts being met at the dock at the end of his journey by the Archbishop of Perth. He told the children: We welcome you to Australia. We need you for white stock. The reason why we do this is because we are terrified of the Asian hordes! (CBS 2009). For some, the journey and transition to Australia and other Commonwealth countries was a positive experience, opening doors to new opportunities. This was most common in Rhodesia (Humphreys 1994). For others, the experience was more arduous. A number of reports and child testimonies attest to the difficult conditions faced by child migrants in these schools and homes. In Australia, a little publicised investigation commissioned by the UK Home Office in 1956 found unfavourable conditions and poorly trained staff in the 26 institutions investigated, of which almost a fifth were blacklisted. Among the most commonly cited hardships faced by child migrants included depersonalisation and loss of sense of self, hard physical labour, as well as physical, and at times sexual, abuse (Select Committee on Health 2003). Migration or Deportation?: Addressing the Question of Consent The complex question of consent is an important one when exploring Britain s child migration schemes, as it is this issue which places these programmes squarely within the realm of forced migration. For many of the children who emigrated to Britain s dominions, their transportation is more aptly depicted as deportation (Brown 2010). Indeed, the mechanisms through which children were sent away were often far from ethical. In the 1740s, for instance, it is reported that almost 500 children were kidnapped from a town in Scotland and sent to live in the Americas (Child Migration Timeline 2010). In other cases, parents were lied to by local churches and orphanages. Due to social (and religious) stigma, children born out of wed-lock, for instance, were often sent away as child migrants, at times without the knowledge or consent of their mother. A report by Child Migrants Trust produced for the Australia Government recounts the story of a former child migrant, Jim, whose mother had been told by her local church that there was a local church-going family who wanted to take her baby, and that she should be thankful somebody was prepared to pick up her mistake (Child Migrants Trust 2001, emphasis added). This was, of course, untrue and Jim, like so many others, was sent to Australia believing he was an orphan. Furthermore, deception was a tactic often used by institutions to obtain the agreement or consent of the children. In her book Empty Cradles, Margaret Humphreys (1994) recounts 42

43 countless tales of deception, in which children were often told that parents were dead and that they could expect a better life with their adoptive parents once they reached their destination. The vast majority, however, were not adopted but sent to institutions such as the Fairbridge schools while, in the case of Australia, legal guardianship of these children was granted to the Minister for Immigration and citizenship was not granted. To this day, many former child migrants who are still alive consider themselves British to the core (Commonwealth of Australia 2001). Overall, as we can see even from this limited selection of accounts, the question of consent either of the parents or of the children themselves was often flouted through lies and deception. In recognition of this and the hardships faced by the children in their respective destinations, in 2009, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gave a formal and emotionally charged apology to former child migrants for this ugly chapter in Australia s history (Rudd 2009). Following Rudd s lead, in 2010 former UK Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, stated that, on behalf of the nation he was truly sorry for the misguided nature of the child migration/deportation programmes which let down those affected and robbed them of their childhoods (Brown 2010). Child Migration Schemes and International Law Having broadly outlined British child migration schemes, this section places this shameful (Brown 2010) policy within a legal context. More specifically, it assesses the policy against international human rights standards, looking in particular at relevant articles of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as well as those of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) that may have been breached by Britain s child migration programmes. Though the articles enshrined in Convention on the Rights of Child might also have been contravened, as it was passed in 1989 over twenty years after the last shipment of children it lies beyond the realm of this discussion. Let us turn first to Article 5 of the UDHR, stipulating that: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (UDHR 1948). As mentioned above, child migrants often endured hard, physical labour and at times were placed in institutions known to physically and sexually abuse the children. This last issue was reportedly especially rife among Catholic institutions (Penglasse 2007). However, the damning report commissioned in 1956 by the UK Home Office investigating the migration schemes, did however, have an immediate impact and that year only 24 children were sent to Australia. Moreover, by the following year child migration schemes by Catholic agencies and religious orders has ceased (Select Committee on Health 1998). Article 12 of the UDHR states that: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation and that Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks (UDHR 1948). As I have previously shown, child migrants and their parents were regularly lied to and deceived. Moreover, while the children were in their respective new homes they were often denied their identity as well as correspondence from existing family members, whom they were led to believe were dead (Select Committee on Health 2003). In these ways, the child migration schemes can be seen to be in violation of Article 12. Furthermore, that women impregnated out of wedlock were often denied their right to be mothers through these schemes represents a breach of Article 25.2, which stipulates that Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance and that, all children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection (UDHR 1948). 43

44 Finally, I would like to consider child migration schemes against Article 4.2 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which states that: No one shall be required to perform forced or compulsory labour (ECHR 1950). The reported experiences of child labour at Bindoon an orphanage located in Perth offers an apt example in this regard. Indeed, the children placed at Bindoon were even required to build the dormitories in which they slept (Lee 2011). In general, girls were forced to perform more household-related tasks. Recounting her experience as a former child migrant, Ann, recalls being sent from England and placed in St Joseph s Orphanage, Australia, at the age of six. She notes that girls in the orphanage were required to do chores such as sweeping yards, cleaning toilets, washing and polishing floors in the dormitories, classrooms and long corridors on hands and knees the work was relentless and very tiring (McVeigh 2011). Echoing these experiences, another former child migrant who remains anonymous, harrowingly remarked that we spent our lives on our knees, either praying, cleaning or being punished (anonymous former child migrant). Concluding Remarks In this paper I have shown that child migration from Britain to a number of its former colonial states was no small-scale operation. Large numbers of these children left their home country with almost no knowledge of the countries or the lives to which they were headed. Crucially, this article emphasised the blurred question of consent on the part of both the children and their parents, placing these migration schemes squarely within the realm of forced migration. Indeed, as shown above, the term deportation is seen by many as a more fitting depiction of their journey. Having highlighted some of the more controversial dimensions of these programmes, I examined a selection of such aspects against the standards of contemporary international human rights law. Specifically, I argued that Britain s child migration schemes contravened Articles 5, 12, and 25(2) of the UDHR, as well as Article 4(2) of the ECHR. While many of the documents I discussed are non-binding, the existence of these laws shows the extent to which the actions that were taking place should have been prohibited. Overall, in this article I have sought to shed an alternative light not only on debates surrounding forced migration, but also, on the role of the UK government within such discussions, a state conventionally conceived as a host rather than as seen in this case a sending state. Katherine Karr is an American national who holds a BA in Sociology from Rutgers University. She also holds a Masters in International Relations and a sequential Masters in International Non-Governmental Organizations from Webster University. She has spent most of her academic career researching children s rights and has worked for the Arthritis Foundation as juvenile arthritis intern. The migration of children from Britain to Australia piqued her interest when she began searching for a thesis topic. References Cited BARKHAM, P. (2011) Child Migrants: I Didn t Belong to Anybody, The Guardian, 7 April. Available from: < [Accessed 3 November 2011.] BBC RADIO 4 (2003) The Child Migrants. BBC Radio 4 History, 15 September 6 October. Available from: < [Accessed 2 December 2011.] 44

45 BBC RADIO 4 (2009) Farm of Fear. BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, 2 October. Available from: < [Accessed 12 December 2012.] BBC NEWS (2010) Gordon Brown Apologises to Child Migrants Sent Abroad. BBC News, 24 February. Available from: < [Accessed 6 December 2011]. BEAN, P. and MELVILLE, J. (1989) The Lost Children of the Empire, London. Unwin Hyman. BENNETT, P. (2009) Child MigrantsiIn New Zealand Had Different Fate Minister, Guide 2.co.nz, 16 November. Available from: < [Accessed 9 December 2011.] BRICKNELL, R. J. (2003) The Dirty Bloody Jizzy, N.SW., Gordon. BROWN, G. (2010) Prime Minister s Statement: Child Migration. Parliamentary Business, UK Parliament, 25 February. Available from: < [Accessed 13 November 2011.] CBS NEWS (2009) The Lost Children. CBS News, 11 February. Available from: < [Accessed 10 November 2011.] CHILD MIGRATION TIMELINE (2010) Child Migrants Timeline Homepage. Available from: < [Accessed 28 October 2011]. CHILD MIGRANTS TRUST (2001) Submission to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee Inquiry into Child Migration. Available from: < [Accessed 8 December 2011.] CHILD MIGRANTS TRUST (2011) Child Migrants Trust Homepage. Available from: < [Accessed 3 December 2011.] COLDREY, B. (1999) Good British Stock, Commonwealth of Australia, National Archives of Australia. COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA (2001) Lost Innocents: Righting the Record Report on Child Migration, Canberra, Parliament of Australia. Available from: < [Accessed 10 November 2011.] CORNWALL, D. (2011) Justice for Child Migrants. Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 14 June. Available from: < [Accessed 14 December 2011.] COUNCIL OF EUROPE (1950) The European Convention on Human Rights. Hellenic Resources Network. Available from: < [Accessed 5 December 2011.] 45

46 DOW, C. and PHILLIPS, J. (2009) Forgotten Australians and Lost Innocents : Child Migrants and Children in Institutional Care in Australia, Canberra, Parliament of Australia. Available from: < [Accessed 4 December 2011.) GILL, A. (2007) The Forgotten Children: Fairbridge Farm Schools and its Betrayal. The Australian News, 23 June. Available from: < [Accessed 12 December 2011.] HUMPHREYS, M. (1994) Empty Cradles, London, Transworld Publishers. LEE V. (2011) Britain's Child Migrants. The Guardian, 2 April. Available from: < [Accessed 20 November 2011.] LUNN, W. (1924) Sir John Marriott s Motion on Overseas Emigration. Memorandum CAB 24/167, Records of the Cabinet Office, United Kingdom National Archives. Available at: < [Accessed 5 December 2011.] MCVEIGH, A. (2011) Ann s Story. Inside: Life of Children s Homes, 2 August. Available at: < [Accessed 20 November 2011.] MOSS, J. (1953) Child Migration to Australia, London, Her Majesty s Stationery Office. O FLAHERTY, P. (2003) The Orphan who Unorphaned Himself in Rae, I. (ed.) Where s the Fair Go? The Decline of Equity in Australia, Australia, Delegate Productions Books. Available from: < (Accessed 20 November 2011). PENGLASE, J. (2007) Orphans of the Living: Growing Up in Care in Twentieth-Century Australia, Freemantle, Freemantle Press. RUDD, K. (2009) Address at the Apology to the Forgotten Australians and Former child Migrants, Canberra. Australian Government. Available from: < Care/national_apology/prime_minister_speech.pdf> [Accessed 20 November 2011.] SELECT COMMITTEE ON HEALTH (2003) The Welfare of Former British Child Migrants. House of Commons Select Committee on Health Third Report. Available from: < [Accessed 5 December 2011.] UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO FIGHT HUMAN TRAFFICKING (UNGIFT) (2011) UN.GIFT. HUB: About Human Trafficking. Available from: < [Accessed 12 December 2011.] UNITED NATIONS. (1948) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Available from: < [Accessed 8 December 2011.] 46

47 Field Monitor 47

48 The Resettlement Journey of Somali and Sudanese Refugees from Camps in Kenya to New Zealand Introduction By Julius M. Marete Civil wars and ethnic fighting in Somalia and the crisis in the Darfur region in the Sudan have resulted in a steady stream of Somali and Sudanese refugees into the neighbouring countries of Kenya, Egypt and Yemen. Many of these refugees find their way to places such as New Zealand, Sweden, Australia, and the United Kingdom (Banki 2004). This study was inspired by questions relating to why these people were fleeing their own countries, what they hoped to achieve upon arriving in Kenya, and whether Kenya and other countries were doing what was necessary, not only to assist these refugees but to ensure that their countries were being supported appropriately. This paper is largely informed by my Masters level research at the University of Canterbury, School of Social Work and Human Services, in the years This research aimed to bridge some of these gaps by providing a study of the perspectives, expectations and experiences of Sudanese and Somali refugees at various stages in their resettlement process to New Zealand. Therefore, it was important that in the midst of my study I returned to my home country of Kenya to visit the Dadaab refugee camps and meet the people whom I was researching. Daadab Refugee Camps The camp at Dadaab is huge and filled with people whose dreams of having normal lives appear to be in tatters. Many are forced to live in extremely difficult conditions, sleeping under open skies and with virtually no protection from harsh weather. They face shortages and lack the essentials of life such as clean water, food, sanitation, heath care and, of course, shelter. I was given guides from the refugee community to assist me as I carried out the interviews. The people with whom I spoke educated me on the realities of the camp. UNHCR officials interviewed reported that malnutrition rates were approximately 13% of the children under the age of five a group that forms 20% of the total population of the camp. There is also an insatiable appetite for education, but there are few resources available to allow for these educational needs to be met. A newly arrived Somali refugee in Dadaab camp described how the situation in Somalia has been: nasty things are happening there. People are being harassed and there s no peace now. There s just no peace, its gun fire all days. People don t consider life. For example if you have 1000 Somali Shillings which is just like 10 Kenya shillings (USD 10 cents). That is enough for you to be killed. 48

49 A Sudanese participant lamented that the camp: is so windy and so sunny. The environment is hostile. Life is hard. The United Nations has to help people. The food is not nutritious and people eat one type of food for a very long time. That s why people have lots of rickets because of lack of a nutritious balanced diet. You have no choice of what you eat. You are just like a cow; they take you to go and eat grass every day. While refugees are persecuted and tortured during their flight, in the camps they face insecurity, rape and structural oppression. They lack basic necessities and live in overcrowded and makeshift homes with no educational or health services. Therefore, the need for resettlement abroad is very high among camp dwellers, and many of them look at it as the only way to escape the misery of the refugee camps. During a focus group in Dadaab, participants said that, to many of them: going overseas is just like a dream. If you study the situation in the camp, and you need to go out abroad, even though you may have choices, you just go. You may not even know what is going on there. You want to go away from the situation you are in because it is not a good situation. It is a bad situation. You are looking for a better life, and this is the first thing that comes to your mind (Somali focus group discussion). While Kenya, like many other countries to which refugees flee, lacks adequate resources to cater for such large numbers of refugees, UNHCR has embarked on a resettlement programme to relocate some refugees to western countries. Somali and Sudanese Refugee Resettlement in New Zealand As a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, New Zealand has traditionally provided resettlement for refugees fleeing persecution and those in greatest need of protection (New Zealand Immigration Services [NZIS] 2004). Refugees enter New Zealand mainly through UNHCR s mandated quota system, commonly referred to as quota refugees or through the family reunification program. This quota is set annually by the New Zealand government and currently stands at 750. The Immigration Department of New Zealand, in conjunction with UNHCR, selects refugees from the country of first settlement. Quota refugees spend a six-week orientation period at Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre. Relocation is arranged by a lead organisation called the Refugee Services (RS). Refugee relocation depends on where they want to be resettled. Many who have friends, family, clan members or whose compatriots are established in New Zealand prefer to be resettled near them, while others prefer regions with climatic conditions similar to their countries of origin. The refugees are resettled as permanent residents who can work, attend school, and enjoy all the benefits of being New Zealand citizens. They also receive free English courses and are entitled to a one-off re-establishment grant of NZ $1,200 and a monthly welfare benefit to meet their basic needs. After five years, refugees can apply for citizenship (NZIS 2004). Expectations and Experiences of Resettlement Upon resettlement in New Zealand, Somali and Sudanese refugees report feeling secure and enjoying access to better education, health and social services. However, they also face challenges such as culture shock, different climatic conditions, language barriers, discrimination and racism. The successful resettlement and integration of refugees in New Zealand depends on a number of 49

50 factors ranging from government policy, support services, refugee community dynamics and the individual s capacities to cope with the stress of resettlement. Many participants in the study agree that the following points are important in the resettlement experience of Sudanese and Somali refugees: Acculturation; that is, the process by which refugees adapt to the host culture. Miserez notes that acculturation is cultural change that results from continuous, first-hand contact between two distinct cultural groups (1998: 98). In the process, changes in gender roles and status, and the emergence of new values, identities and attitudes can lead to tensions and family conflicts. A Sudanese participant said we have our own African culture and our culture cannot work here because when you live in Rome you do what Romans do. Refugees from the predominantly patriarchal Sudanese and Somali cultures, for example, may have difficulties when women and children claim greater social and economic power than has been traditionally practised. The different social constructions placed upon gender, time, family, parenting and many other concepts highlights the complexities that a refugee must negotiate in a new culture. Family separation. On arrival in New Zealand, many refugee families are not intact. Some family members may have been left behind in the camps. Others may be coming to join their family after a long period of separation. Some may have come without any family support like a young female participant in Daadab: Our mum called and said she was gonna bring us to New Zealand, and so many years went by, nothing happened, and then we waited and heard nothing. This kind of fragmentation has a profound impact on the family unit and weakens the social fabric (Lewig, Arney and Salveron 2010). Valtonen (2008: 136) argues that the long and anxious periods of waiting for family reunification often make the process of personal adjustment and adaptation more difficult. Some may also suffer guilt because they are safe in New Zealand, while their family members languish in the camps or have disappeared during the wars. Loss, discrimination and isolation. Some refugees discover that their life in the camps had not prepared them for life in resettlement. Unable to find work or otherwise realise their expectations, they feel angry and lonely. The financial pressure on those who feel obliged to help family members still in the camps can also be very stressful. Racism, discrimination, religious stereotyping as well as a lack of understanding of the issues facing refugees within the host society may further hamper their efforts to adjust to their new life (Refugee Services 2009). A Sudanese participant in Christchurch expressed his loneliness: You know where we come from we have association due to our culture and we know many people. Here we face loneliness. Education, employment and English language proficiency. Some refugees arrive in New Zealand with no formal education and with difficulty communicating in English. This makes it hard to find work, obtain a driver s license, or socialise with people from other backgrounds (Colic-Peisker and Tilbury 2006). Their academic credentials may not be recognised in New Zealand. Gray and Elliot point out that language proficiency is one of the greatest needs of older people (refugees) [while] lack of it affects their ability to access public and private support services and limits their ability to interact (2004: 6). This insight was supported by a female Somali participant who did not speak English: You see here in New Zealand if you don t speak English, it is hard to understand and be understood. When I go shopping, and people say hi to me and I don t know how to 50

51 answer back. And what they say about me, I can t understand and you see here people are always polite. So I cannot understand the feelings people have about me. Mental health issues. Some refugees who have been exposed to traumatic experiences either in their home countries, in the refugee camps or in their countries of resettlement suffer psychological and emotional disturbances and other mental illnesses. This emotional disturbance is often referred to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (New Zealand Ministry of Health 2001). People suffering PTSD may feel mistrust towards people they interact with, and may be depressed, suicidal, or suffer other major psychological disturbances. An agency official interviewed reported that refugee migrants Conclusion have endured conflict, and direct involvement in the war, and in order to flee have made such incredible long journeys which brings with it some consequential health needs. One is PTSD, and I think the majority of them will have some element of that. This may affect their ability to resettle. There is a need for more coordinated approaches to capacity building for human service providers. They should receive training in how best to deal with the unique issues facing refugees. Given their personal experiences, refugees who have been in New Zealand for a long time should be encouraged to take up such training so that it might be more culturally relevant for newer arrivals. This study highlights the role of the international community to ensure that there are collaborative proactive responses to the development of humanitarian crises. The findings point to other possible areas for future research. There is a need to examine the effect of family disintegration resulting from the flight of refugees from their home countries and their subsequent resettlement (Nash and Trlin 2004). This research pursued only the refugees perspectives on resettlement and integration. It would, therefore, be valuable to examine the impact of refugee resettlement on the host communities in terms of their perception of the resettlement and integration process. Julius Marete completed his Master of Arts degree in Human Services from the University of Canterbury New Zealand in He is currently the CEO of Orphan Support Kenya ( a non-profit organisation helping children orphaned by conflicts and HIV-Aids in Kenya, and a lecturer within the School of Education and Social Sciences at Kenya Methodist University. Please send any feedback on this article by to muriungi2001@gmail.com. References Cited BANKI, S. (2004) Refugee Integration in the Intermediate Term: A Study of Nepal, Pakistan, and Kenya, UNHCR Working Paper No Available from: < 19 April 2009]. COLIC-PEISKER, V. and FARIDA, T. (2006) Employment Niches for Recent Refugees: Segmented Labour Market in Twenty-First Century Australia, Journal of Refugee Studies 19(2):

52 GRAY, A. and ELLIOT, S. (2001) Refugee Resettlement Research Project, Refugee Voices. Literature Review, New Zealand Immigration Services (NZIS), Wellington. LEWIG, K., ARNEY, F. and SALVERON, M. (2010) Challenges to Parenting in a New Culture: Implications for Child and Family Welfare, Evaluation and Program Planning 33(3): MISEREZ, D. (ed.) (1988) Refugees The Trauma of Exile: The Humanitarian Role of Red Cross and Red Crescent, Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff. NASH, M. and TRLIN, A. (2004) Social Work with Immigrants, Refugees and Asylum Seekers in New Zealand, New Settlers Programme, School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. NEW ZEALAND IMMIGRATION SERVICES (NZIS). (2004) Refugee Voices: Refugee Resettlement Research Project: A Journey Towards Resettlement, New Zealand Immigration Service (NZIS), Wellington. NEW ZEALAND MINISTRY OF HEALTH. (2001) Refugee Health Care: A Handbook for Health Professionals, Wellington, New Zealand Ministry of Health. REFUGEE SERVICES. (2009) Refugee Services Report to Department of Labour 2008/2009, 3 rd Quarter, 01 January 31 March 2009, Wellington, New Zealand. VALTONEN, K. (2008) Social Work and Migration: Immigrant and Refugee Settlement and Integration, Farnham, Ashgate. Interviews Cited Refugee Services Officers, New Zealand, September Somali and Sudanese Interviewees and Focus Group Participants in Daadab refugee camps and in New Zealand, August December UNHCR Public Information Officers, Daadab refugee camps, August

53 The Education of Adult Refugees in Cairo: Influences and Impacts By Valentina Hiegemann Introduction One of the many challenges encountered by adult refugees in Egypt is the lack of access to public educational programmes and vocational training. Illiteracy, language barriers and lack of necessary skills create further obstacles among adults as they attempt to navigate an already difficult job market (Refuge Egypt 2008). There are limited opportunities available to refugees who wish to continue their education. Vocational training is scarce, university tuition fees for foreigners are very high, and often refugees lack proper documentation or proof of previous education. Moreover, even when refugees are able to continue their studies, they face many challenges that impede their learning and performance. There are several organisations in Cairo which provide language classes to adult refugees as an alternative. Refuge Egypt is a Christian aid organisation which serves asylum seekers and refugees in Cairo and offers an adult education programme consisting of bi-weekly English evening classes taught by volunteer instructors. In order to enrol in the programme, refugees must show proof of their UN card, pay a 20 fee for the first course, and take a placement test. As of February 2012, there were forty-five students primarily from Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. During the summer, the enrolment rate reaches around 160 students, including refugees from Iraq, Nigeria, Congo and Central African Republic. This study aims to analyse how different factors and stressors influence student performance in the adult education programme of Refuge Egypt and to evaluate the impact of English classes on the lives of refugees. Students were examined based on how factors and stressors, such as children, job-related obstacles, financial situation, discrimination and fear of harassment, play a role in their learning process. The impact of the programme was measured in terms of how attending classes affect the empowerment, motivation and livelihood of refugees. In order to protect the identity of those who participated, only their first names were included, with their consent. Existing data about the general obstacles faced by refugees in Cairo was analysed and then compared to the stressors that affect the students performance in class. The findings about the impact of the programme were based on the perspectives of the students about how learning English influenced their lives. Egypt has made reservations to significant articles of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 Convention) that directly affect the lives of refugees. In particular, the articles with the greatest impact are Article 22, which states that refugees must obtain the same treatment as nationals with respect to elementary education, and Article 24 on employment. Therefore, for many matters, refugees are treated as foreigners and are often subjected to similar laws. As a result, they encounter many obstacles while living in Egypt and trying to integrate into society. 53

54 Research Findings Factors and Stressors Students in the adult education programme face challenges that coincide with many of the obstacles faced by refugees in Egypt more broadly, which I discuss below. These stressors influence their learning process. Children As a result of Egypt s reservations to Article 22 of the 1951 Refugee Convention on the access to free primary education, parents have difficulties finding educational alternatives for their children. Basic education for refugee children is often provided by refugee schools such as African Hope Learning Center in Cairo, a private school that utilises the Sudanese curriculum, allowing refugees to receive diplomas that are recognised in Sudan. Most of the teachers are not certified and many are refugees who volunteer their time. Many children do not have the option of attending these special schools because their parents cannot afford the tuition and are therefore forced to stay at home. Consequently, parents who are employed need to find somebody to take care of their child while they are out at work. Similarly, the cost of such a service prevents some adults from attending classes. Job-related Obstacles Refugees often lack the opportunity to obtain a legal job in Egypt. Due to the reservation on the right to work by the Egyptian government, the requirements to obtain a work permit are strict and include employer sponsorship, non-competition with nationals, legal status and so on. Another factor that adds to the challenge of obtaining jobs is the unemployment of nationals. With such a high unemployment rate among Egyptians, it becomes even more difficult for refugees to find jobs. There are no jobs for all refugees, commented Buque, bookkeeper of Refuge Egypt and coordinator of the education programme. Since he cannot obtain a legal job in Cairo, he works full-time as a volunteer in the organisation and also cleans houses for Egyptians on the weekends to support his wife and five children. Yonas, a 23-year-old Eritrean student, said that although he enjoys attending classes, it is very difficult for him to set aside the frustration of being unemployed. Those who are employed also find it difficult to focus in class because many of their informal jobs often require strenuous physical work. For example, Habiba, a 23-year-old student from Eritrea works as a housekeeper four times a week and sometimes cleans up to four houses in one day. She commented that on certain days she arrives to class feeling very tired and sleepy. Other students who are employed often miss class because they have to work at night or wake up very early the morning after class. It is also challenging for students who are manual labourers to find time and energy to do their homework or read materials that would enhance their learning of the language. Financial Situation Many refugees in Cairo are unable to provide for themselves and their families financially. Because they live in an urban setting they must pay rent, utilities, transportation, and other services. People think that because I work I am self-reliant, but not at all. It is never enough money, said Buque. There are organisations that offer financial assistance. For example, Caritas provides monthly allowances to refugees recognised by UNHCR depending on the need and size of the family. The majority of healthy, single individuals are not entitled to allowances (The American University in Cairo n.d.). Yonas, the 23-year-old Eritrean student, occasionally feels guilty for attending classes regularly: My family in Eritrea says I am losing my time by coming to class. His family argues that because he is unemployed and not receiving an allowance, he 54

55 should not be doing things that will not alleviate his current economic situation. In class, he often thinks about how he is going to pay his bills and questions whether he should be looking for a way to make a living. However, his concerns do not stop him from attending classes four times a week. Discrimination and Fear of Harassment Often host states and nationals perceive refugees as illegal immigrants who are poor and unable to contribute positively to their new society. On many occasions, nationals feel threatened by these newcomers and fear that they might steal jobs and opportunities from them. In Cairo, there is a general negative public opinion about refugees. Some assume that they are likely to engage in illicit activities, such as joining gangs, stealing, selling drugs and prostitution. African refugees in particular are often discriminated against in Egypt because of their skin colour, regardless of their nationality. I hear all the time about African refugees being called names in the streets, said Habiba. She argues that when somebody is harassed, the entire community knows about it because most of them know each other. This causes fear to spread among the members of the community, which makes them isolate themselves even further from their host society. This fear of harassment affects student performance because it causes them to miss class and fall behind in their learning. Samuel, a 51-year-old student from Darfur, is often absent because people harass him and call him offensive names on the public bus. Another student occasionally misses classes whenever she hears that somebody in her community was harassed. I am afraid to go back home and walk alone at night, says Habiba, who has to walk thirty minutes to her home after her English class finishes at eight in the evening. Individual Impact The overall impact of the English classes was assessed based on the students opinions about how learning English influenced their lives. Empowerment According to Buque, the coordinator of the programme, learning English provides refugees with an important tool so that they have something in their hands when they go back home or go to another country. In addition, he argued that, due to the limited job opportunities in Cairo, learning English might increase their chances of finding employment. The three students interviewed expressed that learning English gave them an essential skill to be used when they resettle to another country. Yonas is an Eritrean student who is hoping to be resettled to Canada and thus wants to become fluent in the language. Many students do not have the opportunity to continue their studies or enrol in universities. As a result, learning English is the only significant skill they are able to acquire in Egypt. Habiba, who cannot afford the high university tuition fees, commented that leaning English made her feel like she was obtaining something useful for her future. Motivation Two Eritrean students commented that learning English gave them something to look forward to. Yonas mentioned that he enjoyed coming to class because it is a relaxed environment where he can be a regular student and not a refugee. Although being unemployed or having an undesirable job is a factor of stress that negatively affects the students performance in class, it is one of the most significant motivators. Samuel, the 51-year-old student from Darfur who works as a taxi driver believes that learning English will create more opportunities for employment. Since he started attending classes, he has more hope that a new language will open more doors in the future. 55

56 Livelihood Due to the restrictions that refugees encounter in Egypt, learning English does not have a significant impact on their livelihood. The two Eritrean students believe that learning English will better their lives only if they repatriate or resettle to another country. Even if I learn English perfectly I will not find a job that pays me enough, said Yonas. Even if refugees are highly skilled, the majority has to rely on informal sector jobs because they lack the required work permits. As a result, learning English will most likely better the lives of individuals if they move to a country where there are fewer obstacles and more opportunities to apply their skills. Conclusions We are able to observe how various factors and stressors, such as children, job-related obstacles, financial situation, discrimination and fear of harassment negatively affect the performance of refugee students in this English programme. Namely, they affect student attendance, as well as their focus in class and their overall learning process. Since these factors reflect the challenges that refugees in general face in Egypt, we can conclude that the programme would be more beneficial to the students if there were fewer restrictions and obstacles in their host country; for example, if refugees were able to obtain lawful employment, enrol in universities or had access to education for their children. One recommendation that may increase adult refugee student performance is to provide additional English classes during daytime. This could lessen the students fear of harassment, especially women, who feel unsafe walking alone at night. Moreover, it could prevent students who occasionally work in the evenings to miss class and fall behind in their learning. Also, unemployed parents whose children are enrolled in school could attend the classes while not having to worry about finding someone to care for their children in the evenings. With regard to the overall impact of the programme, we can conclude that the English classes have the most significant influence in empowering and motivating the students, as the programme did not have a strong influence in bettering their livelihoods, due to a lack of job opportunities. Since many of them have hopes of resettlement, learning English will potentially become useful if and when they move to another country. The programme, however, offers an alternative for refugees to learn a new skill. Due to the lack of public educational and vocational opportunities, English classes provide a useful tool that could better their lives when they repatriate or are resettled. Valentina Hiegemann is Venezuelan national who holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies from Florida International University and is pursuing a Master s in Forced Migration and Refugee Studies from the American University in Cairo. She conducted research on Sudanese and Eritrean communities in Egypt, and has worked with several NGOs who provide services to refugees in Cairo. Hiegemann@aucegypt.edu. References Cited THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY IN CAIRO. (n.d.) Caritas. Available from: < [Accessed 05 January 2012.] GRABSKA, K. (2009) Who Asked Them Anyway? Rights, Policies and Wellbeing of Refugees in Egypt, Brighton, Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalization, and Poverty, 56

57 University of Sussex. REFUGE EGYPT. (2008) Refuge Egypt [online]. Available from: < [Accessed 16 January 2012.] SUDAN TRIBUNE (2003) Rights-Egypt: Sudanese Refugees Say Racism Pervades Land of Exile. Available from: < say.1325> [Accessed 16 January 2012.] UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (2012) Egypt [online]. Available from: < [Accessed on 07 January 2012.] UNICEF A Summary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child [online]. Available from: < [Accessed on 05 January 2012.] 57

58 First Hand Monitor 58

59 Forced Migration and Global Citizenship: Reflections on My Transition from Refugee to an Immigrant and Scholar By Ahmed Khan This paper is a reflection on my journey from Sierra Leone as a refugee to being a Canadian immigrant and scholar. This transition provided me with the impetus to reflect on my growing identity as a global citizen, connected not only to Sierra Leonean and Canadian ideals, but also actively involved in broader international issues and scholarly research. Indeed, what makes this reflection on my journey interesting are the concurrent global events related to forced migration; ranging from natural disasters to civil upheavals and conflicts. Some examples include the uprisings across the Arab world, devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Australia and the Southeast Asia tsunami. These events highlight an imperative to achieve a better understanding of the role of global citizenship in curbing forced migration and promoting human welfare and peace. Global citizenship can be defined broadly to mean individual and collective contributions relating to local and international issues; irrespective of jurisdiction, race, gender or income. According to Brecher et al. (1993), global citizens have a unique perspective, one that is built on shared understanding, based on democratic principles, and contributing to better and peaceful nations. The myriad linkages between migration and citizenship have received a lot of attention in recent years, especially with the rise of political conflicts, social unrest due to food crises, poor governance, and natural disasters (Jefferess 2008; Tastsoglou and Dobrowolksky 2006). In 2010, an estimated 44 million forcibly displaced people were reported, the highest number in the past fifteen years (UNHCR 2011). This figure includes refugees, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers. In the absence of effective institutional mechanisms on global migration governance (Betts 2011), I posit that the concept of global citizenship holds promise in dealing with forced migration, delivering humanitarian aid programmes, refugee protection and developing partnership projects. In this article, I will speak to some of the work done by a Canadian non-profit organisation, the World University Service of Canada (WUSC) in promoting education as a mechanism for achieving global citizenship. WUSC started as the International Student Services (ISS) by a group of European students interested in helping out student refugees during the First and Second World Wars. As documented by Peterson (2010), ISS had its first Canadian Chapter at the University of Toronto in As ISS supported refugees in the Middle East and Asia, the name eventually became World University Service in the 1950s with the first Canadian chapter initiated in 1957 (Peterson 2010). WUSC s mandates and activities have evolved over the decades to include local, national, and international programmes in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. 28 Notable activities include the Student Refugee Program (SRP); Shine a Light Campaign for promoting female education in refugee camps; Bike for Aids which helps HIV patients get access to medical treatment; Fair Trade and Ethical Purchasing; Student without Borders volunteer programme; and the International Summer Seminar that has run for more than six decades. In addition to these programmes, the Annual General Assembly and International Research Forum provides opportunities for WUSC staff members, volunteers, alumni, students, and global partners to actively engage on global issues. 28 For details on these programmes see last accessed April 5 th

60 WUSC, like many other international NGOs, has a policy framework for working within fragile contexts, whether the tasks involve delivering assistance in earthquake regions in Haiti, or in providing development assistance to war affected Afghanistan. The growing number of people living in fragile regions is estimated to be around a quarter of the world s population (UNHCR 2011), which provides an incentive for both state and non-state actors to contribute a shared understanding and empathy to human security. The Principles for Good International Engagement in Fragile States is one of several codes of ethics for states and civil society groups applicable in these contexts. After my forced migration from Freetown in January 1997, I travelled to several West African countries trying to find a home away from home. I finally settled in the Gambia, where I lived for four years, teaching and doing volunteer research work. I eventually immigrated to Canada in the summer of 2003 because of its values of peace, human security, democratic principles and multiculturalism. Since I immigrated to Canada, I have continued graduate studies and been actively involved in international issues through many of WUSC s initiatives and events. I was struck by the concept of global citizenship during my graduate studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC), particularly by a key note speech delivered by the former president of UBC, Martha Piper, in She emphasised that Our goal must be to educate global citizens who see themselves not simply as citizens of a local region, but also as human beings bound to other human beings in ties of concern and understanding (quoted in Jefferess 2008). This notion resonated with me very well, having met many students, both local and international, who had a common belief in contributing to their communities and on international issues. As a member of the UBC s Global Citizenship Speakers Bureau, I started to explore ideas particularly around refugees and global citizenship. Despite the challenges involved in forced migration for most refugees, I was motivated by the fact that some refugees have risen above their individual hurdles to become leaders and address important issues. Prominent role models include Michaëlle Jean rising in her career to become the 27 th Governor General of Canada in 2005, and Albert Einstein who made groundbreaking scientific discoveries and was awarded the Physics Nobel Prize in These examples and others have spurred interesting debates on individual and collaborative contribution to global peace and governance, environmental sustainability and human development. What is the role of civil society groups in promoting peace and human development within forced migration? This is a question I have been pondering as a result of the growing role of non-state actors such as WUSC in assisting refugees with educational programmes. I argue that both individual and community obligations (in addition to state intervention) are crucial to understanding global issues and also to developing partnerships in contributing to the amelioration of these problems. My personal experience demonstrates how partnership programmes can foster education and global citizenship for social change. As a former student refugee member of WUSC-UBC Chapter, I personally benefitted from bursary and grants that assisted me through my Master s research (Khan et al. 2006). WUSC and its partners have done a remarkable job in helping to transform student refugees into global citizens, as well as engaging Canadian students and the general public on international issues. Starting in the mid-1970s, the SRP was designed to recruit student refugees from refugee camps to university campuses (Goodwin 2010). Since 2008, about a thousand student refugees have been funded to immigrate to Canada, mostly from Africa, Asia, and Europe (Peterson 2010). This is one of the most transformative learning programmes involving forced migrants in Canadian history (Peterson 2010). The SRP is made possible through partnership with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, contributions from student levy, and various inputs from university administrations and international partners. The programme has enhanced Canadian communities in many ways; as 60

61 demonstrated by growing civic participation, immigrant integration, leadership training, capacity building and socio-cultural attributes (Goodwin 2010; WUSC 2003). Furthermore, some SRP alumni have contributed to both their new homes in Canada as well as being ambassadors and policy entrepreneurs to their countries of origin. Southern Sudan is a good case in point, where former SRP graduates have taken the challenge and returned to contribute. Although there is a debate regarding so-called brain drain and brain gain during international migrations (Faini 2007), there is evidence to suggest long-term benefits to both the native and host country (Ozden and Schiff 2006). The active roles played by WUSC SRP alumni in promoting peace and development through institutional partnerships across jurisdictional boundaries speak to the core values of global citizenship. Over the years, I have found WUSC to be not only an academic organisation but also a social network to share ideas, develop partnerships, and to foster a sense of global citizenship. During my doctoral studies at Memorial University, many partnerships were developed amongst students, faculty and staff in reviving the local chapter and in promoting WUSC s belief that education changes the world. Since 2009 for instance, the WUSC local Memorial chapter has recruited two student candidates for the International Summer Seminar activities to Southeast Asia and West Africa. Moreover, WUSC Memorial has organised Uniterra funded workshops during the International Development Week on themes relating to the Millennium Development Goals. These learning opportunities also provide a forum for students and faculty to be engaged on international issues and on genuine discourse on the role of higher education in global citizenship. Despite its potential merits and relevance, global citizenship is an elusive concept, and thus presents many practical challenges as to what constitutes good practices or its modus operandi. Global citizenship is also a research agenda that deserves further theoretical and empirical analyses, as has been argued by Carter (2001). Personally, I believe that global citizenship can also be understood as an Ubuntu philosophy, an African worldview that puts emphasis on the belief that I am what I am because of who we all are (see Jefferess 2008). Global citizenship is also an essential paradigm as we live in a global village where moral and ethical responsibilities are fundamental in preserving our Web of Life (Capra 1986). Ignoring this connection has its consequences, as there is growing evidence that links forced migration with natural resource wars, power and tyranny, injustice and conflicts (Le Billon 2011). Such a research agenda does not necessarily focus on addressing forced migration and resettlement programmes exclusively, but also on tackling the root problems of weak governance systems that foster conflicts and to build an adaptive capacity to deal with natural disasters. The growing recognition of these challenges can be seen through emerging research agendas on migration and citizenship, public private partnerships, and individuals willing to contribute to these issues. These personal reflections and critical thoughts are meant to be inspiring to refugees and nonrefugees alike; and also to provide scholars and practitioners with an opportunity to genuinely collaborate and participate on global citizenship and forced migration discourse. Ahmed Khan is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. He has served as a board member with the World University Service Canada and a volunteer with the Dominion Institute Passages to Canada Speaker Bureau, Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia, and the Association for New Canadians. for correspondence: ahmedk@mun.ca. 61

62 References Cited BETTS, A. (2011) Global Migration Governance, Oxford, University of Oxford. BRECHER, J., CHILDS, J.B., and CUTLER, J. (eds.) (1993) Global Visions: Beyond the New World Order, Boston, South End Press. CARTER, A. (2001) The Political Theory of Global Citizenship, London, Routledge. CAPRA, F. (1986) The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems, New York, Anchor Books. FAINI, R. (2007) Remittances and the Brain Drain: Do More Skilled Workers Remit More? World Bank Economic Review 21(2): GOODWIN, R. (2010) Citizens of Nowhere: From Refugee Camps to Canadian Campuses, Toronto, Doubleday. JEFFERESS, D. (2008) Global Citizenship and the Politics of Benevolence, Critical Literacy: Theory and Practice 29(1): KHAN, A.S., SUMAILA, U.R., WATSON, R., MUNRO, G., and PAULY, D. (2006) The Nature and Magnitude of Global Non-Fuel Fisheries Subsidies in Sumaila, U.R., and Pauly, D. (eds.) Catching More Bait: A Bottom-up Re-estimation of Global Fisheries Subsidies, Vancouver, UBC Fisheries Centre Research Reports 14(6): LE BILLON, P. (2011) Wars of Plunder: Conflicts, Profits, and the Politics of Resources, New York, Columbia University Press. OZDEN, C., and SCHIFF, M. (eds.) (2006) International Migration, Remittances, and the Brain Drain, Washington, D.C, The World Bank. PETERSON, G. (2008) Education changes the World: The World University of Canada Student Refugee Program. Refuge, 27(2): TASTSOGLOU, E., and DOBROWOLKSKY, A. (eds.) (2006) Women, Migration, and Citizenship: Making Local, National, and Transnational Connections, Aldershot, Ashgate. UNHCR. (2011) United Nations High Commission on Refugees Global Trend Report Available from: < 5 April 2012.] WORLD UNIVERSITY SERVICE OF CANADA (WUSC). (2003) Global Citizens: An Impact Study of Participants. The Student Refugee Program from 1978 to 2000, World University Service Canada, Ottawa. 62

63 Academic Articles 63

64 Caught in the Borderlands: Torture Experienced, Expressed, and Remembered by Eritrean Asylum Seekers in Israel Abstract By Laurie Lijnders This article explores the ways in which Eritrean asylum-seekers in Israel narrate their experiences of suffering. These narrators were held hostage in the borderlands of the Northern Sinai desert by human traffickers for indefinite periods of time en route to Israel. Numerous Eritrean asylum-seekers experience and bear witness to torture, kidnapping, extortion, rape, and organ removal during the journey. The main focus of this article are five Eritrean narrators and the way in which they speak and are silent when seeking to articulate experiences of violence during the journey from Eritrea to Israel. The narrators of this article situate their bodies in their narratives and use metaphors with an emphasis on the body to express their experiences of torture. Scars embodied expressions of violence serve as an alternative idiom through which otherwise unspeakable suffering becomes expressible. Eritrean women, for different reasons, often narrate their own experiences of sexual torture through other bodies and conceive of their pain as residing in another body. Alternatively, graves are a symbol of the anonymous, silenced witnesses of power structures encountered during the journey. Introduction I would love to have died in the Sinai desert. I could not face the suffering. However, today I thank God I am alive because I can tell the story of those who suffered and passed away, for those who did not have time to tell you, for those who died in the Sinai, or for those who are still there. The people who are here [Israel] now are a voice for the voiceless, we are spokespersons. A young Eritrean woman in Tel Aviv, Israel, believes her voice legitimately speaks for other Eritrean asylum-seekers who were victims of human trafficking and torture while en route to Israel (Das et al. 2001: 5). The woman told me that she also considers listeners to be spokespersons and that we the listeners should share the stories told. Central to this article are the experiences of kidnapping, torture, ransom taking and rape during the journey to Israel narrated by Eritrean asylum-seekers in Tel Aviv. The article explains how they articulate experiences of violence in the borderlands of the Sinai desert through their narratives, silences, and bodies. Whose Voices? Between February and May 2011 and January and April 2012, I recorded a variety of narratives, related to me by Eritrean asylum-seekers living in Tel Aviv. The narratives, often violent in content, focus on the multiple experiences with borders and the diverse structures of power which Eritrean asylum-seekers encounter on their journey to Israel. The article focuses on the narratives of five young Eritrean men Scorpion, Adhanom, Abel, Yonas, and Tsehaye who, at the time of my research, had recently (varying from a period of a few days to months prior) crossed the Egypt-Israel border. At their request, they will be unrecognisable by name; instead I chose pseudonyms with their approval and have omitted descriptions through which they could potentially be identified. Both during the period of my fieldwork, and upon my return to Israel 64

65 during the following year, I worked as a volunteer in the Open Clinic of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) and have been part of a team which conducts interviews with new patients about their journey through the Sinai desert into Israel. 29 Each month around sevenhundred people visit the clinic. The majority of the patients are African asylum-seekers who are excluded from social welfare services, including any access to government-provided healthcare. 30 I interviewed over one hundred people at the clinic in Jaffa, Israel and was able to establish relationships of trust that were sustained outside of the context of the clinic with twelve of these interviewees. I was first introduced to the five narrators of this article, with the exception of Scorpion and Adhanom, in the clinic. Tsehaye, Abel, and Yonas visited the clinic for various medical reasons and on different occasions. Their narratives are a combination of interviews conducted in the clinic and conversations, gatherings, and observations outside the context of the clinic that are of a different quality because they did not follow a questionnaire format and took place in more informal settings. I attended several demonstrations, meetings, gatherings, and church services and observed how everyday life is lived in communities of survivors. I moved between being a volunteer in the Open Clinic of PHR-Israel and being a researcher. This double role, at times, created confusion for those attending the clinic, which highlighted questions of informed consent in my research methodology. I tried to address this confusion by clearly explaining the purpose of the interviews that I conducted outside the context of the clinic in more informal settings. At the end of the interviews in the clinic, I would ask people if I could meet them outside the clinic to understand their experiences of flight and torture in the Sinai desert and how these experiences had impacted their lives. I sought individual permission to use testimonies recorded in the clinic. The majority of the people I asked did not agree to meet me outside the clinic for different reasons often related to what they expressed as the wish to forget or what I considered to be distrust. I respected these wishes. In my writings, I only use the narratives of those who agreed to be interviewed outside the clinic. The individuals who narrated the events that took place in the torture camps often had difficulties verbally expressing their experiences of flight from their home countries, experiences of violence and humiliation in the desert camps, and an exposure to death during the journey (cf. Lammers 2006: 96). Few of the narrators had words to describe the acts of torture that they endured or witnessed. Dealing with experiences which the narrators often did not want to remember, I had to be careful in my approach and keep in mind the fact that experiences of violence are not easily expressed and require a relationship based on trust. In our interactions, the narrators decided when to speak and when to be silent. Expressing violent experiences can be understood through the lens of constructivism, as narratives are authored and authorized dialogically and collaboratively in the course of sharing one s recollections with others (Weiss and Six-Hohenbalken 2011: 5). In addition, violence confronts anthropologists with ethical questions as to what extent the process of telling their story might be harmful to the narrators. We can record the stories of victims of violence, but it is not in our power to alleviate or redeem their suffering (Weiss and Six-Hohenbalken 2011: 19). I warned the narrators carefully of the risk of recalling violent experiences and left the decision to them as to when to speak and when to be silent. Whereas narration might cause harm to some, for others it is a manner in which past and present are linked and past experiences are given a place in their life histories. Furthermore, when discussing the vulnerability and suffering of these individuals, it is vital not to present them purely as passive victims, but also to highlight their agency at all stages of their flight, both during their experiences in the borderlands and when seeking to make sense of such experiences 29 The interviews in the Open Clinic are conducted according to a targeted set of questions developed with an expert in trauma and rehabilitation. 30 Interview with Shahar Shoham, Head of the Migrants & Refugees Department, Physicians for Human Rights, Israel, 4 May

66 after arriving in Israel. Finally, the reader should keep in mind that the narratives presented are often translations from Tigrinya to English by an interpreter. The mediation of an interpreter and my interposition raises questions of authenticity regarding the narratives presented here. Most narratives were told in a short time period and often only in one or two encounters, while the narratives often covered years of experiences. Listeners never get the full story at once, if they ever get it at all. How much value do the narratives shared with me have? Three months are insufficient to unravel gaps and discontinuities in narratives and develop a relationship of trust in which the different narratives can be compared with each other. However, my additional three months of fieldwork and my return allowed for a new level of trust and the identification of violent long-term effects and discontinuities in the narratives. African Asylum-Seekers in Israel An estimated 50,000 African asylum-seekers live in Israel, the majority of whom originate from Eritrea and Sudan. In addition, there are a small number of asylum-seekers from other African countries such as the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Somalia and Liberia. Young Eritreans have escaped from an extremely repressive state and compulsory military service. Eritrea is a country that has long been known for its grave violations of human rights: religious and political persecution, disappearance of citizens and the use of torture by the government (Tronvoll 2009). In 2005, asylum-seekers from Africa began crossing the Egypt-Israel border. Since 2007, the number has increased every year and at times over one thousand asylum-seekers have crossed the border each month. 31 The journey of African asylum-seekers from Sudan, Eritrea, and West Africa merges in the Northern Sinai, a region of Egypt that is bordered on the West by the Suez Canal and on the East by Israel and the Gaza Strip. A sizeable network of smugglers operates across Eritrea, Sudan, Egypt and Israel to smuggle sub-saharan asylum-seekers to their destination in Israel. Evidence collected over the last eighteen months reveals the circumstances under which African asylum-seekers 32 are held in the borderlands of the Sinai by human traffickers (PHR-Israel 2011). 33 Increasing numbers of African asylum-seekers arriving in Israel recount their mistreatment by traffickers. The asylum-seekers experience and bear witness to different forms of violence, such as punching, slapping, kicking, and whipping. They also testify about various methods of torture, including burial in the sand, electric shocks, hanging by one s hands and legs, burning with hot-iron bars, and prolonged exposure to the sun (PHR-Israel 2011). 34 Amongst African asylum-seekers held captive by human traffickers in the Northern Sinai desert, the majority is Eritrean or Ethiopian. 31 Interview with Oded Diner, Campaigns and Activism Director, Amnesty International, Israel, 22 February Nevertheless, not all border crossers face similar types of danger. I spoke with numerous people who did not face violence in the Sinai desert and arrived in Israel without being subjected to torture, although the journey in itself affects people. Several factors such as political circumstances, geographical factors, the refugee s gender and background, the composition of the migrant s companions, the form of transportation, and points of crossing, influence the level of danger (Hagan 2008: 61). 33 The information in the following section was gathered in my interviews with Eritrean asylum seekers and in interviews with organisations that work for and with African asylum seekers in Israel. Additionally, I gathered information from news reports and reports by organizations, such as those published by PHR-Israel, cited above. 34 These accounts of violence were gathered during conversations with victims of the human traffickers in the Sinai and are recorded in various reports published by PHR-Israel. 66

67 Burial Ground for Eritreans The Sinai desert is frequently referred to by the narrators of this article, journalists, activists, and Eritreans living in the diaspora as a desert hell, a human prison for African migrants, a place of death, a burial ground for Eritreans, and the killing fields of Sinai (Estefanos 2011; Fishbein 2010; Frantzman 2010). These metaphors are used to describe the violence, torture, and rape that occur in the Sinai desert and arise in asylum-seekers narratives of death at the Egypt- Israel border. Language often appears insufficient to express experiences of violence and the infliction of pain (Scarry 1985: 5). I argue that the use of strategic language and alternative idioms are attempts to comprehend the experiences, meaning, and effects of violence and to provide insight into the experience of suffering. The young men situate their bodies in their narratives and use corporeal metaphors to express experiences of torture. Eritrean asylum-seekers show bodily wounds and scars to convey experiences of torture. Embodied expressions of torture, I assert, are a way through which some of the narrators attempt to comprehend memories of torture and re-position themselves in the world. Nonetheless, sometimes this task of repositioning oneself is a difficult one and pain is conceptualised as residing in another body, as in the case of a number of women who experienced sexual torture and narrate their experiences through other bodies. I conclude by discussing empty spaces, missing and disappeared bodies that are silent but speak symbolically. Bodily Experiences of Torture: My Body is Not Mine It was too terrible, when I remember these moments I feel bad. We were treated inhumanely, we faced hunger and troubled moments. I have to speak, I am so happy of my coming. They were torturing us, beating us, using electronic instruments. We were treated very inhuman. We really suffered a great thing. They were demanding huge money. This is the way they do that. During the morning time and the evening time they can beat us what they want, they simply ask the money. When I paid they did nothing, their demand was money. My family borrowed money from different corners of the world, from relatives around the world. This money has to be paid back and that stresses me. The smugglers started from five in the morning with calling pay the money, talk to them, tell your families we will kill you if you don t pay. My family was crying, the smugglers told them and me I am going to die. At first I paid 3700 dollar. My brother sold his car and paid the money. I cried when one person of the group died. Death is nothing. It is my expectation. I morally prepared myself to see this. I was saying to myself when shall I die? When they were beating us, I expected only death. Before I left Eritrea I did not know anything about the journey. I never expected to have this experience of torture. This is the first time in my life, no one has beaten me since I was born. Yonas described how he escaped from his country after playing hide-and-seek with the Eritrean government for five years, as the government was looking to recruit him for compulsory military service. Incessantly fearing for his safety, he felt that he could not continue living in Eritrea. Yonas narrated how one night, without telling anyone, he escaped to neighbouring Ethiopia. He continued to tell of how he was kidnapped on the Ethiopia-Sudan border in what he believed to be a set-up plan by a human trafficking network. Yonas explained that, together with a group of eighty-five Eritreans, he was held in the Sudanese desert for weeks without shelter, guarded by four men with Kalashnikovs. In a weeklong journey, Yonas and his group were taken by car to the Suez Canal. They crossed the canal in wooden boats in the middle of the night. From the Suez Canal they were driven to the Sinai desert in the back of pick-up trucks. For two months, the group of eighty-six Eritreans was held in a house, deprived of food and water; they were forced to build an apartment for the human trafficker holding them captive. Yonas narrated how after two months he was moved to a cave, where he was held for a further three months, blindfolded, with twenty other Eritreans. 67

68 He referred to how he was treated as worthless, emphasising the inhumane treatment by human traffickers. The hostages entered a state of abstract nakedness of being nothing but human (Arendt 1973: 300). Human traffickers force the Eritrean migrants into this state of extreme humanness, turning their bodies into a commodity, a source of money. Only if the asylum-seekers families are able to pay for the ransom are they perceived by the human traffickers to be useful; if not, they are often killed. There are also rumours that their organs are removed and sold on the black market. These are not just empty threats. In interviews, Eritrean asylum-seekers narrate how fellow hostages were tortured to death or had been killed with a gun. Young Eritreans understand that their lives are thought of as dispensable (cf. Scheper-Hughes 2004: 175). While crossing geographical and political borders, African asylum-seekers are also confronted with bodily boundaries. The conditions under which they are travelling and are held hostage strain the limits of the human body. Yonas narrates that his body felt as if it no longer belonged to him: I was so much tired, but nothing is impossible, I tolerated everything. I had a dry throat because there was not enough water. I became hopeless. When they came to beat me, I simply accepted it. We could not talk to each other, if we do so, they will kill us. We were abnormal; the only choice was to undergo everything. We were asking ourselves in the morning when are we going to die? For five months I wore the same clothes without washing them. No one allowed us to wash our bodies. We had lice on our bodies. We could fill a car with all of them. The smugglers are not interested in our lives; they are only interested in money. We were kept on the verge of dying. I did not feel as if my body was mine, I felt as if it belonged to the smugglers. It is against a human being. We were blindfolded for three months. We lived in constant fear. I was afraid they would stab me with a knife. You don t know when they approach you. Yonas and his fellow hostages entered a state of abnormality in which they felt that they had lost all sovereignty over their lives and their bodies (cf. Nordstrom and Robben 1995: 18). This state of abnormality is filled with uncertainty. Captivated and exposed to torture, Yonas had to survive under circumstances in which the certainty of his body had been removed (cf. Scheper-Hughes 2004: 184). This experience leads to a questioning of one s existence: is this really happening to me? Am I real? (Strejilevich 1997). Torture and disorder pervade the known and familiar with uncertainty and fear, alienate the body, and make it feel unfamiliar (cf. Becker et al. 2000: 322). Yonas became isolated in a social space enclosed by the blindfold, the walls of the cave, and the unexpected beatings (cf. Robben 2005: 217). He was tortured on a daily basis for weeks to extract money from his family members. Yonas expressed fear and uncertainty in a question of life and death: will I live? This existential question is also reflected in the bodily metaphors that Abel used to express the torture he endured. Bodily Metaphors: I Stepped Out of a Grave The Rashida 35 attacked me and tied me. I was with the smugglers for six months and three weeks. During the day, we were exposed to the desert sun. I have polio, but the smugglers did not care about that, they beat me as badly as the others. I was forced to work. We were building a palace for [the human trafficker; name omitted]. There was no food, water or 35 The Rashida are Eritrean and Sudanese nomads who roam the northern coasts of Eritrea and Sudan, as well as the southern reaches of the Nubian desert. The words Bedouin smugglers or Rashida are used by African asylumseekers and NGOs and refers to a general term for a number of tribes living in the deserts of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Ethiopia. This common term appears to have contributed to a demonisation of Bedouins in the area, which may have mistakenly created the idea that all Bedouins are involved in the business of human trafficking and organ removal. 68

69 medical treatment. We stayed in the compound. We were locked and guarded and I was beaten with electricity and fire. They used cigarettes to torture me. I have seen everything. I have seen dead bodies with my own eyes. We were 270 in two camps together. [The human trafficker] hit you, burn you, he put electric. He beat me for two weeks. My legs did not go anymore, I was so tired. He calls you and makes you sit and does whatever he likes. He puts a cigarette on your body, takes out your nail. These smugglers, they were all on drugs, they were smoking Hashish all day. One day [the human trafficker] said after he took the drugs please don t show me these guys, I will kill them all. I never expected the Rashida would do like this, this is new for me. It is hell, a degrading world. You are afraid all the time. Where Yonas focuses on his body through the language he uses, Abel makes use of bodily metaphors: a strategic language through which torture becomes expressible in words. I first met Abel in the PHR-Israel clinic one evening in March 2011 when he visited in search for treatment for polio. However, the traffickers found his illness to be no reason to treat him differently from the other hostages. The torture inflicted on Abel s body worsened his condition. The narrators emphasis on graves and burial grounds can be understood in light of the constant confrontation with death during the journey. These metaphors of death are extended to the body, as several people I spoke with metaphorically considered their bodies as graves and the experiences in, and release from, the desert hell, as stepping out of a grave. Abel, after narrating his experiences in the hands of the human trafficker, metaphorically stated: I stepped out of a grave. I was given another life. Those held hostage may experience a sense of having lived two lives (Becker et al. 2000: 321), such as Abel, who felt as if he lived one life before the release from the desert camp and one after his arrival in Israel. Abel suffered multiple violent disruptions in his young life that continue to impact his being in the world. He has to deal with past and present disruptions of having lived in a stratocracy, escape, flight, torture, violence, life as a hostage, and the uncertainty of life in Israel. The lack of freedom in his country and the situations he experienced, both in the Sinai desert and during his escape, confront him with a feeling of discontinuity. The use of bodily metaphors is a way in which Abel can explain and comprehend his experiences of torture. The bodily metaphor of a grave creates some continuity between past, present, and future. Becker et al. (2000: 340) argue that bodily experiences of the past are fused together with the present in endlessly complex ways and memory legitimizes the sense of self. Memory can illuminate present suffering and connect it to the past (Becker et al. 2000: 340). Through his almost biblical metaphor, which resembles a form of resurrection, Abel creates an alternative idiom through which he gives meaning to the experiences of torture and through which he can somehow distance himself from the experiences in the torture camp. The uncertainty of life in Israel influences the way he remembers and creates hope for the future. However, under certain circumstances, such as the struggles in his life in Israel, this attempt is negated by the magnitude of the memories engendered (cf. Das et al. 2001). Abel confided in me: If you can help me, I can live, if not, I will not survive. Remembering/Forgetting the Past: My Body is a Grave Bodily metaphors of graves are extended in a way which allows for a process of remembrance. Adhanom uses a bodily metaphor to explain his individual process of remembering and forgetting. Where Abel feels as if he stepped out of a grave when released by the human traffickers, Adhanom associates his body with a grave. He stores his past in his body, which he compares to a grave: My body is a grave, I buried my memories somewhere deep down and I know that if I am going to open the door again, it will take me at least six months to close it again. 69

70 Adhanom s body is a site of conflicted memories that confine the need to remember and the desire to forget (Becker et al. 2000: 340). Adhanom s comparison of his body with a grave does not only show the fragility of memory, but also the complexity of the notion of forgetting (cf. Cohen 1994: xiiii). Through his body, Adhanom reflects on past, present, and future and, through embodied memories, he strives to create new meaning for his life as an asylum-seeker in Israel. Adhanom s sense of self is influenced by past experiences that are not easily eliminated. In remembering embodied experiences, Eritrean asylum-seekers do not only struggle to make sense of past violence, but also of present suffering. The question becomes whether it is possible to re-contextualise the narratives of devastation and generate new contexts through which everyday life may become feasible (cf. Das et al. 2001: 6). The relationship between what has been done to the body and the language in which the experience of torture is expressed leads to an articulation of the world in which the world s strangeness, revealed by death and by its non-inhabitability, can be transformed into a world in which one can dwell again, in full awareness of a life that has to be lived in loss (cf. Das 2004: 327). Finding one s voice can be part of the experience of remembering. Das notes that individuals and communities formed in suffering do not always succeed in achieving a re-contextualisation of devastation through words. The scribes of such experiences can be read from the body (Das et al. 2001: 6) as memories of survivors of torture or slavery, or those who have witnessed death or harm of loved ones, whose experiences are lived and relived through the body (cf. Becker et al. 2000: 321). In the next section, I focus on embodied expressions of violence and read the scribes of violence from the body. Scars: Embodied Expressions of Torture Their bodies might tell you their story more than their tongues. Scorpion, a military deserter, indicates that, rather than talking and enquiring about torture, we might better understand the experiences in the desert camps by looking closely at the bodies of those who survived. Scorpion was forced to work for the leader of a trafficking gang. He was not chained and tortured, but was a translator and mediator between the hostages and their families in both Eritrea and abroad. Scorpion explains that narrating experiences of violence is a difficult undertaking that forces the narrator to relive the torture. In place of such potentially retraumatising narration, traces of torture, in the form of bodily wounds and scars, may also be read as a text from the body. Scars and bodily wounds serve as an alternative idiom for experiences that cannot be addressed through language. Lammers (2006: 312), in her study of asylum-seekers in Kampala, explains that scars have the power to indicate the narratives of the people who tell them and that they can replace words which people endeavour to find in order to speak about their experiences of violence. Tsehaye displays the scars left by the chains with which human traffickers locked his ankles to other asylum-seekers in the Northern Sinai desert. The young asylum-seeker narrated how he was held hostage for nine months, enclosed with over two-hundred Eritrean asylum-seekers in small houses in a compound close to the Egypt-Israel border. Tsehaye described how he was beaten severely. In speaking about his experiences in the hands of human traffickers, Tsehaye struggles to find words to describe the torture. At some points in his story, he prefers to be silent. He cannot find the words to speak about the pain inflicted on his body; instead he unfolds his leg and lets his scars speak. The violence inflicted by human traffickers is inscribed on the bodies of African asylum-seekers (cf. Csordas 1994; Daniel 1994; Weiss and Six-Hohenbalken 2011: 159) and becomes visible through wounds and scars (Das et al. 2001: 8). The scars the remains of a vicious past are an embodied memory of the violence endured. Lammers (2006: 70

71 312) notes that bodily inscriptions of violence provide an alternative idiom that serves to assert and present oneself as the persons one has become. In the clinic in Jaffa, asylum-seekers repeatedly show their scars; the places where bullets entered their body, where cigarettes were burned on their arms, or where their fingers never entirely healed after repeated beatings. Scars from the barbed wire of the fence are remnants of the crossing of the Egypt-Israel border. A young woman visits the clinic with her husband. While she is narrating her experiences in the Sinai desert, she stops talking and opens her blouse to show us the scars of the bullets that were fired at her while she crossed the border. Her chest is covered with scars caused by the grazing of bullets, although none penetrated her body. The scars make speaking secondary, as they tell a story by themselves. However, some violations of the body cannot be expressed through one s own body. In the next part, I show how pain may be conceptualised as residing in another body (cf. Das 2004: 328). Expression of Sexual Torture: Narrating Through Other Bodies [A human trafficker; name omitted] raped me for five days and two other smugglers raped me as well. I wanted to resist but I had no strength and the smugglers nearly strangled me during the rape. As a result of all these rapes, I got pregnant and I'm now seven months pregnant. During this time, I was chained to another woman. We received food every few days and I managed to wash myself three times during that entire period. Only after eight months was my father able to send the smugglers $5,000; they released me and allowed me to cross the border to Israel. I must have an abortion. My husband should not know what happened to me in the desert and I must not give birth to this child (Hotline for Migrant Workers 2011: 11). Organisations working with African asylum-seekers attest that a majority of the women who were held captive in the Sinai desert are victims of rape, sometimes gang rape (African Refugee Development Center 2011: 7, 8; Hotline for Migrant Workers 2011: 4; PHR-Israel 2011). 36 As Robben (2005: 218) has argued, the pain, humiliation, and shame of sexual violence amount to connected attacks on the body, mind, self, sexuality, and identity. Sexual violence assaults the captive s body, psyche, and sociality (Robben 2005: 227) and, similarly to other forms of suffering, persons who have suffered from rape often find it hard, if not impossible, to convey the painful experiences to others (Klungel 2011: 130). Scheper-Hughes and Bourgois (2004: 1) argue that rape survivors often become living-dead people, refusing to speak of the unspeakable. Fernandez (1974) explains that experiences that cannot be transmitted into words remain formless and unreal and therefore may seem to not really exist (Klungel 2011). I, however, want to argue that those experiences of sexual torture become expressible through the bodies of other women. Almost none of the women I interviewed spoke about being sexually abused. They talked about other female hostages who were raped; or it was through the narratives of men that I learned about sexual abuse. After contemplating the silences surrounding sexual torture, I realised that some of the women who stated that they were not sexually abused had actually experienced sexual torture. During the interviews in the clinic, I noticed that some women spoke about their own experiences of sexual abuse through the bodies of fellow hostages. By narrating these experiences of rape through the bodies of other women, the formless is made into something concrete (cf. Klungel 2011: 130) and thereby becomes expressible in words. They feel pain, and 36 Recent reports by the African Refugees Development Center (ARDC), Hotline for Migrant Workers (HMW) and PHR-Israel estimate that the majority of the women who were held by the smugglers were raped, many of them repeatedly as cited above. As a result, women carry unwanted pregnancies and undergo abortions upon arrival in Israel. 71

72 re-live their memories in another body. Narrating through other women s bodies is a way to express individual suffering and experiences of sexual torture, and to make it public. Not only do women transfer experiences of sexual torture onto other bodies because they are unable to express their experiences of rape, they also feel ashamed, given the taboos surrounding rape which exist within the Eritrean community in Israel (PHR-Israel 2011: 3). An Eritrean psychologist explained to me in a conversation about the way Eritrean asylum-seekers communicate experiences of sexual torture that there is a culture of silence in the Eritrean community. Speaking out about their experiences might ostracise women and diminish their chances of getting married. Experiences of rape and unwanted pregnancies are kept secret to avoid humiliation and social exclusion. As my interviews progressed, more and more women told me about the contraceptive injections that they used before starting the journey. Women are aware of the dangers of rape and with these injections intended to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Violent events are not only stored in narratives and archived in language, but also in bodies. I have shown how memories of torture are incorporated into bodies and focused on the ambiguous relationship between the body and expressions of violence. Below, I argue that graves in an Israeli graveyard and dead bodies in the desert are symbols of violence. Graves : Expressions of the Ultimate Bodily Frontiers of Violence / / / / /0750. At a cemetery in Hatzor, Israel, the bodies of African asylum seekers who lost their lives during their escape to Israel are buried. Dozens of graves only bear a number and sometimes a date. Some are marked Anonymous Sudanese and there is a grave that reads Anonymous Infiltrator. These persons reduced to a number died an anonymous death. Bullets from the guns of Egyptian border guards ended their often young lives. When released from the desert camps, African asylum-seekers cross the Sinai border into Israel. The largely unfenced 240-kilometer border with Israel is the only border which African asylum-seekers can cross out of the African continent by foot. The crossing is not without risks. In 2010, Egyptian border guards killed more than 30 African asylum-seekers (Amnesty International 2011: 134). Most of those who cross the border are aware that they risk death or imprisonment for themselves and their families. During the journey to Israel, Eritrean asylum-seekers lack the sovereignty to decide over life and death. They are held captive in the power structures of the human traffickers, governments and armies. The threat of death is an excruciating element of the journey, one that includes hunger, thirst, starvation, violence, torture or murder by the human traffickers or the Egyptian border patrol. Almost all Eritrean asylum-seekers with whom I spoke during my fieldwork witnessed the death of one or more of their fellow travellers. The death of fellow prisoners serves as an ominous warning to others: if you are not able to pay the ransom, this is your destiny too. One man recounted how he and other men were forced to bury the body of a person who was killed. Often, bodies are not even buried, but left in the desert; the dead bodies increase the fear and pain of other travellers. Many of the people I interviewed conveyed their fear of the presence of death during their journey. Death is something which people expected. For many of the individuals with whom I spoke, death was part of their journey and the imagination of death accompanied them during their escapes (cf. Beneduce 2008: 511). Some feared death, some ignored the presence of death, and others said they ignored all fear of death. For Adhanom bereavement became part of life: We got used to the stories of death. Death became part of our life. We simply bury the dead and move on. We try our best not to remember. 72

73 In certain situations, death can also become something people desire, as Eritrean journalist and human rights activist, Meron Estefanos (2011), quotes one survivor in her account of hostages in the Sinai desert: [t]his time we cannot bear the sufferings we are facing and we are in a position to prefer death to life. Death is not simple to get it here, only the lucky ones get it. We have no means to take our lives as both our hands and legs are in chains. The wish to survive and to bear witness can become a desire to die so that one does not have to endure the torture. Death in the Sinai desert, whether unexpected or desired, is experienced both in terms of the dominance of the human traffickers and the loss of sovereignty on the part of the hostages. The vulnerability and suffering of Eritrean asylum-seekers appears not to be recognised by states, governments and the international community. Although organisations and journalists demand attention and lobby national governments and the international community to intervene, there appears to be little effort on the part of the Israeli and Egyptian governments to change the situation on either a national or an international level. There seems to be an indifference to the plight of the hostages in the Sinai desert. Butler reminds us that while mourning is not the goal of politics, without the capacity to mourn, violence goes unopposed (Butler 2004: xviii-xix). This raises the question: when is life worth grieving? (Butler 2004; 2009). When death becomes part of a journey both in the memory of those who bear witness and in anonymous graves in an Israeli graveyard or in the desert scarred, mutilated bodies become an alternative idiom through which experiences of violence and the bodily limits of torture are expressed. Because Eritrean refugees are on intimate terms with death in the torture camps and during the journey, we find this confrontation with death in their metaphorical language and bodily metaphors. The actual graves of anonymous infiltrators symbolise the ultimate bodily limits of a journey. Through the use of these alternative idioms we may find meaning in, and an understanding of, the effects of violence on a person's life. The graves in the corner of the cemetery and the dead bodies in the Sinai desert represent untold stories of years spent in motion, passages through the desert, and the various reasons for individuals to leave everything behind in search of protection and safety. The graves and mutilated bodies are a way in which violence appears visible beyond narration or alternative idioms. Death is the ultimate expression of the frontier of violence and, although the bodies are silenced, in a sense, the graves speak. The anonymous bodies in the graveyard in Israel as well as the unburied bodies in the Sinai desert bear witness to the journey and the clandestine crossing of borders. Laurie Lijnders is a Dutch national who holds a Master's degree in Cultural Anthropology with a focus on Multiculturalism in a Comparative Perspective at Utrecht University, where she concentrated on borders, violence, and migration. She conducts research on expressions of experiences of torture and rape in the borderlands of the Sinai desert and the journey of African asylum-seekers to Israel, and works with several NGOs in the area of migration in Israel. The author can be contacted at laurielijnders@hotmail.com and her full dissertation can be read at /Lijnders,%20L..pdf. 73

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77 Where Do Forced Migrants Stand in the Migration and Development Debate? By Saskia Koppenberg Abstract The migration-development nexus is high on the agenda of the international community, which annually meets at the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). Questioning the current role of forced migrants in the migration and development debate, this article shows that governmental and civil society stakeholders alike focus on labour migration while excluding forced migration from their discussions. This is the case even though as has been established forced and voluntary migration are inextricably intertwined. Furthermore, field experiences show that forced migrants do contribute to development despite their vulnerability and protection needs. In the UNHCR-led dialogue on Targeting Development Assistance, stakeholders agreed that, through targeted development assistance and the inclusion of forced migrants in development cooperation, forced migrants can be enabled to act as development agents of both their host and home countries and communities. Having outlined this, the article proposes some steps necessary to fully capitalise on forced migrants in the migration-development nexus. Introduction The notion of a migration-development nexus highlights the fact that processes of migration interact closely with certain social, cultural and economic changes which are often described as constituting development. 37 There is indeed a complex and multi-dimensional relationship between migration and development, with neither migration nor development being a clear-cut phenomenon. Despite not being a new concept, the migration-development nexus is still high on the agenda of the international community. Continuous migration movements and new concepts such as circular migration, remittances and the engagement of migrant diaspora perpetuate the interest of governments, academics, practitioners and civil society in the link between migration and development. Since its creation and first constitutive meeting in Brussels in 2007, the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) has become the most important global level platform for governments, civil society and other stakeholders to discuss questions of concern such as protecting and empowering migrants for development (GFMD 2008 in Manila); integrating migration policies into development strategies (GFMD 2009 in Athens); creating partnerships for migration and human development (GFMD 2010 in Puerto Vallarta); and the question of coherence, capacity, and cooperation for migration and development (GFMD 2011 in Geneva). With the fifth forum having taken place in Geneva in 2011, the GFMD has been established as a regular setting for governments and civil society to discuss relevant policies, exchange good practices, and engage with each other in an informal, non-binding and voluntary manner at a global level. The forum s aim is to enhance understanding and to establish partnerships and cooperation on migration and development, fostering practical and action-oriented outcomes, as 37 For a discussion of the different concepts of development, see Koppenberg (2011: 30-35). 77

78 well as policies that maximise the development benefits of migration and minimise its negative impacts. As a government-led process, the GFMD is open to all members and observers of the United Nations. Despite its governmental nature, the GFMD engages with different stakeholders such as international organisations, civil society organisations, the private sector, migrants associations, academics, and practitioners through the Civil Society Days; an event which predates the actual Government Meeting. While recognising the crucial role that the civil society plays as an actor in the migration-development nexus, efforts have been made to integrate both events by creating a common space for debate between the civil society representatives and government delegates (Matsas 2008). Looking at the global level dialogue on migration and development, some crucial questions arise: (1) what type of migration is addressed; (2) how are migrants expected to contribute to development; (3) who are the beneficiaries; and (4) what kind of development is aimed for? I have provided an in-depth analysis of all four questions in my book, entitled Refugees, Migrants, and Development (Koppenberg 2011). Situating the emergence of academic debate on the migration-displacement nexus in its broader historical context, the study brought together the GFMD debates on migration and development and the UNHCR debates of the early 2000s on Targeted Development Assistance. I critically examined the policy debates surrounding both the migration-development nexus and the forced migration-development nexus, as well as the very concept of development that has been invoked in these debates. One of the central findings of my book is that refugees and other forced migrants have been excluded from discussions at the GMFD, even though they are inextricably intertwined with other areas of migration and they possess the potential to contribute to development. In this article, I will recapitulate the study s findings with a special focus on the forced migrationdevelopment nexus, the exclusion of forced migrants from the GFMD agenda, and the approach that was taken in the UNHCR-led dialogue on how to enable forced migrants to contribute to development. I then further develop this analysis by including the discussions of the most recent GFMD from This analysis has been enriched by drawing on the practical experience of actors in the field which shows how forced migrants contribute to development, thus providing evidence for the existence of the forced migration-development nexus. I conclude by outlining why it is important to include forced migrants in discussions at the GFMD and what is needed to fully capitalise on forced migrants potential to contribute to development. Theoretical framework The Concepts of Migration and Development When discussing migration and development, the term migration-development nexus has become very popular. As described, for example, by Nyberg-Sorensen (Nyberg-Sorensen et al. 2002), the term denotes a complex and multi-dimensional relationship, which does not refer to one concept of migration and development, but rather to multiple concepts which have evolved over time and might even contradict each other. Let me now give two brief examples of this relationship. 38 A first example concerns the impact which development might have on migration. In classical theories, an increase in development has been expected to lead to a decrease in migration. More precisely, global differences in levels of wealth and human development are seen as the main 38 A detailed historical account stretching as far back as the 1950s can be found in Koppenberg (2011: 35-46). 78

79 drivers of migration. In consequence, the reduction of these differences via enhanced development is expected to reduce migration. According to Bakewell, many of the migration and development initiatives have the implicit objective of reducing the flow of migration, especially to the industrialised world, thereby adhering to a sedentary model of development which defines development as a process which enables people to stay at home (Bakewell 2007: 2). The latest studies, however, have disproved this assumption by showing that more development leads, at least until a certain level, to more migration. In his study on development drivers of international migration, De Haas shows that emigration initially rises with increased development, and only goes down once countries have reached a high level of development (De Haas 2010b). A second example focuses on the effects that migration might have on development. Conceptualisations of the possible impacts of migration on development have varied over time. De Haas has used the notion of a pendulum in order to describe discursive shifts in the migration and development debate (De Haas 2010a). According to his analysis, the debate has swung back and forth like a pendulum, from developmentalist optimism in the 1950s and 1960s, to neo-marxist pessimism over the 1970s and 1980s, towards more optimistic views in the 1990s and 2000s (De Haas 2010a: 227). The emergence of well-known terms such as brain gain, brain drain and brain circulation are indicative of these changes to the dominant theories of migration and development. In the 1960s, the prevailing Human Capital Theory assumed that education and training raised the productivity of workers by imparting useful knowledge and skills, thereby raising their income. In this approach, migration was seen as a means to transfer skills, education, and knowledge for human capital formation in countries of origin ( brain gain ) and, in consequence, increase in productivity and economic growth. In contrast, the Cumulative Causation Approach that was dominant in the 1970s and 1980s highlighted the loss of highly skilled people through emigration (the so-called brain drain ). On this theory, migration was perceived to be detrimental to the economic growth of workers countries of origin. Growth, in this view, would be asymmetrical, meaning that growth in developed countries is supported by drawing people, resources, and capital away from developing countries. The Transnational Migration Theory of the previous decades again argued that the effect of emigration of the highly skilled is not always negative but can lead to a brain gain through brain circulation. Migrants, namely those who live across borders and go back and forth between their country of origin and country of destination, would foster the exchange and repatriation of skills and knowledge (Massey et al. 1998: 17). Figure 1 below gives an overview of the different concepts and main periods during which they prevailed. Voluntary versus Forced Migration At first glance, the distinction between voluntary and forced migration seems to be clear, drawing a line between (a) the voluntary decision of a person to migrate for one or, as is often the case, several motives; and (b) a person being forced to migrate in the interest of personal safety, motivated by differing types of force (Düvell 2006: 14-16). This is especially the case when distinguishing between those who are seeking employment or educational opportunities and others who are fleeing persecution and violence. The latter group is clearly defined by international law that entitles those who have a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion to a set of rights and to international protection. 79

80 Figure 1: Main phases of the academic debate on migration and development (Koppenberg 2011: 37) Phase Migration and development Migration and development theories Key concepts Phase 1: 1950s and 1960s Positive relation Neoclassical Theory Modernisation Theory Economic disparities, wage levels, labour supply/demand, labour migration, utility-maximising individuals, factor price equalisation, economic growth Transformation from traditional agriculture to modern industry, universal pathway to industrialisation, large scale transfers of money, technology and expertise, economic growth, migrants financial and social remittances Human Capital Theory Human capital accumulation and transfers Dependency Theory Exogenous causes of underdevelopment, development of underdevelopment, emancipation from the capitalist world economy, endogenous economic development Phase 2: 1970s and 1980s Negative relation Cumulative Causation Approach World Systems Approach Asymmetrical growth, migration creates backwash effects (loss of human capital, remittance dependency, negative effects of social remittances), migration leads to economic spatial and interpersonal disparities Core, semi-periphery and periphery, expansion of the capitalist world economy and the marginalised integration into the capitalist world system leads to migration, migration as a world-level labour supply system, perpetuation of underdevelopment and peripheral status Phase 3: Since the end Positive relation but more differentiated views New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM) Migration Networks Theory Societal context of migration, lack of access to capital or insurance institutions, migration as income diversification and risk sharing, remittances, investment in profitable production Relationship between migrants, former migrants and non-migrants, chain migration, remittances of 1980s Transnational Migration Theory Globalisation, ties across borders, transnational identity, transnational communities, diaspora, circular migration, collective remittances 80

81 Social Capital Theory Alternative Development Neoliberalism Resources gained through networks, translation into human or financial capital Society and migrants as agency of development, people-centred, participatory, bottom-up, series of alternative development concepts Non-state approach, homo economicus, market-led economic growth, Washington Consensus, structural adjustment, liberalisation, decentralisation, and privatisation, financial remittances. On closer scrutiny, however, the line between forms of forced and voluntary migration becomes blurred. The truth is that forced migrants not only include refugees, but also asylum seekers and internally displaced persons (IDPs), whose status is not as well defined as those of refugees. Furthermore, migration is most often motivated by complex, mixed and shifting motives. Such motives render a clear distinction between, for example, the voluntary decision to migrate for educational reasons or forced migration due to persecution difficult to maintain. Even UNHCR, which sets forced migrants apart from other migrants, and especially refugees as protected by the 1951 Refugee Convention, has turned to the notion that human mobility is growing in scale, scope and complexity (Crisp 2008: 3), while stressing that people are prompted [to] leave their own country by a combination of fears, uncertainties, hopes and aspirations which can be very difficult to unravel (Crisp 2008: 5). As is increasingly recognised, the mixed nature of migratory movements shows that voluntary and forced migration are often part of the same phenomenon. Migratory movements may include people who are seeking employment or educational opportunities, who want to reunite with family members or people who are fleeing persecution, conflict or violence in their countries of origin (UNHCR 2012a). Thus, UNHCR indeed maintains its position that it is possible and necessary to identify refugees as a special category of people protected under international law but has, at the same time, become engaged in the broader migration discourse, arguing that often there is no clear distinction between forms of forced and voluntary migration when refugees and other migrants move alongside each other (Crisp 2008: 2, 4, 5). Furthermore, in cases in which a migrant moves due to economic motives, in what is generally considered as voluntary migration, the question arises as to whether the person s economic circumstances might have forced him or her to migrate. As Turton has correctly observed, [i]t turns out, on closer inspection, that most migrants make their decision to migrate in response to a complex set of external constraints (Turton 2003: 5). He therefore prefers to speak of a continuum as introduced by Anthony Richmond (1994: 59) and Nicholas Van Hear (1998: 44). While Richmond defines a continuum running from proactive to reactive migration, Van Hear looks at the range between voluntary and involuntary migration, and migrants varying degrees of choice and options (Turton 2003: 6). By its very nature, forced migration entails a certain vulnerability of the migrant. When fleeing due to a fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, the migrant may have lost his or her property, job or social network. This, in combination with a lack of protection or an insecure status that limits the access to services such as education or health care, may lead to food insecurity, weak health conditions and social marginalisation. In their vulnerability, forced migrants become beneficiaries 81

82 of humanitarian aid or social benefits providing short term relief. But does their vulnerable status and need for protection make them less valuable as agents for development? Where Do Forced Migrants Stand in the Migration and Development Debate? The GFMD: Some Research Findings In order to elaborate on the question of where forced migrants stand in the migration and development debate, I will begin by recapitulating the findings of my in-depth analysis of the GFMD. When analysing numerous reports of the GFMD from 2007 to 2010, I revealed the subjects, concepts, and theories that dominate the discussions. I found that the GFMD is primarily concerned with labour migrants from developing countries who cross international borders in order to work, and who later return in a flexible manner, temporarily or circularly, to their home country. Besides meeting labour market demands in countries of destination, labour migrants are expected by the GFMD participants to contribute to the development of their countries of origin, their families and communities at home through the remittance of financial, human, and social capital, as well as business activities, productive investments and participation in, conducting of and/or financial support for national development activities. At the core of the GFMD debate on migration and development lies the identification of migrants as agents for development. According to the GFMD participants, their contribution to development can be strengthened and fostered through: (a) the migrants integration into the host country; (b) the protection of their rights; and (c) their human development. Within the GFMD debates, development is defined in economic terms such as employment, income maximisation, productivity, investment, and economic growth, thereby moving within a spectrum of economic development theories such as neoclassical theory, modernisation theory, New Economics of Labour Migration (NELM), and neo-liberal theory. The findings show that the GFMD remains within a narrowly-defined economic paradigm. Alternative concepts of development have not yet been considered. Human development, for example, has mainly been perceived as enabling migrants to exercise their agency, to facilitate their productive activities, and to contribute better to economic development, but has not been recognised as a development objective in itself (Koppenberg 2011: ). 39 Another crucial finding, which provides the basis for the following discussion, is that forced migrants have been largely excluded from the GFMD discussions. While civil society representatives claimed during the Civil Society Days at the GFMD in 2009 that all forms of migration should be considered (GFMD 2009: 6), my study shows that the discussions at the Government Days, which represent the essential part of the government-led GFMD, are focused on labour migrants and international labour migration, while forced migrants such as refugees, IDPs, and asylum seekers are largely left out (Koppenberg 2011: 49-51). My research shows that refugees and other forced migrants have been systematically excluded as a topic of the GFMD, even though they are an important aspect of migration and inextricably intertwined with other areas of migration (Betts in Koppenberg 2011: xi). In fact, as I discussed above, migration is motivated by complex, mixed, and shifting motives and refugees and other migrants increasingly move alongside each other. If the movement of refugees, asylum seekers and other voluntary and involuntary forms of migration can be regarded as one single phenomenon, why are forced migrants not included in the global level dialogue on migration and development? As I now argue, there are a number of 39 For a discussion of the dominant development concepts, see Koppenberg (2011: 95-98). 82

83 probable reasons for the exclusion of forced migrants from the migration and development debate. Firstly, forced migration is generally regarded as a humanitarian rather than as a development issue, dealt with by UNHCR and humanitarian actors (Crisp 2001). According to Betts, [t]his view is based on the assumption that refugee movements in the developing world generally stem from short-term humanitarian emergencies (Betts 2009: 4). Secondly, because host governments are concerned that once foreign humanitarian assistance has stopped, there will be no development funds available to support populations in need, they are reluctant to change strategy (UNHCR 2004: 5). And, thirdly, since refugees are not part of the government s political constituency, there is a lack of political will to incorporate refugees in development strategies (UNHCR 2004: 5). Hence, the exclusion of forced migrants from the migration and development debate is mainly due to the gap between the concepts of humanitarian action and development, characterised by the idea that, [w]hereas humanitarian aid provides short-term relief which involves immediate, survival assistance to the victims of crises and conflict, development aid is characterized by long-term support to improve the general economic, political and social climate of countries (UNHCR 2004: 5). The GFMD 2011: Perpetuating the Agenda During the most recent forum held in Geneva from 29 November until 2 December 2011, the GFMD stuck to its traditional agenda that focuses on labour migration and financial remittances and excludes forced migration. With discussions on Labour Mobility and Development, Addressing Irregular Migration through Coherent Migration and Development Strategies and Tools for Evidence-based Migration and Development Policies, no space was provided to discuss the link between forced migration and development in the Government Days of the 2011 GFMD (GFMD 2011b: 4). Consequently, when looking more closely at the Report of the Proceedings that summarises the debates which were held, at no point were the potential linkages between forced migration and development discussed. When participants included forced migration in the discussion at all, it was only to acknowledge the mixed character of many irregular movements (GFMD 2011b: 29), highlighting the need of proper protections for vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers (GFMD 2011a: 4). Instead of recognising the agency which forced migrants possess, they appeared to see them merely as vulnerable victims. The Civil Society Days of the 2011 GFMD had a similar focus as the Government Days, namely Labour Migration, Development Alternatives to Migration, and the Protection of Migrant Workers and their Families. The only time when forced migration was discussed, also here the need for protection was exclusively emphasised, casting forced migrants solely as victims: [i]mproved mechanisms are needed to ensure that migrants are rescued at sea...and differentiated upon arrival for the specific protection to which they are entitled under international, regional and national law (GFMD 2011c: 4-5). The Forced Migration-Development Nexus Despite the selective focus of the GFMD agenda, civil society actors, academics and practitioners stress time and again that forced migrants do have the potential to contribute to development, once they enjoy protection and their needs have been met. Betts, for example, has argued that [t]he GFMD should recognise that refugees are an important component of the wider migration and development agenda (Betts 2009: 3). In fact, as the main ambassador for forced migrants, UNHCR has become increasingly engaged in regional and global policy discussions on the interface between refugee protection and international migration with the aim of protecting refugees within broader migratory movements. In 2006, UNCHR issued a 10-Point Plan of Action as a tool to assist states with the incorporation of refugee protection into 83

84 migration strategies, thereby taking into account the needs of refugees and other forced migrants travelling as part of larger mixed movements (UNHCR 2012b). In this context, UNHCR pointed out at the first GFMD in 2007 that: there is a need for the international community to recognize the important linkages that exist between forced migration and the development process, and to ensure that such linkages are fully addressed in the effort to establish coherent and constructive approaches to the issue of migration and development (UNHCR 2007: 1). Actually, despite the focus of the GFMD on labour migration, participants of the Civil Society Days acknowledged, albeit briefly, forced migrants potential to become agents of development once they have been provided with opportunities to make use of their skills and productive capabilities (GFMD 2008: 7). The major challenge, the civil society participants said, is to identify whether and how migration by necessity can be turned into an opportunity for development (GFMD 2007: 25). An answer to this question gives the UNHCR-led dialogue on Targeting Development Assistance (TDA). The dialogue was launched in the framework of the so-called Convention Plus initiative. During the fifty-third session of UNHCR s Executive Committee in October 2002, High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers called for the development of new arrangements and tools for improving refugee protection worldwide, and facilitating durable solutions for refugees and other people of concern. He proposed that this could be achieved through international cooperation and the linking of refugee protection to migration, security, and development. The outcome was expected to take the form of multilateral special agreements complementing the 1951 Geneva Convention. For this reason, UNHCR launched Convention Plus, a process of discussion and negotiation with member states and other partners of UNHCR, to mobilise support and to bring about firmer commitments. The initiative ran from 2003 until The TDA strand was one of the three generic strands of the process; the other two being strategic resettlement and irregular secondary movements. TDA aims to facilitate local integration and repatriation by incorporating refugees and other forced migrants into national development plans and allocating additional development assistance, thereby enabling them to contribute to development in their host country or their country of origin upon their return. A forum composed of UNHCR's stakeholders, including executive committee members, standing committee observers, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), was established in 2003 and convened biannually by the High Commissioner in order to consider the progress made in the different Convention Plus strands (UNHCR 2005). 40 An analysis of the reports and documents which record the UNHCR-led dialogue on TDA shows how the participants of the UNHCR-led discussion on TDA link forced migration and development (Koppenberg 2011). The findings outline that, within the TDA dialogue, there is agreement that forced migrants indeed possess the potential to contribute to development, but that this capacity is stifled due to the fact that forced migrants are often passive recipients of humanitarian aid. Therefore, participants in the TDA discussions stress that forced migrants must first be enabled to use their potential in order to contribute to development. Their idea is that, through targeted development assistance and the inclusion of forced migrants in development cooperation and related instruments such as development policies, programmes and practices, poverty reduction strategies and post-conflict transition plans the needs of forced migrants will be met, their poverty mitigated, their human development and self-reliance enhanced, and their rights ensured. This will in turn enhance their productive capacities and enable them to make a positive contribution to the development of their host and home 40 For more information about Convention Plus, see 84

85 countries and communities through their skills, knowledge, business activities, employment, and engagement in development activities (Koppenberg 2011: 77-88). Forced Migration and Development: Evidence from the Field There are several experiences from the field which show how the forced migration-development nexus works in practice and what can be done to facilitate the link between the two. In what follows, I present some examples of this. The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), an international organisation that serves and advocates on behalf of refugees and other forced migrants, provides evidence for the forced migrationdevelopment nexus from its field work. Its experiences in Liberia from 2003 to 2008 offer a concrete example of how forced migrants use their skills and capacities to contribute to development and post-conflict reconstruction in their country of origin. When the civil war in Liberia came to an end in 2003 and hundreds of thousands of IDPs and refugees had been repatriated, the JRS provided them with basic necessities such as food, shelter and healthcare. Moreover, the JRS targeted activities to harness the skills and capacities of returning refugees. Schools were renovated, school programmes developed, and a health awareness programme established by the labour, skills, capacities, expertise, and leadership of returning refugees, IDPs and the local population. The forced migrants made use of the skills and knowledge they acquired while hosted in neighbouring countries for the benefit of their home communities (JRS 2008b). Another experience of JRS demonstrates that forced migrants also use their skills and capacities to benefit the communities that host them. Between 2005 and 2008 approximately 1,300 refugees from Cotê d Ivoire and Sierra Leone were encamped in eastern Liberia. Vocational training has been provided for refugees and local Liberians in different professions such as tailoring, hairdressing, radio and television repair, baking and soap making, thereby facilitating the start of income-generating activities (JRS 2008b). JRS does not deny the need for specific legal and policy mechanisms to ensure forced migrants protection. On the basis of their Liberian experience, however, they argue that migration and development policies must make use of the skills and capacities of all migrants whether voluntary or forced (JRS 2008b: 4). The exclusion of forced migrants from the migration and development agenda, they say, withholds a potentially important resource for development from both countries of origin and reception (JRS 2008a: 1). A second example which provides evidence for the forced migration-development nexus is given by research commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the Somali diaspora. The study is based on qualitative and quantitative research that has been conducted in Somaliland, Puntland and South/Central Somalia, as well as in multiple destination cities with a high concentration of Somali diaspora members such as Dubai, London, Minneapolis, Nairobi, Oslo and Toronto. The research provides evidence that refugees make a significant contribution to relief, development and political processes in their country of origin. The study examined diasporas motivations for supporting development in their countries of origin, the factors that influence the means and mechanisms by which the support is mobilised and transferred to Somalia, and the ways in which local Somali actors use the support that they receive (UNDP 2011: 1). 85

86 Figure: The forced migration-development nexus as described in the UNHCR-led discussion on TDA (Koppenberg 2011: 82) Since the collapse of the central state in 1991 that was followed by insecurity, political instability, conflict, extreme violence and food insecurity, many Somalis left their country. Living conditions have been particularly poor since the end of 2006, when Ethiopia occupied Somali territory. These and the continuous fight of the Transitional Federal Government against the al-shabaab movement led to massive population displacement. It is estimated that more than 1.5 million Somalis are internally displaced, while between 1 and 1.5 million live outside the country. Support from the latter helped those remaining in the country to survive in a hostile environment (UNDP 2011: 1, 11). The UNDP study shows that Somalis living abroad are an essential provider of humanitarian and development assistance. It is estimated that between US$130 and 200 million is provided annually by the diaspora, either mobilised at individual level or collectively through households and associations of various types (UNDP 2011: 3, 32). Three main types of support from the diaspora have been identified: (1) financial remittances; (2) in-kind support; and (3) technical assistance. Financial transfers usually take place through the hawala money transfer system; a system of transferring money thoroughly created and operated by Somalis. In-kind support means the delivery of goods and materials (books, medical supplies, machinery, etc) to Somalia or the procurement of these goods in a nearby market hub. Technical assistance is provided in-person and entails the return of the person to Somalia for a period of time where he or she provides advice, leadership, training, and so on (UNDP 2011: 5-6, 40, 45). The largest proportion of support goes to relatives to help them to meet basic household 86