What is forced migration?

Forced migration is defined by the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration as “a general term that refers to the movements of refugees and internally displaced people (people displaced by conflicts), as well as people displaced by natural or environmental disasters, chemical or nuclear disasters, famine, or development projects.”

Who are forced migrants?

A number of terms are used to characterize individuals who are compelled to leave their homes; among the most common are:

- Asylum seekers – defined as “individuals who claim at the border or within a state to be in need of asylum [or refuge], but whose claim[s] [are] either in doubt or, more commonly, yet to be confirmed as valid” (Gibney and Hansen 2005, 23).

 - Forced resettlers/oustees – defined as “people forcibly ‘ousted’ from their habitat through government intervention, generally for the purpose of some development-required change in land or water use…” (Cernea 1996, 293).

- Internally displaced persons (IDPs) – defined as “persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border” (UNOCHA 1998).

- Refugees – defined as a person with a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion” who is outside the country of his/her nationality and is unable or unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country (UNHCR 1996).

Some writers note that these definitions originated from policy makers rather than from any greater scientific examination or understanding of the phenomena at play. As a result, “refugees” tend to be studied by certain researchers, IDPs by others, and “forced resettlers” by still others, in the interest of being relevant and of influencing the appropriate policy organ. Turton (2003) recommends adopting “a unitary and inclusive approach to the definition of the field which means…encouraging research which is aimed at understanding the situation of forced migrants at the local level, irrespective of the causes of their flight” (p. 18).

References:
Cernea, Michael M. 1996. “Bridging the Research Divide: Studying Refugees and Development Oustees.” Pp. 293-317 in Allen, Tim, ed. In Search of Cool Ground: War, Flight and Homecoming in Northeast Africa. Geneva, London & Trenton, NJ: UNRISD, James Currey & Africa World Press.

Gibney, Matthew J. and Randall Hansen, eds. 2005. Immigration and Asylum: From 1900 to Present. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

Turton, David. 2003. “Refugees, Forced Resettlers and ‘Other Forced Migrants’: Towards a Unitary Study of Forced Migration.” New Issues in Refugee Research, no. 94. Geneva: UNHCR.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees. 1996. Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. Geneva: UNHCR.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 1998. Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. New York: UNOCHA.

Who assists forced migrants?

This depends on which category of forced migrant one is referring to. Refugees are provided protection and assistance by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. However, under the cluster approach, UNHCR also extends protection and assistance to conflict IDPs. People displaced by natural or human-made disasters are helped by the Red Cross network, a range of UN agencies, and international non-governmental organizations like Médecins sans Frontières, who in turn team up with local partners. Forced resettlers must rely on assistance from their own governments, the very agents who displaced them to begin with. International and regional development institutions like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, etc. have also produced guidelines outlining recommended policy and procedures for the resettlement of people.

What does the study of forced migration involve?

Forced migration as a field of study is evolving. Critics have pointed out that the subject area lacks a unified theory and agreed-upon terminology, and academic researchers still tend to identify themselves with a particular discipline (e.g., sociology, anthropology, law, geography, etc.). In response, a wide variety of resources in the form of atlases, dictionaries and handbooks have been published to help define the field and its concepts. (You can view a list here; see especially the The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies.) Moreover, a number of programs focusing on different aspects of forced migration have been established at academic institutions around the world. For example, the Refugee Studies Centre in Oxford offers an MSc in Refugee & Forced Migration Studies, while the Center for Migration and Refugee Studies at the American University in Cairo offers an MA in Migration & Refugee Studies. Students can also gain an MA in Refugee Protection and Forced Migration Studies via distance study through the University of London. Alternatively, there are also short-term training courses available for professional development purposes. Check out ReliefWeb’s Training Opportunities page for more information.

What is the purpose of this blog?

The aim of this Current Awareness Blog is to support the forced migration research community by highlighting open access scholarly materials. The specific objectives are 1) to make it easier for researchers to locate relevant journal articles and books that are freely available, 2) to encourage authors to participate in the wider dissemination of their own research output, and 3) to spotlight open access research produced by authors who are based in geographic areas that are less well-represented in the scholarly forced migration literature. The focus is on newly published items; references to these are circulated in daily blog posts that feature either particular regions or themes. 

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Who is the author of this blog?

My name is Elisa Mason. I am an information specialist who focuses on forced migration issues. After receiving my Master’s in Library Science in 1991, I worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Washington, DC and Geneva, as well as the Refugee Studies Centre in Oxford. I have published a number of articles and guides on forced migration resources. Some of my other publications are listed here.

Please email me at fminfotracker (a) gmail dot com if you have any questions about forced migration information resources.

Where can I find other forced migration resources?

For more information about forced migration, visit the following selected resources:

Guides
Humanitarian News
Information-rich Websites
Resources & Tools
Networks & Associations
Blogs

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