Research Guides
Kathie Friedman TTh 1:30-3:20
International treaties, conventions, and organizations to protect refugees were established in the aftermath of World War II to protect people escaping targeted persecution by their own governments. However, the nature of forced migration has changed dramatically since then. Students will divide into three to four policy working groups, each based on analyzing and developing policy to address a specific recognized gap or ongoing problem in existing international forced migration policy such as protracted confinement in refugee camps, uneven availability of asylum, lack of protection for urban refugees, inadequate protection for refugees against sexual- or gender-based discrimination or violence, inconsistent or no response to forced migrants who are outside their country of origin because their governments are unable or unwilling to protect them against serious deprivation of their socio-economic rights, but who fall outside the dominant legal interpretation of a refugee (“survival migrants”), etc. To what extent is new international law needed, or enhanced implementation of existing legal frameworks? This task force is open to anyone with an interest in international forced migration and a willingness to examine complex policy issues that raise difficult moral and political questions.
The Libraries has many books, articles and documents on forced migration in specific countries or geographic regions. They can be found by searching UW WorldCat or the Libraries Online Catalog with the phrase "forced migration" and the name of the country or geographic region. For example "forced migration" and Syria gets 31 hits, but only about 10 concern the current situation in Syria. Scholarly publication is slower due to peer review, the time it takes to do deep research, etc. Still, there are some scholarly treatments of this topic and newspapers, human rights organization websites, federal and international governments, and popular media have released numerous reviews and analyses.
Use these reference sources to learn more about Forced Migration:
Van Selm, Joanne. "Forced Migration." Encyclopedia of Population. Ed. Paul Demeny and Geoffrey McNicoll. Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2003. 435-438. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Allotey, P, and M Markovic. "Forced Migration and Health." International Encyclopedia of Public Health. Ed. Kris Heggenhougen and Stella Quah. Vol. 2. Oxford, United Kingdom: Academic Press, 2008. 653-660. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Crépeau, François, and Caroline Lantero. "Refugee Camps." Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Ed. Dinah L. Shelton. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 870-873. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Hein Online Law Journal Library Legal journal database
JSTOR Multidisciplinary scholarly journal and book database; searchable full text
PAIS International (Public Affairs Information Service) Journal articles, books, and selected government documents in all areas of public and social policy. PAIS is particularly strong on publications focusing on government policies.
Project Muse Multidisciplinary scholarly journal and book database; searchable full text
RefWorld The premier research database for quality information on which to base decisions on refugee status. While RefWorld is a product of the UNHRC.
Recommended Journals:
Forced Migration Review Publishec by Oxford University. Provides articles on general issues and specific themes related to forced migration. FMR provides information to crisis responders working with displaced refugees, and works to support “learning, training advocacy, policymaking and research.”
Human Rights Quarterly is the premier human rights journal. Searchable in Hein Online (1981-2009), JSTOR (1981-1997), and Project Muse (1995 +)
Selected Books of Interest:
The Libraries has many books on forced migration in specific countries or geographic regions. They can be found by searching the Libraries Online Catalog with the phrase "forced migration" and the name of the country or geographic region. For example "forced migration" and Syria gets 31 hits.
Alexander Betts, Forced Migration and Global Politics. Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2009 Professor Betts specializes in refugee studies and forced migration at the University of Oxford, Department of Politics and International Affairs.
Patricia Weiss Fagen, Refugees and IDPs after Conflict; Why They Do Not Go Home, United States Institute of Peace Special Report, 2011. Online eBook.
Kelly Greenhill, Weapons of Mass Migration: Forced Displacement, Coercion, and Foreign Policy. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2010.
David Hollenbach, Driven from Home: Protecting the Rights of Forced Migrants. Boston College: Center for Human Rights and International Justice, 2010. Online at Project Muse. Professor Hollenbach is the University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College
David Ingleby, Forced Migration and mental health: Rethinking the Care of Refugees and Displaced Persons. New York: Springer, 2005. Universiteit van of Amsterdam Professor Ingleby's main interests are migration and health.
Chris McDowell and Graeth Morrell, Displacement Beyond Conflict: Challenges for the 21st Century, New York, Berghahn Books, 2006.
Nihar Ranjan Mishra, Displacement and Rehabilitation: Solutions for the Future. Bhopal: Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manava Sangrahalaya, 2012. Papers presented at an international conference held November 2010. Suzzallo Allen Stacks HB2099 D566 2012
Sharon Pickering, Women, Borders and Violence: Current Issuesin Asylum, Forced Migration and Trafficking. New York: Springer, 2011. Dr. Pickering UWBothell/CCC Library JV6347 P53 2011.
D.J. De Wet, Development-iInduced Displacement: Problems, Policies and People, New York: Berghahn Books, 2006. Suzzallo Allen Stacks HC59.72 E44 D48 2006
Selected Documents:
The International-Inter-Governmental & Non-Governmental Organizations Subject Page offers a wealth of links, databases and information on refugee status, statistical data and other information of use to the Task Force.
Many government documents concern forced migration in specific geographic locations. If the Task Force chooses to concentrate on specific instances of forced migration, we will add pertinent documents here.
International governmental organizations (IGOs) are valuable for their global perspective and ability (usually) to do on-the-ground research. Be sure to review the mission statements of IGOs in order to understand their perspectives and values.
United Nations Refugee Agency This site provides statistics, publications, maps, archives, records, evaluation and research, and is under the UN High Commissioner for Refugees http://www.refworld.org/publisher/UNHCR.html
HuriSearch The Human RIghts Search Engine searches over 5,000 human rights websites. Limit to International Government Organizations for reports from OECD, OSCE, etc.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Concerned about the economics of refugees? The IMF is, too.
Search Treaties A quick search of the term "refugees" in theThomas Treaties database pulls up over 60 full text documents from U.S. House and Senate bills, resolations and other resources. Also search the Congressional Record, Committee Reports and additional government resources.
World Bank http://www.worldbank.org/ (WB) Wondering about the cost of forced migration? So is the World Bank. See specifically, Migration and Remittances Factbook, 2011. 2nd ed., eBook http://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/pdf/10.1596/978-0-8213-8218-9
The refugee Act Created in 1980, the Federal Refugee Resettlement Program intended to provide for “effective resettlement of refugees and to assist the to achieve economic self-sufficiency as quickly as possible after arrival in the United States.” The text of the act can be found here.
Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) seeks to assist new populations in reaching their “maximum potential” in the U.S. Major source of U.S. policy statements at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/orr/policy
Refugee Admissions and Resettlement Policy, August 8, 2013 https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31269.pdf A foundational document for U.S. policies related to admission and resettlement of political refugees.
HuriSearch Search engine that includes over 500 human rights web sites.
Amnesty International A global movement to end grave abuses of human rights and to achieve the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Forced Migration Review Previously called the Refugee Participation Network
Human Rights WatchOne of the leading independent organizations working for human rights around the world.
Migration Policy Institute Works toward a comprehensive approach to refugee protection through analysis, development and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at local, national and international levels. Focuses particularly on Migration Management, Refugee Protection & the International Humanitarian Response, North American Borders & Migration Agenda, and Immigrant Settlement & Integration
Refugee Studies Centre Based at Oxford University, the RSC specializes in deep and innovative research on forced migration and refugees. See in particular: http://www.forcedmigration.org/digital-library/policy for RSC Policy Briefings
E-Newspapers List of major electronic newspaper databases available through the UW Libraries.
Access World News Aggregated news database, global in scope, dates ranging from mid-1980’s to the present.
Ethnic NewsWatch An unusual news resource, Ethnic NewsWatch includes several hundred full text, fully searchable ethnic and minority community newspapers published in the U.S. and abstracts from selected scholarly journals. Many of these publications report on news from their respective homelands. Titles specific to JSIS 495F include Refugee Survey Quarterly, Arab Studies Quarterly, Journal of Palestine Studies, Disapora Studies,
Lexis Nexis Academic One of the largest aggregated news databases, LexisNexis also includes some law reviews and journals, news transcripts, some case law and other serial publications. Includes the New York Times and Washington Post and The Observer.
Library Press Display Aggregated news database, global in scope, with over 2,000 newspaper titles, this digital image news database carries only the most recent 30 days of pubication issues. But it is excellent in giving a visual impression of how the news stories are presented. Newspapers appear in their original languages.
Social media resources can be very powerful instruments to inform and move people to action. However, caution must be used in detrmining which blogs and other such resources have legitimacy. The following links have been carefully selected to provide reliable, authoritative information.
Forced Migration Current Awareness This blog provides web research and information relating to refugees, internally displaced persons, asylum-seekers and other forced migrants. Highly regarded.
Refugees International Blog Concentrates especially on women and girls, identifies the most vulnerable refugee and IDP groups and works for the implementation of policies. Reporting now on Syrian, Somalian and Turkish refugee issues.
Women's Refugee Commission The blog for this non-profit group which pays particular attention to women, gender violence and other aspects of children, women and youth refugees.