About the Refugees & Forced Migration Hub

Since 2015, over 5 million refugees from Syria have sought safety and protection in cities, towns and camps across Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey. Key responders have included local faith communities, whose members have provided material and spiritual support alike to those displaced from Syria, as well as to other communities affected by protracted displacement, including Palestinians, Iraqis, Lebanese, and Kurds: these people and communities, are themselves also often hosts.i From Orthodox churches in Istanbul organising clothes donations for newly arrived Syrians, to Palestinian refugees in Baddawi refugee camp in North Lebanon preparing iftar baskets during Ramadan for camp residents (irrespective of their nationality), the Refugee Hosts project has evidenced the significant role that religion plays in local responses to displacement.

Engaging with local faith communities (LFCs) provides opportunities to:
(i) work sustainably with local communities
(ii) maximise dignity and justice for refugee and local host communities
(iii) build relational responses to displacement that are not about aid alone and do not look only at material outcomes
(iv) build collaborative and participatory responses to displacement in which refugees and local communities have genuine agency in the choices that are made and the solutions that are pursued
(v) to keep psychosocial care and meaning–making on the agenda

However, misunderstandings and challenges continue to limit the ability of secular humanitarian agencies to engage with LFCs effectively and sustainably. The resource outlines the challenges and proposes recommendations.

Faith and Displacement

The Refugee Hosts webpage videos on Faith and Displacement

Faith has emerged throughout the research as a significant motivating factor in responses to displacement, and a key source of assistance and strength for those experiencing displacement. These findings challenge prevailing understandings of faith as a potentially problematic and dividing factor in humanitarian contexts, instead highlighting the many positive roles that faith, faith-based organisations and local faith communities play in displacement affected contexts. Faith traditions and values can become key influencing factors in framing both hostility, but also hospitality, towards displaced communities. Understanding these dynamics, and developing a language for mutual understanding between secular humanitarian actors and faith based responses, arises as a key recommendation of this research, which will be outlined in a forthcoming Religious Literacy Handbook and in our Research.

Refugee Hosts essential reading on Faith and Displacement

This article is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with managers of Danish Red Cross-operated asylum centres regarding religion and religious freedom at asylum centres. Three main findings are reported. First, asylum centre managers view religion as largely irrelevant while having very limited understanding of the right to freedom of religion. Second, this knowledge deficit and the general absence of any substantive guidelines on managing religious freedom issues in asylum centres has resulted in incoherent and contradictory approaches. Third, asylum centre managers’ understanding of the concept of neutrality is at times overly restrictive, contradictory, and inconsistent. The article concludes with suggestions for improvement.

This publication aims to highlight the actual and potential roles of faith actors in contributing towards an effective and holistic response to child displacement in Europe and Central Asia. These roles range from providing shelter and other material support to fostering psychosocial and spiritual wellbeing, speaking out against xenophobia, promoting peaceful coexistence, and influencing policymakers to protect the rights of children on the move.

While it must be recognised that faith actors have also played negative roles, this publication aims primarily to serve as a useful tool to improve cooperation between faith actors and other stakeholders, such as UNICEF and national authorities, in the protection of children and youth on the move.

This publication is connected with the Action plan developed during the From Faith to Action conference in December 2020.

Report following the ‘From Faith to Action’ online conference, 10 – 11 December 2020

The “From Faith to Action” initiative focuses on children escaping conflict, persecution, natural disaster or poverty, and brings together UNICEF and stakeholders from faith-based communities who share the aspiration of providing support and protection: physically, psychologically and spiritually. The initiative is built on the principle that a child is a child and seeks to strengthen partnerships that can help ensure protection, health, and education to all child refugees and migrants, and reinforces the principle of the best interest of the child.

The first “From Faith to Action” conference in December 2020 convened 138 participants representing 68 organizations from 40 countries and was co-organized by UNICEF, the World Council of Churches, the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, the European Council of Religious Leaders – Religions for Peace, and in collaboration with Islamic Relief Worldwide, the Lutheran World Federation, A World of Neighbours and World Vision International.

The conference report summarizes discussions among migrant and integration support specialists, experts on refugee and child rights, religious leaders, youth and migrant representatives, and academics, on the context of refugee and migrant children and ideas on working together and on actions. Including:

• Best practices illustrating the significant role that faith-based communities have in protecting vulnerable children.
• The continuum of child protection in the case of refugees and migrants.
• The role of religious actors and host communities in combating xenophobia and discrimination.
• The power of religious communities as policy influencers and as advocates for more inclusive approaches.

The two days’ discussion was condensed into a draft Action Plan that outlines key recommendations for action to protect refugee and migrant children. The Action Plan is a living document that will be continually updated and enriched in response to discussions and consultations taking place within partner organizations, relevant countries, and evolving contexts. It provides general guidance but is not intended to prescriptively define the role that each partner should play in protecting refugee and migrant children.

View the report on the UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) website

13th – 17th October 2020

Programme Overview (Available in Arabic)

Biographies

Recommendations from the Regional Consultations

1. Recommendations of Africa
2. Recommendations of Asia
3. Recommendations of Europe
4. Recommendations of Arab Region
5. Recommendations of Latin America
6. Recommendations of North America

Thematic Recommendations from the Regional Consultations

1. Recommendations on the Environment
2. Recommendations on COVID-19
3. Recommendations on Education
4. Recommendations on Governance and Rule of Law
5. Recommendations on Empowerment

Recommendations from Youth Consultation

1. Recommendations on Countering Hate Speech
2. Recommendations on Refugees and Migrants
3. Recommendations on Ecological Challenges

Recommendations from the KAICIID Fellows Consultation

1. Recommendations on Peacebuilding
2. Recommendations on Disaster Risk Reduction
3. Recommendations on Women and Youth
4. Recommendations on Guarding the Planet
5. Recommendations on the Rule of Law

Policy Briefs

1. Policy Brief on Countering Hate Speech
2. Policy Brief on Protecting the Rainforest
3. Policy Brief on Human Trafficking
4. Policy Brief on Refugees
5. Policy Brief on Inclusive Education
6. Policy Brief on Religious Networks
7. Policy Brief on COVID-19
8. Policy Brief on Governance and Corruption

Link to the KAICIID G20 Interfaith Forum Supporting Documents

Link to the 2020 G20 Interfaith Forum Proceedings

A G20 Interfaith Forum Policy Brief

Draft, September 25, 2020

Challenges and Call to Action
The Saudi G20 Presidency has identified refugees, migrants, and trafficking in its goal to “empower  people by unleashing opportunities for all, including in particular empowering women and youth.”  The G20 Summit offers a crucial venue to coordinate and advance responses for refugees and  internally displaced people, who are primarily hosted in communities of low- or middle-income  countries. With the COVID-19 emergency heightening burdens on both forced migrants and host  governments, urgent financial pressures demand action.

The many aspects of forced migration demand solutions from global leaders, as the present situation causes great human suffering and uncertainty and places severe economic, political, and social stresses on, especially, refugee-host states. Action on refugees and forced migration issues is central to the priority objectives of respecting human dignity, ending conflict, and promoting sustainable economic and social development. The number of forced migrants worldwide is at historic highs and is growing: at the end of 2019, an estimated 79.5 million people were refugees and internally displaced persons. The global COVID-19 pandemic and associated emergency further strain both refugees and the communities that host them. Dangerous and significant spillover effects  worldwide are anticipated.

Religious institutions, including faith-based operational organizations, play substantial roles in direct support to forced migrants at all stages (advocacy, conflict resolution, service provision, resettlement) and places (conflict zones, host countries). The core values of religious communities involve compelling and unifying calls to compassion and hospitality, Deeper collaboration among religious institutions and faith- inspired organizations, G20 members governments, and those present and working in refugee-hosting communities can foster the types of “tools, partnerships, and funding” needed to implement UNHCR’s Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and the principles of the Global Compact on Refugees. Religious actors bring to the table as a leading concern the imperative of action to protect the children in forced migration settings. Religious communities act as transnational actors able to provide services and advocacy across borders.

The G20 Interfaith Association calls on leaders of the G20 to engage with religious communities and organizations in a common effort to advance, in short order and respecting the dignity of those involved, the three-durable solutions for refugees and forced migrants: voluntary repatriation, local integration, and resettlement. Specific recommendations highlight the need for cooperation with faith communities on critical needs linked to the COVID-19 crisis. These include food security and health care, security and safety, and education as priorities. Action required establishing effective coordination mechanisms with faith communities at appropriate levels, and addressing dangerous migration routes through constructive programs.

The Religions for Peace (RfP) UNHCR Multireligious Council of Leaders launched in September 2020 offers a forum to engage and advance both critically needed norms and principles and practical, urgent action to address the crises of forced displacement.

Click here for the G20 Interfaith Forum supporting documents

Chapter in The Handbook of Displacement pp 771-784

Local faith communities often assist displaced people, from acting as first responders to long-term support. Given that local faith communities are critical local civil society actors, there has been relatively little attention paid to them by other international humanitarian actors. Overly simplistic interpretation of their roles in displacement confine faith communities to stereotypes of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ local response. To demonstrate some of the nuance and complexity behind the role of local faith communities and their forms of resistance, Trotta and Wilkinson extensively review the literature to show how local faith communities are involved in responses to displacement from assisting people on the move, to arrival and reception, and long-term solutions.

This Handbook provides the knowledge and tools needed to understand how displacement is lived, governed, and mediated as an unfolding and grounded process bound up in spatial inequities of power and injustice. The handbook ensures, first, that internal displacements and their everyday (re)occurrences are not overlooked; second, it questions ‘who counts’ by including ‘displaced’ people who are less obviously identifiable and a clearly circumscribed or categorised group; third, it stresses that while displacement suggests mobility, there are also periods and spaces of enforced stillness that are not adequately reflected in the displacement literature; and fourth, it re-evokes and explores the ‘place’ in displacement by critically interrogating peoples’ ‘right to place’ and the significance of placemaking, unmaking, and remaking in the contemporary world.

Please click on the download button to be directed to the book website.

In January, join the Religions Humanitarianism and Development reading group with the Ajaz Ahmad Khan.

Forced migrant survivors of SGBV constitute some of the most marginalised groups within countries of refuge. This report explores the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on forced migrant survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and the organisations which support them across the five countries involved in the SEREDA project; the UK, Turkey, Tunisia, Sweden and Australia. Interviews with 52 survivors and 45 service providers identified a number of effects associated with the pandemic which impacted on the lives of forced migrants and survivors of SGBV, undermining their coping, recovery, ability to integrate and potentially increasing their vulnerability to further abuse and exploitation.

The study identified the impact of the emergency at three levels:

• those which are likely to affect the general population;
• those that are likely to be specific to forced migrants, and;
• those that arise because of the intersection of forced migration with SGBV.

Religion can, has, and does play a key role in motivating and framing diverse forms of support for refugees and asylum-seekers around the world. This report draws on over 300 in-depth interviews conducted with refugees, members of local host communities and locally-based organisations in towns, cities and camps in Cameroon, Greece, Malaysia, Mexico, Lebanon and Jordan to examine the roles that members of local faith communities, faith leaders and faith-based organisations can play in promoting social justice for refugees. This includes a particular focus on the roles played by individuals and communities who have themselves experienced displacement. As the research findings attest, the promotion of social justice for refugees can range from offering humanitarian assistance, to diverse acts of advocacy, activism, and solidarity, all within political and social contexts that are often compromised and precarious. The findings also evidence a disconnect between what policy makers and practitioners assume that ‘refugees need’ and what different groups of refugees themselves consider to be essential requirements, as prerequisites to dignity and justice. The report presents and analyses these findings, tracing the implications of this project for future research in this field, and laying the foundations for a Policy Brief that will be published in 2020.

Learn more about the Religion and Social Justice for Refugees project and find out more about a workshop with the Refugee Hosts’ team here.

Introducing the Network for Dialogue: EMPOWERING INTERRELIGIOUS AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE FOR THE SOCIAL INCLUSION OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES

The Network for Dialogue was initiated in 2018 by the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) in order to bring faith and civil society actors from around Europe together to promote the use of dialogue and develop more effective recommendations for social inclusion policies for migrants and refugees in Europe. As a European-wide platform, the Network for Dialogue gathers faith-based and secular organizations, religious leaders and scholars working in the field of migration and religious studies. In 2019, the Network members come from Austria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and the Network plans to expand its membership to other European countries.

The Network for Dialogue organizes regular twice-yearly meetings in workshop format and coordinates webinars, training sessions, conference panels and publications in order to exchange knowledge, tools and approaches. By identifying gaps in the field of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, the Network aims to reduce hate speech and prejudice towards migrants and refugees in Europe. And by sharing diverse and rich grassroots-level experiences, Network members aim to develop recommendations for policy makers working on migrants and refugees on the local, national and European level. In assisting and supporting social inclusion of people seeking refuge in their new host societies through various local initiatives, the Network for Dialogue is building bridges around Europe. Membership of the Network is open to persons working with refugees and migrants and who promote interreligious or intercultural dialogue, tolerance and respect the diversity of cultures and freedom of religious belief.

see more on the Network for Dialogue here

Written Statement from the Anglican Consultative Council, July 2019

The global Anglican Communion is playing a significant role in pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals and “leaving no one behind”. Globally, Anglicans and Anglican agencies are delivering health and education services, supporting access to birth registration, welcoming refugees and internally displaced people into their communities, reducing child and maternal mortality, and helping turn the tide on HIV/AIDS and other diseases. In places of instability and conflict, churches are often among the only institutions left providing hope and relief to those in need…

Click here to read the Commitments from the Anglican Consultative Council

The Project Integration through Dialogue Toolkit consists of this Handbook, as well as two supplements: Activity Materials and Sample Information Handouts.

Toolkits are often defined as a collection of methods, materials and ideas. This Toolkit can be used in its entirety to replicate Project Integration through Dialogue. Alternatively, individual modules and activities can be extracted and incorporated into other contexts (e.g. into language classes or other forms of training). This Toolkit is based on the team’s work and lessons learned during project implementation in Vienna, Austria, from March 2017 to March 2018.

For that reason, we’ve produced the Toolkit in both English and German and much of the specific, About the Toolkit informational content (such as integration-related systems, services, and policies) is targeted to Austria, and the city of Vienna. On the other hand, most of the activities and content related to the development of dialogue and nonviolent
communication skills are universal and can be relevant for people seeking refuge or migrants in a number of different contexts.

We hope the Toolkit will inspire users to better understand dialogue as an approach to support integration and inclusion, and that it will provide a simple way for those working on refugee or migrant integration to introduce integration-related dialogue into their own work.

The Seminar on Role of Faith Actors in Implementing the Global Compact on Refugees, that took place in Beirut on June 18, 2019, sought not only to bring together leaders and faith-based organisations from the three main sects together, but to also engage government officials and secular NGOs in order to propose a more unified and strategic response to the crisis. Together they united in recognition of the important role that faith and faith-leaders can, and increasingly must, play in all areas of the refugee response – from preventing the break out of conflict , to helping refugees integrate into their host societies when they are forced to flee, to even helping to resolve conflicts once violence breaks out, and setting durable foundations for peace.

The Key Roles of Faith Actors in Meeting Needs of Refugees and Forced Migrants

Presented by Jean Duff, JLI President

For millions of refugee girls, education is out of reach. Despite substantial increases in access to girls’ education around the world over the last two decades, refugee girls remain left behind.

In countries affected by conflict, girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys. Girls make up half of the 7.4 million school-age refugees, yet face disproportionate challenges in accessing and sustaining their education. Among all refugee children, only 61 percent are enrolled in primary school and 23 percent are enrolled in secondary school. Notably, refugee girls are only half as likely to be enrolled in secondary school as boys.

Limited access to education further perpetuates the challenges and vulnerabilities that displaced girls face. The isolation of being out of school can harm girls who’ve experienced trauma during their displacement as they may be more vulnerable to trafficking or early marriage. Without school, refugee girls may find it more difficult to heal, build hope, and find safety.

The benefits of investing in education for all girls – including refugees and those who are forcibly displaced – transcends the individual. If refugee girls have access to an education, their families and communities are more likely to improve their social and economic position. The further girls progress with their schooling, the more they develop leadership skills, become income generators, and build self-reliance. These are personal qualities that will help their communities flourish as they strive to adapt to their host countries or as they prepare to return to their home countries.

Her Future: Challenges & Recommendations to Increase Education for Refugee Girls

Afin de maximiser les opportunités considérables qu’offre le Pacte mondial sur les réfugiés (PMR), la communauté internationale doit reconnaître l’expérience et les capacités des acteurs confessionnels et lever les obstacles qui se posent aux partenariats avec ces acteurs afin d’être en mesure de fournir une réponse plus efficace, durable et globale. Le PMR reconnaît que « les acteurs confessionnels pourraient contribuer à la planification et à la mise en oeuvre des arrangements pour assister les réfugiés et les communautés d’accueil, notamment en matière de prévention des conflits, de réconciliation et de consolidation de la paix, ainsi que dans d’autres domaines pertinents ». Le rôle critique et global que jouent les acteurs confessionnels, ainsi que leur potentiel pour une prestation de services efficace méritent une analyse plus complète et nuancée.

Cette note politique produit plusieurs recommandations fondées sur les rôles multiples que la foi et les acteurs confessionnels jouent aux différentes étapes et lieux du déplacement forcé. Cette note est en accord avec la section « Arrangements pour le partage de la charge et des responsabilités » du PMR et ses trois points de la sous-section « Domaines nécessitant de l’appui » :« Accueil et admission », «Satisfaire les besoins et soutenir les communautés » et finalement « Solutions ».

la Mise en Oeuvre du Pacte Mondial Sur les Réfugiés (en anglais)

من اجل تحقيق الحد الاقصى من الفرص المهمة التي تقدمها الاتفاقية الدولية بشأن اللاجئين يجب على المجتمع الدولي ، ان يعترف بتجربة وقدرات الجهات الفاعلة العقائدية وكسر الحواجز القائمة امام الشراكات لتمكين استجابه دائمة وفعالة وأكثر شمولية . وبينما تقر الاتفاقية الدولية بشأن اللاجئين، “انه يمكن للجهات الفاعلة العقائدية دعم التخطيط وتقديم الاجرءات لمساعدة اللاجئين والمجتمعات المضيفة, بما في ذلك في مجالات منع النزاع / والمصالحة/ وبناء السلام وغيرها من المجالات ذات الصلة”. فإن دور الجهات الفاعلة العقائدية الحاسم و الشامل – فضلاً عن قدرتها على تقديم الخدمات بكفاءه – يجعل من المسوغ اجراء فحصا اكثر اكتمالاً ودقة

يقدم ملخص السياسة هذا مجموعة من التوصيات قائمة على الدليل المتعلق بالأدوار المتعددة التي تلعبها العقيدة و الجهات الفاعلة العقائدية عبر مختلف مراحل وأماكن التهجير القسري. ان هذا الملخص يتماشى مع اقسام الاتفاقية الدولية بشأن اللاجئين فيما يخص ترتيبات المشاركة بتحمل الاعباء والمسؤولية ومجالاتها الثلاثة التي تحتاج للدعم: الاستقبال والقبول, تلبية الاحتياجات ودعم المجتمعات, والحلول

Read the English Policy Brief here

اضغط هنا للمزيد من المصادر حول الاتفاقية الدولية بشأن اللاجئين

Journal: Migration and Society

Local faith actors are deeply involved in assisting refugees around the world. Their place in refugee response, however, can be in parallel with and, at times, in disagreement with the efforts of international humanitarian organizations. Focusing on the interactions between local faith actors and refugees and local faith actors and international organizations, the lenses of hospitality and hostility are used to analyze the tensions between these types of actors. Through a review of the literature and interviews with 21 key informants, Dr Wilkinson shows processes of marginalization. This occurs to the extent that local faith actors lose their positions of host to the dominance of the international humanitarian system, and feelings of hostility ensue. This demonstrates to international actors why they might be ill received and how they can approach partnerships with local faith actors in more diplomatic ways.

See button for link to journal article

This targeted resource brief provides a selection of works published by academics, NGOs, and faith actors (FAs) on the role that faith plays in contexts of forced displacement. The resources are grouped into the three main areas in need of support as outlined by the Global Compact on Refugees.

Within each area, subheadings and keywords are meant to facilitate access to resources on specific topics. This resources brief supports the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities’ accompanying policy brief on faith actors and the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees.

Read the Policy Brief Here

To maximize the significant opportunities presented by the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), the international community must recognize the experience and capabilities of faith actors (FAs) and break down existing barriers to partnerships to enable a more comprehensive, effective, and durable response.

While the GCR does acknowledge that: “Faith-based actors could support the planning and delivery of arrangements to assist refugees and host communities, including in the areas of conflict prevention, reconciliation, and peacebuilding, as well as other relevant areas,” the critical and comprehensive role that FAs play – as well as their potential for efficient service delivery – warrants a fuller and more nuanced examination.

This policy brief provides a set of recommendations based on evidence concerning the multiple roles that faith and faith actors play across different stages and spaces of forced displacement. The brief is aligned with the GCR’s sections on Arrangements for Burden- and Responsibility-sharing and its three Areas in Need of Support (Reception and Admission, Meeting Needs and Supporting Communities, and Solutions)

• Read the Arabic Policy Brief (ملخص للسياسة: الجهات الفاعله العقائدية وتنفيذ الاتفاقيه الدولية بشأن اللاجئين)
• Read the French Policy Brief: Note Politique
• Read the supporting ‘Resource Brief’ that provides a reading list of articles related to faith, refugees, and the Global Compact
• Related Webinar

The predicament of refugees is a common concern of humankind. Refugee situations have increased in scope, scale and complexity and refugees require protection, assistance and solutions. Millions of refugees live in protracted situations, often in low- and middle income countries facing their own economic and development challenges, and the average length of stay has continued to grow. Despite the tremendous generosity of host countries and donors, including unprecedented levels of humanitarian funding, the gap between needs and humanitarian funding has also widened. There is an urgent need for more equitable sharing of the burden and responsibility for hosting and supporting the world’s refugees, while taking account of existing contributions and the differing capacities and resources among States. Refugees and host communities should not be left behind.

Click for the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) Media Fact Sheet

See here for webinar video on refugees, migration and children on the move

Evidence shows an increased risk of psychological distress and mental health problems in refugee populations. Despite this, refugees often display the ability to continue to function, to recover and live meaningful and productive lives. Parents’ mental health and coping style is significant to the mental health and wellbeing of their children. The aim of this study was to explore the coping mechanisms utilised by displaced Syrian refugees who care for children. Twenty-seven mothers and two professional aid workers in refugee camps and humanitarian contexts in Turkey and Syria participated in interviews or focus groups. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Data were structured into three themes: adaptation to a new norm, such as acceptance, normalisation and gratitude; reaching out for support, such as in aiding problem solving and gaining support; keeping mentally strong using faith to soothe pain and to motivate to parent well. A number of themes associated with Syrian refugee coping during pre-resettlement were identified. These themes may be translated into strategies to improve culturally appropriate psychosocial interventions in such settings.

The study showed that differences between IDPs and migrants are small when it comes to their experience in Nairobi, but quite different from that of non-migrants. IDPs and migrants had lower levels of education than non-migrants and were less likely than non-migrants to live in a freestanding house. On the other hand, we found that IDPs were more likely than migrants or non-migrants to live in high-risk areas and less likely to own their dwelling as well as items such as television, radio, computer and to have access to electricity.

With regard to living experience in the city, we found no statistically significant differences between the experience of IDPs, migrants and non-migrants of being forced to move within Nairobi because of evictions. On the other hand, our measures of people’s experience and attitudes suggest that IDPs and migrants’ social capital is much lower than that of non-migrants. As mentioned, however, these indicators were very blunt measures. Further analysis of the findings presented in this report can be found in the study carried out by ODI and IRC entitled “Sanctuary in the city: Urban displacement and vulnerability in Nairobi”.

Displacement is increasingly common (affecting one in every 122 people) and also increasingly protracted (over half of the world’s 14 million refugees in 2015 have been displaced for over ten years). Circa 90% of these refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) remain in the global South, and most of them, in turn, reside in urban spaces.^[1] However, while it clear that we are facing a period of protracted displacement in (peri- )urban settings, it is less frequently acknowledged that this is also a period of overlapping displacements. This is the case in at least two senses. Firstly, refugees and IDPs have often both personally and collectively experienced secondary and tertiary displacement, as in the case of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees who had originally sought safety in Damascus only to be displaced once more by the on-going Syrian conflict, and of Sahrawi and Palestinian refugees who had left their refugee camp homes in Algeria and Lebanon respectively to study or work in Libya before being displaced by the outbreak of conflict in that country in 2011 (Fiddian-Qasmiyeh 2012). Secondly, refugees are increasingly experiencing overlapping displacement in the sense that they often physically share spaces with other displaced people in diverse spaces of asylum: Turkey hosts refugees from over 35 countries of origin, Lebanon from 17, Kenya 16, Jordan 14, Chad 12, and both Ethiopia and Pakistan 11 (Crawford et al: 2015). However, in spite of the widespread reality of these overlapping groups, and given the interest in ‘superdiversity’ and ‘cosmopolitanism’ in urban spaces across migration studies writ large (Vertovec, 2007; Derrida 2007), it is particularly notable that refugees’ positions, identities, beliefs and behaviours in relation to other groups of refugees remain almost entirely unexplored to date.

It is often taken for granted that local communities hosting refugees are composed of settled and established groups of citizens. However, newly displaced populations not only share spaces with or aim to integrate into communities of ‘nationals’ but also into communities formed by established or former refugees and IDPs, whether of similar or different nationality/ethnic groups.[1] This is especially the case given three key trends in displacement: the increasingly protracted nature of displacement, the urban nature of displacement and the overlapping nature of displacement.

While a great deal of academic and policy attention has been given to the first two, very little research has been conducted into the nature and implications of ‘overlapping’ displacements, including with regard to local communities. I use this term to refer to two forms of ‘overlap’. Firstly, refugees and IDPs have often both personally and collectively experienced secondary and tertiary displacement. This is the case of those Sahrawi and Palestinian refugees who left their refugee camp homes in Algeria and Lebanon to study or work in Libya before being displaced by the outbreak of conflict there in 2011, and of Palestinian and Iraqi refugees who had originally sought safety in Syria only to be displaced once more by the conflict there.[2] Secondly, refugees are increasingly experiencing overlapping displacement in the sense that they often physically share spaces with other displaced people. For example, Turkey hosts refugees from over 35 countries of origin, Lebanon from 17 countries, Kenya 16, Jordan 14, Chad 12 and both Ethiopia and Pakistan 11.[3] Given the protracted nature of displacement, over time these refugee groups often become members of communities which subsequently welcome and offer protection and support to other groups of displaced people.

In 2018, world leaders will come together to draft and adopt two landmark compacts that have the potential to impact the lives of millions of migrant, displaced and refugee children.
UNICEF has joined the voices of many who have called for the inclusion of policies that address the care and protection of these children.

The goal of this report is to show that protecting migrant, displaced and refugee children is not only right in principle, it is also right when put into practice. Indeed, governments and their partners are actively engaged in initiatives within countries and across borders to provide care and protection for uprooted children. Host communities also have employed innovative ways to welcome and help integrate them.

Though much has been done, the challenge is to do more. As world leaders come together to agree on the two compacts, UNICEF calls on them to incorporate principles – and practices – that can provide a safe home, a safe passage and a safe destination for every migrant, displaced and refugee child.

An activity handbook for children in secondary education

Based on THE JOURNEY TOWARDS HOSPITALITY – Vol. 2: Secondary

is part of a Campaign for Hospitality organised by the Jesuit Network for Migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean (RJM LAC) with other sponsor organisations. The aim of the campaign and of this activity handbook is to introduce children and young people to:

• Do we know the reality of people who are forced to move, their aspirations, difficulties and needs
• Do we know if their rights are respected in our communities?
• Do we realise how these people enrich our societies?
• How can we get to know them better and welcome one another?
• Acknowledge the reality of migrants, refugees and forcibly displaced people.
• Discover the richness of cultural diversity and intercultural societies.
• Welcome and respect everyone.
• Defend the dignity and rights of foreigners, forced migrants, refugees and displaced people

There are currently more than 230 million people in the world who live outside their countries of origin. They are on the move, or have been so at some point in their lives. They could have been forced to move for a variety of reasons, ranging from adverse economic conditions to the search for new sources of income for their families, conflicts, political violence, gangs or natural disasters.

JRS Website

Primary education handbook

34 years of service to refugees

Summary of JRS work globally:

• Education, rebuilding lives
• Reconciliation, recreating right relationships

July 2018

There is a burgeoning body of research about refugee youth that adopts a deficit approach by focusing on the problems and barriers youth encounter in adjusting culturally and academically to schools. Less research takes an asset approach through an examination of the strengths refugee youth bring to formal schooling and how these assets can be built upon to support academic achievement and cultural adjustment. In this article, we challenge these deficit notions, through examining the everyday spaces inhabited by Sudanese refugee youth living in regional New South Wales, Australia. Our research poses the question: what role do institutions outside school play in supporting Sudanese refugee youth as they move from one culture to another? The question is significant because little research has examined the role played by institutions outside school, e.g., church, youth groups and sporting associations in fostering the social and cultural capital required for refugee youth to integrate within the broader community, and to engage successfully in schooling. Drawing on Bourdieuian concepts of cultural and social capital and habitus, we suggest that religious affiliation enabled the young people to access social capital through “prosocial and  moral directives” (Barrett, 2010; p. 467). Moreover, religious involvement provided refugeproeducationale youth with access to socially legitimised forms of cultural capital. These forms of capital shaped the students’ habitus and contributed to school adjustment and achievement. We conclude that future research is needed to examine the role that church and other institutions outside school play in contributing to cultural and academic adjustment.

This paper addresses the operations of faith-based humanitarian organizations and their rationale for the measures taken for education provision for the non-camp Syrian children in Turkey. In unveiling the role of the Islamic humanitarian sector in exercising education facilities for a linguistically and culturally different population alongside the centrally governed national education system, this paper uses humanitarian aid and its education nexus as a theoretical framework.

Turkey retains a geographic limitation to its ratification of the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention), which means that Syrian people in Turkey, like many other refugees form non-European countries, in fact do not have “refugee” status. Therefore, Syrian people in Turkey are legally referred to as foreigners under “temporary protection” with a right to access to several public services including education. This paper, however, refers to the displaced people of Syria as refugees; that is, regardless of the differences in national and international legal conceptualization of “refugeehood.” It also does not consider in detail the experience of refugees in arrival destinations as individuals. Rather, adopting an institutional approach, the focus of this study is how non-state organizations, particularly the faithbased non-governmental organizations (NGOs), respond to a humanitarian crisis in the education sector. Accordingly, the methodology for the research relies mainly on interviews with key informants from the Turkish Ministry of National Educations and non-state institutions—formally accredited by the Turkish Ministry of Interior as civil society organizations, associations, or foundations known as vakifs—involved in different aspects of education provision efforts for Syrian children.

Worldwide, refugees often live through devastating experiences prior to fleeing their homes, including fearing or being close to death, seeing the death of loved ones and experiencing deprivation or torture (Cardozo, Vergara, Agani, & Gotway, 2000; Kleijn, Hovens, & Rodenburg, 2001). Unsurprisingly, research indicates increased risk of psychological distress and psychopathology amongst refugee populations (Fazel,Wheeler, & Danesh, 2005), and different psychiatric and psychological models
have been used to understand this. Many studies focus on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which may be identified after individuals have experienced or witnessed traumatic events that are usually life
threatening or threaten physical integrity. Reviews indicate that PTSD is approximately ten times more likely among refugees than age matched native populations (Johnson & Thompson, 2008). In general, a dose response relationship is found between the number of traumatic experiences and the psychological stress that refugees experience (Steel, Silove, Phan, & Bauman, 2002).

This booklet from Jesuit Refugee Service presents teaching, reflections and guidance of Pope Francis regarding migrants and refugees. It contains a Message from Pope Francis and twenty action priorities in two versions. One is meant for active
pastoral engagement with migrants and refugees. The other expanded presentation is for use in advocacy and negotiation with national governments to influence the Global Compacts on Migrants and on Refugees currently being developed.

The Rohingya Refugee Crisis is a children’s emergency. Over a five-month period, 655,500 people have fled widespread violence in Myanmar, 58 percent of which have been children.

Since arriving in refugee camps in Bangladesh, many of these children have reported the burning of houses, violent abuses, and targetted arson. Through a children’s consultation, World Vision International, Save the Children and Plan International provided a platform for refugee children and children in host communities to speak out, to share their day-to-day experiences, needs and challenges, together with their fears and hopes for the future.

The findings from the children’s consultation are presented in two ways. Part I is a fictional account written from children’s perspectives and takes the reader through a day in the life of children in the camps, touching on their day-to-day activities and experiences. This narrative is based on the children’s testimonies and key findings that form Part II of the report, which presents the consolidated analysis of the children’s consultation exercise.

The aim of this consultation is to bring more visibility to their specific concerns and for these concerns to inform a more child-centred humanitarian response. The preliminary findings of the children’s consultation were shared in December 2017 to inform the new Humanitarian Response Plan (March to December 2018). A second hope is that the recommendations will guide the response to ensure that the rights of all girls and boys affected by the refugee crisis are upheld through adequate and timely child- and gender-sensitive interventions.

In the summer of 2007, focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted with Liberian refugee women living in the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the means through which Liberian families were able to cope with the persistent challenges of living and raising children as protracted1 refugees in a camp environment. The aim was to understand the refugees’ perceived needs and resources as parents of, or caregivers to, refugee children, as well as their perceptions of return to Liberia.

A significant proportion of the research undertaken with people who have been displaced because of war has focused on mental health outcomes and implications for psychological functioning (see for example de Jong et al. 2000; Mollica et al. 1997; Sabin et al. 2003; Tang and Fox 2001). This academic focus on negative outcomes tends to represent refugees, especially those in camps, as being immobilized victims of psychological trauma whoare helplessly waiting for assistance from the outside world. This prolific research agenda has been challenged by authors who reject these mental health assessments (Summerfield 1999; Bracken et al. 1995). These scholars argue that mental health assessments and outcomes have been taken out of context in the West, and applied poorly and prolifically to refugee and other war affected populations in the developing world. Fewer studies have focused on positive adaptation to life in exile, especially life in a refugee camp. Though studies like those by Miller (1996) and Tribe (2004) offer a glimpse of positive adaptation among refugee children and families, the majority of the literature is concerned with psychological assessment. It is difficult to strike an authentic balance between attending to the genuine suffering of the displaced without presenting them as helpless victims, and recognizing their adaptive capabilities without romanticizing their resilience. Thus, this study was designed to investigate the means through which refugees at Buduburam learned to survive, without assuming trauma and mental illness or sensationalized adaptation to camp life

There is a growing interest within academic and policy circles surrounding the roles played by local faith communities (LFCs) and faith based organisations (FBOs) in responding to displacement.i This trend contrasts with some of the significant negative and secular assumptions that typically frame mainstream humanitarian engagements with faith groups.

For example, humanitarian responses to displacement have been critiqued for their reliance on secular frameworks that too often mistrust faith and religion, seeing them as a problem to be solved rather than as an opportunity to improve and enhance refugee protection.

These assumptions typically stem from a lack of effective knowledge about the ‘interface of governmental, intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations with local faith communities in the course of humanitarian responses,’ii and they often emphasise the ‘traditionalist’ and ‘conservative’ nature of religion in contrast to the more ‘progressive’ social and political approach taken by humanitarian actors toward, for example, human rights and women’s rights.iii Understanding and exploring these assumptions is a key priority for the authors’ ongoing research into local community responses to and experiences of displacement from Syria in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. As part of our AHRC-ESRC funded Refugee Hosts (www.refugeehosts.org) research project, we have been investigating how faith both explicitly and implicitly informs the ways in which people displaced from Syria are hosted by local communities. Based on our research to date in Lebanon and Jordan, we argue that the role that faith plays in times of displacement is far more complicated than the secular assumptions highlighted above might suggest.

In particular, by approaching faith through a focus on everyday dynamics can we begin to identify the diverse faith-based values that inform the nature of assistance offered to refugees by local hosting communities. Similarly, becoming more attuned to these dynamics may also enable international humanitarian organisations to develop a better understanding of the challenges that exist at the local level, such as the proliferation of exclusionary or sectarian practices, whilst simultaneously reflecting on the theological and ethical traditions that in turn guide ‘secular’ humanitarian work.

This article originally appeared on Refugee Hosts.

So I have a new name,
Refugee
Strange that a name should take away from me
My past, my personality and hope.
Strange refuge this.
So many seem to share this name, refugee,
Yet we share so many differences.
I find no comfort in my new name.
I long to share my past, restore my pride,
To show I too, in time, will offer more than I have borrowed.
For now the comfort that I seek
Resides in the old yet new name.
I would choose
Friend.
(‘Refugee’ by Ruvimbo Bungwe [2004:26]).

Bungwe’s poem, which captures the retrospective, current and prospective identity and experiences of a refugee child, is central to the focus of this paper. It intimates at the dehumanisation and obfuscation that he endures by virtue of his refugee status that has stripped him of his uniqueness, hope and pride. A subject of other’s identificatory labels, he would prefer being called ‘Friend’ – an identity marker that translates into a horizontal, reciprocal relationship based on trust, acceptance and respect.

It is widely recognised that ‘refugees often see the education of their children as a principal way of ensuring a better future’ (Dryden-Peterson 2003, 1). However, the means for providing such an education, and views of what precisely would amount to a ‘better future’, are less consistently expressed by the different actors involved in planning for and delivering schooling to refugee children around the world. On the one hand, refugee families and leaders may invest considerable amounts of otherwise scarce resources to establish camp-based schooling systems (Horst 2006, 13), even without international support, often viewing an education ‘as a means of preserving their group’s cultural, linguistic, and historical traditions’ (Water and Leblanc 2005, 138). Such an investment in education in the face of immediate scarcity and uncertainty demonstrates the significance which individuals, families and collectivities might give to ‘saving a way of life’ over ‘saving a life’ per se (Allen and Turton 1996).

Nevertheless, international organisations, United Nations relief agencies and both donor and host states have only relatively recently (primarily since the 1990s) accepted that schooling programmes should
be amongst the internationally guaranteed services to be offered by humanitarian agencies (Water and Leblanc 2005, 135). Even since the 1990s, international actors have often heralded ‘refugee-education’ for reasons and through means which may undermine local attempts to ‘save a way of life’, or may reflect the political priorities of donors as is arguably the case of the ‘peace education’ projects which prevail in many refugee contexts (see Verdirame and Harrell-Bond 2005, 258).

May 2018

Share responsibility, shared humanity:

a communique from the International Refugee Congress

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identifies a major protracted refugee situation as one where more than 25,000 refugees have been in exile for more than five years. Protracted refugee situations refer to those that have moved past the emergency phase, but for which there seems to be no possibly of safe and durable repatriation in the foreseeable future. They are not always static populations; there are often periods of increase and decrease in the numbers of people displaced and changes within the population. Today in the world there are around 30 major protracted refugee situations. Populations are living in this state of limbo for an average of 20 years – an increase from an average of nine years in the early 1990s. There are not only more people living in protracted refugee situations, but they are lasting much longer. (Milner & Loescher, 2011) Protracted displacement often originates from states whose chronic insecurity lies at the centre of wider regional instability. (Milner & Loescher, 2011)

This is certainly true in the case of the population living as long-term refugees in Rwanda, almost all of whom originate from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since the early 1990’s the African Great Lakes Region has been torn apart by conflict. 8 The 1994 Rwandan genocide and its consequences served as a catalyst precipitating further breakdown and crisis in the region including across Eastern DRC, where ongoing conflict and displacement continue today. (Prunier, 2011)

Rwanda currently hosts a population of 72,856 refugees9. Of this population, 99% of refugees come from the DRC, with small numbers of others coming from Burundi, Chad, Angola, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Uganda. Recent renewed violent conflict over land and ethnic tensions in North and South Kivu in Eastern DRC has seen large numbers of newly displaced Congolese flooding across the borders into Rwanda. Since April 2013, UNHCR have registered 26,700 new refugees mostly relocated to the newly established Kigeme Camp and Nkamira Transit Centre (while they await transfer). (UNHCR; Government of Rwanda, 2013)

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The term resilience has been widely used in recent years. Fundamentally, it refers to a person’s ability to adapt successfully to acute stress, trauma or chronic forms of adversity (e.g. Masten, 2014). However, there are various understandings of resilience. While, for example, some researchers conceive of resilience as a multiply determined developmental process that is not fixed (Cicchetti and Blender, 2006; Luthar and Cicchetti, 2000; Rutter, 2012; Sapienza and Masten, 2011), others use measures of trait resilience, which favours the assumption that people are resilient primarily because of their personal characteristics (e.g. Connor and Davidson, 2003). Although no consensus exists on how to define or measure resilience, resilience is more than a popular term. It has the potential for augmenting the understanding of protective processes. Investigation of these processes can lead to the expansion of developmental theory and useful avenues for intervention (Luthar and Cicchetti, 2000).

Young refugees1 are considered to be an extremely vulnerable group because of the psychological distress caused by traumatic experiences in their country of origin and during the flight, the waiting period in asylum seekers’ centres (ASCs) and the adaptation to a new life and culture in the host country (e.g. Bean et al., 2007). Consequently, studying adverse outcomes of these experiences has been the predominant aim of research on refugees for a long time (Lustig et al., 2004; Mohaupt, 2008). Indeed, several studies have shown that young refugees are at increased risk for a range of psychological problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression (Bronstein and Montgomery, 2011; Fazel et al., 2005).

Nevertheless, it appears misplaced to consider young refugees’ mental health problems as proof of lack of resilience because some of these may be considered as normal reactions to abnormal circumstances (Kleber, 1995; Papadopoulos, 1999). Also, Bonanno and Diminich (2013) emphasize that in the context of chronic and extreme adversity, gradual movement towards healthy adjustment may be regarded as resilience. Montgomery (2010) found that, while many young refugees showed high levels of psychological problems at arrival in Denmark, after 8–9years these problems were significantly decreased in most of them. Vulnerability and resilience may not always be opposite poles of the same continuum (Fergus and Zimmerman, 2005). Looking from a resilience perspective at young refugees may be meaningful for this group that has its whole future ahead.

A Syrian Teacher, November 2015

On November 3, 2015 I received a message from one of my contacts, a human smuggler. A group of 25 Syrians was stuck on a beach in Dikili, north of Izmir. They had failed to pay the outstanding amount for the passage to Greece. So the smugglers just rendered the dinghy unusable and left. The group had been there for a week.

‘’That’s just the story for you’’ my contact said, sarcastically.

I was in Dikili the next day. I grabbed a cab and hit the road to find that beach. After half an hour, I found the group. The beach was hard to spot from the main road. Trees were blocking the view. I had to climb down, as there was no marked path.

The group was living a hell in this actual paradise. Almost all their savings had been stolen by the smugglers. All that was left on the beach was the destroyed boat and the made-in-China life vests scattered all over. The men were searching for firewood while the women were trying to bring some kind of order to the camp site. It was a hot day, and the light breeze was carrying the stench of a makeshift toilet in my direction – a rocky portion of the beach was cordoned off with cardboard. Getting food and water was a logistical nightmare. They had to walk to Dikili. Fortunately, a few individuals from a nearby village had provided them with bread, some fruit and beverages.

The group was from the Syrian city of Kamishli. The men had decided to flee with their families in the face of imminent conscription. Their journey had started almost a year ago, but they had come to a dead end on this beach. Their worst fear was to be taken back to Izmir by the Turkish security forces. They were adamant that they would find the money and complete their voyage to Greece. Lesbos could be seen in the distance, despite a light wall of fog. So close, you could almost touch the island.

I had been on the beach for more than two hours. Everybody was telling me their story. The children were staring at me with curiosity, sometimes touching me. As I photographed them, they posed and laughed uncontrollably.

Then, something interesting happened. One of the women called out for the children. Without hesitation, all twelve children hurried in the direction from which that authoritative voice was coming. They sat in a circle and the woman started handing out notebooks, textbooks and pencils. I could not believe my eyes. She was reading out loud, the children repeating. Then the children began reading by themselves, one by one. The woman listened intensely; praising those who read correctly and making the others work harder. An hour later, class was over.

I had just had experienced an amazing moment. This teacher had refused to give up. Long ago, she had concluded that Syria was facing a lost generation and had decided to fight against that outcome, on her own. She was not going to leave these children alone.

Throughout the research, I never forgot about that teacher. She should be an inspiration to us all.

People destabilized by armed conflict, including refugees, internally displaced persons, in particular, women and children are at increased risk of exposure to HIV infection (United Nation General Assembly 2001). The above quotation suggests that internally displaced persons in general and women and children in particular are among the most vulnerable groups who are exposed to an increased risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. As a matter of fact, a number of factors may facilitate the prevalence of the disease among the IDPs. On one hand, the vulnerability of the women emerges from the fact that they are at increased risk of sexual violence and abuse during conflicts and wars (Amowitz et al. 2002, p. 329). This is because at the time of conflicts, rape was considered a weapon of war. Moreover, conflicts and wars usually break down the institutions as well as the social networks that provide support and protection to the women (UNESCO and UNHCR 2007). On the other hand, the psychological effect which is caused by the exposure to the mass trauma during wars leads to alcohol and drug abuse, especially among young people. This may influence their attitudes towards risky behaviors such as unsafe sexual practices that lead to sexual transmitted diseases such as AIDS (UNESCO and UNHCR 2007).

In the absence of an effective medical cure or vaccine, knowledge and awareness about HIV/AIDS are considered the most powerful weapons against the disease (Kelly 2009). The question posed here is: From where do vulnerable people in IDPs situation acquire knowledge about HIV/AIDS? To answer this question, this paper aims to identify the main channels from which young people in Dar el Salaam IDPs camp in Omdurman-Sudan acquire knowledge about HIV/AIDS.

The researcher will first highlight the methods which used to collect data in this study, then will explain how samples for this study were identified and selected. Discussion of the ethical issues that were considered will as well take place, followed by illustrating the qualitative research methods which followed in this study. Following that, will be discussed against studies done on similar issues, the researcher will provide some recommendations and conclusions for further studies.

Over 70,000 Burmese refugees have resettled in the United States in the past decade. While Burmese adolescents quickly acculturate into American society, their perspectives on health are not well-known. The purpose of this study was to identify adolescent Burmese refugee perspectives on determinants of health and health-related experiences after resettlement. In this qualitative study, Burmese adolescents took photographs depicting health-related experiences that were used as elicitation tools during focus groups. These discussions were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for themes. Participants described positive determinants of health, including family and church. Rampant tobacco use was identified by the participants as a determinant of poor health within the Burmese community. Notably, the participants were proud to serve as liaisons within their community, despite the stressful nature of this role. Our results highlight the need to screen this population for anxiety, secondary to serving as a liaison for their community, as well as tobacco use.

This article examines education policy for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, drawing on 44 stakeholder interviews conducted in March 2016. Findings indicate that the idea of children’s rights, enshrined in international conventions, combined with foreign aid, encouraged the creation of a national refugee education framework that expanded refugees’ access to schooling. However, in local communities and classrooms, where the government’s stated commitment to education must be realized, we find that policies are not fully implemented and that many unofficial educational programmes are operating in contradiction to government policy. We argue that, while such gaps between policy and practice in education are common, refugee contexts present distinct challenges for policy implementation due to the role of international actors in setting policy, weak state authority and refugees’ lack of legal status. We suggest that a better starting place for understanding education policy implementation is to understand the often competing sources of state and non-state authority that affect decision-making at the local level.

This report was commissioned by Sacred Heart College, and funded by the Breadsticks Foundation to better understand the conditions affecting access to education for migrant children in Johannesburg.

The Three2Six Education Project for Refugee Children at Sacred Heart College has been providing an afternoon bridging education programme for hundreds of refugee children since 2008. The project offers Maths, English and Life Skills and the aim is to prepare children to move into government schools. Refugee children encounter enormous barriers when trying to access state education, due to a combination of factors: a lack of information, access to finance, documentation and discrimination. The Three2Six Education Project has had moderate success in streaming children into mainstream education, but many of our children, despite being academically ready, are still struggling to gain access.

Also see here for a program brochure for the Three2Six program

Three2Six Website

Rights without borders

Locations: Grenada, Lebanon, Mexico, USA, Brazil, Uruguay, Rwanda, South Africa, Italy, Thailand, Australia

Program overview:

• Primary care (but not exclusive) to children, young people and their families.
• Promoting education through extra schooling support, non-formal education and ongoing formation
• Education in local languages and culture at points of arrival, while attempting to nourish history, culture language of origin.
• Networking with other institutions in order to articulate actions and to follow up situations of migrants.
• Collaborating with other Governmental organizations at different levels (national, regional and local) to develop projects.
• Legal support of migrants.
• Organizing local and international volunteers.
• Use of different material and human resources and infrastructure from Marist schools and universities.

Also see Spanish Reports  for Lebanon Workshop held in 2017 (Catholic-University 2017 Partnership Lebanon) and Granada Workshop held in 2017  (Catholic University 2017 Partnership Granada)

Many of our readers already know that Lebanon, a country of fewer than 6 million people, has reached a breaking point in its capacity to host the almost 1.2 million Syrian refugees that have streamed into Lebanon as a result of the horrifying civil war in Syria these past three and a half years. What many of us may not know is that Mustafa al-Haj, a Syrian graduate of the University of Damascus (BA, 2010) and refugee, is the co-founder and principal of Tuyour al-Amal (lit. “Birds of Hope,”) an elementary, junior high, and high school desperately reaching out to US, European, Lebanese, and other Arab media, individuals, and NGOs to cobble together funding to keep the school afloat. Their Syrian curriculum and their innovative art therapy program are pioneering in the informal education system for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, and their classes are showing positive changes in the children who enroll and continue to attend.

Education for Refugees and the forcibly displaced

Jesuit Relief Service USA

Over the past several decades, an increasing number of refugee children and families have involuntarily
migrated to countries around the world to seek safety and refuge. As the refugee population increases,
it is becoming more important to understand factors that promote and foster resilience among refugee
youth. The present review examines the past 20 years of resilience research with refugee children to
identify individual, family, school, community, and societal factors fostering resilience. This review
highlights various factors that promote resilience among refugee children, including social support (from
friends and community), a sense of belonging, valuing education, having a positive outlook, family
connectedness, and connections to home culture. Recommendations for interventions and programs to
promote resilience as well as future directions for resilience research are discussed

The education sector in Dadaab includes pre-school, primary, secondary, adult literacy, special education, vocational training and scholarships for tertiary education. The schools follow the Kenyan curriculum. In the three camps, there are 22 primary schools, six secondary schools, four YEP (Youth Education Pack) vocational training centres (the centre in Dadaab town is both for refugees and youth from the host community), three adult literacy centres, and three libraries.

In addition, there are six private schools following the Kenyan curriculum, as well as a number of religious schools (Madrasas and Duksis). In 2010, most of the old temporary tin can classrooms were renovated and replaced with concrete structures. Three tin can schools, Friends, Hornimo and Halane, in Ifo Camp have not been renovated due to their location in the flood zone where the population are to be moved. All the schools are heavily congested and there is an urgent need for more schools/ classrooms.

Due to the recent refugee influx and relocation from the outskirts of the camps, new temporary schools have been put up to give the children an immediate protective learning environment. These structures will later be replaced by more permanent structures. In Ifo 2, two new primary schools have been finalized by DRC and NRC and handed over. Already 1,200 pupils are enrolled in the recently opened school building.

War, conflict, political uprisings and other hardships displace countless families each year. More than
half of the world’s estimated 19 million refugees are children (United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees [UNHCR], 2007). Some children grow up in refugee camps and start their own families before
even moving into their actual homes (UNHCR, 2006; Washington, 2011). Some of these children have
missed formal schooling for years during the transitional period due to mainly financial reasons where
parents cannot afford to send their children to school; As, a result, the children are impacted by the new
schooling systems in the resettlement country, and the linguistic and cultural changes in the classroom
accompanied by emotional hurdles that pose a threat to their well-being (Wellman & Bey, 2015).

Program overview of Equipping Churches to Serve Refugees

Locations: Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Syria

FY 2017

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Italy, known as Centro Astalli, has offices in Rome, Trento, Vicenza, Palermo and Catania, offering a range of services including legal aid, healthcare, language classes, material and psychosocial support, and help to find employment.

JRS wanted to give a voice to those who agreed to share their experience in Sicily to highlight the urgent need for changes in Italy’s reception system. They hope their experiences and insights will be heeded and that more realistic measures will be put in place to effectively ensure respect for the human dignity and basic rights of all refugees and forced migrants.

Deepening the Mission of Reconciliation in the Work of JRS

In June 2013, as part of an ongoing collaboration between JRS (Jesuit Refugee Service) and the Centre for Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College, JRS workers from across the world met with academics at the Metta Karuna Reflection Centre in Siem Reap, Cambodia. The aim of the workshop was to reflect on the role of reconciliation in JRS, and to articulate the underlying principles and elements of their work in this area.

This manual attempts to capture both the insights of the workshop and the richness of its discussions.
There is much to absorb. Rather than reading this as a whole, JRS recommends reading each section individually then reflecting together.

Key parts

• reflects on why world religions take part in reconciliation (pg 12)
• introduces JRS reconciliation process (pg 29)
• country-specific case studies (pg 63)

A review of two pilot projects for children and young people

Since 2014, World Vision has operated a humanitarian response programme supporting internally displaced Iraqi families in the Kurdish Region of Iraq (KRI). Within this, WV KRI has been implementing two interdependent ‘pilot’ projects for working with displaced communities through faith networks, the Youth Empowerment Project and the Celebrating Families project.

• Youth Empowerment (CREF) began in July 2016, as a localised project working through five
  Christian churches in Erbil (KRI’s capital and most populous city) to support Christian youth displaced by ISIS. A refreshed phase of programming from February to September 2017 saw the project expand into more IDP camps in Erbil and begin church-based partnerships in Sulaymaniyah and Dohuk.
• Celebrating Families used a model from World Vision’s global child protection strategy, using faith as a starting point for discussions among Christian parents on their role in ensuring the wellbeing and happiness of their children. While Celebrating Families has been well tested in many different contexts, this is the first time it has implemented among communities recently displaced by conflict.

Several US and international migration and refugee focused organizations have recently issued a statement on the global compacts to present a framework for ongoing dialogue with policymakers and other government officials.

The Vatican’s Section on Migrants and Refugees (Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development) has prepared this 20-point plan in response to the global compacts.

For more from the Vatican Migrants & Refugees Section see www.migrants-refugees.va

2.5 million girls in eastern Africa in urgent need of protection

More than 2.5 million girls have been forced to flee their homes across eastern Africa and are in urgent need of protection, a new report from World Vision has found.

“We met dozens of girls across 10 countries who have been forced to abandon their education because they were driven from their homes due to conflict or climate change,” says Brenda Kariuki, World Vision’s Director of Advocacy in East Africa. “Too many have been separated from their families and have faced neglect, abuse, exploitation or sexual violence.”

The report, launched by World Vision in Nairobi, calls on the international and national decision-makers to better protect children who have been displaced due to humanitarian crises and fragility.

When Faiza* was 15 years old her village was attacked and she was captured, raped and forced to marry her rapist. For two years, she was held captive, became pregnant and had a baby girl.

“Life was very difficult. My life became one of troubles, of sickness. I suffered a lot, I was not happy, I was thinking of taking my life,” says the girl, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

When an opportunity came to flee, Faiza left her baby behind and crossed three countries to reach a refugee camp in Kenya.

Similarly, 14-year-old Jackeline was forced to leave her grandmother behind and flee South Sudan on her own when fighting broke out in her village. As a refugee on her own in Uganda, Jackeline felt the only way she could survive was to get married.

‘’I wanted someone who could take care of me, someone to provide my basic needs. I wanted to go back and reunite with my grandmother but I feared she was dead. So I went to the man and asked him to take me as his wife,” Jackeline remembers.

In Tanzania, 16-year-old Scola* became a refugee after fleeing her homeland on her own and struggled to adapt to her new surroundings.

“I still had a mission to have a good life. I became sexually active and started to earn some money out of my secret behaviour,” Scola says.

The report, titled Girls on the Move, enables girls who are refugees or internally displaced to share their story and urges aid agencies, governments and decision makers to act. Girls in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda all have shared their experiences.

“Every child we met told us this is not the life they want. The traumas of war, forced displacement and natural disasters have left too many children extremely vulnerable, stripping away their normal safeguards, placing them in situations of high risk, abuse or exploitation, and often spurring continuing cycles of fear and aggression,” Brenda says.

To end violence against children on the move, protect their rights and develop solutions to the most that affect them, particularly in humanitarian and fragile contexts in the region, World Vision has made nine key recommendations.

“We need to make sure that children come first when we’re responding to humanitarian situations and that they are safe from harm. Girls who have fled their homes need to be able to go to school and have access to support to deal with the violence they may have witnessed or experienced,” says Stephen Omollo, World Vision’s Vice President for East Africa.

*names changed to protect identities

Article on World Vision’s Website

The Role of Local Faith Communities in Refugee Response

08.05.2018

Resources for refugee response are increasingly squeezed as the number of displaced people around the world grows. Yet within local communities there are already strong bases of diverse human, cultural (including spiritual), and social capital that support refugees through efforts that include provision of food, shelter, and protection. When working with faith communities for refugee response, we build on existing local infrastructure and capital that would be near impossible to recreate. Working with local faith actors leads to a more coherent, joined up, and efficient response that is of direct benefit to refugees.

See below for full recommendation. For more information, please contact JLI Director of Research, Dr. Olivia Wilkinson (olivia@jliflc.com)

See other faith-based responses to the global compact here

Refugees and Hosts in Jordan and Lebanon

This research project was conducted between April 2017 and February 2018 with the following research questions:

1. What modalities of reception drive what kind of gendered wellbeing outcomes for refugee and host communities in cities across Jordan and Lebanon? What explains for these outcomes?
2. In what ways can policymakers, practitioners and donors support modalities of reception that promote gender equitable, improved wellbeing outcomes for urban refugees and host communities?

The project used the Bath Wellbeing in Development framework to analyse material, relational and subjective wellbeing outcomes for hosts and refugee groups. It conducted a systematic review of secondary materials, and combined this novel analysis of existing datasets for Syrian refugees in Jordan, a synthesis of policy analyses and a limited set of semi-structured interviews with key policy and practice stakeholders. The project also developed a Participatory Video together with host and refugee communities in Lebanon.

The following is a synthesis findings from the research, capturing the connections between modalities of reception and gendered wellbeing outcomes. This also includes some discussion of the role of religious and faith-based organizations.

IDS website

Exploring the Impact of Social Acceptance on Refugee Integration into Host Communities: Policy Research

To better understand how local integration plays out within communities, particularly the process of social integration, CRS has undertaken a three-country qualitative study in Ecuador, India and Jordan.

Results

This study strongly suggests that social acceptance is an integral component of a refugee’s integration process and thus should be prioritized in programming and policy development. Promoting social integration can facilitate access to other components of the integration process, such as housing and employment, and potentially improve other outcomes, such as mental health.

Given that almost 75 percent of refugees are displaced for more than 5 years (UNHCR, 2012), policymakers and practitioners must respond with an approach that supports integral human development in addition to addressing immediate humanitarian needs.

Recommendations

To Donors and Practitioners:

• Fund and pursue programs that support and serve refugees through an inclusive and holistic model, rather than sectoral responses.
• Identify beneficiaries based on vulnerability, and include necessary support to host communities. Donors should remove nationality-specific restrictions on funds directed toward refugees living outside camps, and support communities by focusing on vulnerability.

• Incorporate the use of shared community spaces into programs.Programming that addresses communitywide needs should be provided in ways that intentionally facilitate and promote social engagement. More interactions may help communities view refugees as individuals rather than threats.

To Host Countries:

• Sensitize host communities to refugees’ struggles. National and local governments should work to educate host communities on refugees’ experiences and actively promote positive social interactions among members of both communities.
• Establish standardized refugee policies and regulations that reflect international norms. Countries should develop policies that reflect international protection norms and apply them to refugees regardless of nationality, thus reducing the politicization of refugee assistance.

To Service Providers (Government and Nongovernmental Organizations):

• Ensure service providers have the skills and knowledge to support refugees. Individual practitioners and administrators are gatekeepers to the various institutions that inform the concrete components of the refugee integration process, including access to medical care, education, and legal status, among others. All service providers should be trained on the legal rights and psychosocial needs of refugees to ensure they are equipped to perform their duties.

Click download for full report

Interaction Between the Two Compacts is a Protection Solution

Statement by the International Catholic Migration Commission

Global Compact on Refugees
High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges

12-13 December 2017 by Mantalin Kyrou, Policy Officer’

Other faith-based contributions

As submitted for Formal Consultation 1

This report provides an overview of the engagement with faith-based actors and faith-related activities
by the members of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Engaging Faith-Based Actors for
Sustainable Development (short: UN Task Force on Religion and Development or IATF-FBOs).
Covering the year of 2016, it continues to present the annual highlights of this work as it was done for
the first time in 2015 through the first UN IATF report covering the period from 2016 to 2017.

Lutheran World Federation- UNHCR Thematic Discussion on the Global Compact, Nov 2017

Insights from the inter-agency project to provide ‘faith-sensitive’ guidance to the humanitarian sector through the tool ‘A Faith-sensitive Approach in Humanitarian Response: Guidance on Mental Health and Psychosocial Programming’ allowed a contribution as expert panellist. Above all, the approach emphasizes that we engage with faith and faith identity as part of a people-centred approach, noting that the vast majority of those affected by humanitarian crisis lay claim to some form of faith or faith identity. This may then lead secondarily onto engaging with faith actors in order better to serve people. However, the challenge is not about faith actors commending themselves, but about all humanitarians – of any creed, religion or whatever – putting people first.

General Remarks by H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza Apostolic Nuncio, Permanent Observer of the Holy See
First round of the intergovernmental negotiations on the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: Preamble, Vision and Guiding Principles

CRS and its local Catholic partners respond with urgent humanitarian relief for displaced families in Bangladesh

CRS and Caritas programs are providing  supplies, camp improvement and disaster risk reduction, safe shelter, water sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and protecting women and children from trafficking and violence.

Working effectively with faith leaders to challenge harmful traditional practices

Study Speakers

• Dr Elisabet le Roux is the Research Director at the Unit for Religion and Development Research
• Dr Brenda Bartelink is an anthropologist and scholar in the Academic Study of Religion at the University of Groningen, The Netherlands

Discussion led by  JLI GBV Hub co-chair Liz Dartnall (Sexual Violence Research Institute) with Hub coordinator Natalia Lester-Bush (Tearfund)

View Webinar for more details

View Full Study and HTP Study Toolkit

ZERO DRAFT

5 February 2018

Recommendations from the University of New South Wales Forced Migration Network, (Australia) and the Australian National Committee on Refugee Women, for amendments to Annex I: Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF), from the New York Declaration for Refugees and Migrants, UNGA September 19 2016, with suggested models of implementation.

PART 1: An Annotated Version of The Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework

PART 2:  Pathways to Implementation – Actions to Operationalise The Promise of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework

The World Evangelical Alliance, Global Task Force on Refugees – “Proposals for a Global Compact on Refugees” submitted to UNHCR, December 2017.

Local Faith Communities Role in Forced Migration

Focus on Urbanisation and Localisation

January 26, 2018

Webinar hosted by
JLI Refugee Hub Co-Chair: Atallah Fitzgibbon, Islamic Relief Worldwide
Study Speakers: Olivia Wilkinson, PhD (now JLI Research Director)

Read the scoping study

Religious entities play significant roles in the current forced migration crisis. These roles include innovative and experience based ideas to address flawed aspects of the humanitarian system, overall advocacy on behalf of refugees and migrants based on humanitarian and spiritual principles, direct action in refugee camps and communities, action in communities that refugees and migrants flee, and support for refugee integration in host countries, including explicit efforts to promote social cohesion and address trauma. Further, assumptions about religion and the religious identity of refugees and migrants play an influential role in societal and policy debates surrounding the crisis, particularly in relation to security and violent extremism. Broadly, however, religious factors and contributions are poorly understood and insufficiently taken into account by policy makers and in think tank analyses of these (among other) issues. In each area of measures to increase religious engagement, including understanding, harmonization and coordination of efforts, and support, could increase impact. G20 agendas and gatherings, as well as those of think tanks, can benefit from purposeful attention to these often neglected dimensions of a central global challenge.

go to article online

University of Potsdam Germany

15-17 June 2017

website: g20interfaith.org

see brief here

More than a hundred experts and leaders from fields ranging from economy, law, politics, religion, development to humanitarian aid, coming from 30 different countries, gathered for the fourth consecutive G20 Interfaith Summitin Potsdam.

Plenary sessions covered three themes: sustainable development, religious freedom or freedom of belief, and the economic sector. The relationship between religion and sustainable development sessions explored inter alia religious contributions to alleviating the refugee and famine crises. The plenary on religious freedom or freedom of belief explored the contributions faith based organizations make in contexts of weak or failed states, and the challenges associated with religious contribution to SDG fulfillment given the predominantly private nature of religion, the confessional nature of religious communities, and the barriers of denominationalism. The plenary on religion and the economic sector focused on developing religious and development literacy for organizations to improve the quality of conversation given religion’s importance for the economy.

This webinar by Donald Kerwin, Executive Director for the Center for Migration Studies (CMS), was devoted to a discussion of Catholic teaching on migrants, refugees, and newcomers. Mr. Kerwin discussed the Biblical touchstones of Catholic teaching on migrant and refugees, key principals that guide the Church’s analysis of this timeless issue, recent developments in US immigration policy and refugee protection, and how the Catholic community views and can respond to them. The presentation drew on CMS’s scholarship and research.

Relevant Research and Policy Initiatives

• UNHCR Dialogue on Faith and Protection
• ICRC Resource Center
• World Bank’s Development Dialogue on Values and Ethics
• Religions And Development Research Programme at Birmingham University
• Berkley Center For Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Religion and Global Development Program
• Knowledge Center on Religion and Development
• NGO Map
• WACC Refugees and Communication Rights in Europe

Relevant Faith- Based Organizations

• Anglican Alliance
• Archbishop of Canterbury’s Office
• CAFOD
• Caritas Internationalis/ Catholic Charities USA Share the Journey Campaign
• Webinars from US Catholic Bishops Council- Justice for Immigration
• Christian Aid
• Compassion International- Child Protection
• Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society
• Interfaith Hindu Forum of Britain
• International Catholic Migration Commission
• Islamic Relief
• Islamic Relief UK
• Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS)– on Urban refugees
• Lutheran World Federation
• Muslim Aid
• National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA)Oxfam
• Quakers
• Scalibrini International Migration Network
• Scalibrini Missionaries
• Soka Gakkai
• Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
• TAG Development
• Tearfund
• Three2Six and The Marist International Solidarity Foundation (FMSI)
• UNFPA
• United Sikhs
• Washington Global Health Alliance
• World Council of Churches
• World Evangelical Alliance
• World Vision

Advocacy Campaigns

• Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce (ARCT) church advocacy by the WCC through the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on Violence against Children
• Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Charities USA, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops #sharethejourney campaign
• Religions for Peace #FaithoverFear campaign
• UNHCRs #WithRefugees campaign
• Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo (VIS) with Don Bosco

Other:

Religious roles in refugee resettlement: pertinent experience and insights, addressed to G20 members

From UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency)

The Urgent Need to Share Responsibility for Global Refugees Crises

There are more people fleeing from war or persecution than ever before. Yet the political will to tackle the problem is scarce and anti-foreigner rhetoric is on the rise. Since 2016, #WithRefugees Campaign has mobilized solidarity for refugees to demonstrate to governments and others that the public cares about refugees and the need to protect them. This is vital in the lead up to the global compact for refugees as called for in the New York declaration. With its positive actions the #WithRefugees campaign also seeks to counter the negative narrative about refugees. The public and civil society have key roles to play by showing their solidarity.

Every refugee family needs a safe place to live

“Welcoming the Stranger” has become a universal theme in all faiths and is the foundation of a UNHCR led global affirmation by religious leaders.

The following social media/outreach materials are prepared for individuals and faith groups to welcome refugees.

All of the materials are available from UNHCR in English Toolkit (messaging), French and Arabic and Italian,  and Spanish

Ways to engage:

1. Sign the #WithRefugees Petition
2. Tell your story of welcoming refugees on the global solidarity map

Bulambuli District was curved out of Sironko District in 2010. Part of the district falls within the Mount Elgon volcanics which are known for its environmental sensitivity. In 2010 landslides devastated the parts of Sisiyi and Buluganya killing 26 people. It is also said without confirmation that some four people were swept down by fast moving waters making the number of the dead 30. It should be noted that
landslides continue to manifest even up to recently.

The name of the humanitarian programme handled by Ummah Child Foundation (UCF) is emergency response to landslide disaster in Bulambuli district. The targeted attention was to restore harmony by mitigating the effects of the landslide disaster.

Summary: Global One conducted an analysis on the WASH needs of Syrian women in Lebanon and Syria. Utilizing three local partners; SAWA, URDA and Syria Relief Network, Global One gained data from 836 women in refugee and internally displaced persons camps. Alongside the research, Global One provided each participant with a female hygiene kit, containing products for one months menstrual hygiene. The provision of these kits aimed to create a trusting relationship between Global One and the participants.

This case study will briefly examine MERATH’s localized approach, including a spotlight on child-focused programming in education in emergencies in Lebanon and child protection in Syria, providing quantitative and qualitative evidence of its community-level impact based on focus group discussions, formal surveys (SDQs), and studies conducted by internal and external researchers (Tiwari et al 2016). This analysis will thus serve to illustrate MERATH’s unique approach, share lessons learned and provide key recommendations for effectively and successfully partnering with LFCs for the localization of aid.

In December 2012, the High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges focused on the theme of Faith and Protection. The Dialogue brought together faith leaders, faith-based organisations (FBOs), academics and government representatives to explore how asylum and the protection of refugees, stateless persons and the internally displaced are reflected in religious values and traditions, and how to improve cooperation between UNHCR and faith actors.

At the close of the Dialogue, the High Commissioner identified four broad work streams as areas for follow-up. This note provides an overview of follow-up actions, but does not do justice to the range of initiatives spawned by the Dialogue.

Members of ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples are among the most marginalised communities in many societies: they are often excluded from participation in socio-economic life, rarely have access to political power and frequently encounter obstacles to manifesting their identity. These obstacles are multiplied during forced displacement and increase protection risks. It is important for UNHCR to ensure that the rights of refugees and other displaced populations who are members of minority and indigenous groups are met without discrimination. This places an onus on offices to develop a thorough understanding of the circumstances of minority and indigenous persons under their care. This note provides UNHCR staff and partners with guidance on a range of issues when working to meet these responsibilities.

The fifth High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges took place on December 12-13, 2012 in the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The theme – “Faith and Protection” – highlighted the important role that faith-based organizations and local religious communities play in protecting asylum-seekers, refugees, the internally displaced and stateless people.

In December 2012, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres organized a Dialogue with faith leaders, faith-based humanitarian organizations, academics and government representatives from countries around the world on the theme of “Faith and Protection.” As the High Commissioner noted in his opening remarks, “…all major religious value systems embrace humanity, caring and respect, and the tradition of granting protection to those in danger. The principles of modern refugee law have their oldest roots in these ancient texts and traditions.” At the conclusion of this landmark event, the High Commissioner embraced a recommendation for the development of a Code of Conduct for faith leaders to welcome migrants, refugees and other forcibly displaced people, and stand together against xenophobia. In response to this call, from February through April 2013, a coalition of leading faith-based humanitarian organizations and academic institutions (including HIAS, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Jesuit Refugee Service, Lutheran World Federation, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Religions for Peace, University of Vienna Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology, World Council of Churches, World Evangelical Alliance and World Vision International) drafted “Welcoming the Stranger: Affirmations for Faith Leaders.”

In April 2013, in follow up to the High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Faith and Protection, UNHCR and FBOs solicited good practice examples of faith-based organisations (FBOs) and local faith communities (LCFs) in yielding protection outcomes, including in partnership with UNHCR. FBOs/LFCs and UNHCR staff at headquarters and in the field were invited to submit specific examples of good practice in protection of refugees, the internally displaced, stateless persons and returnees. The call for examples sought to explore specific questions, including the protection outcomes achieved and activities undertaken; the implications of FBO/LFC faith identities, motivations, and structures in achieving these outcomes; and innovative partnership models between UNHCR and FBOs/LFCs. In response to the call for examples, a total of 32 examples were submitted by FBOs/LFCs, and 20 examples were submitted by UNHCR staff.

A special session on Faith and Protection at the June 2011 Annual UNHCR-NGO Consultations explored the challenges faced by national faith-based organizations (FBOs), their unique strengths and protection potential, and how INGOs, UNHCR and national FBOs can maximize their collective field-level protection efforts. Building upon that special session, UNHCR devoted its 2012 High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges to the theme of Faith and Protection. The High Commissioner closed the 2012 Dialogue with a series of actionable suggestions for follow-up. To build on the momentum around this topic, participants of the 2012 Dialogue also proposed a side event at the 2013 Annual Consultations. The side event provided an opportunity to take note of progress made in follow-up, solicit input into thinking on good practices, and invite broader NGO engagement and commitment to the follow-up initiatives.

JLI Scoping Study On Local Faith Communities In Urban Displacement:

Evidence on Localisation and Urbanisation

Refugees & Forced Migration Learning Hub

By Olivia Wilkinson & Joey Ager

JLI project partner Refugee Hosts releases first spring newsletter

Edited by Luca Mavelli and Erin Wilson |
Series: Critical Perspectives on Religion in International Politics

This volume gathers together expertise from academics and practitioners in order to investigate the interconnections and interactions between religion, migration and the refugee regime.

Authors: David Boan, Benjamin Andrews, Elizabeth Loewer, Kalen Drake, Daniel Martison, Jamie D. Aten

Wheaton College, Humanitarian Disaster Institute, Psychology Department

Abstract: Distributive justice is an important theme in community and international psychology, overlapping with many related concepts of peace, equity, compassion, and more. Refugees, who often experience pervasive injustice, offer insights into the development of justice when they create a just community. The United Refugee and Host Churches (URHC) is a network of churches in Kakuma Refugee Camp (Kenya) and the surrounding Turkana community founded and operated by refugees and local Turkana people. Founded in 1996, this group addressed ongoing conflict and distrust in the refugee camp by establishing a system of procedural and distributive justice. This qualitative study identified and described the methods used by the URHC to restore a sense of justice and reduce conflict in the camp. The project team interviewed 23 URHC members and leaders and, from those interviews, identified eight core themes describing strategies used by URHC. We discuss each of themes in depth as well as the association’s work as an example of applied distributive and procedural justice. We then conclude by highlighting several implications, program impact, and recommendations for future research.

Helping Children Cope with Traumatic Events was developed in response to the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. This booklet provides practical guidance for caregivers—including parents, family members, teachers, clergy, and volunteers—on how to help support children after a traumatic event. This booklet provides readers with an overview of common reactions to violent acts, including a breakdown of common signs and symptoms by age. Concrete steps for caring for children’s emotional and spiritual needs in the wake of a traumatic event are also provided.

To download the article, click here: http://www.worldevangelicals.org/resources/categories/index.htm?cat=56

This report Islamic Relief shows the organization’s global presence. To read pas reports published in their webpage, click here: http://www.islamic-relief.org/annual-reports/

The Anglican Alliance brings together international, interfaith and ecumenical actors to recommend national and international strategies, and provides a platform for initiatives from the local to the global to share experiences and best practices.

To read about Anglican Alliance Programs “Migrants, refugees & victims of trafficking”, click here.

• Freedom Sunday Initiative
• The Clewer Initiative to connect the anti-human trafficking work of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and share learning to end modern slavery once and for all. Resources for churches.

Global Webinar on Recommendations from Rome Consultation on
Modern Slavery / Human Trafficking
Rome: 3-7 November 2014

see below

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development fully recognizes migration and displacement as a core development consideration. It has introduced a range of specific SDG targets on migration and pledges to “leave no one behind”, including refugees, displaced persons and host communities. This publication shows how effective and sustainable solutions can only be reached through joint actions by development and humanitarian actors.

For other UNDP resources, click here

This publication aims to amplify the voices of Syrian women and add new texture to the portrait of their lives inside Syria and in neighbouring countries.

To download this publication, and other UNFPA resources, click here: http://www.unfpa.org/publications

This brief argues that the vast majority of refugees and asylum seekers are hosted by poorer countries and almost four million have been welcomed by countries which themselves have experienced armed violence or are in conflict.

To read the material, and to read other Oxfam America publications, click here: https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/

Summit for Refugees and Forced Migrants.

Playlist of UN Videos from Summit featuring refugees, migrants and NGOs speaking at the Opening Ceremony and six Roundtable Dialogues

Program included:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Ms. Yusra Mardini, 18 year-old Syrian refugee now living in Germany, who swam for 3 hours in the Aegean Sea to push a boat to shore with 20 other refugees on board, and then became a swimmer as part of the Olympic Refugee Team.

Ms. Muzoon Almellehan, 17 year-old Syrian refugee who lived in Za’atari and Azraq refugee camps in Jordan, and is now a campaigner with the Malala Fund to call on governments to support the education of refugee children.

Via video: Lana (pseudonym), 11 year-old Syrian refugee living in Jordan who shared her dream to attend school via video sent by Save the Children to UN-NGLS in July.

Ms. Megan Smith, United States Chief Technology Officer

Ms. Kelly Clements, Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees

Moderator: Ms. Susan Alzner, Head of UN-NGLS NY

Dialogue Moderators:

H.E. Ambassador David Donoghue, Permanent Representative of Ireland to the United Nations

Ms. Michele Klein Solomon, Senior Policy Advisor to the Director General of the International Organization for Migration

Member State speakers

H.E. Mr. Joe McHugh, Minister of State for the Diaspora and Overseas Development Aid, Ireland

H.E. Ambassador Martin Shearman, Ambassador of Development and Human Rights, Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations

Ms. Catherine Wiesner, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, United States Department of State

Refugee and migrant speakers:

Winnie Byanyima – Oxfam, Salim Youssef Salama – Palestinian League for Human Rights, Syria, Oscar Chacon – Alianza Americas, Zrinka Bralo – Migrants Organise, Sabah Hallak – Syrian League for Citizenship, Mina Jaf – Women Refugee Route, Dolores De Rico – Canadian Council for Refugees, Sarah Mardini – She is Syria, Maria Alabdeh – Women Now for Development Syria, Zaynab Ali Abdi – Malala Fund, Anoyara Khatun – Save the Children, Luis Canales – Center for Migration Studies, Hadia Zarzou – Syrian Community Network, Deborah Valencia – DIWATA and Melissa, Greece, Colin Rajah – Migrants Rights International, Global Coalition on Migration, Eni Lestari – International Migrants Alliance, Women’s Regional Network Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, Nwe Oo – Women’s League of Burma

Closing remarks: H.E. Mr. Mogens Lykketoft, President of the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Watch this dialogue between UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson and Ms. Eni Lestari of International Migrants Alliance, which took place in the UNGA SDG Media Zone on 19 September: http://webtv.un.org/search/overview-of-the-importance-of-the-un-summit-for-refugees-and-migrants-sdg-media-zone/5132036197001

The Syria crisis alone is the worst humanitarian crisis since the second world war. The following eBook, shows a basic  explanation of the refugee crisis, how life as a refugee destroys children’s future and steps anyone can take to make a difference.

To download the eBook, click here: http://app.fh.org/refugee?utm_source=refugeedownload&utm_medium=resources&utm_campaign=downloads

When conflict broke out in Syria in 2011, people began to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and loved ones. Four years on, millions of families have been uprooted in what is one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters. Our work has reached more than 7 million people, who have lost their homes and livelihoods as a result of the conflict.

To read

More than 65 million people are displaced globally, outpacing the international community’s ability to respond. Not only are more people displaced today, but they are displaced for longer, with the average duration of protracted refugee situations at the end of 2014 being about 25 years.

We need to make changes to the way we respond to the changing landscape of the displaced, particularly refugees. We will examine what systematic changes need to be made. Among the desired outcomes are pledges from host countries regarding education, livelihoods and resettlement that could provide longer-term solutions for the multitude of refugees.

Policy Brief on CRS Recommendations

This study builds upon the research and practitioner partnerships facilitated by the JLI  scoping survey to conduct fieldwork in the specific context of Jordan, the focus of significant humanitarian response with respect to the ongoing Syria crisis. The research focuses upon local faith communities’ current and potential engagement in humanitarian response; barriers and challenges in connecting local faith community resources to wider humanitarian response; and lessons for managing relationships between local faith communities and international actors in such contexts.

This briefing paper is a distillation of the main points and recommendations that arose during two two-day workshops held in Washington DC in May 2014 and Brussels in June 2014. The workshops, funded by the British Council USA Bridging Voices program, assembled scholars, policymakers and practitioners focused on issues of asylum, refuge and protection in contemporary global politics and the current and potential future roles of faith and faith actors across the US and Europe.

Islam has a strong heritage of protection of forced migrants. It is a tradition which provides a robust and generous framework for the protection of and provision for forced migrants, enshrining rights such as the rights to dignity, non-refoulement, equal treatment, shelter, health care, family reunification and protection of property. This paper provides an overview of the Islamic teachings related to the rights of forced migrants, and is a resource for any agency dealing with Muslim forced migrant or host communities.

The role of faith in the humanitarian sector is not easy to measure. Faiths generally advocate welcoming the stranger and there are many organisations and individuals inspired by their faith or religion to provide protection and assistance. Yet it is easier to measure the activities inspired by faith than to measure the difference that having that faith makes, and secularly inspired standards for such activities can appear to be in tension with the faith inspiration. FMR 48 includes 36 articles on ‘Faith’ plus seven ‘general’ articles. – See more at: http://www.fmreview.org/faith#sthash.9G2V0abz.dpuf

Reviews faith based organizations, primarily Christian organizations, and the history of their development and the context in which they operate. The roles these organizations play and challenges they face are also discussed.