I haven’t been writing much the past couple of years, or rather, I haven’t been writing in this space. Much of my day-to-day work is writing academic papers, reports, proposals,etc. Today is June 20, World Refugee Day, and I want very much to tell you about my experiences working with refugees over the last six months, but I’m just not there. So, instead, I’ve put together a short list of links. Taken together, they give a picture of refugee life that is not as visible in day-to-day coverage of refugees, though perhaps not as coherently as if I had put together a narrative. It will come, one day.
- 65.3 million people were displaced by the end of 2015. That’s about 1 in 113. More stats from UNHCR.
- In Kenya, hundreds of thousands of people are in danger of being forcibly removed from refugee camps. My colleague and friend, Stephanie Schwartz, on why this is a really bad idea. Forced repatriation from refugee camps has a long and messy history in the Great Lakes Region of Africa.
- In Sulaymaniyah, refugees and displaced Iraqis are participating in Refugees Got Talent, a celebration on #WorldRefugeeDay. You can see performances and hear stories on their facebook page.
- Why we shouldn’t use the terms refugee and migrant interchangeably and some other FAQs.
- Refugees are almost certainly at greater risk of sexual assault, sexual exploitation, and gender-based violence, and have fewer tools to address such problems in the face of limited mobility, poverty, proximity to abusers, and lack of access to services.
- In Nyarugusu, two of my enumerators are trying to finish master’s degrees in Tanzanian universities. They tell their stories about the desire for education on this fundraising page. The fundraiser is technically closed, but they’re still short a few hundred dollars to be able to graduate. Let me know if you are interested in helping out.
- UPDATE 6/21/16: Owen Barder on distinguishing migrants vs. asylum seekers and why it’s so hard. Key (mouthful of a) quote: “The intrinsic interconnectedness of persecution, conflict, economic collapse, environmental degradation, and natural disasters makes it impossible to separate these motives for migration.”
ERIN K. FLETCHER 