Migration, Displacement and Refugees
Work Package Leader:
Prof. Roger Zetter – Refugee Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford
| Projects |
|---|
| Project 11: Displaced populations in Colombia |
| Project 12: Causes of forced migration |
| Project 13: Refugees and asylum-seekers in receiving countries |
Overview
Violent conflicts are often associated with large population movements following attacks on civilians. Also, by cutting off vast numbers of people from economic opportunities, internal conflict can lead to a vicious cycle of displacement and poverty from which it is difficult to escape. This has an important long-term impact as it creates a group of people who may have little to gain from a return to peace and, unless their condition is felt to improve appreciably, can undermine attempts for sustainable conflict resolution.
Successful integration of displaced populations into society is a key precondition to avoid the economic decline that makes it more difficult to bring civil unrest to an end and that may provide the basis for rebels to recruit fighters to export terrorism elsewhere. Attempts to end internal conflicts and eradicate the sources that originate them will have to be built upon a better comprehension of the dynamics of displacement.
The purpose of this Work Package is to analyse displacement processes resulting from violent conflicts in regions of origin, and to examine the societal position of refugees and migrants from conflict regions in the EU. It aims to develop policy options for durable solutions.
Publications:
RWP35: Remittances and Labor Supply in Post-Conflict Tajikistan - Patricia Justino and Olga Shemyakina
Project 11: Displaced populations in Colombia
Project leader:
Dr. Ana María Ibáñez – Universidad de los Andes
Project researchers:
Dr. Andrés Moya and Valentina Calderón
Publications:
RWP10: Do Conflicts Create Poverty Traps? Asset Losses and Recovery for Displaced Households in Colombia - Ana María Ibáñez and Andrés Moya
RWP 14: Labor Market Effects of Migration-Related Supply Shocks: Evidence from Internally Displaced Populations in Colombia - Valentina Calderón and Ana María Ibáñez
RWP56: Forced Migration, Female Labour Force Participation, and Intra-household Bargaining: Does Conflict Empower Women? - Valentina Calderón, Margarita Gáfaro and Ana María Ibáñez
This project examines the forces driving displacement from the point of view of displaced populations. It makes use of a unique dataset on displaced populations in Colombia collected by the Catholic Church, which allows for the first time the informed analysis of displaced populations based on the observation of real individuals and households affected by the Colombian conflict. The dataset will enable the examination of, using the considerable variation within a country, the root causes of internal conflict, the impact of intra-state conflict on a group of the population and policy measures necessary to design sustainable post-conflict policy. The research will develop household behavioural models to identify different hypotheses and policy questions and will rely on recently developed econometric techniques to probe on these questions and hypotheses.
Project 12: Causes of forced migration
Project leader:
Prof. Roger Zetter - Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford
Project researchers:
Dr. Nick van Hear and Dr. Anna Lindley - Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford
Publications:
RWP15: Leaving Mogadishu: The War on Terror and Displacement Dynamics in the Somali Regions - Anna Lindley
Forced Migration Review article - Crisis and Displacement in Somalia - Anna Lindley
Refugee Studies Centre article - Leaving Mogadishu: Researching the Causes of Displacement 2007-2008 - Anna Lindley
Leaving Mogadishu: Towards a Sociology of Conflict-Related Mobility - Journal of Refugee Studies, 23(1): 2-22 - Anna Lindley
Voices of the dispossessed: displacement and peace-building in the Somali regions - Anna Lindley - in: Bradbury, Mark and Healy, Sally, (eds.), Somali peace processes. Accord; 21, Conciliation Resources
Seeking Refuge in an Unrecognised State: Oromos in Somaliland - Refuge, 26(1): 187-189 - Anna Lindley
This project examined the transmission mechanisms from violent conflicts to migration. It draws on both quantitative and qualitative information to build profiles of migrants in receptor regions. The project also analysed the mobility chains of specific groups to examine causes, processes and consequences of displacement. The resulting insights will be used to analyse policy proposals for durable solutions, put forward by EU Member States, the EU itself and other actors such as UNHCR.
Project 13: Refugees and asylum-seekers in receiving countries
Project leader:
Prof. Roger Zetter - Refugee Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford
Project researchers:
Dr. Nick van Hear and Dr. Susan Zimmerman - Refugee Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford
Publications:
RWP45: Reconsidering the Role of Conflict in the Lives of Refugees: The Case of Somalis in Europe - Susan Zimmerman and Roger Zetter
This project examines whether conflict in sending areas may serve to mediate refugees situations elsewhere. Whereas most integration research has tended to look at refugees' relationships with their host countries and obstacles to settlement including language barriers, non-recognition of skills, and impoverishment, this new dynamic explores the effects of sending areas themselves. It asks if conflict affects long-term aspirations of where to live, impact upon the degrees and kinds of settlement undertaken, and upon aspirations and life trajectories of refugees. It analyses how they belong to a diaspora in terms of political and wider engagement with host or sending areas and to what extent conflict back home conditions who they are, where they are, and where they are going?
Countries studied in this Work Package
Funded by EC under FP6
