Securitization and Community-Based Protection Among Chin Refugees in Kuala Lumpur

This article examines refugee-led community organizations among Chin refugees from Myanmar in Kuala Lumpur. It uses a structuration analysis that recognizes refugee-led organizations as complex governance entities engaged in a dynamic relationship with (among others) national policies of securitization of forced migration and international humanitarian governance. This approach expands the existing literature on the securitization of forced migration by exploring refugees’ lived experiences in a context of south–south migration. It expands the literature on community-based protection by going beyond recognizing the existence of refugee-led organizations to analyse their construction, constitution and consequences. Three primary areas of work by Chin refugee groups are analysed in relation to their immediate activity and longer term effects: organization (‘building ethnic unity in adversity’), documentation (‘asserting a bureaucratic identity’) and socialization (‘learning to be illegal’). These long-term effects indicate the possible impact of local protection activities on macrostructural processes such as identity construction and migration choices.construction, constitution and consequences. Three primary areas of work by Chin refugee groups are analysed in relation to their immediate activity and longer term effects: organization (‘building ethnic unity in adversity’), documentation (‘asserting a bureaucratic identity’) and socialization (‘learning to be illegal’). These long-term effects indicate the possible impact of local protection activities on macrostructural processes such as identity construction and migration choices

The Influence of International Law on the International Movement of Persons

Many migration theories identify ‘the law’ as a significant constraint on the international movement of persons. While this constraint often operates through national migration legislation, this study examines the influence of international law in shaping contemporary patterns in the international movement of persons at the macro level. The analysis begins with an examination of the long-established power of a State to regulate cross-border movement of persons as an inherent attribute of State sovereignty, together with the accepted limitations on a State’s power to control entry and exit. Yet, international law reaches well beyond the movement of people across borders. The development of international human rights law has been a key constraint on state action in the United Nations era by also regulating the treatment of migrants within a State’s borders. The study considers how international law has responded to current migration issues, including: protection of migrant women and children; suppression of smuggling and trafficking of people; labour migration; and environmental migration. As in other areas of international society, there has been a proliferation of institutions through which international migration law is made and enforced. The most prominent among them are the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), but the establishment of other entities with overlapping mandates has given rise to calls for a new international migration regime based on streamlined institutional arrangements. The study concludes that international law is an imperfect framework for regulating the international movement of persons because it has developed in a piecemeal fashion over a long time to deal with issues of concern at particular points in human history. Yet, despite its shortfalls, international law and its associated institutions unquestionably play a most important role in constraining and channeling state authority over the international movement of persons

A discursive review of the textual use of ‘trapped’ in environmental migration studies: The conceptual birth and troubled teenage years of trapped populations

First mooted in 2011, the concept of Trapped Populations referring to people unable to move from environmentally high-risk areas broadened the study of human responses to environmental change. While a seemingly straightforward concept, the underlying discourses around the reasons for being ‘trapped’, and the language describing the concept have profound influences on the way in which policy and practice approaches the needs of populations at risk from environmental stresses and shocks. In this article, we apply a Critical Discourse Analysis to the academic literature on the subject to reveal some of the assumptions implicit within discussing ‘trapped’ populations. The analysis reveals a dominant school of thought that assisted migration, relocation, and resettlement in the face of climate change are potentially effective adaptation strategies along a gradient of migrant agency and governance

Social Control in Transnational Families: Somali Women and Dignity in Johannesburg

Transnational mobility often separates families and distances individuals from the kinship and social structures by which they organized their lives prior to migration. Myriad forms of insecurity have been the impetus for Somali movement into the diaspora, with people fleeing the realities of conflict that have marked Somalia for decades while physically dividing families as individuals settle in different countries around the world. Mobility has altered the dynamics of households, families, and communities post-migration, reshaping social constructions as individuals move on without the familial support that sustained them in Somalia. While outcomes of these hardships are variable and often uneven in different settlement spaces, migration can offer new opportunities for people to pursue avenues from which they were previously excluded, such as by assuming roles and responsibilities their relatives once filled. These changes precipitate shifting identities and are challenging for women who find themselves self-reliant in the diaspora, particularly in the absence of (supportive) husbands and close kin.Drawing on ethnographic research in Johannesburg’s Somali community, this chapter explores the assumption that migration provides an opening for women to challenge subordinating gender norms. Settlement often grants women greater freedom to make choices in their lives, such as in employment and personal relationships, and yet they remain constrained by networks that limit their autonomy. Even with transnational migration and protracted separation, women are family representatives who must uphold cultural notions of respectability despite realities that position them as guardians and family providers. Women remain under the watchful eye of their extended families through expansive networks and the ease of modern communication, which facilitate a new form of social control as women’s behavior is carefully monitored and reported to relatives afar. These actualities raise questions about the degree to which transnational movement is a liberating force for women or rather a reconfiguration of social control. I argue that despite women’s changing position in their households and families, they remain limited by social control within their extended families and communities

Microtubule-mediated regulation of β2AR translation and unction in failing hearts

Background: Beta-1 adrenergic receptor (β 1 AR)- and Beta-2 adrenergic receptor (β 2 AR)-mediated cyclic adenosine monophosphate signaling has distinct effects on cardiac function and heart failure progression. However, the mechanism regulating spatial localization and functional compartmentation of cardiac β-ARs remains elusive. Emerging evidence suggests that microtubule-dependent trafficking of mRNP (messenger ribonucleoprotein) and localized protein translation modulates protein compartmentation in cardiomyocytes. We hypothesized that β-AR compartmentation in cardiomyocytes is accomplished by selective trafficking of its mRNAs and localized translation. Methods: The localization pattern of β-AR mRNA was investigated using single molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization and subcellular nanobiopsy in rat cardiomyocytes. The role of microtubule on β-AR mRNA localization was studied using vinblastine, and its effect on receptor localization and function was evaluated with immunofluorescent and high-throughput Förster resonance energy transfer microscopy. An mRNA protein co-detection assay identified plausible β-AR translation sites in cardiomyocytes. The mechanism by which β-AR mRNA is redistributed post–heart failure was elucidated by single molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization, nanobiopsy, and high-throughput Förster resonance energy transfer microscopy on 16 weeks post–myocardial infarction and detubulated cardiomyocytes. Results: β 1 AR and β 2 AR mRNAs show differential localization in cardiomyocytes, with β 1 AR found in the perinuclear region and β 2 AR showing diffuse distribution throughout the cell. Disruption of microtubules induces a shift of β 2 AR transcripts toward the perinuclear region. The close proximity between β 2 AR transcripts and translated proteins suggests that the translation process occurs in specialized, precisely defined cellular compartments. Redistribution of β 2 AR transcripts is microtubule-dependent, as microtubule depolymerization markedly reduces the number of functional receptors on the membrane. In failing hearts, both β 1 AR and β 2 AR mRNAs are redistributed toward the cell periphery, similar to what is seen in cardiomyocytes undergoing drug-induced detubulation. This suggests that t-tubule remodeling contributes to β-AR mRNA redistribution and impaired β 2 AR function in failing hearts. Conclusions: Asymmetrical microtubule-dependent trafficking dictates differential β 1 AR and β 2 AR localization in healthy cardiomyocyte microtubules, underlying the distinctive compartmentation of the 2 β-ARs on the plasma membrane. The localization pattern is altered post–myocardial infarction, resulting from t-tubule remodeling, leading to distorted β 2 AR-mediated cyclic adenosine monophosphate signaling

Displacement and Resettlement: Understanding the Role of Climate Change in Contemporary Migration

How do we understand displacement and resettlement in the context of climate change? This chapter outlines challenges and debates in the literature connecting climate change to the growing global flow of people. We begin with an outline of the literature on environmental migration, specifically the definitions, measurements, and forms of environmental migration. The discussion then moves to challenges in the reception of migrants, treating the current scholarship on migrant resettlement. We detail a selection of cases in which the environment plays a role in the displacement of a population, including sea level rise in Pacific Island States, cyclonic storms in Bangladesh, and desertification in West Africa, as well as the role of deforestation in South America’s Southern Cone as a driver of both climate change and migration. We outline examples of each, highlighting the complex set of losses and damages incurred by populations in each case

Impact of mother's education on full immunization of children aged 12-23 months in Eritrea: population and health survey 2010 data analysis

Background Although vaccination coverage in Eritrea has improved in recent years, some children are still missing out, and it’s important to identify risk factors for lower coverage in order to target campaigns and interventions. The objective of this study was to assess: (1) the impact of maternal education on full immunization of children aged 12–23 months, and (2) whether the association was confounded or modified by other factors. Methods This study was a secondary data analysis of the Eritrean Population and Health Survey 2010 (EPHS 2010). In this analysis 1323 mothers of children aged 12–23 months were included. The outcome of the study was full immunization, defined as receiving all the WHO recommended basic vaccines: one dose of Bacillus Calmette-Gué rin (BCG), three doses of diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus(DPT), three doses of polio, and one dose of measles vaccine. The primary exposure was maternal education. Data on immunization coverage came from vaccination cards and from mothers’ or caretakers’ verbal reports. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. Result Full vaccination coverage among children aged 12–23 months was 83%. Most children received BCG (95%), DPT1 (97%), DPT2 (96%), DPT3 (93%), polio1 (97%), polio2 (97%), polio3 (91%) and measles (92%). In unadjusted analyses, children of mothers with primary (OR = 2.75, 95% CI 1.74–4.37), and middle or above (OR = 3.16, 95% CI 2.09–4.78) education were more likely to be fully immunised. However, after adjusting for wealth, region, ANC visit, and vaccination card ownership, only the effect for primary education remained significant (OR = 2.34, 95% CI 1.30–4.21). Conclusion The result of this study suggested that children of mothers who attained primary level were more likely to be fully vaccinated than children of mothers with no education. The association was influenced by wealth index of household, mothers ANC visit, region, and possession of vaccination card. The Expanded Program on Immunization of the Ministry of Health should target strategies to enhance full immunization among children of mothers with no education