Living on the margins: refugees and the search for belonging

As European leaders grapple with potential solutions to the arrival of huge numbers of refugees arriving from Syria and other countries, Lucy Hovil shares useful lessons from the Great Lakes region of Africa

Forced Displacement and the Crisis of Citizenship in Africa’s Great Lakes Region: Rethinking Refugee Protection and Durable Solutions

This article explores refugee protection and durable solutions in Africa’s Great Lakes region by examining conflict, displacement, and refugees in the light of the crisis of citizenship. Drawing on empirical data from nine studies across the region, we scrutinize the causes of conflict and displacement and refugee policies and practice in the region through the lens of citizenship. First, we argue that the continued plight of many refugees in the region without durable solutions results, at least in part, from an endemic and systemic inability of many people in the region to realize citizenship in a meaningful way. This inability, we argue, is a significant contributor to the continued forced displacement of millions of people, with many still refugees, even after living in the host states for over three decades. Second, we argue that solutions are failing because discussions about the root causes of refugee influxes and movements often fail to capture the intricately connected historical, political, social, economic, religious, and legal factors that engender displacement. We submit that full and equal enjoyment of the rights and benefits of citizenship by all, including access to citizenship for refugees, is one means of resolving displacement and providing durable solutions to refugees.Cet article s’engage à explorer la question de la protection des réfugiés et les solutions durables dans la région des Grands Lacs en Afrique en étudiant le problème du conflit, du déplacement, et des réfugiés à la lumière de la crise de citoyenneté. En nous basant sur des données empiriques provenant de neuf études à travers la région, nous examinons de près les causes du conflit et du déplacement, ainsi que les politiques et les pratiques portant sur les réfugiés, en utilisant l’optique de la citoyenneté. Nous postulons deux arguments principaux : premièrement, que le sort tragique continu de nombreux réfugiés dans la région dépourvus de solutions durables provient, du moins en partie, d’une incapacité systémique et enracinée d’un nombre important de personnes dans les pays concernés d’actualiser la citoyenneté d’une manière significative ; cette incapacité, nous avançons, contribue considérablement au déplacement forcé continu de plusieurs millions d’individus, avec de nombreuses personnes vivant toujours dans leurs pays d’accueil comme réfugiés même après plus de trois décennies. Deuxièmement, nous soutenons que l’échec des solutions vient du fait que souvent les discussions sur les causes profondes de l’influx et des déplacements des réfugiés ne prennent pas en compte l’enchevêtrement complexe de facteurs historiques, politiques, sociaux, économiques, religieux, et juridiques à plusieurs niveaux qui engendre le déplacement. Nous proposons qu’une pleine et égale jouissance des droits et avantages de la citoyenneté de la part de tous, y compris l’ouverture de l’accès à la citoyenneté pour les réfugiés, serait un moyen possible de résoudre le problème du déplacement, et d’offrir aux réfugiés des solutions durables

A Remaining Hope for Durable Solutions: Local Integration of Refugees and Their Hosts in the Case of Uganda

The protracted nature of conflicts in countries of the global South means that return to home countries for many refugees is increasingly delayed. At the same time, global terrorism and concerns about security have slowed processes of resettlement in countries of the North. Local integration to host communities in countries of first asylum may be a remaining option. This paper explores possibilities for revival of local integration as a durable solution. The authors situate the study within the framework of protracted refugee situations globally and, specifically, within the existing local settlement structure and the Self Reliance Strategy (SRS) in Uganda. Benefits to refugee-hosting communities are analyzed through two case studies: local integration through commerce and through primary education. The paper concludes by exploring ways in which stakeholders, including refugees, UNHCR, and donor governments can work together to promote shared and simultaneous development in refugee and national communities, specifically in conceptualizing the durable solution of local integration within the context of a national framework for development.Le fait que les conflits dans l’hémisphère Sud se prolongent interminablement signifie que pour beaucoup de réfugiés le retour dans leur pays d’origine est de plus en plus retardé. En même temps, le terrorisme global et les craintes sécuritaires ont considérablement ralenti les procédures de réinstallation dans les pays de l’hémisphère Nord. Dans ces conditions, il semblerait que l’intégration des réfugiés dans les communautés hôtes dans les premiers pays d’asile pourrait être la seule solution possible. Cet article examine donc les possibilités de raviver l’intégration locale comme solution durable. Les auteurs placent leur étude dans le cadre des situations de réfugiés qui se prolongent, et, plus particulièrement en référence à la structure locale de réinstallation qui existe déjà en Ouganda, ainsi que leur ‘Self Reliance Strategy’ (SRS) (« stratégie autocentré »). Les avantages dont bénéficient les communautés accueillant les réfugiés sont analysés à travers deux études de cas : l’intégration locale à travers le commerce et l’intégration à travers l’éducation primaire. L’article conclut en examinant les manières par lesquelles les parties prenantes, y compris les réfugiés, l’UNHCR et les gouvernements donateurs, peuvent travailler de concert pour promouvoir le développement parallèle et simultané à la fois dans les communautés de réfugiés et dans les communautés nationales – plus spécifiquement, en conceptualisant la solution durable de l’intégration locale dans le contexte d’un plan national de développement

Translating survivor-centredness into pedagogical approaches to training on sexual violence in conflict and emergency settings : a case study

To encourage further interrogation of the language of “survivor-centredness” in the field of conflict-related sexual violence, this article offers a case study of efforts to build and intensify more survivor-centred pedagogy for use in the training of humanitarian workers seeking to address sexual violence in conflict and emergency settings. Set against the backdrop of a literature review of existing usages, it builds on key aspects of an earlier evaluation in which all three authors were involved in different capacities

Preventing re-displacement through genuine reintegration in Burundi

Displacement is often part of a cyclical process of conflict anddisplacement. Preventing displacement, therefore, is not only aboutpreventing new displacement but about ensuring that people do notget re-displaced

Justice and rape on the periphery: the supremacy of social harmony in the space between local solutions and formal judicial systems in northern Uganda

In the Acholi sub-region of Uganda, historically and geographically peripheral since the colonial era and the epicenter of over 20 years of war - there is a peculiar manifestation of what appear to be contradictory phenomena: brutally violent retribution and extraordinary forgiveness. This article suggests that both responses to wrongdoing are motivated by the same supremely important value of social harmony.The article focuses on one crime, rape, and examines what justice means for Acholi women in the vacuum of justice created by the decayed state of former local methods of responding to wrongdoing and the still inadequate role and legitimacy of Uganda's judicial system and the International Criminal Court. The research indicates that notions of appropriate punishment are oriented by the degree to which the perpetrator is seen as important to future social harmony. The various responses to rape are a product of dynamics in the justice gap, and, I want to suggest, are illustrative of responses to crime or wrongdoing more generally.The article highlights the centrality of two integral aspects of lived Acholi reality: there is a profound value of social harmony, and a deep distrust of higher authorities to dispense justice in their interest. Women's experiences after rape in this study underscore the importance of an arbiter of injustice that has earned moral jurisdiction on a local level. When authority is recognized and trusted, parties typically accept the outcome of arbitration, restoring broken social harmony. However, without moral jurisdiction, outcomes of such processes are viewed with suspicion and usually exacerbate existing tensions