On implementing EU-Turkey agreement

Standard Operating Procedures implementing the mechanism for resettlement from Turkey to the EU as set out in the EU-Turkey Statement of 18 March 2016 EU-Turkey refugee deal: staff shortages and rights concerns pose twin threat / Fears grow over refugee safety with EU returns plan set to take effect / Greece insists refugee deportations will […]

On debates re: European burden sharing

17-18.03.2016: European Council Conclusions; UNHCR response 15.03.2016: “Later, this month, [Grandi] will issue an appeal for member states [of the UN] to accept at least 10 percent of Syria’s refugees. That’s 400,000 people who need to be resettled, including about 170,000 whom nations have already promised to take,” UN Refugee Chief: Western Leaders Stir Up […]

On creative solutions [2]

UDI’s Director, Frode Forfang, recently wrote a blog post about rethinking the international refugee regime (det internasjonale flyktningregimet) by – if I understand him correctly – doing away with asylum in favor of a European-based quota system — La oss tenke oss et helt annet system. Et system der Europa hvert år tok imot opptil […]

On ‘massive’ resettlement programs

Via the BBC — [Antonio Guterres] called for the numbers of refugees being resettled in Europe to be increased. “We are encouraged by the fact that a number of European countries have been saying, and I believe this is on the table to the European Council, that a massive resettlement programme needs to be put […]

On webinars: A crisis of refugee protection?

Dr Cathryn Costello and Prof Guy Goodwin-Gil hosted a webinar, ‘Is there a refugee crisis in Europe, or a crisis of lack of refugee protection?‘, on 12.11.15 for OxHRH. The webinar is archived here; also find a list of further readings. (the 1956 Hungarian crisis is specifically addressed starting at 33:00; also, they field a fascinating question about […]

On regional tensions

Heightened tensions in the region these days — Norway: via IMDi: 18,000 flyktninger må bosettes i 2016 26.11.15: temporary border controls resume in Norway 80.000 migranter og asylsøkere har ankommet Sverige de siste to månedene. Det svenske mottakssystemet er i ferd med å bryte sammen, og onsdag varslet Sverige derfor tiltak for å redusere tilstrømmingen av […]

On refugees after Paris, et al.

General: The science behind why people fear refugees related: what current debates are really about, “what we’re debating right now is really more about American feelings (our sense of security versus our sense of righteousness) than it is about macro-level solutions to their crisis.” from: Europe’s refugee problems, and ours Our reaction to terrorism is […]

On Paris

Hoping for cool heads and warm hearts in the coming days. From German Lopez at Vox — Although the perpetrators of the Paris attacks remain unknown, Jeff Duncan, a Republican congressman from South Carolina, took to Twitter to say that the tragedy shows Europe and America shouldn’t let in Syrian refugees because it might lead to more […]

On panel discussions: The Migrant and Refugee Crisis @ Oxford Martin School

Interesting set up, really interesting result: The Oxford Martin School hosted a panel to discuss the migrant and refugee crisis + responses and solutions. In her six minutes to address the panel, Bridget Anderson brought up issues around victimhood, agency and morals [@35:20] — On September the 7th in response to the so-called ‘refugee crisis […]

On refugees resettling cities

[updated as I find further examples] USA Detroit: Let Syrians settle Detroit [USCRI-Detroit awarded grant in 2016] Baltimore: A city that wants more refugees Syracuse: The refugees that come alone Roanoke: success there, The refugees of Roanoke Clarkston: The ‘most diverse’ square mile in America Buffalo: Resettled refugees help to ‘bring Buffalo back’ Utica: This rust […]