Asylum Update – 25th June 2008

Research
The UNHCR Statistical Online Population Database  provides data and trends on the “Population of concern to UNHCR” at country, regional, and global levels. Updated along with the recent 2007 Global Trends report, data up to 31 December 2007 can be downloaded.
Structure and Operation of the KhAD/WAD in Afghanistan 1978-1992 is a recent UNHCR Note examining [...]

Asylum Update – 18th June 2008

Research

UNHCR has released its annual report “2007 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons”, showing refugee numbers rising for second year running.

See also: UNHCR press release, Guardian interview with the High Commissioner, 2007-8 increase in Afghan minors at Dover

The Red Cross have publicized the findings of a survey of British perceptions of refugees [...]

Common EU asylum system: the future?

Last night saw the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, give the International Rescue Committee’s seventh annual lecture. In a wide-ranging speech, covering the impact of poverty, development, climate change and conflict of dynamics of displacement and forced migration Guterres suggested that the development of an EU asylum system is likely to be [...]

Asylum Update – 11th June 2008

Research
Destitution in the Asylum System in Leicester is a new report commissioned by the Leicester Refugee and Asylum Seekers Voluntary Sector Forum and co-ordinated by Refugee Action, which surveys 135 destitute asylum seekers.
The Children, Youth and Migration Network is an international network of researchers and professionals set up following the recent Children and Migration conference in Cork. Anyone [...]

Asylum Update – 4th June 2008

Research
Amnesty International’s 2008 report entitled “Torture: Truth and Consequences” highlights the approach of EU member states to the human rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
A comparative overview of the implementation of the Reception Directive has been published by the EC-funded Academic Network for Legal Studies on Immigration and Asylum in Europe (Odysseus Network). The [...]

In-country processing in Iraq

The US has begun processing claims for asylum in Bagdad and resettling the successful applicants. This article in the New Yorker tells the story. Before this change in policy, Iraqis that had worked for the US in some capacity had to, like all other displaced Iraqis, flee to neighbouring countries and become embroiled in local [...]