I was once told by a refugee \u2013 who was frustrated that FMR couldn\u2019t support his asylum claim \u2013 that I only had a job because of people like him. And he was right. And I have tried to remember that throughout my 28 years as Editor with FMR.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve also been aware that every \u00a3, $ and \u20ac given by donors to support FMR is money that could have been spent on programmes more directly helping people who have been forced to leave their homes. And yet those donors consider funds for FMR as money well spent, and I\u2019ve had the privilege of receiving 28 years\u2019 worth of appreciative feedback from readers, and examples of FMR\u2019s impact both direct and indirect.<\/p>\n
So as I leave FMR, I would like to thank all those readers, authors and donors (and my FMR colleagues over the years) who have collaborated to make FMR a valuable, accessible tool for knowledge exchange and learning and inspiration to help improve policy and practice for displaced people. To those of you whose lives as displaced people have been discussed and analysed in the pages of FMR, I hope we have been respectful and of some use.<\/p>\n
So much has changed over these 28 years.<\/p>\n
When the magazine was launched in 1987 at the instigation of the Refugee Studies Centre\u2019s founder, Barbara Harrell-Bond, the field of refugee studies was still young. We used to receive far more article submissions from practitioners than from researchers but that trend has reversed in recent years. The size and look of the magazine have changed over the years but what has not changed is, sadly, the need for such a forum.<\/p>\n
Over the years, we have sought to cover topical issues (especially country-focused, such as Burma, Iraq, DRC, Afghanistan, Syria), issues of emerging importance (for example, climate change, urban displacement, technology) and those issues which merit greater attention than they tend to receive (such as disability, HIV-AIDS, local communities). With each issue I have learned much\u2026 sometimes more than I wanted to know about inhumanity but more often about resilience and innovation and determination and compassion.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m leaving FMR at a time when the number of people fleeing Ukraine is rising rapidly, with the world\u2019s response offering interesting comparisons with responses to other large movements of people fleeing war and horror. Perhaps the subject of a future issue of FMR? I won\u2019t be Editor, but I\u2019d be very interested to read that issue\u2026<\/p>\n
Thank you for being part of the far-flung community that reads, supports and uses FMR. I\u2019m proud to have been a part of it.<\/p>\n
Marion Couldrey<\/p>\n
FMR Editor, 1993\u20132022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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