As Spain was preparing to relinquish control and withdraw from Western Sahara, Morocco asserted its claim of sovereignty over the territory of the former Spanish colony. In response, the Polisario – a Sahrawi group that had been fighting the Spanish…
Asylum and migration are currently considered as separate policy areas. Refugees are seen as lacking agency, mostly not doing but being done to’ they are forcibly displaced and in need of protection. Migrants are seen as voluntarily migrating and not…
So stated UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres in closing the Dialogue on protracted refugee situations (PRS) in 2008. The Dialogue itself focused on a number of existing PRS, in an effort to pull them out of neglect and…
Camp management has developed as a key concern within the humanitarian community as part of the humanitarian reform agenda, alongside the more traditional sectors in emergencies. However, most of the tools and guidelines – including the Camp Management Toolkit, UNHCR…
Commonly characterised as “overcrowded”, “congested”, “dilapidated”, “deplorable”, “degraded”, even “extremely sub-standard”, collective centres can hardly be considered a ‘home’. Typically, collective centres are found in buildings that were never intended for habitation, or at least not for long-term or family…
Kalma camp was established in early 2004 as a place of refuge for displaced persons fleeing violence throughout Darfur. Over time, however, Kalma has come to be seen as a haven for criminal activity, with growing numbers of rival armed…
Somalia epitomises for many a situation of constant crisis, a ‘black hole’ of death and disaster undergoing a process of ‘development in reverse’. Such images in a sense rob the Somali regions of the history of the last 20 years.…
Somalia is a country where problems seem to outnumber solutions. At least half the country is experiencing a food and livelihoods crisis, blurring the distinction between needy settlements of IDPs and the flourishing city where they are located. There are…
UNHCR considers repatriation to Afghanistan as a sustainable part-solution to a protracted refugee situation.[1] I doubt many Afghans would agree. Evidence suggests the opposite, with incidences of ‘recycling’, subsequent internal displacement and large numbers of refugees who remain outside Afghanistan.…
In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), UNHCR broke new ground in the early 1990s by broadening its role with IDPs beyond assistance to also work for their protection. With the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) in December 1995, UNHCR…