The Nansen Initiative focused initially on cross-border displacement in the context of natural disasters and climate change. In practice, though, as the initiative has evolved, its focus has broadened, in recognition that to consider cross-border displacement it is also necessary…
Such as sea-level rise and melting permafrost, as well as other human-induced environmental changes from socio-historical processes and unsustainable development. In the 1990s the people of Kivalina in Alaska began to notice a gradual change in the environmental conditions and…
UNHCR has estimated that 18,500 of the 25,855 women and girls from FGM-practising countries seeking asylum in the EU in the first three quarters of 2014 may have been survivors of female genital mutilation (FGM), translating into an estimated 71%…
The asylum process examines whether an applicant has a well-founded fear of persecution based on one or more of the grounds in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees or faces an actual risk of being subjected to…
The ‘medicalisation’ of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) refers to the act being performed by doctors or other members of the health profession. The phenomenon is neither new nor unknown. The medical and paramedical professions have traditionally practised acts of mutilation…
The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, is the first European treaty specifically devoted to addressing violence against women, including female genital mutilation. FGM is a…
The objective of the Finnish League for Human Rights’ Whole Woman Project is that no girl living in Finland be cut in Finland or taken abroad to be cut. Talking about female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) from the perspective of human…
The 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees[i] is a landmark regional refugee instrument, which for Latin America broadened the refugee definition and proposed new approaches to the humanitarian needs of refugees and displaced in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation. Article…
The 23rd session of the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in May 2014 adopted a Belarus-sponsored resolution titled ‘Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Organs and Trafficking in Persons for the Purpose of Organ Removal’.…
Much of the media reporting on Syrian refugees highlights their humanitarian struggles, or else their admirable resilience. Both approaches are understandable and realistic, but what is missing from these two perspectives is the mundane. Boredom is the passage of days…