In contrast to most situations of refugee flight, it is not individual persecution or country circumstances that are the cause of the Palestinians’ protracted exile but rather the dissolution and disappearance of an internationally recognised political entity to which Palestinians…
There are still hundreds of thousands of refugees and IDPs displaced by ‘frozen conflicts’ in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. For more than ten years, return has been the most favoured solution, not only by those displaced but…
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…