A nametag, left on an empty white board in an empty office in Kabul. Handwritten in big curvy letters, it reads: Hélène MSF-H. The tag belonged to Hélène de Beir, who was killed on 2 June 2004 with four colleagues…
The people of the ethnically-diverse Darfur region of Sudan face destitution, hunger and infectious disease. In addition to 1.2 million displaced people living and dying in camps on both sides of Darfur's border with Chad, hundreds of thousands more are…
A debate on the treatment of asylum seekers has been raging in Australia for the last three years since the 'Tampa crisis' in August 2001 brought the issue into public focus. In August 2001, 433 people were rescued from a…
Recent reflections on the study of forced migration urge researchers to take a step back from the forced migrants whose plight we seek to describe and analyse. Stephen Castles has outlined a 'sociology of forced migration' situated in a 'context…
The resumption of hostilities in Chechnya in September 1999 led to the displacement of over 240,000 Chechen civilians, mainly into neighbouring Ingushetia. Shortly afterwards, Russian authorities - namely through the Federal and Ingush Migration Service (MS) - started urging IDPs…
The widespread upheaval brought about by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 prompted ongoing large-scale population movements. The most significant is that of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking people from the other former Soviet Republics to the Russian Federation.…
The idea of constructing a dam on the Fourth Cataract of the Nile, 350 km upstream from Khartoum, was first proposed by British authorities in the early 20th century. Due for completion in 2007, the massive dam will be 65…
In June 2004 I was appointed by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights as Special Rapporteur on Refugees, IDPs and Asylum Seekers in Africa. This is a broad and challenging mandate. Article 12 of the African Charter states…
A decade of civil conflict has left a trail of human devastation in Sierra Leone. The rebels' trademark of severing of limbs of innocent civilians has left thousands of amputees and war wounded, most of whom face an unforgiving future…
As the international community mulls over the criteria for ending internal displacement , a leading NGO in Sri Lanka has come up with a 45-page guide on how to do just that in its own country. The Practitioner's Kit for…