In order to better serve those affected by conflict and disasters, there is a real need among aid agencies to better understand their locations, numbers and needs. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computer mapping software systems. Currently they are being…
Interventions require speed and flexibility. It is in this context that finance and accountability often become early casualties. Emphasis is quite rightly put on immediate assistance to displaced persons and other disadvantaged people. However, financial and accountability procedures are often…
Despite, (or perhaps because of) worldwide attention on Iraq, the Bush Administration still needs a success story for the war on terror. Afghanistan remains their best hope. In search of a viable self-policing state and a plausible exit strategy, they…
Both groups of displaced people lack adequate education provision. Refugees and IDPs alike are excluded from formal education and employment opportunities due to language barriers, gender/ethnic prejudice and lack of basic skills. In the Arab World illiteracy eradication programmes have…
Lebanon has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention and refugees live in fear of arrest and detention. Refugees in Lebanon have no right to residence or work permits and UNHCR provides only minimal financial assistance. Most survive on the informal…
Can mediation systems be developed which are sensitive to the values of tribally-based cultures yet also in accordance with the judicial norms of the host country? Iran, host for two decades to one of the world's largest refugee populations, has…
Upon arrival, they are often accused of deception by politicians, the press and the public. So far the European Union and its member states have focused on strengthening the borders of Fortress Europe. A new study suggests that they would…
The last issue of FMR provided an arena for ideas on when displacement ends that was both informative and engaging. Mooney introduced an integrated approach, requiring both solutions-based and needs-based criteria based on a range of human rights indicators. Frelick…
On November 2002 the UN Security Council voted unanimously to back an Anglo-American resolution (no. 1441) requiring Iraq to reinstate weapons inspectors withdrawn by the UN in 1998. The following month, as demanded by the UN, Iraqi officials presented the…
A number of recent UNHCR evaluations suggest that the organisation knows less and less about the refugees it is mandated to protect. Recent events in West Africa, where a number of humanitarian personnel were implicated in the sexual exploitation of…