Refugee Crisis Journal
REFUGEE CRISIS 7
Solutions to the Refugee Crisis
By: Alejandra Berry
GEN499: General Education Capstone
Instructor: Mark Bowles
May 6, 2019
Running head: REFUGEE CRISIS 1
Solutions to the Refugee Crisis
Introduction
Annotated Bibliography
Akram, S. M. (2019). Assessing the Impact of the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration in the Middle East. International Journal of Refugee Law, 71. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eey071
The article examines the positive impact of the Global compact on refugees and migrants in the Middle East. The authors recognize the fact that the Middle East region bears an overwhelming burden of the global refugee and migrant crisis, resulted from protracted armed conflict and the deficit in the applicable international legal norms. Most states in the regions are yet to adopt the international treaties that emphasize protection for refugees and stateless people, such as the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (Akram, 2019). The Global Compacts have renewed the focus on the interconnected and protracted nature of refugee and statelessness across the Middle East region. For example, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have introduced measures that allow children to apply for nationality through their mothers. This confirms that the United Nations Global Compact is effective in enhancing the commitment to addressing the refugee crisis and helping refugees.
Goodwin-Gill, G. S. (2019). The Global Compacts and the Future of Refugee and Migrant Protection in the Asia Pacific Region. International Journal of Refugee Law, 64. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eey064
The article examines the effect of the Global Compacts on the future of refugee and migrant protection in the Asia Pacific region. The author notes that it is challenging to convince governments to drop their temporary inclinations and short-term, knee-jerk policies and practices for refugees and migrants when the government view themselves overwhelmed by numbers and facing citizens that see themselves seriously disadvantaged by the influx of refugees and migrants. Global Compacts have an important role to play in ensuring that governments adopt better policies to support refugees and migrants. For example, the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration recognizes the movement of people as a matter of international concern in which the international community has an interest that should be protected. The Migration Compact and the Refugee Compact promote a complementary international cooperation framework that benefits refugees and migrants. This shows that Global Compacts will significantly benefit refugees.
Hathaway, J. C. (2016). A Global Solution to a Global Refugee Crisis. European Papers, 1 (1), 93-99.
The author argues for the need to change the way the refugee law is implemented. He advocates for a shift to a collectivized and managed approach in the implementation of refugee protection obligations. According to Hathaway (2017), although the Conventions obligations remain sound, the implementation mechanisms are flawed in ways that influence states to compromise their values and interests, which results in needless suffering in needless suffering for refugees. He proposes a five-point plan for revitalizing the Refugee Convention. The five points include ensuring that reforms address the circumstances of all states rather than the powerful few, planning for rather than reacting to the movement of refugees, embracing common but differentiated state responsibilities, and shifting from national to an international administration of the protection of refugees. Then the article provides useful ways for improving the cooperation for countries in addressing the refugee crisis. Particularly, the author argues for an effective, common, but differentiated approach to the problem.
Lischer, S. K. (2017). The Global Refugee Crisis: Regional Destabilization & Humanitarian Protection. Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 146 (4), 85-97.
The article discusses the broad global refugee crisis with a focus on the prevalence, effect on regional destabilization and humanitarian protection. The author notes that also resulting from civil war; large-scale displacement crises often result from the economics, security, and politics of the conflict. Refugees and internally displaced people have a major role in regional destabilization. For example, the Syrian refugee crisis is intertwined with both civil and international conflict and negatively affects neighboring host states, such as Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon (Lischer, 2017). The main mistake made by policymakers is viewing the security of the host state as not related to the security of refugees, and in some instances view host state security and refugee security as opposing factors, which is not true. There exists a close connection between the security of the host state and the security of refugees, and when one of the two is undermined, the other is weakened. By failing to recognize the close connection between host state security and refugee security, policymakers develop policies that seek to protect refugees while compromising the security of the host state.
Matlin, S. A., Depoux, A., Schütte, S., Flahault, A., & Saso, L. (2018). Migrants’ and refugees’ health: towards an agenda of solutions. Public Health Reviews, 39 (27), 1-55.
The article focuses on the health needs of refugees and migrants. The authors observe that much attention has not been placed on the health needs of refugees even though their number greatly increased over the past few years. Although the right to health is strongly asserted by international instruments, such as the United Nations and World Health Organization, migrants and refugees are often neglected, particularly those awaiting clarification of their statuses, such as those who lack the required documentation and asylum seekers. The article summarizes the state of health for migrants and refugees and the extent to which the health needs are met (Matlin, Depoux, Schütte, Flahault, & Saso, 2018). The summary provides evidence for success and challenges in attending to the health needs of refuges and migrants and highlights areas that need further effort, including policy development, service design and delivery, research and communication, and education and training.
Pathak, E., & Sharmiladevi, J. C. (2018). Refugee Crises around the World Today. Annual Research Journal of SCMS , 6, 18-29.
The article focuses on the dimensions of refugees, including the origin and nature, and an assessment of the current refugee situation across the major parts of the world. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees statistics shows a total of 65.6 million refugees, internally displaced people, and asylum seekers. Statistics show that at least one in 113 people have been driven from their settlements due to persecution, violation of human rights, violence, and conflict. It is also found that children represent 50% of all refugees, despite the fact that the world’s population comprises of only 30 percent children below the age of 18, which indicates that children are affected the most by persecutions, violence, violation of human rights, and conflict (Pathak & Sharmiladevi, 2018). The refugee agenda negatively impacts the economic, social, and political agenda of states, civil society groups, and intergovernmental agencies. The article provides a foundation for understanding the refugee crisis. It will be valuable to the introduction part of the final paper.
Wahlbeck, O. (2018). To Share or Not to Share Responsibility? Finnish Refugee Policy and the Hesitant Support for a Common European Asylum System. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies , 1 (1), 1-18.
The article examines the policy of the Finnish government as it relates to the development of a Common European Asylum System (CEAS). The government of Finland has traditionally demonstrated a strong commitment to international cooperation, but some politicians were reluctant to support the decision to relocate asylum seekers within the EU when the country experienced a 10-fold increase in asylum seekers during the European refugee crisis. The article provides an overview of the influx of refugees in Finland and the country’s refugee policies and the government’s statements and policies as they relate to the CEAS (Wahlbeck, 2018). The author seeks to provide reasons for the hesitation of the Finnish government to support EU’s decision on relocating asylum seekers, but emerged among the few members states that efficiently implemented the decision. The reluctance of the country was influenced by the navigation of both conflicting political views and heated public debate about large numbers of asylum seekers. The article provides cooperation as a solution to the refugee crisis while addressing the possible challenges.
References
Akram, S. M. (2019). Assessing the Impact of the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration in the Middle East. International Journal of Refugee Law , 71.
Fix, M., Hooper, K., & Zong, J. (2017). How are Refugees Faring: Integration at U.S and State Levels. Migration Policy Institute.
Goodwin-Gill, G. S. (2019). The Global Compacts and the Future of Refugee and Migrant Protection in the Asia Pacific Region. International Journal of Refugee Law , 64.
Hathaway, J. C. (2016). A Global Solution to a Global Refugee Crisis. European Papers , 1 (1), 93-99.
Lischer, S. K. (2017). The Global Refugee Crisis: Regional Destabilization & Humanitarian Protection. Journal of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences , 146 (4), 85-97.
Matlin, S. A., Depoux, A., Schütte, S., Flahault, A., & Saso, L. (2018). Migrants’ and refugees’ health: towards an agenda of solutions. Public Health Reviews , 39 (27), 1-55.
Pathak, E., & Sharmiladevi, J. C. (2018). Refugee Crises around the World Today. Annual Research Journal of SCMS , 6, 18-29.
USA for UNHCR. (2018). Global Trends At-a-Glance. Retrieved May 3, 2019, from https://www.unrefugees.org/refugee-facts/statistics/
Wahlbeck, O. (2018). To Share or Not to Share Responsibility? Finnish Refugee Policy and the Hesitant Support for a Common European Asylum System. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies , 1 (1), 1-18.