Belarus-EU refugee standoff is the latest example of the UN refugee convention under strain. Belarus and the European Union are raising their stakes in a standoff over refugees and migrants at the Belarusian-Polish border. The EU is imposing more sanctions on entities in Belarus, while Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is threatening to cut gas supplies to Europe.... Continue Reading →
Social justice, accountability and the politics of crisis
In this episode of Conversations with Iris, Lyndsey Stonebridge, professor of Humanities and Human Rights at the University of Birmingham, talks to Daniel Trilling, former editor of the New Humanist, journalist and author of Lights in the Distance. Exile and Refuge at the Borders of Europe (2018) and Bloody Nasty People. The Rise of Britain's... Continue Reading →
New refugee integration indicators for the UK
Prof. Jenny Phillimore has a made significant contribution to the development of new Indicators on Integration Framework. They are the most comprehensive materials to date and have the potential to reframe thinking on a National and Global scale.
How the refugee crisis of 2015 turned into a “crisis of the European Union”: The Atlas of Transitions interviews Dr Nando Sigona
In this interview, Dr Nando Sigona offers some insights into how the 2015 refugee crisis has turned into a “solidarity crisis” and into a “crisis of the European Union (EU) as a project”. http://www.atlasoftransitions.eu/focus/interview-with-nando-sigona/
Unravelling Europe’s ‘Migration Crisis’ – new book co-authored by IRiS Nando Sigona
What is it like to travel to Europe over land and sea in order to secure a future for yourself and your family? Why are so many people willing to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean? What are their hopes and fears? And why is Europe, one of the richest regions of the world, unable... Continue Reading →
Irregular migration and the new global governance of human mobility
In this interview, Dr Nando Sigona offers some insights in the changing nature of undocumented migration and how the UN global compact agenda may contribute to further exclude the migrants it claims to protect. Dr Sigona draws on research carried out with colleagues for the ESRC-funded MEDMIG project and his previous work on irregular migration... Continue Reading →
Rome mayor’s anti-migrant stance signals shift to right for Italy’s Five Star Movement
Nando Sigona, University of Birmingham
The mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, believes the Italian capital is facing a new migrant emergency. “We can’t afford new arrivals,” she argued in a letter sent to Italy’s Ministry of Interior on June 15. “Rome’s reception capacity is on its knees,” she continued, adding that new arrivals would have “devastating social costs”. According to the Italian interior minister, Marco Minniti, new arrivals in Rome are in line with agreed quotas.
This was not Raggi’s view only six months ago, when she spoke in early December at an event hosted by the Roman Catholic Church to showcase positive responses to refugees in European cities. Raggi, who is from Beppe Grillo’s Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S) or Five Star Movement, praised the role that cities such as Rome and Barcelona have in welcoming refugees and celebrated the contributions newcomers bring to society. In a post…
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Sexual and Gender-based Violence in the Refugee Crisis: vulnerabilities, inequalities and responses
Professor Jenny Phillimore has secured funding from the Europe and Global Challenges Programme to lead a new research project to examine Sexual and Gender-based Violence in the Refugee Crisis: vulnerabilities, inequalities and responses. The project will use a constructionist approach to examine refugees’ experience of SGBV across the refugee journey. Supported by Dr Lisa Goodson,... Continue Reading →
Where is integration in the refugee ‘crisis’?
By Jenny Phillimore While migrants seeking to escape conflict, persecution, poverty, and environmental disaster have been crossing the Mediterranean by boat to seek sanctuary in Europe for a number of years, in 2015 the scale of arrivals increased beyond all expectations. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in excess of one million arrivals, with migrants... Continue Reading →
Barack Obama says the refugee crisis is a ‘test of our humanity’ – is Britain failing it? Asks Nando Sigona
Nando Sigona, University of Birmingham In a compassionate and compelling speech, Barack Obama called the response to the global refugee crisis “a test of our humanity” and invited world leaders attending the Leaders' Summit on Refugees on September 20 to do more to assist those fleeing war and persecution. The British prime minister, Theresa May,... Continue Reading →