Protracted displacement is often implicitly associated with passivity and immobility, and it is not by chance that protracted displacement is often described through the metaphor of 'limbo'. But people living in protracted displacement are far from immobile. On the contrary, both in their everyday lives and over time, they experience 'constrained mobility' at different scales and in pursuit of different goals. While heavily constrained by a complex and constantly evolving combination of legal and socioeconomic factors, these mobility patterns are a crucial form of 'agency under duress'. Here, Roman et al use the cases of Greece and Italy to explore what protracted displacement looks like in reality. These countries share at least three common structural features. First, both are 'first entry' countries in the European Union (EU), where asylum seekers' mobility is constrained by Dublin Regulation rules. Second, both countries have comparatively low administrative capacity, in particular in the fields of reception and integration of asylum seekers and refugees. Finally they are both characterized by stagnant official labor markets and sizeable underground economies. All of these factors deeply shape the patterns of mobility and inclusion/exclusion of migrants living in protracted displacement.
According to the World Health Organisation, older people are at highest risk from COVID-19. This is because those over the age of 60 are most vulnerable to developing co-morbidities and are among the most vulnerable in terms of direct virus impact and indirect impact from infection prevention and control measures. Older people living in refugee settlements face particular difficulties accessing basic WASH services, limiting their ability to implement hygiene measures aimed at preventing the transmission of COVID-19. These contexts are also extremely challenging for the implementation of social distancing and self-isolation measures due to overcrowded and inadequate housing. Here, Cortez and van Blerk examine older refugees' access to potable water, hygiene and sanitation.
This article reported the development of four sets of recommendations for the adaptation of CFS programming and the identification of different learning modalities in use or accessible to children within communities. Over one third of children and caregivers surveyed reported new stressors for caregivers or related to caregiving in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these include closed churches, closed borders (restricting movements back to South Sudan), economic insecurity, lack of material goods to support basic needs, lack of support from relatives, and fear of the coronavirus itself. New COVID-related stressors were also reported for caregivers where children's exposure to friends was reduced. The two most frequently reported stressors related to lack of food and education. With access to the community now more difficult due to COVID-19 restrictions, several community-based groups have been leading efforts to reduce disease transmission and identify families in need of general psychosocial and specialised mental health support. Trained health workers and community volunteers have been working together to support dissemination of COVID messaging. This initiative can be extended to develop and disseminate child-friendly MHPSS messaging and capacity-strengthening efforts for community groups, child protection committees (CPCs) and faith leaders already working to provide information to prevent the spread of the virus and address stigma and other misconceptions. Overwhelmingly, children surveyed reported not being able to go back to school and be with friends as the primary source of their concern. Prior to the closure of CFS within the settlement, children and youth clubs (CYCs) were able to bring children together and to promote social cohesion, peacebuilding and child protection, and were also useful for enabling child-led advocacy. In the absence of CFS, these smaller CYCs have thrived outside the confines of their formerly place-based home. Facilitated by community groups and faith leaders, activities include opportunities which they would normally have in the CFS. The groups follow a set of sessions adapted from a child-led peacebuilding curriculum. Child club members trained in journalism have also been helping with COVID response activities through promoting child-friendly information on coronavirus prevention and personal hygiene, either face to face or through mobile phones, sharing information on child protection through the radio and during community meetings, and promoting children's safety from violence. Members of the clubs also reach out to child-headed households to provide basic child protection and psychosocial support messages.
The pandemic has placed significant additional mental and emotional burdens on forced migrants. Here, Balletto et al talk about adaptation of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in camps in the context of COVID-19. The recommendations here reflect these layers of intervention, and focus on the importance of establishing collective care and mutual aid networks that integrate the cognitive, affective, spiritual and social realities of displaced persons living in camp settings in the context of COVID-19.
For self-settled refugees who lack access to resources and are often suffering the effects of traumatic experiences, affordable and accessible green spaces can be instrumental to their well-being. The use of such spaces for relaxation and reflection or for exercise, socialising and play can also assist refugees to build stronger links with their host community and lead to a deeper spatial understanding of the cities in which they live. However, typical refugee-receiving neighbourhoods in cities of the Majority World suffer from informal development and planning, poor housing stock and high population densities. As a result, accessible public leisure spaces are rare and often neglected. Such spaces may also be appropriated by particular groups or individuals, which can isolate or intimidate others, or may be closely monitored by the State. My research in 2016–17 focused on Syrian refugees’ gendered experiences of mobility, security and public space in neighbourhoods in the cities of Amman and Beirut.1 These neighbourhoods had been chosen by refugees for their perceived affordability and proximity to (informal) work opportunities and, often, because of kinship links. However, women living in these areas typically did not have access to public green leisure spaces. This was not only because these cities lacked such spaces but was also the result of a number of intersecting structural and identity issues which combined to create a multitude of obstacles to women’s access to public spaces and enjoyment of leisure opportunities.
EASO has recently seen an expansion of the scope of its activities and – as a consequence – its potential to influence national refugee status determination.
The ability of an asylum system to adapt its processes is important and plays a key role in ensuring sustainability over time Adaptation, however, must never come at the expense of other vital elements of a strong and just asylum system The 2018 Global Compact on Refugees highlighted the identification of international protection needs as an "area in need of support" and subsequently established an Asylum Capacity Support Group The aim of this mechanism is to strengthen aspects of national asylum systems to ensure their fairness, efficiency, adaptability and integrity While the concepts of 'fair' and 'efficient' are often referred to in discussions regarding an optimal refugee status determination (RSD) procedure, 'adaptability' is less clearly and comprehensively defined In an adaptable institution, preparations are made to adapt to anticipated changes in external and internal environments rather than introducing ad hoc changes in reaction to external factors To ensure that the adaptation is sustainable, an adaptable institution has systems in place to evaluate the positive and negative impacts of any change while ensuring continuous improvements are made
A case-study from Uganda demonstrates that authorities cannot provide the services and assistance that refugees need if they do not have good data on the refugee population The COVID-19 pandemic highlights this issue while exacerbating the challenges facing urban refugees
The scaling up of locally organised, city-led routes to resettlement could form part of a larger solution to Europe’s current political crisis and deadlock around migration.
Education assessments in emergencies currently focus on access or aim to understand teachers’ experience and qualifications rather than closely examine children’s experiences and learning.1 Moreover, many international and national assessments are lengthy and require highly trained data collectors, who are often unavailable in the immediate aftermath of displacement. The lack of assessments that are rigorous yet feasible to undertake in education in emergencies (EiE) programming means there is often limited information about gaps in children’s learning and the impact of EiE programmes. The Holistic Assessment of Learning and Development Outcomes (HALDO) is designed to fill such knowledge gaps.2 It enables practitioners to understand the needs of learners aged 4–12 across four domains: literacy, numeracy, social and emotional learning (SEL), and executive functioning.3 HALDO also includes questions about demographic and household characteristics, socio-economic status, home learning environment, and disability.4 In 2018, HALDO was piloted in 32 education centres and schools managed by Save the Children and Windle International Uganda in the Rwamwanja and Kyangwali refugee settlements in western Uganda. Given the recent influx of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to both settlements and towards improving the learning environment and hold service providers accountable. However, participants point out areas in which knowledge can have disempowering effects. For example, one teacher reported that although increased knowledge had had a positive effect on his teaching practices, it had also left him feeling anxious: “I wonder if children should not enter the classroom because it is in a poor state. I will have failed if it is not improved. I have been made aware that there are a lot of things to do.” It is crucial to manage expectations and to emphasise that the learning environment can be improved gradually in small steps.
