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REFUGE FROM INHUMANITY: ENRICHING REFUGEE PROTECTION STANDARDS THROUGH RECOURSE TO INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW RSC Conference report, Jean-François Durieux and David Cantor (Convenors), April 2013 This report summarises the proceedings at the international conference 'Refuge from inhumanity: enriching refugee protection by recourse to international humanitarian law' held at All Souls College, Oxford, 11-12 February 2013. The conference was jointly organised by the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, and the Refugee Law Initiative of the School of Advanced Study, University of London. This expert conference broke new ground in exploring the role of international humanitarian law (IHL) in the protection of refugees and asylum-seekers. Its seven thematic panels went beyond traditional approaches to IHL and refugee law by assessing the prospects for substantive legal interaction between the two fields. The first day of the conference explored the extent to which IHL (and international criminal law) may provide interpretative guidance in the asylum context. The second day was devoted to examining the potential of IHL for preventing refoulement to situations of armed conflict. The conference brought together exciting new contributions from more than twenty leading specialists in the fields of IHL and refugee law to take stock of recent developments in law and practice, and to cultivate new approaches to the topic. There were over 60 participants, including staff from international and national humanitarian organisations, judges, lawyers, academics and students. Download here: http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/publications/rsc-reports/cr-refuge-from-inhumanity-150413.pdf/view ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ INTEGRATION IN A DIVIDED SOCIETY? REFUGEES AND ASYLUM SEEKERS IN NORTHERN IRELAND RSC Working Paper 91, Charlotte-Anne Malischewski, April 2013 When one thinks of refugees and asylum seekers in the United Kingdom, one tends to think of London and the South East of England, cities in Scotland such as Edinburgh and Glasgow, and, from time to time, part of Wales, but almost never Northern Ireland. In academic and policy articles, papers and reports about forced migrants in the UK, Northern Ireland is at best referenced in passing and, more often, omitted entirely. While this has been historically rooted in the empirical reality that almost no refugees seek asylum in the region, changing realities mean that this omission is no longer justified. Although the number of refugees in the region remains small when compared with other parts of the UK, the proportional rise in asylum claims in recent years has been dramatic and is thus quickly becoming an important concern in Northern Ireland, which presents interesting challenges not encountered elsewhere in the UK. The sectarian divide in Northern Ireland poses a particularly dramatic challenge to the assumption within integration policy and theory that host communities are socially cohesive entities for which generalisations about values and practices can be broadly applied as standards for refugee and asylum seeker integration. Furthermore, the population of refugees and asylum seekers in Northern Ireland presents a particular challenge to the existing integration literature because their integration is embedded in the context of a divided society, which is actively engaged in a particular form of local, intra-societal integration. This paper explores how an empirical understanding of the situation helps in rethinking assumptions of homogeneity widespread in integration theory. By engaging a modified version of intersectionality as a tool with which to conceive the complex nature of social divisions, the paper places the heterogeneity of host communities as the starting point for explorations of integration. Thus, the particularly divisive sectarianism of Northern Ireland is used to elucidate broader theoretical issues of integration for refugees and asylum seekers. Download here: http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/publications/working-papers-folder_contents/wp91-integration-divided-society-northern-ireland-160413.pdf/view ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Note: The material contained in this communication comes to you from the Forced Migration Discussion List which is moderated by Forced Migration Online, Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the RSC or the University. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this message please retain this disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. E-mail: [log in to unmask] Posting guidelines: http://www.forcedmigration.org/research-resources/discussion/forced-migration-discussion-list-posting-guidelines Subscribe/unsubscribe: http://tinyurl.com/fmlist-join-leave List Archives: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/forced-migration.html RSS: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?RSS&L=forced-migration Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/refugeestudies Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/refugeestudiescentre