Dear All,

The Center for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) at the American 
University in Cairo, Egypt is pleased to offer a short course on 
“Refugee Participation in Policy and Practice” June 13-17 2010, to be 
taught by Professor Barbara Harrell-Bond, one of the world’s leading 
scholars and activists in the field of refugee studies.

To apply, please contact: [log in to unmask] Please note that the 
deadline for accepting applications is May 1, 2010.

*Instructors*

Prof. Barbara Harrell-Bond (OBE) is a leading figure in the field of 
refugee studies. She founded the Refugee Studies Center at Oxford 
University, the world's first institution for the study of refugees. She 
has also founded or helped to found refugee legal aid organizations in 
several locations including the refugee law in Uganda and Africa and 
Middle East Refugee Assistance and Forced Migration Studies in Egypt. 
In 2005, Harrell-Bond was made an Officer of the Order of the British 
Empire for her contributions to refugee studies. In September 2008, she 
returned to Oxford where she directs Fahamu an 'information platform' 
web site for legal aid practitioners in the global south.

Professor Harrell-Bond will be assisted by two graduates from Oxford, 
Ms. Nora Danielson and Mr. Themba Lewis.

*Course Description*

Title: Refugee Participation: Where is the Voice of the Refugees?

June 13-17, 2010

This course will explore the questions of refugee participation 
vis-à-vis humanitarian organizations in the development of policy and 
practice for refugees, with examples of refugee self-organization and 
governance. It will confront the conundrum: how can refugee populations 
be involved in decision-making on issues that affect them; how can their 
voices be heard? It is also an issue that affects refugees when they 
seek to organise themselves to represent their interests in their 
dealings with humanitarian organizations or governments. Referring to 
the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mark 
Malloch-Brown once commented, ‘We work for no other organization in the 
political, governmental, or commercial world which has such an absence 
of mechanisms for determining citizen or consumer satisfaction.’

How can UNHCR or humanitarian organizations identify refugees who are 
genuinely representatives of their communities? Does forcing the 
inclusion of women into refugee committees in camps guarantee that 
women’s interests will be represented in policy or practice? Do refugees 
choose their public representatives and do they have legitimacy, or are 
they ‘self-appointed’? Why has no international refugee organization 
ever developed? In what ways have refugee voices been represented in the 
media? Are there times when refugees prefer others to speak for them? 
Are there times and places where it is inappropriate to encourage 
refugee participation in institutions that are working in their 
interests? Are there examples where refugees have taken the initiative 
to improve their own welfare? How have these initiatives fared?

These issues inevitably raise the question of the struggle for power at 
the institutional and state level as well as within refugee populations 
themselves. They also force us to examine an even broader question, the 
social engineering strategies that are employed, especially in refugee 
camps, in seeking to introduce international standards of human rights.

http://www.aucegypt.edu/ResearchatAUC/rc/cmrs/Documents/CMRSsummer2010_finalAnnouncement.pdf 


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