The International Refugee Rights Initiative expresses grave concern over reports that the government of Botswana plans to repatriate ten Eritrean asylum seekers without ensuring access to refugee status determination procedures and respect for the right to seek asylum and urges the government to respect its commitment to refugee rights and its obligations under law, and…
The International Refugee Rights Initiative expresses grave concern over reports that the government of Botswana plans to repatriate ten Eritrean asylum seekers without ensuring access to refugee status determination procedures and respect for the right to seek asylum and urges the government to respect its commitment to refugee rights and its obligations under law, and…
For decades, Europe has managed to ignore the majority of refugees housed in countries along the borders of those in crisis – including Turkey, Lebanon and Africa’s Great Lakes region – and has had its collective head in the sand over the critical failures to offer them adequate protection and assistance. It has wrongly assumed that aid budgets are a…
The deportation under a voluntary scheme of Eritreans and Sudanese from Israel to “third countries” in Africa is exposing them to danger, with some being left without proper documentation and at risk of discrimination in unfamiliar environments, a report released this week says.
A new report launched today by the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) exposes how Israeli transfers of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers to Uganda and Rwanda leaves them without status and vulnerable to exploitation. “Our research shows that Israel is not only failing to respect its own obligations under international law, but is directly increasing…
Freedom of movement is not only an internationally recognised right of refugees, it is also critical to their day-to-day lives and to their ability to enjoy other human rights. In October 2014, IRRI launched a campaign to promote the enjoyment by refugees of this fundamental human right. As part of that effort, IRRI is beginning…
(1 July 2015) While Europe squabbles over the acceptance of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers arriving over the Mediterranean, over the past year 154,134 refugees of South Sudanese origin alone have been assisted in Uganda, with Adjumani District receiving around 87 new arrivals every day. Despite the fact that Adjumani is itself recovering from…
While Europe squabbles over the acceptance of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers arriving over the Mediterranean, over the past year 154,134 refugees of South Sudanese origin alone have been assisted in Uganda, with Adjumani District receiving around 87 new arrivals every day. Despite the fact that Adjumani is itself recovering from decades of conflict,…
It is always good when research undermines the image of refugees as victims. However, there is a fine line between promoting a positive image of refugees and underestimating the levels of hardship that many face. A report released in June 2014 by the Humanitarian Innovation Project, University of Oxford, “Refugee Economies: Rethinking Popular Assumptions”, (Alexander…
Freedom of movement is a critically important refugee right, and nearly all others are contingent upon it. Without freedom of movement, rights to employment, education, legal access, identity papers, travel documents, naturalisation, and many other fundamental entitlements are severely curtailed, if not completely blocked. This right is repeatedly articulated in international law, reiterated in domestic…
This blog, originally published on 16 April 2015, has been authored by David Kigozi, Great Lakes Programme Officer at the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI). It appears here in full. “My heart is crying that during the prime of life when I and my family should be enjoying life; eating well, dressing well, living well……
“My heart is crying that during the prime of life when I and my family should be enjoying life; eating well, dressing well, living well… this is the time we are refugees, wasting our lives and it hurts so much. No job, no money, difficult life …seven years…” – Congolese refugee in Kampala.[1] Despite the…
Freedom of movement is a critically important refugee right, and nearly all others are contingent upon it. Without freedom of movement, rights to employment, education, legal access, identity papers, travel documents, naturalisation, and many other fundamental entitlements are severely curtailed, if not completely blocked. This right is repeatedly articulated in international law, reiterated in domestic…
(16 March 2015) Since February 9, 2015 a group of at least 30 Syrian, Palestinian-Syrian and Somali refugees detained at Karmooz police station in Alexandria – Egypt, began an open hunger strike to protest against their arbitrary detention. The refugees have been kept in continuous detention after receiving a deportation order by Egypt’s Homeland Security…
On 23 February 2015, Kenya’s High Court struck down a controversial provision in the newly passed Security Laws (Amendment) Act 2014 (“the Security Act”) which limited the number of asylum seekers and refugees in Kenya to 150,000 persons. Other provisions that are still in place, however, threaten to restrict the rights of refugees by tightening…
The International Refugee Rights Initiative released a new report today,“‘It is a joke’. Ongoing conflict and controversies over ‘return’ in Sudan’s Darfur region“. The report brings the voices of the displaced to light, documenting their experiences around the controversial issue of return. It reveals that although the security situation in Darfur remains precarious, internally displaced…
June 20th marked United Nations World Refugee Day. In Senegal, IRRI marked its commitment to promoting and protecting the human rights of asylum-seekers, refugees, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) by raising awareness among both the authorities and the Senegalese public of the conditions of refugees and of their rights under the 1951 United Nations (UN)…
(1 July 2014) It is with great pleasure that we announce that the Fahamu Refugee Programme (FRP) has merged with the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI). The merger reinforces IRRI’s capacity to address refugee rights issues, bringing new opportunities and expertise and complementing our research and policy work with a focus on legal assistance. At the same…
