‘Ah, Ireland, the caring nation’: foreign aid and Irish state identity in the long 1970s

2013 ◽  
Vol 38 (151) ◽  
pp. 476-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin O'Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Refugee Camp ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Aid Workers ◽  
State Identity ◽  
Mary Robinson ◽  
Relief Effort ◽  
Head Of State

On a plane leaving Baidoa refugee camp in Somalia in late 1992, an Arab doctor offered John O'Shea, head of the relief agency Goal, a glimpse of how the Irish were viewed in that civil war-ravaged state. ‘Ah, Ireland’, he remarked on learning of O'Shea's country of origin, ‘the caring nation’. He had reason to be complimentary. In addition to the aid agencies and aid workers involved in the ongoing relief effort, Somalia had recently hosted two highprofile visitors from the Irish state. In August 1992 the minister for Foreign Affairs, David Andrews, spent three days in the country to view at first-hand its escalating civil war. He was followed less than two months later by President Mary Robinson, whose arrival at Baidoa on 2 October marked the beginning of a tour – the first by a Western head of state – of the feeding stations and refugee camps that provided succour to those displaced by the conflict.

scholarly journals ‘Madmen, womanizers, and thieves’: moral disorder and the cultural text of refugee encampment in Kenya

Africa ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 153-176
Author(s):  
Hanno Brankamp
Keyword(s):  
Refugee Camp ◽  
Moral Community ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Aid Workers ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Humanitarian Crisis ◽  
Social Imaginaries ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
The World ◽  
North Western

AbstractKenya's refugee camps have evoked spectacular imaginaries of terrorism and humanitarian crisis. Drawing on everyday discourses and shared knowledges among camp administrators, this article reveals that these geopolitical narratives are underwritten locally by more generalized concerns about the imagined ‘otherness’ and moral degeneracy of the displaced. Refugees are thus portrayed as criminals and crooks, sexually deviant and idle, as well as ‘mad’ and uncivilized. Together, these tropes constitute a cultural text of encampment that reproduces postcolonial imaginings of difference and engrains the notion that ‘refugeeness’ equates to a state of ‘moral disorder’. The article is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Kakuma refugee camp in north-western Kenya's Turkana county. It argues that the discursive production of refugees as immoral subjects not only has practical effects for the actions of government officials and aid workers but rekindles a binary colonial mapping of the world into ‘civilized’ and ‘uncivilized’ spaces. These social imaginaries and banal discourses illustrate that the camp has not just a political but also an imaginative geography. Kakuma camp is hereby doubly excluded: from the modernity that humanitarianism ostensibly embodies and from the imagined moral community of Kenya.

On South Sudan, in English. Review of the Books by Peter Martell “First Raise A Flag: How South Sudan Won the Longest War but Lost the Peace” and John Young “South Sudan’s Civil War: Violence, Insurgency and Failed Peacemaking”

2020 ◽  
pp. 109-115
Author(s):  
Anna Sharova
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Civil War ◽  
English Language ◽  
South Sudan ◽  
International Governance ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Graham Greene ◽  
The Future ◽  
Independent Country ◽  
Spot Analysis

Anna Sharova reviews two recent books separately published by two English language authors – P. Martell and J. Young. The books are very different in style and mood. While P. Martell presents an excellent example of British journalist prose in the style of his elder compatriots Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene, who did their reporting and writing from exotic countries during fateful periods of history, J. Young offers a more academic, though no less ‘on the spot’ analysis of the situation in the youngest independent country of Africa. J. Young’s considers two possible approaches to conflict resolution as possible outcomes: non-intervention cum continuation of the war, or the introduction of international governance. P. Martell comes up with a disappointing prediction about the future of South Sudan. The war will go on, the famine will return, and the threat of genocide will not disappear. People will continue to flee the country, and refugee camps will grow. New warring groups will appear, new murders will be committed. Neighbouring states will not stop competing for influence and resources. New peacekeepers will arrive. Warlords will be accused of crimes, but, as before, they will escape punishment, while some will be promoted.

The Refugee Camp as Site of Multiple Encounters and Realizations

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-233
Author(s):  
Ayham Dalal
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Refugee Camp ◽  
Human Geography ◽  
Entry Point ◽  
Material Composition ◽  
Refugee Camps

AbstractLiterature in Human Geography has given much attention to “encounters” and their impact on negotiating difference in everyday life. These studies, however, have focused solely on cities, while “other” spaces like refugee camps have received little attention to date. In this paper, I highlight the significance of “encounters” in camps by exposing three main types: the “refugee-refugee,” the “refugee-humanitarian,” and the “refugee-more-than-human” encounters. Using empirical examples from Zaatari camp in Jordan, I show that the “refugee-refugee” encounters cannot be fully understood without taking refugees’ culture, background, and urban identities into consideration. I also explain how the “refugee-humanitarian” encounters result in new types of behaviors and might harden the boundaries between both groups. And lastly, I demonstrate how the “refugee-more-than-human” encounters can inform us about refugees’ unique experiences with shelters, space, and materiality. Building on the examples given for each type, this article suggests that “encounters” have the ability to generate knowledge and learnings, which contributes to shaping the space of the camp by either enforcing boundaries between different groups and/or by allowing new and hybrid spatialities to emerge. This not only confirms that “encounters” are an important entry point in understanding the socio-spatial and material composition of refugee camps, but also that further studies in this regard are direly needed. It also suggests that architects and planners need to allow for the “new” to emerge as a result of these encounters and, therefore, to enable flexibility and adaptability within camps’ design and planning.

Sensory Perceptual Experience in Balata Refugee Camp

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-44
Author(s):  
Shahd Adnan M. Qzeih ◽  
Rafooneh Mokhtarshahi Sani
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
West Bank ◽  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Mental Image ◽  
Refugee Camp ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
The West ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
Palestinian Territories ◽  
The World

Wars and conflicts have caused millions of people to seek asylum outside their homelands and the issue of refugee camps has become a pressing subject in international policy discussions. Conflicts continue to escalate in different parts of the world, especially in Middle Eastern countries. In 1948, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict forced displacement of many Palestinian people. The resulting camps have developed into cluster camp shelters of three to four stories in the West Bank, Gaza, and other regions around historical Palestine; some are perceived to be like gated communities. Being self-sufficient environments, refugee camps have rarely been approached from the perspective of urban psychology. This research deals with sensory perceptual analysis of Balata, the largest refugee camp in the West Bank of Palestinian Territories. Balata is situated in Nablus and has raised four generations of refugees since its establishment. In order to explore the spatial characteristics of such specific environmental experiences, the research adopted a mixed-method approach – systematically evaluating the related literature on sensory perceptual spaces and applying content analysis methods. The study modified the sensory slider tool of Malnar and Vodvarka according to the framework matrix based on the content analysis. Moreover, the case study analysis consisted of observation of the chosen area and 30 in-depth interviews with refugees who were forced out of their homes and settled in the camp as well as some who were born in the camp. The research results show that investigating what camp residents perceive of the five senses can capture meaningful sensory perceptual experiences and can generate a holistic mental image of the refugee camp. Particularly, perceptions of the built environment reflect the difficulty of life experiences. The study concludes that the characteristics of camps in this seventy-year-old conflict environment may not be found in other parts of the world.

Visual Portraits of Za‘atari Syrian Refugee Camp

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-252
Author(s):  
Thomas B. Stevenson
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Refugee Camp ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Syrian Refugee ◽  
Syrian Civil War ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Host Government

The Syrian Civil War, now in its sixth year, has displaced an estimated 11 million people (with numbers constantly escalating), nearly half the country's population. Of these, the United Nations estimates 4.8 million Syrians have fled their homeland. News reports have tended to focus on the struggles of those crossing the Mediterranean and seeking asylum in Europe, but most refugees have sought safety in the neighboring countries of Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, where they have dispersed and “settled” in towns and cities. A comparative few have settled in host government and/or UNHCR sponsored camps. Jordan's Za‘atari Camp, just seven miles from the border, is the largest Syrian refugee camp. Its population peaked at more than 120,000 residents and currently has between 75,000 – 80,000 residents most of whom are from the Dara'a area. The camp is numerically equivalent to Jordan's fourth largest city.

Do Foreign Aid Projects Attract Transnational Terrorism?

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Boutton ◽  
Henry Pascoe
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
Aid Workers ◽  
Transnational Terrorism ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
The Government ◽  
Project Level

AbstractGovernments and NGOs establish aid projects in order to improve the quality of life for local residents around the world. While recent news stories about aid workers being kidnapped or killed by terrorist groups are alarming, they mask a broader question: Are aid projects effective in promoting humanitarian aims and pacifying the areas to which it is sent? Or, conversely, does their presence actually attract more violence? Although humanitarian assistance is ostensibly non-political, aid projects themselves may make popular targets for terrorist groups. In addition to increasing resources available to plunder, aid provides an appealing foreign target, allowing terrorist groups to reach wider audiences with their attacks and to reinforce the narrative that the government lacks capacity to protect and provide for civilians. In this paper we combine subnational, project-level aid data with newly-assembled subnational data on transnational terrorism to explore terrorist targeting of aid locations. After presenting our matched-sample analysis of terrorist targeting of aid, we outline avenues for future inquiry using high-resolution, subnational data to investigate the strategic vulnerabilities of foreign aid projects.

scholarly journals Trafficking and Syrian Refugee Smuggling: Evidence from the Balkan Route

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Mandic
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Syrian Refugees ◽  
Human Smuggling ◽  
Syrian Refugee ◽  
Depth Interviews

As of March 2016, 4.8 million Syrian refugees were scattered in two dozen countries by the civil war. Refugee smuggling has been a major catalyst of human trafficking in the Middle East and Europe migrant crises. Data on the extent to which smuggling devolved into trafficking in this refugee wave is, however, scarce. This article investigates how Syrian refugees interact with smugglers, shedding light on how human smuggling and human trafficking interrelated on the Balkan Route. I rely on original evidence from in-depth interviews (n = 123) and surveys (n = 100) with Syrian refugees in Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Serbia, and Germany; as well as ethnographic observations in thirty-five refugee camps or other sites in these countries. I argue that most smugglers functioned as guides, informants, and allies in understudied ways—thus refugee perceptions diverge dramatically from government policy assumptions. I conclude with a recommendation for a targeted advice policy that would acknowledge the reality of migrant-smuggler relations, and more effectively curb trafficking instead of endangering refugees.

scholarly journals Decade of Despair: The Contested Rebuilding of the Nahr al-Bared Refugee Camp, Lebanon, 2007–2017

Refuge ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-149
Author(s):  
Are John Knudsen
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Refugee Camp ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Internally Displaced ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Ownership Of Land

In mid-2007 the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli was destroyed by the Lebanese Army battling an insurgent Islamist group, Fatah al-Islam. Displacing about 30,000 Palestinian refugees, it was one of the largest internal battles in post–civil war Lebanon. A decade later, the camp has yet to be fully rebuilt; indeed, reconstruction has been slow, confictual, and underfunded. Rebuilding the camp has been contested and delayed by political opposition, funding shortfalls, and complex ownership of land and property. About half of the displaced families have been able to return, the remainder are internally displaced, living temporarily in other camps or rented apartments. This article analyzes the slow-paced reconstruction of the Nahr al-Bared camp and especially what can be learnt from rehousing refugees in a militarized space of exception.

Norovirus outbreaks in german refugee camps in 2015

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (10) ◽  
pp. 997-1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Grote ◽  
Benjamin Schleenvoigt ◽  
Christine Happle ◽  
Christian Dopfer ◽  
Martin Wetzke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Eating Habits ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Refugee Camp ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
First Case ◽  
Hygiene Measures ◽  
Norovirus Gastroenteritis ◽  
Specific Implementation

Abstract Purpose Refugees often live in confined housing conditions with shared kitchen and sanitary facilities, rendering susceptible to communicable diseases. We here describe the outbreak, spread and self-limiting nature of a norovirus outbreak in a German refugee camp in the winter of 2015. Methods During a norovirus outbreak, data on clinical symptoms, nationality and living conditions was obtained in a refugee camp in northern Germany in the winter of 2015. Furthermore secondary data on norovirus outbreaks in 2015 was assessed. Results Amongst n = 982 refugees, n = 36 patients (3.7 %) presented with acute norovirus gastroenteritis. The vast majority of cases were children, only the first patient was admitted to the hospital. Intensified hygiene measures were implemented on day 2 of the outbreak, but new cases peaked on day 21 and occurred until one month after the first case. Different cultural backgrounds, eating habits and hygiene standards amongst the refugees made it particularly challenging to implement stringent isolation and hygiene measures. Despite these predisposing factors, only minor norovirus outbreaks were reported in refugee camps in 2015. Conclusion Adults refugees had a low attack rate of symptomatic norovirus infection, while small children are at high risk. Infection spreads despite hygiene measures and camp sites and staff should be prepared for the particular challenges of such situations with a particular focus on cultural-background specific implementation of hygiene measures.

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