A Socio-economic Perspective on the Urbanisation of Zaatari Camp in Jordan

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayham Dalal
Keyword(s):  
Financial Aid ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Economic Perspective ◽  
Social Spaces ◽  
Economic Dynamics ◽  
Self Reliance ◽  
Durable Solutions

Camps are temporal spaces where refugees are provided with humanitarian aid until durable solutions are made possible. During this period of ‘endless waiting’, these camps are planned to be economically self-contained. However, through time, refugee camps tend to urbanise: their initial empty spaces transform into vibrant markets, habitats and social spaces. In response to this ‘unexpected’ - and sometimes ‘unwanted’ - process, the economically self-contained system of camps breaks. This paper looks into the emerging socio-economic dynamics in Zaatari camp in Jordan, on the light of its urbanisation process and the Jordanian economy. It first explains the how humanitarian aid is provided, and then shows how and why, refugees use it to diversify the economy of the camp. The findings of this paper are then articulated on the existing policies to reduce the financial aid such as ‘self-reliance’ and ‘development’.

scholarly journals Uneven Humanitarianism: Abandoned Refugees along the Thai-Myanmar Border

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-86
Author(s):  
Tani Sebro
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Ethnic Minority Groups ◽  
Authoritarian Rule ◽  
Humanitarian Organizations ◽  
British Colonial

This essay considers the case of uneven humanitarian aid distribution along the Thai-Myanmar border, where forcibly displaced migrants from Myanmar have been abandoned by the UNHCR and international humanitarian organizations. Based upon long-term ethnographic fieldwork along the Thai-Myanmar border amongst Tai migrants from the Shan State in Myanmar, I attend to the effects of the inequitable distribution of rights and privileges in an international humanitarian system that is predicated on the neoliberal logic of uneven development. After two centuries of British colonial occupation and later Burman authoritarian rule, the ethnic minority groups along the Thai-Myanmar border are now facing another crisis – that of abandonment as NGOs search for new and more pressing humanitarian disasters elsewhere. The essay addresses a concept I call uneven humanitarianism as a neocolonial condition for peoples living in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands by specifically focusing on Tai peoples who are living in unofficial refugee camps that lost foreign funding in 2017. I argue that the ad hoc treatment and eventual abandonment of these vulnerable groups – that are currently in the midst of the world’s most protracted civil war and displacement situation – constitutes a failure of the “responsibility to protect” humanitarian project.

scholarly journals Measuring Self-Reliance in Refugee Camps

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Mara Schön ◽  
Celina Borchert ◽  
Luisa Kunst
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Performance Indicator ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Self Reliance ◽  
Initial Hypothesis

The concept of "self-reliance" is widespread, but only recently there have been initiatives that not only use the term “self-reliance”, but also try to measure it – rather for refugees outside than in refugee camps, though. Thus, the “Camp Performance Indicator (CPI) system” was developed and applied to different case studies. This paper examines the level of self-reliance for camps in Jordan (Zaatari camp and Azraq camp) and Kenya (Dadaab Complex), but also for refugee settlements in Uganda (Nakivale and Bidibidi) and simultaneously tests the CPI, a tool consisting of 109 indicators. Applying the CPI revealed that the level of self-reliance is generally low in the five camps and settlements studied, backing up our initial hypothesis.

scholarly journals Sahrawi Refugees in Algeria: How Do “The People in Exile” Live?

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-255
Author(s):  
E. I. Smeshko
Keyword(s):  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The People ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Islamic Identity ◽  
Political Settlement

The article is devoted to the study of the conditions of life of the Sahrawi people who live in refugee camps in Algeria since 1970s due to the Western Sahara conflict. The process of political settlement of the Western Sahara conflict has been de facto suspended, however the situation in the Sahrawi refugee camps remains unstable and requires new solutions and international cooperation. The article provides a historical overview of the emergence of the refugee camps in Tindouf and examines existing mechanisms for international supporting the Sahrawi people. The author tends to analyze activities of the UN system organizations and agencies. Annual events within the framework of the FiSahara Film Festival to support Sahrawi are reported. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of Islam in Sahrawi society and the possibilities to benefit from the Islamic identity of the Sahrawi people to the Islamic cooperation and helping for refugees from Muslimmajority states. It is shown that the authorities of the unrecognized Sahara Arab Democratic Republic (the front POLISARIO) create the image of the secular Sahrawi community to overcome Islamophobia and receive humanitarian aid from a wide range of non-governmental organizations, including Christian and secular ones. At the same time, the true religious component of refugees’ life is hidden from the international community.

Resisting Rebels in chad and the Central African Republic

2019 ◽  
pp. 134-150
Author(s):  
Marina E. Henke
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Central African Republic ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Complex Situation ◽  
Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Conflict Area ◽  
The Eu

This chapter explores how, in an effort to address the complex situation of the conflict in Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR), the European Union (EU) deployed EUFOR Chad–CAR. The key objective of the force was to protect civilians living in the refugee camps, facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, and ensure the safety of humanitarian personnel operating in the conflict area. France initiated and politically orchestrated the deployment of EUFOR Chad–CAR. France worked relentlessly at the UN to pass a UN resolution that would authorize the EU mission and plan for the EU–UN transition. France introduced the issue at the EU Council and lobbied EU member states to support the proposal. Most EU members, however, did not share France's urgency to deploy an EU operation to Chad–CAR. As such, it was up to France to cajole these countries to contribute forces to the coalition. In this process, France instrumentalized diplomatic embeddedness. The chapter then looks at the deployment decisions of the three largest troop-contributing countries: Ireland, Poland, and Sweden; Austria, a deeply embedded state with France; and Russia, a less embedded state with France.

Abitare permanente in un territorio provvisorio: i campi profughi Saharawi in Algeria

TERRITORIO ◽  
2012 ◽  
pp. 82-86
Author(s):  
Lina Scavuzzo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Critical State ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
The Political ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
International Policies

This paper considers the political, social, and spatial consequences of the conflict in the Western Sahara and particularly the implications this has had in the development of refugee camps in Algeria. The essay revolves around three concepts. The first regards the support policies practiced by international governing bodies, through humanitarian aid aimed exclusively at satisfying basic needs. The second is the role international co-operation plays in the construction of a process of local development and therefore permanence in a territory the local community perceives as temporary. Finally, this paper considers the critical state created when a form of permanent habitation of a temporary territory collides with hostile environmental conditions in the absence of economic resources and above all the international policies that accompany this process.

Refugees as Actors? Critical Reflections on Global Refugee Policies on Self-reliance and Resilience

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Krause ◽  
Hannah Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
The Self ◽  
Policy Effects ◽  
The Core ◽  
Interpretive Analysis ◽  
Self Reliance ◽  
Refugee Policies ◽  
Critical Reflections

Abstract Global policies designed to promote the self-reliance and resilience of refugees strive to increase their abilities to deal with hardships; in doing so, they rhetorically shift refugees from the category of ‘vulnerable’ to that of capable actors. This shift as well as policy effects on refugees are at the core of this article. The meanings in global refugee policies, and particularly in UNHCR policies on self-reliance and resilience, are explored through an interpretive analysis. The article shows that, in lieu of the assumed shift, these policies continue to use vulnerability ascriptions and thereby produce binary categories of vulnerable versus self-reliant or resilient refugees. ‘Objective’ criteria are installed that obscure the idea of refugees as self-determined actors and lead to an understanding of them as ‘actors-to-be’. It is ultimately argued that self-reliance and resilience policies support the logic of traditional humanitarian aid and, rather than promoting refugees’ own capabilities, strengthen the power of aid agencies over refugees.

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