A Comparative Analysis on International Refugee Law and Temporary Protection in the Context of Turkey

The Syrian civil war prompted a large number of people to flee their country and seek asylum in other countries, making Turkey a leading host country with around 3.6 million of asylum seekers. Syrian asylum seekers in Turkey are under temporary protection regime. This article examines Turkish temporary protection regime in comparison with international protection standards and human rights law, especially with the UNHCR Guideline and European Union legislation on temporary protection and European Court on Human Rights judgements. In this respect, this article argues that Turkish legislation has met the fundamental requirements of international protection law and standards, however, still needs to be improved in some crucial areas. In this regard, the international protection law and the difference between the status of refugee and temporary protection is explored. Subsequently, declaration of temporary protection in case of a mass-influx, the rights and freedoms covered under temporary protection, non-refoulement principle and termination of temporary protection regime under Turkish Temporary Protection Regulation are discussed and compared with the international standards. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations for the improvement are deduced from this discussion.

Cellular Self-Digestion and Persistence in Bacteria

Cellular self-digestion is an evolutionarily conserved process occurring in prokaryotic cells that enables survival under stressful conditions by recycling essential energy molecules. Self-digestion, which is triggered by extracellular stress conditions, such as nutrient depletion and overpopulation, induces degradation of intracellular components. This self-inflicted damage renders the bacterium less fit to produce building blocks and resume growth upon exposure to fresh nutrients. However, self-digestion may also provide temporary protection from antibiotics until the self-digestion-mediated damage is repaired. In fact, many persistence mechanisms identified to date may be directly or indirectly related to self-digestion, as these processes are also mediated by many degradative enzymes, including proteases and ribonucleases (RNases). In this review article, we will discuss the potential roles of self-digestion in bacterial persistence.

Forced displacement: an emerging indirect impact of Covid-19 pandemic in America and the rest of the world. Prospects and Solutions

Background and aimsDespite Global efforts in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response, the SARS-Cov-2 virus presents a growing concern for the forced displacement of persons from their communities. People are forcibly evicted or displaced to other places by both the direct or indirect sequelae of the disease. The direct sequelae have been the movement of people from communities of high COVID-19 endemicity to areas of a perceived low COVID-19 endemicity and, or threats to life. The indirect sequelae have occurred mainly following the associated shutdown of social services (hospitals, schools, transportation, etc.), eviction from community or housing, and loss of livelihood posed by COVID-19. New policy and practice approach in the Global pandemic response that incorporates timely measures to address any COVID-19 induced forced displacement and offer humanitarian assistance to individuals impacted are needed. This is also on the hill of a looming lifting and or expiration of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “temporary protection of housing eviction (eviction moratorium)” in the USA and elsewhere, so many individuals or families will likely be homeless and become internally displaced persons post public health emergency declaration. The present study aims to bring to the limelight this ongoing but yet to addressed complications of the COVID-19 pandemic and recommends possible solutions for this pandemic and any future disease outbreaks. MethodsWe carried out multiple online and database searched on COVID-19 induced-forced displacement of persons. Furthermore, we conducted an online search of COVID-19 induced displacement monitoring and tracking in the USA and globally, as well as that on data collected and/or compile through intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and non-governmental organizations. In a narrative review, we try to identify COVID-19 induced forced displacement data provided online from the inception of the pandemic outbreak-December 2019 to August 2021. ResultsWe included data from a biannual data report on forced displacement provided by three intergovernmental organizations as identified on their websites. Recommendations were made for incorporating active monitoring and tracking of COVID-19 induced Force displacement/evicted persons post expiration of “temporary protection from housing eviction” in the Global pandemic effort with a view to providing baseline data for intervention and targeted humanitarian assistance to displaced persons.ConclusionsThe COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause forced displacement of persons and communities, alongside attendant humanitarian needs. Incorporating COVID-19 induced forced displacement monitoring and tracking is a key solution to minimizing the collateral suffering, morbidity, and mortality associated with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic or future disease outbreak. We also suggested the establishment of a specific center for Disease outbreak (COVID-19 pandemic) induced-forced displacement studies in America.

A Masterclass in Evading the Rule of Law: The Saga of Scott Morrison and Temporary Protection Visas

For over a year, the then Minister for Immigration successfully avoided granting permanent protection to refugees who came by boat. His newly elected government had promised to re-introduce a temporary protection regime, but came to power without the numbers to pass necessary legislation. In order to achieve his policy objective, the Minister chose to engage in a variety of legally dubious tactics to forestall and delay granting permanent protection, as required by the law. In doing so, the Minister navigated skilfully through the holes in Australia’s institutional frameworks designed to protect the rule of law and Australia’s constitutional arrangements. The saga of Scott Morrison and temporary protection visas is therefore a telling story about the fragility of the rule of law in Australia and demonstrates how a determined executive can upend the constitutional order.

The Politics of Temporary Protection Schemes: The Role of Mexico’s TVRH in Reproducing Precarity among Central American Migrants

Using Mexico’s Tarjeta de Visitante por Razones Humanitarias (TVRH) as a primary case study, this article examines how states can use temporary protection schemes as border security measures while claiming to provide protection. Although the TVRH offers a legal pathway and status to move within Mexico, it equally restricts certain rights due to its temporary nature. It becomes a form of differential inclusion by which the state has the right to be able to “exclude and define the limits” of a particular population but also claim inclusion on humanitarian grounds. Despite the claim of protecting migrants, the application of this regular status can essentially become a form of interdiction, which sustains the political framing of migration as ultimately a “threat” that needs to be governed. On the ground, migrants with these temporary regular statuses occupy a liminal space and live a precarious existence similar to those migrants who do not possess a legal status at all. This power imbalance exists more often as states prefer to grant a temporary immigration status, which ensures less responsibility and support that accompanies more rights and protections. Based on policy analysis and field work, the article will examine the TVRH, the processes for obtaining this legal status, and the consequences for irregular migrants.

Protecting livelihoods in the COVID-19 crisis: A comparative analysis of European labour market and social policies

This article provides a comparative study of the labour market and social policy measures introduced in light of the COVID-19 crisis in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom between March 2020 and January 2021. Its main aim is to understand whether the crisis response has changed the structures of the welfare states concerned. Focusing in particular on the differences regarding the crisis measures taken for individuals in ‘standard employment’ and ‘non-standard workers’ in each country, it argues that, although extensive temporary protection instruments were introduced for both groups during the crisis, these did not lead to an immediate convergence as regards these groups’ social protection. Rather than changing the underlying structures of welfare systems, many of the measures in fact highlighted the specific vulnerabilities of large segments of Europe’s labour markets. States have, however, granted social compensation at unprecedented levels, which could result in improved infrastructures and a clearer understanding of the responsibility of the welfare state in future emergencies.