Refugee/IDP Camps

Constructing Humanitarian Selves and Refugee Others

Citation:

Olivius, Elisabeth. 2016. “Constructing Humanitarian Selves and Refugee Others.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 18 (2): 270–90.

Author: Elisabeth Olivius

Abstract:

Contributing to ongoing debates about what happens when feminism is institutionalized in global governance, this article examines how gender equality is given meaning and applied in humanitarian aid to refugees, and what the implications are with regard to the production of subjectivities and their positioning in relations of power. Drawing on Foucauldian and postcolonial feminist perspectives, the analysis identifies two main representations of what it means to promote gender equality in refugee situations. Gender equality is represented as a means to aid effectiveness through the strategic mobilization of refugee women's participation, and as a project of development, involving the transformation of “traditional” or “backward” refugee cultures into modern societies. The subject positions that are produced categorically cast refugees as either passive or problematic subjects who need to be rescued, protected, assisted, activated, controlled and reformed through humanitarian interventions, while humanitarian workers are positioned as rational administrators and progressive agents of social transformation. In effect, gender equality is used to sustain power asymmetries in refugee situations and to reproduce global hierarchies.

Keywords: global governance, gender equality, refugees, humanitarian aid, governmentality, postcolonial feminism, Thailand, Bangladesh

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Humanitarian Assistance, NGOs Regions: Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Bangladesh, Thailand

Year: 2016

Gender-Based Vulnerability: Combining Pareto Ranking and Spatial Statistics to Model Gender-Based Vulnerability in Rohingya Refugee Settlements in Bangladesh

Citation:

Nelson, Erica L., Daniela Reyes Saade, and P. Gregg Greenough. 2020. “Gender-Based Vulnerability: Combining Pareto Ranking and Spatial Statistics to Model Gender-Based Vulnerability in Rohingya Refugee Settlements in Bangladesh.” International Journal of Health Geographics 19 (1): 1–14.

Authors: Erica L. Nelson, Daniela Reyes Saade, P. Gregg Greenough

Abstract:

Background: The Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh continues to outstrip humanitarian resources and undermine the health and security of over 900,000 people. Spatial, sector-specific information is required to better understand the needs of vulnerable populations, such as women and girls, and to target interventions with improved efficiency and effectiveness. This study aimed to create a gender-based vulnerability index and explore the geospatial and thematic variations in gender-based vulnerability of Rohingya refugees residing in Bangladesh by utilizing preexisting, open source data.

Methods: Data sources included remotely-sensed REACH data on humanitarian infrastructure, United Nations Population Fund resource availability data, and the Needs and Population Monitoring Survey conducted by the International Organization for Migration in October 2017. Data gaps were addressed through probabilistic interpolation. A vulnerability index was designed through a process of literature review, variable selection and thematic grouping, normalization, and scorecard creation, and Pareto ranking was employed to rank sites based on vulnerability scoring. Spatial autocorrelation of vulnerability was analyzed with the Global and Anselin Local Moran’s I applied to both combined vulnerability index rank and disaggregated thematic ranking.

Results: Of the settlements, 24.1% were ranked as ‘most vulnerable,’ with 30 highly vulnerable clusters identified predominantly in the northwest region of metropolitan Cox’s Bazar. Five settlements in Dhokkin, Somitapara, and Pahartoli were categorized as less vulnerable outliers amongst highly vulnerable neighboring sites. Security- and health-related variables appear to be the most significant drivers of gender-specific vulnerability in Cox’s Bazar. Clusters of low security and education vulnerability measures are shown near Kutupalong.

Conclusion: The humanitarian sector produces tremendous amounts of data that can be analyzed with spatial statistics to improve research targeting and programmatic intervention. The critical utilization of these data and the validation of vulnerability indexes are required to improve the international response to the global refugee crisis. This study presents a novel methodology that can be utilized to not only spatially characterize gender-based vulnerability in refugee populations, but can also be calibrated to identify and serve other vulnerable populations during crises.

Keywords: Rohingya, refugees, gender, open-source data, vulnerability index, spatial analysis, GIS, Pareto ranking, spatial autocorrelation

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Health, Humanitarian Assistance, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Bangladesh, Myanmar

Year: 2020

Recovering Bioenergy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gender Dimensions, Lessons and Challenges

Citation:

Njenga, Mary, and Ruth Mendum, eds. 2018. Recovering Bioenergy in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gender Dimensions, Lessons and Challenges. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute.

Authors: Mary Njenga, Ruth Mendum

Abstract:

There is a strong link between gender and energy in view of food preparation and the acquisition of fuel, especially in rural areas. This is demonstrated in a range of case studies from East and West Africa, where biochar, human waste and other waste resources have been used to produce briquettes or biogas as additional high-quality fuel sources. The synthesis of the cases concludes that resource recovery and reuse for energy offers an alternative to conventional centralized grid projects which, while attractive to investors and large-scale enterprises, do not necessarily provide job opportunities for marginalized communities. Reusing locally available waste materials for energy production and as soil ameliorant (in the case of biochar) in small enterprises allows women and youth who lack business capital to begin modest, locally viable businesses. The case studies offer concrete examples of small-scale solutions to energy poverty that can make a significant difference to the lives of women and their communities.

Annotation:

Table of Contents:
1. Gender and Energy and the Rationale for Resource Recovery and Reuse (RRR) for Energy

Ruth Mendum and Mary Njenga

2. Human Waste-to-fuel Briquettes as a Sanitation and Energy Solution for Refugee Camps and Informal Urban Settlements
Tyler Karahalios, Catherine Berner and Mary Njenga

3. The Impact of Gendered Roles in the Briquette Production and Supply Chain: Lessons Learned from Green Heat Ltd, Uganda
Gabriel Okello, Vianney Tumwesige, Ronald Angura, Daphne Nasige, Dorothy Kyomugisha and Mary Njenga

4. Adoption and Economic Impact of Briquettes as Cooking Fuel: The Case of Women Fish Smokers in Ghana
Solomie Gebrezgabher, Sena Amewu and Mary Njenga

5. Biogas as a Smart Investment for Women’s Empowerment and Livelihood Enhancement
Judith Libaisi and Mary Njenga

6. An Assessment of the Business Environment for Waste-to-energy Enterprises and How it Affects Women Entrepreneurs in Kenya
Solomie Gebrezgabher, Avinandan Taron, Jack Odero and Mary Njenga

7. Gender and Improvement of Cooking Systems with Biochar-producing Gasifier Stoves
James K. Gitau, Ruth Mendum and Mary Njenga

8. Women in Energy: Perspectives on Engaging Women Across the Energy Value Chain: The Case of wPOWER
Ruchi Soni, Wanjira Mathai, Linda Davis and Mary Njenga

9. Gender as Key in Community Participation
Megan Romania, Mary Njenga and Ruth Mendum

10. Challenges and Solutions for Gender Mainstreaming and Gender Integration in Research and Development
Ruth Mendum, Ana Maria Paez and Mary Njenga

11. Take-home Messages on Gender and Resource Recovery and Reuse (RRR) for Energy
Ruth Mendum and Mary Njenga

Topics: Age, Youth, Displacement & Migration, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Gender Mainstreaming, Households, Infrastructure, Energy, Water & Sanitation, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, East Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana, Kenya, Uganda

Year: 2018

The Contribution of Mental Health and Gender Attitudes to Intimate Partner Violence in the Context of War and Displacement: Evidence from a Multi-Informant Couple Survey in Iraq

Citation:

Goessmann, Katharina, Hawkar Ibrahim, Laura Bebra Saupe, Azad Ali Ismail, and Frank Neuner. 2019. "The Contribution of Mental Health and Gender Attitudes to Intimate Partner Violence in the Context of War and Displacement: Evidence from a Multi-Informant Couple Survey in Iraq." Social Science & Medicine 237.

Authors: Katharina Goessmann, Hawkar Ibrahim, Laura Bebra Saupe, Azad Ali Ismail, Frank Neuner

Abstract:

Rationale: Intimate partner violence is a prevalent issue in refugee and internally displaced populations in postwar and migration settings including camps in the Middle East. In this context, partner violence has been associated with war-related trauma, camp factors, individual characteristics, and gender attitudes. 
 
Objective: With a dual-informant survey among a sample of Iraqi couples residing in a camp for displaced people in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (N = 92) this study investigated the relationship between war-related psychopathology, attitudes towards women, and male-perpetrated partner violence. 
 
Method: Moderated regression analysis was applied using information from both partners to predict partner violence reported by wives. 
 
Results: Over 58% of the women in this sample reported past-year exposure to partner violence. Further analyses revealed significant main effects of men's self-reported psychopathology (posttraumatic stress disorder and depression) and their own gender attitudes on partner violence. In a multivariate regression, moderating effects were found, as higher psychopathology levels and inequitable gender attitudes in men interacted in the prediction of male-perpetrated partner violence. 
 
Conclusions: This study highlights the high prevalence of partner violence among Iraqi displaced women. In addition, the results show an interplay of several violence-impelling factors in war-affected men. This emphasizes the importance of addressing both mental health issues and gender attitudes in the efforts to reduce or end violence against women in post-war settings.

Keywords: Iraq, Intimate partner violence, forced displacement, traumatic, experiences, mental health, gender attitudes, moderated regression analysis

Topics: Displacement & Migration, IDPs, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Domestic Violence, Gender, Health, Mental Health, PTSD, Trauma, Post-Conflict Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Iraq

Year: 2019

Lingu, Bomba Talu and Naombo: Triple Disaster in Central Sulawesi: A Gender Analysis

Citation:

Fatimah, Dati, and Fiona Roberts. 2019. Lingu, Bomba Talu and Naombo: Triple Disaster in Central Sulawesi: A Gender Analysis. Oxfam.

Authors: Dati Fatimah, Fiona Roberts

Annotation:

Summary:
On 28 September 2018, a major earthquake (lingu in the local language) with a magnitude of 7.4 struck Central Sulawesi in Indonesia, triggering a near-field tsunami (bomba talu), large-scale soil liquefaction (naombo) and landslides. As part of the subsequent humanitarian response, Oxfam and humanitarian networking partners JMK, including local organizations LBH APIK Palu and PKBI Palu, conducted research in camps for internally displaced persons in affected areas. The aim was to find out how the impacts of the disaster differed for women, men, boys and girls, as well as the variations in their roles and their access to and control of resources. As part of the assessment, the researchers carried out a rapid analysis of care work and also made efforts to identify how different groups might participate in the humanitarian response. This gender analysis is based on those research findings. It makes recommendations on how to respond to immediate and life-saving practical and strategic needs, with a focus on gender. It can also be used to inform and improve future responses to similar disasters in the same geographical area. (Summary from Oxfam)

 

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Climate Displacement, IDPs, Refugee/IDP Camps, Economies, Care Economies, Environment, Environmental Disasters, Gender, Humanitarian Assistance Regions: Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: Indonesia

Year: 2019

Climate Migration, Gender and Poverty

Citation:

Borrás, Susana. 2019. "Climate Migration, Gender and Poverty." In Research Handbook on Global Climate Constitutionalism, edited by Jordi Jaria-Manzano and Susana Borrás, 216-34. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Author: Susana Borrás

Annotation:

Summary:
This chapter explains that climate migration is a reality in which gender perspective is very important. It reveals both the vulnerabilities and strengths of women – whether in transit or in refugee camps; in their country of origin or at their ultimate destination. Women play a key role in the care, support and reconstruction of their communities. However, the political and legal failure to recognize climate change as a factor of added vulnerability, which is generating poverty and population movements, has increased gender inequality and injustice. This chapter argues the need to approach ‘gender climate migration’ realities from a gender justice and climate justice perspective. (Summary from ElgarOnline)

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Climate Displacement, Refugee/IDP Camps, Economies, Poverty, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality

Year: 2019

Challenging Refugee Men: Humanitarianism and Masculinities in Za‘tari Refugee Camp

Citation:

Turner, Edward Lewis. 2018. "Challenging Refugee Men: Humanitarianism and Masculinities in Za‘tari Refugee Camp." PhD diss., SOAS University of London. 

Author: Lewis Edward Turner

Abstract:

Feminist scholarship has demonstrated that ‘womenandchildren’ become the central and uncontroversial objects of humanitarian care and control in contexts of conflict, disaster, and displacement. Yet very little scholarly work has attempted to understand the place of men within humanitarian policies, practices and imaginaries. Through an exploration of the life and governance of Za‘tari Refugee Camp, Jordan, in which 80,000 Syrians live, this thesis argues that for humanitarianism, refugee men present a challenge. Humanitarian actors read Syrian men in gendered and racialised ways as agential, independent, political, and at times threatening. Refugee men thereby disrupt humanitarian understandings of refugees as passive, feminised objects of care, and are not understood to be among the ‘vulnerable,’ with whom humanitarians wish to work. Grounded in feminist and critical International Relations scholarship, and with an emphasis on the embodied, material and spatial practices of humanitarianism, this thesis draws on twelve months of fieldwork in Jordan, including participant-observation in Za‘tari Refugee Camp, and interviews with humanitarian workers and refugees. It demonstrates that humanitarian actors consistently prioritise their own goals, logics, and understandings of gender, over those of Syrians themselves, and exercise power in masculinised ways that actively disempower their ‘beneficiaries’. In the name of ‘global’ standards, humanitarian interactions with, and control over, refugee women are justified by a rhetoric of ‘empowerment.’ Refugee men, by contrast, are present but made invisible within the distribution of humanitarian aid, time, space, resources, and employment opportunities. These modes of humanitarian governance challenge Syrian men’s understandings and performances of masculinities. Yet when refugee men attempt to exercise agency in response to the disempowerment they experience in Za‘tari, humanitarian actors understand them as problematically political, and too autonomous from the control of humanitarian and state authorities, who attempt to re-assert their authority over the camp, and render Za‘tari ‘governable.’

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugee/IDP Camps, Feminisms, Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Humanitarian Assistance, Race Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Jordan

Year: 2018

Documenting the Impact of Conflict on Women Living in Internally Displaced Persons Camps in Sri Lanka: Some Ethical Considerations

Citation:

Swiss, Shana, Peggy J. Jennings, K. G. K. Weerarathne, and Lori Heise. 2019. “Documenting the Impact of Conflict on Women Living in Internally Displaced Persons Camps in Sri Lanka: Some Ethical Considerations.” Health and Human Rights Journal 21 (1): 93-101.

Authors: Shana Swiss, Peggy J. Jennings, K. G. K. Weerarathne, Lori Heise

Abstract:

Women’s Rights International works with rural women and girls who are living in countries at war or with ongoing political violence. In 2005, The Asia Foundation invited Women’s Rights International to Sri Lanka to evaluate the feasibility of a random-sample survey of women to document the impact of the decades-long conflict. The significant imbalance in the risks-to-benefits ratio compelled us to recommend that random-sample surveys that included questions about sexual violence be avoided at that time, especially in the displaced persons areas. Instead, we recommended that three strategies be given priority in situations in which the risks for women are too great to justify a random-sample survey. First, maximize the use of existing information. Second, collect survey data only in partnership with a strong community organization that will use the data for direct tangible benefits. Third, share knowledge that will help build the capacity of local organizations to design surveys that address their priorities, and collect and use their own data following ethical guidelines that maximize the protection of individuals and the wider community. We implemented these recommendations in a partnership with a local organization with a strong history of advocating for women’s rights.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, IDPs, Refugee/IDP Camps, Conflict, Gender, Women, Girls, International Organizations, Rights, Women's Rights, Sexual Violence, Violence Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Sri Lanka

Year: 2019

Invisible Lives: Gender, Dispossession, and Precarity amongst Syrian Refugee Women in the Middle East

Citation:

Canefe, Nergis. 2018. "Invisible Lives: Gender, Dispossesion, and Precarity amongst Syrian Refugee Women in the Middle East." Refuge 34 (1): 39-49. 

Author: Nergis Canefe

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
This article attends to the connections between neo-liberal and neo-developmentalist labour regimes, asylum and immigration management, and the exploitation of undocumented, refugee, and migrant women, based on the experiences of Syrian refugee women in Turkey. The concept of precarity is explored as a selectively applied strategy by states to people who lack “status” or who are unable to benefit from “membership rights.” Forced migrants, illegal migrants, and asylum seekers are directly implicated in highly precarious work experiences at the bottom end of labour markets across the Global South, becoming trapped in forced labour and human trafficking arrangements. The article establishes a link between extreme forms of migrant labour exploitation in precarious life worlds and gender-based  profiling of life chances.
 
FRENCH ABSTRACT:
Cet article concerne les connexions entre les régimes de travail néo-libéraux et néo-développementistes, la gestion de l’asile et de l’immigration, et l’exploitation de femmes migrantes, réfugiées, sans papiers, à partir du vécu de réfugiées syriennes en Turquie. Le concept de précarité est exploré en tant que stratégie appliquée de manière sélective par les états aux personnes qui n’ont « pas de statut » ou ne peuvent pas bénéficier de « droits d’appartenance ». Les migrants forcés, les migrants illégaux et les demandeurs d’asile sont directement concernés par des expériences de travail fortement précaire au plus bas des marchés du travail sur l’ensemble des pays du Sud, et deviennent alors prisonnier du travail forcé et du trafic d’êtres humains. L’article établit un lien entre des formes extrêmes d’exploitation des migrants au travail dans des contextes de vie précaires et un profilage des opportunités de vie en fonction du genre.

 

Keywords: political economy of crisis, precarity, forced migration, gender and migration, gender and precarity, Middle Eastern States

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Forced Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, Livelihoods, Political Economies, Trafficking, Human Trafficking Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East, Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Syria, Turkey

Year: 2018

A Gendered Approach to the Syrian Refugee Crisis

Citation:

Jane Freedman, Zeynep Kivilcim, and Nurcan Özgür Baklacıoğlu, eds. 2017. A Gendered Approach to the Syrian Refugee Crisis. New York: Routledge. 

Authors: Jane Freedman, ed. , Zeynep Kivilcim, ed. , Nurcan Özgür Baklacıoğlu, ed.

Annotation:

Summary:
The refugee crisis that began in 2015 has seen thousands of refugees attempting to reach Europe, principally from Syria. The dangers and difficulties of this journey have been highlighted in the media, as have the political disagreements within Europe over the way to deal with the problem. However, despite the increasing number of women making this journey, there has been little or no analysis of women’s experiences or of the particular difficulties and dangers they may face.
 
A Gendered Approach to the Syrian Refugee Crisis examines women’s experience at all stages of forced migration, from the conflict in Syria, to refugee camps in Lebanon or Turkey, on the journey to the European Union and on arrival in an EU member state. The book deals with women’s experiences, the changing nature of gender relations during forced migration, gendered representations of refugees, and the ways in which EU policies may impact differently on men and women. The book provides a nuanced and complex assessment of the refugee crisis, and shows the importance of analysing differences within the refugee population.
 
Students and scholars of development studies, gender studies, security studies, politics and middle eastern studies will find this book an important guide to the evolving crisis.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Forced Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, International Organizations Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East, Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Lebanon, Syria, Turkey

Year: 2017

Pages

© 2024 CONSORTIUM ON GENDER, SECURITY & HUMAN RIGHTSLEGAL STATEMENT All photographs used on this site, and any materials posted on it, are the property of their respective owners, and are used by permission. Photographs: The images used on the site may not be downloaded, used, or reproduced in any way without the permission of the owner of the image. Materials: Visitors to the site are welcome to peruse the materials posted for their own research or for educational purposes. These materials, whether the property of the Consortium or of another, may only be reproduced with the permission of the owner of the material. This website contains copyrighted materials. The Consortium believes that any use of copyrighted material on this site is both permissive and in accordance with the Fair Use doctrine of 17 U.S.C. § 107. If, however, you believe that your intellectual property rights have been violated, please contact the Consortium at info@genderandsecurity.org.

Subscribe to RSS - Refugee/IDP Camps