This was a group mini-project geared towards ecologies of resistance, social justice, transformation, and alternative development to facilitate class discussion on Environmental Induced Displacement and Refugees.

1. EID and Protracted Refugees
Alicia Cavanaugh
Holly Jones
Jenkins Divo Macedo
Alyssa Villalba
Spring 2012

2. Right to Seek Asylum
• Guaranteed under Article 14 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
• Under international law, anyone has the right
to apply for asylum in any country that has
signed the 1951 Convention and to remain
there until the authorities have assessed
their claim.

3. 1951 Geneva Convention on the
Status of Refugees
• Refugees are those with “a well founded fear
of being persecuted for reasons of race,
religion, nationality, membership of a
particular social group or political opinion... is
outside the country of his nationality.”
• The scope of the 1951 Convention was
limited to persons who became refugees due
to events that occurred before 1951

4. Non-Refoulement
• Under Article 33 (1):
• "No Contracting State shall expel or return
('refouler') a refugee in any manner
whatsoever to the frontiers of territories
where his life or freedom would be
threatened on account of his race, religion,
nationality, membership of a particular social
group or political opinion."

5. Regional Treaties
• In 1967, a Protocol Relating to the Status of
Refugees extended the definition so that there was no
limitation of date.
• 1969 OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects
of Refugee Problems in Africa
•
• 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees

6. Ending Refugeehood
• There are three "durable solutions" available
to refugees:
• Repatriation
• Local Integration
• Resettlement

7. Conservation Refugees
• Definition: Are people, usually indigenous,
who are displaced from their native lands
when conservation areas are created, such
as parks and other protected
areas.Relocation often occurs with the tacit
approval or benign neglect of one of the five
big international nongovernmental
conservation organizations.

8. Conservation Refugees (Cont. )
• Question for Chapin and Dowie:
-Are the wilderness and human community
really incompatible?
• -Is it necessary to have an undisturbed
protected land mass larger than the continent
of Africa? Explain.
-In the Mark Dowie article, he quotes Richard
Leakey saying, “The global interest in
biodiversity might sometimes trump the rights
of local people.” Do you agree? Explain.
• -Can poverty alleviation be part of
conservation? Explain.

9. Conservation Refugees (Cont.)
• Questions for Dianna Ojeda:
• -What are the obvious differences in regulations for the local
peasants and the company or elites (politics of difference) e.g.
building/fixing infrastructure?
• Comments on:
• -Democratic Security
• -The use of nationalism in promoting tourism and conservation
• -Similarities and differences between the MST and Tayrona
park with regards to land titles
• -Concessions of public/protected lands to private companies
• -Neoliberal conservation for tourism
• -Local communities being seen as environmental threats

10. Other refugee-related statuses and
concepts:
• internally displaced person
• stateless person
• undocumented
• diaspora

11. Protracted Refugee Situations:
The Case of Liberians in Ghana
• It Involves groups of 25,000
people or more who have
been in exile for over five
years (UNHCR 2010).
• Globally, there are about 33
PRSs.
• 10.3 million refugees in this
situation out of the 43.7
forced migrants.
• 54, 000 Liberian refugees in
West Africa are in such
situation.

13. Buduburam Refugee Camp
• Established in October 1990 by the
Government of Ghana and UNHCR.
• Located 20 miles from the capital,
Accra.
• 11,000 Liberians are currently
seeking refuge in Ghana at the
Buduburam Refugee Camp
• Camp Management Committee
(CMC) compose of UNHCR, the
Ghana Refugee Board (GRB, and
National Disaster Management
Ogranization (NADMO)
• 2000 UNHCR terminated
humanitarian assistance to refugees
at the camp

14. Conditions for Liberian Refugees Resistance
• Lack of humanitarian
assistance
• Increase repatriation package
from $5.00 per person to
$1,000 per family head.
• Local integration is not an
option
• Resettlement of those who
qualified.
• Police Violence and Human
rights violations
• Undocumented Refugee
population

15. Images from Refugees' Protest at Buduburam

16. Permanent Refugees: Female Camp
in Bihar
• 1947 – The ‘Partition’
• 1957 – India felt that West Bengal was
saturated
• Late 1950s and early 1960s – refugees
settled in other states and promised
“proper rehabilitation”
• 1988 – state funding for the permanent
liability camps stops
• 1999 – two camps remain

17. The Partition and Refugee
Status
• Hindu migrants from East Pakistan were
normally termed ‘displaced persons’ by the
Indian government
• Those in relief and transit camps were
termed refugees
• Temporary status, label erased after
rehabilitation
• Those unattached to men were considered
“unrehabitable”

18. Resistance in Permanent Liability
Camps
• Identification as refugees
• Acknowledging that they have no support from
anyone but themselves (still seen as foreigners)
• Reminds government of its debt to the refugees
• Remaining in camps changed kinship and gender
relations
• Established new support systems and
relations
• Women as head of household/breadwinners
• Acceptance of widowed and deserted daughters
• Intercaste marriages

19. Discussion Questions
• How did the camps and refugee status expose gender inequalities in Indian
society?
• How did the widows subvert these relationships?
• How was refugee status used as capital? Can you envision circumstances in
which these women can shed this ‘temporary’ status?
• Do refugees have the same rights are citizens of host countries do?
• What are the pros and cons of organized camps Vs. self-settled refugees?
• Dick discussed the issues of "humanitarianism" Vs. "Legal Advocacy"

20. Discussion Questions
• Both refugee camps and inner cities and ghettos are
"closed" environments which limit the participation of their
residents in social fabric, (jobs, houses). Are there ways in
which the strategies for resistance in inner cities and
refugee camps can intersect?
• In what ways is it strategic or unstrategic for refugees to
receive recognition from states? (Either their state of origin
or the state they live in?)