Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
- Convenors:
-
Franzisca Zanker
(Arnold-Bergstraesser Institute)
Kalyango Sebba (Makerere University)
Send message to Convenors
- Discussant:
-
Khangelani Moyo
(University of the Free State, South Africa)
- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- Flight and migration
- Location:
- Room 1231
- Sessions:
- Thursday 9 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
This panel focuses on the political dimensions of refugee protection in Africa and the ways in which asylum has been instrumentalized and continues to change. It looks at events and processes that have lead to a shrinking space for refugee protection.
Long Abstract:
With the Refugee Convention from the Organisation of African Unity from 1969, the African continent offers some of the strongest protections for refugees in the world. The top-ten refugee-hosting countries in the world include Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda. In 2019, the African Union marked the Year of the Refugee and Displaced Person. Yet much research focuses either on migration towards the Global North or externalisation policies on the borders to Europe without connecting to political debates on the African continent. This panel focuses on the political dimensions of refugee protection and the ways in which asylum has been instrumentalized and continues to change. The panel seeks interdisciplinary contributions that discuss issues that potentially lead to a shrinking space for refugee protection - for example, anti-refugee xenophobic discourses in the media, the role of refugee protection in elections, or how legal categories of refugees and other migrants are being repurposed for specific political aims. Moreover, where have external interests led to a shrinking space for refugee protection, such as through the Emergency Transit Mechanism. How have the historically low resettlement figures affected major host countries? How has the COVID 19 pandemic strengthened and reiterated previous protection ideals and failures? Finally, in what ways are Regional Economic Communities responding to refugee protection and where are they failing? We are also interested in research that challenges the shrinking space and shows the political relevance of Pan-African solidarity or other ways refugees have been accepted and welcomed, even if this contrasts with official policies.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 9 June, 2022, -Paper short abstract:
Migration scholarship in Southern Africa has long ignored Zimbabwe's long history of hosting refugees and asylum seekers. This paper assesses whether/not Zimbabwe has been able to deliver the conventional protection services for refugees given the fragile and/ unstable socioeconomic environment.
Paper long abstract:
Migration scholarship in Southern Africa has long ignored Zimbabwe's long history of hosting refugees and asylum seekers. The first group of refugees were from war torn Mozambique in the 1980s, following Zimbabwe’s independence. Responding to the growing influx of refugees then, the Government of Zimbabwe established camps, which were often overcrowded. The government also enacted policies to control the influx, though enforcement prioritised the need to protect fellow Africans who had sheltered the freedom-fighters and the country’s refugees during the war for independence. With political and economic deterioration in Zimbabwe (early 1990s), refugee numbers dropped significantly. While the subject of refugees has gained considerable attention from migration scholarship, knowledge gaps remain pertaining Zimbabwe’s ability to meet the protection/welfare needs of its refugee population considering the ongoing economic challenges. Through a rigorous review of literature, this paper assesses whether/not Zimbabwe has been able to deliver the conventional protection/welfare services for refugees given the fragile/unstable socioeconomic environment. It further assesses the prevailing refugee policy regime in Zimbabwe and how this has developed over the years. This study is critical because it provides an opportunity to understand the effects of fragile economies on the welfare outcomes of refugees. Furthermore, given that accepting refugees is a political statement of sovereignty and regional solidarity, this study presents an opportunity to explore how the socioeconomic environment is central in determining the success/failure of political ambitions/commitments. Findings could inform/guide intervention strategies towards improved protection and inclusion outcomes for refugees in Zimbabwe and the communities they interact with.
Paper short abstract:
The paper examines what needs to be done in terms of advocating and lobbying necessary actions by the African Union[AU] at regional levels so that the South African government can enact new or amend existing legislation and policies that promote and protect the rights of refugees/ asylum seekers.
Paper long abstract:
Refugees and asylum seekers in South Africa are protected by international conventions, regional instruments [African Union], and South Africa's 1998 Refugee Act. However, certain factors hamper their integration and levels of support in the case of South Africa. These range from the Department of Home Affairs officials' attitude, backlog, documentation problems, discrimination and xenophobia. Due to their poor treatment, refugee/asylum seekers staged a 6-month sit-in protest in 2019 at the UNHCR.
Given this context, the paper examines what needs to be done in terms of advocating and lobbying for necessary actions by the African Union[AU] at regional levels so that the South African government can enact new or amend existing legislation and policies that promote and protect the rights of refugees/ asylum seekers.
The paper questions to what extent the AU has the power, instruments, resources and influence to compel regional countries to address the refugee crisis in their country. This research employs a content analysis approach derived from news, policy and interviews with South African local organizations working with refugees/asylum seekers.
Paper short abstract:
Morocco presented an African Agenda for Migration at the AU in 2018. This paper shows how the humanist and afro-centred discourse from Morocco’s general migration and African policies have limited protection potential for forced migrants and is mainly deployed for strategic national objectives.
Paper long abstract:
Over the past decade, the Moroccan authorities deployed a discourse of solidarity and human rights in its immigration policies. This became apparent in its 2011 Constitution Preamble and 2013 National Immigration and Asylum Strategy (SNIA). Simultaneously, Morocco became a prime partner in the European Union’s (EU) external migration policy, and was appointed African Union (AU) ‘Leader’ on migration issue when it re-joined the bloc in 2017.
Its implementation record as to the effective protection of migrant rights, however, is rather poor. Besides the residence status regularisation of about 50.000 migrants, no accessible rights guarantees have been put into practice for forced and irregular migrants: Morocco has no asylum procedure and violations of sub-Saharan migrants’ fundamental rights are widespread (United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance 2019 report).
While Morocco presented an African Agenda for Migration at the 2018 AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, its continental migration and asylum policies have not been scrutinised in the way its cooperation with the EU or the SNIA have (El Qadim, 2018).
This paper assesses the Agenda’s effective protection potential for forced and irregular migrants, by situating it in the wider context of Morocco’s general migration policy and its general African policy. This contextualisation supports the assumption that also Morocco’s humanist and afro-centred discourse in the AU serves ulterior economic and geostrategic objectives in the first place.
Paper short abstract:
States are fundamental to protecting refugees, yet especially in the African setting we know very little about what choices are made and what stakes play a role. This presentation will discuss the ways refugee hosting has been used as a political instrument Uganda.
Paper long abstract:
States are fundamental to protecting refugees, yet especially in the African setting we know very little about what choices are made and what stakes play a role. This presentation will discuss the ways refugee hosting has been used as a political instrument Uganda. The country deals with one of the largest refugee population in the world, and applies a development approach, largely relying on external donors. On the basis of expert interviews and focus group discussion with refugee and host populations, the paper will consider the political stakes of refugee hosting by discerning domestic interests versus external pressures- including regional ones - as well as how political interest groups see things differently.