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- Convenors:
-
Franzisca Zanker
(Arnold-Bergstraesser Institute)
Kalyango Sebba (Makerere University)
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- 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:
People in Kakuma have many encounters with the Kenyan state. Using the case of a family, I reflect in this paper how people experience to be refugees in Kenya. This will shape the way they can respond to the possible closure of the camp which has been recently announced by the Kenyan government. .
Paper long abstract:
Kakuma refugee camp is the biggest town in Turkana County. App 200.000 people mainly from South Sudan and Somalia live in the camp, which is governed by the Kenyan Department of Refugee Affairs in conjunction with UNHCR. While there has been recently a new influx of South Sudanese, who came to the camp because of conflicts and the economic crises in South Sudan, most of the refugees living in the camp live in protracted refugee situations. They are categorized by the refugee regime as people whose future is imagined along the three durable solutions and their stay in the camp is perceived as a situation of limbo. Although local integration is not on the agenda of the Kenyan government, people in the camp have many encounters with the Kenyan nation state. The schools in the camp follow the Kenyan syllabus; children from the camp visit private school near the camp or go to Kenyan boarding schools and refugee passport and identity cards are issued be the Kenyan government. As opportunity for resettlement are limited and repatriation is not a feasible solution for most of the refugees, many refuges try to develop alternatives futures such as, getting education outside the camp, building up transnational business, or moving to cities in Kenya. Using the case of a South Sudanese family, which I have been visiting since 2009, I will reflect on how refugees experienced their encounters with the state, how they negotiate their belongingness and how they imagine their future in Kenya. Their capacity to navigate their situation as refugees in Kenya will also shape the way they can respond to the possible closure of the camp which has been announce by the Kenyan government.
Paper short abstract:
In Uganda two contradicting narratives of refugee integration coexist: self-reliance and vulnerability which influence the integration of refugee children. Various agents including refugees themselves negotiate between them, promote one or the other or both at different time for different benefits.
Paper long abstract:
The Ugandan government promotes a self-reliance scheme for the integration of refugees, arguing that this will enable durable and sustainable integration for refugees, envisioning this scheme as a way to empower both refugees and local communities. However, there is a gap between Uganda's envisioned integration and the actual capabilities of the refugees to fend for themselves entirely in the environment in which they are hosted (Hovil 2007). The government is aware that many refugees are not self-reliant and rely on UNHCR and other international organizations to fill in the gaps and provide the services and support it does not give (Betts 2021). The international and non-governmental organizations step in help refugees and implement policies that reflect a categorization of refugees as a vulnerable population that needs targeted aid, aligned with refugee discourse common outside of Uganda.
These two contradictory perspectives on integration create tension in Ugandan discourse around the kinds of support networks refugees are entitled to and need. The tensions between these two contradictory views on what refugees need and should receive come into play in the lives of refugee children attending Kampala primary schools. These narratives of integration conflict and exist side-by-side, compete and conflict with each other. This situation creates difficulties for actors on the ground, but also opportunities. Actors learn to utilize and use each of these narratives according to their needs and interests. Both discourses serve to mobilize interests, and they are both exploited by institutions, educators, families, and the children themselves at opportune moments.
Paper short abstract:
This paper focuses on the asylum and refugee protection regime in South Africa. South Africa has increasingly tightened access to refugee protection and much recently there has been a rise in anti-migrant rhetoric as well as a proliferation of vigilante groups that usurp the powers of the state in enforcing immigration laws.
Paper long abstract:
Globally, there is a steady flow of forced migrants in search of stable political environments and better economic prospects. The direction of these movements is often very diverse and met with mixed reactions in the destination countries. However, the space of protection has increasingly narrowed, and the rhetoric is that of suspicion, doubt, and at times leads to the outright rejection of the claims of those seeking asylum. The extent of the rhetoric is similar across different global contexts and in this instance, I focus on the conditions of asylum in South Africa. In the South African context, migration governance is used as leverage in domestic politics and xenophobic violence against migrant and refugee communities continues routinely. The exclusionary approach works particularly well as a form of leverage in scapegoating the governments’ failures to address poverty and job creation. A focus on securitisation further concretises an anti-refugee and anti-migrant stance in policy. The exclusionary approach contrasts to visions of free movement and Pan-Africanism as well as the benefits of “skilled” migration. Social xenophobic rhetoric is based on the premises of identity-construction through othering as well as being linked to economic deprivation. These discourses are reinforced both through rhetoric by politicians and the media. Much recently this was evident in the local government elections where political parties that openly adopted an anti-immigrant stance performed well. There has also been a rise in vigilante groups such as “operation dudula” targeting so called undocumented immigrants and forcibly removing them from informal trading spaces. These are backed by online-based anti-immigrant media campaigns such as the “Put South Africans First” movement which supports the activities of operation dudula.