The demographic dynamics of refugee populations: policies and programmes

In the burgeoning migration literature much of the attention both among researchers and policy makers focuses on voluntary migration while forced migration is of major significance in the contemporary world. Understandably there is a focus on the movement of refugees from the country of origin to the destination place but it is also relevant to ask whether refugees who arrive in the destination place will remain and adapt to the host society, and if so, to what extent their adaptation patterns influence their return strategies. This is the area in which the present paper seeks to make a contribution by examining the experience of second-generation Afghan refugees in Iran. Using the survey of ‘the Adaptation of Afghan Youth in Iran’ conducted in Tehran and Mashhad in 2010, the paper addresses the following questions: What are the patterns of social adaptation among second-generation Afghans? What are the return aspirations and intentions of second-generation Afghans? To what extent do the adaptation patterns influence their return strategies? The findings suggest that the second-generation Afghans have experienced a variety of adaptation patterns, and their adaptation patterns have significant impacts on their decision to return to their homeland or to move to another destination.

The flow of African immigrants to Brazil raises questions about the reasons for migrating. There is a new flow of Africans to Brazil by the means of multilateral agreements, but there is also still continuous refugee immigration to the country. The paper aims to understand the reality of migration and living conditions of African refugees nowadays in Brazil, as origin and destination locations are punished by poverty, exclusion and inequality. The methods used for the research include literature review, documents study, laws, international treaties, and surveys. The main data sources used were UNHCR and the survey about Living Conditions of Refugee Population (CVPR) in Brazil, coordinated by Professor Rosana Baeninger (NEPO/Unicamp). In 2011, Brazil had 4477 refugees, of whom 63.7% were from Africa. Thus, it is relevant to differentiate both flows – new migrants and refugees - discussing the concept of forced migration (Aydos, 2010) and glancing over Brazilian political and institutional context (Moreira, 2012).

Keywords: forced migration; refugees; Brazil

Forced migration is very complex in nature and the problems of forced population displacement is not new and seems likely to remain one of the greatest challenges for India in the foreseeable future. Literatures shows that the vulnerability related to forced migration are common among certain demographic and socio-economic groups. This present study is an attempt to understand the demographic, social and economic class-differentiations related to it. The 64th Round of National Sample Survey (July, 2007 to June, 2008) has been utilized. Bivariate distributions analyses with Pearson chi-square tests and binary logistic regression model have been used. The findings reveal that specific classes are significantly associated with forced migration. Females, children and elderly are found to be mostly displaced. Minority religious groups and marginalized social classes like scheduled caste and scheduled tribes are also likely to become sufferers of forced migrations. Poor people are most likely to be affected by this kind of migration. No doubt, that in India, the distribution of forced migrants across different demographic and socio-economic groups clearly recognizes it’s classed patterns, and hence raises the issue of classed vulnerability associated with it. Policies should be aimed at these population considering different regional

Despite the lack of specific law for refugees, the Government of India continues to treat incoming refugees on the basis of their nationality & political considerations. India is not a signatory to 1951 UN convention for refugees, in view of continuously growing concern of national security. This creates an immediate need for national refugee law. The study looks after the trends, patterns and future projection of refugee population coming to and departing from India, it also explores the need for creating National Refugee law for India. Data for the study is taken from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for the period 1991-2011. Results shows increasing trend of refugee population coming to India over a period of time. Maximum Proportion of refugees are coming from China, while people from India seeking asylum are mainly in the US and Canada.

As an immigration country, Australia's demography is inevitably tied up with immigration policy. In recent years refugees as a suset of actual and potential immigration have become a major focus of Australian policy and politics. This paper links the demographic data on this phenomenon with the reactions of the Australian government and Australians more broadly.
The population groups of particular concern are Africans from Somalia and South Sudan plus some from coastal West Africa; Hazaras, an ethnic minority from Afghanistan; Iranians,Iraqis and now Syrians fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Tamils from Sri Lanka. The demographic data used covers national populations in the source countries; refugee populations in camps and elsewhere; asylum seekers attempting to enter mainland Australia and her off-shore islands and refugees who succeed in becoming permanent residents in Australia.
Policy aspects which are covered include the demography of the populations at risk as contrasted with the demography of those who achieve migration to Australia and the demography of chain migration amongst refugees and the impact of Australian law and policy on this migration. The data used comes from Censuses, Australian migration statistics and international statistical sources as well as policy documents.

This paper seeks to identify the empirical evidence of the African refugee population in São Paulo in dialogue with theoretical elements for understanding this migratory flow. In the text are highlighted context of immigration of refugees - the international frameworks and Brazil as a country of refuge - and three theoretical aspects related to search results about the African refugees in São Paulo: the living spaces of this refugee immigration, the effort to maintain the identity of these immigrants and the consequences of estrangement of the host society and its effects on immigrant labor insertion of the refugees in Sao Paulo.

The paper reviews research on forced migration and fertility, identifies problems and challenges in this research and present suggestions for future research avenues and priorities. It starts with a critical examination of the definitional ambiguities that hamper and constrain research on forced migration and fertility, then outlines the current state of the field, and offers suggestions on how the field could be advanced by critically incorporating theoretical paradigms and models applied in studies of the association between voluntary migration and childbearing and accounting for both the changing nature of forced migration and the changing global fertility landscape. It concludes with a discussion of possible directions for research in the area of forced migrants’ reproductive health.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported the proportion of females among the 2010 global population of persons of concern as 49 percent of 33.9 million. Deviations from this overall proportion in particular places and spaces, and at different times in processes of forced migration provide the insight into the role of gender in forced migration and its demography. Issues of vulnerability, rarely resilience, however, flow from these metrics. In this paper I engage the ways in which gender informs the understandings of the demography of forced migration. Cultural values and social norms concerning gender are significant determinants of relative risk and exposure in complex humanitarian emergencies and environmental crisis which result in human flight, displacement and the search for safe haven. Failure to consider gender in the demography of forced migration weakens the relevance of demographic analysis for prevention of and response to complex humanitarian crises.