In many parts of the world free-will and decision-making are not considered natural rights for women. I was born and raised in one such country, where women have to negotiate or fight against man-made laws on a daily basis. When I use the term “man-made laws” I refer not only to the legal system but also the culture, which is inherently restrictive towards females....

Though most eyes were on the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, the UN General Assembly adopted another accord in December 2018: the Global Compact on Refugees. While labelled “a powerful expression of multilateralism in today’s fragmented world” by UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, the question remains whether the compact is simply ‘old wine in new bottles’ — as many of its topics have already received attention in the academic and policy ...

The paradigm of long-term delivery of short-term aid needs to be reconsidered — because the current system is barely functional or sustainable. This implies building a new bridge between humanitarian aid and long-term human development. But what exactly does that mean? A key part of the process is to examine the many complex factors at play, including the issue of responsibility. This post considers the moral nature of the so-called ‘duty bearer’ in more detail. ...

On average in 2017, a person became displaced every two seconds. Figures further indicate that a staggering 68.5 million people were displaced by the end of that year — and of that number 25.4 million were refugees. The majority of refugees flee to neighbouring countries; which tend to be among the low to lower middle income countries....

After months of campaigning the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has elected Mr António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres of Portugal to serve as the ninth UN Secretary-General. Much has been made of his personal qualities and professional qualifications — but what can be said of the election itself? Was the open process a game changer or little more than window dressing? In this election there were many voices, including Ban-ki Moon, calling for the next UN Chief to be a woman. There has ...

There are now 59.5 million refugees worldwide, according to the latest figures from UNHCR. Ahead of World Refugee Day, 20 June 2015, we assembled a roundtable of experts — Prof. Ronald Skeldon, Dr. Melissa Siegel, and Dr. Katie Kuschminder — to put the major issues in perspective: from Myanmar to the Mediterranean, statelessness to child refugees. Below is an edited transcript and various media drawn from the roundtable, which was moderated by Howard Hudson. In 2012, UNHCR said there...

In a seminar on 26 May 2015, Ewen MacLeod, Head of the Policy Development and Evaluation Service (PDES) of the UN Refugee Agency, focused on the impact of emerging global trends – population growth, climate change, urbanisation, and migration – on current arrangements for the management of forced displacement. MacLeod highlighted the changing nature of war, conflict and violence since the end of the Cold War as an explanation for the growth in internal displacement and protracted refugee situati...

Our press review features the latest publications by UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance. Output for July includes five working papers, three journal articles and a conference paper: analysing social enterprise in India, urban planning in Colombia, and the UNHCR’s work in Afghanistan, among many others. Working Papers ‘Does Shelter Assistance Reduce Poverty in Afghanistan?’ assesses the UNHCR post-return shelter assistance programme in Afghanistan, 2009-2011. This working paper finds th...