'Rights in exile' by Guglielmo Verdirame and Barbara Harrell-Bond
Of the 12 million refugees in the world, more than 7 million have been confined to camps or segregated settlements, effectively “warehoused”, in some cases for 10 years and more. Refugee camps have become wards of the international community, a community that too often holds itself above serious scrutiny, sometimes even above the law, infringing the fundamental rights of refugees it should protect as well as the sovereignty of host countries. Holding European refugees in camps was anathema to the founders of the refugee protection regime. Today, with most refugees encamped in the less developed world, the office of the UN High Comissioner for Refugees and the humanitarian apparatus originally designed to protect and safeguard their human rights has in many ways been transformed into a custodial regime for innocent people.
Based on the analysis of rich ethnographic data, Rights in Exile exposes the gap between human rights norms and the mandates of international organisations, on the one hand, and the reality on the ground, on the other. It will be of wide interest to social scientists, human rights and international law scholars, and those interested in the work of international organisations. Policy makers, donor governments and humanitarian organisations, especially those beginning to develop 'rights-based' approaches, will also find it an invaluable.
New from Berghahn Books
RIGHTS IN EXILE
Janus-Faced Humanitarianism
Guglielmo Verdirame and Barbara Harrell-Bond
Of the 12 million refugees in the world, more than 7 million have been confined to camps or segregated settlements, effectively "warehoused", in some cases for 10 years and more. Refugee camps have become wards of the international community, a community that too often holds itself above serious scrutiny, sometimes even above the law, infringing the fundamental rights of refugees it should protect as well as the sovereignty of host countries. Holding European refugees in camps was anathema to the founders of the refugee protection regime. Today, with most refugees encamped in the less developed world, the office of the UN High Comissioner for Refugees and the humanitarian apparatus originally designed to protect and safeguard their human rights has in many ways been transformed into a custodial regime for innocent people.
Based on the analysis of rich ethnographic data, Rights in Exile exposes the gap between human rights norms and the mandates of international organisations, on the one hand, and the reality on the ground, on the other. It will be of wide interest to social scientists, human rights and international law scholars, and those interested in the work of international organisations. Policy makers, donor governments and humanitarian organisations, especially those beginning to develop 'rights-based' approaches, will also find it an invaluable resource. But it is refugees themselves who could benefit the most if these actors absorb its lessons and apply them.
Guglielmo Verdirame is Lecturer in International Law at the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of Corpus Christi College. Barbara Harrell-Bond is the Founding Director of the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford, formerly Visiting Professor at Makerere University, Uganda and Distinguished Visiting Professor, American University in Cairo.
480 pages, bibliog., index
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Volume 17, Forced Migration
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