Posts in Spotlight on RESPOND-ers
Political Economy Realities for Urban Refugees in Beirut: Intersectional Concerns over Health, Security and Livelihoods

by Jasmin Lilian Diab, Fouad M. Fouad | Global Health Institute, American University of Beirut

The Syrian civil war has displaced more than half of Syria’s population; within Syria for safety or to the neighboring countries to seek refuge. In the first two years of the Syria crisis, these countries; Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan, have opened their borders with no restrictions. The international humanitarian organizations and the international community have supported these states with the heavy burdens on their infrastructure.


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The Situation of Syrians in Turkey Through the Lens of a Survey

by Barbara Jancewicz | Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw

Initially, both the Turkish government and the Syrians fleeing the war thought that their stay would be temporary, and acted accordingly. However, years have passed, the war has not ceased and it seems that many Syrians might stay in Turkey for good. In 2019 the RESPOND team conducted a survey among Syrians in Turkey who fled the war-torn country and arrived in Turkey between 2011-2017 to find out more about their situation. We gathered answers…

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Governing through uncertainty? Migration law and governance in a comparative perspective

by Ginevra Cerrina Feroni, Veronica Federico, Renato Ibrido | University of Florence

A selection of the papers discussed in the occasion of the RESPOND conference “Unpacking the challenges & possibilities for migration governance”, held in Cambridge, Newnham College, 17-19 October 2019, has been recently published in a special issue on n.4/2020 of the Italian open access journal DPCE online, accessible at…

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Being at the Gate: The External Dimension of European Crisis Management at the Final RESPOND Conference

by Nadine Livaditi, Ilias Aggelos | University of the Aegean

The panel brought together RESPOND team members from five countries (Turkey, Lebanon, Greece, Italy, Poland) who discussed respective findings and developments regarding legislation, policy measures and practices on border management and refugee protection, and, most importantly, their implementation on each country’s legislation. Although some countries…

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COVID-19 in Lebanon: A New Chapter of Refugee Fragility

by Karen Rahme | Lebanon Support

Lebanon’s nation-wide lockdown meant to protect residents, and mitigate the spread of COVID-19, has disproportionately affected the socio-economic conditions of vulnerable populations. The global health crisis has notably compounded the detrimental results of a collapsing economy. For Syrian refugees, already struggling in terms of freedom of movement (or lack thereof), all the while living under the extreme poverty line, home confinement has only worsened livelihoods and living conditions, and further constrained already restricted access to public services.

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Five Years after: European Migration and Asylum Policy Still in Crisis

by Sabine Hess, Bernd Kasparek, Jelka Günther | University of Gottingen

Shortly after the 5th anniversary of the events in the summer months of 2015, when the March of Hope of refugees and migrants from Budapest to the Austrian border went down in history as the so-called European “refugee crisis”, the panel (Five Years after: The European Refugee Crisis and the Political Response” /RESPOND final conference) brought together high-level policy makers, practitioners and researchers to discuss…

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Social Protection in Lebanon and its (Non)Extension to Refugees

by Johanna-Maria Huelzer, Alli Divine | Lebanon Support

The Lebanese social protection system is fragmented, inefficient, and highly privatised. Available social services are insufficient, leaving the poorest and most vulnerable of the Lebanese population, without systematic support of their basic needs. This lack of provision exposes the urgent need for substantial reform of the official Lebanese social protection system. One of the many outgrowths of a “laissez-faire”…

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RESPOND Conference 2020 – Challenges and Priorities in Reception and Integration

by Ivan Josipovic | Austrian Academy of Sciences

The reception of asylum seekers and their integration have been hotly debated topics in European Member States since the Long Summer of Migration in 2015. On day two of the RESPOND Conference 2020 (November 21st) we held an online session on the reception and integration regimes in Austria, Germany Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Alexander-Kenneth Nagel and Ayhan Kaya moderated a fruitful discussion between four experts who are professionally active in the field of asylum and immigrant support…

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