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Citizenship and Forced Migration in the Great Lakes Region: Exploring the linkages through multi-disciplinary research
On April 26, 2006, the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) and the Social Science Research Council presented a new report entitled, “Citizenship and Forced Migration in the Great Lakes Region.”
The report was the outcome of a session held in April 2005 in Kampala which assessed the feasibility of conducting a research and network building project in the Great Lakes region focusing on the question of citizenship. The origin of many conflicts in the region can be understood as conflict over access to, or exclusion from, citizenship—broadly defined as a sense of belonging and entitlement to resources. A review of the situation in the Great Lakes region showed, however, that there is a deficit of quality research which might help to identify policy solutions. The report lays out the framework for how such a collaborative research and advocacy project might be developed.
The cohering topic of citizenship the research was selected following a consultation organized by the staff of the International Refugee Rights Initiative, then working with the International Refugee Program of Human Rights First, organized in 2004 to take stock of refugee policy in the Great Lakes region ten years after the extraordinary exodus from Rwanda following the genocide there plunged the region into turmoil. That session identified conceptions of citizenship as an integral element in the creation of conflicts in the region, as well as the possibilities for refugee to reestablish themselves and reintegrate in exile. NGOs at that session recommended that NGOs should undertake a detailed review of models for the acquisition and loss of nationality across the region with a view to identifying best practice recommendations.
An April 2005 Kampala workshop explored these issues in greater detail and participants agreed that the origin of many conflicts in the region could be understood as conflict over access to, or exclusion from, citizenship—if broadly defined as a sense of belonging and entitlement to resources.
The session identified three primary areas within the nexus of forced migration and citizenship:
- gaining and losing membership/citizenship: causes of displacement;
- needing to belong: protecting the excluded and displaced; and
- returning “home”: reintegration and the restoration of rights.
The participants committed themselves to working together to carry the work forward. IRRI and the SSRC are committed to carrying forward the discussions of the project and facilitating further research.
International Refugee Rights Initiative and the Social Science Research Council, “Citizenship and Forced Migration in the Great Lakes Region: Report of a Consultation on the Feasibility of a Collaborative Network Building Project Linking Research with Program and Policy Development,” April 2006.
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