This issue of Roma Rights draws attention to Roma from the Western Balkans and EU visa liberalisation. Migration of Roma from the Western Balkans has attracted significant attention, which at times amounts to hysteria. It has had an... more
This issue of Roma Rights draws attention to Roma from the Western Balkans and EU visa liberalisation. Migration of Roma from the Western Balkans has attracted significant attention, which at times amounts to hysteria. It has had an impact on migration policy both in countries of origin and target countries for migration. Romani migration has also become a common topic in public discourse, often framed in negatively by media and by public figures. The articles in this issue assess the motivations for Romani migration, the impact of migration policies on Roma, and the experience of Romani migrants.
Table of Contents
Foreword - Stephan Muller 3
Potential Romani Migrants from the Western Balkans - Stoyanka Cherkezova 5 Romani Minorities and the Variety of Migration Patterns in the Post-Yugoslav Space
- Julija Sardelic 15
Macedonia – Creating a Padlocked Cage for Roma Called “Measures for False Asylum Seekers” - Tefik Mahmut, Zoran Bikovski 23
Romani Migration Resulting in Statelessness: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Maylis de Verneuil 27
Residence: Nowhere- Barbara Pierro, Emma Ferulano, and Kitti Baracsi 35
The Challenge Romani Migration Presents to EU Societies - Andriani Papadopoulou 43 The Pursuit of “Happiness” - Elisabetta Vivaldi 53 Romani Migration: Is it a Poverty-Coping Method? - Ilir Gedeshi, Eralba Cela, Geron Kamberi 61 Blitzverfahren - German Asylum Procedures for Roma from Western Balkan Countries
Helene Heuser - 71 Counting on Confusion: Romani Asylum-Seekers in the German Media, 2012-2013
- Christina E. Lee 79 Romani Migration in the EU: the Dutch Case of Setting Boundaries - Peter Jorna Expanding the Analytic Lens - Potential Approaches in Migration Studies -
Erzsébet Anita Német, Csaba Oláh 97 Report from the Belgrade Workshop on Romani Migration and Visa Liberalisation
- Manuel Spornberger 103
CASE REVIEWS
How to Litigate Strategically: Challenging Restrictions on the Rights of Roma in the Western Balkans to Leave their Countries - Adam Weiss 107 Case Summary and Commentary - Adam Weiss 111
BOOK REVIEWS
Gypsies and Travellers in Housing: the Decline of Nomadism, by David Smith and Margaret Greenfields - Reviewed by Giovanni Picker 113 Gypsies and Travellers: Empowerment and Inclusion in British Society, Joanna Richardson and Andrew Ryder, eds. - Reviewed by Márton Rövid 114 Social Benefits and Migration: A Contested Relationship and Policy Challenge in the EU, Elspeth Guild, Sergio Carrera and Katharina Eisele, eds. -Reviewed by Adam Weiss
115 Vzdelanie ako limit? (Education as a limit?) by Sergej Danilov Reviewed by Michal Zálešák 116
I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies, by Yaron Matras - Reviewed by Marcello Cassanelli 117
Table of Contents
Foreword - Stephan Muller 3
Potential Romani Migrants from the Western Balkans - Stoyanka Cherkezova 5 Romani Minorities and the Variety of Migration Patterns in the Post-Yugoslav Space
- Julija Sardelic 15
Macedonia – Creating a Padlocked Cage for Roma Called “Measures for False Asylum Seekers” - Tefik Mahmut, Zoran Bikovski 23
Romani Migration Resulting in Statelessness: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Maylis de Verneuil 27
Residence: Nowhere- Barbara Pierro, Emma Ferulano, and Kitti Baracsi 35
The Challenge Romani Migration Presents to EU Societies - Andriani Papadopoulou 43 The Pursuit of “Happiness” - Elisabetta Vivaldi 53 Romani Migration: Is it a Poverty-Coping Method? - Ilir Gedeshi, Eralba Cela, Geron Kamberi 61 Blitzverfahren - German Asylum Procedures for Roma from Western Balkan Countries
Helene Heuser - 71 Counting on Confusion: Romani Asylum-Seekers in the German Media, 2012-2013
- Christina E. Lee 79 Romani Migration in the EU: the Dutch Case of Setting Boundaries - Peter Jorna Expanding the Analytic Lens - Potential Approaches in Migration Studies -
Erzsébet Anita Német, Csaba Oláh 97 Report from the Belgrade Workshop on Romani Migration and Visa Liberalisation
- Manuel Spornberger 103
CASE REVIEWS
How to Litigate Strategically: Challenging Restrictions on the Rights of Roma in the Western Balkans to Leave their Countries - Adam Weiss 107 Case Summary and Commentary - Adam Weiss 111
BOOK REVIEWS
Gypsies and Travellers in Housing: the Decline of Nomadism, by David Smith and Margaret Greenfields - Reviewed by Giovanni Picker 113 Gypsies and Travellers: Empowerment and Inclusion in British Society, Joanna Richardson and Andrew Ryder, eds. - Reviewed by Márton Rövid 114 Social Benefits and Migration: A Contested Relationship and Policy Challenge in the EU, Elspeth Guild, Sergio Carrera and Katharina Eisele, eds. -Reviewed by Adam Weiss
115 Vzdelanie ako limit? (Education as a limit?) by Sergej Danilov Reviewed by Michal Zálešák 116
I Met Lucky People: The Story of the Romani Gypsies, by Yaron Matras - Reviewed by Marcello Cassanelli 117
Research Interests:
Welcome to the third edition of Refugee Review, an open-source, peer-reviewed journal that aims to showcase unique perspectives and emerging voices in refugee studies. In this edition, we are pleased to present 18 academic articles,... more
Welcome to the third edition of Refugee Review, an open-source, peer-reviewed journal that aims to showcase unique perspectives and emerging voices in refugee studies. In this edition, we are pleased to present 18 academic articles, practitioner reports and multimedia pieces that cover a range of issues impacting refugees and migrants. In a moment in time where the number of forcibly displaced persons is at the highest on record, and the question of accepting refugees has become a central topic in political discourse in many regions of the world, we consider it more important than ever to offer nuanced, critical perspectives on refugees and the challenges they face.
In this edition we have a special focus, comprising eight articles, on the topic of labour and refugees. Given the controversial status of refugees in the labour markets of many countries, we felt this topic is extremely timely. As can be seen in e.g., Gündüz’s piece on Turkey, refugees are often viewed or portrayed as a “burden” on the economy and as job competition for the locals, while at the same time have their access to the labour market restricted by regulations and discrimination. In the meantime, many states seem to have lost sight of the original obligations of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which asserts that refugees have a right to work or a “dignified standard of living” in the state offering protection, a disconnect explored by Arapiles & Madziva in their article focussing on the UK. And as Sager & Öberg point out in their article on Sweden, the spectre of “deportability” not only puts refugees in a vulnerable position vis-àvis employers, it also regulates the worker’s rights of regular migrants and can become an opportunity to erode workers’ rights more generally. Clearly, the labour rights of refugees (and lack thereof) has the potential to become a topic of increasing importance for economies worldwide as they struggle with integration of newcomers and with challenges to the financial status quo in the wake of the global financial crisis.
The intersection between refugee issues and more general concerns of identity and social justice occupy numerous other of our authors in this edition. For instance, several pieces illuminate the ways in which feminist philosophy can inform our view of refugees. Taha seeks to highlight how post- colonial feminist discourse can take refugee studies to new heights by allowing for a more complex view of victimhood and agency that discards with some of the stereotypical, orientalist assumptions of the past. Burnett & Villegas call for greater consideration of gender development in conflict situations, fruitfully comparing the examples of Colombia and Palestine to consider the failures in security caused by disregarding gender. And in their multimedia piece, Ratkovic & Sethi use poetry and visual arts to explore migration and transnational feminism through the eyes of the displaced.
The authors presented in this volume are also interested in looking beyond the surface to the unseen challenges refugees face. In a piece on the double marginalisation encountered by disabled refugees in the EU, Oyaro considers how governments can better comply with UN guidelines on persons with disability when applying refugee law. Boeynik explores the topic of vulnerability as it pertains to people under suspicion of terror, by looking at the example of Somali refugees in Kenya in the wake of the Garissa attacks, and Forin argues for a closer examination of the divide between “forced” and “voluntary” migration, to see how this paradigm is being used as a containment strategy that often denies individual rights.
Although the subject matter presented in this volume is broad, what the authors above and others presented have in common is a desire to shed light on the aspects of the refugee experience that negate a simplistic approach to the topic. In the face of a political climate where refugees are increasingly cast as a homogenous group that threatens security, economy, and culture, it is more important than ever to emphasise discourse that highlights that refugees, like all people, navigate complex intersections of identity and social life at work and at home, and have different challenges and motivations that define their experiences. We offer these accounts of refugees to problematise the dominant discourse of refugees as scapegoats for society’s many problems and offer a glimpse at a kaleidoscopic reality that is necessarily more complex, and closer to the truth.
In this edition we have a special focus, comprising eight articles, on the topic of labour and refugees. Given the controversial status of refugees in the labour markets of many countries, we felt this topic is extremely timely. As can be seen in e.g., Gündüz’s piece on Turkey, refugees are often viewed or portrayed as a “burden” on the economy and as job competition for the locals, while at the same time have their access to the labour market restricted by regulations and discrimination. In the meantime, many states seem to have lost sight of the original obligations of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which asserts that refugees have a right to work or a “dignified standard of living” in the state offering protection, a disconnect explored by Arapiles & Madziva in their article focussing on the UK. And as Sager & Öberg point out in their article on Sweden, the spectre of “deportability” not only puts refugees in a vulnerable position vis-àvis employers, it also regulates the worker’s rights of regular migrants and can become an opportunity to erode workers’ rights more generally. Clearly, the labour rights of refugees (and lack thereof) has the potential to become a topic of increasing importance for economies worldwide as they struggle with integration of newcomers and with challenges to the financial status quo in the wake of the global financial crisis.
The intersection between refugee issues and more general concerns of identity and social justice occupy numerous other of our authors in this edition. For instance, several pieces illuminate the ways in which feminist philosophy can inform our view of refugees. Taha seeks to highlight how post- colonial feminist discourse can take refugee studies to new heights by allowing for a more complex view of victimhood and agency that discards with some of the stereotypical, orientalist assumptions of the past. Burnett & Villegas call for greater consideration of gender development in conflict situations, fruitfully comparing the examples of Colombia and Palestine to consider the failures in security caused by disregarding gender. And in their multimedia piece, Ratkovic & Sethi use poetry and visual arts to explore migration and transnational feminism through the eyes of the displaced.
The authors presented in this volume are also interested in looking beyond the surface to the unseen challenges refugees face. In a piece on the double marginalisation encountered by disabled refugees in the EU, Oyaro considers how governments can better comply with UN guidelines on persons with disability when applying refugee law. Boeynik explores the topic of vulnerability as it pertains to people under suspicion of terror, by looking at the example of Somali refugees in Kenya in the wake of the Garissa attacks, and Forin argues for a closer examination of the divide between “forced” and “voluntary” migration, to see how this paradigm is being used as a containment strategy that often denies individual rights.
Although the subject matter presented in this volume is broad, what the authors above and others presented have in common is a desire to shed light on the aspects of the refugee experience that negate a simplistic approach to the topic. In the face of a political climate where refugees are increasingly cast as a homogenous group that threatens security, economy, and culture, it is more important than ever to emphasise discourse that highlights that refugees, like all people, navigate complex intersections of identity and social life at work and at home, and have different challenges and motivations that define their experiences. We offer these accounts of refugees to problematise the dominant discourse of refugees as scapegoats for society’s many problems and offer a glimpse at a kaleidoscopic reality that is necessarily more complex, and closer to the truth.