Protracted Refugee Situations: Political, Human Rights and Security Implications

Over two-thirds of the world's refugees are struggling to survive in camps and urban communities in remote and insecure parts of the world. The vast majority of them have been in exile for many years or even generations. This is an affront to the dignity of millions of people deprived of a range of basic human rights and a failure for the international refugee regime. In addition, protracted refugee situations can be a driving force of ongoing grievances, instability, and insurgency.

This volume presents a range of analyses and cases of protracted refugee situations. It explores the sources, nature, and consequences of these situations and the record of the international community's attempts to find durable solutions. The volume presents new thinking to address protracted refugee situations that incorporates security and development—as well as humanitarian—actors and attempts to reconcile the policy difficulties that have obstructed progress for many years.

Gil Loescher is a visiting professor at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford (UK), and emeritus professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. James Milner is an assistant professor of political science at Carleton University, Ottawa. Edward Newman is a senior lecturer in the department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham (UK). Gary Troeller is co-chair of the Inter-university Committee on International Migration and visiting lecturer in the department of political science at MIT.