We need more nuanced evidence to help policymakers and practitioners better understand the roles that faith-based actors already play, and have the potential to play, in supporting refugees and forced migrants. Summarising existing evidence and key remaining questions presented in a policy note issued by our project partner the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith & … Continue reading Seeking Evidence to Provide Protection: How Can Local Faith Communities Support Refugees?
Based on her research in Italy, in this piece Susanna Trotta argues that Italian FBOs' responses to the needs of peoples displaced around the Mediterranean are helping to counteract troubling trends in refugee status recognition, whilst also offering a model of 'replicability' capable of challenging the growing securitisation of refugee protection in the Global North. In … Continue reading Faith-Based Humanitarian Corridors to Italy: A Safe and Legal Route to Refuge
Major international agencies including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have moved towards partnering with faith-based actors to support displaced persons. Despite this, concerns – and suspicions – remain about the nature and impact of faith-based responses to displacement, often stemming from negative assumptions about the relationship between religion and gender. These assumptions … Continue reading Gender, Religion and Humanitarian Responses to Refugees
In this piece, Olivia Wilkinson reflects on the implicit and explicit roles faith celebrations play in local responses to crises in the Philippines. Drawing on her research there, Wilkinson offers a compelling argument: despite misunderstandings, international humanitarian responses to crises should aim to more effectively engage with local religious ceremonies as part of their overall response. How this … Continue reading Reflection and Connection: Religious Celebration in Times of Crisis
In a recent piece published in The Scotsman on 20 September, Alastair Ager reflects on the global refugee crisis, and in particular on the challenges faced by refugee youth, the effects of conflict on health services, and the roles played by local communities in welcoming and supporting people who have been displaced by conflict. The following is … Continue reading Refugee Youth, Conflict and Communities
