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HUMAN RIGHTS

HUMAN RIGHTS-MIGRATION-TRAFFICKING-SLAVERY-CIVIL RIGHTS

Not Guilty: Twelve Black Men Speak Out on Law, Justice, and Life

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

Edited by Jabari Asim

FROM THE INTRODUCTION: “In the course of completing this book, I have on more than one occasion fielded well-intentioned queries regarding the progress of "Twelve Angry Men," although I have never burdened this project with such a broad and inaccurate title. I realize that misperceptions of this sort can be seen as illustrating the extent to which Reginald Rose's play has penetrated American imaginations, but they more likely result from people of various ethnicities quickly assuming that any black man's contribution to discussions of justice will inevitably be angry. It's ironic that no matter what subject is being addressed, convenient categorization becomes a trap that we black men must evade if we want to be heard, much less understood. Our fellow citizens' inability (or, in some cases, unwillingness) to recognize our true selves accompanies our struggle across widely disparate contexts. It is as easy to see us as angry as it is to assume that we are criminal-minded. While anger is certainly expressed in these pages, it is merely one of a host of responses, as varied and eloquent as the men who have written them….”

NY. Harper Collins. 2001. 185p.

Alternatives to Immigration Detention: An Overview

By American Immigration Council

From the document: "The United States has broad authority to detain certain categories of migrants and others seeking humanitarian protection as their proceedings wind their way through the immigration legal system. This detention is 'civil' by definition (as opposed to criminal), meaning that it should not be punitive in nature. Despite this technical legal distinction, most immigration detention infrastructure is indistinguishable from the criminal detention context, in some instances using the same facilities and private corporations to operate detention centers and jails. [...] Alternatives to detention (ATDs) are defined as 'any legislation, policy or practice, formal or informal, that ensures people are not detained for reasons relating to their migration status. Alternatives to detention can refer to a wide range of programs that run the gamut from no governmental intervention to extensive surveillance and restrictions on liberties. Generally, alternatives to detention in the immigration context fall into the following categories: 1. Release on your own recognizance (i.e., no detention and no conditions on release)[;] 2. Release on conditions[;] 3. Release on bail/bond or other surety[;] 4. Community-based supervised release or case management[;] 5. Designated residence at a specific accommodation center[;] 6. Electronic tagging and/or tracking[;] 7. Home curfews[.]"

American Immigration Council. 2023. 10p.

Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism

USED BOOK. MAY CONTAIN MARK-UP

By Alexander Stille

FROM THE COVER: “In Turin, Ettore Ovazza founded a Jewish fascist movement and met with Mussolini, while Vitorio Foa joined the antifascist underground and went to prison after being betrayed by someone from his own group. In Rome, the Di Verolis lived outside of time, working as peddlers in a ghetto older than Christ-until the Germans arrived. In Genoa, Massimo Teglio worked hand-in-glove with the Catholic Church to save hundreds of Jews. And the Schönheits of Ferrara helped administer an Italian concentration camp, until being deported to Germany themselves and making their miraculous return.

This extraordinary montage--combining interview, narrative, and the evocation of Italian culture-depicts the lives of five Italian Jewish families whose experiences embody the paradoxical climate of benevolence and betrayal, and resurrects a forgotten and deeply tragic era in the history of two peoples.

"An achievement that deserves to stand next to the most insightful fiction about life and death under fascism." -Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times.

London. Penguin 1991. 362p

Polygamy, Bigamy and Human Rights Law

By Samuel Chapman

“Polygamy, Bigamy and Human Rights Law” focusses mainly on UK law, but has been cited in international research on polygamy, and referred to in the British Columbia Supreme Court in the 2010-11 Polygamy Reference Case in Canada, where the book was entered into evidence as an exhibit and relied upon both by those arguing for decriminalisation of polygamy, and those seeking to maintain polygamy as a criminal offence. The book considers the rights of growing ethnic, faith and religious minorities in a multi-cultural society as the law incorporates the European Convention of Human Rights into UK law. This is of international interest due to the important position of English Law in contributing to the development of the law in its former colonies and in Commonwealth countries. While the book focuses primarily on English Law, it is of particular relevance to the United States, Canada and other jurisdictions where leading decisions have been based in part on references to English Law.

Samuel Chapman. Xlibris.2011. 111p.

Converging universes: 20 years of human rights and drug policy at the United Nations

By Adrià Cots Fernández & Marie Nougier

In recent years, the historical isolation between the United Nations (UN) drug policy and human rights bodies has eroded significantly, and with accelerating speed. The human rights consequences of drug policies have become an unavoidable – if fractious – topic in global drug policy debates, and human rights bodies routinely monitor the impacts of drug responses. The growing convergence between the UN human rights and drug policy regimes is the result of 15 years of progress across the whole UN environment, with contributions from Geneva, Vienna, and New York-based bodies reinforcing and encouraging one another. Civil society has been a constant and necessary presence, broadening the horizon of what is possible, transmitting key information across the UN system, and consistently advocating for change. Despite some reluctance to engage in drug-related discussions up until the 2010s, the Geneva-based human rights system has become gradually more influential in pushing for this alignment. The first call for convergence between the two regimes came from Geneva, in 2008. Since then, a large number of UN human rights bodies have regarded drug policies to be under their mandate, including the Human Rights Council, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), special mandate procedures, and human rights treaty bodies.

London: International Drug Policy Consortium IDPC, 2022. 33p.

Slavery and Bondage in Asia, 1550–1850: Towards a Global History of Coerced Labour

Edited by: Kate Ekama , Lisa Hellman and Matthias van Rossum

The study of slavery and coerced labour is increasingly conducted from a global perspective, and yet a dual Eurocentric bias remains: slavery primarily brings to mind the images of Atlantic chattel slavery, and most studies continue to be based – either outright or implicitly – on a model of northern European wage labour. This book constitutes an attempt to re-centre that story to Asia. With studies spanning the western Indian Ocean and the steppes of Central Asia to the islands of South East Asia and Japan, and ranging from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, this book tracks coercion in diverse forms, tracing both similarities and differences – as well as connections – between systems of coercion, from early sales regulations to post-abolition labour contracts. Deep empirical case studies, as well as comparisons between the chapters, all show that while coercion was entrenched in a number of societies, it was so in different and shifting ways. This book thus not only shows the history of slavery and coercion in Asia as a connected story, but also lays the groundwork for global studies of a phenomenon as varying, manifold and contested as coercion.

Bonn: De Gruyter, 2022. 228p.

Scholarship of education and human rights in diversity: Engaging discourses from the South

Edited by Erika Serfontein, Charl C. Wolhuter and Shantha Naidoo

The objective of this book is to highlight the need and value of imbuing the dynamic intersections between education, human rights and diversity with perspectives from the Global South. The chapters approach key intellectual conundrums of the day from a Global South perspective to reflect a credible scholarly footprint in Africa and in the SADC region. This is deemed timely considering that the field is deeply embedded in western, Eurocentric and overall Global North dominance. This book will provide a Southern perspective on education and human rights in diversity by unpacking each of the following key areas in the intersection between education, human rights and diversity from a Southern perspective: comparative international perspectives, citizenship education, human rights literacies, human rights education pedagogy, learner discipline in schools, aggression and bullying in schools, addressing human trafficking by means of human rights education, social justice, and the decolonisation of human rights and human rights education.

Cape Town, South Africa: AOSIS Books, 2022. 318p.

Shelter from the Storm: Better Options for New York City’s Asylum-Seeker Crisis

By John Ketcham and Daniel Di Martino

Since the summer of 2022, more than 70,000 asylum seekers have arrived in New York City, stretching public resources to their limit. The massive influx has been particularly challenging given the city’s “right to shelter,” the result of a 1979 lawsuit, Callahan v. Carey, and corresponding consent decree, which required the city to provide immediate shelter to those who request it, regardless of the number of applicants or the availability of resources. In order to comply with this requirement, the city has housed some 40,000 migrants in shelters—which has led to an approximately 70% spike in the shelter population in a single year. NYC is currently supporting more than 170 emergency shelters and 10 additional large-scale humanitarian relief centers. Shelters and relief centers simply cannot house all the newly arrived migrants, which has forced the city to procure approximately 4,500 hotel rooms in unionized facilities, often through expensive contracts …

New York: Manhattan Institute, 2023. 19p.

Halfway to the U.S: A Report from Honduras on Migration

By Adam Isacson, Ana Lucia Verduzco, and Maureen Meyer

Over 10 days in late April and early May 2023, a team of researchers from the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) visited Honduras to examine the challenges of migration at a historic moment of human mobility in the Americas. We wanted to understand international migration through Honduras, which grew quickly from a trickle to a torrent after migration through Panama’s treacherous Darién Gap region began on a large scale in 2021. WOLA and other groups have examined the migration phenomenon in the U.S.-Mexico and Mexico-Guatemala border regions, and other organizations have looked at the DariÈn Gap. The situation of migrants crossing Honduras, however, has received very little attention….

Washington, DC: Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), 2023. 29p.

Empowering Migrant Women: Impacts of Amnesties on Crime Reports

By Ana María Ibáñez, Sandra V. Rozo and Dany Bahar

Do undocumented migrants change their propensity to report or commit a crime after receiving a regular migratory status? This paper studies a massive amnesty program that gave regular migratory status to over 281,000 undocumented Venezuelan migrants in Colombia. Findings suggest that the amnesty did not result in more crimes committed by Venezuelan migrants, only an increase in the number of crimes they reported. Results are very strong for reports of domestic violence and sex crimes and are almost entirely driven by Venezuelan women, suggesting that empowerment is an important mechanism underlying the behavior change.

Policy Research Working Paper 9833. New York: The World Bank, 2021. 48p.

Three essays on migration and immigration policy

By Thomas Pearson

This dissertation consists of three chapters concerning migration and immigration policy. The first chapter studies how increased U.S. deportations affect Mexican labor markets using variation in migrant networks and Secure Communities (SC), a policy which expanded local immigration enforcement. I show that in the short run, deportations increase return migration and decrease monthly earnings for local Mexicans with less than a high school degree. Deportations also increase net outflows within Mexico and emigration to the U.S. The negative short run effects are not driven by falls in remittance income or increases in crime as deportations increase both the share of households receiving remittances and the total amount received and they do not affect homicide rates. The results instead point to increased labor market competition as a result of return migration. Lastly, I show that the negative short run effects of this labor supply shock are larger in localities with worse infrastructure and less access to the financial sector. These results help explain the large negative effects on earnings as many migrants return to less developed regions where these frictions are prevalent. The second chapter studies how immigration status affects crime reporting and victimization. I focus on Deferred Action for Early Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a policy that temporarily protects youth from deportation and provides work authorization. For identification, I compare likely undocumented immigrants around the policy's age eligibility cut-off over time. DACA eligibility of the victim increased the likelihood that the crime was reported to the police, which is consistent with DACA reducing fears of deportation. DACA eligibility also decreased victimization rates for women. Overall, the results suggest that immigrant legalization increases engagement with police and reduces the likelihood of victimization. …

Boston: Boston University, 2022. 255p.

Deportation, Crime, and Victimization

By Sandra V. Rozo , Therese Anders, Steven Raphael

We study whether the forced removal of undocumented immigrants from the United States increases violent crime in Mexican municipalities. Using municipal panel data on homicide rates matched with annual deportation flows from the United States to Mexico, we assess whether municipalities with repatriation points experience higher violent crime with surges in deportation flows. We consistently find that municipalities with greater geographic exposure to deportation flows have higher violent crime. The effects are mostly driven by increments in homicide rates of young males and minors.

GLO Discussion Paper, No. 545. Global Labor Organisation, 2020. 33p.

Small-Boats Emergency: Fixing the UK’s Broken Asylum System

By Rakib Ehsan

This paper argues that the ongoing small-boats emergency on the English south coast involves two injustices – a dysfunctional asylum system which is overburdened as a result of illegal unauthorised migration and increasingly leaves some of the world’s most persecuted peoples by the wayside, along with the unfairness of the UK’s most deprived local authorities disproportionately bearing the load of accommodating such arrivals. The report issues a stark warning over the mounting costs of the small-boats emergency and the risk of it fuelling public resentment – especially in post-industrial areas and left-behind coastal towns. The mid-estimate of hotel accommodation alone – at £2.2bn – exceeds the entirety of the Government funding allocated for Round 2 of the Levelling Up Fund (£2.1 billion) and is three and a half times the £630 million government investment to tackle homelessness in the UK.Recommendations include the introduction of an annual cap on refugees which is democratically determined by the UK Parliament and prioritises women and children in conflict-affected territories and insecure displacement camps. The report also calls for the curbing of the power of judicial interventions – both foreign and domestic – which is thwarting the UK Government’s efforts to tackle the small-boats emergency.

London: Policy Exchange, 2023. 58p.


Criminal Networks in Migrant Smuggling

By EUROPOL

Migrant smuggling continues to pose a challenge for police forces across the European Union. The criminal networks involved are complex and highly organised, diversifying routes and modus operandi in order to evade detection and increase profits. Meanwhile, migrants themselves are forced to risk their lives on the dangerous and unsafe transports offered by migrant smuggling networks. In this spotlight report, we cover the most important developments in the migrant smuggling landscape. The report details what the main features of modern migrant smuggling networks are, and how these networks administer themselves. It also explains phenomena such as criminal networks operating together in ‘joint ventures’, where illicit actors cooperate at various stages in the migrant smuggling chain.

Europol Spotlight Report series. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2023. 10p.

Social media use among Nigerian refugees and migrants: Risk or protection factor?

By The Mixed Migration Centre

This paper set out to explore experiences of abuse or exploitation among Nigerians during their migration journey, and how use of social media relates to a sense of increased risk or protection. In doing so it examines factors of gender, preferred destination and particularly smuggler use.

This paper is based on 423 quantitative interviews carried out with Nigerian refugees and migrants on the move through West and North Africa who had used social media during their migration journey. The quantitative data is complemented by insights from qualitative interviews on the use of social media conducted in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in August 2022 with a range of key informants including smugglers and travel facilitators, migrants, and experts from a range of civil society organizations, NGOs and international organizations.

Mixed Migration Centre, 2023. 11p.

Human rights in the context of smuggling: Perceptions and experiences of migrants in Mali and Niger

By The Mixed Migration Centre

The Central Sahel countries of Mali and Niger are migration crossroads, both in terms of intra-regional migration and for journeys to North Africa or towards Europe on the Western and Central Mediterranean Routes. It is difficult to know the proportion of migrants passing through these countries who have used smugglers during their journey. However, the use of smugglers by migrants appears to be a common phenomenon.

This paper has been prepared by the Mixed Migration Centre within the framework of a UNODC-OHCHR joint initiative (PROMIS) funded by the Government of the Netherlands, aimed at promoting a human rights-based response to smuggling of migrants and to respond to human rights abuses related to irregular migration in West Africa. It is based on 4Mi data collected with migrants in Mali and Niger in 2021. Using data from respondents who used a smuggler during at least one part of their journey, it examines respondents’ perceptions of their smuggler(s) and rationale for using them. It also looks at abuses and perpetrators cited by those who have used a smuggler; assistance and information needed en route; and perceived risks to children.

Mixed Migration Centre, 2023. 20p.

No Safe Place: Violence among Unaccompanied Refugee Children Seeking Asylum in Kenya

By Rosalind Raddatz and Matthew Kerby

This paper explores the rarely examined experiences of unaccompanied refugee minors in Nairobi, Kenya. Children are thought to comprise up to a third of Nairobi's refugee population, however, there is virtually no data on them. The paper provides a first analysis of a unique dataset to ascertain unaccompanied minor refugees’ experiences of physical, emotional, resource related, and sexual violence. Our research findings indicate widespread violence among refugee children living in Nairobi, and denote the prevalence of several kinds of violence in particular. Our results also reveal which children are most at risk and the type of abuse they are most likely to experience.

International Migration Review Online First, 2023.

Migrating through the Corridor of Death: The Making of a Complex Humanitarian Crisis

By Priscilla Solano https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7636-385priscilla.solano@soc.lu.sand Douglas S. Massey

Drawing on the concept of a “complex humanitarian crisis,” this paper describes how outflows of migrants from Central America were transformed into such a crisis by intransigent immigration and border policies enacted in both Mexico and the United States. We describe the origins of the migration in U.S. Cold War interventions that created many thousands of displaced people fleeing violence and economic degradation in the region, leading to a sustained process of undocumented migration to the United States. Owing to rising levels of gang violence and weather events associated with climate change, the number of people seeking to escape threats in Central America has multiplied and unauthorized migration through Mexico toward the United States has increased. However, the securitization of migration in both Mexico and the United States has blocked these migrants from exercising their right to petition for asylum, creating a growing backlog of migrants who are subject to human rights violations and predations both by criminals and government authorities, leading migrants to label Mexican routes northward as a “corridor of death.” We draw on data from annual reports of Mexico's Red de Documentación de las Organizaciones Defensoras de Migrantes (Network for the Documentation of Migrant Defense Organizations) to construct a statistical profile of transit migrants and the threats they face as reported by humanitarian actors in Mexico. These reports allow us to better understand the practical realities of the “complex humanitarian crisis” facing undocumented migrants, both as unauthorized border crossers and as transit migrants moving between the southern frontiers of Mexico and the United States.

Journal on Migration and Human SecurityVolume 10, Issue 3, September 2022, Pages 147-172

Concurrent Displacements: Return, Waiting for Asylum, and Internal Displacement in Northern Mexico

By Isabel Gil-Everaert https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6426-2igil@colmex.mx, Claudia Masferrer, and Oscar Rodríguez Chávez

This paper explores the ways in which contemporary mobility dynamics in Mexico have changed over the last decade, leading to protracted displacement. It focuses on three populations: (1) the internally displaced due to violence; (2) Mexican nationals returning from the United States, both voluntarily and due to deportation; and (3) populations seeking asylum in Mexico and the United States. These three populations are not usually analyzed together and do not squarely fall under the traditional legal definitions. The paper outlines ways that situations of protracted displacement and insecurity present challenges in four interconnected arenas of life: housing, legal status, employment, and emotional well-being. For governments and local communities, protracted displacement requires immediate humanitarian responses and the development and implementation of public policies focused on integration. The paper concludes with a set of policy recommendations based on its findings.

Journal on Migration and Human SecurityVolume 11, Issue 1, March 2023, Pages 125-148

BP Released a Migrant on a Terrorist Watchlist, and ICE Faced Information Sharing Challenges Planning and Conducting the Arrest (REDACTED)

By The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General

We conducted this evaluation to review CBP’s screening process of a suspected terrorist and the timing of ICE’s subsequent arrest following the suspected terrorist’s release into the United States. What We Recommend - We made three recommendations to ensure CBP effectively resolves inconclusive Terrorist Watchlist matches and ICE has immediate access to Global Positioning System data relevant to its law enforcement operations.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2023. 24p.