# Human rights and forced migration: policy and practice

**Source**: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/research/units/tde/groups/human-rights-and-forced-migration
**Parent**: https://www.brookes.ac.uk/engage-and-innovate/consultancy

Principal Investigator(s):
[Dr Zoe Jordan](https://www.brookes.ac.uk/profiles/staff/zoe-jordan)

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[About us](#research-about)
[Research impact](#research-impact)
[Leadership](#research-leadership)
[Membership](#research-team)

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## About us

Our work concentrates on human rights research and forced migration research where policy, practice and experience are at the centre. We work in a number of countries across the world and study torture prevention, national human rights institutions, conflict induced displacement, the impact of global policies on national refugee responses, and the consequences of protracted refugee situations on different groups of people. We work with a number of organisations and institutions to explore how policy and practice can improve and be more efficient in addressing human rights and forced migration issues. \
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Our research engages with:

- torture prevention
- institutional protection of human rights
- human rights practice
- long term conflict-induced displacement
- refugee hosting
- civic aid
- global policies’  impact on national and local refugee responses

### Part of

- [School of Architecture](https://www.brookes.ac.uk/about-brookes/structure-and-governance/faculties-and-schools/architecture "School of Architecture")
- [Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP)](https://www.brookes.ac.uk/research/units/tde/centres/cendep)

### Related research units

- [Education to Employment](https://www.brookes.ac.uk/research/units/tde/projects/education-to-employment)
- [National human rights institutions and legal assistance](https://www.brookes.ac.uk/research/units/tde/projects/national-human-rights-institutions)

### Related courses

- [Global Development and Humanitarian Practice (MA / PGDip / PGCert)](https://www.brookes.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/global-development-and-humanitarian-practice)

## Research impact

Our research in the human rights field mainly focuses on assessing the impact of various institutional protections of human rights. This includes the work of human rights commissions and Ombuds offices, and particularly the effectiveness of torture prevention measures. We aim to develop close partnerships and exchanges of information with practitioners and institutions at the both the national and international levels.

Research on torture prevention has been particularly impactful, with several international and national NGOs adapting their strategic priorities in line with our research findings. (A multi-country research project led by CENDEP concluded that safeguards at the time of arrest were the most important factor in protecting people from torture).

The United Nations Committee Against Torture and SubCommittee on Prevention of Torture, as well as the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, have been in continuing consultation with CENDEP’s Richard Carver and Lisa Handley, and have incorporated their findings into their practice. Richard and Lisa have also worked with institutions at the national level, such as the Public Defender’s Office in the Republic of Georgia.

## Leadership

### Dr Zoe Jordan

- [zjordan@brookes.ac.uk](mailto:zjordan@brookes.ac.uk)

Senior Lecturer

[View profile  for Zoe Jordan](https://www.brookes.ac.uk/profiles/staff/zoe-jordan)

## Membership

Staff members
Research students

- Staff
- Students

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### Staff

| Name | Role | Email |
| --- | --- | --- |
| [Dr Supriya Akerkar](https://www.brookes.ac.uk/profiles/staff/supriya-akerkar) | Director, Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) | [sakerkar@brookes.ac.uk](mailto:sakerkar@brookes.ac.uk) |
| [Dr Zoe Jordan](https://www.brookes.ac.uk/profiles/staff/zoe-jordan) | Senior Lecturer | [zjordan@brookes.ac.uk](mailto:zjordan@brookes.ac.uk) |

## Journal of Human Rights Practice (Oxford)

The *Journal of Human Rights Practice (Oxford)* was co-founded by Dr Brian Phillips of CENDEP in 2009. The journal focuses on the impact of human rights practice and contemporary challenges. Over the past year, it has looked in particular at how human rights can help to understand responses to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as assessing the impact of Covid-19 on the work of human rights defenders.

## Oxford Human Rights Festival

CENDEP runs the Oxford Human Rights Festival. Founded in 2003, the Festival was initiated by postgraduates and staff at the Centre of Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP), the School of Architecture at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford UK. The festival is run by Oxford Brookes students and a coordinator from CENDEP. We collaborate with the public including local community groups, educational institutes, NGOs/INGOs, organisations and individuals.

### More information

Every year the festival centres around a theme. In the past, themes have included ‘Resilience’, ‘Identity’ and ‘Home’ exploring what these mean in terms of gender, sexuality, race, ability, class, wealth, religious beliefs, forced migration, homelessness, nationality and much more. In 2021 the theme is ‘Disruption’ which helps to place on the agenda the way we all have been affected by the global pandemic, but also how the pandemic has exposed inequalities and injustices.

Past events have included a talk by peace builder and founder of Oxford Research Group Scilla Elworth in 2019, Ken Loach opening the 2017 festival with a screening of his acclaimed film 'I, Daniel Blake' and Ziauddin Yousafzai, father of equal education activist Malala Yousafzai, speaking at our screening of their film 'He Named Me Malala' in 2016. We curate an exhibition every year around the theme of the festival and include artists and performers from around the globe.

[Visit festival's website](https://www.oxfordhumanrightsfestival.net/ "Visit festival's website")

## Publications

### 2024

- Mihlar Farah (2024) [Global Models, victim disconnect and demand for international intervention: The dilemma of decoloniality and transitional justice in Sri Lanka](https://academic.oup.com/jhrp/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jhuman/huae024/7748714?utm_source=authortollfreelink&utm_campaign=jhrp&utm_medium=email&guestAccessKey=dababa49-9f74-43a2-8628-e2acf231568f)  Journal of Human Rights Practice. Volume 16, Issue 3
- Mihlar Farah (2024) [Contending with identity and minority rights in transitional justice in Sri Lanka: the case study of Sri Lanka](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13642987.2024.2355269) International Journal of Human Rights.
- Jordan Z, [“If I fall down, he will pick me up”: refugee hosts and everyday care in protracted displacement\](https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2024.1282535)Frontiers in Human Dynamics 6 (2024) eISSN: 2673-2726
- Jordan Z, [Making Your Own Weather: Self-Reliance and Working for Resettlement Among Sudanese Refugee Men in Amman, Jordan\](https://doi.org/10.25071/1920-7336.40968)Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugees 39 (2) (2024) pp.1-14 ISSN: 0220-5113 eISSN: 1920-7336

### 2023

- Mormitsu R and Akerkar S (2023): [Rethinking forced migrants’ mental health and well-being: Lessons from Ukraine five years after the initial displacement](https://www.fmreview.org/ukraine/morimitsu-akerkar); *Forced Migration Review.*

### 2022

- Akerkar, S (2022) [Disaster Risk Reduction and Furthering Women’s Rights](https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389407.013.406); Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Natural Hazard Science, Oxford University Press
- Jordan Z, ["The world we share": Everyday relations and the political consequences of refugee-refugee hosting in Amman, Jordan\](https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2022.2103976)Citizenship Studies 26 (6) (2022) pp.868-884 ISSN: 1362-1025 eISSN: 1469-3593 ["The world we share": Everyday relations and the political consequences of refugee-refugee hosting in Amman, Jordan Open Access version on RADAR](https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/05972823-09af-4569-869a-5dbde869eeb6/1/)
- Brun, C. (2022) Understanding protracted displacement through the dwelling: the temporal injustice of the not quite, not yet solutions to refugee crises. In Howayda Al Harithy (ed.) *Urban Recovery. Intersecting Displacement with Recovery*, pp. 141 - 166.
- Carver, R. (forthcoming) “Preventing torture through fair treatment in police custody,” in R. Alleweldt (ed), Fair treatment of persons in police custody, Springer Verlag.
- Lindley, A. (forthcoming) ''Hit and Miss: Access to Legal Assistance in Immigration Detention”, *Journal of Human Rights Practice*.
- Lindley, A (forthcoming) “The global ordering of remittance flows: formalisation, facilitation, funnelling and financialisation,” in A. Pécoud and H. Thiollet (eds.), The Institutions of Global Migration Governance, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

### 2021

- Jordan Z, Brun C, [Vital Conjunctures in Compound Crises: Conceptualising Young People’s Education Trajectories in Protracted Displacement in Jordan and Lebanon](https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10070241) Social Sciences 10 (7) (2021) ISSN: 2076-0760 eISSN: 2076-0760 [Vital Conjunctures in Compound Crises: Conceptualising Young People’s Education Trajectories in Protracted Displacement in Jordan and Lebanon Open Access version on RADAR](https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/items/18539d7e-f7a5-4936-8395-697700c756ac/1/)
- Shuayb, M. and C. Brun (2021 Carving out space for equitable collaborative research in protracted displacement. *Journal of Refugee Studies* 34(3): 2539–2553
- Jordan, Z. and C. Brun (2021) Vital conjunctures in compound crises: Conceptualising young people's education trajectories in protracted displacement in Jordan and Lebanon. Journal of Social Sciences 10: 241, <https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10070241>
- Lindley, A. “Escape, bureaucracy and the politics of refuge: The Ungrateful Refugee, by Dina Nayeri,” Journal of Refugee Studies. <https://doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feab046>
- Weinstein-Sheffield, E., R. Carver, B. Flinn, and B. Molosoni (2021) “What does ‘protection’ really mean in shelter self-recovery programming?’ in Roadmap for Research, Interaction.
- Handley, L. “Drawing Electoral Districts to Promote Minority Representation” Representation, published online DOI:10.1080/00344893.2020.1815076.

### 2020

- Brun, C. and A.H. Fábos (2020) “Homekeeping in long-term displacement,” in A. Datta, P. Hopkins, L. Johnston, E. Olson, and J. M. Silva (eds), The Routledge International Handbook of Gender and Feminist Geographies, Routledge International.
- Brun, C. and R. R.Ø. Thorshaug (2020) “Privatized Housing and never ending displacement: the temporality of dwelling for displaced Georgians,” in S. Pasquetti and R. Sanyal (eds) Displacement: Building Global Conversations on Refuge, Manchester University Press.
- Brun, C. (2020) “The place of the camp in protracted displacement,” in T. Edensor, A. Kalandides, and U. Kothari (eds) The Routledge Handbook on Place, Routledge.
- Brun, C. and M. Shuayb (2020) “Exceptional and Futureless Humanitarian Education of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon: Prospects for Shifting the Lens,” *Refuge*,36(2): 20 – 30.
- Carver, R. and L. Handley (2020) “Effective torture prevention,” in Sir Malcolm Evans and Jens Modvig (eds), Research Handbook on Torture, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
- Carver, R. and L. Handley (2020) “Evaluating national preventive mechanisms: a conceptual model,” Journal of Human Rights Practice, 12/2, <https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huaa030>.
- Carver, R. (2020) “Human Rights Practice in the Age of Pandemic,” Journal of Human Rights Practice, 12/2, <https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huaa037>.
- Glier, H. L.; E. Gregory, T. Staples, M. Martínez, S.E.D. Mitchell, A.H. Fábos, and T.J.Downs (2020 ) “Understanding stakeholder positionalities and relationships to reimagine asylum at the US–Mexico border: Observations from McAllen, TX,” Human Geography ISSN: 1942-7786.
- Lindley, A. (2020) “A Note From the Centre Of Migration And Diaspora Studies,” *The SOAS Journal of Postgraduate Research*, 12.

### 2019

- Brun, C. (2019) “Living with shifting borders: peripheralisation and the production of invisibility,” *Geopolitics* 24(4): 878 – 895.
- Thorshag, R.Ø. and C. Brun (2019) “Temporal injustice and re-orientations in asylum reception centres in Norway: towards critical geographies of architecture in the institution,” *Fennia* 197(2) 232 – 248. <https://doi.org/10.11143/fennia.84758>.
- Adger, W. N., E. Boyd, A.H. Fabos, S. Fransen, D. Jolivet, R.S. de Campos, and M.J. Vijge, (2019) “Commentary: Migration transforms the conditions for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals,” *The Lancet Planetary Health*. 3: 1-3. ISSN 2542-5196.
- Handley, L., D. Lublin, B. Grofman, and T. Brunell (2019) “Minority Success in Non-Majority Minority Districts: Finding the ‘Sweet Spot’,” *Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics*.
- Lindley, A..(2019) “Civic mobilisation around immigration detention: Exploring motivations and experiences,” *Geoforum*, (102), pp 5-16.

### 2018

- Carver, R. (2018) A Mission for Justice: the International Ombudsman Institute 1978-2018, Verlag Österreich.
- Handley, L. (2018) “Redistricting” in E.H.R. Pekkaanen and M. Shugart (eds) Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Kahn, L. and Fábos, A.H. (2018) “Witnessing and Disrupting: The Ethics of Working with Testimony for Refugee Advocacy,” *Journal of Human Rights Practice*. 9(3): 526–533. ISSN 1757-9619.

### 2017

- Brun, Cathrine, Fábos, Anita H. and El-Abed, Oroub. (2017) Abject Citizenship: When categories of displacement collide with categories of citizenship. Norwegian Journal of Geography 71: 220-232. Special issue on “Political Geographies of Citizenship”, eds. Kristian Stokke and Marta Bivand Erdal. ISSN 0029-1951.
- Brun, Cathrine. and Fábos, Anita H. (2017). Mobilizing Home for Long-Term Displacement: A Critical Reflection on the Durable Solutions. *Journal of Human Rights Practice*, 9(2), pp.177-183. ISSN 1757-9619.
- Carver, R. (2017) “Refugees and national human rights institutions: a growing engagement,” J*ournal of Human Rights Practice* 8(2).
- Handley, L. (2017) “Role of the Courts in the Electoral Boundary Delimitation Process,” in J.H. Young (ed), International Election Remedies, Chicago: American Bar Association Press.

### 2016

- Brun, C. (2016) “There is no future in humanitarianism: Emergency, temporality and protracted displacement,” *History and Anthropology* 27(4): 393–410.
- Brun, C. (2016) “Dwelling in the temporary: the involuntary mobility of displaced Georgians in rented accommodation,” Cultural Studies 30(3): 421–440, Special issue on (Im)mobilities of Dwelling, edited by L. Meier and S. Frank
- Refstie, H. and C. Brun (2016) “Voicing noise: Political agency and the trialectics of participation in urban Malawi,” *Geoforum* 74: 136-146.
- Carver, R. and L. Handley (2016) *Does Torture Prevention Work?*, Liverpool University Press.

[Visit publisher's web page](https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/ "Visit publisher's web page")

**Image Credits:**

All images credited to CENDEP members:\

- Banner image: CENDEP alumni Jonny Willis (l) and Ben Teuten founded Refugee Youth Service\
- 'About us' image: CENDEP and Arba Minch students conduct legal aid interview
- 'Research Impact' image: CENDEP field trip to Arba Minch

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