23
Dec
2024 Rural Australians for Refugees National Conference, Victoria, Australia
Australia is renowned for its harsh treatment of refugees and asylum seekers despite being a multicultural country with a long-term refugee resettlement program. In November 2024, the Australian government passed legislation to give the immigration minister increased and extensive deportation powers. Countering the perception that the Australian community does not support refugees is Rural Australians... Read More
17
Dec
Call For Proposals: ARC-UNHCR Conference on Refugee Studies and Forced Displacement 2025
The ASEAN Research Center at the Asia School of Business is excited to announce the fifth iteration of the ARC-UNHCR Conference on Refugee Studies and Forced Displacement for the year 2025, held in collaboration with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. We are currently accepting paper submissions and poster presentations on any topics pertaining to refugees... Read More
11
Dec
A GLIMPSE INTO ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN CHALLENGING CONTEXTS—SOME THOUGHTS
A marketplace born of adversity The morning was humid as we wandered together along the makeshift marketplace at Balukhali Bazar in Cox’s Bazar. This vibrant stretch of stalls along the dusty road near the Rohingya refugee camp—the largest in the world—was buzzing with activity. Men and women bartered over goods, children darted through the narrow... Read More
7
Dec
Why Immigrants Aren’t Stealing Jobs: ‘Brain Waste’, the Economic and Employment Gaps Under-Employed High-Skilled Immigrants Could Fill
Immigrants Aren’t ‘Stealing’ American Jobs With the re-election of former President Donald Trump, policies and opinions pertaining to immigration are expected to worsen as the President-elect’s vision for immigration can be summed up in three words: “Mass deportation now.” Donald Trump has been vocal about his aims to place limits on legal immigration, remove protections... Read More
22
Jul
How can we preserve the human capital of countries affected by forced migration?
Universities and other higher education institutions (HEi) not only provide highly-skilled workforce, but they also produce human capital that is crucial for the political, economic, social, and cultural future of every country. Forced migration has had devastating effects on national higher education, including post-compulsory tertiary, technical and vocational programs. People fleeing their homes or places... Read More
9
Jul
New UK Government Rescinds ‘Rwanda Plan’ But Cruel System Remains
After their landslide victory in the 2024 UK General Election, one of the first policy announcements from the Labour government was to drop proposals to deport people seeking asylum who had entered the country without authorisation to Rwanda. In his first news conference as Prime Minister, Keir Starmer described the plan as ‘dead and buried... Read More
2
Jul
Hello from our new co-editor Cadhla O’Sullivan
Hello, my name is Cadhla O’Sullivan, and I am excited to receive the opportunity to join RRO as an editor. I am a research fellow at the Children’s Policy Centre, based at The Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. In December 2023, I was awarded my doctorate from Queen’s University Belfast... Read More
16
May
Book Review – Suffering, Redemption and Triumph: The First Wave of Post-war Australian Immigrants
“Suffering Redemption and Triumph: The first wave of postwar Australian immigrants”, Peter Brune, Big Sky Publishing, 2023, 436 pages After discovering a box of his interview tapes from 25 years ago, the military historian Peter Brune was inspired to resume his project to publish the oral histories of about 40 immigrants, who came to Australia... Read More
13
Apr
Film Review: “Io Capitano”
“Io Capitano” (2023), directed by Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone, was nominated for the 96th Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film. Although it did not secure a win, the film stands out for shedding light on an aspect of migration that is lesser seen on screens and in the media: the arduous journey before reaching Europe’s shores.... Read More
10
Mar
Listening to child refugees and asylum seekers in Australia-what matters most
Background In 1992, Australia adopted a policy of mandatory detention of people arriving in the country without a valid visa. This policy was targeted towards asylum seekers, and over time policies became increasingly punitive with the aim of deterring people from arriving through channels described by successive governments as ‘illegal’. Those policies have been rightly... Read More