The politics of protection: aid, human rights discourse, and power relations in Kyaka II settlement, Uganda

Clark-Kazak, Christina

doi:10.1111/j.1467-7717.2009.01114.x

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…UNHCR (2015) makes clear its commitment to delivering protection and other forms of assistance to refugees in accordance with the legal frameworks of countries of asylum and in a fashion that supports host country governments; this suggests that at the local level, UNHCR and the government staff members involved in the practical administration of protection will (to some extent) be able to exercise agency over the interpretation and implementation of assistance. Viewing power as not just reproduced but also negotiated creates the space in which to see how it 'flows' through acts of humanitarianism, such as protection, and to explore contestations concerning protection discourse and practice (Clark-Kazak, 2010).…”

Section: Problematising Protection Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

UNHCR and LGBTI refugees in Kenya: the limits of ‘protection’

Pincock

2021

Disasters

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This paper problematises the framing and implementation of protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) refugees in Kenya by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Despite increased international attention being paid to them, the extant literature focuses on asylum-seeking at Western borders; there is a dearth of scholarship on LGBTI refugees' experiences in first countries of asylum in the Global South. Building on essential humanitarian governance literature, the paper suggests that how protection is framed by UNHCR, and practical restrictions on the implementation of protection in Kenya, leave LGBTI refugees unsafe. Yet, their own attempts to secure protection, often drawing on the same human rights discourse that UNHCR utilises in its guidance, renders them even less 'protectable' by UNHCR and Kenyan activists. This paper argues for a more critical and contextualised approach to 'protection' as a form of humanitarian assistance, given its place within the broader dynamics of global refugee governance.

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Section: Problematising Protection Discoursementioning

confidence: 99%

UNHCR and LGBTI refugees in Kenya: the limits of ‘protection’

Pincock

2021

Disasters

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“…An example of political action by school students illustrates children's taking up of rights to which they were sensitized and their follow-through with attempts to make public claims that provoked social controversy. Clark-Kazak (2010) reported an incident that occurred in Kyaka ll Camp in Uganda. In 2004, a small group of Congolese refugee students attempted to claim free high school education.…”

Section: Claiming Of Refugee Children's Rightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rights of Refugee Children and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

Lawrence

Dodds

Kaplan

et al. 2019

Laws

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Refugee children are identified as rights-bearers by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), but their rights are not uniformly honored in the policies and practices of contemporary states. How the CRC's safeguards for refugee children's rights are honored depends partly on what it means to be 'a refugee child' and partly on how the claims of refugee children's rights are recognized, respected, and implemented in international and national legal and bureaucratic systems. We examine the CRC's affirmation of the rights of the child and analyze the CRC's articles in relation to the rights related to the life circumstances of refugee children and state responsibilities. Following an analysis of resistance to the CRC's mandates by contemporary states, we relate refugee children's rights to their refugee and developmental experiences and argue for repositioning refugee children into the center of protection dialogue and practice, internationally and nationally.interpret as a current refugee crisis and populist politics, contemporary states favor national well-being and border security over the well-being of refugee children. We examine evidence that states have worked to relegate refugee children to the margins of protection discourse and to the margins of society. There are persistent tendencies to either overlook refugee children as invisible or to deny that they are children or refugees. We argue for a radical repositioning of refugee children into the center of the protection dialogue and into the center of state policy and practice. Only such a central position will give refugee children the due respect that is responsive to the intermingling of their refugee and developmental experiences and support their rights to develop fully in the present and future as envisaged in the CRC Preamble. 2 Identifying a Refugee ChildThe concepts of 'child' and 'refugee' are not consistently defined across disciplines, although both concepts are critical structural markers for positioning this doubly vulnerable group as children distinct from adults and refugees distinct from citizens. How refugee children's rights are recognized and enacted in legal and immigration systems is largely dependent on how refugee children are defined as being children and refugees. A ChildThere is no generic or typical child. Children differ from each other in many ways, including the defining characteristic of being a child distinct from an adult. The adult/child distinction may seem simple-children and adults are distinguished by age, where age is a rough marker of different periods of the life cycle. The simplicity of this distinction, however, is deceptive. Age-lines and the boundaries of life periods are moveable and vary within and across individuals in relation to personal experience and the sociocultural context. Each child is bodily embedded in a specific historical and cultural time and place that give her age meaning. Consider, for instance, a girl who is 12 years of age in the early 19th, 20th, or 21st century. Not ...

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“…Some work close to the source of violence, while others intervene after people have already fled to a safer location. A study in a Ugandan refugee camp revealed, for example, that youth considers education to be a protection strategy to escape structural violence in the site (Clark-Kazak, 2010). 120-125).…”

Section: Protection Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That being said, protection for communities is not only limited to physical safety. A study in a Ugandan refugee camp revealed, for example, that youth considers education to be a protection strategy to escape structural violence in the site (Clark-Kazak, 2010). Regardless of the stage at which humanitarians intervene, achieving positive protection outcomes eventually depends on several factors, such as the capacity of humanitarian agencies to influence the behaviour of warring parties.…”

Section: Protection Activitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, communities have their own power structures and vulnerable groups within communities may be forced to take steps against their wishes. In addition, different groups in a community may have conflicting conceptions of protection (Clark-Kazak, 2010). Humanitarians must consider the specific vulnerabilities of various groups and ensure that their programmes and advocacy do not aggravate risk factors for those liable to be coerced or manipulated by dominant sections of a community.…”

Section: Case Study: South Sudanmentioning

confidence: 99%

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From concept to practice: the long road to operationalising protection

Claire¹

2018

Disasters

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From concept to practice: the long road to operationalising protection Arjun Claire Independent consultant, SwitzerlandFor the past two decades, humanitarian actors have been grappling increasingly with the complex issue of protecting civilians. The definition of protection adopted by humanitarians is considered to be too broad to provide effective operational direction. This paper aims to contribute to recent initiatives to operationalise protection. Teasing out a broad typology of humanitarian protection through an examination of the scope, objectives, and strategies of a range of humanitarian actors, it suggests, would result in better identification of gaps and the channelling of efforts to support a system-wide protection response. Emphasising recent calls for collective analysis as a means of eventuating protection, the paper also draws attention to the contested understanding that may arise concerning solutions to protection crises. Closely entwined with politics, protection defies neat technical solutions. The paper concludes that deepening knowledge of how communities conceive their own interests may provide the basis for a collective protection response.

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The politics of protection: aid, human rights discourse, and power relations in Kyaka II settlement, Uganda

Cited by 9 publications

References 6 publications

UNHCR and LGBTI refugees in Kenya: the limits of ‘protection’

UNHCR and LGBTI refugees in Kenya: the limits of ‘protection’

The Rights of Refugee Children and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

From concept to practice: the long road to operationalising protection

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