OXHRF Refugee week events

(c) UNHCR

Basma El Doukhi (DEP 2019-20) reports on World Refugee Day and Refugee Week:

UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report for 2020 showed that forced displacement is now affecting more than one per cent of humanity – 1 in every 97 people – and with fewer and fewer of those who flee being able to return home. The report, which was published two days ahead of 20 June World Refugee Day, shows that an unprecedented 79.5 million were displaced as of the end of 2019.

 

“We are witnessing a changed reality in that forced displacement nowadays is not only vastly more widespread but is simply no longer a short-term and temporary phenomenon,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “People cannot be expected to live in a state of upheaval for years on end, without a chance of going home, nor a hope of building a future where they are. We need a fundamentally new and more accepting attitude towards all who flee, coupled with a much more determined drive to unlock conflicts that go on for years and that are at the root of such immense suffering.”

Voices from OxHRF: ‘Bits of Borno’ - life in the midst of crisis

Celebrations - Party from Bits of Borno (Photo (c) Fati Abubakar)

Elizabeth Laskar writes: There has been a gruelling conflict between the military and non-state armed groups in the north eastern regions of Nigeria for over 10 years. It has resulted in serious human rights violations and the desperate need for humanitarian assistance for the populations trapped in the middle. In the states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe approximately 14,400 people have been killed, 53 percent of the total population of 13.4 million need humanitarian assistance, 1.3 million people have been internally displaced and 38% suffer daily from food insecurity. Terror, violence and conflict continue to plague these states. 

The terror group Boko Haram (meaning ‘western education is forbidden’) claims the state of Borno as their stronghold and continues to commit acts of terror in the region and neighbouring states of Chad and Niger who have been enveloped into the crisis. Between 2013 and 2015 the group killed more than 11,000 people and today the UN reports that 2.4 million people have been displaced in Nigeria and in the neighbouring countries. Unicef reports that over 1000 children have been abducted since 2013 by the group which includes the kidnapping of over 200 girls from a school in Chibok in 2014. 100 girls are still missing. A narrative of terror continues to be reported through news and media and stories of strength and resilience of the IDPs are often overlooked.

‘Bits of Borno’ is a project that chronicles the everyday lives of individuals and communities in the state of Borno. The project was instigated by Fati Abubakar, a celebrated Nigerian documentary photographer, photojournalist, and public health worker from the capital of Borno, Maiduguri. 

Through her photography, Fati wants people to bear witness to a different perspective of her hometown and she also aims to strengthen a narrative of hope within the IDP communities themselves. She feels her work counters the violent extremist message of Boko Haram - her passion is about creating counter-narratives for the underrepresented communities. 

‘Bits of Borno’ is a collection of unique stories that share the lives of the internally displaced through photographs of people living, working and thriving in the state of Borno. The pictures give a glimpse into the incredible ability for people to bounce back and over time begin to tell a new story.

Voices from the OxHRF - Beyond Resilience

[EL Laskar, Coordinator of the OxHRF] At the launch of the Oxford Human Rights Festival in March, Dr Sana Murrani, Associate Professor (Spatial Practice) and Founder of the Displacement Studies Research Network at Plymouth University invited us to join a discourse around the limitations of resilience frameworks and assessments within the humanitarian sector.  As we recognise and celebrate resilient systems are we failing to see their limitations? Dr Murrani writes ‘celebrating the positivity of the resilient isn’t by itself a powerful enough lens to delineate the transformations that people can achieve individually and collectively after the trauma of displacement.’ 

Carey Marks, Creative Associate 2019, Mapping Creative Recovery

Moving from resilience into thriving by Dr Sana Murrani

Rhetoric around climate disasters, wars and conflict, and economic deprivation has moved on from describing the vulnerable to celebrating the positivity of the resilient. The UN definition of resilience relates the concept to the particular capabilities of cities and communities to tackle chronic stresses (such as high unemployment, crime and violence rates etc) and acute shocks (whether natural or man-made) and that one size resilience doesn’t fit all.