GRS - Global Refugees Studies' research strategy

The core issues of GRS agenda are related to the theory and practice of humanitarian assistance, the legal status and dynamics of displacement, human rights and citizenship, and the socio-economic effects of forced migration.

The Danish and European Union debate regarding refugees has changed radically in the past few years. From an almost exclusive focus on assimilation and integration it has now turned into both a security and foreign policy issue and is regarded as a development problem. It is interesting to note that a new policy consensus has emerged which denotes more emphasis on exploring possibilities of what is termed 'helping refugees in their immediate environment'. A term used to describe the fact that the majority of the world's forced migrants are defined either as being internally displaced or with 'external' refugee status - their location is either in the domestic context or in neighbouring countries. As such the majority of the world's refugees and displaced people are found in the developing countries of Africa, Asia and in Latin America.

In this context Danish and EU development aid and the Peace and Stability initiative aim at becoming new instruments for supporting civilian conflict prevention and peace building activities, in addition to crisis management with humanitarian assistance and military involvement.

Under these conditions it appears probable that more Danish and European development aid and other foreign policy related expenditures will be devoted to a combination of security related and humanitarian issues like conflict prevention and new ways to help resolve the emerging crisis of forced migration. These problematics ought to be viewed in a developmental perspective as they involve a variety of complexities related to international and national law, moral issues, public opinion, and nation-building. These complexities require the establishing of an interdisciplinary and multi-facetted research capacity which apparently does not exist at the moment. There is a need for new and additional conceptual perspectives with a focus on migratory movements and forced displacement and a coherent research organization in order to create synergies and collaboration between different types of approaches and knowledge.

The scope of the issues involved in the struggle against poverty through development, makes it imperative to generate new knowledge and insights on the refugee and internally displaced people themes. The aim of GRS is to make a contribution towards creating a new research platform and subsequent strategy proposal at the policy level.


The objectives are the following:

At the research and policy-making level
 

• To focus on creating theoretical and methodological perspectives concerning the main causes, consequences and policy relevant solutions to the refugee problem and displacement.
• To launch research on topics related to repatriation, rehabilitation, resettlement and rebuilding local, national and regional communities in a developmental context.
• To explore current areas of research focusing on the role of non-state actors, issues of national responsibility, donor policies towards internal displacement, the role of regional and sub-regional organizations, development-induced displacement, the role of peacekeepers, the military and private security companies and NGOs in protecting and assisting the internally displaced, an inquiry into when displacement ends, and efforts to propose policies for a more comprehensive protection regime for refugees and internally displaced persons.
• To contribute to the creation of synergies between EU, Danish foreign policy and links with development aid and policies towards refugees and internal displacement.

• To establish linkages between network initiatives and new research areas of importance to Danish and EU foreign policy.
• To establish collaboration with international research institutions.
• Furthermore, the intention is to contribute to capacity-building in developing countries.
• To contribute to the future development and accreditation of a new Master Program in Global Refugee Studies at Aalborg University.