Laws, Policies, or Social Position? Capabilities and the Determinants of Effective Protection in Four African Cities

Landau, Loren B.; Duponchel, Marguerite

doi:10.1093/jrs/feq049

Cited by 48 publications

(35 citation statements)

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“…Refugees to South Africa typically rely on an informal economy (Landau, 2004;Lindstrom, 2003), and some have suggested that refugees, in many cases, are less vulnerable than their local counterparts in terms of their abilities to generate income (Landau and Duponchel, 2011). Yet urban refugees in South Africa also face a daunting range of obstacles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental risk: Urban refugees’ struggles to build livelihoods in South Africa

Crea

Loughry

O’Halloran

et al. 2016

International Social Work

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Urban South Africa is a major destination for refugees across sub-Saharan Africa. Based on interviews with urban refugees, this study identified significant barriers to achieving livelihood security for this population, including community violence, crowding, fear of xenophobia, exploitation from officials and oversaturated markets for small businesses. Nevertheless, refugees identified several aspects of service provision from a non-governmental organization which proved helpful, especially through material assistance in helping establish viable, profit-generating small businesses. Recommendations for service delivery to this population include assessing refugees' level of environmental vulnerability and providing a package of supports that address a clients' particular living situation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental risk: Urban refugees’ struggles to build livelihoods in South Africa

Crea

Loughry

O’Halloran

et al. 2016

International Social Work

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“…While there are undoubtedly high levels of vulnerability among displaced populations, there are often equally high levels of vulnerability among host populations and other migrant populations (Landau and Duponchel, 2011;Myroniuk and Vearey, 2014). Analytically distancing international migrants from these sub-national dynamics significantly limits the ability to develop effective, ethical and politically palatable policy responses.…”

Section: Geographic Scope and Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

International Migration Report 2015 - Highlights

2015

Statistical Papers - United Nations (Ser. A), Population and Vital Statistics Report

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“…A focus on "refugee-centric programming" (2011:2) beyond these limited interventions may "foster political resentments that will ultimately undermine [their] sustainability" (2011:14). Instead, Landau and Duponchel (2011) propose that xenophobic and exclusionary discourses and practices, and the apparent need for greater inclusion, be addressed at the political and policy levels. This, they suggest, will help to create enabling conditions for people's exercise of effective choices (2011:14) and agency expansion (2011:15).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are dedicated, largely UNHCRfunded, services for recognised refugees and certified asylum seekers, yet they reach but a small fraction of the eligible population (Hölscher, Bozalek & Zembylas, 2014). In addition, questions have been raised concerning their outlook and effectiveness Landau & Duponchel, 2011). South Africa does have a system of social grants, and the state has been successfully challenged to extend its provisions to permanent residents and recognised refugees (Lawyers for Human Rights, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A recent survey of refugees and other migrants in four southern African cities, Landau and Duponchel (2011) found, following an analysis of the data for aggregate vulnerabilities and sources of resilience, that refugees, other migrants and indigenous residents in southern Africa's urban centres were all surviving self-reliantly, without "welfarist intervention" (Landau & Duponchel, 2011:13). The authors conclude that, "receiving refugee status is not a good indicator of someone's substantive experience, nor does it have a strong effect on welfare [needs]" (2011:2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Subjectivities of Survival: Conceptualising Just Responses to Displacement, Cross-Border Migration and Structural Violence in South Africa

Hölscher¹

2016

SWORK

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This article considers the implications for social work of displacement, migration and structural violence in urban South Africa. To this end, I explore the life stories of five cross-border migrants. I find that all five form part of South Africa's larger pool of surplus populations but face additional, citizenship-based forms of exclusion. Even though generally self-reliant, all of them experienced cumulative agency constraints and felt vulnerable. Against this background, I propose that current, refugee-centred services should be expanded and that interventions should be carefully balanced to attend to structural issues, inter-group conflict and the range of vulnerabilities articulated by cross-border migrants. Ms SUBJECTIVITIES OF SURVIVAL: CONCEPTUALISING JUST RESPONSES TO DISPLACEMENT, CROSS-BORDER MIGRATION AND STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA Dorothee Hölscher INTRODUCTIONThe concept of justice is so complex that, according to Sen (2009), we are required to deduce many of its qualities and requirements from our awareness of what transpires in its absence: we know justice when it is lacking. Sen (1999Sen ( , 2009 maintains that for justice to prevail, certain conditions need to be present. For example, people require the "freedom to choose" (Sen, 2009:19) between different kinds of valuable beings and doings; they "have to be seen… as actively involved -given the opportunity -in shaping their own destiny" (Sen, 1999:53). In other words, agency is a constitutive component of justice. Yet while justice remains a generally accepted reference point in social work discourses and debates (Hölscher, 2012), questions of agency are considered less often. The purpose of this article is to apply the concept of agency in the analysis of cross-border migration to South Africa and to explore its implications for social work interventions and services in this field of practice.Since the end of apartheid South Africa has attracted cross-border migration at an unprecedented scale (Crush, 2011). For example, from 2006 to 2011 the country received the world's highest annual number of individual asylum applications (UNHCR, 2013).While it has been difficult to establish the total number of cross-border migrants living in South Africa (Crush, 2011), the number of registered asylum seekers and recognised refugees is currently in excess of 300 000 persons (UNHCR, 2015). The majority of migrants settle in South Africa's fast-growing urban centres (Landau, Segatti & Misago, 2011;UNHCR, 2015). These are dynamic environments characterised by inter alia escalating levels of poverty and degradation, and local authorities trying to meet their governance mandates within considerable budgetary constraints (Hart, 2013;Simone, 2004). A growing body of literature attends to issues of poverty and survival among South Africa's urban poor at large (see, for example, Simone 2004Simone , 2010Simone , 2011). Yet much is still to be understood about the specific challenges and survival strategies among cross-border migrants and how these migh...

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Laws, Policies, or Social Position? Capabilities and the Determinants of Effective Protection in Four African Cities

Cited by 48 publications

References 10 publications

Environmental risk: Urban refugees’ struggles to build livelihoods in South Africa

Environmental risk: Urban refugees’ struggles to build livelihoods in South Africa

International Migration Report 2015 - Highlights

Subjectivities of Survival: Conceptualising Just Responses to Displacement, Cross-Border Migration and Structural Violence in South Africa

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