Abstract
This article assesses various advocacy practices for forcibly displaced people (FDP) through the analysis of advocacy networks, the examination of the goals that they pursue, and their ways of working. Three basic approaches, the welfare-based, the legal-based, and the capability-based approaches, are assessed. From this assessment, this study suggests the recognition of shared humanity as an entry point for advocacy, which offers a cosmopolitan understanding of rights and duties, and the most comprehensive protection for FDP. The main argument of this study is that if the demand for recognition is not heard, relief for refugees and other displaced people will lack an essential dimension. It is the demand to be recognized as human beings that engenders responsibility for forced migrants. Instead of prescribing a list of what to do, or not to do, this reflection has rather suggested a way of being and dealing with the forcibly displaced. This stance goes beyond the facility of typical responses that are known in advance.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bado, A. B. (2011). Dignity across borders. Forced migration and Christian social ethics. Denver: Outskirts Press.
Bateman, N. (2000). Advocacy skills for health and social care professionals. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Cambridge, P., & Williams, L. (2004). Approaches to advocacy for refugees and asylum seekers: a development case study for a local support and advice service. Journal of Refugee Studies, 17(1), 97–98.
Chimni, B. S. (2001). Reforming the international refugee regime: a dialogic model. Journal of Refugee Studies, 14(2), 151–168.
Cohen, R. (2006). “Strengthening Protection of IDPs: The UN’s Role”. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. (Winter/Spring): 101–109.
Connolly J (2007) Charting a Course for Recognition: a Review Essay. History of the Human Sciences 20 (1): 133-144.
Elman, R. J., Ogar, J., & Elman, S. H. (2000). Aphasia: awareness, advocacy, and activism. Aphasiology, 14(5–6), 455–459.
Gorlick, B (2000) Human rights and refugees: enhancing protection through international human rights law. Stockholm: Stockholm UNHCR’s Refugee Law Training Officer, Working Paper no. 30, pp. 1-53.
Guterres, A. (2008). Millions uprooted saving refugees and the displaced. Foreign Affairs, 85(5), 90–99.
Habermas, J. (1998). The struggle for recognition in the democratic state. In C. Cronin & P. De Greif (Eds.), The inclusion of the other: Studies in political theory. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Hollenbach, D. (Ed.). (2008). Refugee rights: Ethics, advocacy, and Africa. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Honneth, A. (1995). The struggle of recognition: The moral grammar of social conflicts. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Juss, S. S. (2006). International migration and global justice. London: Ashgate.
JRS. (2005). God in exile. Towards a shared spirituality with refugees. Rome: JRS.
JRS. (2000). Everybody’s challenge: Essential documents of Jesuit refugee service. 1980–2000. Rome: JRS.
Junker-Kenny, M. (2008). Arguing for a humanity of equals: From capabilities to recognition. In P. Gnanapragasam & E. Schüssler Fiorenza (Eds.), Negotiating borders: Theological explorations in the global era. Delhi: Essays in honour of Prof. Felix Wilfred. ISPCK.
Keck, M. E., & Sikkink, K. (1998). Activists beyond borders. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Landau, L. B. (2008). Protection as capability expansion. Practical ethics for assisting urban refugees. In D. Hollenbach (Ed.), Refugee rights: Ethics, advocacy, and Africa. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Lazzeri, C., & Caillé, A. (2006). Recognition today: the theoretical, ethical and political stakes of the concept. Critical Horizon, 7(1), 63–100.
Levinas, E. (2000). Entre nous: Thinking-of-the-other. New York: Columbia University Press.
Loescher, G. (1993). Beyond charity. International cooperation and the global refugee crisis. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mayotte, J. A. (1992). Disposable people? The plight of refugees. New York: Orbis Books.
Nyers, P. (2006). Rethinking refugees: Beyond states of emergency. New York: Routledge.
Ricoeur, P. (2005). The course of recognition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Sen, A. (1985). Well-being, agency and freedom: the Dewey lectures 1984. Journal of Philosophy, 84(4), 169–221.
Sen, A. (1999). Development as freedom. New York: Anchor Books.
Taylor, C. (1989). Sources of the self: The making of the modern identity. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
UNHCR. (2000a). Handbook of emergencies. Geneva: UNHCR.
UNHCR. (2000b). Minimum standards and essential needs in a protracted refugee situation: A review of the UNHCR programme in Kakuma, Kenya. Geneva: UNHCR.
UNHCR. (2001). Refugee protection: A guide to international refugee law. Handbook for parliamentarians. Geneva: UNHCR.
UNHCR. (2006). Measuring protection by numbers. Geneva: UNHCR.
UNHCR. (2007). Handbook for the protection of internally displaced persons. Geneva: UNHCR.
Van Arsdale, P. (2006). Forced to flee: Human rights and human wrongs in refugee homelands. New York: Lexington Books.
Welsh J, Banda M (2010) International Law and the Responsibility to Protect: Clarifying or Expanding States’ Responsibilities? Global Responsibility to Protect 2 (3): 213–231.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
The author is grateful for editing and feedback on earlier versions from David Hollenbach, Robert Beloin and Carolyn Beaudin.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bado, A.B. Assessing Advocacies for Forcibly Displaced People: A Comprehensive Approach. Int. Migration & Integration 17, 593–603 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-015-0413-5
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-015-0413-5