Abstract
We live in unprecedented times – the number of displaced people has reached extraordinary proportions, as more and more people are forced to flee their homes. Poverty, environmental degradation, persecution, war and conflict are not only the source of mass displacement, but also the source of impoverishment and impairment. And yet, rarely visible, seldom heard, disabled forced migrants are persistently recast in an epistemological and ontological shadow. This chapter explores the disability/forced migration nexus in an attempt to understand some of the critical intersectionalities that emerge, and their implications for theory and practice. We argue that forced migration studies, as well as humanitarian responses, maintain an ableist approach focusing on heteronormative productive bodies, whilst disability studies continues to pursue social justice and access to rights within a corpus of knowledge framed within the hegemony of sovereign structures and liberal democratic norms, thus excluding the non-citizen disabled body.Engaging a critical approach, in this chapter we frame the study of disability and forced migration within broader global political, economic and social structures and processes, that seeks to locate the multidimensional individual within macro structures and processes, whilst acknowledging how the agency of the subaltern disabled forced migrant located in the global South persistently confronts, challenges and negotiates such global structures.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
An earlier version of this chapter (Pisani and Grech 2015) was published in the journal Disability and the Global South .
- 2.
Article 1a of the 1951 Geneva Convention defines refugees as people who, ‘owing to a well-founded fear of persecution, on the grounds of race, religion, nationality or membership of a social group, find themselves outside their country of origin, and are unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country’.
- 3.
The United Nations defines IDPs as ‘persons or groups of persons who have been forced or obliged to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters, and who have not crossed an internationally recognized State border’ (OCHA 2004).
- 4.
As Betts (2009: 2) indicates, even in the case of IDPs , where their own state is unwilling or unable to assure protection, there is a broader international responsibility to guarantee such individuals access to their rights and receive protection.
- 5.
In 2014 more than 3000 individuals drowned in this body of water. The number of deaths in the early months of 2015 suggest that even more will lose their lives this year.
- 6.
For a review on how protracted refugee situations impact regional security, see Milner 2014.
- 7.
Article 11 of the CRPD on situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies states: ‘States Parties shall take, in accordance with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with disabilities in situations of risk, including situations of armed conflict, humanitarian emergencies and the occurrence of natural disasters.’
- 8.
Research has demonstrated how, in reality, detention does not act as a deterrent. Asylum seekers and migrants are generally not informed of such policies, do not communicate the information to others considering the journey, and may also perceive detention as unavoidable (International Detention Coalition 2015).
References
Agamben, G. (1998). Homo sacer. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Aleinikoff, T. (2015, February 25). From dependence to self-reliance: Changing the paradigm in protracted refugee situations. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from UNHCR Global Views: http://blog.unhcr.org/globalviews/changing-the-paradigm-in-protracted-refugee-situations/.
Aljazeera. (2015, October 29). Amnesty: Australian officials paid people smugglers. Aljazeera. Retrieved December 8, 2015, from http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/amnesty-australian-officials-paid-people-smugglers-151028230421588.htm.
Amnesty International. (2013). This is breaking people: Human rights violations at Australia’s asylum seeker processing centre on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. London: Amnesty International. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA12/002/2013/en.
Anthias, F. (2012). Transnational mobilities, migration research and intersectionality: Towards a translocational frame. Nordic Journal of Migration Research, 2(2), 102–110.
Bach Baouab, T., del Valle, H., Derderian, K., & Ponthieu, A. (2012). Looking beyond legal status to human need. Forced Migration Review, 39, 19–20.
Barnes, C., & Mercer, G. (2006). Independent futures: Creating user-led disability services in a disabling society. Bristol: The Policy Press.
Barnes, C., & Mercer, G. (2009). Disability culture: Assimilation or inclusion? In G. L. Albrecht, K. Seelman, & M. Bury (Eds.), Handbook of disability studies (pp. 515–534). New York: Sage.
Berghs, M. (2012). War and embodied memory: Becoming disabled in Sierra Leone. London: Ashgate.
Betts, A. (2009). Forced migration and global politics. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Buscher, D. (2014, February). Preventing gender-based violence: Getting it right. Retrieved September 13, 2014, from Humanitarian Practice Network: http://www.odihpn.org/humanitarian-exchange-magazine/issue-60/preventing-gender-based-violence-getting-it-right.
Castles, S. (2003). Towards a sociology of forced migration and social transformation. Sociology, 37, 13–34.
Chimni, S. B. (2009). The birth of a ‘Discipline’: From refugee studies to forced migration studies. Journal of Refugee Studies, 22(1), 11–29.
Council of Europe. (2010, February 4). Commissioner for human rights: Criminalisation of migration in Europe: Human rights implications. Retrieved October 18, 2014, from Council of Europe: https://wcd.coe.int/ViewDoc.jsp?id=1579605#P99_13092.
Crisp, J. (2002). No solutions in sight: The problem of protracted. San Diego: The Center for Comparative Immigration Studies.
Crock, M., McCallum, R., & Ernst, C. (2011). Where disability and displacement intersect: Asylum seekers with disabilities. Discussion paper prepared for the Vulnerable Persons Working Group; International Association of Refugee Law Judges World Conference. Bled, Slovenia.
European Commission. (2015, September 23). Managing the refugee crisis: Immediate operational, budgetary and legal measures under the European Agenda on Migration. European Commission. Retrieved October 24, 2015, from http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5700_en.htm.
Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth. New York: Gove Press.
Forced Migration Review. (2010). Disability and displacement special issue. Forced Migration Review, 35. Retrieved from http://www.fmreview.org/disability/access.
Grech, S. (2009). Disability, poverty and development: Critical reflections on the majority world debate. Disability and Society, 24(6), 771–784.
Grech, S. (2011). Recolonising debates or perpetuated coloniality? Decentring the spaces of disability, development and community in the global South. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 15(1), 87–100.
Grech, S. (2015). Disability and poverty in the global South: Renegotiating development in Guatemala. London: Palgrave.
Grech, S. (2016a). Disability and poverty: Complex interactions and critical reframings. In S. Grech & K. Soldatic (Eds.), Disability in the global South: The critical handbook (pp. xx–xx). New York: Springer.
Grech, S. (2016b). Disability and development: Critical connections, gaps and contradictions. In S. Grech & K. Soldatic (Eds.), Disability in the global South: The critical handbook (pp. xx–xx). New York: Springer.
Guterres, A. (2015, February 26). Open briefing on the humanitarian situation in Syria. Retrieved March 9, 2015, from UNHCR: http://www.unhcr.org/54ef66796.html.
Handicap International. (2008). Toolkit on protection of persons with disabilities. Handicap International.
HelpAge International and Handicap International. (2014). Hidden victims of the Syrian crisis: Disabled, injured and older refugees. London: HelpAge International and Handicap International. Retrieved October 18, 2014 http://www.helpage.org/newsroom/latest-news/hidden-victims-new-research-on-older-disabled-and-injured-syrian-refugees/.
Hyndman, J. (2011). A refugee camp conundrum: Geopolitics, liberal democracy, and protracted refugee situations. Refuge, 28(2), 7–15.
International Detention Coalition. (2015). There Are Alternatives. Melbourne: International Detention Coalition.
IASFM. (2014). About us. Retrieved August 8, 2014, from International Association for the Study of Forced Migration: http://iasfm.org/about/.
Kett, M., & Trani, J. (2010). Vulnerability and disability in Darfur. Forced Migration Review (Issue 35), 12–13.
Koffman, E., Phizacklea, A., Raghuram, P., & Sales, R. (2000). Gender and international migration in Europe. Oxon: Routledge.
Milner, J. (2014). Protracted refugee situations. In E. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, G. Loescher, K. Long, & N. Signona (Eds.), The oxford handbook of refugee and forced migration studies (pp. 151–163). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mirza, M. (2011). Unmet needs and diminished opportunities: Disability, displacement and humanitarian healthcare. Geneva: UNHCR.
Mostafa, A. (2015). Disability and forced migration: The experience of a Syrian Doctor. Disability and the Global South, 2(1), 551–555.
OCHA. (2004). Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. New York: United Nations.
Oliver, M. (1994). Politics and language: Understanding the disability discourse. Paper prepared for inclusion in the MA in Disability Studies Programme: Deptartmet of Psychotherapy, University of Sheffield. Retrieved from http://disability-studies.leeds.ac.uk/files/library/Oliver-pol-and-lang-94.pdf
Pisani, M. (2011). There’s an elephant in the room and she’s ‘rejected’ and black: Observations on rejected female asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa in Malta. Open Citizenship (2).
Pisani, M. (2012). Addressing the ‘citizenship assumption’ in critical pedagogy: Exploring the case of rejected female sub-Saharan African asylum seekers in Malta. Power & Education, 4(2), 185–195.
Pisani, M. (2013). “We are going to fix your vagina, just the way we like it”: Some reflections on the construction of [sub-Saharan] African female asylum seekers in Malta and their efforts to speak back. Postcolonial Developments in Education, 2(1), 68–99.
Pisani, M. (forthcoming). ‘Illegal bodies’ on the move: A critical look at forced migration towards social justice for young asylum seekers. Perspectives on Youth (Vol. 3). Strasbourg: Council of Europe and European Commission.
Pisani, M., & Grech, S. (2015). Disability and forced migration: Critical intersectionalities. Disability and the Global South (DGS), 2(1), 421–441.
Shivji, A. (2010). Disability in displacement. Forced Migration Review, 35, 4–7.
Soldatic, K., & Fiske, L. (2009). Bodies ‘locked up’: Intersections of disability and race in Australian immigration. Disability & Society, 24(3), 289–301.
Soldatic, K., & Grech, S. (2014). Transnationalising disability studies: Rights, justice and impairment. Disability Studies Quarterly, 34(2).
UNHCR. (2009). Submissions to the 2009 Joint Standing Committee on migration inquiry into the migration treatment of people with a disability. Canberra: UNHCR.
UNHCR. (2011). Working with persons with disabilities in forced displacement. Geneva: UNHCR.
UNHCR. (2015, January 7). UNHCR report shows world’s poorest countries host most refugees. Retrieved March 11, 2015, from http://www.unhcr-centraleurope.org/en/news/2015/unhcr-report-shows-worlds-poorest-countries-host-most-refugees.html.
UNHCR and Integra Foundation. (2015). My diversity: Age, gender and diversity perspectives in the Maltese refugee context. Valletta: UNHCR.
WHO and World Bank. (2011). World report on disability. Geneva: World Health Organization.
Women’s Refugee Commission. (2008). Disabilities among refugees and conflict-affected populations. New York: Women’s Refugee Commission.
Yeo, R. (2015). ‘Disabled asylum seekers?…They don’t really exist’: The marginalisation of disabled asylum seekers in the UK and why it matters. Disability and the Global South, 2(1), 523–550.
Zetter, R. (2007). More labels, fewer refugees: Remaking the refugee label in an era of globalization. Journal of Refugee Studies, 20(2), 172–192.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pisani, M., Grech, S., Mostafa, A. (2016). Disability and Forced Migration: Intersections and Critical Debates. In: Grech, S., Soldatic, K. (eds) Disability in the Global South. International Perspectives on Social Policy, Administration, and Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42488-0_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42488-0_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-42486-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-42488-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)