Refugee Realities

How can we best protect people displaced for environmental reasons? In this episode María José Maldonado and Natalie Jade Catanach interview Manuel Marques Pereira, Head of Division of Migration, Environment, and Climate Change and Risk Reduction, at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM – UN Migration). Mr. Pereira discusses the protection risks associated with climate-related migration, the difficulties in disentangling the environment from different causes of movement, the role of the IOM in responding to this type of movement, and the importance of fostering ‘resiliency literacy’ that also accounts for the needs and aspirations of local communities. Manuel Marques Pereira has served as Head of Division for Migration, Environment, Climate Change and Risk Reduction at IOM headquarters since August 2021. Prior to his current appointment, Manuel served in IOM Bangladesh from 2018-2021 as Deputy Chief of Mission and Head of Office in Cox Bazar for the Rohingya Refugee Response. Manuel’s previous postings with IOM include, National CCCM Cluster Coordinator in Iraq during the Mosul Response, Regional Programme Manager on Displacement Capacity Building for Governments in six Southern Africa countries and Humanitarian Shelter Operations in the Philippines after Haiyan Cyclone. Prior to that he also worked with Shelter, Displacement Management and Early Recovery Programmes in Pakistan for several years and served in Timor Leste with IOM, UNDP and the Portuguese Embassy, he started his career in the private sector. Manuel is a Portuguese national and holds a master’s degree in Emergency Practice and Development from the Oxford Brookes University, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Engineering from a Portuguese University. He speaks Portuguese, English, Spanish, French and Tetum.María José Maldonado is an MSc candidate in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies at the London School of Economics & Political Science. Also, she is a Non-Resident Research Fellow in Peace & Security at the Global Governance Institute. Her research and work are focused on peacebuilding and international development, countering organised crime and terrorism, violent extremism, the risks and impact of misinformation and disinformation, and forms of governance of non-state armed groups. Previously, she was the Programme Manager of the Institute for Economics & Peace for Europe, Middle East, and North Africa. With over 5 years of experience in workshop and event coordination, she is an experienced public speaker, workshop facilitator, and moderator in topics related to international security, development, peace, and humanitarianism (ex. One Young World Munich Summit 2021). She holds a BA in Global Communication with a Minor in European Peace and Security Studies and a BA in International Affairs from Vesalius College – Brussels School of Governance in Brussels, Belgium.   Natalie Jade Catanach is completing her MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies. Previously, Natalie studied Politics, Law and Economics at IE University in Spain. Natalie's previous experience has been in environmental and cultural mediation, refugee assimilation, public relations and politics, and advocacy. She has a particular interest in the consequences of environmental degradation for both displaced peoples and international organizations. Natalie is passionate about understanding these issues from a humanitarian lens, while looking towards an international legal framework for solutions. 

How are refugee experiences gendered, and what is the role of education in empowering female migrants and refugees? In this episode, Freya Thompson chats with Olivia Darby, Chief Programmes Officer at the WONDER Foundation. A women-led charity, WONDER seeks to support women and girls through education. Since 2018, the organisation has been working on a collaborative project across the UK, Poland, Slovenia, and Spain to empower migrant women, and it has recently become involved in supporting Ukrainian female refugees. Discussing the work of the organisation, Olivia reflects on the politicised nature of refugee policies in the UK, the need to understand gendered power relations when assessing migrant women’s access to education, and the lessons we can learn from the crisis in Ukraine. Freya Thompson is an MSc Development Studies student in the Department of International Development at LSE. She previously did her BSc in Politics and History at LSE, and during this time she volunteered with the WONDER Foundation as a research and policy intern. She is passionate about upholding refugee rights, promoting gender equality, and protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SHRH) for all. Olivia Darby is Chief Programmes Officer at the WONDER Foundation. She has previously undertaken a range of policy and project management work for a number of civil society organisations. She has extensive volunteer experience, which includes setting up and leading projects for women and young people nationally and internationally. She holds the APMP project management qualification.  

What role can refugees themselves play in responding to displacement, and how can we improve mechanisms that allow displaced communities to have an input into relief efforts? In this episode, Yanis Amirat and Maud Guibert sit down with Farida Abdulrahman, a Syrian refugee and former Head of Accountability at Violet Organization. Based in Gaziantep in Turkey, Violet Organization is an NGO that has been working with internally displaced persons (IDPs) and communities in Northern Syria since 2013. Farida fled from Syria to Turkey in 2015 and joined Violet Organization in 2016. Drawing on her experiences of being a refugee and working with the NGO, she reflects on the challenges facing Syrians in Turkey, the possibilities for refugee-led action, and the importance of accountability. Farida also discusses the impacts of the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake on the organisation’s work. Yanis Amirat is currently a student in Conflict Studies at LSE. He is interested in debates around the refugee regime, conflict resolution, and diplomacy. Yanis had the chance to take a deeper interest in the issue of so-called "Climate refugees" and even recorded a podcast on the subject while he was doing his Bachelor's in Geneva.  Maud Guibert is currently studying Conflict Studies at LSE. She previously worked with the Institut Montaigne, a French think-tank on French public policy issues, in which she oversaw the podcast production. She is interested in refugee issues and conflicts outcomes on displaced populations. 

Accessing employment is a challenge facing many refugees wanting to integrate in a new country. Trampoline is a London-based café that aims to tackle this by providing refugees in the city with meaningful employment opportunities. In this episode, Rebecca Huggett, Sales Manager at Trampoline Café, joins Katherine Velastegui Córdova in discussing its mission. Rebecca shares her thoughts on the difficulties facing refugees in the labour market in the UK, the role of employment in facilitating integration, and the refugee success stories that have emerged from Trampoline’s efforts. She also reflects on the challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic for refugees in the UK, and how the café tackled these, and provides advice for how young people can become involved in their local community. Katherine Velastegui Córdova (she/her) is an Ecuadorian MSc. Student in International Migration and Public Policy at the LSE. She holds a BSc. in Political Science and International Relations by Universidad de Las Américas (Ecuador) graduating with a full scholarship on academic merit. Her research looks at multiculturalism, migrant communities’ representation, sense of belonging, decolonial studies, and Latino diasporas. Her recent publications include Decolonial Feminism and Intersectionality: a political practice in Ecuador’s feminist movement.  Rebecca Huggett (she/her) is the Head of Sales and Brand Development for NEMI Teas and founder of Islington-based Trampoline Café. Trampoline’s latest news publication can be found here: BBC: How barista training opens doors for refugees Evening Standard: The Islington Cafe helping solve the refugee crisis. 

In this episode, Jasmin Arciero and Oliver Nixon  interview Alexa Netty, the trustee and chair of the steering committee of SolidariTee. SolidariTee is a charity that supports NGOs offering legal aid to forcibly displaced people​, and so they begin with a discussion on the importance of legal ​aid as a key facet of refugee support. They also touch on debates surrounding the role of NGOs in refugee crises: where they fit within a complex system of assistance and whether and how it is possible to overcome structural constraints on their coordination and efficiency. Alexa also shares personal stories from her time volunteering in refugee camps to shed light on some of the lived experiences of refugees and the obstacles they are forced to overcome to receive asylum. To conclude, Jasmin and Oliver discuss the future of SolidariTee and other issues that SolidariTee is working to address.Jasmin and Oliver are both studying for an MSc in Development Studies at the LSE. Having become engaged in the issues surrounding forced migration and displacement, they were intrigued to delve deeper into the debates surrounding humanitarian assistance and NGOs in support of forcibly displaced people. Jasmin, during her undergraduate degree, volunteered with SolidariTee (https://www.solidaritee.org.uk/), raising funds that contributed to legal aid grants, as well as leading awareness-raising events and sponsorships.

For years, thousands of forcibly displaced people have been left in limbo in Calais, France, where they suffer from a lack of care and police crackdowns. Recently, as the Russian War is devastating Ukraine and forcing millions to flee, European countries (including France) are opening their borders and homes to Ukrainian refugees. What explains such different responses? In this episode, Johana Bretou-Klein sits down with Ruby and Holly, two volunteers of the Calais Food Collective, to discuss the issue. The Calais Food Collective in a grassroots organisation supporting displaced people in Calais primarily with cooking ingredients and equipment. We asked them about their experiences with government restrictions on the ground in Calais, and if they thought the efforts put towards Ukrainian refugees could be replicated. Johana is an MSc student in the IDHE programme specializing in the humanitarian impacts of climate change and works as an analyst for a think tank focusing on these issues. Being French, she was especially aware of her governments’ role in treating and hosting refugees, especially in the chaos of Calais. She wants to understand more about the role of government in handling asylum seekers and wants to work towards improving refugee hosting efforts. The Calais Food Collective: https://calaisfood.wixsite.com/calaisfood  

Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, tens of thousands of Afghans fled to foreign countries. The UK evacuated around 18,000 people, who are now placed in temporary housing. Organizations such as British Red Cross are now seeking to assist Afghans resettle into more permanent homes. In this episode, Sveto Muhammad Ishoq speaks to two guests: Halima, a British-Afghan evacuated last year from Kabul, and Nadine, the Afghan Relocations Project Officer at the British Red Cross. Sveto speaks about Halima's evacuation experience and her life in one of London’s hotels and learns about the British Red Cross' programs for newly arrived Afghans.  Sveto is an Afghan women’s rights activist, Afghanistan’s first Schwarzman Scholar, and is currently pursuing a degree in Gender, Development and Globalisation at LSE. The experience of living mostly as a refugee in 6 different countries and witnessing the negative assumptions about life in Afghanistan inspired Sveto to create a storytelling platform, Chadari (https://chadariproject.com/), which gives an opportunity for Afghan women to express their perspectives, talk about their achievements, and to show the world that Afghanistan is much more than what can be seen in the media. Sveto proudly represents Afghanistan on national and international platforms, including the British Red Cross, UNHCR, and UN Women, and recently gave a TEDx talk at LSE promoting unheard experiences of Afghan women.

Little has captured our attention like the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th of this year. Constituting Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, the UN estimates that more than 14 million people have fled their homes, with nearly 7 million Ukrainians seeking asylum in neighbouring countries. One of these people is Olena, a 24-year-old Ukrainian national working in the film industry in the suburbs of Kyiv when Russian forces invaded. In this episode, Madison and Sydney sit down with Olena to gain a better insight into what that experience was like being in Ukraine this past February, and what led to Olena’s decision to leave her native country for Poland.Sydney Stevenson is in the International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies programme at the LSE. During her bachelor’s degree Sydney volunteered with organizations in Montreal, Canada which seek to secure status and resettle refugees. Sydney also is passionate about climate change and climate migration and has worked on multiple research projects surrounding such topics. Madison Jansen is also in the IDHE program at the LSE. Upon completion of her bachelor’s degree in Global Studies and Spanish, Madison moved to Ukraine with the United States Peace Corps where she lived and worked in a small town outside Kyiv. It was in Ukraine where she befriended Olena, and where she became further inspired to pursue a career in international development. Following her time at the LSE, Madison aims to apply her education and passion for Ukraine to aid in the humanitarian response to the war.  

In this podcast, Yujia Zhang invites two women, Nadia and Fatima, to talk about their stories as both refugees and social workers in Lebanon. Nadia, a third generation Palestinian refugee, lives in the Beqaa Valley. Currently, she is the director of Manara centre of the Lighthouse Peace Initiative, a NGO offering English and art training to refugee students. Fatima, a successful businesswoman in Damascus, became a refugee in 2013 due to Syrian war and fled to Beirut. In 2019, she founded her own social enterprise making embroidery. Yujia sits down to discuss their different living experience as refugees, to hear them share inspiring stories from their work, and how their work has impacted the lives of other refugees.   Bio Yujia Zhang is an MSc student in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies. Prior to LSE, Yujia worked in the communication team of Common Future Foundation, a China-based NGO which assists refugees in Lebanon, where she had the chance to encounter the two guest speakers and their organizations featured in this podcast. During her work, she and her team worked closely with partner organizations and produced dozens of interviews and stories, a comic book, and a board game on the topic of displacement.   Additional Info The Manara Centre, Lighthouse Peace Initiative: https://lpicorp.org/manara-center/.

This podcast explores the physical and emotional challenges that arise from refugees' journeys to safety. Sam, a former refugee from Iraq, describes his experience gaining asylum in the UK and how he has persevered through years of challenges. Sam discusses his reasons for fleeing, his time living in displacement, and his assimilation to his new community in the UK.Molly is an MSc student in the Development Studies program. While completing her undergraduate degree in Florida, Molly immersed herself in the local migrant and refugee community through various volunteering efforts. In 2019, Molly volunteered with Chios Eastern Shore Response Team, an emergency response organization in Chios, Greece, where she met Sam. Molly hopes to continue her work with refugee communities after graduation from LSE. 

In this episode, Leah Trotman chats with Pablo Escribano, the Regional Thematic Specialist at the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for the Americas and the Caribbean on climate change and migration. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre reported that nearly 3 million people across the Caribbean and United States were displaced in 2017 due to Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and Harvey. With a rise in global warming, Small Island Developing States (SIDS) can expect an increase in sea levels, the severity and frequency of hurricanes, and other climate shocks that influence population movement. With a majority of the Caribbean’s population situated within 1.5 km of the coast, gaining a better understanding of what climate-induced migration looks like in the region is crucial.Leah hails from the US Virgin Islands and is completing the Health and International Development programme at LSE. Leah is also the US Virgin Islands’ first Marshall Scholar and is also a Truman Scholar. At LSE, Leah focuses on the intersection of climate change and health in the Caribbean, a topic she began researching following her junior year in undergrad. Her most recent work looks at forced migration due to climate change and its impacts on youth mental health.

Today’s theme in the Refugee Realities podcast series focuses on a birds-eye perspective of the challenges facing the global humanitarian system. And who better to speak with than the person who was responsible for coordinating this system: Sir Mark Lowcock, the former ‘Relief Chief’ of the UN humanitarian agency. Nina and Shanyce discuss Mark’s experience during his 4-year posting, highlighting the power of the individual stories that stuck with Mark along the way.

In this bonus episode, Kaweh Beheshtizadeh speaks to Jenifer Elmslie about his journey from asylum seeker to refugee lawyer. Kaweh sought asylum from Iran after participating in pro-Kurdish activism in the country, a group which is heavily persecuted and discriminated against. After a short stay in Turkey under the protection of UNHCR, Kaweh entered the UK in 2004 and gained asylum status after one year. His experience motivated him to study for the bar at University and he now represents the cases of other asylum seekers. He discusses how the UK government’s hostile environment policy has affected the asylum cases of those who he represents today.

In this episode, LSE Master’s student Ezgi Ilhan interviews Valentina Spinedi, Director of Student Advising at Paper Airplanes. Paper Airplanes is a fully virtual non-profit organization providing educational services to conflict-affected individuals, focusing on displaced Syrians with refugee status. Though many organizations struggled to transition to operating remotely after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Paper Airplanes had the unique advantage of already being virtual, proving advantageous for their programs. In the episode, Ezgi and Valentina talk about the advantages and challenges of providing virtual educational services to refugees, the impact their programs have, why virtual education and language programs are advantageous for forcibly displaced individuals, and the unique way that Paper Airplanes began. What started off as a simple folded paper airplane in a classroom in Turkey has now transformed into an organization with hundreds of volunteers, students, and staff. Listen to the episode to hear all of this and more information on how you can get involved.  

In this episode, Konstantina Mirtzani and Valeria Miglio speak with Giulia Cicoli, co-founder and Advocacy Director of Still I Rise NGO. Still I Rise was first founded in 2018 to address the lack of appropriate education services for minors living in the Samos hotspot. Since then, the organisation has opened schools for displaced youth in Syria, Kenya, and Turkey. These projects focus on providing education in emergency contexts (Syria, Greece) as well as in protracted refugee crises (Kenya, Turkey). The organisation is also involved in a series of advocacy projects, including an ongoing lawsuit on the human rights violations towards unaccompanied minors at the Samos hotspot. During the episode, Giulia shares her field experience of working to promote education to refugee children and fight against the several barriers encountered by displaced youth when accessing this fundamental human right. Along with the importance of education for refugee livelihoods, the importance of building trust with the local community and the topical issue of criminalisation of aid workers assisting refugees are covered. To find out more about the organisation, check out www.stillirisengo.org or @StillIRise on Facebook and Instagram.  

This podcast takes listeners to the forefront of the internal displacement issue in Somalia where Mogadishu officials are spearheading a policy to address the needs of the hundreds of thousands of IDPs in their city.  In the first part of the podcast, Durable Solutions Consultant for the Municipality of Mogadishu, Amun Osman, speaks with Research and Report Officer for the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement, Mark Yarnell (speaking in his personal capacity), about the practical challenges, opportunities, and daily realities of addressing the needs of IDPs in the lively and dynamic metropolis. From providing relief to victims of forced evictions to navigating sensitive relationships with "gatekeepers,” Amun's hands-on perspective depicts the nitty gritty reality of implementing positive change for some of the city's most vulnerable residents. In the second part of the podcast, LSE MSc Conflict Studies student, Ben Grazda, speaks with Mark about the ins and outs of the High-Level Panel's work during the pandemic, what it takes to incorporate the perspectives of thousands of displaced persons, how climate change is making urban development an even more urgent priority, and ways that researchers and academics can currently contribute to the UN's work.For more information visit the Durable Solutions Unit (DSU) under the leadership of the Mayor of Mogadishu and Governor of Benadir Region of Somalia: https://dsu.so/ and the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Internal Displacement: https://www.un.org/internal-displacement-panel/

In March 2021, the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, made headlines with the announcement of the Governments ‘New Plan for Immigration’. This ‘New Plan’ outlined the most significant overhaul to the UK’s existing refugee and asylum policy in decades. The government stated that this overhaul will create a ‘fairer’ system and insists that it was ‘breaking the business model of people smuggling networks and protecting the lives of those they endanger’. However, despite the government's claims, the new plans have been heavily criticised, with adversaries claiming it lacks compassion, is impractical, and undermines the UK’s commitment to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocols. In this podcast, we will break down what this new bill proposes, assessing what these proposals will mean for those trying to seek asylum within the UK. To aid us in our discussion, we have with us two guests: Our first guest is Zoe Gardner, a policy advisor for the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, a UK based charity whose work includes providing legal support and assistance for refugees and asylum seekers. Our second guest is Dr. Matilde Rosina, an LSE Fellow in International Migration at the European Institute. Her work examines the criminalisation of irregular migration in Europe, investigating its functioning, effectiveness, and consequences. In addition to breaking down the changes this new bill will make, this podcast also assesses the legality of these changes, the extent to which the bill will impact people smuggling, as well as a discussion on how this new plan represents the trend of securitising the refugee regime.  

In this podcast, Gabriele Canavan and Taitum Caggiano interview Dr. Aiko Holvikivi and Dr. Audrey Reeves who recently published an article titled “Women, Peace and Security After Europe’s Refugee Crisis,” and they are here to tell us more about the nexus between the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and the refugee security regime. For background, the United Nations’ Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1325 is often considered a watershed moment for WPS activists seeking gender equity within responses to conflict, as it was the first SCR to address women and gendered issues within conflict and post-conflict settings. UNSCR 1325, subsequent SCRs (1820, 1888, 1889, 1960, 2106, 2122, 2242, 2467, 2493), and National and Regional Actions Plans (NAPs, RAPs) on WPS all comprise the WPS agenda. The WPS agenda has famously drawn international attention to gendered issues in conflict, such as conflict-related sexual violence and male-dominated decision-making spaces. With their experience in both policy and academia, Dr. Holvikivi and Dr. Reeves will be exploring the potential for a refugee inclusive WPS agenda. 

In this interview by MSc student in International Development, Gender and globalisation Jenifer Elmslie, Mustafa Ali discusses his experience leaving Afghanistan as an unaccompanied minor at the age of 13, and his 10-year journey to gain asylum in the United Kingdom. Ali discusses his journey to graduate from Cambridge University in 2017with a degree in Architecture. He talks about the difficulties he encountered during his time studying for his undergraduate degree while simultaneously attempting to secure the right to stay in the UK. He discusses how the UK government’s heavily politicised and hostile domestic policies towards immigration have affected the right of asylum seekers to seek refuge in this country. 

In Western countries, refugees are often seen as a burden, as an indistinct mass of people threatening our “values and well-being”. In this podcast, MSc student in Gender, Development and Globalisation Simona Camillini hears the incredible stories of two of the hundreds of thousands of people who every year are forced to flee their homes and leave everything behind to start a new life elsewhere.  Paul is from Nigeria and, since 2014, he has been living in Sankt Poelten, a city in Lower Austria near the Austrian capital Vienna, Nour is from Syria and she has been living in Vienna since 2017. Their experiences of refugeehood are very different and yet, in a way, very similar. Not only because they are both very well integrated into the Austrian society, but also because being a refugee deeply marked their lives. However, despite the traumatic experience they both went through, Paul and Nour remain hopeful and have a message for governments and politicians: believing in the human capital of refugees and in their potential is the first step to creating a more just, open, tolerant and inclusive society for all.