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Refugee Population (refugee + population)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Vitamin D deficiency in a multinational refugee population

INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL, Issue 12 2007
H. D. Wishart
Abstract Background: Populations with increased skin pigmentation who have migrated to countries of high latitude are at increased risk of low vitamin D. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of low vitamin D among the refugee population arriving in New Zealand. Methods: An audit of all refugees arriving at the national refugee resettlement centre from May 2004 to May 2005 was carried out. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 levels were measured and defined as normal (50,150 nmol/L) or low, with low subdivided into insufficient (25 to <50 nmol/L) and deficient (<25 nmol/L). Whether vitamin D status varied with age and sex was determined. Results: Vitamin D was measured in 869 (99%) of the refugees and was low in 470 (54%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 51,57%). It was insufficient in 323 (37%, 95%CI 34,41%) and deficient in 147 (17%, 95%CI 15,20%). Female sex was associated with at least a 10 times increased risk of vitamin D deficiency (relative ratio 13.93, 95%CI 10.15,17.96). Women aged between 17 and 45 years and men aged 46 years and more were at greatest risk. Conclusion: Poor vitamin D status is prevalent among refugees arriving in New Zealand. Women, particularly those of child-bearing age are at greatest risk. Screening and ongoing surveillance for vitamin D deficiency should be considered for all recent refugee immigrants to New Zealand. [source]

"We Live in a Country of UNHCR",Refugee Protests and Global Political Society

INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 4 2007
Carolina Moulin
Between September and December 2005 over 3,000 Sudanese refugees held a sit-in demonstration at the Mustapha Mahmoud Square in Cairo, Egypt, which is located directly across from the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). We analyze the events of the refugee sit-in as an act of global political society, one that saw people outside the realm of the political making demands for recognition and a say in the solutions being developed to relieve their plight. We argue that the sit-in at Cairo was fundamentally a disagreement between the refugees and the UNHCR over the politics of protection, care, and mobility. The article analyzes the strategies through which the refugees named their "population of care" in ways that countered the UNHCR's governmental strategies to classify the Sudanese refugee population in Cairo. We propose the concept of "global political society" as a way of thinking about global political life from the perspective of those who are usually denied the status of political beings. Global political society is a highly ambiguous site where power relations are enacted, taken and retaken by various actors, but in ways that do not foreclose opportunities for refugees to actively reformulate the governmentalities of care and protection. [source]

Factors Affecting Australia's Refugee Policy: The Case of the Kosovars

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 2 2001
Jackie King
This article seeks to explain Australia's refugee policy and to identify the various objectives and factors that influence the development of that policy. Australia's refugee programme seeks to: provide a humanitarian response and protection to individual refugees; participate responsibly in the international community; honour its Convention obligations; further the interests of the people of Australia; meet high standards of administration and; acknowledge as much as possible changes in refugee populations. In fulfilling these objectives, Australian governments must weigh and balance various competing factors. These include: humanitarian responsibility, international obligations, social, political, economic and foreign policy factors, as well as efficient administration. In balancing the relative importance of these factors, the Federal government hopes to fulfil all its refugee and humanitarian objectives. However, the pluralistic nature of Australian society and the often conflicting ideals associated with protection of Australia's interests and the preservation of the rights of refugees, means that fulfilment of these objectives is difficult. This article examines the Australian government's response to the Kosovar conflict, to assess the relative success Australia had in fulfilling its refugee policy objectives and identifying the various factors that produced the final result. [source]