UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) is currently working on a book, State of the World’s Forcibly Displaced (SOWFD- working title) to be published in 2021 marking the 70th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention. It will focus on the potential of the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR). The GCR is a milestone in the 70 year history of the international refugee regime: setting a renewed direction in international refugee responses. Building on the capacities of a broad coalition of stakeholders, it firmly links refugee responses to advancing human development. Through its Programme of Action, States aspire to enabling refugees to live dignified and productive lives, ensure more opportunities for lasting solutions, and enhance support to hosting communities.

The SOWFD 2021, will focus on what will be required to deliver on these ambitions. This will include a reflection on the historic evolution of international responses to forced displacement of relevance to the GCR and how international responses will need to adapt to meet the aims of the GCR today and the anticipated displacement challenges of the future. In providing a holistic analytic overview the book is intended to be of interest to policy makers; academics; UNHCR and partner staff; researchers and students.

Research papers: UNHCR is seeking contributions on the research for this volume in the form of papers of 15-20 pages in length. Among the papers being solicited are ones that examine the history, current context and future engagement of:

• Cities
• NGOs (international and local)
• Faith based groups
• Academics (reflecting the exponential growth in literature beyond the traditional realms of political science and law)
• Private sector
• Innovation and technological development

Additionally, UNHCR is interested in commissioning papers on:

• International responses to climate displacement
• Proposals for holding states to account for the causes of forced displacement
• Whether the international architecture for responding to forced displacement is appropriately designed to respond well to varied displacement situations of today and the future.

Material from these papers that are used in the book would be fully attributed to the authors, with possibilities to hyperlink the text to the papers in the electronic version.

Timeline: Research and background papers completed: June 2020-September 2020

Expression of interest: UNHCR welcomes receiving expressions of interest from qualified applicants to be sent by 15 April 2020 to kotulla@unhcr.org with the subject matter of proposed research indicated. Remuneration will be based on UNHCR guidelines and the scope of the research agreed.

This workshop is organized by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore, with funding support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grant at Wilfrid Laurier University. The event will be held August 26-28, 2020 at ARI.

Paper proposals should include a title, an abstract (250 words) and a brief biography (150 words) for submission by 31 March 2020. Abstracts should include clear statements explaining the conceptual and methodological bases of the paper in addition to summarizing the paper’s key arguments and findings.

You can submit your proposal to Ms Kristel Acedera at arikafa@nus.edu.sg, and the submission form can be downloaded here. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by end of April 2020, and participants will be required to send in a completed draft paper (about 6,000 words) by 31 July 2020.

For more information including the list of possible paper topics, please visit the event page: https://ari.nus.edu.sg/events/state-regimes/

The Center for Southeast Asia Studies at UC Berkeley and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA have announced a Call for Papers for their joint conference on the theme Ethnic and Community Identity in Southeast Asia, to be held April 24-25, 2020, at UCLA.

Possible paper topics might touch on any of the following: state ethnic labeling policies and their implications; contestation centered on competing ethnic identities and terminologies; identities or communities formulated in terms of gender or sexual orientation; identities defined in terms of religious affiliation or organizations; academic, state, or public discourse surrounding racial or ethnic identities; ethnic or identity politics that cross national boundaries and complicate state narratives.

The two centers invite submissions for presentations from scholars and graduate students conducting original research in the social sciences and humanities that address the primary theme of the conference. Abstracts (up to 500 words) should be emailed to UCLA CSEAS (cseas@international.ucla.edu) by Monday, January 20, 2020. Abstracts should also include your name, affiliation and discipline and contact information (including e-mail address).

For more information, visit the CFP page: https://www.international.ucla.edu/cseas/article/209888

FIRST CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

The Philippines is considered to be the third most disaster-prone country in the world. It is highly exposed to natural hazards, and is noted to have a medium index for lack of adaptive capacities (World Risk Report 2018). Situated along the Pacific Ring of Fire and the typhoon belt, the Philippines is vulnerable to earthquakes and typhoons in the region. The country has 23 active volcanoes (Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology) including Mount Mayon with the latest eruption in 2018. An average of 20 typhoons reach the Philippines, with Haiyan (local name Yolanda) as the strongest ever to hit landfall in recorded history in 2013 that brought massive destruction and death on its path. Landslides are another form of hazards in mountainous areas, with the most noted mudslide in Guinsaugon which buried 1,126 villagers in Southern Leyte in 2006 (International Recovery Platform 2011). Many other catastrophic events have occurred in varying scales since 2000 and are predicted to occur with severity under changing global climate conditions. As well, human-induced disasters have impacted the Philippines in the last two decades including the conflict in Mindanao, internal displacement due to insurgency, poor urban planning, fires, clogged drainage resulting to floods, and others. Despite the seeming normalcy of disasters in the Philippines, there is a lack of solid scholarly materials available for wider general circulation and knowledge production. Hence, this collection aims to create a handbook of original articles about how individuals, groups, communities, domestic and foreign organizations, governments, and other actors have responded to disasters and its aftermath, outlining the varied challenges that define or shape possible outcomes.

We invite contributions from scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from local (Philippines) and international perspectives about the responses and challenges to disasters in the Philippines that occurred since 2000 to 2020. All topics are welcome. Interested contributors must submit the following to bonifacioglenda@gmail.com on or before August 1, 2019:

1. Title of proposed chapter
2. maximum 500-word abstract
3. one paragraph biography of authors/co-authors including current affiliation
4. email address of corresponding author

Please observe the following technical requirements: 12-font, Times New Roman, Word document, and American spelling. Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified on September 30, 2019.

The book will be edited by Glenda Tibe Bonifacio (www.glendabonifacio.com) and Roxanna Balbido Epe, University of Lethbridge, Canada.

The Southeast Asia Council (SEAC) of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is seeking paper proposals from up-and-coming scholars to join a “Rising Voices” panel on the topic of “New Dimensions of Migration in Southeast Asia.” They’re seeking to recruit early career scholars from Southeast Asian countries to form a panel for eventual inclusion in the 2020 Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, to be held in Boston, Massachusetts from March 19-22, 2020. SEAC will provide partial financial assistance for presenters to attend the meetings.

For the panel description and proposal submission information, please visit the website: http://www.asian-studies.org/SEAC-Rising-Voices.