Refugee-Host Solidarity & Social Cohesion as Humanitarian Objectives? Critical Studies of Host-Inclusive Refugee Programmes in Kenya and Lebanon

2016年，出席《纽约难民和移民宣言》的代表呼吁重新关注受难民到来影响的收容国和社区所面临的负担。虽然欧洲在2015年所谓的“难民危机”期间一直是媒体关注的焦点，但世界上绝大多数难民生活在全球南部的低收入和中等收入国家，那里的收容社区经常在流离失所人口到来之前就面临经济困难。《纽约宣言》承认，如果这一负担得不到解决，难民在寻求庇护的国家将面临越来越多的敌意。一种对策是将收容难民纳入难民方案，这是一项旨在促进社会凝聚力、为当地发展贡献人道主义资源、减少受流离失所影响社区的仇外心理的战略。然而，支持这一做法的证据基础主要是经济方面的--侧重于收容难民的负担和好处--很少有人类学和社会学研究探讨收容难民更密切的社会方面，这会影响大众的刻板印象和社区关系。这反映在缺乏对“社会凝聚力”等政策目标的定义，这往往含糊地指的是社区内部或社区之间的团结感。很少有人批判性地研究制定社会凝聚力方案的前提、其在实现预期的社会结果方面的效力，或将人道主义方案的范围扩大到包括收容者所产生的意外的结构和政治后果。这一项目需要对社会凝聚力方案及其实施的背景进行深入的人种学研究，将社会学、历史学和人类学的视角运用到最近对流离失所的人道主义反应中的“东道包容性”转向。将在收容大量难民的两个国家--肯尼亚和黎巴嫩--的多个地点进行比较研究，一个多学科研究小组将利用政策和规划研究、城市研究以及和平与安全研究领域的专门知识。研究人员将在参与社会凝聚力干预的社区中进行更长时间的参与者观察，社区成员将通过参与性工作组直接参与研究。除了学术贡献外，这一项目还将为人道主义组织采取的战略提供信息，以减少难民与收容国之间的紧张关系，改善两个群体参与的方案的互惠互利，并减轻意外后果。我们的项目合作伙伴耶稣会难民服务将扩大影响，这是一个国际难民保护非政府组织，已将“社会凝聚力”置于其2018-2023年战略框架的中心。

In 2016, delegates at the New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants called for renewed attention to the burdens faced by host countries and communities affected by the arrival of refugees. While Europe had been the focus of much media attention during the so-called "refugee crisis" in 2015, the vast majority of the world's refugees live in low- and middle-income countries of the Global South, where host communities often face economic hardships even before the arrival of displaced populations. The New York Declaration recognised that if this burden was not addressed, refugees would face increasing hostility in the countries where they seek asylum.One response has been to include hosts in refugee programming, a strategy intended to foster social cohesion, contribute humanitarian resources to local development, and reduce xenophobia among displacement-affected communities. However, the evidence base supporting this approach is largely economic - focused on the burdens and benefits of hosting refugees - with few anthropological and sociological studies that address the more intimate social aspects of hosting that influence popular stereotypes and community relations. This is reflected in the lack of definition for policy objectives like 'social cohesion', which often refers vaguely to the sense of solidarity within or between communities. There has been little critical study of the premises upon which social cohesion programmes are devised, their effectiveness in achieving intended social outcomes, or the unintended structural and political consequences of extending the remit of humanitarian programmes to include hosts.This project entails an in-depth ethnographic study of social cohesion programmes and the contexts in which they are implemented, bringing sociological, historical, and anthropological lenses to bear on the recent 'host inclusivity' turn in humanitarian responses to displacement. Comparative research will be undertaken in multiple sites across two countries hosting large refugee populations - Kenya and Lebanon - with a multi-disciplinary research team drawing on expertise in the areas of policy and planning studies, urban studies, and peace and security studies. Researchers will spend extended periods of participant observation among communities involved in social cohesion interventions, and community members will engage directly in the research through participatory working groups. Qualitative insights will be supplemented by a number of short quantitative impact assessments of the effectiveness of different interventions in achieving their intended social outcomes.In addition to its academic contributions, this project would inform the strategies that humanitarian organisations adopt to reduce refugee-host tensions, improve the mutual benefits of programmes that engage both groups, and mitigate unintended outcomes. Impact will be amplified via our project partner the Jesuit Refugee Service, an international refugee protection NGO that has put 'social cohesion' at the centre of its 2018-2023 Strategic Framework.