Leveraging change to policies, laws and practices in refugee hosting countries
This review synthesises data from academic and policy sources, with a focus on Rohingya in Bangladesh
Abstract
This helpdesk report addresses these questions:
- What lessons can we draw from Bangladesh and other refugee-hosting countries on how to leverage change to policies, laws and practices applied to refugees?
- In what situations have we seen drastic shifts towards more protective legal and policy frameworks?
- What endogenous and exogenous factors and incentives have contributed to those shifts and what were the associated risks?
This rapid review synthesises data from academic, policy and non governmental organisations sources on influencing government polices on refugees, with a particular focus on Rohingya in Bangladesh. However, it must be noted that this is an under researched topic with only the work of Jacobsen (1996) focusing specifically on the subject. Additionally, there are very few successful cases in the literature with most scholars focusing on failures. However, important lessons can be drawn from failures as well as successes. Although the data on influencing government refugee policies is extremely limited, a number of scholars have written on Targeted Development Assistance (TDA), whereby host countries refugee policies are influenced through providing development assistance.
K4D helpdesk reports provide summaries of current research, evidence and lessons learned. This report was commissioned by the UK Department for International Development.
Citation
O’Driscoll, D. (2017). Leveraging change to policies, laws and practices in refugee hosting countries. K4D Helpdesk Report. Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies
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