The dynamics of displacement are complex and often inter-connected: political unrest, human rights abuses and armed conflict may be associated with, or exacerbated by, poverty, development initiatives and ‘natural’ disasters of one kind or another. The ability of forced migrants to find safety and rebuild their lives elsewhere is shaped not only by their own capacity to survive, financial resources and social connections but by the willingness of states to allow access to their territories and the necessary resources and opportunities.

Forced migration and international, national and local policy responses to asylum seekers, refugees and the internally displaced is a major focus of research within the Centre. Our approach is inter-disciplinary, international and multi-sectoral, incorporating academic, practitioner, agency and local perspectives.

Research examines the causes of forced migration, the role of gender in shaping the refugee experience and the ability fleeing gender-related persecution to gain access to international protection, policy responses and process for determining applications in Wales, the UK and Europe, and the treatment of children and young people who seek asylum. Our research in grounded in a rights-based approach to international protection and in the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers themselves.

 

Projects

Decision making of asylum seekers

Children seeking asylum in Wales

Livelihood strategies and destitution in South Wales

Detention of asylum seeking children

Gender-related persecution

Refugees living in Wales: A survey of skills, experiences and barriers to inclusion

The causes of forced migration

Treatment of asylum seekers in the UK

 

Publications

Crawley, H. (2010) 'No one gives you a chance to say what you are thinking': finding space for children's agency in the asylum system', Area 42(2), 162-9

Crawley, H (2010) Chance or Choice? Understanding why asylum seekers come to the UK,  London: Refugee Council

Crawley, H. (2009) No one gives you a chance to say what you are thinking’: finding space for children’s agency in the UK asylum system, Area 42(2), 162-9

Crawley, H. and Crimes, T. (2009) Refugees Living in Wales: A Survey of Skills, Experiences and Barriers to Inclusion, Swansea: Centre for Migration Policy Research  Refugees Living in Wales - English pdf   Refugees Living in Wales - Welsh pdf

Crawley, H (2007) When is a Child not a Child: Asylum, Age Disputes and the Process of Age Assessment – Executive Summary, London: ILPA

Crawley, H (2006) ‘Forced migration and the politics of asylum: the missing pieces of the international migration puzzle?’, International Migration 44(1), 21-26 

Crawley, H (2005) ‘The UK, the EU and Forced Migration’, in Developing DFID’s Policy Approach to Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons - A Research Consultancy by the Refugee Studies Centre for the Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs Department (DFID), Oxford: University of Oxford

Crawley, H (2004) Moving Forward: The Provision of Accommodation for Travellers and Gypsies London: IPPR

Crawley, H and Lester, T (2005) 'No Place for a Child: Children in Immigration in the UK – Impacts, Alternatives and Safeguards' London: Save the Children UK (pdf available No place for a child )

Castles, S, Crawley, H and Loughna, S (2003) States of Conflict: Causes and Patterns of Forced Migration to the EU and Policy Responses London: IPPR

Helff, S. (2009) 'Illegal Diasporas and African Refugees in Abdulrazak Gurnah's By the Sea,' Journal of Commonwealth Literature 44:1, 67-80.

Hewett, T, Smalley, N, Dunkerley, D and Scourfield, J et al (2005) Uncertain Futures: Children Seeking Asylum in Wales, Cardiff: Save the Children UK