Centre for Refugee Studies

https://facebook.com/2096931367271478_1563153949147604

The significant failure to protect civilians in the most recent conflict in Gaza (2023-present) and what has been labeled the ‘rupture’ of the rules-based international order, demands a critical assessment of the future of protection of civilians as a legal and institutional commitment. This discussion has increased in urgency following the US-Israel war in Iran, involving the same actors deploying the ‘Gaza playbook’ vis-a-vis protecting civilians.

This roundtable discussion brings together a diverse group of scholars and practitioners to speak to the future of civilian protection based on the lessons from Gaza. They will bring a diversity of perspectives, including international law; international peace and security; principled humanitarian action; civil society engagement in political and public spaces; and civilian self-protection.

Join us on April 8 at 9am ET for The Global Future of Civilian Protection: Learning from the Gaza Genocide, an event presented in collaboration with the Centre for Refugee Studies and the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. Learn more and register to attend here: https://buff.ly/lVyQLnT

https://www.yorku.ca/crs/events/crs-seminar-janet-billson/

CRS Seminar: Refugee Pathways to Freedom and Peace - Centre for Refugee Studies November 19, 2025 1:00pm-2:30pm (Toronto) This is a hybrid event In person: 626 Kaneff Tower, Keele Campus, York University Zoom: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/INwS7L4xS3esfhyWo7skZw Guest speaker: Janet Billson, Director, Group Dimensions International / Editor, Skywood Press, CRS Affil...

https://www.yorku.ca/crs/events/crs-seminar-pathways-into-homelessness-for-muslim-refugee-and-immigrant-women-in-canada/

CRS Seminar: Pathways into homelessness for Muslim refugee and Immigrant women in Canada - Centre for Refugee Studies November 12, 2025 3:30 - 5:00pm (Toronto) This is a virtual event Zoom: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/Rl1xSp9iTNihSrP3vS2o0A Guest Speaker: Dina Taha, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Doha, Qatar Abstract This....

https://www.yorku.ca/crs/events/crs-cerlac-seminar-con-un-gran-amor-photos-stories-and-reflections-from-postwar-el-salvador/

CRS/CERLAC Seminar: ‘Con un gran amor’: Photos, Stories, and Reflections from Postwar El Salvador - Centre for Refugee Studies November 12 2025 11am - 12:30pm (Toronto) This is a hybrid event In person: 280N York Lanes, Keele Campus, York University Virtually: https://yorku.zoom.us/meeting/register/H2uotL1VRxiLZGGTjE_qBQ Guest speakers: Adriana Alas, Giada Ferrucci and Amanda Grzyb, Western University; Morgan Poteet, Mount....

CRS Fall Lineup: https://www.yorku.ca/crs/seminars/

Book Launch: Hearts of Freedom, Nov 2 2025, Burnhamthorpe Library, Mississauga

CRS Fall Seminar Schedule - September (https://www.yorku.ca/crs/seminars/)

https://www.yorku.ca/crs/2025/09/16/announcement-recipient-of-the-2025-anthony-richmond-scholarship/

Announcement: Recipient of the 2025 Anthony Richmond Scholarship - Centre for Refugee Studies Mohammad Rakibul Hasan The Centre for Refugee Studies is pleased to announce that Mohammad Rakibul Hasan has received the 2025 Anthony Richmond Scholarship. This scholarship recognizes promising graduate student research on the intersections of forced migration and environmental changes, such as cl...

Sharing in behalf of a friend. If you are an Arab living in a western country please spare 5 minutes to fill out this survey:

Qualtrics Survey | Qualtrics Experience Management The most powerful, simple and trusted way to gather experience data. Start your journey to experience management and try a free account today.

[post on behalf of Sean Rehaag]

Dear Members of the CRS Community,

I can’t believe it’s already my last day as CRS Director. I have had a wonderful experience as Director over the past five years. It was great to learn more about all the amazing research and advocacy about refugees and forced migration that happens at York University, and to play a small part in helping to support that work

The transition to our next Director, Yvonne Su, occurs on July 1. I know that you are already familiar with Yvonne and her work -- she’s a superstar! But here is a brief bio:

Dr. Yvonne Su is a specialist in forced migration, climate change-induced displacement and q***r migration. She has worked extensively with vulnerable communities in Southeast Asia and Latin America and the Caribbeans including refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, indigenous communities, and 2SLGBTQIA+ folks. She has 25 peer-reviewed publications in journals like Geoforum, Third World Quarterly, Journal of Gender Studies, and International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction as well as more than 45 opinion pieces, newspaper articles and academic blogs in The Washington Post, The Conversation, and The National Observer.

Su has secured over $5.2 million in research funding and is co-PI on a $3.1 million New Frontiers in Research Fund grant (with Dr. Michaela Hynie as PI) to conduct research on the unintended consequences of climate change adaptation projects from a gender and displacement perspective in the Philippines, Ghana and Bangladesh. She takes an interdisciplinary, participatory and decolonial approach to scholarship that is focused on developing strong partnerships with local communities, NGOs, and policymakers.

CRS will be in great hands, and I’m excited to see where Yvonne helps lead our community.

In the meantime, I wanted to send out a quick thank you to some folks I relied on during my term as Director:

• Michele Millard: I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you so much!
• Faida Abu-Ghazaleh : You’ve done a great job with the Resource Centre. And thanks for all the Turkish Coffee and other treats!
• Michaela Hynie: I don’t know how you manage to do so much. You’re a force of nature! And thanks so much for running CRS during my sabbatical.
• Jennifer Hyndman: You left CRS in great shape at the end of your term as Director. I hope I didn’t mess it up too much! And thanks for all your help in your role as Associate Vice President Research
• Petra Molar: Thanks for all your work with the Refugee Law Lab and with the Summer Course. Onwards!
• Simon Wallace: Not sure how many hundreds of visa letters that you put through in the last few months, but it was a lot! For that, for your other work on the Summer Course, and for your research at the Refugee Law Lab: Thank you!
• Mavis Odei Boateng: Thanks for your help with the Summer Course, this year and last year -- and for all the great pictures!
• Romola Adeola: Thanks for your leadership as the first CRS Assistant Director and for your work on the 2022 Summer Course.
• Anna Purkey: Well, 2020 didn’t exactly go as expected. But thanks for helping us “pivot” on the 2020 Summer Course!
• Dagmar Soennecken: Amazing work with Refuge. You even managed to get my most recent messy article into good shape! Thanks!
• James Simeon: Great job on Congress! And thanks for all the other CRS events you’ve helped with.
• Christopher Kyriakides & Gemechu Abeshu: I’m grateful for your leadership on the Racism(s) and Refugee Subcommittee. Can’t wait to see the work published.
• Nergis Canefe: Thanks for the art that we used to update the images on the 8th floor. It’s so much better!
• CRS Board Members: Thanks for your advice and guidance.
• CRS Exec Members: Thanks for all your work over the years -- and for helping to keep me out of too much trouble!
• CRS Researchers: You’re at the heart of what we do at CRS. I’m so impressed by your work, and I’m excited to see what comes next.
• CRS Visitors: It was great to meet you all. You’re welcome back any time!
• CRS Students: It was a pleasure to learn with you. The future is bright!
• My colleagues at Osgoode Hall Law School: Thanks for giving me the space to focus on CRS over the past five years, and for taking up the slack. I’m looking forward to being around more.

That’s it from me as Director. I’ll be around, so please stay in touch.

And, for those of you in Toronto: Happy Pride!

s

SEAN REHAAG
Director, Centre for Refugee Studies
Director, Refugee Law Laboratory
Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School
York University, Toronto, Canada

New open access article by CRS affiliate Dina Taha

Marriage economics, bargaining and strategic agency: Egyptian-Syrian intermarriage practices in the context of displacement
(link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147176724000646 )

International Journal of Cultural Relations, Volume 101, July 2024, 101995

Abstract

Based on forty-eight qualitative interviews with Syrian refugee women and their families, this study explores the dynamics of Syrian-Egyptian marriages formed after displacement. Grounded in acculturation, marriage economics, and social exchange theories, I ask: what role is played by both cultural customs and displacement in dictating the Egyptian-(displaced)Syrian intermarriage trajectories and power dynamics in these unions? And how did Syrian women and Egyptian men leverage cultural differences to maximize their own benefits? The results outline how urfi (customary) marriage and marriage economic traditions differ between these two often homogenized (and continuously Orientalized) cultures, impacting the marital relationship’s nature, bargaining power and success. Beyond the passive exploitation narrative that hounds these highly stigmatized arrangements, the analysis illuminates how these marriages are often a result of immediate utilitarian and financial intersecting interests between the men and the women, they still carry long-term effects influencing the spousal balance of power. Nonetheless, some Syrian women leveraged cultural differences to maximize their gains and mitigate the implications of displacement and uprooting demonstrating a strategic and dialogical acculturation. The study concludes by highlighting the impact of displacement on marriage dynamics, shedding light on financial and power imbalances while highlighting how social and moral factors such as family support and socioeconomic factors influence the marriage dynamic. Contribution: The study sheds light on inter-Arab marriages in displacement contexts and broadens understanding within the larger spectrum of Arab marital dynamics, stimulating nuanced conversations about the sociology of marriage and family in the Arab world.

www.sciencedirect.com