Centre for Refugee Studies

Centre for Refugee Studies CRS is an organized research unit of York University.

The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) at York is an interdisciplinary community of researchers dedicated to advancing the well-being of refugees and others displaced by violence, persecution, human rights abuses, and environmental degradation. The Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) at York is an interdisciplinary community of researchers dedicated to advancing the well-being of refugees and others displaced by violence, persecution, human rights abuses, and environmental degradation through innovative research, education, and policy engagement. Since its inception in 1988, CRS is recognized as an international leader in the creation, mobilization, and dissemination of new knowledge that addresses forced migration issues in local, national and global contexts. Founded in 1988, the Centre for Refugee Studies is successor to the Refugee Documentation Project created in 1981 for the conservation and analysis of research documents and data collected by Operation Lifeline during the Indochinese “Boat People” crisis (see attachments below for news articles). In 1991, CRS was designated as a Centre of Excellence by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). At the time of its founding, the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University became the second centre of its kind in the world, following the Refugee Studies Centre created at the University of Oxford. An increasing number of centres devoted to the study of forced migration are emerging in various parts of the world, and the York centre has links with more than fifteen of them. CRS is one of the largest and most active research hubs related to refugee and forced migration studies in the world. The Centre for Refugee Studies fosters interdisciplinary and collaborative research and knowledge mobilization and invites inquiries from like minded institutions and scholars worldwide.

07/21/2026

Dear CRS community,

We're very pleased to announce that CRS affiliates Sean Rehaag (Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School) and Petra Molnar (Associate Director, Refugee Law Laboratory) have been awarded CAD$2,499,995 for a SSHRC Partnership grant, "Algorithmic justice for refugees research network (AJRRN)".

This is a 7-year, global, interdisciplinary effort dedicated to safeguarding the rights of refugees and other people on the move through (a) critical investigation of rights-violating technological practices and (b) the development of innovative, rights-enhancing tools.

Hosted by York University's Refugee Law Lab (RLL) -- which operates within Osgoode Hall Law School and the Centre for Refugee Studies -- this partnership brings together a diverse and interdisciplinary network spanning multiple continents. With academic co-applicants from over 12 universities and anchored in collaboration with the Migration + Tech Monitor (MTM) in the US and the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law at UNSW in Australia, the AJRRN will integrate expertise from legal scholars, technologists, community organizations, and individuals with lived experience of displacement.

The partnership will pursue two complementary and overlapping streams of research. Stream A critiques digital border governance through human rights lenses, including by analyzing government contracts with private actors in the tech sector, exploring biases encoded in border-control technologies, mapping the use of these technologies, and identifying litigation strategies and oversight mechanisms to challenge harmful practices. Stream B advances rights-enhancing innovations, developing open-source legal technology and data analytics tools that empower displaced communities, advocates, and decision-makers to counter systemic inequities.

The Centre for Refugee Studies is excited to be supporting this project. Congrats to everyone involved!

06/10/2026

New Report: Local Integration Experiences of Young Afghan Women in the Greater Toronto Area

CRS is pleased to announce the release of a report on Local Integration Experiences of Young Afghan Women in the Greater Toronto Area, written by CRS Visiting Scholar (and External Affiliate) César Castilla and Adela Ludin, Peel Settlement Counsellor & Grant Researcher (Afghan Women's Organization).

This research, conducted between January 2024 and May 2026, examines the local integration (LI) challenges faced by young Afghan women newly arrived in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Despite institutional efforts to promote integration, persistent structural constraints continue to limit women’s agency across the legal, cultural, social, and economic dimensions of settlement. Accordingly, the study analyzes how these women navigate integration within these interconnected dimensions, with particular attention to the structural challenges shaping their lived realities.

Download the report (PDF):

https://facebook.com/2096931367271478_1563153949147604
03/24/2026

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

Book Launch: Hearts of Freedom, Nov 2 2025, Burnhamthorpe Library, Mississauga
10/16/2025

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

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