People on the Move

Note from team leader for People on the Move

Matthew Scott

Matthew Scott

Leader of the Human Rights and the Environment Thematic Area

E-mail: matthew.scott@rwi.lu.se

Matthew Scott is senior researcher and leader of the Human Rights and the Environment thematic area at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. He is also adjunct senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Lund University. His work focuses on integrating social science perspectives with international legal standards to promote context-sensitive, human rights-based law, policy and practice relating to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. His primary area of expertise concerns migration and displacement in the context of disasters and climate change, on which he has published a monograph entitled Climate Change, Disasters and the Refugee Convention (CUP 2020), an edited volume entitled Climate Change, Disasters and Internal Displacement in Asia and the Pacific: A Human Rights-Based Approach (Routledge 2021) and a range of book chapters and academic articles. Current research interests concern the role of local authorities in addressing climate- and disaster-related migration and displacement.

He holds a PhD in Public International Law from Lund University and a MA in Social Anthropology of Development from SOAS. He practiced immigration and asylum law in London before entering academia. He is a member of the advisory committee of the Platform on Disaster Displacement and the editorial board of the Yearbook of International Disaster Law, and a founding member of the Nordic Network on Climate Related Displacement and Mobility.

At Lund University he convenes the introduction to human rights law course and the short course on human rights law, the environment and climate change on the LLM in international human rights law programme. He also lectures on the MSc programme in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Matthew is also actively engaged in international collaboration initiatives and is currently working with municipal authorities in Nairobi, Kampala and Freetown to explore human rights-based approaches to addressing climate-related displacement.

For further updates on his research, please refer to his Research profile:

https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/matthew-scott

 

Since the founding of the Institute, refugee law has been an area in focus in research and education.

As of 2015, the Institute has been widening its work to increase human rights protection for people on the move, with special attention to the following four areas:

• Shaping global policy on refugees and management of migration, with improved human rights enforcement and protection of people on the move.
• Reforming refugee protection and management in countries of first asylum.
• Supporting enhanced protection of refugees and internally displaced where environmental degradation and climate change are factors of displacement.
• Enhancing social inclusion, integration and access to justice of migrants and refugees.

Today, we have both policy and research expertise amongst senior staff on issues related to global refugee policy, EU asylum and immigration policy, the link between migration management and human rights and social inclusion of migrants and refugees.

We also have the unique advantage of having partners and presence in some of the most important regions when it comes to refugees: The Middle East, South East Asia, East Africa, and Europe, with several offices located in major countries of first asylum, such as Turkey, Jordan, Kenya and Indonesia. Several of these are also scenarios of wider migration flows.

The Situation

Forced displacement has grown markedly in recent years as a result of different human rights violations. Both migrants and refugees continue to face serious obstacles accessing safety and protection and respect for their inherent human rights.

Economic migrants still largely lack applicable protection standards, as do people forced to move for reasons of climate change and environmental destruction. Furthermore, national economic, political and security considerations have led several liberal states to blatantly violate international refugee law, under an increasingly accepted paradigm of deterrence.

Meanwhile, neighbouring countries in regions of origin are left to shoulder an inordinate responsibility for refugees with limited or no solidarity from other states, leading also several of these to increasingly consider more restrictive policies.

Expanded border controls also force many irregular moving migrants and refugees to risk their lives in order to reach safety. Last, but not least, many migrants and refugees experience increasing xenophobia and hate crimes in host states and communities.

The growing politicisation of asylum and immigration make our efforts in this area both more important and more difficult.

Human rights admonitions regarding migrants and refugees increasingly fall on deaf ears, and several countries openly admit to disrespecting core norms of international refugee and human rights law, or adopt policies designed to eclipse or shift relevant obligations.

Political attempts to reform both refugee and migration governance are ongoing at the UN level, yet the outcomes are uncertain and a further deterioration of protection standards for both migrants and refugees may be a likely scenario during the next five years.


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Projects

 

Climate change, disasters and internal displacement in Asia and the Pacific

This research project examines the role of international and domestic law and policy in addressing displacement in the context of disasters and climate change in 10 countries across Asia and the Pacific.

ClimMobil: Judicial and policy responses to climate change-related mobility in the European Union with a focus on Austria and Sweden

RWI is collaborating with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Human Rights on a two-year research initiative studying judicial and policy responses to climate change-related human mobility into the EU, with a focus on Austria and Sweden.

Reforming the Refugee Regime

This project analyses current efforts to reform the refugee regime, applying an inter-disciplinary perspective linking international law, political science and economics.

Exploring new avenues to ensure refugee integration

This project explores new thinking and methods to help refugee integration and access to labour markets, and how the private sector may help improve refugee integration.

Contributing to the Shaping of the Two UN Compacts on Refugees and Migration

The Raoul Wallenberg Institute is involved in shaping the outcome of two UN global compacts, one on migration and one on refugees,which are scheduled to be adopted by the General Assembly in the summer of 2018.

The People on the Move team

Helena Olsson

Helena Olsson

Afghanistan Programme Director

Phone: + 46 46 222 12 20
E-mail: helena.olsson@rwi.lu.se

Helena has a Master Degree in Political Science with focus on Human Rights, Peace and Democracy from Lund University. She has worked with development, human rights and in the humanitarian field since 2001, for Swedish Embassies/Sida and UNHCR in Central and South America; at Sida Headquarters Humanitarian Team in Stockholm; and subsequently with academic institutions and NHRIs in Sub-Saharan Africa; Middle East and North Africa; and South/Southeast Asia since she joined the Institute in 2010.

Between 2016 and 2018 she led the development and start-up of a new regional Asia team and office in Jakarta, and of regional programmes focusing on human rights and environment/climate change, as well as the integration of human rights into Agenda 2030 plans in the region.

She was also team leader of the thematic focus area People on the Move 2016-2017, and currently leads an internal working group of human rights and local governments.

Sue Anne Teo

Sue Anne Teo (she/her) is a researcher under the Future of Human Rights project focusing on artificial intelligence, digital technologies and human rights. Sue Anne was most recently a PhD Fellow at the University of Copenhagen where she researched on artificial intelligence and its impact on the foundations of human rights (e.g. human dignity). Before her PhD, Sue Anne was a Senior Programme Officer with RWI, working on projects in Myanmar, China and NHRIs.

Prior to joining RWI in 2011, Sue Anne worked in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office in Kuala Lumpur as a Senior Refugee Status Determination officer. She also formerly worked for the OHCHR in the UN peacekeeping mission in Timor Leste and SUHAKAM (the Malaysian National Human Rights Commission).

Sue Anne Teo holds a First Class Honours Bachelor of Law (LLB) degree from University of London, a Master of Laws (LLM) from University of Cambridge and a Masters in Human Rights (MSc) from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Sue Anne has, amongst others, published on the conceptual challenges that AI systems pose to the human rights framework as well as on how AI systems challenge human dignity. She also designed and taught the Master of Law course at University of Copenhagen on ‘Human Rights, Democracy and Digital Technologies’. She has also shared her work through blogposts, podcasts and conference presentations.

For further updates on her research, please refer to her Lund University Research Profile.

 

 

 

Matthew Scott

Matthew Scott

Leader of the Human Rights and the Environment Thematic Area

E-mail: matthew.scott@rwi.lu.se

Matthew Scott is senior researcher and leader of the Human Rights and the Environment thematic area at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. He is also adjunct senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Lund University. His work focuses on integrating social science perspectives with international legal standards to promote context-sensitive, human rights-based law, policy and practice relating to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. His primary area of expertise concerns migration and displacement in the context of disasters and climate change, on which he has published a monograph entitled Climate Change, Disasters and the Refugee Convention (CUP 2020), an edited volume entitled Climate Change, Disasters and Internal Displacement in Asia and the Pacific: A Human Rights-Based Approach (Routledge 2021) and a range of book chapters and academic articles. Current research interests concern the role of local authorities in addressing climate- and disaster-related migration and displacement.

He holds a PhD in Public International Law from Lund University and a MA in Social Anthropology of Development from SOAS. He practiced immigration and asylum law in London before entering academia. He is a member of the advisory committee of the Platform on Disaster Displacement and the editorial board of the Yearbook of International Disaster Law, and a founding member of the Nordic Network on Climate Related Displacement and Mobility.

At Lund University he convenes the introduction to human rights law course and the short course on human rights law, the environment and climate change on the LLM in international human rights law programme. He also lectures on the MSc programme in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. Matthew is also actively engaged in international collaboration initiatives and is currently working with municipal authorities in Nairobi, Kampala and Freetown to explore human rights-based approaches to addressing climate-related displacement.

For further updates on his research, please refer to his Research profile:

https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/matthew-scott

 

Göran Melander

Göran Melander

Professor Emeritus

Phone: +46 46 222 12 38
E-mail: goran.melander@rwi.lu.se
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