Asylum, Displacement and Involuntary Resettlement – Influencing Policy and Evaluation, and Improving Evidence
Submitting Institution
City University, LondonUnit of Assessment
Politics and International StudiesSummary Impact Type
SocietalResearch Subject Area(s)
Studies In Human Society: Policy and Administration, Sociology
Law and Legal Studies: Law
Summary of the impact
Through engagement by Ministerial invitation as a member of successive UK
Government advisory
groups on Country Information (IAGCI) from 2007 to 2013 and based on
expertise arising from
research conducted at City University London, Dr Christopher McDowell has
contributed to the
acknowledged improvement in the quality of asylum decision-making. He has
guided the UK Home
Office Country of Origin Information Services (COIS) in developing
academically-rigorous research
and review procedures. The adopted methodology based on his research has
contributed to the
generation of more accurate, up to date and fully referenced human rights
information that forms
the basis of the legal determination of asylum and human rights claims.
The United Nations, the
UK's Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency and the British Red Cross
agree that as a result of
the work of the IAGCI the UK now has the most accountable and robust
Country Information
system in the EU, achieving fairer decisions and providing a model which
is likely to be replicated
across EU member states.
In recognition of his expertise on the socio-economic and cultural
dimensions of involuntary
resettlement occurring as a result of infrastructure development projects
and land acquisition, Dr
McDowell has also led or participated in several international evaluations
of shelter and
resettlement operations; and made recommendations for improvement in
policy and practice. This
includes his engagement as an International Resettlement Specialist by the
Inspection Panel (IP)
of The World Bank to investigate the social and resettlement aspects of a
highly-controversial,
multimillion dollar landfill project in Accra, Ghana. As a result of this
engagement, The World Bank,
accepting the IP's findings that both the pre-construction impact studies
and community
consultations with residents were insufficient, froze the project loan,
enabling time for full
consultations and impact assessments. The investigation resulted in an
important new World Bank
requirement that comprehensive Zone of Impact Assessments are undertaken
in all future projects
as part of loan preparations.
Underpinning research
Improving Quality of Country Information and Public Debate in Asylum
Decision-Making:
From 2005 to 2008, while Head of the Information Centre for Asylum and
Refugees (ICAR) at City
University London, Dr Christopher McDowell (employed at City since 2005,
now Reader) led
several research projects which examined key dimensions of asylum in the
UK and Europe. They
included an examination of the impact of dispersed asylum seekers in towns
in the UK Midlands,
the provision of legal advice to failed asylum seekers in detention, media
reporting on asylum in
the UK press and public attitudes towards asylum. He received in excess of
£250,000 in research
funding from the UK Home Office, the Greater London Authority, The Law
Society and foundations
including The Sigrid Rausing Trust and the Camelot Foundation.
Improving Accountability and `Safeguards' in Involuntary Resettlement:
Since 2007, Dr
McDowell has also undertaken substantial research in Central Asia, South
Asia and Ghana on the
nature of livelihood risks associated with the involuntary resettlement of
populations as a result of
land acquisition and land and asset loss in the development process. The
research has generated
two co-authored books on development and displacement; they examine policy
responses, the
impoverishment process and in-depth oral history studies from Africa and
Asia over two
generations. In addition, Dr McDowell proposed a Sustainable Livelihoods
and Impoverishment
Risks model that has guided three PhD research projects undertaken at
other universities on the
impoverishment process. The research led to a commissioned study of future
policy strategy for
the Norwegian Government and the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre
in Geneva (2005-
2007).
References to the research
Evidence of Quality: OUP list the above as the third most cited
(82 citations) article published
by the Journal of Refugee Studies http://jrs.oxfordjournals.org/reports/most-cited;
according to
Google matrix JRS is the highest ranked journal in forced migration
studies.
• Smart K., Grimshaw R., McDowell, C., & Crosland B. (2007).
Reporting Asylum: The UK Press
and the Effectiveness of PCC Guidelines. London: ICAR/City
University London.
Evidence of Quality: Report cited in evidence submissions to
Leveson Inquiry by Runnymede,
December 2011, Refugee Council, February 2012; and in written evidence
from Oxfam to the
Joint Committee on Human Rights, UK Parliament in 2007
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200607/jtselect/jtrights/81/81we72.htm
Involuntary Resettlement
• Bennett O. & McDowell C. (2012). Displaced: The Human Costs of
Development and
Resettlement, New York: Palgrave.
Evidence of Quality: Winner Edgar Graham Prize 2012; Winner 2012
Cecil B Currey
Publication Award, October 13, 2012; cited in ICRC World Disasters Report
2012 (p.145); cited
in July 2013 Report to the UN General Assembly of the Special Rapporteur
on the human
rights of internally displaced persons (A/HRC/23/44)
• McDowell C. & Morrell G. (2010). Displacement Beyond Conflict:
Challenges for the 21st
Century. Oxford: Berghahn.
McDowell C. (2011). Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation:
Implications for land
acquisition and population relocation. (Working Paper No. 3).
London: UK Government's
Foresight Project, Global Environmental Migration Programme.
PD22, commissioned review by Global Environmental Migration Programme, UK
Government's
Foresight Project
Evidence of Quality: The One Year
Review of the Global Environmental Migration
Programme for which the paper was commissioned described the Programme as
having had
`significant impact with UK and international stakeholders It has
influenced the work of DFID
[Department for International Development] and that of several
international and multinational
bodies such as the United Nations, the European Union and the World
Bank. The Project's
methods and findings have found particular resonance with policy-makers,
strategic thinkers
and research communities from a wide range of stakeholder organisations
(Foresight,
Government Office for Science, 2013, Executive Summary p.3).
Details of the impact
Improving Quality of Country Information and Public Debate in Asylum
Decision-Making: Dr
McDowell's research on conflict and asylum-migration (the latter term,
coined by him, recognises
that asylum movements often follow similar patterns to economic migration
in decision-making,
routes, use of agents and destination countries) has addressed the asylum
process in the UK,
Europe and Australia as well as return and settlement strategies and
asylum diaspora politics. His
reputation as an expert in this area along with his role at ICAR, which
became the UK's leading
provider of authoritative information on asylum, led to Dr McDowell
providing academic oversight of
research undertaken by the Asylum and Destitution Working Group of the UK
Centre for Social
Justice and by the Independent Asylum Commission which reviewed the UK
asylum system
between October 2006 and July 2008.
He also received a Ministerial invitation to sit on the UK Home Office
Advisory Group on Country
Information (the IAGCI, subsequently advisory to the Independent Chief
Inspector of the UK Border
Agency). Following two re-invitations, he has served on the IAGCI since
2007 until now and has
applied his research knowledge and country expertise on Sri Lanka (a
country that has generated
significant numbers of displaced people) to improving the quality,
timeliness, accuracy and
comprehensiveness of human rights information available to decision-makers
in the UK Home
Office Asylum Division. In association with this role he was commissioned
to undertake research
into the use of Country Information by asylum case workers, the results of
which guided the
continuing review of country studies. The UK Border Agency has recognised
that the significant
improvement in its reports over several years is in large part a result of
the work of the IAGCI. The
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which is represented on the Group, has
congratulated the
Independent Chief Inspector on the successes of the IAGCI, most notably
the improvements in
decision quality and fairness of asylum application outcomes.
The main beneficiaries of these activities are the Chief Inspector of the
UK Border Agency, the UK
Home Office, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the
European Union's
European Asylum Support Office (EASO), asylum case-workers making use of
better Country
Information and asylum applicants (as a result of improved information
guiding decisions on their
cases).
McDowell's research on media reporting on asylum was cited widely in
submissions to the
Leveson Inquiry into the Culture Practice and Ethics of the Press during
2011 and 2012. It had
earlier influenced the Mayor of London to initiate annual awards for press
reporting on asylum and
refugees which ran until 2008.
Improving Accountability and `Safeguards' in Involuntary Resettlement:
Dr McDowell's
expertise on development-created displacement and involuntary resettlement
has resulted in a
series of senior advisory assignments with the major international
organisations engaged in
resettlement policy and practice. Earlier roles included preparing
strategy options for the
International Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) in Geneva to
incorporate the dynamic of
non-conflict displacement into its international advocacy and information
work; and acting as the
Senior International Resettlement Specialist on the Asian Development
Bank's Technical
Assistance missions in China, India and Cambodia, advising governments on
policies for
impoverishment risk management in the resettlement process. They led to Dr
McDowell acting as
Social and Resettlement Expert on the World Bank Inspection Panel
investigation into the
KwaBenya Urban Environmental Sanitation Project in Ghana during 2009 and
2010. The
Inspection Panel is an independent complaints mechanism for people who
believe they have been,
or are likely to be, adversely affected by a World Bank-funded project.
The request for inspection in this case was based on a contention that a
highly-controversial,
multimillion dollar project for a proposed sanitary landfill site would
result in negative pollution and
health impacts and would displace residents and artisans working in the
affected valley and its
surroundings. As a Panel member, Dr McDowell participated in the
inspection and advised on
social and resettlement aspects of the project in Accra, Ghana. Within
this role he undertook
investigative research that was fundamental to the Panel's fact-finding
efforts and ultimate findings
on issues of policy compliance and harm to the affected community. The
World Bank accepted the
Panel's findings that both the pre-construction impact studies and
community consultations with
residents were insufficient and froze the project loan, thus enabling time
for full consultations and
impact assessments. The investigation resulted in an important new Bank
requirement that
comprehensive Zone of Impact Assessments are undertaken in all future
projects as part of loan
preparations.
His research findings have contributed to the strengthening of national
and international
governance through adoption of national resettlement laws and improved
Technical Directives and
Policies. Beneficiaries also included the immediate population most
affected by the proposed
landfill site in Ghana.
In 2010 Dr McDowell was commissioned to carry out a study on involuntary
resettlement and
climate change for the UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser's Foresight
Programme
(Department of Business, Industry and Skills) which was published in 2011.
The One Year Review
of the Global Environmental Migration Programme for which the paper was
commissioned
described the Programme as having "significant impact with UK and
international stakeholders. It
has influenced the work of the DFID and that of several international
and multinational bodies such
as the United Nations, the European Union and the World Bank. The
Project's methods and
findings have found particular resonance with policy-makers, strategic
thinkers and research
communities from a wide range of stakeholder organisations."
(Foresight, Government Office for
Science, 2013, p.3).
Sources to corroborate the impact
Invitation letter to reappointment as member of IAGCI, 7th
March 2011, Chief Inspector, UK Border
Agency
Letter received from the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency
Letter received from the Executive Secretary, The Inspection Panel of The
World Bank,
Washington, DC
`Investigation Report: Ghana Second Urban Environmental Sanitation Report
(UESP II), The
Inspection Panel, Report No.47713-GH, March 13, 2009. Pdf available here.
www.bis.gov.uk/foresight/our-work/projects/published-projects/global-migration/one-year-review.