Refuge, Overlooked
The MENA region continues to endure political and economic instability, as well as a volatile security environment. It is home to 14 million refugees and 14.5 million internally displaced people. While more ‘urgent’ refugee crises have dominated the refugee narrative, funding, research and authorship across the last decade – namely due to the political prioritization of certain regional conflicts and foreign interests – a number of refugee groups across the MENA region remain absent from this narrative. Subsequently, the conflicts that produce them, jeopardize their livelihoods and push them into negative coping mechanisms are absent from the discourse and headlines as well.
Launched on World Refugee Day 2023, ‘Refuge, Overlooked.’ is an article and lecture series hosted at the Institute for Migration Studies (IMS) at the Lebanese American University and the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS) at York University. The series looks to shed light on one underreported refugee community from the MENA region per month through an online guest lecture co-hosted between the IMS and CRS, as well as through a subsequent article. The series will culminate in an edited volume between 2025-2026.
*Turkey and Iran are also part of this regional focus.