Interactive Websites

Against All Odds: Developed by UNHCR, this interactive game was designed to teach players about the plight of refugees. Players take on the role of a refugee and play through twelve stages – depicting the individual’s persecution and flight from their native country, through to eventual integration into a foreign country as an asylum seeker.

Useful Websites

UNHCR Operational Data Portal: The web portal displays the latest emergency data, maps, population statistics, demographic graphs, UNHCR and partner reports and fact sheets, operational highlights and situation reports, plus quick links to a variety of partner web sites.

Teaching about Refugees — Curriculum Units & Lessons: A website put together by Georgetown Professor, Rochelle Davis, containing various lesson plan ideas for teaching about refugees.

I am Syria: A collection of lesson plans and video clips designed to quickly introduce the Syrian Refugee Crisis to students.

How the Refugee Vetting Process Really Works: A description of the refugee vetting process in the United States, put together by the International Rescue Committee

Visual Resources

Based on the firsthand testimonies of Somalis living in Europe,  Meet the Somalis is a graphic novel assembled by the Open Society Institute containing 14 illustrated stories depicting the real life experiences of Somalis in seven cities in Europe: Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Leicester, London, Malmö, and Oslo. The stories allow readers a unique insight into what everyday life is like as a Somali in Europe. 

Clouds Over Sidra: an immersive experience that was created for the United Nations using the Samsung Gear Virtual Reality 360-degree platform. In this 8 minute groundbreaking film, a young Syrian refugee girl takes you on a virtual reality journey through the Za’atari camp in Jordan.

The UNHCR YouTube Channel: A collection of over 1,000 video clips describing the stories of refugees around the world. The collection is searchable by keyword, and the page also offers playlists related to different topics.

Literature Review

The UN Convention and Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees (Full text available)

Jon Bauer and Anna Cabot. “An Overview of Asylum and U.S. Immigration Law.” Chapter from ASYLUM PRACTICE MANUAL used by students in the UConn Law School Asylum and Human Rights Clinic. Last updated July 2016

Crisp, Jeff. Who has Counted the Refugees?: UNHCR and the Politics of Numbers. Geneva: Centre for Documentation and Research, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 1999.(Full text available)

Dastyari, Azadeh. “Refugees on Guantanamo Bay: A Blue Print for Australia’s’ Pacific Solution’?.” AQ: Australian Quarterly 79.1 (2007): 4-40.

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Elena, Gil Loescher, Katy Long, and Nando Sigona, eds.The Oxford handbook of refugee and forced migration studies. OUP Oxford, 2014

Holzer, Elizabeth. The Concerned Women of Buduburam: refugee activists and humanitarian dilemmas. Cornell University Press, 2015.

Porter, Stephen R. Benevolent Empire: US Power, Humanitarianism, and the World’s Dispossessed. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.

Zetter, Roger. “More labels, fewer refugees: Remaking the refugee label in an era of globalization.” Journal of refugee studies 20.2 (2007): 172-192.