Suchergebnisse

Introduction -- Written out: the 1951 Convention and refugees in Asia -- Border crossings: migrants and the refugee label -- Promoting refugees: Western humanitarians in Hong Kong -- Troubled times: illegal migration and the refugee subject -- Cold war visuals: capturing the politics of resettlement -- Navigating change: migrants and regulated movement -- Humanitarianism in myth and practice: from Hong Kong to Indochina -- Epilogue

During the Cold War, millions of refugees left "Red China" to escape economic and political turmoil. Elusive Refuge explores the forgotten history of these refugee movements, explaining why people left, how they moved, and the international reactions to their plight. Linking immigration reforms with the politics of the Cold War, the book focuses on white settler societies - the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa - to explore the tension between a vibrant transnational network of international secular and faith organizations that raised awareness about the plight of refugees in Asia and governments that were alarmed at the prospect of the refugees' arrival.--

From 1975 to 1979, Canadian politicians and diplomats observed and discussed the possibility that a genocide was taking place in Cambodia. The situation was difficult to ascertain, however, given the limited history between the two countries and the deep isolation in which the Khmer Rouge regime operated after rising to power, as well as the Canadian government's limited interest in international human rights until the late 1970s. It wasn't until large numbers of refugees began to cross into Thailand in 1977–78, and began to tell their stories to Western diplomats, that human rights discussions at the United Nations began to focus more closely on the situation in Cambodia. Exploring the Canadian government's use of refugee testimonies, this article explores the relationship between narratives of mass violence and the burgeoning human rights agenda of the late 1970s to highlight the role of refugees in shaping an international human rights agenda.

À partir des certificats d'exemption délivrés par le gouvernement de l'Australie de 1901 à 1958, l'article ci-après traite de la façon dont on peut utiliser les archives officielles de l'immigration pour rendre compte de la vie affective de l'État. Dans le cadre des efforts du gouvernement visant à dissuader les migrants asiatiques de s'établir en permanence en Australie, la loi de 1901 sur l'immigration a exigé des nouveaux venus qu'ils se soumettent à une dictée pour être admis. Ceux qui étaient nés en Australie ou qui y étaient domiciliés au moment de l'adoption de la loi pouvaient demander d'être exemptés de cette épreuve s'ils quittaient le pays temporairement. Si leur demande était agréée, les résidents recevaient un certificat d'exemption qu'ils étaient tenus de présenter à leur retour. Ces certificats contenaient des renseignements biographiques détaillés, des photographies identificatrices ainsi que des empreintes digitales. En examinant la manière dont ces certificats ont été utilisés par l'État pour régir la migration chinoise à destination et en provenance de l'Australie, y compris les déplacements des jeunes enfants, cet article montre comment les documents officiels peuvent révéler les insécurités profondes qui animaient l'administration de politiques d'exclusion en matière d'immigration au début du XX e siècle.

AbstractAt the end of the Second World War, there were over a million displaced persons and refugees in Europe alone. Hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted with the expansion of the Japanese empire across the Pacific Theater, and many others were similarly displaced when Japan was defeated. Others later fled civil conflicts, in South Asia, for instance, and in China, where thousands left the mainland during the final days of the Chinese Civil War. Among this massive displacement in Asia, unlike in Europe, only a few groups were identified as refugees. One such group consisted of the migrants in Hong Kong who, after 1949, were understood to be refugees fleeing communist oppression in the People's Republic of China. This article examines the critical role that surveys (population studies designed to account for, and define, refugee groups) played in shaping particular, Westernized Cold War understandings of the refugee experience in Hong Kong. These surveys were organized by non-state interests and undertaken with financial support from major American philanthropies. In examining the objectives and methodologies of the refugee surveys conducted in Hong Kong in the early 1950s, in contrast with studies undertaken contemporaneously in Europe, this article observes that, although at the time the flaws in the surveys were recognized and regularly disregarded in the pursuit of broad political objectives, scholars have failed to adequately recognize the subjective nature of the surveys' supposedly empirical evidence. As a result, the dominant European-based narrative about modern refugees has obfuscated the distinctive aspects of the refugee experience in Hong Kong.

Building on the emerging scholarship that treats the history of global migration as a crucial aspect of international history, this article examines the little known 1973 family reunification agreement between Canada and the People's Republic of China. The article contends that, despite its limitations, the agreement was an important milestone in the history of Sino-Canadian relations. Through a detailed micro-history, the article reveals the shifting political currents that led to the agreement's successful negotiation, highlighting how, by the early 1970s, Canada and other Western nations were embracing the notion of family reunification as an important human rights issue in the ongoing contests of the global Cold War.