Local Integration: A Durable Solution in need of Reinvigoration? by Refugee Law Initiative

Tuesday 8th November 2022, 6pm (IALS)
“Local Integration: A Durable Solution in need of Reinvigoration?”
Dr Nicholas Maple - Refugee Law Initiative, University of London

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Local integration has long been framed as the ‘forgotten’ durable solution to refugee displacement, evidenced by the reluctance of governments across the globe to grant refugees new citizenship. This
presentation goes further by arguing that local integration as a durable solution has not merely been forgotten, but deliberately avoided at the national, regional and international level. As a result, its status as a realistic durable solution for most of the world’s refugees is now in question.

Based on recent work co-authored with Dr Lucy Hovil, this talk will examine the ways in which states seek to evade local integration: from the multiple tactics used by wealthier governments to elude responsibility; to how countries hosting the greatest numbers of refugees (such as those in Africa) have allowed significant numbers of refugees into their territory but have then maintained a short-term approach to hosting. As a result, a mix of global, national, and local processes and forces have effectively conspired to diminish local integration to the point that it has all but vanished from the political arena.

The implications for refugee populations are profound. While refugees continue to find ways to negotiate their own access to communities and labour markets, this is often done against national,
regional, and international policies rather than with them. Ultimately, by highlighting its value as a durable solution, while showing that there is almost uniform acceptance by states and international
organisations working on protection concerns that it is no longer politically viable, this presentation hopes to aid in restarting an urgent conversation about the value of local integration and how it can be reinvigorated.

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Dr Nicholas Maple started in October 2022 as a Lecturer at the Refugee Law Initiative. Previously he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. His current work looks at urban displacement and mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa, including the relationship between refugee camps/settlements and urban displacement of refugees.

He has experience working in the field as an advocate for organisations such as Asylum Access, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and UNHCR.