FMRS is pleased to offer the following three short courses during the period from June 18th to July 8th, 2006:
Responding to Refugee Women at Risk- From the Camp to the United Nations
In most refugee situations all women and girls are at risk of rape and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. Many refugee women and girls experience multiple traumatic events; in situations of conflict, during flight and in countries of first and subsequent asylum. The impact of each event is compounded by ensuing incidents and by lack of adequate protection, creating extreme levels of risk and vulnerability to further abuse and trauma. Because of resource shortages and lack of effective systems, the international protection system often fails to respond to the needs of these women. This course explores the concept of “risk “in relation to refugee women, and analyses the reasons for the apparent failure of the system established to protect them. It will explore a range of strategies which can be used to address this critical issue, including community development techniques within a human rights framework, national and international advocacy, and using the United Nations systems to address and identify potential solutions.
Instructors: Dr. Eileen Pittaway and Linda Bartolomei, University of NSW, Australia
Pittaway is the Director of the Centre for Refugee Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia where she lectures in the area of International Social Development. she has been actively involved in refugee resettlement policy, with a focus on refugee women and the women’s movement for over twenty years. Her major area of research has been into the issue of rape in conflict situations, publishing extensively in this field. She participates in a range of United Nations meetings at an international level and has an ongoing interest in the relationship between the United Nations and civil society, in particular in Human Rights and their use by women’s groups at local and global levels. In 2001 Pittaway received a Human Rights award from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission for her work with refugee women. She is currently working on a research project with refugee women in Kenya on the Thai Burma border focusing on the notion of “international protection” in the context of the sexual and gender based violence experienced by refugee women. She is a member of Asian Women’s Human Rights Council.
Bartolomei is a Senior Research Associate in the Centre for Refugee Research at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. She is currently employed on a three-year longitudinal action-based study into the implementation of the Refugee Women at Risk Program and its effectiveness as a tool of international protection in refugee camps in Kenya, Thailand, and Australia. She lectures in International Social and Community Development and has co-authored several recent publications on contemporary refugee and gender issues. Bartolomei is a trained social worker with expertise in community development, human rights and gender, and human rights documentation and lobbying within the UN system. She is a board member of the Australian National Committee on Refugee Women (ANCORW) and is currently enrolled in a PhD examining the link between grassroots women’s activism and the effectiveness of international, legal and policy responses to refugee women’s experiences of sexual and gender based violence.
The course will take place at the American University in Cairo, 6th Floor Lounge, Hill House Building between 9 am and 5 pm, every day.
See Below for application procedures.
Meeting the Psychosocial Needs of Refugee
Understanding and meeting the psychosocial needs of refugees is essential to effective humanitarian intervention. This course aims to help psychosocial workers enhance their knowledge of refugee needs and increase their ability to meet them appropriately. Topics will include cultural concepts of mental health and well being, basic interviewing and supportive counseling skills, working with translators, conceptualizing and treating refugee trauma, understanding and meeting children’s needs, and managing stress and preventing burnout among humanitarian workers. Participants will be assigned to psychosocial teams to analyze and solve practical and ethical dilemmas that arise in this line of work.
Instructor: Courtney Mitchell, Mental Health Therapist at Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance (AMERA) in Cairo & Lecturer at the American University in Cairo (AUC).
Mitchell, MA, LMHC (Licensed Mental Health Counselor) teaches the Psychosocial Issues in Forced Migration course, a core course for the FMRS diploma at the American University in Cairo. She is currently working as a Mental Health Therapist at AMERA in Cairo providing psychological assessments for refugees, in coordination with the UN, as well as other forms of mental health support. Mitchell began providing individual and group therapy for survivors of various forms of abuse and trauma in the USA in 1996. For the last seven years she has been working internationally in South East Asia, East Africa and Central America. During this period she worked as a coordinator of outreach services for homeless youth through local government offices in Nepal and as a consultant providing training for United Nations and other agency staff. Mitchell has conducted seminars for Nepalese police in interview techniques for trauma survivors through the British Embassy. For the last four years she was employed by the United Nations World Food Program as the Program Manager for Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal and as a Head of Sub-office for Burundian/Rwandan/Congolese camps in far NW Tanzania. Following her recent resignation from the UN, Mitchell continues to be involved in efforts related to refugee advocacy as well as UN reform.
The course will take place at the American University in Cairo, 6th Floor Lounge, Hill House Building between 9 am and 5 pm, every day.
See Below for application procedures.
International Refugee and Human Rights Law
This course will introduce participants to the primary elements of the refugee definition and its application. Consideration will be given to the interaction between the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1969 OAU Convention, as well as the current debates and challenges in contemporary refugee law. Topics will include the standard of proof in refugee claims, the role of international human rights law in expanding the scope of protection, violations of socio-economic rights as the basis for refugee claims, and the application of the exclusion clauses to war crimes and “terrorism”. The course will be delivered through a combination of lectures and interactive, small group exercises. Participants will have an opportunity to apply legal norms to refugee case studies and build skills in country-of-origin research, interviewing and advocacy.
Evaluation will consist of a written assignment due on the final day of the course.
Maximum Enrolment: 50 Participants
Instructor: Sharryn Aiken, Professor, faculty of law at Queen’s University.
Aiken is a professor in the faculty of law at Queen’s University where she teaches immigration and refugee law, international human rights, administrative law and public international law. Formerly a refugee lawyer, Aiken continues to serve as pro bono counsel to public interest organizations intervening in refugee cases before the Canadian Supreme Court. She is a past president of the Canadian Council for Refugees and is currently editor in chief of Refuge, Canada's periodical on refugees. She has conducted training sessions on refugee law to decision makers and advocates in Canada, South Africa, Uganda, as well as the Philippines and is returning to AUC for the fourth time.
The course will take place at the American University in Cairo, 6th Floor Lounge, Hill House Building between 9 am and 5 pm, every day.
Application procedures:
Please send a letter of application stating:
And include your updated curriculum vitae.
Addressed to:
Ms. Maysa Ayoub Email: fmrs@aucegypt.edu
Assistant to Director Tel: (202) 7976626
Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Fax (202) 7976629
American University in Cairo FMRS/AUC,
113 Kasr El Aini Street, P. O. Box 2511, Cairo 11511, Egypt
Tuition:
The tuition fee for each course is US $100 for international participants and LE 200 for Egyptians and Residents of Egypt. A limited number of tuition waivers are available for refugees and asylum seekers in Egypt upon request (based on need only).
Deadline for applications is May 15th, 2006