LOCAL INTEGRATION OF REFUGEES IN THE HOST COUNTRY: The Perspective of Liberians in Ghana

Jenkins Macedo, BSc., in Geography & Sociology

 Chief Investigator

Undergraduate Research Thesis in Sociology

Dr. Fortunata Makene, Ph.D., Department of Sociology

Worcester State University

2009

ABSTRACT

The refugee crisis is a universal phenomenon. The integration of refugees into the local communities pose a serious challenge both to the UN Refugee Agency, the governments of host countries, the local communities in which refugees are hosted and the refugees themselves. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the world’s refugee population is estimated to be about 14 million. This study investigated the integration of refugees in the host country and the impacts that warehousing refugees in camps has on the prospect of local integration. A total of 311 Liberian refugees at the Buduburam refugee camp participated in a survey in 2009. SPSS version 17 was used to analyze the data by conduction correlation analysis. We hypothesized that refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host has a relationship with their inability to locally integrate and lack of local integrate is influenced by warehousing refugees in camps. The evidence suggests that there is a positive relationship (R (253) = 0.292, P (0.000), Alpha (0.01) between refugees’ lack of interaction with the local host (M = 7.31, SD = 5.569) and their inability to locally integrate (M = 3.62, SD = 0.1.119). The evidence also suggests that there is a positive correlation (R (253) = 0.292, P (0.000), Alpha (0.01) between the warehousing of refugees in refugee camps (M = 7.31, SD = 5.569) and lack of integration (M = 3.62, SD = 0.1.119).

Key Words: Refugees, Refugee Warehousing, Integration, Resettlement, Voluntary Repatriation

URL: http://www.slideshare.net/jmacedo1/integrating-liberian-refugees-in-ghana-a-case-study-of-liberian-refugees-at-the-buduburam-refugee-camp-in-ghana

RETHINKING THE WAR IN IRAQ: A Human Impact Assessment

Jenkins Macedo, BSc., in Geography & Sociology

 Chief Investigator

An Undergraduate Research Paper 
in Geography of the Middle East

2010

  

Dr. Mohamed Eskandari, Ph.D.,

Professor of Middle East Changing Environment

Department of Physical and Earth Sciences

Worcester State College

ABSTRACT

On March 20 2003, the United States and her allies invaded Iraq with a promise of bringing a better life by a change in the political system. Using the language of “preemption”, President George W. Bush justified the war based on the assumption that Iraq had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and also had links with Al-Qaeda. These assumptions were used to conclude that Iraq posed an imminent national security threat to the United States and her allies in the region (Drasner, 2009).

According to Robert (2003), the British and Americans governments already had made up their minds to change the regime in Iraq and were only looking for some excuse. What was supposed to be a quick removal of Saddam Hussein has turned into a prolonged war with no end in sight. Needless to say, a prolonged war has taken its toll on ordinary Iraqis. This study assessed the human impacts of the war on Iraqis, such as health related issues, the use of Depleted Uranium (DU), interruptions in education, and forced migration in the forms of internal displacements and refugees. Analysis was based on secondary data collected from Iraq between 2002 and 2006 as reported in series of surveys conducted by “Medact” a UK-based global health charity. The central research question that was explored in the study is what were the human impacts of the war on the Iraqi people?

Key Words: Iraq, American Government, Middle East, Terrorism, Preemption, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), President George W. Bush, Saddam Hussein, Al-Qaeda, National Security, Depleted Uranium.

THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF WAREHOUSING REFUGEES: A Case Study of Liberian Refugees at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana

Jenkins Macedo, BSc., 

Chief Investigator

An Undergraduate 

Research Thesis in Geography

Dr. Stephen Healy, Ph.D., 

Department of Physical and Natural Sciences

Worcester State University

2010

ABSTRACT

Much of the literature on refugee warehousing and their impacts on the host country’s environment assumes that refugees are exceptional resource degraders. The dominant conceptualization of refugees’ impacts on the host country’s environment treats refugees as actors with destructive behaviors rather than seeing the degradation as a result of inappropriate government policies, inefficient humanitarian assistance, and the lack of effective plan by host countries to foster durable solution. This study challenged these assumptions through the use of a questionnaire directed at refugees at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana. The questionnaires concern the patterns of environmental resources use among refugees and was analyzed using SPSS version 17 to run regression and correlation tests for items pertaining to resource use with those pertaining to environmental degradation. We hypothesized that warehousing refugees in camps significantly influenced their impacts on the local environment of the host country. We also hypothesized that warehousing of refugees has a significant relationship with their inability to locally integrate in the host county. The result suggests that warehousing of refugees in camps (M= 2.55; SD = 0.969) significantly influence (F (2, 288) = 37. 687, P Value = (0.000)) the relationship between resource use (Agricultural activities M = 1.42; SD = 0.495 and firewood use M = 1.60; SD = 0.490) and environmental degradation. The evidence also indicates that there is a significant positive relationship (R (303) = 0.121, P Value of (0.036), Alpha (0.05) between warehousing refugees in organized camps (M = 2.58, SD = 0.975) and their inability to locally integrate in the host country (M = 1.88, SD = 0.839).

Key Words: Refugee Warehouse, Refugees, Environmental Degradation, Buduburam Refugee Camp

URL: http://www.slideshare.net/jmacedo1/macedo-the-environmental-impacts-of-warehousing-refugees-in-camps?related=1