Refugee Camps and Humanitarian Government
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Michel Agier MANAG NG THE UNDESIRABLES Refugee Camps and Humanitarian Government 'Urgent and indispensable' ZYGMUNT BAUMAN MANAGING THE UNDESIRABLES MANAGING THE UNDESIRABLES REFUGEE CAMPS AND HUMANITARIAN GOVERNMENT MICHEL AGIER Translated by David Fernbach polity First published in French as Gerer les indesirables © Flammarion SA, 2008 This English edition © Polity Press, 2011 Reprinted 2012, 2015, 2016 (three times), 2017, 2018, 2020 Polity Press 65 Bridge Street Cambridge CB2 lUR, UK Polity Press 350 Main Street Maiden, MA 02148, USA All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-4901-6 ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-4902-3(pb) A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Typeset in 10.5 on 12 pt Sabon by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CRO 4YY The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate. Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition. For further information on Polity, visit our website: www.polirybooks.com CONTENTS Acknowledgements VB List of Acronyms Used IX Introduction: From Vulnerable to Undesirable 1 Part One A World of Undesirables, a Network of Camps 1 Refugees, Displaced, Rejected: The Itinerary of the Stateless 11 2 Encampment Today: An Attempted Inventory 36 Part Two Everyday Life in the Twenty-First Century's Refugee Camps 3 An Ethnologist in the Refugee Camps 63 4 The Interminable Insomnia of Exile: The Camp as an Ordinary Exceptionalism 71 5 Experiences of Wandering, Borders and Camps: Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea 87 6 Surviving, Reviving, Leaving, Remaining: The Long Life of Angolan Refugees in Zambia 116 7 Camp-Towns: Somalia in Kenya 132 8 In the Name of the Refugees: Political Representation and Action in the Camps 147 9 Who Will Speak Out in the Camp? A Study of Refugees' Testimony 161 v CONTENTS Part Three After the Camps . .. 10 'If This Is a Town .. .' 179 11 'If This Is a World .. .' 191 12 'If This is a Government .. .' 199 Conclusion 211 Notes 217 Bibliography 247 Index 256 VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The present work is based on field studies undertaken between 2000 and 2007 in the refugee gathering spaces in Kenya, Zambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, and also to some extent on the West Bank. These studies were spread over a number of journeys, each lasting anything between two weeks and over three months, in collaboration with the local teams of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF). I have to thank first of all these various MSF teams (French, Belgian and Swiss sections) for their always warm and helpful welcome. Discussion with officials from this organization and with staff at the MSF founda tion's research centre! made it possible for me both to prepare my investigations and to present their results on my return. Loick Barriquand, jean-Herve Bradol, Ron Brauman, Emmanuel Drouihin, Marie-Christine Ferir, Coralie Lechelle, Denis Lemasson, Marc Le Pape and Francoise Saulnier-Boucher all helped me with their knowl edge of the humanitarian world and particular sites, as well as with valuable operational advice, questions, suggestions and encourage ment. Fabrice Weissman, Xavier Crombe and Sophie Baylac were kind enough to read and comment on certain parts of the present book. I hope that they will see it as an attempt to repay the support and interest that they lent to my project. My research was conducted in the framework of the ASILES research programme.' The discussions that I had with the thirty or so research staff and doctoral students involved in this programme provided valuable support for my investigation. I have to thank them all. More widely, the activities of the scientific network TERRA (Travaux, Etudes et Recherches sur les Refugies et l'Asile, www.terra. org) provided a stimulating context for me as well as for everyone else who has contributed to its existence in the last five years or more. VB ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As is necessarily the case with work over several years that com bines field study with the public presentation of research findings, several oral and written interventions preceded and prepared for this book between 2002 and 2008. Everyone who invited me to share these reflections, discussing and commenting on them, will hopefully find in the present book an echo and extension of our exchanges, as well as a token of my gratitude. I must thank Sylvie Fenczak for her belief in this publishing project and the proof of her benevolent patience. And finally, thanks to Mariana and Antonin once again for their coaching and patience. Vlll LIST OF ACRONYMS USED ACF Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger) ACT Action by Churches Together AI Amnesty International AMERA Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance ANAFE Association Nationale d'Assistance aux Frontieres pour les Etrangers ARACEM Association des Refoules d' Afrique Centrale au Mali BCR Bureau de Coordination des Refugies CARE Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere CFDA Coordination Francaise pour le Droit d'Asile CRA Centre de Retention Administrative CRASH Centre de Reflexion sur I'Action et les Savoirs Humanitaires CRR Commission des Recours des Refugies CVT Center for Victims of Torture DRC Democratic Republic of Congo ECHO European Commission Humanitarian Aid EEC European Economic Community ERM Enfants Refugies du Monde FRONTEX European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union GISTI Groupe d'Information et de Soutien des Immigres GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammarbeit HCRIUNHCR UN High Commission(er) for Refugees ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross IX LIST OF ACRONYMS USED IDPs Internally Displaced Persons INGO International non-governmental organization IPD Internal Patients Department IRC International Rescue Committee IRD Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement IRIN Integrated Regional Information Networks (the OCHA information service) JRS Jesuit Refugee Service LURD Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy LWF Lutheran World Federation MDM Medecins du Monde MPLA Movimento Popular de Libertacao de Angola MSF Medecins Sans Frontieres NGO non-governmental organization NIMBY 'Not in my back yard' NPFL National Patriotic Front of Liberia OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (a UN agency) OFPRA Office Francais de Protection des Refugies et Apatrides OIMlIOM International Organization for Migration OXFAM Oxford Committee for Famine Relief PWJ Peace Winds Japan RENAMO Resistencia Nacional Mocambicana RUF Revolutionary United Front (Sierra Leone) SADR Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic SBRs Soomaali Bantu Refugees STC Save the Children ULIMO United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy UN/UNO United Nations Organization UNAMSIL United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund UNITA Uniao Nacional para a Independencia Total de Angola UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees VOA Voice of America WFP World Food Programme ZAPI Zone d' Attente pour Personnes en Instance x Introduction: From Vulnerable to Undesirable Imagine .. Imagine a single world without conflict, made up of little secure worlds whose mutual connections, whether by road, underground or computer network, are themselves protected by gateways and iden tification systems hypersensitive to the sound of a person's voice, iris and skin texture. Imagine peace, cleanliness and the absence of disease, an eternally temperate climate, children who are to a marvel lous degree wanted, planned and happy. Imagine a daily life without mishap or disturbance, in communities of identical interest (over sixties, golfers, families with dogs, Krishna worshippers). This part of the planet, diverse and consensual, is called the 'World'. This world seems to include all available space, the whole breadth of the terrestrial globe, as it were. But this totality is no more than a mirage, delicately maintained by flat screens and mirrors that are scattered throughout all public and private spaces, in which each person can imagine and view themselves, maintain their mind and their body, and deliciously cultivate a sincere self-concern. The other reality remains invisible, even though its existence is not totally unknown: large parts of the planet are separated off, behind high walls and barriers or across long stretches of sand or water, at the heart of deserts and forests. Other human beings live there. The world's 'Remnants' - that is what they're called - populating count less camps, kilometres of transit corridors, islands and marine plat forms, and enclosures in the middle of deserts. Of variable size (from a few square metres to the area of several towns and villages com bined), each camp is encircled by walls, barbed wire and electric 1 MANAGING THE UNDESIRABLES fences, or imprisoned simply by the dissuasive presence of the empti ness surrounding it. From time to time, some of the Remnants enter our world for brief visits. Their entries and exits are made through narrow corri dors, under the filter of cameras, fingerprint readers, detectors for weapons, viruses and bacteria, captors of thoughts and memories. The queues at the checkpoints are long, and the people in them are not always certain of reaching the other side.