Oxford LibGuides: People on the move: legal & HR responses: Home

People on the Move: getting started

Domestic and international migration law

How do individual nations and the international community states respond to those who choose to try life in another country, or are driven to do so by

war or civil conflict
human rights abuses
ethnic cleansing, genocide
famine
natural or environmental disasters (such as flooding)
ecological disasters (such as accidents in the petrochemical industry)
developmental/economic projects
forced relocation
enforced disappearance
criminal exploitation

and those stripped of their original nationality/citizenship by the discriminatory policy of a state.

Some of the tabs (above)/pages may need explanation

Refugees - those whose flight to safety takes them across country/nation state borders
IDPs - Internally Displaced Peoples - those whose forced migration is within their home state/country
EDPs - Environmentally & Ecologically Displaced Persons
(H)TVs - Human Trafficking Victims
Statelessness - protection of people arbitrarily denied citizenship - or whose citizenship is arbitrarily revoked - by their nation state
Non-citizens - considers the duties of host states to ensure that forced migrants do not suffer from discrimination or a reduction in their civil or human rights.

Just a selection to get research started.

International Migration: a Very Short Introduction by Khalid Koser
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link
ISBN: 9780198753773
Publication Date: 2nd edn, 2016
Refugees: a Very Short Introduction by Gil Loescher
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link.
ISBN: 9780198811787
Publication Date: 2021
Print copies in SSL JV6346.LOE 2021
The Refugee in International Law by Guy S. Goodwin-Gill; Jane McAdam
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link.
ISBN: 9780198808572
Publication Date: 4th edn, 2021
Print copy at Internat 570 G657a4 if preferred
Global Migration Governance by Alexander Betts
Call Number: Holders of an Oxford SSO can read this online via title link
ISBN: 9780199653805
Publication Date: 2012-11-17
Print copies (including lendingcopies) in Bodleian Social Science Library at V6201.GLO 2011

Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status under the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees
The Handbook was first published in 1979 and re-issued in 1992 and in 2019 Available as a free download pdf format
RefWorld: Case law database
Open access. Collections case Law from national and international courts, administrative bodies and tribunals.
International Migration Law (IOM)
Section of official website of UN's International Organization for Migration is the leading inter-governmental organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners.
Forced migration online
Open Access. From Oxford University's Refugee Studies Centre.
Border Criminologies
People on the Move: Handbook of Selected Terms and Concepts, version 1.0
Open Access - downloadable PDF. Glossary by UNESCO
World Refugee Day Resources
Open Access In response to the refugee crisis in Europe, Oxford University Press made more than 30 book chapters, journal articles, and pieces of content from online resources freely accessible to assist those working with refugees on the ground, as well as anyone who would like to know more about the framework of rights and obligations concerning refugees. The materials are structured around four key questions: who is a refugee, what rights do they have, what are transit states’ obligations, and what are the duties of the state where a refugee applies for asylum. Other useful resources are linked to at the bottom of the page.
Rights in Exile Programme
The Rights in Exile Programme promotes the legal protection of refugees, globally, and is run by AMERA International. We do this by centralizing resources for legal assistance providers and refugees themselves.
Multiculturalism Policy Index: Immigrant Minorities
Website maintained by Queens University Canada. The Multiculturalism Policy Index is a scholarly research project that monitors the evolution of multiculturalism policies in 21 Western democracies. The project is designed to provide information about multiculturalism policies in a standardized format that aids comparative research and contributes to the understanding of state-minority relations. The project provides an index for each of three types of minorities: one index relating to immigrant groups, one relating to historic national minorities, and one relating to indigenous peoples. The MCP Index for immigrant minorities is now available on annual basis, with scores for each MCP policy in each country from 1960 to 2020. The data identifies the precise year in which a country adopted and/or retrenched any particular MCP, and includes early developments in countries such as Canada and Australia which introduced MCPs prior to 1980.The Multiculturalism Policy Index and supporting documentation are freely available for researchers, public officials, journalists, students, activists, and others interested in the topic.

To support your research in this field you will probably find most of the printed material is within one or other of the following libraries. The collections of both are catalogued in the same online discovery tool SOLO: Search Oxford Libraries Online. Fortunately they are in neighbouring buildings, a very short walk between them.

Bodleian Law Library (the Law Bod or BLL)
The Bodleian Law Library (the Law Bod or BLL) is Oxford University's research library for law, human rights, criminology and socio-legal studies. It supports the staff and students of the Faculty of Law and the wider legal community. Please visit the official website - via this link - for opening hours, floor plans, services etc

more... less...

Oxford Alumni are very welcome - but please be sure to have a current Bodleian Reader Card with you before arriving. (Details of the steps required for Oxford graduates are on the official Bodleian website.)
The Bodleian Law Library is proud to be a research library for the wider legal community, once they have been issued with a Bodleian Reader Card from Central Admissions. (Details of the procedure are available on the Bodleian's official website.)

NOTE. The terms of several of the major legal databases mean they are restricted to current members of the student cohort and teaching faculty.
Bodleian Social Science Library (SSL)
The Bodleian Social Science Library (SSL) supports teaching and research subjects which can be of interdisciplinary interest to lawyers - criminology, socio-legal studies, sociology, politics, international relations, economics, geography (including environmental studies) and refugee studies. Please visit the SSL's official website - via this link - for opening hours, services etc

To get the most out of the SSL's collection, we recommend the guide below written by our SSL colleague, the specialist librarian for refugee studies.

Refugee and Forced Migration Studies
by Sarah Rhodes Last Updated Nov 2, 2022 1365 views this year

Looking for course materials & reading list?

Related Bodleian guides

Human Rights
by Kate Matthews Last Updated Sep 21, 2022 1887 views this year
War, weapons & victims : legal responses
by Elizabeth Wells Last Updated Sep 21, 2022 440 views this year
Refugee and Forced Migration Studies
by Sarah Rhodes Last Updated Nov 2, 2022 1365 views this year
Migration Studies
by Sarah Rhodes Last Updated Nov 2, 2022 539 views this year
Indigenous Peoples: legal resources
by Elizabeth Wells Last Updated Nov 28, 2022 1076 views this year

Subject Librarian

Elizabeth Wells

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Bodleian Law Library
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Key library

Bodleian Law Library
The Bodleian Law Library (the Law Bod or BLL) is Oxford University's research library for law, human rights, criminology and socio-legal studies. It supports the staff and students of the Faculty of Law and the wider legal community. Please visit the official website - via this link - for opening hours, floor plans, services etc

more... less...

Oxford Alumni are very welcome - but please be sure to have a current Bodleian Reader Card with you before arriving. (Details of the steps required for Oxford graduates are on the official Bodleian website.)
The Bodleian Law Library is proud to be a research library for the wider legal community, once they have been issued with a Bodleian Reader Card from Central Admissions. (Details of the procedure are available on the Bodleian's official website.)

NOTE. The terms of several of the major legal databases mean they are restricted to current members of the student cohort and teaching faculty.

People on the move: legal & HR responses: Home

Purpose of this guide

People on the Move: getting started

Looking for course materials & reading list?

Related Bodleian guides

Subject Librarian

Key library