Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU) is based at the University of Dhaka, has been functioning as a research, training and advocacy policy institution since 1996. The primary focus of the Unit's activities is on population movements - migration and displacement - as well as governance issues.

Objectives

• to develop itself as a premier resource centre on refugee, migration and displacement in South Asia
• aid policy formulation through research
• support refugees, migrant, stateless and displaced people's effort for realization of their rights
• promote migration and displacement issues as important elements in contemporary academic discourse

Activities

In pursuing these objectives since its inception RMMRU has been involved in a diverse range of activities.

Research

• 'Voluntariness in Rohingya Refugee Repatriation' (1998)
• 'Needs Assessment of the Urban Refugees of Bangladesh' (1997)
• 'International Labour Migration and the Trade Unions in Bangladesh' (1999)
• 'Micro finance and Remittances of Migrant Workers of Bangladesh' (2001)
• 'Short term Labour Migration of Women from Bangladesh' (2000)
• 'Recruitment and Placement of Migrant Workers of Bangladesh' (2001)
• 'Return and Rehabilitation of Migrant Workers in Bangladesh' (2001)

Training

RMMRU organizes training on labour migration process as part of its action research activity and has so far developed training manuals for three groups: 'Manual For Community Leaders and Activists to Disseminate Information on Safe Migration' (May 2002). 'Manual for Community Leaders on Combating Trafficking in Women and Children' (2002-4) and 'Module for Young Academics and Researchers on Social Science Research and Migration' (ongoing).

Policy Advocacy

RMMRU was commissioned by the Labour Advisor to the Caretaker Government 2001 to develop a Policy Document on Streamlining the Labour Recruitment Process in Bangladesh. The current government has assigned RMMRU a study for suggesting policy measures for the expatriate Bangladeshi communities in the UK and USA. Since its inception RMMRU has been engaged in some major advocacy campaigns. It is at the forefront for adoption of a national law for refugees and ratification of two international instruments, the 1951 Convention on Status of Refugees and the 1990 UN Convention on the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.

Publications

A number of books, occasional papers, and 21 issues of Udbastu (the Uprooted), the quarterly newsletter have been published by RMMRU. Under its initiative the Model National Law on Refugees as approved by the 1997 meeting of Eminent Persons Group of South Asia on Refugee and Migratory Movements has been translated into Bangla. The Unit also successfully completed the task of translating the Status Determination Handbook on Refugees in 1998. The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement by Francis Deng has also been translated into Bangla under the Unit's initiative.

Networking

The Unit has been designated as the Secretariat for South Asia Migration Research Network (SAMReN) following the April 2000 conference on Women and Children in Refugee Situations in South Asia, at Dhaka. A key member of RMMRU team, has recently been elected as the Chair of Asia Pacific Migration Research Network (APMRN), a regional network of more than thirty countries of the Asia and Pacific region with its Secretariat based at the University of Wollongong, Australia. RMMRU has a higher education link programme with the Refugee Studies Centre, Queen Elizabeth II House, University of Oxford. Based on the success of the initial three years of the link was extended for a further three-year period.

RMMRU is one of four consortium partners of the Sussex University initiated Development Research Centre for Globalization, Migration and Poverty. The Centre has just received a five-year project support from DFID, UK to conduct researches on poverty and migration.

Contacts

Dr Tasneem Siddiqui
Professor in Political Science
Chair of RMMRU
Email: rmmrubj@aitlbd.net

Dr Chowdhury R Abrar
Professor in International Relations
Coordinator of RMMRU
Email: schowdhury_abrar@yahoo.com

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