3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item Gender identities and the decision to return: the case of Rwandan refugee men and women in North Kivu, DRC(2016) Taiwa, Karen KoraenyRepatriation like any other form of migration is highly gendered. The objective of this research study is to analyze the gendered determinants of repatriation. I will explore various motivations for return and the general literature surrounding repatriation. My interest in the research was inspired by my experience working with Rwandan returnees where I encountered more female returnees than men. The other reason was the invocation of the cessation of Rwandan refugees on the 30th June 2013.The implication of the cessation meant to bring to closure to a close the refugee status of Rwandans who fled the country before 31st December 1998 and to find alternative status for those refugees still in need of international protection. An interesting observation is that despite this invocation by the end of 2013, the number of Rwandan refugees coming back did not increase as was expected. At the time of the interviews, the invocation of the cessation status of Rwandan refugees was a not an issue in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). However, a meeting held on the 2nd of October 2015 came up with new deadlines for the implementation on the cessation clause. This research follows a mini-research for my Honours degree that I conducted in 2014 with Rwandan refugees residing in Johannesburg. This work however differs from my previous pilot study in Johannesburg in two ways; in contrast to this research paper, my interviews in Johannesburg involved Rwandan refugees who had not taken the decision to return to Rwanda. Additionally, the refugee profile in South Africa comprised mostly political asylum-seekers while Rwandan refugees hosted in the DRC (my current research location) are mostly those who fled during the 1994 genocide. Voluntary repatriation is a contested issue. In various instances, refugees feel obliged to return either through active promotion of repatriation, reduction of aid in refugee camps or appalling conditions in countries of asylum. What is also evident is the politics between the countries of asylum and origin and the uncomfortable position the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) finds itself as it seeks to ensure the voluntary character of repatriation as is stipulated by the 1969 OAU convention. The gendered approach taken in migration studies reveals renegotiation of gender relations and roles as a result of displacement. Although the role of women changes considerably; social expectations puts more pressure on men to provide and as the limited livelihood opportunities during displacement curtails their primary role as breadwinners. Gender mainstreaming is one of the approaches employed by the, UNHCR to ensure that women are not only involved in all aspects of planning and development but also in issues of peace and security. The literature on repatriation, suggests that women and men consider different factors in their decision to return; men’s main concern is security while women dwell more on working structures like hospitals and schools for their children. During fieldwork, the household emerged as an important unit for repatriation decision making. The research employed a qualitative design. The tools for data collection included semi-structured in-depth questions for Rwandan refugee participants in Goma and key informants from the UNHCR and their government counterpart in the repatriation exercise the Commission Nationale pour les Réfugiés (CNR). In addition, I engaged in an extensive secondary data search through journals, books, the internet, newspapers and policy documents. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyze the collected data. Based on the findings, it was evident that Rwandan refugee men and women put into consideration different aspects in their decision to return to Rwandan. Men focused mostly on security issues both in the DRC and Rwanda while women considered working structures like schools, hospitals and the hope of reclaiming their spouses’ land for the sake of the children. On the decision to return, single women took the decision on their own while in the case of married couples, the men came up with the idea and discussed it with their wives and children. A cross cutting theme between the interviewed Rwandan refugee men and women was the important function of social networks as a pull factor for return. Social networking was especially important in obtaining information about the specific areas in Rwanda and also acted as assurance for temporary accommodation upon return and therefore reducing the cost of return migration. Based on the findings, access to information for both men and women was not mentioned as a major challenge owing to advances in technology (radios, internet, and mobile phones) and the presence of social networks. Keywords (Returnee, Cessation Clause, Repatriation, Reintegration, Decision-making process, Gender, Identity, Social networking)Item Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration, Repatriation and Resettlement (DDRRR) in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa(2006-10-26T10:43:08Z) Dzineza, GwinyayiIn the past three decades several African countries including Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa witnessed the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of troops, repatriation and resettlement of ex-combatants, refugees and/or internally displaced people (DDRRR) in a post-conflict setting. DDRRR processes affect and are affected by post-conflict peace building. However, current research on how DDRRR and peace building are intertwined and how DDRRR contributes to post-conflict peace building is still in its infancy. This thesis is a comparative study of how the nature of armed conflict, conflict terminating peace agreements and the conceptual, political, socio-economic and institutional frameworks under which DDRRR occurred influenced and impacted on the process in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. The three countries experienced different but novel DDRRR processes. Britain and the Commonwealth played a pivotal role in Zimbabwe’s conflict termination and immediate post-liberation struggle DDRRR. In Namibia, DDRRR was implemented under a United Nations peacekeeping context. DDRRR was internally originated, locally owned and state-managed in South Africa from the early 1990s to the present. This was an accompaniment, and also a result, of a negotiated transition to democracy following no serious military engagement. Zimbabwe’s DDRRR was implemented during the Cold war era unlike in Namibia and South Africa. The study intersects these contextually different DDRRR case studies. It analyses the country-specific DDRRR programmes and strategies and evaluates their differential contribution to the broader peace building and reconstruction process. The thesis will then isolate applicable and practical determinants for successful post-conflict DDRRR for posterity based on a comparative examination of the three distinct cases.