Refugee Integration

Refugee Backgrounders

In the tradition of the culture profiles, COR Center Refugee Backgrounders provide key information about new refugee groups for U.S. resettlement workers but in a smaller digest format. Backgrounders are available in two formats:

1. Enhanced Refugee Backgrounders

2. Basic Refugee Backgrounders
   
   

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Enhanced Refugee Backgrounders provide more in-depth information about refugee groups. Enhanced Refugee Backgrounders describe the group’s history, culture, religion, language, education, and conditions in their countries of asylum. Our first Enhanced Backgrounder is described below.

Refugees From Iraq
This publication provides in-depth information about refugee groups from Iraq, describing the various ethnic and religious communities of Iraqi Arabs (both Sunni and Shi’a), Iraqi Christians, and others. Topics include history, conditions in countries of asylum, characteristics of the refugee population, cultural features of each of the different communities, religion, language, education, and resettlement considerations.

Download Refugees from Iraq in PDF format
(1.22 MB)

Order a print version for ease of use and reference from the CAL Store.

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Refugee Backgrounders provide a brief introduction to the history, culture, and resettlement needs of a refugee population. The following Refugee Backgrounders are available: Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal, The Kunama, The 1972 Burundians, and the Banyamalenge Tutsi.

Refugee Backgrounder No. 4: Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal
The United States has launched a program to resettle tens of thousands of Bhutanese refugees from refugee camps in Nepal. The refugees, almost all ethnic Nepalis from southern Bhutan, have been living in camps in eastern Nepal since they were expelled from their homes in Bhutan more than 16 years ago.

This Backgrounder provides Reception and Placement (R&P) agency staff and others assisting refugee newcomers with an overview of the Bhutanese refugees to help them prepare for the refugees’ arrival and resettlement needs. The Backgrounder briefly discusses the causes of the refugee problem, explains the need for third-country resettlement, and describes the characteristics of the refugee population.

Download Backgrounder No. 4 in PDF Format.

Download a supplement to Backgrounder No. 4 with additional information about considerations for the resettlement of Bhutanese refugees.

Order a print version for ease of use and reference from the CAL Store.

Refugee Backgrounder No. 3: The Kunama
The United States has agreed to resettle a group of Kunama refugees who have been living in Ethiopian refugee camps since fleeing their homes in rural Eritrea more than 6 years ago.

The Backgrounder provides Reception and Placement (R&P) agency staff and others assisting refugee newcomers with an overview of the Kunama to help them prepare for the refugees' arrival and resettlement needs. The Backgrounder looks at the experience of the Kunama in Eritrea, their lives in Shimelba Refugee Camp, and their cultural practices and preferences.

Download Backgrounder No. 3 in PDF format.

Order a print version for ease of use and reference from the CAL Store.

Refugee Backgrounder No. 2: The 1972 Burundians
The United States has agreed to resettle a group of Burundian refugees who have lived in Tanzanian refugee camps since 1972. Who are the 1972 Burundians? Why are they being resettled in the United States? What are their cultural customs and background characteristics? What will their resettlement needs be?

Download Backgrounder No. 2 in PDF format.

Order a print version for ease of use and reference from the CAL Store.

Refugee Backgrounder No. 1: The Banyamulenge Tutsi
In February 2007, the United States, through the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration at the U.S. Department of State will begin resettling about 600 Banyamulenge Tutsi from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To help U.S. resettlement agency staff better understand and thus better assist the refugee newcomers, this backgrounder provides basic information about the Banyamulenge Tutsi in general and the Gatumba massacre survivors in particular.

Download Backgrounder No. 1 in PDF format.

Order a print version for ease of use and reference from the CAL Store.