"Forgotten," "Hidden": Predicaments of the Urban Refugee

Author(s)
Marfleet, P.
Publication language
English
Pages
10pp
Date published
01 Jan 2007
Publisher
Refuge, Volume 24, Number 1.
Type
Articles
Keywords
Forced displacement and migration, Urban

Urban refugees are widely viewed as anomalous—people
who stand outside a refugee regime which, in Africa, Asia,
and Latin America, is based upon rural encampment.
This article considers why states and humanitarian agencies
view urban refugees in this way. It examines the history
of the refugee as an urban person and the recent
change in perspective which has enforced a rural norm. It
considers the extreme pressures placed upon displaced people
in the city and the consequences for communities
which contest their marginal status.