Maraka Humanitarian Observatory (MHO) is a joint initiative of Crossroads Advisory (CA) and Migration Research Cell (MRC), Department of Political Science, University of Peshawar. Women’s Regional Network has provided seed funding for the Observatory.
The Maraka Humanitarian Observatory is envisioned as a hub for meaningful exchange, discursive analysis, learning, research and action on local and global humanitarian governance issues that impact local dynamics. The MHO aims to include among its membership key stakeholders belonging to diverse civil society groups, including academia, media, the legal community, non-government institutions, public intellectuals, independent researchers and business community representatives. It seeks to bring all these diverse groups together on a single platform through monthly meetings at the Department of Political Science’s Migration Research Cell and at the Crossroads Advisory in Islamabad, both acting as platforms for the MHO.
The MHO shall establish an interactive digital archive containing policy documents and other grey literature, such as unpublished research reports/papers/interviews, that students and researchers can engage with in multiple ways, whether through discussions, writing or art and literature. This is imperative because the wealth of information on refugee management in Pakistan has not been
consolidated in one place till now.
The Department of Political Science conducts rigorous research on humanitarian governance, leveraging its diverse student body and relying upon international collaboration. Crossroads Advisory complements this with expertise on Afghan refugee issues.
Humanitarian Observatories provide organized spaces for diverse groups especially those who are most vulnerable. Importantly, it also includes governmental, non-governmental organizations, and bi- and multi-lateral institutions to critically engage with issue of humanitarian governance. The MHO is mandated to provide contextualized inputs into issues of humanitarianism and humanitarian governance, areas that are usually dominated by a top-down generated discourse focused on regional or global perspectives.
Out of the 4 million registered and non-registered Afghan refugess hosted by Pakistan, 58 % reside in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the University of Peshawar is located and where the MHO is hosted. These Afghan refugees, now at the center of the securitization debates in the country have faced forcible deportations, and dehmanization. The huge refugee population, regular conflict displacements, climate catastrophes and proliferating terrorist attacks in Pakistan has made the creation of Humanitarian Observatory long over due.
The MHO is envisioned as a hub for meaningful exchange, learning, research and action on local and global humanitarian governance issues. It aims to include among its membership key stakeholders from diverse civil society groups, including academia, media, non-government institutions, public intellectuals , independent researchers and business community representatives and provide them with a platform through monthly meetings at the Department of Political Science’s Migration Research Cell, Peshawar and Crossroads Advisory in Islamabad.
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