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Peter Rees

@peternrees.bsky.social
1.8K followers 722 following 72 posts

SNSF Postdoctoral Fellow interested in migration, citizenship and rights. Currently researching maritime migration at the Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva.

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Reposted by Peter Rees
Speranta Dumitru @spe07.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
These days, methodological nationalism is finally sparking a heated debate in philosophy. As some of them question the relevance of this critique, let me explain how to spot the cognitive bias in 3 steps 🌎🌞 crookedtimber.org/2026/09/30/i...
crookedtimber.org
Is philosophy of migration biased by methodological nationalism? — Crooked Timber
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
What these records show is a longer history of Channel migration and rescue. Throughout history, people sought safety by crossing by sea, encountered danger, and British lifeboat crews went to their assistance because ‘the core purpose’ of the RNLI is ‘to save lives at sea’.
rnli.org
Statement on the humanitarian work of the RNLI in the English Channel | RNLI
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
1950 Even after the two wars, the RNLI archive records the rescue of a Greek man described at the time as an "undesirable alien" off Brixham. He had escaped from being returned to Greece in a raft, using a shovel as an oar. He was rescued and handed over to the police.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
1949 Back then, RNLI volunteers weren't attacked for rescuing people seeking sanctuary across the Channel. William Peters, a former coxswain of the St Ives lifeboat, received a French award for services including the rescue of French vessels and hospitality shown towards French refugees.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
1942 During the Second World War, the RNLI records describe 12 French refugees being rescued in several incidents over a period of six hours.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
1940 Belgian refugees were again involved in RNLI rescues. The Walmer lifeboat records include incidents on 24 and 28 May involving Belgian refugees.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
1939 The Channel again became a route of flight as war returned to Europe. RNLI records describe two German refugees being rescued by the Walmer lifeboat.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
One of the better-known examples is the rescue of the Peregrine by the Walton lifeboat on 29 December. There were 59 "passengers" aboard, as well as a crew of 33. The crew of the Walton lifeboat were subsequently recognised for the rescue, receiving honours and awards.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
1915 RNLI records show Belgian refugees being rescued at sea. On 10 October, several Belgian fishing boats carrying refugees were travelling towards Lowestoft when two grounded on the Newcome Sands. The Kentwell rescued all 35 refugees aboard the two boats and brought them safely ashore.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
1914 An estimated 250,000–265,000 Belgian refugees came to Britain during WWI. Around 16,000 arrived at Folkestone in a single day in August, doubling the town's population. Around 80,000 are thought to have landed on the Kent coast in the surrounding days. www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/th...
kentonline.co.uk
The day 16,000 refugees arrived in Kent
More than a century ago the county welcomed thousands of people in a single day, as they fled from their war-torn country.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
With the RNLI under attack for rescuing people in the Channel, I wanted to highlight research for this article examining maritime migration and RNLI rescues. Records show that Channel crossings by refugees, and rescues at sea, are not new. Download it here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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Reposted by Peter Rees
Sam Chambers @spatiosam.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"We then, in collaboration with Sam Chambers, modelled how different border-control interventions and scenarios extend the time migrants spend in these environments, thereby intensifying their exposure to meteorological and topographical harm." www.borderforensics.org/investigatio...
Figure 3.35.
Monthly 1 km downscaled surfaces of minimum duration-limited exposure (DLE, hours, masked to the area of interest, for January 2021 through December 2025. Higher values indicate longer allowable exposure under the assumed clothing and activity conditions, whereas lower values indicate shorter allowable exposure and therefore greater cold stress. Seasonal structure and spatial heterogeneity are evident. Figure 3.36. Monthly 1 km downscaled surfaces of minimum duration-limited exposure (DLE, hours, masked to the area of interest, for January 2021 through December 2025. Higher values indicate longer allowable exposure under the assumed clothing and activity conditions, whereas lower values indicate shorter allowable exposure and therefore greater cold stress. Seasonal structure and spatial heterogeneity are evident. 
Monthly 1 km downscaled surfaces of minimum required clothing insulation (IREQ, clo), masked to the Poland area of interest, for January 2021 through December 2025. Higher values indicate greater clothing insulation required to remain within the modeled cold-strain criterion, whereas lower values indicate lower clothing demand. Seasonal structure and spatial heterogeneity are evident but not identical to DLE.
Modelled cumulative cold exposure and distress-call clusters along the Poland-Belarus border. This map overlays a scenario-based surface of cumulative cold exposure across the borderland with the spatial distribution of documented distress-call clusters. The blue surface represents the modelled intensity of cold exposure under the selected delay scenario, while yellow circles indicate distress-call locations/ clusters. These layers show that exposure is produced not only by environmental conditions, but by the interaction between terrain, bordering infrastructures, and the forced duration of migrants' immobility or rerouting. Figure 4.31. Cold-stress scenarios, documented deaths, and distance to the Belarus border. The maps compare death locations with cumulative cold-exposure contours under successive bordering scenarios. The contour values are used as an exposure index rather than as literal core-body temperature loss. Across scenarios, added delay compresses dangerous exposure thresholds toward the border. The distance-to-border analysis shows that mapped body-recovery locations remain situated within the wider borderland, with a particularly marked 2025 concentration near the legal border and along river-border sections. Table 4.2. The table shows the median distance from the Belarus border at which deaths occurred, along with the number of deaths recorded within 5 km and within 10 km of the border, illustrating how closely fatalities are clustered around the border zone.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
We had a great week and no we didn't coordinate our hats in advance.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
📢 New Publication 📢 Very happy to say that my article "Flights across the Channel: tracing the memories and heritage of maritime migration in the English Channel" has been published in Citizenship Studies! 🌊 🚣 You can download it open access here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Thank you! If you do read it, you'll see why your interviewee's line "we don’t rescue migrants: we rescue shipwreck victims" resonated with me so much!
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
📢 New Publication 📢 Very happy to say that my article "Flights across the Channel: tracing the memories and heritage of maritime migration in the English Channel" has been published in Citizenship Studies! 🌊 🚣 You can download it open access here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
This is deeply sad and such an indictment of how Goldsmiths is being run. I was never a part of it but PERC had amazing people, producing amazing work and was the absolute highlight of the Politics Department.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
"These... border policing practices... had the cumulative effect of creating more dangerous circumstances for migrants attempting the Channel crossing, and shown state policies to prevent small boat crossings as being a clear driver in the increased number of deaths amongst migrants in the Channel"
borderforensics.org
How ‘stopping the boats’ kills: A digital counter-forensic investigation of the human cost of the UK’s externalised border in the Channel – Border Forensics
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Really enjoyed reading this article, well worth your time!
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Reposted by Peter Rees
Rebecca Buxton @rebeccabuxton.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
FULLY FUNDED PHDs IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY I'm looking for *two* PhD students to join my ERC project on refugee-led approaches to displacement justice. The positions are funded for four years, and you get to join our lovely community in Bristol. Please share widely! philjobs.org/job/show/30997
philjobs.org
PhD in Political and Social Philosophy, University of Bristol - PhilJobs:JFP PhD in Political and Social Philosophy, University of Bristol
An international database of jobs for philosophers
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Nick Taylor @ntaylor.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
Check out the brilliant @cibled.bsky.social in @econsocjournal.bsky.social on the extremes of Becker's human capital theory & its normalisation of inequality. doi.org/10.1080/0308...
doi.org
‘Most (if not all!) deaths are to some extent suicides’: Human capital and endogenous mortality in Gary Becker’s work
Chicago School economist and Nobel Memorial Prize winner Gary Becker writes that ‘most (if not all!) deaths are to some extent “suicides” in the sense that they could have been postponed if more re...
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The New Humanitarian @newhumanitarian.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Fighters from the Rapid Support Forces have filmed themselves committing mass killings in Darfur’s El Fasher – even as their leaders sat in US-sponsored peace talks. The city’s fall marks a new horror in Sudan’s war, reports journalist and human rights defender Ahmed Gouja. ⬇️
buff.ly
An atrocity foretold: How the RSF siege of El Fasher turned into genocidal slaughter
Communication networks are down but a deluge of shocking videos point to mass killings on a devastating scale.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Really looking forward to this!
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Perfect timing. I ordered the book this morning!
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
Yesterday @alarmphone.bsky.social documented what appears to have been a pushback in the Channel. I am not clear on all the details but pushbacks are prohibited under international law.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
More completely predictable and needless loss of life in the Channel. What really worries me is the rise of the so-called "super dinghy". This weekend saw a record 125 people in one boat. These are flimsy, unseaworthy, vessels. I worry it's a matter of time until there is a much larger shipwreck.
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Reposted by Peter Rees
The Channel Monitoring Project @channelmonitoring.bsky.social · 28/09/2025
Together, we can create a kinder Britain - place of solidarity, not hostility towards people crossing the Channel. #RefugeesAreWelcome #Refugees
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Thanks!
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Is it too late to add @channelmonitoring.bsky.social? Thanks
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Is it too late to add the new organisation @channelmonitoring.bsky.social to this starter pack? Thanks
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Maja Janmyr @myrmek.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
To launch our new book we are organizing three webinars this fall. The first on Sept 30 will address the enduring impacts of colonial legacies on the governance and treatment of refugees in non-signatory states. Sign up here and do help us spread the word! www.jus.uio.no/ikrs/english...
jus.uio.no
Webinar Series: Non-signatory States in International Refugee Law - Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law (IKRS)
We are proud to announce a three-part webinar series building on the critical themes presented in our newly launched book, Non-signatory States in International Refugee Law.
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Reposted by Peter Rees
The Channel Monitoring Project @channelmonitoring.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
We monitor the Channel and Kent's coast to record government actions and search and rescue incidents. Accountability protects lives. Please share to spread awareness. #Support #RefugeesWelcome
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The Channel Monitoring Project @channelmonitoring.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
#HumanRights extend to people seeking safety. Depriving the #rights for those entering by dangerous routes is wrong. Demand safe #migration routes!
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Should have tagged you, sorry!
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Might be of interest to: @zoejardiniere.bsky.social @danielsohege.bsky.social @trillingual.bsky.social @deeesharp.bsky.social @lunavives.bsky.social @maybulman.bsky.social @mayblin.bsky.social @thomdavies.bsky.social @nicolakellywrites.bsky.social
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
📣 Important Launch Today 📣 A new organisation has officially launched to defend the rights of people crossing the Channel and to develop life-saving technology that keeps them safe. 🌊✨ 👉 Please support them by sharing this post and giving them a follow. Your voice helps amplify theirs.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
My colleagues Rachel Ibreck, Souhayel Weslety and I wrote a field reflection titled ‘The “UNFAIR” refugee agency: UNHCR accountability after protests and violence’ based on fieldwork researching refugee-led protests at UNHCR offices in Cairo, Tripoli and Tunisa. academic.oup.com/jrs/advance-...
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Elisa Wynne-Hughes @ewh.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Cardiff University's Department of Politics & IR is currently advertising three lecturer (Grade 7) posts: - Non-western (especially non US) Foreign Policy/War/Security Studies - Political theory - History and theory of colonialism tinyurl.com/mkhrwvcs Please get in touch with any questions!
tinyurl.com
Lecturers in Politics and International Relations (Teaching & Research) at Cardiff University
Explore an exciting academic career as a Lecturers in Politics and International Relations (Teaching & Research). Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
We drew upon interviews with refugees, participant observation at protests and online, and a workshop with legal practitioners. Huge thanks to all of our collaborators, we learned so much from them and without whom it wouldn't exist. The name comes from @refugeesinlibya.bsky.social's UNFAIR campaign
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
My colleagues Rachel Ibreck, Souhayel Weslety and I wrote a field reflection titled ‘The “UNFAIR” refugee agency: UNHCR accountability after protests and violence’ based on fieldwork researching refugee-led protests at UNHCR offices in Cairo, Tripoli and Tunisa. academic.oup.com/jrs/advance-...
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Refugees in Libya @refugeesinlibya.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Great piece by Peter Rees, Rachel Ibreck and Souhayel Weslety on UNHCR and our UNFAIR campaign. @unhcr.org @iom.int @davidyambio.bsky.social @infomigrants.net Give it a read⤵️ academic.oup.com/jrs/advance-...
academic.oup.com
The ‘UNFAIR’ refugee agency: UNHCR accountability after protests and violence
Abstract. Urban refugees increasingly resort to sit-ins outside United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) offices because they lack avenues for accountability.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Thanks for all the excellent work by the @laboescapes.bsky.social conference organisers. I had a great time in Milan last week presenting the paper "The Transversal Heritage of UNHCR Protests" that I co-authored with my colleagues Rachel Ibreck and Souhayel Weslety. 🇮🇹 🍝
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 31/07/2025
I highly recommend this article by my friend and occasional co-author, Antje Scharenberg, on ships and the material politics of solidarity with maritime migrants.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Vessels of Solidarity: The Material Politics of Civil Sea Rescue Ships
This article theorises ships as material carriers of transversal solidarity, based on the specific case of civil sea rescue vessels in the Mediterranean. My argument derives from eight months of fiel...
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Appropriately timed piece by the BBC today. "When our pager goes, we're not thinking anything political. We're all thinking about people... That's what drives us beyond any moral or civic responsibility... We're there to help people in their most distressing times." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
RNLI crew makes no apologies for saving migrants' lives in English Channel
It says it has saved the lives of 58 people crossing the Channel
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
We treat Channel crossings today as exceptional, and the RNLI is called a "migrant taxi service." However, people have long sought refuge across the Channel. On this day in 1939, two German refugees were rescued in the Channel by the RNLI and brought to safety in the UK.
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
We treat Channel crossings today as exceptional, and the RNLI is called a "migrant taxi service." However, people have long sought refuge across the Channel. On this day in 1939, two German refugees were rescued in the Channel by the RNLI and brought to safety in the UK.
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Zoe Gardner @zoejardiniere.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
It's time to abolish the Home Office. It is not fit for purpose & has totally lost the trust of every stakeholder it serves - We knew that already. So I looked into how it could practically be done for @carladenyer.bsky.social My NEW report out today 👇👇
Title page of my new report: No Way Home? It is time to remove management of immigration from the Home Office
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Zoe Gardner @zoejardiniere.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
The report recommends: - Splitting the department into two - Introducing much stronger checks on the powers of the Home Secretary - Ending the politics that pursue hostile headlines at the expense of evidence & human rights carladenyer.co.uk/no-way-home/
carladenyer.co.uk
No Way Home: It is time to remove management of immigration from the Home Office - Carla Denyer
Carla Denyer: Your Bristol West Green Party MP Candidate. Tackling the Climate Emergency - An End to the Housing Crisis - A Fairer and More Equal City
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Peter Rees @peternrees.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
This is really great, thanks for doing such great work. I think your exactly right about the link with community development etc...
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El Hiblu 3 @elhiblu3.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Hearing, 12 June The #ElHiblu3 defence is attacking the terrorism charges against the accused young men, arguing the proper reference to the law were not made in the charges issued against them.
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