Spatial Interaction and Spatial Behavior

Forced and voluntary migrations and refugee flights are both clear expressions of human spatial behavior and among the pressing concerns of human geography. Websites dealing with the issues of these forms of human spatial interaction include international and national governmental agencies, nongovernmental and charitable organizations, and academic programs. Most have links to other related sites of potential interest.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' home page leads to subsidiary UNHCR pages that include country-specific information about refugees, press releases, a topic-specific guide to special issues, tabular information about refugees, and access to hundreds of documents from the Center for Documentation REFWORLD databases: www.unhcr.ch/.

The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration home page on "Refugees and Migration" gives reference and access to policy documents, official press statements, fact sheets, and links to related sites. View it at www.state.gov/www/global/prm/index.html.

Nongovernmental sites well worth exploring, many with statistical or descriptive data by subject or country, and nearly all with links to other sites and agencies, include:

Refugees International claims to be "the independent and unfettered voice of refugees and displaced persons." Its website features "Refugee Issues" calling up RI documents, press releases, and news story reprints dealing with various world refugee crisis spots: www.refintl.org/

The Migration Home Page of the International Organization for Migration constitutes an "electronic information clearing house of documents, data, . . . and other migration-related information." Its Migration Web option is particularly useful: www.iom.int/.

The Center for Migration Studies of New York studies the "demographic, historical, economic, political, legislative and pastoral aspects of human migration and refugee movements." Its home page gives access to its publications list, library and archives, and research program information, and to the individual international Federation of Centers for Migration Studies. See it at http://cmsny.org/index.htm.

InterAction-American Council for Voluntary International Action-is a coalition of more than 150 nonprofit organizations involved in worldwide assistance to those in need, including development aid, refugee support, disaster response, and advocacy actions. Its "InterAction Country Situation Reports" are extensive sets of summaries of the programs of different aid agencies in troubled countries worldwide: www.interaction.org/.

An exhaustive list of references to on-line migration resources is contained in the World-Wide Web Virtual Library of Migration and Ethnic Relation at: www.ercomer.org/wwwvl.

Many sites deal with natural hazards of various kinds. One of the best, and one with multiple links to many others, is the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. It claims to be "a clearinghouse for information on natural hazards and human adjustments [to them]". View it at www.colorado.edu/hazards/. Also check the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration websites through the NOAA home page at www.noaa.gov.