The Migration Policy Institute defines the term "diaspora" as "emigrants and their descendants who live outside the country of their birth or ancestry . . . yet still maintain . . . ties to their countries of origin.”¹ Many diaspora individuals and groups engage in advocacy to influence conditions in their countries of origin.²

Diaspora expert Kathleen Newland recently observed that "[d]iaspora advocacy has become at once more immediate and more abundant in the era of electronic communications, as the ease of organizing diaspora members across distances and national boundaries has removed old constraints. Web sites, discussion groups, and social networks of diaspora members have proliferated, resulting in a multiplication of the organizational potential of groups and even individuals."³