Week 5 - Lecture 9 - The securitization of migration

Question 1

Migrants

Answer 1

Migrants choose to move not because of a direct threat of persecution or death, but mainly to improve their lives by finding work, or in some cases for education, family reunion, or other reasons. Unlike refugees who cannot safely return home, migrants face no such impediment to return. If they choose to return home, they will continue to receive the protection of their government

Question 2

Refugee

Answer 2

Refugees are people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country. A refugee is someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.

Question 3

Asylum-seeker

Answer 3

An asylum-seeker is someone whose request for sanctuary has yet to be processed.

Question 4

Internally Displaced People (IDP)

Answer 4

Internally displaced people have not crossed a border to find safety. Unlike refugees, they are on the run at home. IDPs stay within their own country and remain under the protection of its government, even if that government is the reason for their displacement. They often move to areas where it is difficult for us to deliver humanitarian assistance and as a result, these people are among the most vulnerable in the world.

Question 5

Non-refoulement

Answer 5

States are not allowed to expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion

Question 6

Non-penalization

Answer 6

Refugees should not be penalized for their illegal entry or stay.

Question 7

Non-discrimination

Answer 7

States shall apply the provisions of this Convention to refugees without discrimination as to race, religion or country of origin.

Question 8

Securitization

Answer 8

Securitization is when issues are made security issues.
You have a securitizing actor, who performs a speech act. This speech act has to illustrate an existential threat to a referent object, which enables exceptional measures.

Question 9

Referent objects

Answer 9

Things that are seen to be existentially threatened and that have a legitimate claim to survival

Question 10

Exceptional measures

Answer 10

To take alternative measures (i.e. closing borders)

Question 11

Positionality

Answer 11

The social and political context that creates your identity in terms of ethnicity, culture, language, sexuality, etc.