Week 7:

Question 1

Examples of refugees:

Answer 1

• migrants coming across the Mediterranean.
• migrant families at US-Mexico border.
• Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, by 2013 there were 156,000 Syrian refugees.
• Ukrainian refugees
• 85% of total population of Gaza (1.9 mil) forcibly displaced due to Israel’s military operations as of Jan 2024.

Question 2

International migration defintion:

Answer 2

• ‘the movement of people across sovereign borders to live in a different country to that of their birth’ (Hammerstad, 2017).
• reasons for migrating - usually a combination of both push and pull factors.

Question 3

Asylum seekers defintion:

Answer 3

• individuals who cross international borders seeking protection but their claim of refugee status is still pending.

Question 4

Refugees definition:

Answer 4

• ‘any person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality or political opinion is outside the country of his/her nationality’ (1951 Refugee Convention).
• states that have acceded to the 1951Convention are obliged to protect refugees on their territory and respect refugee’s basic human rights.

Question 5

Internally displaced people definition:

Answer 5

• ‘persons or groups who have been forced or obliged to flee or leave their homes or places of habitual residence (UN Commission on Human Rights, 1998)

Question 6

Non-refoulement principle:

Answer 6

• states don’t have an obligation to give asylum or admit refugees, but they do have the obligation not to return asylum seekers to the countries in which they are facing persecution.
• e.g., states may relocate people in ‘third countries’ where people are ostensibly safe and people are willing to admit them - e.g., the UK and Rwanda scheme.
• BUT UK Supreme Court rules the scheme to be unlawful due to the risk of return.

Question 7

Forced migrant definition:

Answer 7

• an emerging social and political category used to name people who leave their countries forced by circumstances other than economic necessity or political persecution.

Question 8

Numbers and trends - migration:

Answer 8

• levels higher today than they were a century ago - 281 million in 2020, 173 million in 2000.
• migrants as world population - 3.6% (2020).

Question 9

Numbers and trends - forced migration:

Answer 9

• relatively low in first decade of 21st century - grown faster since 2010s.
• 2021: more than 89.3 million people worldwide forcibly displaced - highest number since WW2 aftermath.
• 2021: 25.9 million refugees and asylum seekers.

Question 10

Numbers and trends - directions of international migration:

Answer 10

• mostly from poor-rich (Global South to Global North).
• most regional within Global South.

Question 11

Migration - Ukraine:

Answer 11

• nearly 3.7 million IDPs in Ukraine (Feb 2024).
• 8.1 million fleeing Ukraine into Europe.
• approximately 14.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance in 2024.
• nearly 6.5 million refugees from Ukraine have been recorded globally (Feb 2024).

Question 12

Risks of migration:

Answer 12

• migrants are frequently exposed to incredible risks in transit - many undocumented migrants face dangerous journeys.
• they are unprotected, accumulate debt and have no legal recourse.
• the limited opportunities for legal migration leads individuals to use people smugglers, where there is a risk of being trafficked.
• migrants falling prey to human traffickers can be exploited in both transit and destination countries.
• risk to migrants being smuggled include sexual and physical violence, and death, e.g., drowning at sea.

Question 13

Two key issues and debates:

Answer 13

• Causes of migration age
• administrative barriers

Question 14

Causes of migration age - liberal perspective:

Answer 14

o Poverty, conflict, state failure, environmental degradation in Global South.
o Globalisation (telecommunications, less expensive travel) have made migration more desirable and cheaper.
o Lack of effective international governance and better ‘migration management’

Question 15

Causes of migration age - institutionalist perspective:

Answer 15

o People have always moved across history – the states-system generates and produces the figure of the migrant/refugee (citizenship, borders, sovereignty, etc).
o The refugee and the state system are two sides of the same coin, the former cannot be understood without reference to the latter.

Question 16

Causes of migration age - critical perspective:

Answer 16

o North-South divide is the main cause of (forced) migration.
o Wars, (gang) violence, poverty, economic exploitation, ‘Washington Consensus’ economic policies, environmental degradation in the Global South mostly caused by the Global North.
o Global governance works in the interests of states/Global North.

Question 17

Administrative barriers - what are states seeking to do:

Answer 17

o Keep a narrow category of refugee – mostly based on political violence.
o Harden asylum seeking processes – shifting burden to third countries (e.g., Rwanda, Libya or Türkiye), migrant camps like prisons, confiscate valuables and belongings in order to pay for unkept of asylum seekers (e.g., Denmark).
o Tighten regular migration permits – e.g., Brexit, family reunifications, etc.

Question 18

Administrative barriers - physical barriers:

Answer 18

• build walls
   Often invoked on ‘national security’ grounds.
   Largely in place to keep economic migrants out.
   Examples:
• Mexico-USA border.
• Migrants crossing into Hungary underneath the Hungary-Serbia border fence, 25th August 2015.

Question 19

Who benefits from a ‘borderless world’

Answer 19

 Move freely: goods, services, capital, and skilled and wealthy people allowed to move (relatively) freely.
 Cannot move freely: unskilled labour and the poor do not mov freely.
 North vs South: Brain drain (skilled migrants/pro-North) VS remittances (unskilled migrants/pro-South).