African Migrants and the Refugee Crisis

African Migrants and the Refugee Crisis
Author: Olayiwola Abegunrin
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2020-11-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030566420

This book discusses African migration and the refugee crisis. Economic, political and social tension in the Middle East and in many parts of the Global South has induced historic mass migration across national and international borders. The situation is especially dire in Africa, where a sizable number of Africans have chosen or have been forced to leave their countries of origin for Europe and North America. Written by an international team of scholars, this edited book traces the refugee crisis around the world, telling the necessary story of forced migration, intentional exclusion, and human insecurity from an Afrocentric lens. The volume is divided into three sections. Section I places African migration within the broader contexts of international history, law, economics, and policy. Section II discusses cases of African migration to Europe, Latin America, and the Mediterranean. Section III considers negative consequences of mass African migration, including the restriction and criminalization of migration, post-traumatic stress disorder, and gender-based violence. A compelling account of risk, resilience, and global power dynamics, this volume will be useful to students and researchers interested in African studies, migration, peace and conflict studies, and policy as well as professionals, practitioners, NGOs, IGOs, governmental and humanitarian organizations.

African Exodus

African Exodus
Author: Asfa-Wossen Asserate
Publisher: Haus Publishing
Total Pages: 168
Release: 2018-02-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1910376914

In 2015, an unprecedented number of people from Africa and the Near East took flight and sought refuge in Europe. By the end of that year, some 1.8 million migrants had arrived in the EU, the vast majority having come across the Mediterranean. Since then, despite measures to host some of the people fleeing the Syrian war in Turkey and concurrent attempts to physically seal off some borders in Eastern Europe, the numbers of refugees traveling to Europe has continued to top half a million annually. A mass migration on a scale not witnessed in modern times is underway, and it has presented Europe with its greatest challenge of the twenty-first century. Asfa-Wossen Asserate argues here that building higher fences or finding more effective methods of integration will only, in the long term, perpetuate rather than solve the problems associated with these large numbers of displaced refugees. We need to realize that we are only treating the symptoms of an oncoming catastrophe and that, if we are to respond to mass migration, we will ultimately have to understand its causes. African Exodus places its emphasis firmly on the causes of the refugee crisis, which are to be found not least in Europe itself, and charts ways in which we might deal with it effectively in the long term. In the course of this analysis, Asserate asks why our view of Africa—a troubled continent, but rich in so many ways—is so distorted. How can we combat the corrupt, authoritarian regimes that stymie progress and development? Why are millions fleeing to Europe? How is the EU complicit in the migration crisis? And finally, in practical terms: what can be done, and what prospects does the future hold?

Survival Migration

Survival Migration
Author: Alexander Betts
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2013-08-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0801468957

International treaties, conventions, and organizations to protect refugees were established in the aftermath of World War II to protect people escaping targeted persecution by their own governments. However, the nature of cross-border displacement has transformed dramatically since then. Such threats as environmental change, food insecurity, and generalized violence force massive numbers of people to flee states that are unable or unwilling to ensure their basic rights, as do conditions in failed and fragile states that make possible human rights deprivations. Because these reasons do not meet the legal understanding of persecution, the victims of these circumstances are not usually recognized as "refugees," preventing current institutions from ensuring their protection.In this book, Alexander Betts develops the concept of "survival migration" to highlight the crisis in which these people find themselves. Examining flight from three of the most fragile states in Africa—Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Somalia—Betts explains variation in institutional responses across the neighboring host states. There is massive inconsistency. Some survival migrants are offered asylum as refugees; others are rounded up, detained, and deported, often in brutal conditions. The inadequacies of the current refugee regime are a disaster for human rights and gravely threaten international security. In Survival Migration, Betts outlines these failings, illustrates the enormous human suffering that results, and argues strongly for an expansion of protected categories.

Contemporary Migration to South Africa

Contemporary Migration to South Africa
Author: Aurelia Segatti
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 207
Release: 2011-08-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0821387685

This volume examines international migration policies and practices in post-apartheid South Africa. It consides both regional and highly localised impacts, the historical experience of migration policy-making and the roots of contemporary policy dilemmas as well as the question of skilled labor.

The Oxford Handbook of Migration Crises

The Oxford Handbook of Migration Crises
Author: Dr. Cecilia Menjívar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 953
Release: 2019-01-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0190856920

The objective of The Oxford Handbook of Migration Crises is to deconstruct, question, and redefine through a critical lens what is commonly understood as "migration crises." The volume covers a wide range of historical, economic, social, political, and environmental conditions that generate migration crises around the globe. At the same time, it illuminates how the media and public officials play a major role in framing migratory flows as crises. The volume brings together an exceptional group of scholars from around the world to critically examine migration crises and to revisit the notion of crisis through the context in which permanent and non-permanent migration flows occur. The Oxford Handbook of Migration Crises offers an understanding of individuals in societies, socio-economic structures, and group processes. Focusing on migrants' departures and arrivals in all continents, this comprehensive handbook explores the social dynamics of migration crises, with an emphasis on factors that propel these flows as well as the actors that play a role in classifying them and in addressing them. The volume is organized into nine sections. The first section provides a historical overview of the link between migration and crises. The second looks at how migration crises are constructed, while the third section contextualizes the causes and effects of protracted conflicts in producing crises. The fourth focuses on the role of climate and the environment in generating migration crises, while the fifth section examines these migratory flows in migration corridors and transit countries. The sixth section looks at policy responses to migratory flows, The last three sections look at the role media and visual culture, gender, and immigrant incorporation play in migration crises.

The Challenges of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa

The Challenges of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa
Author: Sabella O. Abidde
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2020-12-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3030566501

This book discusses the phenomena of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP) across several African countries. There are 40 million IDP worldwide; of these, an estimated 12.6 million are in 37 of Africa’s 55 countries. Written by a team of fifteen scholars across four continents, this book uses both quantitative and qualitative data to analyze the causes and consequences of this displacement, the role of the state in creating and mitigating these situations, and potential policy solutions. The volume is divided into three sections. Chapters in Section 1 discuss the causes of displacement. Chapters in Section 2 discuss refugees in their regional context. Chapters in Section 3 discuss IDP camps in Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana. Bringing scholarly analysis to address two humanitarian crises, this book will be useful to students and researchers interested in African politics, forced migration, and policy as well as members of the diplomatic corps, governmental, and non-governmental organizations actively working towards solving these challenges.

The Economic Impact of Conflicts and the Refugee Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa

The Economic Impact of Conflicts and the Refugee Crisis in the Middle East and North Africa
Author: Mr.Bjoern Rother
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 43
Release: 2016-09-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1475535783

In recent decades, the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) has experienced more frequent and severe conflicts than in any other region of the world, exacting a devastating human toll. The region now faces unprecedented challenges, including the emergence of violent non-state actors, significant destruction, and a refugee crisis bigger than any since World War II. This paper raises awareness of the economic costs of conflicts on the countries directly involved and on their neighbors. It argues that appropriate macroeconomic policies can help mitigate the impact of conflicts in the short term, and that fostering higher and more inclusive growth can help address some of the root causes of conflicts over the long term. The paper also highlights the crucial role of external partners, including the IMF, in helping MENA countries tackle these challenges.

Beyond Charity

Beyond Charity
Author: Gil Loescher
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 273
Release: 1993
Genre: Refugees
ISBN: 0195102940

With more than 18 million refugees worldwide, the refugee problem has fostered an intense debate regarding what political changes are necessary in the international system to provide effective solutions in the 1990s and beyond. In the past, refugees have been perceived largely as a problem of international charity, but as the end of the Cold War triggers new refugee movements across the globe, governments are being forced to develop a more systematic approach to the refugee problem. Beyond Charity provides the first extensive overview of the world refugee crisis today, asserting that refugees raise not only humanitarian concerns but also issues of international peace and security. Gil Loescher argues persuasively that a central challenge in the post Cold-War era is to develop a comprehensive refugee policy that preserves the right of asylum while promoting greater political and diplomatic efforts to address the causes of flight. He presents the contemporary crisis in a historical framework and explores the changing role of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Loescher suggests short-term and long-term reforms that address both the current refugee crisis and its underlying causes. The book also details the ways governmental structures and international organizations could be strengthened to assume more effective assistance, protection, and political mediation functions. Beyond Charity helps frame the debate on the global refugee crisis and offers directions for more effective approaches to refugee problems at present and in the future.

African Migrations

African Migrations
Author: Abdoulaye Kane
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2013
Genre: History
ISBN: 0253003083

Spurred by major changes in the world economy and in local ecology, the contemporary migration of Africans, both within the continent and to various destinations in Europe and North America, has seriously affected thousands of lives and livelihoods. The contributors to this volume, reflecting a variety of disciplinary perspectives, examine the causes and consequences of this new migration. The essays cover topics such as rural-urban migration into African cities, transnational migration, and the experience of immigrants abroad, as well as the issues surrounding migrant identity and how Africans re-create community and strive to maintain ethnic, gender, national, and religious ties to their former homes.

Refugee Crises and Migration Policies

Refugee Crises and Migration Policies
Author: Gökçe Bayındır Goularas
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2019-10-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9781793602084

This edited volume investigates European approaches to migrants, European Union migration policies, and the EU-Turkey refugee agreement. The contributors also analyze issues related with migration in Turkey and Syria and specifically study the Syrian refugee crisis.