Migration, migrants, and human security

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bandana Purkayastha

This introductory article outlines a framework to bridge some of the current fragmentation and knowledge hierarchies in the sociological field of migration. The article builds on the insights – and epistemological roots – used in different parts of the world to reflect on 21st-century realities of migration and human security. It considers international migrants, internally displaced persons, refugees and trafficked persons as part of a continuum of migrants who exhibit seasonal, temporary and long-term migration patterns. The framework draws upon the scholarship of the Global South and North on political-economic processes that have historically influenced migration and migrants’ lives and continue to do so today. It considers the dominant approach used in studies of international migration and shows why it is necessary to go beyond the focus on nation-states and an emphasis on a particular group of migrants. The framework weaves the insights of scholars who work on international, internal migration and forced migration, as well as the critical literatures on intersectionality and human rights to build an approach that centers questions of migrants’ human security. The framework emphasizes the glocal – i.e. intersecting global-national-local – terrains of migration and discusses human security within glocal terrains.

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-240
Author(s):  
Roseanne Njiru

This article foregrounds the overlapping continuum of local to global fault lines that structure the human security experiences of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Kenya. Drawing on data from the 2007–2008 electoral violence-induced displacement of ethnic minorities in the Rift Valley region, the article discusses how the intersections of ethnicity, national politics, land rights, and global humanitarian politics on displacement positioned IDPs as outsiders in their own nation and how this shapes their ability to live secure lives. By so doing, the study transcends nation-state border focused forced migration to question the relevance of dichotomizing IDPs and refugees, which shapes their protection. The author argues for the need to critically examine the less visible and fluid borders which displace people from their homelands in order to address the human security of all who are forced to flee from their homes regardless of whether they have crossed national boundaries.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002200272095847
Author(s):  
Jon Echevarria-Coco ◽  
Javier Gardeazabal

This article develops a spatial model of internal and external forced migration. We propose a model reminiscent of Hotelling’s spatial model in economics and Schelling’s model of segregation. Conflict is modeled as a shock that hits a country at certain location and generates displacement of people located near the shock’s location. Some displaced people cross a border, thus becoming refugees, while others remain as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The model delivers predictions about how the fractions of a country’s population that become refugees and IDPs ought to be related with the intensity of the shock, country size, terrain ruggedness and the degree of geographical proximity of the country with respect to the rest of the world. The predictions of the model are then tested against real data using a panel of 161 countries covering the period 1995-2016. The empirical evidence is mostly in line with the predictions of the model.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Htu Tawng Lazum

<p>The issue of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is a global crisis yet little research has been focused on the issue of the livelihoods of IDPs. Providing short-term emergency assistance is not enough when the period of displacement becomes permanent or longer than expected. IDPs need long-term solutions in order to resume a normal life. Pursuing appropriate livelihoods in urban areas is a big challenge yet constructing potential livelihoods is fundamental to achieving decent living not only for short-term situations but also for the long run. The lack of access to livelihoods is one of the most serious obstacles to durable solutions for IDPs, and long-term livelihood strategies are needed to lay the foundation for future development.  This study explores Kachin IDPs in Myanmar and their livelihood strategies and activities in urban camps by applying qualitative methods, the study focuses on how IDPs have been building their livelihoods during their displacement and who has been involved in supporting their livelihoods. This research also seeks insight into the effectiveness and sustainability of those livelihood activities and other potential strategies.   Results show that most livelihood activities are supported by both local and international humanitarian and development agencies and are mainly undertaken through local organisations. Agriculture and livestock rearing are preferred livelihoods of IDPs although getting appropriate land is challenging in urban areas. Income-generating programmes such as food processing, carpentry and bamboo handicrafts are also popular and successful activities. Moreover, tailoring, brick making, and pig rearing are also effective and helpful livelihoods for individuals. Those who are involved in livelihood support activities receive benefits and advantages for their family and daily needs while the majority of IDPs are working in day labouring. Respondents believe current livelihood activities can become sustainable as long as they maintain the quality of the products. Some IDPs have adapted to the city environment quite well by applying their capacity and the skills they learnt from humanitarian organisations. Supporting livelihood strategies may not resolve the problems of IDPs, however, it is an effective partial solution.</p>


2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard Adelman

Within UNHCR, there has been a shift in the emphasis on the meaning of protection. Protection of refugees is now primarily defined as security of refugees and refugee operations rather than in terms of the legal asylum process. The article examines the significance of UNHCR placing the refugee issue within both the larger context of forced migration as well as within the context of human security. The paper clarifies and documents a current and general focus of forced migration that includes the internally displaced as well as refugees and offers a framework for comprehending and dealing with the refugee problem that has shifted focus to the security dimension.


2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 439-440

Forced migration has come to be the defining feature of the contemporary Middle East, a region that is both the source of and host to some of the largest forcibly displaced populations in the world. In 2015, 65 percent of the world's 19.4 million refugees—including the 5.5 million Palestinian refugees—as well as 30 percent of the world's thirty-eight million internally displaced persons were in the Middle East, while one out of every four refugees worldwide was from Syria. Seeking security and stability, millions of people from the region are on the move within and across social spaces that are at once strange and familiar, and in which they themselves are familiar and strange to others. In 2015, Turkey became host to the world's largest refugee population of over two million, while Zaʿatari camp in Jordan has grown rapidly to become one of the world's largest camps since the Syrian civil war began. With 7.6 million people—or 35 percent of the population—internally displaced, Syria now has the highest number of internally displaced persons in the world. Iraq has produced multiple overlapping displacements, resulting in one of the largest refugee resettlement programs of the past decade. Thousands of Syrians, Libyans, and Iraqis have undertaken perilous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea to seek asylum in Europe and elsewhere. Palestinian refugees are now in a fourth generation of exile, making their plight the longest running unresolved refugee situation in the world.


Management ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-45
Author(s):  
Valeriia G. Shcherbak

Introduction. Significant geopolitical transformations, the annexation of the Crimea, and the conflict in the Donbass affect the functioning of the Ukrainian economy. These processes provoked a profound and only political but also socio-economic crisis, intensification of labor migration, massive forced displacement of the population: the emergence of the category of forced migrants – internally displaced persons (IDP). IDPs are citizens of a country that does not cross borders and migrate within their own country for compelled reasons (similar to the case with refugees). In Ukraine, they are called forced migrants.The hypothesis of scientific research is to find out how the emergence of regional migration asymmetry, in particular the emergence of a significant number of IDP, affects the asymmetry of migration processes in Ukraine, the economy and welfare of the population, and the level of socio-economic development of the country.The aim is to diagnose the existing processes of domestic forced migration processes in Ukraine, including the asymmetry of migratory flows, the impact of the movement of internally displaced persons on the level of development of regional economies.The research methodology is fundamental and applied research in the field of forced internal migration, the demographic situation and the state of the labor market, UN materials, the ILO, UNESCO, the bodies of the state statistics service, materials from other official sources and Internet resources. During the study, methods of systematization, theoretical generalization, scientific classification, comparative analysis, statistical methods were used.Results: the main factors determining the conditions and nature of forced internal migration in Ukraine in 2014–2017 were determined. The main directions of forced internal migration since the beginning of hostilities in the Donbass were determined. The emergence of regional asymmetry of migration processes at the level of aggregate migratory flows is investigated.Conclusions: it is proved that all regions of Ukraine have a significant right-side asymmetry of balance in the direction of arrivals in the region, which manifests itself in the concentration of refugees in the presence of a relatively small number of most mass flows. HPE is perceived in their places of residence as an additional resource for the development of a regional economy: the emergence of new opportunities for increasing social activity by refugees; the opening of new businesses; a strong motivation to succeed; intensification of production and provision of services; filling jobs that were not in demand by the local population.


2005 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 5-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilgin Ayata ◽  
Deniz Yükseker

Internal displacement has replaced the flows of border-crossing refugees as the major form of forced migration across the world in the past two decades. International organizations seek to have a central role in providing assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) although this phenomenon comes under the traditional realm of state sovereignty, in contrast to the refugee regime, which is part of international law. The evolving international IDP regime has triggered policy and scholarly debates about various aspects of state responsibility and international assistance. On one hand, when states fail to provide protection to the displaced, the decision to take international action is often selective and depends to a large extent on the balance of geopolitical interests of powerful donor states. On the other hand, extant international humanitarian assistance practices also face criticism for having created new modes of power over displaced groups.


KPGT_dlutz_1 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-274
Author(s):  
Eveline Vieira Brigido ◽  
Fabiola Wust Zibetti ◽  
Liton Lanes Pilau Sobrinho

This article aims to analyze the potential impact of forced internal displacement on international refugee migration, considering the relation between internal and international migration: Are today’s IDPs tomorrow’s refugees? It is likely that many refugees were forcibly displaced in their own countries before applying for asylum. Therefore, to develop this investigation, this article is divided into three sections. In the first section, it presents a general approach about internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees, including definitions and the bases of its protection under international law. Afterwards, it analyzes data on international migration and on internal displacement. At the end, these data are compared and possible link between internal and international forced migration is analyzed.


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