tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/refugee-crisis-20183/articlesRefugee crisis – The Conversation2023-06-26T16:14:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2058812023-06-26T16:14:13Z2023-06-26T16:14:13ZHow music therapy can help rebuild the lives of refugees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532732/original/file-20230619-15-kln7gp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C22%2C7304%2C4704&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Music therapy is well-placed to provide support in addressing trauma and promoting wellbeing.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/music-note-art-sound-instrumental-concept-465116960">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past 20 years, the number of people forcibly displaced from their homes worldwide due to conflict has reached a figure <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/who-we-are/figures-glance">in excess of 90 million</a>. This has more than doubled since the early 1990s, a time period labelled “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/jrs/article/33/4/639/6209808">the decade of displacement</a>” by the United Nations Refugee Agency. This rate of increase shows no signs of slowing and has been fuelled by the current situations in Syria and Ukraine.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason for displacement, there is no doubt that <a href="https://istss.org/getattachment/Education-Research/Briefing-Papers/Trauma-and-Mental-Health-in-Forcibly-Displaced-Pop/Displaced-Populations-Briefing-Paper_Final.pdf.aspx">being forced to leave your homeland is traumatic</a>. The journey to a safer place can be physically and emotionally challenging. <a href="https://www.europeanea.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Stress-and-refugees.pdf#:%7E:text=Common%2520reactions%2520after%2520traumatic%2520life%2520events%2520include%253A%2520-,plan%2520for%2520the%2520future%253B%2520pre-occupation%2520with%2520the%2520past.">Shock and denial</a> are often the first emotions experienced by refugees. </p>
<p>Long-term problems include unmanageable emotions, flashbacks and difficulty with relationships. Physical symptoms such as nausea and headaches may also occur. While practical support such as providing physical safety, food and clothes and medical help are crucial, psychological support also needs to be offered.</p>
<h2>Music therapy</h2>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/mtp/article-abstract/41/1/e30/6608838?redirectedFrom=fulltext">Music therapy</a> is well-placed to provide support in addressing trauma and promoting wellbeing. It is a psychological therapy which is regulated by the <a href="https://www.hcpc-uk.org">Health and Care Professions Council</a> (HCPC) in the UK. Music therapists use a range of music-based interventions including interactive music-making, songwriting and listening to music. These help to build a therapeutic relationship with participants. </p>
<p>Music therapy offers a flexible and accessible way of supporting wellbeing and sharing difficult experiences. It can also bring positive memories of the cultures from which refugees have come. These can be shared with others and help to build resilience.</p>
<p>In the early stages of trauma, music can be part of a psychological first aid (PFA) package. PFA is usually offered in the initial aftermath of a traumatic event as well as in later stages. It seeks to provide people with <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18181708/">safety, connections and hopefulness</a>. The integration of these elements into music-based and music therapy interventions is useful for refugees. </p>
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<p>Music is something found in every culture. People carry their own musical experiences with them wherever they go and can call on them for solace. Music can also be a go-to resource for those needing comfort. With such a huge range of musical genres and styles, there is something for everyone. </p>
<p>Because music is comprised of a series of different patterns – something the brain is attracted to and actively <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35352057/">seeks out</a> – there are opportunities for emotional regulation. This is central to supporting refugees’ wellbeing. </p>
<p>Moreover, music-making with a music therapist in the immediate aftermath of trauma offers the opportunity to build relationships, stabilise feelings and reduce anxiety. These are crucial steps in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5744879/">mitigating the impact of trauma</a>. </p>
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<img alt="A boy and a man sit at a table. The boy is playing a colourful xylophone." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532739/original/file-20230619-27-nobb2t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Music is comprised of a series of different patterns, something the brain is attracted to and actively seeks out.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-psychologist-working-little-boy-office-2097484426">Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>During the course of <a href="https://voices.no/index.php/voices/article/view/2539/2310">my research</a>, I have worked with a range of displaced people, including refugees and asylum-seeking families, focusing on families with children under the age of 3. My studies have shown that people who have had music therapy find it useful and supportive for a number of reasons. </p>
<p>It offers a safe space to meet others in music without the need for words or explanations. This space supports the development of feelings of safety as well as awakening creativity – something that is vital for mental health. Music therapy also fosters and builds connections with others in the same situation. </p>
<p>My projects used the core principles of PFA linked to music therapy for small groups of asylum-seeking families from Albania, Egypt, Syria and Pakistan. The simple, structured activities needed minimal English, so were accessible. </p>
<p>Movement to music, communication through rhythm games, free improvisation and songs from participants’ homelands as well as music from the UK were all used to engage the groups. This helped families feel a sense of belonging in their new home.</p>
<h2>Feeling safe</h2>
<p>The predictability of the sessions’ content was also helpful. People who experience trauma need help to feel safe, and providing a structured session does this. They also facilitated language development and social skills for the children. </p>
<p>Bonding as a family, something that can be disrupted by trauma, was also improved. To support this therapists can use lullabies and children’s songs from the original cultures of the families, as well as UK-based tunes – Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is always very popular.</p>
<p>Music and music therapy are useful tools to employ in planning PFA and continuing therapeutic support for refugees. While it is important to be sensitive to the wishes of refugee families who may not be ready to engage in musical activities, it is crucial that this provision is available to those who do wish to access it. </p>
<p>Refugees who engage with music and music therapy in their new homes often report improvements in their ability to manage their situation and move forward. Finding ways to offer access to these opportunities more widely will benefit greater numbers of those seeking to build new lives.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Coombes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Music therapy offers a flexible and accessible way of supporting wellbeing and addressing traumatic experiences.Elizabeth Coombes, Senior Lecturer in Music Therapy, University of South WalesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073542023-06-14T13:34:39Z2023-06-14T13:34:39ZNigeria’s response to the Sudan crisis is lacking – it could play a leading role in bringing peace<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531660/original/file-20230613-29-m9x1lj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">People fleeing war-torn Sudan on 13 May 2023.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hostilities between rival military parties in Sudan had claimed more than <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/death-toll-from-sudan-war-rises-to-more-than-600/7086508.html">600 lives</a> by May 2023. </p>
<p>The infighting has mostly been between the Sudanese Armed Forces loyal to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/16/who-is-al-burhan-sudans-military-de-facto-head-of-state">Abdel Fattah al-Burhan</a>, Sudan’s current military ruler, and the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/16/sudan-unrest-what-is-the-rapid-support-forces">Rapid Support Forces</a>, a paramilitary force led by his deputy <a href="https://theconversation.com/sudan-conflict-hemedti-the-warlord-who-built-a-paramilitary-force-more-powerful-than-the-state-203949">Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, “Hemedti”</a>. </p>
<p>Sudan and Nigeria have regional and geographical connections, especially through Chad, which is a neighbour to both. </p>
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<p>As I have <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/05/01/sudan-war-chad-sahel-small-arms-car-iswap/">previously noted</a>, the fallout of the crisis in the Lake Chad Basin region, of which Nigeria is a core member, directly affects the country’s peace and security. </p>
<p>Nigeria is duty bound to respond to the unfolding situation, considering the 5,500 Nigerian nationals and the over <a href="https://dailytrust.com/we-have-over-5-million-sudanese-of-nigerian-origin-in-our-country/">5 million</a> Sudanese of Nigerian origin in Sudan. </p>
<p>Aside from helping the Nigerians trapped in Sudan, Nigeria needs to offer relief and assistance because a spiralling Sudan will have an impact on Nigeria’s own peace.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/author/folahanmi-aina/#:%7E:text=Folahanmi%20Aina%20is%20an%20associate,Basin%2C%20and%20the%20Sahel%20region">international security expert</a> with a regional focus on west Africa, I argue that without Nigeria’s input, the prospects of lasting peace in Sudan remain elusive, as no other country in Africa has what it takes to fill this role. </p>
<p>Sudan could experience a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65409730">prolonged conflict</a> that the sub-region cannot afford to manage. The situation in Sudan offers Nigeria an opportunity to reassert a leadership role. Nigeria also has the legitimacy and recognition to take the lead on providing an African solution to an African problem. </p>
<h2>Nigeria’s regional role</h2>
<p>Nigeria dominates the west African sub-region. It has the largest population in Africa at over <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=NG">213 million people</a>, and the largest economy by gross domestic product at <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?locations=NG">US$440.8 billion</a> as of 2021. </p>
<p>With an estimated total military personnel of <a href="https://punchng.com/nigeria-maintains-35th-position-in-global-military-ranking/">215,000, of which 135,000 are active</a>, Nigeria has the most formidable military force in west Africa. </p>
<p>A recurring argument is that given Nigeria’s current economic woes, which include a <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/business-news/578847-nigerias-public-debt-rose-to-n44-06trn-in-q3-2022.html">rising debt profile</a>, it may not be able to take the leadership role. If it doesn’t, who will, and what would the implications be? </p>
<h2>A history of interventions</h2>
<p>Nigeria has a record of intervening to achieve stability in west Africa. It did this during <a href="https://www.thecable.ng/nigeria-spent-13bn-on-liberation-of-sierra-leone-liberia-says-envoy">the first (1989-1996) and second (1999-2003) Liberian civil wars, and Sierra Leone’s civil war (1991-2002)</a>. In both cases, Nigeria played a leading role in restoring peace and security. </p>
<p>Nigeria’s decision at the time reflected a willingness to avert a regional humanitarian crisis and the potential spillover effects of armed conflicts. </p>
<p>Nigeria has also helped to sustain democratic rule in west Africa. A case in point was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/ozatp-ecowas-ivorycoast-20110323-idAFJOE72M0NU20110323">Cote d’Ivoire</a>, where after a disputed election, Laurent Gbagbo refused to hand over power to Alassane Ouattara. </p>
<p>In 2016, following Yahyah Jammeh’s refusal to relinquish political power in The Gambia, Nigeria <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/foreign/west-africa-foreign/255739-gambias-president-reveals-buharis-statement-helped-sack-jammeh.html?tztc=1">mobilised</a> regional support. This regional intervention <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-gambia-politics-idUSKBN15305Q">led to the emergence of Adama Barrow</a> as president. Nigeria also contributed to the 4,000 troops who remained in The Gambia. </p>
<p>In July 2022, Nigeria <a href="https://punchng.com/fg-wades-in-mali-cote-divoire-row-over-detained-soldiers/">waded</a> in on the crisis between Mali and Cote d’Ivoire over detained soldiers.</p>
<h2>Sudan’s impact on Nigeria</h2>
<p>The situation in Sudan has already led to a worsening humanitarian crisis in the region. The UN refugee agency recently noted that <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/number-of-refugees-who-fled-sudan-for-chad-double-in-week-/7095241.html">55,000</a> people have fled from Sudan to Chad. </p>
<p>With a 1,300km border between Sudan and Chad, the unfolding situation could lead to an <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/05/01/sudan-war-chad-sahel-small-arms-car-iswap/">influx</a> of small and light arms and displaced people, which could worsen the situation in the Lake Chad Basin and the Sahel regions. </p>
<p>For Nigeria, this would mean increased pressure on infrastructural facilities arising from the arrival of refugees. </p>
<p>There is also the possibility of an upswing in violence if foreign terrorist fighters from across the Sahel region seek new recruits and safe havens. </p>
<p>For Nigeria, this would be one trouble too many. The country’s security forces have been stretched responding to multiple security threats at home. </p>
<h2>What Nigeria should do</h2>
<p><strong>Mediation:</strong> the United States is <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/307029/sudan-whats-wrong-with-the-us-saudi-mediated-talks-in-jeddah/">attempting</a> to play the role of a mediator but the chances of it brokering a peace deal are slim. </p>
<p>Citizens in west African states like Mali and Burkina Faso see the west, including France, as part of the problem rather than the solution. </p>
<p>A state-led mediation effort from an African regional power like Nigeria offers a better chance at acceptability and recognition. It avoids the suspicion that comes with the involvement of western powers. </p>
<p>Nigeria should send a special envoy to Sudan and rally continental efforts through the African Union. </p>
<p><strong>Effective manning of entry points:</strong> Nigeria needs to guard potential illegal entry points and use aerial surveillance.</p>
<p>Nigeria’s Immigration Service and its National Identity Management Centre must also be ready for rapid documentation of foreign nationals finding their way into the country. </p>
<p><strong>Refugee management:</strong> emergency refugee camps will be needed to accommodate refugees from the war in Sudan.</p>
<p><strong>Provision of relief materials:</strong> the Nigerian Air Force should be willing to airlift medical and relief materials into Sudan. Nigeria’s vast experience in this regard would make a difference on the ground. </p>
<h2>Way forward</h2>
<p>As a regional leader, Nigeria must not sit by at a time of turbulence such as this. </p>
<p>Doing so widens the existing “policing gap” across the region, especially since <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/16/last-french-troops-leave-mali-ending-nine-year-deployment">France’s exit</a> from Mali. </p>
<p>Nigeria’s foreign policy actions and inaction will be closely watched. The unfolding situation in Sudan reinforces the need for Nigeria to come up with an articulate <a href="https://www.theafricareport.com/240218/why-nigeria-needs-a-grand-strategy/">grand strategy</a> that reflects its position and national interests in a complex and fast-changing region.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207354/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Folahanmi Aina does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A spiralling Sudan will affect peace and security in the Lake Chad Basin region, of which Nigeria is a member.Folahanmi Aina, Associate Fellow, Royal United Services InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2070622023-06-08T14:08:49Z2023-06-08T14:08:49ZChad on the brink: how the war in Sudan hurts its fragile neighbour<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530631/original/file-20230607-17-bbcsrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A 2014 view of Gaoui refugee camp in N'Djamena, Chad. Pressure on refugee camps in Chad has increased due to latest fighting in Sudan.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the 15 April <a href="https://theconversation.com/sudan-crisis-explained-whats-behind-the-latest-fighting-and-how-it-fits-nations-troubled-past-203985">outbreak of hostilities</a> in Sudan, the civilian population has been bearing the brunt. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/16/sudan-unrest-what-is-the-rapid-support-forces">Rapid Support Forces</a>, led by <a href="https://theconversation.com/sudan-conflict-hemedti-the-warlord-who-built-a-paramilitary-force-more-powerful-than-the-state-203949">General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (called Hemeti</a>), are in conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/16/who-is-al-burhan-sudans-military-de-facto-head-of-state">General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan</a>, Sudan’s de facto head of state.</p>
<p>Nearly <a href="https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/sudan/">1.4 million</a> people have been displaced. Of these, 330,000 have crossed into neighbouring countries. </p>
<p>Chad – already a fragile country itself – is one. Around <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/stories/sudanese-refugees-fleeing-violence-flock-chad">90,000</a> Sudanese refugees have entered Chad since the conflict began. The new arrivals have added to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/over-60000-have-fled-chad-sudan-since-conflict-started-unhcr-2023-05-22/#:%7E:text=The%20new%20arrivals%20have%20added,for%20displaced%20people%20from%20Sudan.">600,000</a> mostly Sudanese refugees already in Chad after fleeing previous conflicts, especially in the Darfur region. </p>
<p>Despite its oil wealth, Chad is one of the <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/chad">poorest countries</a> in the world. Chad and Sudan share a common border of 1,400 kilometres. They also share the same ethnic groups living on both sides of their borders. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/helga-dickow-1209876">political scientist and expert in ethnic and religious conflict</a> with a focus on Chad, I outline how the ongoing armed conflict in Sudan poses security, humanitarian, political and economic challenges for Chad. </p>
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<h2>Fragile security</h2>
<p>In the past, relations between Chad and Sudan have been characterised by <a href="https://www.smallarmssurvey.org/sites/default/files/resources/HSBA-WP-12-Chad-Sudan-Proxy-War.pdf">conflicts, proxy wars and fragile peace agreements</a>. </p>
<p>The Darfur region plays a crucial role. It has at different times been a shelter for rebel groups of both countries.</p>
<p>Before he took power in Chad through a coup in December 1990, <a href="https://theconversation.com/idriss-deby-itno-offered-chadians-great-hope-but-ended-up-leaving-a-terrible-legacy-159443">Idriss Déby Itno</a>, an ethnic Zaghawa, and his militia had their rear base in Darfur. Members of Darfurian Zaghawa belonged to the inner circle of his rule. </p>
<p>After his <a href="https://theconversation.com/idriss-deby-itno-offered-chadians-great-hope-but-ended-up-leaving-a-terrible-legacy-159443">death in 2021</a>, a military council led by his son Mahamat took power in Chad.</p>
<p>Sudan’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/17/mohamed-hamdan-dagalo-the-feared-ex-warlord-taking-on-sudan-army-hemedti">Hemedti</a> is well connected within Chadian politics and military. He is of Chadian Arab descent and has his stronghold in the Darfur region. His family lives on both sides of the border. </p>
<p>Hemedti’s cousin, <a href="https://www.africa-confidential.com/article/id/13366/Death_on_the_front_line%2c_a_coup%2c_and_then_an_about_turn">General Bichara Issa Djadalla</a>, is the personal chief of staff to Mahamat Déby. Hemedti’s victory or defeat in Sudan could be a huge risk for the transitional president Déby in Chad.</p>
<p>In the case of his victory, Chadian Arabs could feel encouraged to try to take power in Chad as well. Many Chadians want an end to the Zaghawa rule, which has lasted for more than 30 years. Chadian Arab forces could be a real threat for Mahamat Déby.</p>
<p>In case of defeat, Hemeti would not give up his stronghold, Darfur. The gold of Darfur is the reason for his wealth and military strength. Hemedti is known for his <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/16/who-is-hemedti-the-puppeteer-behind-sudans-feared-rsf-fighters">cruelty and ruthlessness</a>. The Zaghawa of Darfur could become the victims, as it was during the <a href="https://origins.osu.edu/article/worlds-worst-humanitarian-crisis-understanding-darfur-conflict?language_content_entity=en">Darfur crisis in 2003</a>. If Mahamat Déby did not intervene, other sons of Déby and Zaghawa members of the army could quickly get rid of him.</p>
<h2>Humanitarian crisis</h2>
<p>The consequences of the outbreak of fighting in Khartoum were immediately felt in eastern Chad. </p>
<p>About <a href="https://www.africanews.com/2023/05/23/more-than-90000-sudanese-take-refuge-in-chad-to-flee-the-fighting/">90,000 refugees</a> have fled from Sudan to Chad so far. Among them are about <a href="https://storyteller.iom.int/stories/plight-homecoming-chadians-fleeing-violence-sudan">12,500 Chadian returnees</a> who have been living in Sudan for decades. </p>
<p>Most refugees arrived in eastern Chad with only what they could carry. Here they met a poor but traditionally hospitable population, including earlier refugees. The arrival of more refugees risks worsening a precarious situation.</p>
<p>International aid is desperately needed. The people lack water, food, medical care and all other necessities of life. According to UNHCR, only <a href="https://reporting.unhcr.org/chad-funding-2023">17%</a> of the funds needed to meet the most urgent needs of refugees in Chad have been received from donors. </p>
<p>During her recent visit, USAID administrator Samantha Power pledged <a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/readout/may-20-2023-administrator-samantha-power-travels-chad-visits-refugee-camp-support-humanitarian-response-crisis-sudan">$17 million</a> in humanitarian aid to the Chadian government for new and long-time refugees in the east of the country. </p>
<p>UNHCR’s deputy high commissioner for refugees, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/05/23/1177626408/unexpectedly-high-number-of-refugees-cross-into-chad-to-flee-fighting-in-sudan">Raouf Mazou</a>, also promised help for refugees and Chadians during his audience with Mahamat Déby on 22 May 2023.</p>
<p>In spite of these promises, there’s a risk that if any group feels neglected in the allocation of support, tensions between the local population and the newcomers could increase. </p>
<p>With the rainy season approaching, the situation threatens to deteriorate further. Access to the refugee camps becomes almost impossible due to poor or non-existent roads. This will make it even more difficult for aid organisations to distribute relief supplies and to move the refugees away from the border region. A humanitarian disaster in eastern Chad is a possibility. </p>
<h2>Economic crisis</h2>
<p>Landlocked Chad is heavily dependent on imports of most goods – industrial products, raw materials and food. The two main ports that supply Chad are Douala in Cameroon and Bur Sudan in Sudan.</p>
<p>The closure of the borders has had an immediate impact on Chadian consumers. Prices of goods and services have risen by up to <a href="https://nairametrics.com/2023/05/18/nigeria-increases-trade-with-chad-on-war-in-sudan/">70%</a>, according to the Observatory for Economic Complexity. </p>
<p>The few Chadian exports have come to a standstill. Cotton, gum arabic and livestock are Chad’s <a href="https://www.export.gov/article?series=a0pt00000000GtoAAE&type=Country_Commercial__kav">main non-oil exports</a>. </p>
<p>The war in Sudan might bring the already weak Chadian economy to a standstill. To make matters worse, there is currently a <a href="https://apanews.net/2023/03/06/chad-reels-from-fuel-shortage/">shortage of fuel</a> in Chad. The shortage led to an increase in fuel prices of up to 300% - in a country where private households and manufacturers rely almost entirely on their own generators. </p>
<h2>Political implications</h2>
<p>Chad’s transitional president Mahamat Déby was surprised by the fighting in Sudan while on a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. It took him almost a week to find a safe way to fly back home to N'Djamena. </p>
<p>However, he announced on his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/presidencetd">Facebook account</a> that he had been in telephone contact with the two warring parties, trying to convince them to stop the fighting. </p>
<p>He wanted to present himself as a mediator to the international public. By talking to the two generals, he avoided choosing sides. He cannot afford to get caught on either side of the conflict between al-Burhan and Hemeti. </p>
<p>Since the death of his father, Mahamat Déby has tried to keep a firm grip on power despite national and international criticism. The transitional authorities suppress <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/10/26/chad-scores-protesters-shot-dead-wounded">opposition</a> to the Déby dynasty. </p>
<p>At its last meeting, the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/chad/communique-1152nd-meeting-peace-and-security-council-african-union-report-panel-wise-its-mission-republic-chad-held-11-may-2023">African Union Security Council</a> reiterated the ineligibility of the transitional government, including its president. </p>
<p>The war in Sudan and its outcome could destabilise Chad even further and lead it away from any path to peace and democracy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207062/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helga Dickow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ongoing war in Sudan poses security, humanitarian, political and economic challenges for Chad.Helga Dickow, Senior Researcher at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institut, Freiburg Germany, University of FreiburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2048582023-05-05T15:43:40Z2023-05-05T15:43:40ZSudan’s conflict will have a ripple effect in an unstable region - and across the world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524150/original/file-20230503-20-hz0b38.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The raging conflict in Khartoum could negatively affect trade flows through Port Sudan to the rest of the world.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/smoke-billows-during-fighting-in-the-sudanese-capital-news-photo/1252556510?adppopup=true">Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/sudans-conflict-will-have-a-ripple-effect-in-an-unstable-region-and-across-the-world-204858&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p>Sudan, Africa’s <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/04/1136187">third largest country</a> by land mass, shares borders with <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/sudan/overview#:%7E:text=It%20shares%20its%20border%20with,Sudan%2C%20Ethiopia%2C%20and%20Eritrea.">seven</a> countries in an unstable region. This means that Sudan’s current conflict will have economic, social and political ripple effects across a number of countries, including the Central African Republic, Egypt, Libya, Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea.</p>
<p>The conflict might also affect countries further afield, including the US, Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, which have close economic ties with Sudan. It could destabilise the Sahel region and the Horn of Africa and jeopardise US interests in these regions. It could also delay the ratification, by the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-sudan-government-moscow-803738fba4d8f91455f0121067c118dd">yet-to-be-formed legislative assembly</a>, of the agreement for Russia to build a naval base at Port Sudan. Finally, the conflict could interfere with trade between Sudan and the Gulf states – the <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-country/are/partner/sdn">UAE and Saudi Arabia</a>. </p>
<p>Sudan’s <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/country/sdn#:%7E:text=Exports%20The%20top%20exports%20of,%2C%20and%20Italy%20(%24202M).">top exports</a> are gold, which <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/gold/reporter/sdn">earned</a> a total of US$2.85 billion in 2021, <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/ground-nuts/reporter/sdn">groundnuts</a> (US$488 million), <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/crude-petroleum/reporter/sdn">crude oil</a> (US$385 million), and <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/sheep-and-goats/reporter/sdn">sheep and goats</a> (US$239 million), all of which are sold primarily to the UAE, China, Saudi Arabia, India and Italy. </p>
<p>Sudan (and South Sudan) exported about 132,000 barrels per day of crude oil in 2021 with the UAE accounting for 45% of these exports. Sudan is also the world’s top exporter of gum arabic, a key ingredient for many food industries. The harvest of this product has been <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/sudan-conflict-threatens-supply-key-soft-drink-ingredient-2023-04-28/">disrupted</a> by the conflict. </p>
<p>Sudan’s <a href="https://oec.world/en/profile/country/sdn#:%7E:text=Exports%20The%20top%20exports%20of,%2C%20and%20Italy%20(%24202M).">main imports</a> are raw sugar, refined petroleum, wheat, packaged medicines and cars, mainly from China, UAE, Saudi Arabia, India and Egypt. The current conflict could derail this trade and create economic problems for Sudan and its trading partners. </p>
<p>Sudan is not a major export market for these countries but they should care about the instability in Khartoum for at least two reasons. First, the conflict could destabilise the region and negatively affect the efforts of these countries to expand their export trade. Second, Sudan is located on the Red Sea. Instability could interfere with trade flows through the <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2023-04-28/explainer-what-is-happening-in-sudan-and-how-does-it-affect-global-politics">Suez Canal</a>, restraining these countries’ ability to trade with the rest of the world.</p>
<p>Port Sudan, which is about 169 nautical miles from Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), is an important travel point for thousands of Muslims from west and other parts of Africa who are embarking on the Hajj to Mecca through <a href="http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/review/SDN_Port_Sudan_2164.php">Jeddah Islamic Port</a>. In addition, most Nigerian <a href="http://www.worldportsource.com/ports/review/SDN_Port_Sudan_2164.php">hajj air carriers</a> transit through Sudanese airspace on their way to Mecca. Violent conflict in Sudan could force these carriers to seek alternative but more expensive and longer routes, a process that could prevent many Muslims from successfully performing this important religious ritual.</p>
<p>In addition, <a href="https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/260641468188681749/pdf/97404-REPLACEMENT.pdf">90%</a> of Sudan’s external trade passes through Port Sudan. The port is also an important commercial sea gateway for neighbouring <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/mi/research-analysis/the-impact-of-civil-unrest-on-port-sudan.html#:%7E:text=Port%20Sudan%20is%20also%20a,these%20countries'%20trade%20transiting%20Sudan.">landlocked countries</a>. Interruption of the port could worsen already acute shortages of key commodities, including especially food.</p>
<p>Port Sudan also has a container port that handles trade to and from various parts of the world. It has been argued that Russia is seeking to build a military base at Port Sudan in order to grant its warships access to and influence over <a href="https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4276311/how-will-conflict-sudan-impact-egypts-stance-over-gerd">one of the world’s busiest and most contested sea lanes</a> – the Suez Canal.</p>
<h2>Ripple effect</h2>
<p>A civil war in Sudan could spill into already violence-plagued neighbouring countries, such as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/26/humanitarian-fears-as-thousands-of-sudanese-flee-to-chad-on-foot">Chad</a>, the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/central-african-republic/impact-sudan-crisis-central-african-republic-flash-update-27-april-2023#:%7E:text=The%20ongoing%20conflict%20in%20Sudan,the%20price%20of%20basic%20commodities.">Central African Republic</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXrkyBkTGeU">South Sudan</a>, <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2141936/middle-east">Libya</a>, <a href="https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/rest-of-africa/eritrean-president-says-border-open-for-people-fleeing-sudan-4221200">Eritrea</a> and <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230429-thousands-endure-long-wait-for-safety-at-sudan-ethiopia-border">Ethiopia</a>. </p>
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<p>Were Sudan’s neighbours to get involved on either side of the conflict, the region could become embroiled in the civil war largely because <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/sudan/stopping-sudans-descent-full-blown-civil-war">communities in the border areas</a> share a common heritage.</p>
<p>Two countries stand to suffer the most if the conflict escalates: Egypt and South Sudan. </p>
<p>Sudan <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65338247">straddles the Nile River</a>. Its main tributaries meet at Khartoum and then flow downstream to water-hungry Egypt. Fragility in Khartoum could affect Egypt’s fresh water supply and hence economic and social development. </p>
<p>Instability in Khartoum could also derail efforts to reach agreement on the filling and management of the <a href="https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4276311/how-will-conflict-sudan-impact-egypts-stance-over-gerd">Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam</a>. That could create problems, not just for Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, but also for the <a href="https://www.nilebasin.org/index.php/nbi/who-we-are">entire Nile basin</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ethiopias-dam-dispute-five-key-reads-about-how-it-started-and-how-it-could-end-187644">Ethiopia's dam dispute: five key reads about how it started and how it could end</a>
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<p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65338247">Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam</a> is a hydro-electric project which Cairo sees as a threat to its use of the Nile. Since Ethiopia began constructing the <a href="https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/the-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-limited-options-for-a-resolution/">dam</a> in 2011, Egypt has relied on Khartoum’s cooperation to fight perceived threats to its water security. </p>
<p>Cairo might see Sudan’s security situation as a threat to reaching a mutually <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2021/sc14576.doc.htm">acceptable</a> tripartite treaty for the filling and management of the dam. A peaceful, democratic Sudan, thus, is important to Egypt and other Nile Basin countries.</p>
<p>Ninety percent of <a href="https://www.fdiintelligence.com/content/feature/the-promise-of-oil-and-gas-in-south-sudan-81521">South Sudan’s economy is based on oil</a>, which is exported through Sudan to Port Sudan. Conflict in Khartoum could seriously interfere with oil shipments and force economic collapse in South Sudan.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-sudans-oil-and-water-give-it-bargaining-power-but-will-it-benefit-the-people-197725">South Sudan's oil and water give it bargaining power – but will it benefit the people?</a>
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<h2>External ties</h2>
<p>Outside the African continent, three countries have significant interests in seeing Sudan return to peaceful coexistence: the Russian Federation, the US and the UAE. </p>
<p><strong>The Russian Federation:</strong> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65338247">Russia</a> is interested primarily in gaining access to the country’s enormous resources, which include gold, uranium, oil and its port facilities. Looking ahead, Russia also has much to lose. It has sought for some time to establish a military base at Port Sudan, which would host about <a href="https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/83755">300 troops</a> and give Russian <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65338247">warships access</a> to and influence over the Suez Canal and the Red Sea. </p>
<p>Russia’s hope is that its foothold in Sudan will give it better access to other countries in North Africa and the Horn of Africa. A full-blown civil war would delay or derail that.</p>
<p><strong>The United States:</strong> Some foreign governments, such as the US, have indicated that they are interested in helping Sudan establish democratic institutions and a governing process undergirded by the rule of law. Others may want to place themselves in a position to exploit the country and its resources. However, since it signed on to the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-sudan-usa-israel/sudan-quietly-signs-abraham-accords-weeks-after-israel-deal-idUSKBN29C0Q5">Abraham Accords</a>, Sudan has emerged as an important player in efforts by Washington to improve diplomatic relations between Israel and the Arab States.</p>
<p><strong>The United Arab Emirates (UAE):</strong> The UAE has military and commercial assets in Eritrea, Somaliland, Somalia and the southern coast of Yemen. It stands to benefit from a peaceful Sudan. Under the administration of Omar al-Bashir – the military leader who ruled Sudan for three decades until he was overthrown during a 2019 popular uprising – Sudan was a beneficiary of billions of dollars in aid from the UAE. The UAE has also benefited from the relationship. For example, Sudan has become a major exporter of <a href="https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/83755">gold</a> to the UAE.</p>
<p>Finally, continued instability in Sudan could exacerbate the already serious humanitarian situation in many of Sudan’s neighbours, such as Chad, which has received <a href="https://www.rescue.org/eu/press-release/thousands-sudanese-refugees-arrive-chad-traumatised-hungry-and-dehydrated-irc-calls">hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204858/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Mukum Mbaku does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sudan’s current conflict will have economic, social and political ripple effects across a number of countriesJohn Mukum Mbaku, Professor, Weber State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2049312023-05-04T13:28:43Z2023-05-04T13:28:43ZSudan: the longer the conflict lasts, the higher the risk of a regional war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524404/original/file-20230504-15-id7xs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Saudi security officers stand guard off the seaport of Port Sudan in April 2023.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2019 Sudan uprisings that ousted long-time dictator Omar al-Bashir and installed a military-civilian transitional government gave hope that the northern African country could finally <a href="https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N21/232/29/PDF/N2123229.pdf?OpenElement">transition</a> to democratic rule. The country has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/sudan-can-avoid-past-mistakes-by-drawing-lessons-from-its-history-115470">ruled</a> by the military for most of its independence since 1956. </p>
<p>But Sudan’s bumpy transition to democracy has come to a complete halt. The country now faces the worst conflict in its history as a full-blown civil war – with external entanglements – looms.</p>
<p>The Sudanese armed forces and a paramilitary force known as the Rapid Support Forces have declared war against each other, bringing the country to its knees. The main protagonists are two generals: Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the armed forces, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/sudan-conflict-hemedti-the-warlord-who-built-a-paramilitary-force-more-powerful-than-the-state-203949">Mohamad Hamdan Dagalo</a> (known as Hemedti) of the Rapid Support Forces.</p>
<p>The hostilities have been most intense in the capital city, Khartoum. But violence has broken out in other provinces and is threatening to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/battle-sudans-capital-risks-awakening-war-darfur-2023-04-25/">revive</a> long-simmering violence in Darfur. </p>
<p>There is also a risk that the conflict could spill over to neighbouring countries and escalate into a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep09654.4">regional conflict</a>. Geographically, Sudan borders seven countries: Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR), South Sudan, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Libya. Politically and culturally, it straddles the Middle East, north Africa and the Horn of Africa. </p>
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<p>Regional powers and neighbours have lined up behind either of the two generals – or in some cases both. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been backing al-Burhan. For their part, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and General Khalifa Haftar of Libya have supported the Rapid Support Forces. But many other actors remain undecided. </p>
<p>There is a real possibility that regional and international actors will be arming different sides as they pursue their own, often competing interests. This could bring unprecedented shifts in the region’s already uneasy regional equilibrium, and test pre-existing alliances. </p>
<p>Regional and international actors are key in enabling – or preventing – the development of the crisis into a protracted civil war with regional dimensions. The best chance of halting Sudan’s slide into civil war lies in a united front of Western and regional powers, with Sudanese civil society groups putting pressure on the warring generals for a permanent ceasefire. And a return to a civilian-led transition. </p>
<p>But as time goes by, many despair that Sudan will soon reach the point of no return.</p>
<h2>Fretful neighbours</h2>
<p><strong>Egypt:</strong> Egypt had a long history of meddling in Sudan’s affairs. This has included supporting various military governments, as well as containing the Islamist resurgence in the 1990s. In 2019, when al-Bashir was <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/sudans-military-ousts-president-omar-al-bashir-following-protests/a-48282243">deposed</a>, Egypt supported al-Burhan in the transition. It didn’t want a military regime – and its ally – being replaced by a civilian democratic government. It feared that this would inspire Egyptians to do the same. </p>
<p>Since the outbreak of the recent conflict, Egypt has adopted a cautious approach by working to <a href="https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2023/05/03/egypt-seeks-to-consolidate-ceasefire-in-sudan-to-pave-way-for-peaceful-dialogue-al-sisi/">mediate</a> a permanent ceasefire.</p>
<p>This is because the war brings risks. It is already having to manage a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/29/sudanese-flee-to-egypt-as-cairo-works-to-avoid-refugee-crisis">refugee crisis</a> as tens of thousands of Sudanese attempt to get away from the conflict. </p>
<p>In addition, an escalation of the conflict could potentially bring instability to Egypt’s southern borders. This could open up routes for arms smuggling and illegal trade. </p>
<p>Also, Egypt may be goaded to get involved militarily if the fighting continues.</p>
<p>But, Egypt’s greatest fear must be that it will lose its main ally in the ongoing disagreement with Ethiopia over the operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), situated on the Blue Nile river near Ethiopia’s border with Sudan. The conflict will complicate the management of the dam, as both generals may have <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2293531/world">different views</a> on the issue. A prolonged conflict in Sudan could have long consequences for Egypt’s food and water security.</p>
<p><strong>Ethiopia:</strong> Relations with Sudan have been strained in recent years due to <a href="https://www.chathamhouse.org/2023/04/coordinating-international-responses-ethiopia-sudan-tensions/03-untangling-ethiopia-and">border disputes</a> over land claims and disagreements over <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2020/08/05/the-controversy-over-the-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam/">the GERD</a>. A protracted conflict in Sudan could have an effect on border disputes. These disputes are connected to tensions over the contested fertile farmland of Al Fashaga and apparent Sudanese support for Tigrayan opponents against the Ethiopian federal government. </p>
<p>The crisis in Sudan may affect the equilibrium on these border issues.</p>
<p>On Sudan’s western frontiers, Libya, Chad and CAR risk <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/1/what-does-fighting-in-darfur-mean-for-sudans-western-frontier">spill overs</a> from violence and tensions in the Darfur region. Hemedti is a tribal leader from the Mahariya clan of Darfur’s Rizeigat tribe. He has been a main partner to Haftar of Libya in trading drugs, arms and refugees across borders between Sudan, Libya and Chad. </p>
<p>With tensions rising in Darfur, forces could be split: some will side with Hemedti’s forces. Others will seek to undermine them. </p>
<h2>External powers</h2>
<p>In civil wars in the Middle East and Africa, such as in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen, international actors have intervened by replenishing their allies with weapons, sponsoring diplomacy involving the warring groups, and sometimes taking matters into their own hands by launching military interventions. </p>
<p>Clashes in Sudan could very well turn the region into a playground for external powers to extend their influence. </p>
<p>Under presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1758-5899.12777">US influence waned</a> across Africa and the Middle East. At the same time, America’s competitors took steps to carve out a strategic foothold in the Horn of Africa and the critical maritime route of the Red Sea. </p>
<p>Russia, for example, is reportedly negotiating <a href="https://www.cmi.no/publications/7824-port-sudan-caught-in-the-international-race-to-control-the-red-sea-region">military and economic deals</a>, allowing it to use Sudan’s ports on the main trading routes to Europe. There have also been <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/pmc-russias-wagner-group-in-sudan-gold-military-junta/a-65439746">accusations</a> that Russia’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/sudan-questions-about-wagner-group-involvement-as-another-african-country-falls-prey-to-russian-mercenaries-204299">Wagner Group</a> is involved in illicit gold mining in Sudan. </p>
<p>For its part <a href="https://www.diis.dk/en/research/whats-stake-china-in-sudan">China</a>, Sudan’s <a href="https://wits.worldbank.org/CountrySnapshot/en/SUD">second-largest trading partner</a> (after Saudi Arabia), has invested heavily in infrastructure and oil extraction, giving it an important stake in the conflict. </p>
<p>Wealthy oil producers – Saudi Arabia and the UAE – have an interest in establishing regional dominance. The UAE, aspiring to control maritime routes in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, has taken serious interest in <a href="https://www.arabnews.com/node/2215641/business-economy">ports in Sudan</a>. </p>
<p>For its part, Saudi Arabia has been keen to prevent Iran from establishing a foothold in Sudan. As a result, it has <a href="https://pomeps.org/the-great-game-of-the-uae-and-saudi-arabia-in-sudan">poured money</a> into supporting Sudan’s military. </p>
<p>Both interfered to shape the 2019 transition in Sudan to ensure a friendly regime would end up in power. And both invested in a range of economic and military enterprises. </p>
<p>But they haven’t been supporting the same general: Saudi Arabia has supported al-Burhan while the UAE has been an ardent supporter of Hemedti.</p>
<p>The longer the conflict continues, the greater the odds for a longer, bloody war with regional and international entanglements. This will make it more difficult to contain the conflict or find a resolution that satisfies all parties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204931/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>May Darwich is the principal investigator of a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York for the project: Port Infrastructure, International Politics, Everyday Life: From the Arabian Gulf to the Horn of Africa, <a href="http://portinfrastructure.org">http://portinfrastructure.org</a>. The statements made and views expressed are solely the responsibility of the author. </span></em></p>There is a risk that Sudan’s conflict could spill over into neighbouring countries.May Darwich, Associate Professor of International Relations of the Middle East, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1938812022-11-27T13:09:06Z2022-11-27T13:09:06ZHow the Canada Border Services Agency tolerates and even encourages refugee mistreatment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496789/original/file-20221122-20-mefuy3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3600%2C2236&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Eight migrants from Somalia cross into Canada from the United States by walking down a train track into the town of Emerson, Man., in February 2017. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Refugee advocates have long known about systemic problems with immigration enforcement in Canada, resulting in <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/06/17/canada-abuse-discrimination-immigration-detention">wrongful detentions and deportations</a>, as well as people being tortured upon return to their countries of origin. </p>
<p><a href="https://romerohouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Report-on-deportation.pdf">Our new research</a> explains why these problems exist. </p>
<p>Flaws in Canada Border Services Agency’s (CBSA) structure and mandate mean that misconduct is tolerated and even incentivized. Independent oversight of CBSA and legislative changes are needed to protect refugee rights.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/migrants-deserve-the-right-to-make-decisions-about-where-they-live-192829">Migrants deserve the right to make decisions about where they live</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Deportation affects refugee rights</h2>
<p>Our findings show that more than half the people deported from Canada each year made <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/refugees/asylum-claims.html">refugee claims</a>. While some people are ready to return home, others still fear persecution. </p>
<p>Decisions on a refugee claim can be wrong. Outcomes of refugee claims depend on <a href="https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/scholarly_works/1409/">the Immigration and Refugee Board member</a> who hears the claim, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3980954">the quality of legal representation</a> and <a href="https://meetgary.ca/files/Memory_paper.pdf">subjective credibility determinations made by those hearing claims</a>. </p>
<p>People who are at risk of persecution, torture or worse can be denied refugee status and face imminent deportation. For these reasons, deportation is closely linked to refugee rights.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A Black woman sits with a baby on her lap in a government office." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496788/original/file-20221122-24-17nja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496788/original/file-20221122-24-17nja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496788/original/file-20221122-24-17nja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496788/original/file-20221122-24-17nja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=456&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496788/original/file-20221122-24-17nja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496788/original/file-20221122-24-17nja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496788/original/file-20221122-24-17nja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=573&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Asylum-seekers wait to be processed at the Canada Border Services Agency office in Lacolle, Que., in August 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How someone is treated during the deportation process matters. <a href="https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/transparency-transparence/pd-dp/bbp-rpp/pacp/2020-11-24/pii-ipi-eng.html">CBSA places an emphasis on “timely removals”</a> at the expense of respecting rights. And although Canada prides itself on its safeguards, they are insufficient.</p>
<p>For example, people can apply for a <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/application-forms-guides/guide-5523-applying-removal-risk-assessment.html">pre-removal risk assessment</a> to demonstrate the risk they face prior to being deported. The risk assessment was <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/reports-statistics/evaluations/removal-risk-assessment-program/prra.html">created to meet Canada’s obligations</a> to protect people from persecution. </p>
<p>But in 2012, the government introduced legislation that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdx019">limits access to the pre-removal risk assessment</a>. Since then, people can only apply for it if they remain in Canada for at least a year after their refugee claim was refused. </p>
<p>Our research found that whether someone is deported before the end of that year comes down to chance, defeating the very purpose of the risk assessment.</p>
<h2>CBSA not equipped for sensitive work</h2>
<p>Deportation is sensitive work. Yet the CBSA lacks the structure and management controls to carry out activities with human rights implications.</p>
<p>We obtained job descriptions for senior leaders in CBSA who oversee enforcement. They do not mention human rights treaties or obligations. There is no evidence that performance measures for leaders, front-line staff or the agency as a whole include compliance with international human rights obligations.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496790/original/file-20221122-11-4lu9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A shoulder patch reads Canada Border Services Agency with a gold-coloured ensign in the middle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496790/original/file-20221122-11-4lu9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496790/original/file-20221122-11-4lu9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496790/original/file-20221122-11-4lu9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496790/original/file-20221122-11-4lu9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496790/original/file-20221122-11-4lu9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496790/original/file-20221122-11-4lu9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496790/original/file-20221122-11-4lu9z6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Canada Border Services Agency patch is seen on an officer in Calgary, Alta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead, CBSA documents emphasize the need for timely removals, specifically enforcing a deportation within one year of a refused refugee claim. Such fast deportations, as mentioned, may not leave refugee claimants with enough time to apply for the risk assessment.</p>
<p>Legal representatives we interviewed reported many instances of misconduct by CBSA officials, such as lying, abuse of power, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/13/suggestions-of-fraudulent-documents-misuse-of-informants-and-personal-email-accounts-as-longtime-detainees-lawyer-grills-canadian-border-agent.html">concocting documents</a> and baseless detentions to enforce a deportation. These tactics advance, rather than violate, CBSA’s mandate in the absence of requiring its employees to honour human rights obligations.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1594831711317397504"}"></div></p>
<p>The CBSA also lacks an <a href="https://bccla.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/FINAL-for-web-BCCLA-CBSA-Oversight.pdf">independent oversight body</a> to review its work, investigate complaints and make binding recommendations. That means complaints about the conduct of CBSA officers must be made to CBSA. </p>
<p>A complaint can work against the person being deported. Many refugee lawyers told us they don’t bother reporting misconduct. </p>
<p>Lydia, a refugee lawyer, told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I’ve complained about CBSA officers over the years with absolutely no effect. In fact, several officers who lied under oath were promoted after they had engaged in really disreputable conduct. Why waste your time?”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Legal help beyond reach</h2>
<p>The deportation process is complex and unpredictable. Delaying or preventing a deportation requires expert legal advice. But it’s not easy to get legal representation for deportation cases, especially on a tight timeline. </p>
<p>Deportation cases require intense effort over a short period of time. Many experienced refugee lawyers rarely take a deportation case unless it’s a pre-existing client. </p>
<p>While refugees in Ontario may be eligible for legal aid, it doesn’t cover the real number of hours it takes to vigorously pursue the case. Sathya, a refugee lawyer, told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“It’s literally the worst work in this field …. It wipes every single thing off your desk. You have to put aside everything, cancel all your evening plans because you’re going to be pulling all-nighters. It is very, very difficult.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>What’s more, legal fees for deportation cases are often thousands of dollars, which is unaffordable for many refugee claimants.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/american-style-deportation-is-happening-in-canada-94634">American-style deportation is happening in Canada</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Addressing injustice in deportations</h2>
<p>An agency that conducts deportations must respect human rights obligations and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. CBSA job descriptions should be revised to require compliance, which should be measured in performance evaluations. </p>
<p>To further address bias, CBSA needs to institute an anti-racism strategy, like the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/anti-racism-strategy/context.html">Anti-racism Strategy 2.0</a> being implemented within Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada.</p>
<p>The Canadian government should repeal the one-year bar on a refugee claimant seeking a pre-removal risk assessment to ensure that people at risk of persecution are not deported.</p>
<p>Finally, given the life-or-death implications of their work, the CBSA needs independent oversight. The Liberal government has <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberals-revive-cbsa-watchdog-plan-1.6459288">proposed a bill</a> to introduce such a watchdog. That bill must be passed to ensure respect for refugee rights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Tomko Dennler received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for this research project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brianna Garneau received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship for her doctoral work. </span></em></p>A report finds that Canada’s flawed deportation process undermines refugee protection. Here’s why it must be reformed so that it meets Canada’s human rights obligations.Kathryn Tomko Dennler, Immigration Researcher, York University, CanadaBrianna Garneau, PhD Candidate, Socio-legal Studies, York University, CanadaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1870592022-07-20T16:56:58Z2022-07-20T16:56:58ZDebunking the myth of the ‘evil people smuggler’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475224/original/file-20220720-11760-4t8hrw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C20%2C4469%2C2959&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel (left) and Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Biruta (right) sign a deal on April 14, 2022, that would send some asylum-seekers in the U.K. thousands of miles away to Rwanda. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Muhizi Olivier)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/debunking-the-myth-of-the--evil-people-smuggler-" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In 2022, the number of forcibly displaced people surpassed <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/insights/explainers/100-million-forcibly-displaced.html">100 million worldwide</a>. Nearly <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/resettlement-gap-record-number-global-refugees-few-are-resettled">1.5 million refugees</a> will need resettlement in 2022, but <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/resettlement.html">less than one per cent of refugees</a> will be resettled. </p>
<p>Across the globe, the declining rate of refugee resettlement and the absence of legal avenues has <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/boat-arrivals/">forced refugees to use smugglers to cross borders</a> to access refugee protection. </p>
<p>In response to these trends, high-income countries have introduced draconian deterrence measures that prevent people from reaching their territory to claim asylum. </p>
<p>By virtue of their irregular arrival, refugees who enlist smugglers to claim asylum are <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/desperatejourneys/">criminalized and and often pushed back</a>, which prevents them from accessing the rights of refugee status outlined in the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">1951 Refugee Convention</a>. </p>
<h2>The ‘Rwanda Plan’</h2>
<p>The United Kingdom has been at the forefront of efforts to deter and prevent refugees from seeking asylum on its territory. The U.K. has an established track record of using draconian measures to deter migrants. </p>
<p>When she was home secretary in 2012, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/theresa-may-windrush-migrants-hostile-environment-b2086746.html">Theresa May stated</a> that her aim “was to create here in Britain a really hostile environment for illegal migration.” She later served as prime minister. Successive governments have maintained this agenda, culminating in the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/14/europe/uk-rwanda-migrant-deal-gbr-intl/index.html">U.K. and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership</a>. </p>
<p>The “Rwanda Plan” involves transferring asylum seekers and migrants arriving “illegally” in the U.K. — such as those crossing the English Channel in boats — to Rwanda, where they will be processed and resettled.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman giving a speech from behind a podium" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475225/original/file-20220720-9522-8pfmqu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel speaks to the media after signing what the two countries called an ‘economic development partnership’ in Kigali, Rwanda on April 14, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Muhizi Olivier)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The plan has been widely condemned by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jun/14/european-court-humam-right-makes-11th-hour-intervention-in-rwanda-asylum-seeker-plan">international courts</a>, <a href="https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/06/01/an-abomination-charities-react-as-uk-orders-first-migrant-deportation-flight">charities</a>, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/06/13/rwanda-deportation-plan-branded-national-shame-church-england/">religious groups</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/25/stars-urge-commonwealth-to-oppose-uk-plan-to-send-refugees-to-rwanda">celebrities</a> and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2cca92d7-f771-4501-9a17-f91cdfae2bdc">asylum seekers</a>. The UN Refugee Agency has “<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1116342">firmly opposed</a>” the partnership and re-emphasized that state actions that prevent refugees from reaching destination countries and claiming asylum lead to the shifting, rather than the sharing, of responsibilities to protect asylum seekers.</p>
<p>In her speech on April 14, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/oral-statement-on-rwanda">Home Secretary Priti Patel argued</a> the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Evil people smugglers and their criminal gangs are facilitating people into Europe, resulting in loss of life and huge costs to the U.K. taxpayer. The tragic loss of life of people in the Channel and in the Mediterranean at the hands of those evil smugglers must stop.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In pursuing its deterrence agenda, the U.K. has shifted the blame for dangerous and deadly journeys away from its hostile policies, toward a new faceless boogeyman: evil people smugglers. By doing this, the Rwanda Plan is presented as a way to protect vulnerable people from smugglers. </p>
<p>Secretary Patel’s comments reflect a strategy that has been adopted by many wealthy nations in response to the rising number of asylum seekers arriving “illegally.” By portraying smuggling as dangerous, criminal and deadly, these nations obscure the role violent borders play in contributing to the conditions under which migrant smuggling proliferates.</p>
<h2>Letting nations off the hook</h2>
<p>The narrow portrayal of smugglers as evil, greedy criminals provides a convenient scapegoat for governments, policymakers and journalists. The figure of the smuggler offers an ideal boogeyman for our anxious times because they embody an external danger that states can protect citizens against.</p>
<p>By framing the global crackdown on migrant smuggling as a battle between good and evil, wealthy nations hide <a href="https://commons.allard.ubc.ca/fac_pubs/14/">the role their policies play</a> in creating the global market for smuggling in the first place.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of men are escorted by several border force officers in bright yellow vests" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474689/original/file-20220718-20-61y4wa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Border Force officers escort a group of men thought to be migrants to a waiting bus in the port city of Dover, England, in August 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead, culpability for these tragedies is attributed to unscrupulous smugglers, stereotypically represented as “<a href="https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/rwanda-deal-johnson-speech-patel-presser/">people smuggling gangs</a>” that prey on the vulnerabilities of people on the move. </p>
<p>While it may be politically advantageous to portray smugglers as criminals, and smuggled people as victims of exploitation and abuse, this characterization is disingenuous and serves to rationalize draconian deterrence measures that violate the right refugees have to seek asylum.</p>
<h2>The migrant smuggling industry</h2>
<p>To be sure, migrant smuggling is a growing industry for organized crime. Smugglers facilitated the irregular transit and entry of roughly 2.5 million migrants in 2016 and made an estimated profit of <a href="https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glosom/GLOSOM_2018_web_small.pdf">US$7 billion</a>. </p>
<p>In the pursuit of profit, smugglers often take advantage of migrants and asylum seekers who are vulnerable to violence, theft, sexual assault and extortion. Nearly <a href="https://missingmigrants.iom.int/data">50,000 migrants have died since 2014</a>, many drowning in the Mediterranean on risky journeys facilitated by smugglers. </p>
<p>However, the stereotypical accounts of migrant smuggling, based on graphic stories of violence, exploitation and profit maximization, is limited. As <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003043645-32/war-smugglers-expansion-border-apparatus-lorena-gazzotti">migration scholar Lorena Gazzotti states</a>, this portrayal of smugglers as “an inherently deviant, dangerous figure is deceiving.” </p>
<p>Organized crime researchers <a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/migrant-refugee-smuggler-saviour/">Peter Tinti and Tuesday Reitano</a> provide some additional nuance: “It is certainly true that smugglers profit from the desperation of others, but it is also true that in many cases smugglers save lives, create possibilities and redress global inequalities.” </p>
<h2>Narrative needs to shift</h2>
<p>Organizations like the International Organization for Migration also characterize smugglers in black-and-white terms: “the large-scale smuggling of migrants across international borders is a <a href="https://www.iom.int/counter-migrant-smuggling">global threat</a> to migration governance, national security and the well-being of migrants.” They offer their services to help states “disrupt migrant-smuggling operations.” </p>
<p>While signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention are <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/3bcfdf164.pdf">prohibited from punishing asylum seekers</a> for using smugglers to enter a country of refuge “illegally,” refugee claimants who enlist the services of intermediaries are <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/44484134">often cast as “bogus refugees.”</a> Those who aid the entry of asylum seekers for humanitarian reasons are also criminalized and demonized by governments as “smugglers.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Someone holding a sign that says 'Refugee rights are human rights'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/474690/original/file-20220718-4540-vpiteh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters stand outside The Royal Court of Justice in London that will hear a legal challenge opposing the Home Office’s new asylum deal with Rwanda.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is illustrated in the <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2022/06/08/How-LGBTQI-to-LGBTQI-support-is-helping-Ukrainian-refugees-find-safety-in-the-EU">criminalization of the evacuation of LGBTQ+ refugees from Ukraine</a> and the criminalization of aid for refugees <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2019/06/20/european-activists-fight-criminalisation-aid-migrants-refugees">throughout Europe</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/smuggling-of-migrants-and-refugees.html">UN Refugee Agency recognizes</a> that people fleeing persecution are often forced to resort to smuggling. Despite this, the prevailing narrative around migrant smuggling has clouded the public’s understanding of the issue by obscuring the role smuggling plays in helping refugees gain asylum and rationalizing a global crackdown on refugees in the name of combating evil smugglers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187059/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The prevailing narrative around migrant smuggling has clouded the public’s understanding of the issue by obfuscating the role smuggling plays in helping refugees gain asylum.Yvonne Su, Assistant Professor in the Department of Equity Studies, York University, CanadaCorey Robinson, Lecturer in International Relations, School of Government and International Affairs, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1868292022-07-15T06:01:35Z2022-07-15T06:01:35ZAustralia’s special visa program for Ukrainians to end, despite war raging on<p>Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Ukraine this month, promising an extra <a href="https://theconversation.com/albanese-announces-100-million-in-military-aid-for-ukraine-pledging-support-for-as-long-as-it-takes-186291">A$100 million</a> in military aid and pledging to help the country for “as long as it takes”.</p>
<p>So when a <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-and-support/ukraine-visa-support">humanitarian visa program</a> allowing Ukrainians to live and work in Australia was announced to <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/anthony-albaneses-support-for-ukraine-for-as-long-as-it-takes-in-question-after-visa-cutoff-date-on-14-july/ywubokwsw">end on July 14</a>, it <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm/ukrainian-humanitarian-visa-scheme-to-end/13960276">caught many by surprise</a>. </p>
<p>Such short-notice visa changes are an impossible challenge for Ukrainians facing the many complexities and stresses of fleeing the war. In response to these concerns, the deadline has since been <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/07/14/visa-deadline-extended-for-ukrainians/">extended</a>, but only by two more weeks. </p>
<p>The decision to end the visa program is disappointing, given heavy fighting continues and the humanitarian crisis <a href="https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disasters/ukraine-humanitarian-crisis/">worsens</a>. </p>
<p>While understanding there may be economic and other reasons for the visa program change, we hope the government considers exemptions and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/29/the-new-government-gives-me-hope-that-the-cruel-limbo-of-temporary-protection-visas-might-end">other alternatives</a> to continue supporting displaced Ukrainians.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1547376831665295360"}"></div></p>
<h2>Worsening humanitarian crisis</h2>
<p>Civilians <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/07/ukraine-civilians-killed-by-reckless-russian-attacks-on-serhiivka-apartment-block-and-beach-resort/">continue to be killed and injured by Russian forces</a>.</p>
<p>Houses, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-worlds-taboo-around-russia-bombing-hospitals-is-fading-expert-2022-6">hospitals</a>, <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/ukraine-twice-many-schools-attacked-past-100-days-during-first-7-years-conflict#:%7E:text=At%20least%201%2C888%20schools%20have,Ministry%20of%20Education%20and%20Science.">schools</a> and other infrastructure are being consistently damaged or destroyed.</p>
<p>Food production has been disrupted as there’s evidence Russian forces have placed landmines to <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/background-briefing-landmine-use-ukraine-june-2022-enruuk">contaminate agricultural areas</a>, and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/61790625">stolen</a> and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/11/europe/ukraine-harvest-battlefield-intl/index.html">set fire</a> to Ukrainian grain harvests.</p>
<p>Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, about <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/ua/en/internally-displaced-persons#:%7E:text=Some%207%20million%20people%20have,to%20find%20safety%20and%20accommodation">one third of Ukrainians</a> have been forced to flee their homes.</p>
<p>More than <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">nine million people</a> – around a quarter of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Ukraine">country’s population</a> – have had to seek refuge abroad. This has created the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_refugee_crises">largest current refugee crisis in the world</a>.</p>
<p>Several countries in Europe and other parts of the world opened their doors to host displaced Ukrainians. Poland remains at the top, <a href="https://data.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">sheltering more than 1.2 million</a> refugees, while other popular destinations include Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, as well as the United States, Canada and Australia.</p>
<h2>Why do Ukrainians choose Australia?</h2>
<p>Australia is one of the most distant destinations offering shelter to displaced Ukrainians.</p>
<p>I (Olga) have researched and written a book on <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-39839-2">Eastern European migration</a> to Australia, and am currently leading a project with the University of Technology Sydney on <a href="https://sitad.com.au/migrationtoaustralia">Ukrainian migration to Australia</a>.</p>
<p>I’m undertaking a follow-up pilot <a href="https://www.booktopia.com.au/new-eastern-european-migration-to-australia-olga-oleinikova/book/9783031070945.html">study</a> on the pathways to humanitarian protection for recent Ukrainian arrivals fleeing the war.</p>
<p>Unpublished preliminary results from my interviews reveal four main reasons why some Ukrainians choose Australia over very attractive humanitarian programs in countries like Poland, Germany and Norway.</p>
<p>These reasons are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>relatives and friends in Australia</p></li>
<li><p>distant location from war-torn Europe</p></li>
<li><p>attractive three-year humanitarian program (Europe offers one year)</p></li>
<li><p>job opportunities. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Anna Kolieda, one of the participants, escaped Ukraine and went to Germany before coming to Australia. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I didn’t know much about the country. Except that it is safe, far away from other world, has beautiful landscapes and English like first language. It is also harder in Europe with jobs. But the very big factor was that I had a support from friends here. They invited me and were supporting on my way. [Settlement Services International] and government do a great job in providing help also, so it create a good start - I feel very comfortable on my second month here.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Australia’s response</h2>
<p>Despite very few direct interests in the region, Australia has shown <a href="https://theconversation.com/albanese-announces-100-million-in-military-aid-for-ukraine-pledging-support-for-as-long-as-it-takes-186291">extraordinary support for Ukraine</a>.</p>
<p>The Australian government has contributed over <a href="https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/minister/rmarles/media-releases/australia-increases-support-ukraine">A$385 million</a> in aid to date.</p>
<p>Support for Ukrainians in Australia is also strong on the ground. For example, the NSW Government has generously <a href="https://ucnsw.org/opal-cards-process-for-pickup/?fbclid=IwAR2HA0TyrBct7WmX40gqJCEJoOKLxWHC-_iOGWZOAN6nig5BXuTm_k_GiFU">donated over 350 Opal travel cards</a> to newly arrived Ukrainians, pre-loaded with money. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.ssi.org.au/get-involved/current-affairs/ukraine-response#:%7E:text=The%20Department%20of%20Home%20Affairs,Temporary%20(Humanitarian%20Concern)%20(subclass)">Settlement Services International</a>, the <a href="https://www.redcross.org.au/migration/how-red-cross-can-help/">Red Cross</a>, other services, and the local <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieBZECvYLPI">Ukrainian community</a> have organised airport pickups, hotel accommodation, food vouchers, and phone cards.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/settling-in-australia/amep/overview">Adult Migrant English Program</a> and community groups have provided language instruction <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/free-english-language-classes-for-ukrainian-refugees">locally</a> and free of charge. Such initiatives play a crucial role in <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/reports-and-pubs/files/review-integration-employment-settlement-outcomes-refugees-humanitarian-entrants.pdf">speedily integrating</a> them into Australia.</p>
<h2>The impact of the visa program cut-off</h2>
<p>Since February, Australia has granted more than <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-and-support/ukraine-visa-support">8,500 visas to Ukrainians</a>. According to The Australian newspaper, around <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/family-visa-offer-deadline-extended-to-ukrainians/news-story/52cd9440ca243f7e41b583a524b5f93a">4,100</a> of these people have accepted the offer and are now in the country. </p>
<p>Under the <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-and-support/ukraine-visa-support">visa program</a>, displaced Ukrainians can work, study, and access Medicare.</p>
<p>Because Ukrainians have to be physically in Australia to accept the visa offer, many people have had to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/pm%5D(https://ukrainians.org.au/visa-cutoff/)/ukrainian-humanitarian-visa-scheme-to-end/13960276">hurriedly alter their travel plans</a> to arrive before the deadline, creating a wave of <a href="https://www.change.org/p/extension-of-time-for-displaced-ukrainians-to-enter-australia-and-transition-to-786-visa">disappointment, fear and pressure</a> on those who had made plans for the coming months.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://ukrainians.org.au/visa-cutoff/">survey</a> by the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) with over 530 responses, the key issues facing Ukrainians from the changes to Australia’s humanitarian visa program include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>having purchased tickets for a later date</p></li>
<li><p>delays trying to escape territories occupied by the Russian armed forces</p></li>
<li><p>waiting for passports or other key travel documents to be issued or updated</p></li>
<li><p>caring for sick relatives</p></li>
<li><p>men 18 - 60 years old not being permitted to leave the country due to martial law.</p></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australia-extends-visa-deadline-for-ukrainians-after-expiry-date-not-communicated/ui9ncpuql">AAP reports</a> there’s concern that displaced Ukrainians who miss the deadline will have to reside in Australia on tourist visas, with no ability to work or access to Medicare. </p>
<p>Gendered impacts of the war are another concern. As most of those fleeing Ukraine are <a href="https://womensenews.org/2022/04/women-as-weapons-of-war-a-spectrum-of-sexual-violence-in-ukraine-and-beyond/">women and children</a>, there are numerous further issues affecting them, including: a fear of sexual violence, worry for husbands and sons left behind, lack of access to sexual and reproductive health, vulnerability to trafficking, and loss of livelihoods.</p>
<p>It’s crucial that support for Ukraine from Australia and other countries doesn’t get <a href="https://theconversation.com/russias-ukraine-invasion-wont-be-over-soon-and-putin-is-counting-on-the-wests-short-attention-span-185489">phased out</a> as the war drags on.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/russias-ukraine-invasion-is-slowly-approaching-an-inflection-point-is-the-west-prepared-to-step-up-186388">Russia's Ukraine invasion is slowly approaching an inflection point. Is the West prepared to step up?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186829/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jaya A R Dantas received funding from Healthways (The Health Promotion Foundation of Australia) to undertake intervention projects with refugee and migrant women. She has lived and worked in post-conflict countries and examines the gendered impact of conflict. She is the International SIG Convenor of the Public Health Association of Australia, President of Australian Graduate Women and is on the Global Gender Equality in Health Leadership Committee for Women in Global Health, Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tetiana Bogachenko is a member of the Ukrainian Association of Western Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olga Oleinikova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Although it has been extended by two more weeks, the decision to end the visa program is disappointing given heavy fighting continues and the humanitarian crisis worsens.Olga Oleinikova, Senior Lecturer and Director of the SITADHub (Social Impact Technologies and Democracy Research Hub) in the School of Communication, University of Technology SydneyJaya Dantas, Deputy Chair, Academic Board; Dean International, Faculty of Health Sciences and Professor of International Health, Curtin UniversityTetiana Bogachenko, Senior Research Officer, Curtin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822252022-05-13T12:14:38Z2022-05-13T12:14:38ZA court case against migrant activists in Italy offers a reminder – not all refugees are welcome in Europe<p>As many European countries <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/05/05/1095466197/whats-a-good-word-for-the-welcome-given-to-ukrainian-refugees-in-europe-generous">welcome Ukrainians</a> fleeing war, recent charges against a migrant advocate in Rome offer a reminder that popular <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/anti-immigrant-attitudes-rise-worldwide-poll/a-55024481">anti-migration sentiments</a> persist across Europe.</p>
<p>Andrea Costa, the president of Rome-based migration nonprofit <a href="https://baobabexperience.org/">Baobab Experience</a>, was <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/40301/baobab-chief-risked-18-years-for-helping-migrants-acquitted">recently acquitted</a> on charges of facilitating <a href="https://www.criminaljusticenetwork.eu/it/post/usi-ed-abusi-delle-disposizioni-contro-il-favoreggiamento-dellimmigrazione-clandestina-in-italia">illegal migration</a> – a form of <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/migration-and-asylum/irregular-migration-and-return/migrant-smuggling_en">migrant smuggling</a>. </p>
<p>Costa and two volunteers with Baobab Experience faced up to 18 years in prison after they purchased bus tickets for African migrants trying to travel from Rome to Genoa in 2016. </p>
<p>An Italian judge dropped charges against <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/40301/baobab-chief-risked-18-years-for-helping-migrants-acquitted">Costa and his co-workers</a> on May 9, 2022, because the <a href="https://www.ansa.it/english/newswire/english_service/2022/05/03/rome-migrant-centre-head-cleared-of-illegal-immigration-5_a0400d10-c872-400c-97d0-a60957380e00.html">“crime was nonexistent</a>.” </p>
<p>Migrant activists are celebrating the recent court decision as a victory for groups like Baobab that offer help to people in transit trying to find safety in Europe. But <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=83Lb0dwAAAAJ&hl=en">as a scholar</a> of Mediterranean migration and asylum in Europe, I think it is important to keep in mind that the smuggling allegation still sends a message that authorities in Italy – and across Europe – view providing humanitarian assistance as potentially criminal.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a blue shirt speaks into a voice amplifier while rows of people sit behind him on steps" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrea Costa, director of the migrant rights group Baobab Experience, protests with migrants in Rome in August 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/migrants-and-a-group-of-volunteers-of-the-garrison-organized-by-in-picture-id827371216?s=2048x2048">Andrea Ronchini/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Migrant homelessness</h2>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911">1 million migrants</a> crossed the Mediterranean Sea in 2015, fleeing violence and political and economic instability in Africa and the Middle East in hopes of finding refuge in Europe. </p>
<p>Since 2015, migrants have continued to journey to Europe from other unstable regions, with Ukraine as the latest – and largest – <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/un-ukraine-refugee-crisis-is-europes-biggest-since-wwii/">displacement in Europe</a> since World War II. </p>
<p>The increase in arrivals in 2015 became known globally as Europe’s <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/stories/2015/12/56ec1ebde/2015-year-europes-refugee-crisis.html">“refugee crisis</a>.” The large influx of people tested European Union countries’ migration and refugee policies, and <a href="https://rm.coe.int/annual-report-on-ecri-s-activities-covering-the-period-from-1-january-/16808ae6d6">racist, anti-immigrant sentiments</a> grew throughout Europe. </p>
<p>European Union countries also <a href="https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/ch16-over-troubled-waters.pdf">scaled back rescue operations</a>, leaving <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2021/01/12/migration-central-mediterranean-timeline-rescue">thousands of migrants to drown</a> at sea. </p>
<p>In the meantime, <a href="http://aei.pitt.edu/80163/1/LSE_No_94_DocumentingMigration.pdf">migrant homelessness</a> increased across Europe. </p>
<p>In Italy, some migrants chose to live on the streets rather than stay in <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2016/08/italys-migrant-hotspot-centres-raise-legal-questions">overcrowded reception centers</a>, some of which had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/feb/01/migrants-more-profitable-than-drugs-how-mafia-infiltrated-italy-asylum-system">ties to organized crime</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.unhcr.org/4a9d13d59.pdf">European Union policy</a> mandates that migrants register their asylum claims in the country where they first enter the region. For many, their first stop was Italy, where migrants live in <a href="https://www.vuesdeurope.eu/en/brief/an-overview-of-reception-conditions-for-asylum-seekers-across-european-countries/">reception centers</a> while authorities process their claims. At these centers, migrants receive meals and basic aid, but they have limited options for working or for integrating socially while waiting on their cases. The asylum process is slow, and migrants can wind up living in <a href="https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/italy/reception-conditions/short-overview-italian-reception-system/">reception centers</a> for two years while waiting to hear if they can get legal protection and stay in Europe. </p>
<p>In 2016, the health nonprofit Doctors Without Borders documented <a href="https://www.msf.fr/communiques-presse/out-of-sight-informal-settlements-2nd-edition">at least 10,000 migrants</a> living in <a href="https://gsdrc.org/topic-guides/urban-governance/key-policy-challenges/informal-settlements/">informal settlements</a> throughout Italy. </p>
<h2>The case in question</h2>
<p>Through my research at migrant <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1536504218776959">camps</a> and Italian migrant <a href="https://www.fmreview.org/recognising-refugees/paynter">reception centers</a>, I have observed how local nonprofits play an important role in meeting migrants’ basic needs when national and local governments fail to do so. </p>
<p>In 2016, Baobab Experience operated an <a href="https://lavocedinewyork.com/mediterraneo/2016/07/25/campo-profughi-citta-migranti-via-cupa/">unofficial encampment</a> in a street called Via Cupa in Rome, where homeless migrants could stay in tents, and where volunteers provided them with free meals, medical care and legal aid.</p>
<p>In October 2016, police closed down the camp, leaving residents without shelter. Rome’s reception centers were already overcrowded. Nine Chadian and Sudanese migrants who had been living in Via Cupa decided to travel to a <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/10248/rise-in-migrants-in-ventimiglia-red-cross-camp">Red Cross migrant camp</a> in Ventimiglia, along the French border. </p>
<p>Costa and two other volunteers purchased these migrants bus tickets to Genoa in October 2016. One volunteer accompanied them there and then farther west to the camp in Ventimiglia. </p>
<p>Italy’s Anti-Mafia Directorate, a national investigative body that combats organized crime and has <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/04/30/italy-anti-mafia-migrant-rescue-smuggling/">handled cases related to trafficking in immigration since 2013</a>, alleged that the ticket purchase constituted migrant smuggling. Rome prosecutors <a href="https://nowheadline.com/migrants/baobab-chief-risked-18-years-for-helping-migrants-acquitted/">charged Costa</a> and his colleagues with aiding and abetting illegal immigration.</p>
<p>The aid workers earned nothing from the exchange, nor did they transport anyone across an international border. But <a href="https://www.criminaljusticenetwork.eu/en/post/uses-and-abuses-of-the-anti-smuggling-law-in-italy">under Italian law</a>, investigators do not have to prove that someone profited off of migrants to charge them with smuggling. </p>
<h2>Criminalizing aid in Europe</h2>
<p>In recent years, local and national authorities in France and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/93yk55/decade-of-hate-italy-matteo-salvini">Italy</a> and <a href="https://ecre.org/malta-intensifies-crackdown-on-rescuing-organisations-while-deaths-in-the-mediterranean-are-on-the-rise/">Malta</a> have brought criminal charges against groups providing humanitarian assistance to migrants. </p>
<p>Since 2017, for example, some nonprofit rescue ship crews who <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/italy-ngos-argue-over-migrant-rescue-code-of-conduct/a-39825332">refused to sign</a> an Italian government recommended <a href="https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/refugees/community/2017/08/16/expert-views-should-rescue-ngos-sign-mediterranean-code-of-conduct">code of conduct</a> allowing armed police to board their vessels have faced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/04/refugee-rescuers-charged-in-italy-with-complicity-in-people-smuggling">charges of working with human smugglers</a>. </p>
<p>This political shift has created a culture of uncertainty, where humanitarian assistance comes with legal risk. Other cases also speak to this trend.</p>
<p>In Greece, for example, Irish citizen Seán Binder and Syrian refugee Sara Mardini <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/magazine/greece-migration-ngos.html">face a long list of charges, including money laundering, espionage and trafficking</a>, for their work helping migrants with the Greek search-and-rescue nonprofit Emergency Response Center International. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men wearing life jackets and masks sit with small children in a motorboat at sea." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Children were among the stranded migrants rescued by a search-and-rescue boat in French waters on May 9, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/migrants-are-rescued-by-crew-members-of-the-abeille-languedoc-ship-picture-id1240573049?s=2048x2048">Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>A moment in European politics</h2>
<p>The acquittal of the Baobab Experience president and volunteers comes at a moment that has revealed contradictory ideas of who deserves refuge in Europe. </p>
<p>In early April, Costa and a group of volunteers returned from Moldova to Italy, bringing with them several people fleeing Ukraine. “We crossed five international borders … to the applause of authorities,” Costa said at an April 14 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=297985892517022">press conference</a>. </p>
<p>A few weeks later, Costa’s 2016 bus fare purchase for migrants from Africa’s Sahel region risked landing him in prison, as the case had just reached a judge in May 2022.</p>
<p>Some migration aid groups are trying to highlight this discrepancy and hold national authorities accountable for policies that they say result in migrants’ dying. </p>
<p>Italian far-right politician Matteo Salvini, for example, faces federal charges of kidnapping in Palermo for his <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20211023-italy-s-former-interior-minister-salvini-stands-trial-on-migrant-kidnapping-charges">attempts to close ports to rescue ships</a> in 2019. Charges allege that Salvini’s “closed ports” policy prevented the Open Arms ship from bringing rescued migrants to safety, essentially holding them hostage at sea. <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20211023-salvini-s-moment-has-passed-fading-champion-of-italy-s-right-wing-on-trial-for-migrant-kidnapping">Several migration</a> groups are serving as civil parties in the <a href="https://mediterranearescue.org/en/news-en/mediterranea-civil-party-in-the-case-against-salvini/">case against Salvini</a>. In Italy, civil groups can sign on to a criminal case to support legal charges. </p>
<p>Costa’s case now joins other recent court cases in Europe that involve rescue and humanitarian groups and have also resulted <a href="https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.de/sites/default/files/2018-italy-report-informal-refugee-settements.pdf">in dropped</a> charges.</p>
<p>In France, Cédric Herrou, a farmer charged with smuggling after he drove migrants across the border from Italy, was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/world/europe/france-migrants-farmer-fraternity.html">cleared of wrongdoing</a> in 2018. </p>
<p>Italy brought charges against German national Carola Rackete, captain of the Sea Watch rescue ship, but eventually dropped them. Rackete was arrested in 2019 after she <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/02/more-than-1m-raised-for-rescue-ship-captain-carola-rackete-italy">entered Italian waters without permission</a> to disembark 40 rescued migrants in the port of Catania. </p>
<p>Cases like these give hope to migrant rights and aid groups. But the allegations still send a broader political message that not all assistance is welcomed.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60492918">Migrants themselves</a> are confronting <a href="https://www.borderline-europe.de/unsere-arbeit/kheiraldin-abdallah-und-mohamad-paros3-zu-ingesamt-439-jahren-haft-verurteilt-weil-sie?l=en">extreme sentences</a> on smuggling charges. Rescue crews also face <a href="https://iuventa-crew.org/2022/03/10/italy-launches-its-biggest-trial-against-sea-rescue-ngos/">similar allegations</a> – meaning that European groups helping migrants continue to operate in uncertainty about whether they will be able to continue their work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182225/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleanor Paynter has conducted ethnographic research in camps operated by Baobab Experience.</span></em></p>Italian aid workers charged with helping migrants travel through the country were acquitted in May 2022. But migrants are often not well received in Europe, despite a welcome of Ukrainian refugees.Eleanor Paynter, Postdoctoral Associate in Migrations, Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1805592022-05-06T01:38:39Z2022-05-06T01:38:39ZFood shortages, millions of refugees, and global price spikes: the knock-on effects of Russia’s Ukraine invasion<p>In the wake of the Russia’s continued aggression and a third round of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-rockets-hit-kyiv-un-chief-visits-besieged-mariupol-main-target-2022-04-29/">inconclusive diplomatic negotiations</a>, the death toll and humanitarian crisis continues to worsen in Ukraine.</p>
<p>In just 70 days of war, a quarter of Ukraine’s population have left their homes. <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">5.5 million refugees</a> have fled the country, and a further <a href="https://www.iom.int/news/71-million-people-displaced-war-ukraine-iom-survey">7.1 million people</a> have been internally displaced.</p>
<p>Experts say they’ve hardly seen a humanitarian crisis <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/conflict-humanitarian-crisis-ukraine-threatening-future-global-food-security-prices">evolving as rapidly as this</a>. </p>
<p>Russia’s invasion of Ukraine isn’t only devastating the lives of ordinary Ukrainians, it is already creating economic disruption and increasing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/05/ukraine-war-to-slow-economic-growth-and-drive-up-poverty-in-asia-world-bank-warns">poverty</a>, food insecurity and inflation far beyond Eastern Europe.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ukraine-refugees-need-urgent-ongoing-health-care-weve-worked-in-refugee-camps-and-theres-a-right-way-to-do-it-180873">Ukraine refugees need urgent, ongoing health care. We've worked in refugee camps and there's a right way to do it</a>
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<h2>Worsening humanitarian situation</h2>
<p>In Ukraine, major infrastructure has been destroyed, and there are severe shortages of food and water. Many innocent Ukrainians are facing starvation. Disruptions to electricity and basic supplies are widespread.</p>
<p>My grandparents, both 85-year-old survivors of the second world war, rely on food and vital medicine to be delivered by volunteers to their apartment in central Kyiv.</p>
<p>And Kyiv isn’t even the worst of it. The extent of hardship in Mariupol and Kharkiv is still unknown, as people in these areas have been largely unreachable online for more than two months. The last available reports say access to power, food, and water is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/04/30/1095750117/after-three-months-of-conflict-the-ukrainian-city-of-mariupol-is-devastated">precarious at best</a>.</p>
<p>The humanitarian crisis is worsening not just in Ukraine, but <a href="https://www.donetsk.kp.ru/daily/27377/4559634/">also in the territories controlled by Russia</a>. </p>
<p>One example is the Donetsk People’s Republic, which has become a bridgehead for Russian troops into the Donbass region. Close family friends in Donetsk tell me constant shelling has disrupted their water supply, so people are forced to queue at a local communal water pipe station for hours.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/russias-invasion-of-ukraine-is-illegal-under-international-law-suggesting-its-not-is-dangerous-179203">Russia's invasion of Ukraine is illegal under international law: suggesting it's not is dangerous</a>
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<p>Access to humanitarian aid provided by global charities is another big problem. Russia’s refusal to comply with basic humanitarian law has made it difficult to create sustainable humanitarian corridors in Ukrainian territory, meaning aid isn’t reaching parts of Ukraine that need it, all while Russia <a href="https://rwp.agency/news/82/">delivers their own humanitarian aid</a> to Russian-controlled Donetsk and Luhansk.</p>
<p>Local businesses and non-for-profit community organisations have made an <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/ngos-and-tech-firms-join-forces-to-help-ukraine/a-61141631">extraordinary effort</a> to assist in Ukraine. They’ve established voluntary networks to provide medication, food, and psychological support to the most vulnerable.</p>
<h2>Escalating refugee crisis</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/ukraine">5.5 million refugees</a> having fled Ukraine makes this the fastest growing refugee crisis since the second world war and the <a href="https://thesoufancenter.org/intelbrief-2022-march-4/">first of its kind in Europe</a> since the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s. </p>
<p>An estimated <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/particularly-shocking-every-single-minute-55-children-have-fled-their-country">55 children are forced to flee the country every minute</a>. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/unicefusa/2022/03/28/more-than-half-of-ukraines-children-displaced-by-war/?sh=1e9f3bcf67fa">More than half</a> of Ukraine’s children had been displaced after just a month of the invasion.</p>
<p>The main destinations for Ukrainian refugees are neighbouring European nations to the west – Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Moldova, Hungary, and Romania.</p>
<p>Australia has offered a temporary solution, issuing more than <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/help-and-support/ukraine-visa-support">6,000 temporary visas to Ukrainians</a> offering a <a href="https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/AlexHawke/Pages/enhanced-support-for-ukrainians-fleeing-russias-war-on-ukraine.aspx">pathway to a temporary humanitarian protection visa</a>.</p>
<h2>The global impacts</h2>
<p>Russia’s invasion is having global consequences beyond destroying Ukraine. </p>
<p>Increasing <a href="https://time.com/6172270/ukraine-food-price-crisis-climate-change/">food</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-gas-prices-expensive-11646767172#:%7E:text=Events%20in%20Ukraine%20caused%20oil,month%20earlier%2C%20according%20to%20AAA.">fuel</a> prices are chief among them. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/05/ukraine-war-to-slow-economic-growth-and-drive-up-poverty-in-asia-world-bank-warns">Exacerbated poverty</a> is likely to be another.</p>
<p>The Washington-based Center for Global Development estimates at least <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/03/19/russia-ukraine-war-could-lead-to-spike-in-global-poverty/">40 million people</a> around the world will be pushed into extreme poverty – defined as living on <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/measuringpoverty#1">less than $1.90 a day</a> – because of the price spike sparked by Russia’s invasion.</p>
<p>Another concern is global wheat supplies. Ukraine and Russia together account for <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/17/infographic-russia-ukraine-and-the-global-wheat-supply-interactive">more than a quarter of world wheat exports</a>. </p>
<p>The conflict will likely see wheat prices skyrocket as major wheat importers including Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Turkey compete for alternative supplies. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1503351702472245252"}"></div></p>
<h2>This war has also hit Russia hard</h2>
<p>Russia is facing its most difficult economic situation in three decades due to Western sanctions and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-casualties.html#:%7E:text=American%20officials%20said%20last%20month,the%20local%20media%20across%20Russia.">mounting death toll of Russian soldiers</a>.</p>
<p>Export restrictions and sanctions on Russian food production will heighten levels of poverty in Russia over the next six months, leaving low-income households particularly vulnerable to supply shortages.</p>
<p>Also hard hit will be Russia’s <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f09f4864-fc81-4dbd-8086-25e70ed01019">low-income trading partners</a>. Some of the most economically exposed countries will be those with historically favourable relations with Russia including Egypt, Turkey, India, South Africa and Thailand.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-year-of-hunger-how-the-russia-ukraine-war-is-worsening-climate-linked-food-shortages-181160">A year of hunger: how the Russia-Ukraine war is worsening climate-linked food shortages</a>
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<p>In response to the global consequences of Russia’s invasion, major NGOs and international finance institutions must act quickly to address the urgent humanitarian needs. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, wealthy governments should provide immediate funding to curb the worst consequences of an imminent global food crisis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180559/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olga Oleinikova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Russia’s invasion isn’t only devastating the lives of ordinary Ukrainians but is also disrupting global supply chains and increasing poverty around the world.Olga Oleinikova, Senior Lecturer and Director of the SITADHub (Social Impact Technologies and Democracy Research Hub) in the School of Communication., University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1785132022-03-14T12:20:40Z2022-03-14T12:20:40ZWhat classic literature knows about refugees fleeing persecution and war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451369/original/file-20220310-21-llmtqc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=73%2C0%2C5390%2C3571&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces member hugs a resident leaving his hometown following Russian artillery shelling in Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, March 9, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/APTOPIXRussiaUkraineWar/baef932200704d64b1f1bf4e1f04277a/photo?Query=ukraine&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=101098&currentItemNo=355">AP Photo/Oleksandr Ratushniak</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The United Nations has warned that the war in Ukraine could create “<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/3/1-million-refugees-flee-ukraine-in-week-since-russian-invasion">the biggest refugee crisis this century</a>.” Two and a half million people <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/more-than-25-million-people-have-fled-ukraine-un-says-2022-03-11/">have already fled</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the rest of the world sits <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/25/opinions/watching-ukraine-war-on-screen-hemmer/index.html">watching the war on screens</a>, which can <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1461444818760819">promote empathy</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60557186">but also can lead to helplessness and distress</a>.</p>
<p>There’s another way to try to understand refugees’ experience. Alongside the reality of desperate people fleeing danger is a rich history of classic texts about characters seeking protection or new lives.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://law.vanderbilt.edu/bio/robert-barsky">a professor of humanities and law</a>, I have spent the past few years <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/clamouring-for-legal-protection-9781509943166/">delving deeply</a> into what <a href="https://www.angelicum.net/classical-homeschooling-magazine/first-issue/the-great-books-movement-a-return-to-the-classics/">classic literature</a> has to say about the challenges of fleeing persecution. From Odysseus and <a href="https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/">Dante the Pilgrim</a> to Frankenstein’s monster, many familiar characters encounter obstacles well known to contemporary refugees.</p>
<p>These stories can’t replicate what it’s like to experience bombs and shells raining down on Syria, Ukraine or Yemen. But they may help readers identify with characters they already know, which may in turn <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190523-does-reading-fiction-make-us-better-people">create empathy and compassion</a> for refugees.</p>
<h2>Sharing the story</h2>
<p>One text worth recalling in this regard is <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.3.2?ven=The_Contemporary_Torah,_Jewish_Publication_Society,_2006&vhe=Miqra_according_to_the_Masorah&lang=bi&aliyot=0">the Book of Exodus</a>, and in particular the scene in which God appears to Moses at the burning bush.</p>
<p>God has been watching the Israelites’ suffering as slaves in Egypt, he reveals to Moses. The Almighty wishes to intervene – and calls upon Moses to act as his emissary.</p>
<p>“I will send you to Pharaoh, and you shall free My people, the Israelites, from Egypt,” God commands.</p>
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<img alt="God speaks with Moses at the burning bush in a painting." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451363/original/file-20220310-17-14o8od4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451363/original/file-20220310-17-14o8od4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451363/original/file-20220310-17-14o8od4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451363/original/file-20220310-17-14o8od4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451363/original/file-20220310-17-14o8od4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451363/original/file-20220310-17-14o8od4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451363/original/file-20220310-17-14o8od4.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘God Appears to Moses in Burning Bush,’ by Eugene Pluchart.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Moses_Pluchart.jpg">Saint Isaac's Cathedral, Saint Petersburg/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<p>Moses’ initial reaction is not to obey, but to question. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?” he asks. He fears that his poor speaking skills render him ill equipped to fulfill God’s will. “I have never been a man of words,” he protests; “I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”</p>
<p>His hesitation is a reminder that vulnerable migrants often have nothing with them other than their own story – a story they may have to tell in a language that is not their own. Ukrainians who are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/27/ukraine-refugees-photos-videos/">currently in flight</a>, for example, will have to explain themselves adequately. Being able to tell their story in the right way, to the right people, will be crucial to their very survival.</p>
<p>Moses is also unsure whether God really is who he says he is. Can this great power be trusted? Moses wonders. As refugees <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/waves-of-ukrainian-refugees-overwhelm-poland-11646856187">flee their home countries</a>, they too may wrestle with whether to trust people and officials from powerful institutions offering aid, like host country officials, or representatives from United Nations agencies or nongovernmental organizations. </p>
<h2>The land of milk and honey</h2>
<p>To persuade Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, God promises the Israelites not just protection, <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.3.18?ven=The_Contemporary_Torah,_Jewish_Publication_Society,_2006&vhe=Miqra_according_to_the_Masorah&lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en">but a better life</a>: “I will take you out of the misery of Egypt … to a land flowing with milk and honey.”</p>
<p>Historically, many people fleeing home are escaping not war or persecution, but poverty – though the lines between refugees and so-called economic migrants <a href="https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/refugee-or-migrant-sometimes-the-line-is-blurred">are getting blurrier</a>. Those who wish to deny entry to refugees or undocumented migrants often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004466395_016">describe them as “parasites</a>” or “illegals” who are leaving their homes to reap the milk and honey of others’ lands.</p>
<p>John Steinbeck’s novel “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/354795/the-grapes-of-wrath-by-john-steinbeck-introduction-and-notes-by-robert-demott/">The Grapes of Wrath</a>” tells the story of desperate American families during the Great Depression fleeing the <a href="https://drought.unl.edu/dustbowl/">Dust Bowl</a> droughts that devastated their crops. They are “people in flight, refugees from dust and shrinking land, from the thunder of tractors and invasion, from the twisting winds that howl up out of Texas, from floods that bring no richness to the land and steal what little richness is there.”</p>
<p>They dream of a new paradise, and of plenty. Tom Joad, one of the book’s key characters, provides a vision of the life that he imagines in California: “Gonna get me a whole big bunch of grapes off a bush, or whatever, an’ I’m gonna squash ‘em on my face an’ let ‘em run offen my chin.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two women and a man in old clothing look out from a car window in a black and white photograph." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451365/original/file-20220310-19-16s6nuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451365/original/file-20220310-19-16s6nuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451365/original/file-20220310-19-16s6nuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451365/original/file-20220310-19-16s6nuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=439&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451365/original/file-20220310-19-16s6nuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451365/original/file-20220310-19-16s6nuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451365/original/file-20220310-19-16s6nuf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=552&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Actors Dorris Bowdon and Jane Darwell, with Henry Fonda playing the lead role of Tom Joad, in a still from the 1940 film adaptation of ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dorris-bowdon-jane-darwell-and-henry-fonda-in-a-truck-in-a-news-photo/1965238?adppopup=true">20th Century Fox/Moviepix via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It may be a pipe dream, but what option do these vulnerable migrants have? Like millions of people in places like <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/climate-refugees-the-world-s-forgotten-victims/">India, the Philippines or Bangladesh</a>, they have been internally displaced because of natural disasters and climate change. The only way to safety is forward.</p>
<p>“How can we live without our lives? How will we know it’s us without our past?” Steinbeck writes. “No. Leave it. Burn it.”</p>
<h2>Leaving paradise</h2>
<p>No matter how great the persecution, not everyone will flee in search of protection. Home still provides us with a sense of rootedness; home is where we speak the language; home is where we have friends and family; home is filled with familiar landmarks. </p>
<p>And for people fleeing Ukraine, the decision to leave means enduring <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-refugees-1.6364074">huge lines, freezing cold and administrative barriers</a> – particularly for non-Europeans who resided in Ukraine, such as <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60552271">Indians</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/28/nigeria-condemns-treatment-africans-trying-to-flee-ukraine-government-poland-discrimination">Africans</a>, who have faced discrimination.</p>
<p>John Milton’s “<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45718/paradise-lost-book-1-1674-version">Paradise Lost</a>” is one of the great stories about massive displacement and the effort to survive in an inhospitable environment. This 17th-century epic poem describes two acts of exile: rebel angels’ expulsion from heaven, and Adam and Eve’s expulsion from the Garden of Eden.</p>
<p>After the war in heaven, when Satan attempts to lead one-third of the angels in rebellion, God’s retribution is swift and horrible. Satan’s followers are “hurld headlong flaming from th’ Ethereal Skie / With hideous ruine and combustion down / <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45718/paradise-lost-book-1-1674-version">To bottomless perdition</a>, there to dwell,” in Milton’s description.</p>
<p>Even Satan, who actively led the uprising, was filled with the despair at all he’d lost: “Now the thought / both of lost happiness and lasting pain / torments him.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man with bat wings stands, looking worried, on a cliff." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451406/original/file-20220310-17-1dzbks8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451406/original/file-20220310-17-1dzbks8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451406/original/file-20220310-17-1dzbks8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451406/original/file-20220310-17-1dzbks8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=745&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451406/original/file-20220310-17-1dzbks8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451406/original/file-20220310-17-1dzbks8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451406/original/file-20220310-17-1dzbks8.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=936&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An illustration for John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ by Gustave Doré.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paradise_Lost_13.jpg">Paradise Lost/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These terrifying lines hold one of Milton’s masterpiece’s most important insights for migration crises today. Through expulsion, these fallen angels have lost everything they hold dear, and now they are condemned to hell. Their pain is mixed with “obdurate pride” and “stedfast hate.” </p>
<p>If contemporary refugees are unable to find a new sense of belonging and opportunity, then their frustration and trauma sometimes turn to <a href="https://nsiteam.com/social/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NSI-Reachback_B5_Dealing-with-Radicalization-in-IDP-Camps_Feb2020_Final.pdf">resentment and radicalization</a>. From Ukraine and Yemen to <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/reshaping-us-aid-afghanistan-challenge-lasting-progress">Afghanistan</a> and elsewhere, many desperate people are in need not just of assistance, but long-term solutions that provide a chance for them to rebuild their lives. </p>
<p>These examples from classic texts intimately depict refugees’ challenges through characters who have peopled our imagination. Perhaps this same process of creative association with well-known stories of displacement <a href="https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.3.1.06dji">can help inspire</a> ways to help vulnerable migrants in our midst.</p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178513/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert F. Barsky receives funding from Rockefeller Foundation; Vanderbilt University; SSHRC; CRC</span></em></p>Classic literature is full of themes that speak to refugees’ experience today, from the Book of Exodus to ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’Robert F. Barsky, Professor of Humanities, and Professor of Law, Vanderbilt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1779512022-02-28T14:45:54Z2022-02-28T14:45:54ZRussia’s invasion of Ukraine fuels a refugee crisis that could help Putin win the war<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448741/original/file-20220227-31841-197x4kg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=357%2C73%2C5742%2C3993&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A girl from Ukraine looks up at her mother as they wait to cross the border to Siret, Romania at the Romanian-Ukrainian border on Feb. 25, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The international focus of Russia’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60454795">invasion of Ukraine</a> has been on its conventional military operations. While they’re important, that’s only one element of Russia’s plan. </p>
<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin himself acknowledged in an address to the nation that Russia’s intervention is not a strictly conventional campaign, but a “<a href="https://news.yahoo.com/putin-declares-special-military-operation-030427422.html">special military operation</a>.”</p>
<p>Besides <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-reports-cyber-attack-defence-ministry-website-banks-tass-2022-02-15/">cyber warfare</a>, refugees will be one of the irregular means employed by Russia. This includes both refugees within Russia’s own borders as well <a href="https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/02/27/ukraine-war-european-nations-open-their-doors-as-nearly-120-000-ukrainian-refugees-flee">as the much larger number of Ukrainians already heading for Europe</a> as Russia pursues its objective of detaching ethnic Russian areas from Ukraine.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/u8JI3LDIgqU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An ABC News report on people fleeing Ukraine.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Evacuated before the invasion</h2>
<p>Russia’s use of refugees started before the official start of the war.</p>
<p>Before the invasion, the Russian-backed Ukrainian separatist states of Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics announced they were <a href="https://english.pravda.ru/news/hotspots/150367-donbass/">evacuating their civilian population</a> to Russia. </p>
<p>They justified this action by alleging Ukrainian aggression and shelling of civilian infrastructure in the breakaway republics.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People sit on cots in a gymnasium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448739/original/file-20220227-31933-15egwl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448739/original/file-20220227-31933-15egwl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448739/original/file-20220227-31933-15egwl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448739/original/file-20220227-31933-15egwl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448739/original/file-20220227-31933-15egwl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448739/original/file-20220227-31933-15egwl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448739/original/file-20220227-31933-15egwl3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Displaced civilians from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the territory controlled by pro-Russia separatist governments in eastern Ukraine, rest in a gymnasium in Taganrog, Russia, after being evacuated.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Russian government didn’t pass up the opportunity to advance its objectives by demonizing Ukrainian authorities. Four days before the invasion, for example, Alexander Chupriyan, the acting head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/over-40000-donbass-refugees-arrive-in-russia">told the media</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“More than 40,000 people who were forced to leave Ukraine arrived in Russia. Now they are placed in the Rostov region in temporary accommodations.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Russian news outlets <a href="https://www.rt.com/russia/549954-russia-ukraine-refugess-influx/">extensively covered</a> the influx of people to Russia from Donetsk and Luhansk, helping stoke Russian nationalism.</p>
<h2>Putin needs support</h2>
<p>The common refrain in western media is that Putin is a dictator. There have even been comparisons of <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/ukrainian-journalist-calls-putin-hitler-during-nato-press-briefing-video-1682435">Putin to Adolf Hitler</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A man holds a placard depicting Vladimir Putin as Adolf Hitler." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448740/original/file-20220227-31520-z0fgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448740/original/file-20220227-31520-z0fgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448740/original/file-20220227-31520-z0fgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448740/original/file-20220227-31520-z0fgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448740/original/file-20220227-31520-z0fgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448740/original/file-20220227-31520-z0fgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448740/original/file-20220227-31520-z0fgnr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A man holds a placard depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin as Adolf Hitler during a protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in front of the Ukrainian embassy in Bucharest, Romania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These portrayals overlook that while Putin is authoritarian, he relies on the support of the Russian people to maintain his rule, and specifically <a href="https://imrussia.org/en/analysis/3265-putin%E2%80%99s-dangerous-flirting-with-nationalism">Russian nationalists</a>. This support might be increasingly fragile <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/protests-russias-invasion-ukraine-erupt-moscow-russian-cities-83141197">if protests against the Ukraine invasion in several Russian cities</a> are any indication.</p>
<p>Developments since the collapse of the Soviet Union are critical to understanding contemporary Russia.</p>
<p>The 1990s were not kind to Russia. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the Russian nation lost its place at the centre of one of the world’s superpowers. Simultaneously, the country faced economic collapse, civil unrest and the loss of international respect. Putin, in fact, recently said that to provide for his family he had to take a second job as a <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/13/putin-moonlighted-as-a-taxi-driver-after-soviet-union-collapse.html">taxi driver</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, a significant number of ethnic Russians who had moved to different Soviet republics during the Soviet Union era, including Ukraine, found themselves cut off from the Russian state. While the successor states pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Russian minorities, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2018.1529467">most of them failed to do so</a>.</p>
<p>For Russia, which went from being a superpower to not being able to protect ethnic Russians outside its borders in less than 10 years, it was a national embarrassment.</p>
<h2>Putin leveraged Russian resentment</h2>
<p>This popular resentment over the <a href="https://carnegieendowment.org/2017/11/21/putin-s-populism-trap-pub-74788">alleged mistreatment of Russia and Russians internationally catapulted</a> Putin to power in 2000.</p>
<p>Since assuming the presidency, Putin has actively cultivated this sentiment within Russian society. He’s been able to address the alleged mistreatment of Russia internationally — Russia <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/most-influential-countries">once again ranks</a> as one of the more influential countries in the world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A bald man carrying a red file folder walks through cream-coloured doors with gold embellishments." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448742/original/file-20220227-87943-1y4ecji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448742/original/file-20220227-87943-1y4ecji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448742/original/file-20220227-87943-1y4ecji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448742/original/file-20220227-87943-1y4ecji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448742/original/file-20220227-87943-1y4ecji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448742/original/file-20220227-87943-1y4ecji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448742/original/file-20220227-87943-1y4ecji.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Putin enters a hall to chair a Security Council meeting in Moscow a day after the official invasion of Ukraine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/04/world/china-russia-xi-putin-meeting-nato-intl/index.html">expansion of NATO</a> into what Putin regards as Russia’s sphere of influence prevented him from adequately addressing the status of Russian minorities, particularly those in the Baltic region. </p>
<p>Ukraine is the one country where Putin has been able to address these issues.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-vladimir-putin-wont-back-down-in-ukraine-177765">Why Vladimir Putin won't back down in Ukraine</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The nature of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made the creation of refugees inevitable as most of them head for Europe.</p>
<p>Ukrainians are unlikely to receive <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/international/595788-zelensky-ukraine-left-alone-to-defend-against-russian-invasion">substantial assistance</a> from the outside world in time to prevent even more of them from fleeing the country.</p>
<h2>Only avenue of escape is to Europe</h2>
<p>War invariably produces refugees, whether internally displaced people or those who flee the country for safety. <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/graphics/2022/02/24/ukraine-invasion-russia-attack-map-guide/6925181001/">With Russian forces advancing</a> from the south, north and east, the only avenue of escape is to the west and Europe.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A dead body is seen through a hole." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448743/original/file-20220227-86466-13lxfm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/448743/original/file-20220227-86466-13lxfm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448743/original/file-20220227-86466-13lxfm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448743/original/file-20220227-86466-13lxfm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448743/original/file-20220227-86466-13lxfm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448743/original/file-20220227-86466-13lxfm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/448743/original/file-20220227-86466-13lxfm0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A body of school teacher killed during shelling is seen through a hole in a school building in Horlivka, in the territory controlled by pro-Russian militants, in eastern Ukraine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Russia’s war objectives will also create a refugee crisis. While <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10545641/Putins-gives-chilling-warning-West-early-morning-TV-broadcast.html">Putin stated</a> that he doesn’t intend to occupy “Ukrainian territories,” he also stated that Russian respect for Ukraine’s independence doesn’t “cancel the right of nations to self-determination, enshrined in Article 1 of the UN Charter.”</p>
<p>Putin is talking about nations and ethnic groups, not the Ukrainian state. Given that there are <a href="https://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the-ukraine-crisis-in-three-maps/">significant Russian-speaking</a> populations in eastern Ukraine, seizing control of this territory is one of Putin’s key military objectives. </p>
<p>If this occurs, those opposed to the new regime will also flee these territories and create a refugee crisis for Europe that could exceed the 2015 migrant crisis. As many as <a href="https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/syrian-refugee-crisis-facts">1.3 million migrants</a>, primarily from Syria, arrived in Europe to escape the civil war that ravaged their country, stretching European resources.</p>
<p>Europe’s need to support Ukrainian refugees could inhibit its ability to respond to Putin’s invasion. While Europeans deal with yet another refugee crisis and an influx of displaced migrants, Putin could consolidate his control of the Russian-speaking territories of Ukraine.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Horncastle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Europe’s need to support Ukrainian refugees could inhibit its ability to respond in Ukraine, allowing Vladimir Putin to consolidate his control of the Russian-speaking territories of Ukraine.James Horncastle, Assistant Professor and Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations, Simon Fraser UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1728942021-12-14T16:25:33Z2021-12-14T16:25:33ZHow news coverage influences countries’ emergency aid budgets – new research<p>The news media cover humanitarian crises selectively. Events associated with clear, dramatic imagery, such as the 2020 Beirut port explosion, often receive intense global news coverage. By contrast, protracted humanitarian crises that are more difficult to access and explain to audiences, such as the <a href="https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/war-yemen">civil war in Yemen</a> that has been raging since 2014, are often scarcely reported – even if the level of need is far greater. This is clearly illustrated in the graph below.</p>
<p>This matters, we often assume, because media attention influences how governments allocate humanitarian aid. Specifically, it appears to help explain why some <a href="https://fts.unocha.org/appeals/overview/2021">UN appeals</a> for humanitarian aid are almost fully supported – such those for Iraq (92% of the UN target) and Lebanon (84%) – while others receive a fraction of the required funding, such as the crises in <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/venezuela">Venezuela</a> (24%) and <a href="https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/south-sudan">South Sudan</a> (10%).</p>
<p>This assumption has been fuelled by previous research identifying clear correlations between the amount of news coverage a crisis receives and government aid allocations. For example, <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781403973481">one study</a> of US foreign disaster assistance showed that every additional news story in the New York Times about a disaster was associated with an additional aid allocation of half a million dollars.</p>
<p>But does news coverage really make a material difference to the amount of humanitarian aid a crisis receives? Or are we confusing correlation with causation? At a time when donor funding is failing to <a href="https://gho.unocha.org/">keep pace</a> with rapidly escalating levels of humanitarian need, these are important questions. The answers can help ensure humanitarian assistance gets to where it is most needed.</p>
<h2>Responding to crises</h2>
<p>To answer these questions, our <a href="https://www.humanitarian-journalism.net/">team of researchers</a> from the University of East Anglia, City, University of London and the University of Edinburgh interviewed 30 senior bureaucrats tasked with making policy about the allocation of humanitarian aid. They worked for 16 governments representing democratic countries with the largest humanitarian aid budgets. The results have recently been published in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1461670X.2021.2013129">Journalism Studies</a>.</p>
<p>The bureaucrats we interviewed said that, in some circumstances, sudden and intense news coverage did increase levels of humanitarian aid – regardless of whether or not the crisis merited it. This was the case in the 2020 Beirut explosion, as one policymaker told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have a very limited [humanitarian aid] budget and … normally, as a middle-income country, Lebanon would not have featured on it … But the widespread level of … media interest in it… [meant we] made the call early to … make a reasonably sized contribution.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Other examples our respondents gave of media coverage increasing official aid included the <a href="https://theconversation.com/myanmars-persecution-of-rohingya-muslims-is-producing-a-ready-supply-of-slaves-46108">2015 Rohingya refugee crisis</a> and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nepal-shows-its-vulnerability-after-devastating-earthquake-40799">2015 Nepal earthquake</a>.</p>
<p>Our interviewees then explained how news media influenced them, by triggering the public, civil society organisations – and especially elected officials, who then put pressure on government ministries to announce additional funding. As one interviewee explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If something becomes a big media issue, all of a sudden, right through the system, people just start asking questions about it… So, there [is] a real pressure to be able to say: ‘this is how we responded’.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Immediate and intense news coverage was especially influential. In these circumstances, bureaucrats had little time to prepare a defence of why they weren’t supporting an additional response to the crisis.</p>
<p>But interviewees stressed that mainstream national news outlets were the most important influencers – rather than social media or international news outlets such as CNN or the BBC. As one interviewee explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>National media [matters]… for our politicians. They are elected [here] so … usually what matters is their publicity in [this country], how popular they are [here] … It’s media that reaches the larger public.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For this reason, we characterise these instances of media influence over humanitarian aid as a “sudden-onset, national news” effect.</p>
<h2>Only in case of emergencies</h2>
<p>Yet, this effect only appeared to influence governments’ relatively small “emergency” humanitarian aid budgets. According to our interviewees, their annual humanitarian aid allocations – which are much larger and allocated to longer-term, protracted crises – are unaffected by news coverage. This was because the longer lead-in time involved in annual aid allocations meant that bureaucrats were able to respond to ministers’ publicity-related concerns. They did this via planned, strategic communications to explain the aid allocations, rather than by adjusting them.</p>
<p>But this doesn’t mean the news media are not a factor in bureaucrats’ decision-making about annual aid budgets. Some bureaucrats saw a lack of news coverage of certain crises as an indication that they should give more to these “<a href="https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/themen/humanitarianassistance/forgotten-crises/2375066">forgotten crises</a>”, such as in <a href="https://www.unocha.org/rohingya-refugee-crisis">Myanmar</a> and the <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/burkina-faso/sahel-crisis-humanitarian-needs-and-requirements-overview-april-2021#:%7E:text=From%202015%20to%202020%2C%20the,Nigeria%20and%20Maradi%2C%20in%20Niger.">Sahel</a>. </p>
<p>This was because these bureaucrats assumed that other governments would be more influenced by news coverage than they were. They told us, therefore, that they tried to compensate for what they believed would be a distortion in other governments’ funding practices, due to a lack of news coverage. We term this the “forgotten crisis effect”.</p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>For aid agencies seeking to influence donor countries via the news media, these findings suggest that effective action is likely to involve generating intense, sudden-onset coverage via national news outlets. Effective action will also probably involve targeting governments with publicity-seeking ministers and larger emergency aid budgets.</p>
<p>By contrast, if government departments wish to resist the influence of media and defend their needs-based decision-making, they should consider building stronger public (and ministerial) understanding of humanitarian principles and more transparent, evidence-based allocation methodologies. Contributing, in advance, to pooled, flexible funds such as the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund also allows aid bureaucracies to be seen to be responding, without having to make ad hoc allocations.</p>
<p>Our research also suggests that government policymakers might rethink how and why they allocate funding to “forgotten crises”, based on an absence of news coverage. Other governments’ annual allocations are not necessarily influenced by news coverage, and may indeed be following similar funding principles, so in seeking to correct an imbalance or distortion in funding, they may well be creating one.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172894/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martin Scott receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Wright receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mel Bunce receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council </span></em></p>A new study shows how governments’ emergency aid response is influenced by the news media and politicians’ publicity concerns.Martin Scott, Senior Lecturer in Media and International Development, University of East AngliaKate Wright, Academic Lead of Media and Communications Research Cluster, The University of EdinburghMel Bunce, Head of the Journalism Department, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1721322021-12-01T18:19:47Z2021-12-01T18:19:47ZThe EU is the real villain in the Poland-Belarus migrant crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434258/original/file-20211128-27-vz2wdw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C84%2C3543%2C2270&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this September 2021 photo, Warsaw residents place candles before the national Border Guards Headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, as a sign of mourning for four migrants found dead a few days earlier along the border between Poland and Belarus. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2019, when we were doing research on the integration of refugees in Romania, the topic seemed irrelevant for Romanians and other eastern Europeans. During an interview we conducted, <a href="https://respondmigration.com/wp-blog/following-refugee-relocation-scheme-ideological-interpretations-of-interstate-shared-responsibility-in-romania">one member of Romanian parliament stated</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We don’t see them. We don’t meet them on the street, they don’t exist.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Two years later, and eastern European nations that aren’t in the European Union — Serbia, Bosnia, Belarus and Turkey — are being accused of using migrants as pawns against the EU member states of Romania, Poland, Greece and Croatia.</p>
<p>Romania is in the news for becoming an entry hotspot for migrants on the Balkan route, the so-called “<a href="https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210528-poor-people-s-route-why-migrants-are-heading-for-romania">poor people’s route to Europe</a>,” and for <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/09/22/whips-sticks-and-batons-romanian-border-police-accused-of-violence-against-migrants">violently pushing asylum-seekers</a> back to Serbia. Similar stories are unfolding in Croatia, with <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/7/croatia-greece-romania-illegal-pushbacks-borders">hundreds of illegal pushbacks</a> at the border with Bosnia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three people walk in single file in an arid field." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434254/original/file-20211128-15-rv8i2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434254/original/file-20211128-15-rv8i2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434254/original/file-20211128-15-rv8i2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434254/original/file-20211128-15-rv8i2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434254/original/file-20211128-15-rv8i2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434254/original/file-20211128-15-rv8i2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434254/original/file-20211128-15-rv8i2x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants walk in a field near the village of Majdan, Serbia, in July 2021. Groups of people walked in scorching heat through corn or sunflower fields toward the border with Romania.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Poland, police have used <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59302919">tear gas and water cannons</a> to deter asylum-seekers from crossing the Belarusian-Polish border. </p>
<p>Similar to how <a href="https://theglobepost.com/2020/04/17/eu-turkey-refugees/">Turkey opened its borders to EU member Greece in March 2020</a> to allow Syrian refugees to make their way to western Europe, Belarus has been using migrants as leverage against Europe. The Turks did so to force NATO, especially Europe, to back their position in the Syrian war following the <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/27/russian-strike-in-syrias-idlib-a-message-to-ankara">2020 conflict between Syrian government forces and Turkish-backed rebels in Idlib</a>.</p>
<p>Now Belarus is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/12/hold-belarus-accountable-for-bid-to-destabilise-eu-border-says-west">diverting public attention</a> away from its own human rights violations. Poland says Belarus has lured hundreds of Middle Eastern migrants to the country for the purpose of sending them across the Polish border to retaliate against <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-economic-sanctions-belarus-come-into-effect-2021-06-24/">economic sanctions imposed by the EU earlier this year</a>.</p>
<h2>Sharing responsibility in the EU is impossible</h2>
<p>In 2015, the European Commission adopted two procedural decisions <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/eu-refugee-quotas-160000-italy-greece-failing-european-commissioner-legal-cases-obligations-a7739396.html">to relocate, on a quota agreement, 160,000 people</a> in need of international protection from the over-burdened front-line nations of Italy and Greece to the least affected member states.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/eu-migration-case-hungary-poland-asylum-refugees/">Poland refused</a> to participate. </p>
<p>That’s despite a legal requirement as part of the EU to <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/document/download/bb78e089-e157-4e9d-b36a-0d2bf291a870_en">relocate 6,182</a> migrants. It’s also despite the EU’s 2017 <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/DA/IP_17_1607">sanctions against Poland</a>, the Czech Republic and Hungary for failing to comply with the requirements.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman in a head kerchief and wearing a mask holds a grey cat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434255/original/file-20211128-23-1tparak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434255/original/file-20211128-23-1tparak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434255/original/file-20211128-23-1tparak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434255/original/file-20211128-23-1tparak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434255/original/file-20211128-23-1tparak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434255/original/file-20211128-23-1tparak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434255/original/file-20211128-23-1tparak.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A migrant woman holds a cat in an area between the borders of Belarus and Poland in the village of Usnarz Gorny, Poland, in August 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Michal Kosc)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It would be easy to blame eastern European racism and suggest the region is xenophobic and culturally backward. Yet such simplistic reasoning would overlook the disparities between the EU and its western, more developed nations compared to their eastern European counterparts. </p>
<p>The EU’s <a href="https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/schengen-visa-countries-list/">Schengen agreement</a>, which carves out a region within the union with no internal border controls, is available to western EU nations but not their eastern neighbours, as is the euro currency. That’s already created “<a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Lure+of+Technocracy-p-9780745686820">a union of different speeds</a>.”</p>
<p>Member states have different positions in EU, not only in terms of geography, economics and demographics, but also in relation to political power and migrant integration initiatives. </p>
<p>For instance, the <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/IPOL_STU(2021)694413">EU-wide relocation strategy for transferring migrants rescued at sea</a> was developed on the basis that all EU members are equal and should therefore share responsibility for refugees.</p>
<p>But research has shown that eastern European nations are not on equal footing when it comes to asylum. <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2021/the-integration-of-refugees-in-romania-a-non-preferred-choice/">The former communist states lack effective refugee integration strategies</a>, like national administrative structures for managing migration. </p>
<p>They have <a href="https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/refugees/articles/2016/12/01/refugees-relocated-by-e-u-struggle-to-get-by-in-romania">weak systems</a> of providing refugees with adequate accommodation, meals or pocket money — benefits that have been present for decades in the western part of the continent.</p>
<h2>Inequities among EU nations</h2>
<p>How fair is it to equally share responsibility given the economic, social and political differences among the EU’s member states? The wealthier nations of western Europe — Sweden, Finland and France, for example — have higher capacity to welcome asylum-seekers <a href="https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/79457/OXMO-Vol-7-No-1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">due to well-established</a> systems of migration management. </p>
<p>Migrants don’t want to settle in eastern member states like Poland, Croatia or Romania because their socio-economic conditions and refugee integration systems leave a lot to be desired. As stated by one of the Romanian bureaucrats we interviewed in 2019: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“We transferred a total of 728 people, because that’s how many Greece and Italy sent us. There were foreigners that refused … generally speaking, they were refusing the eastern countries. All of them wanted the western European states.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM%3Al33153">Dublin Agreement</a> was adopted in 2003 to determine which EU member states were responsible for accepting asylum-seekers. It constitutes the backbone of the EU’s <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/56424">shared responsibility</a> on refugee issues, tying asylum claims to where migrants enter the EU. </p>
<p>That protects the western, wealthiest nations from dealing with high migrant flows, and allows the EU to hand over responsibility for asylum-seekers to eastern and southeastern European countries. That’s why the Greek and the Italian asylum-processing systems were tapped out in 2015 at the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/07/11/greece-humanitarian-crisis-islands#">peak wave of refugee entries</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of men and boys in a boat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434257/original/file-20211128-19-xtf8mz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434257/original/file-20211128-19-xtf8mz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434257/original/file-20211128-19-xtf8mz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434257/original/file-20211128-19-xtf8mz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434257/original/file-20211128-19-xtf8mz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434257/original/file-20211128-19-xtf8mz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434257/original/file-20211128-19-xtf8mz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants and refugees, mostly from Egypt, aboard a Coast Guard rescue ship wait to enter in the port of Roccella Jonica in southern Italy in November 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet isn’t the EU to blame for leaving southern Europe on its own to deal with crisis, which could have been easily avoided by allowing people to freely move within the entire EU? </p>
<p>Consider the beginning of the refugee crisis. It emerged from <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/once-destination-migrants-post-gaddafi-libya-has-gone-transit-route-containment">Libya</a>, <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/news/afghanistan-refugee-crisis-explained">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2015/9/9/the-iraq-war-the-root-of-europes-refugee-crisis">Iraq</a> and <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/syria-emergency.html">Syria</a>. Whether we look at the <a href="https://primarysources.brillonline.com/browse/western-travellers-in-the-islamic-world/england-and-russia-face-to-face-in-asiatravels-with-the-afghan-boundary-commission-travels-with-the-afghan-boundary-commission;ilm1534">colonial maps</a> drawn by western European empires or at the recent NATO-backed foreign policies pursued by an EU servile to the United States, <a href="https://jacobinmag.com/2021/10/tariq-ali-afghan-war-us-imperialism">foreign involvement</a> in the Middle East has led to instabilities in the region. </p>
<p>As NATO members, western European states have been regularly involved in fuelling the refugee crisis. It’s not surprising that non-EU countries like Turkey or Belarus have attempted to reap some regional benefits by using refugees as pawns against the EU.</p>
<h2>EU efforts to deter migrants</h2>
<p>Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s attempts to do so merely represent half of the story. The EU has also done its best to deter people from entering its territory. In 2016, the EU <a href="https://theglobepost.com/2020/04/17/eu-turkey-refugees/">signed a deal</a> with Turkey that specified that in return for six billion euros and the promise of waiving visa requirements for Turkish nationals, Turkey would take in migrants arriving on the Greek islands. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434252/original/file-20211128-17-1dunmwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with a moustache glares." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434252/original/file-20211128-17-1dunmwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434252/original/file-20211128-17-1dunmwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434252/original/file-20211128-17-1dunmwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434252/original/file-20211128-17-1dunmwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434252/original/file-20211128-17-1dunmwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434252/original/file-20211128-17-1dunmwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434252/original/file-20211128-17-1dunmwo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=496&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this March 2012 photo, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko looks at the media in the Grand Kremlin Palace at the start of the Euro Asian Economic Union summit in Moscow.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In other words, the EU has been paying Turkey for five years to take in migrants.</p>
<p>With the arrival of refugees in 2015, the EU found itself at odds with its liberal claims of human rights, sanctity of life and a globalized open world. Suddenly, the borderless world imagined under globalism — particularly free movement within the EU — was put on hold. </p>
<p>The wealthy European nations have since left the peripheral states, and their emerging right-wing governments, on the front lines, bearing the blame for <a href="https://ecre.org/balkan-route-tens-of-thousands-pushed-back-from-croatia-evidence-of-pushbacks-and-border-violence-in-romania-presented-to-un-rights-body-stonewalling-of-asylum-seekers-in-serbia-a/">violently pushing back migrants</a> and for <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50700345">inhumane conditions</a> at reception sites. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men, some wearing masks, stand together and stare at armed soldiers in camouflage uniforms." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434256/original/file-20211128-25-1gtgidx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3199%2C1743&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434256/original/file-20211128-25-1gtgidx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434256/original/file-20211128-25-1gtgidx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434256/original/file-20211128-25-1gtgidx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434256/original/file-20211128-25-1gtgidx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434256/original/file-20211128-25-1gtgidx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434256/original/file-20211128-25-1gtgidx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Polish security forces surround migrants stuck along the Belarus border in Poland in September 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The EU is attempting to position itself as a beacon of liberalism and human rights as it exempts itself from political responsibility for migrants desperately seeking better lives — all while condemning their brutal determent at the continent’s periphery. It’s also trying to portray eastern European countries as racist villains infringing upon the human rights of refugees.</p>
<p>But it’s the EU itself that’s the real villain in the eastern European migrant crisis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172132/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raluca Bejan receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for the "Refugee Integration in South East Europe (RISEE)" project. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Salim Nabi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The European Union is attempting to portray eastern European countries as racists infringing upon the human rights of refugees. But it’s the EU itself that’s primarily to blame for the refugee crisis.Raluca Bejan, Assistant Professor of Social Work, Dalhousie UniversitySalim Nabi, Research assistant, Migration, Dalhousie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1711452021-11-29T14:09:31Z2021-11-29T14:09:31ZWhat stands in the way of a new South Sudan post-conflict constitution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434149/original/file-20211126-19-1g91cc1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women march with placards calling for peace and their rights on the streets of South Sudan's capital, Juba, in 2018.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">BULLEN CHOL/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South Sudan became an independent country following a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Sudan/Sudanese-independence-and-civil-war">long armed struggle</a> to break away from Sudan. At a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-12317927">referendum</a> in 2011, millions voted in favour of secession, creating Africa’s <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/southsudan/overview#1">55th independent state</a>. Since then, the nation of 11 million has been governed under the <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/South_Sudan_2011.pdf">Transitional Constitution</a>. </p>
<p>The process of drafting what is referred to as a ‘permanent’ constitution started in 2012. But it was interrupted by the conflict of 2013 and then again in 2016. The conflict was eventually defused by an <a href="https://docs.pca-cpa.org/2016/02/South-Sudan-Peace-Agreement-September-2018.pdf">agreement</a> between the warring parties in 2018.</p>
<p>South Sudan is, therefore, <a href="https://blog-iacl-aidc.org/spotlight-on-africa/2021/9/13/dilemmas-of-constitution-building-in-post-conflict-south-sudan-7kh5x">yet to draft</a> a constitution that the country’s population can call its own. This is unlikely to take place so long as obstacles to effective people’s participation remain. These include the slow implementation of the <a href="https://www.jmecsouthsudan.com/index.php/reports/rjmec-quarterly-reports">2018 agreement</a> which is the mainstay of peaceful coexistence. There is also large number of displaced people who have <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/south-sudan/">fled the country</a>, and the lack of civic freedoms to ensure participation without threat or intimidation. </p>
<p>The challenges of people’s participation in constitution building processes is one of the main obstacles facing the country. In this article, we propose three broad recommendations to remove such barriers to effective people’s participation in building their democratic future. </p>
<p>First, the unity government should prioritise grassroots reconciliation after the devastating conflicts of 2013 and 2016. This is a precondition to meaningful people’s participation in constitution building. </p>
<p>Second, the government in collaboration with development partners, should facilitate the return and resettlement of all internally displaced people and refugees. </p>
<p>Third, the government should prioritise implementation of law reforms that allow freedom of expression which is a necessary democratic safety valve.</p>
<h2>People as sovereigns in constitution building</h2>
<p>People’s voices in constitutional design are the bedrock of political legitimacy. This is even more so in divided nations, where the coming together of its various and often antagonist constituencies requires trust and confidence building. Achieving this through constitutional design requires a transparent process in which all feel included. </p>
<p>The 2018 agreement acknowledges the centrality of people’s sovereignty on whose consent a viable state may emerge. It stipulates that the ‘permanent’ constitution shall be based on <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/6dn3477q3f5472d/R-ARCSS.2018-i.pdf?dl=0">‘supremacy of the people of South Sudan’</a>. This is also affirmed under article 2 of the Transitional Constitution.</p>
<p>The 2018 peace agreement also puts in place mechanisms to engage the people of South Sudan in crafting their governance framework. It provides for a timetable in which the National Constitutional Review Commission is to </p>
<blockquote>
<p>facilitate phased and multi-faceted public consultations, receive and analyse inputs and submissions from public and conduct civic education. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Whilst these plans are plausible, they are not sufficient to effectively capture all South Sudanese voices. To be legitimate, the ‘permanent’ constitution must overcome three main barriers to popular participation: </p>
<p><strong>Uprooted and displaced risk exclusion</strong></p>
<p>The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that ‘<a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/south-sudan/">4.3 million people have been displaced in South Sudan</a>’, with two million living as refugees in neighbouring countries. These are Sudan, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya. This represents almost half of the country’s population uprooted by the conflict, and who are in desperate need to return home and participate in rebuilding their communities. </p>
<p>Of the more than 2 million internally displaced people, 200,000 are sheltering in United Nations <a href="https://unmiss.unmissions.org/unmiss-protection-civilians-poc-sites-update-no-280-22-28-may-2020">protection sites</a>.</p>
<p>When one adds the ever-growing ranks of South Sudanese voluntarily leaving the country, it is conceivable that the large majority of people might be excluded from the process. </p>
<p><strong>Climate of fear</strong></p>
<p>It is true that even in situations where there is peace and democratic governance, not everyone participates in the constitution building process. Some simply disengage, others are challenged by demands of the process of participation, such as language barriers and distance to and from consultation venues. Others could even voluntarily disengage from the process because they may have lost hope. </p>
<p>Added to this is the fear instilled in ethnic minorities owing to the shrinking civic space and bulldozing role of militarised groups whose voices continue to prevail over everyone else.</p>
<p><strong>Simmering conflict and division</strong></p>
<p>The 2018 peace agreement has not fully ended the conflict in South Sudan. Ragtag groups <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/africa_south-sudan-focus_5-killed-south-sudan-road-attack/6204039.html">continue to engage</a> in military confrontation with government forces. There is also frequent inter-communal violence that continues to displace communities. The agreement’s <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ijtj/article-abstract/14/3/585/5892418?redirectedFrom=fulltext">transitional justice mechanisms</a> – which include a Truth Commission – put forward to promote peace and justice have not been implemented. This has left local peace efforts captive to political influence by elites that are yet to truly reconcile.</p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>The conflict that erupted in 2013 and again 2016 was only arrested through a formal agreement in which parties agreed to cease hostilities and formed a national unity government. But communities remain unreconciled and divisions among them run deep. Yet a meaningful participation of people cannot take place in conditions of insecurity, intimidation and antagonism. Peace-building at grassroots should, therefore, be prioritised.</p>
<p>Constitution building in South Sudan is about redefining the future of the country and its peoples. It is, therefore, imperative that all people participate in this process. The government should facilitate the return and resettlement of its displaced population. They can then participate not just as individuals, but as members of a community with shared aspirations.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trust and confidence-building are vital in divided nations where various and often antagonist constituencies are brought together.Dr J Geng Akech, PhD candidate, University of PretoriaMagnus Killander, Professor, Centre for Human Rights in the Faculty of Law, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1726392021-11-26T15:55:08Z2021-11-26T15:55:08ZChannel deaths: the UK has clear legal responsibilities towards people crossing in small boats<p>At least 27 people have drowned in the English Channel attempting to cross in a small boat. There were three children, seven women, one of whom was pregnant, and 17 men. </p>
<p>Although a joint search and rescue operation was seemingly launched in the narrow maritime area between the UK and France (which is only 20 miles wide), the highly equipped authorities of both coastal states were not able to intervene in time to save the victims.</p>
<hr>
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<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>The British government has responded to these deaths by calling on France to <a href="https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1463973204456878080?s=20">take back anyone who attempts the crossing</a>. </p>
<p>Speaking in parliament following the tragedy, Home Secretary Priti Patel placed heavy emphasis on the French government’s responsibility for the tragedy, which she said was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVfW2jO5JXc">“not a surprise”</a>.</p>
<p>Regardless of how these people got there, the UK has clear legal responsibilities to anyone who finds themselves in trouble in the Channel. However much French authorities bolster their own efforts, the UK is obliged by multiple international conventions to maintain robust search and rescue operations in the area. </p>
<h2>What are the UK’s obligations?</h2>
<p>It is not legal to send boats crossing the Channel back to France. Pushbacks are illegal (regardless of whether smugglers use smaller or larger vessels to transport migrants), and states have an obligation under the <a href="https://onboard-aquarius.org/uploads/2018/08/SAR-Convention-1979.pdf">International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue</a> to disembark everyone rescued or intercepted at sea at a place of safety, which can only be on <a href="https://wwwcdn.imo.org/localresources/en/OurWork/Facilitation/Documents/MSC.167%20(78).pdf">dry land</a>.</p>
<p>The UN Special Rapporteur for the Human Rights of Migrants has <a href="https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/47/30">concluded</a> that this is because every person has a right to have their protection claim individually assessed before removal. And in January 2021, the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26691&LangID=E">UN Human Rights Committee</a> established that Italy was liable for failing to cooperate in saving the lives of more than 200 people who drowned in waters that fall into Malta’s search and rescue jurisdiction, because Italian authorities had knowledge of the distress event and did not intervene in due time.</p>
<p>The UK has responsibilities towards people coming towards its shoreline on boats. According to Article 98(1) of <a href="https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf">the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea</a>, nations have a duty to provide assistance to people in distress. It states that they should “proceed with all possible speed to the rescue of persons in distress, if informed of their need of assistance”.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.imo.org/en/About/Conventions/Pages/International-Convention-on-Maritime-Search-and-Rescue-(SAR).aspx">International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue</a> states that a rescue operation can be effectively considered concluded only when the shipwrecked are disembarked at a place of safety.</p>
<p>The duty under this convention is one without qualification. Any person in distress “regardless of [their] nationality or status […] or the circumstances in which they are found” should be rescued.</p>
<p>Crucially in the case of the UK, Article 98(2) of the <a href="https://www.un.org/depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/unclos_e.pdf">UN Convention on the Law of the Sea</a> requests states to promote the establishment, operation and maintenance of effective search and rescue services. “Every coastal state” is obliged to do this and is responsible for its violation if the inadequacy or inefficiency of its search and rescue service contributes to loss of life at sea. </p>
<p>Therefore, regardless of whether France boosts its shoreline patrols to prevent people from entering the water in the first place, the UK must continue to rescue people at sea.</p>
<p>The English Channel is a highly <a href="https://ecre.org/channel-uk-practices-pushbacks-as-france-ngos-and-the-un-deem-turn-around-tactics-unsafe-and-unlawful/">monitored area</a>. On top of naval patrol, it is subject to aerial surveillance. Drones operate in the area and thermal cameras are deployed to seek out people. Once the maritime rescue coordination centre of a coastal state has knowledge of a distress event at sea, it has a duty to intervene – a duty, which exists even if the boat calls from the outside of its territorial waters or search and rescue areas.</p>
<p>Once a boat enters UK territorial waters, the UK’s primary responsibility for search and rescue is triggered. Nor is there any grey area when it comes to the Dover Strait – the narrowest part of the Channel across which most flimsy migrant boats travel. Here, there are no international waters. France and the UK are so close that as soon as vessels leave French waters, they enter UK waters. The UK’s primary responsibility is triggered the moment a boat leaves French waters. </p>
<h2>A duty to work together</h2>
<p>The UK and France also have a duty of cooperation under the <a href="https://www.imo.org/en/About/Conventions/Pages/International-Convention-for-the-Safety-of-Life-at-Sea-(SOLAS),-1974.aspx">International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea</a> and the Search and Rescue Convention to prevent loss of life at sea and ensure completion of a search and rescue operation. This includes a responsibility on both sides to contact the other’s authorities as soon as they receive information about people in danger and to cooperate on search and rescue operations for anyone in distress at sea.</p>
<p>Despite media coverage, European countries, including the UK, are not facing a migration crisis comparable to that of <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2015/12/5683d0b56/million-sea-arrivals-reach-europe-2015.html">2015</a>, when more than a million refugees reached Europe by sea. Even if they were, and even during a public health emergency, their discretion in determining how to react is not absolute.</p>
<p>A duty to protect life exists for governments, not only under refugee and human rights law, but also under the law of the sea on search and rescue. Whatever the political pressures at home, the UK has signed up to multiple conventions that require it to cooperate to provide prompt assistance, save lives, and deliver the shipwrecked to a place of safety.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172639/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Schumann Fellow and a WiRe (Women in Research) Fellow at Münster University</span></em></p>Talk of sending people back distracts from the UK’s clear responsibilities towards anyone who attempts the crossing.Mariagiulia Giuffré, Reader (Associate Professor) in Law, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1718652021-11-19T11:42:57Z2021-11-19T11:42:57ZRefugees in the media: how the most commonly used images make viewers dehumanise them<p>When the Syrian refugee crisis began in 2011, the journeys of thousands of people fleeing their home country to cross the Mediterranean were widely documented in the media. But the public response was tepid until 2015, when a photograph of drowned Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi on a Turkish beach was <a href="https://www.thepaperboy.com/uk/2015/09/03/front-pages-archive.cfm">printed in media</a> around the world. The photo prompted international responses, a change of EU policy on refugees, and a <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/4/640">surge in donations</a> to charities working with refugees. </p>
<p>Images shape our perceptions of the world and have the capacity to become political forces themselves. While more refugees risk their lives to cross the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/05/record-number-of-people-cross-channel-to-uk-in-small-boats">English Channel</a> and the Mediterranean, not to mention the Belarus-Poland border, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00786-x">our research</a> has found that the photos of these populations in the media affect how people view and respond to migration issues.</p>
<p>This phenomenon is described in social psychology as the “identifiable victim effect”. People engage differently with words and images concerning the suffering of a single individual rather than that of large groups. We are willing to offer greater aid to a single victim under hardship than to a group of people with the same need. <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1022299422219">Increased charity donations</a> are an example of this. </p>
<p>Yet in the mainstream media, images of identifiable victims are the exception rather than the norm. In the context of the Syrian refugee crisis, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15551393.2017.1307113">the majority</a> of news images in western media depict refugees as anonymous, faceless masses. These may either render audiences numb to the subjects’ hardship or simply fail to shift their attitudes or behaviours, as <a href="http://journal.sjdm.org/7303a/jdm7303a.htm">past research suggests</a>. </p>
<h2>Dehumanisation</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00786-x">In set of recent studies</a>, we showed media images of refugees to nearly 4,000 European citizens. We exposed them to images of either large groups, in which individuals are not identifiable, or small groups of identifiable refugees. We found that viewers dehumanised refugees more strongly when they were exposed to images of them in large groups. </p>
<p>We reached this conclusion by asking participants to tell us the extent to which they think that refugees are capable of experiencing certain emotions. We did this because an important dimension of dehumanisation is considering others as being less capable of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0402_06">experiencing secondary emotions</a> that typically distinguish humans from animals, such as tenderness, guilt and compassion (as opposed to primary emotions that are shared with animals such as fear, anger and joy).</p>
<p>We found that the participants who saw images of refugees in large groups attributed fewer secondary emotions to them. Interestingly, we did not observe this difference when participants saw images of large groups of survivors of natural disasters.</p>
<p>We also looked at another distinguishing feature of these images: whether the subjects were depicted crossing a body of water or travelling by land. One of the most striking aspects of the imagery of refugee journeys has been their crossing of the Mediterranean Sea – being rescued or having drowned.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0075424207311247">Social scientists</a> have speculated that the visual and linguistic portrayal of refugees using metaphors of water (waves, tides and floods) reinforces the stereotype of refugees as potentially threatening, uncontrollable agents. </p>
<p>In our study, the visual narrative of depicting large groups of refugees in the sea resulted in even greater dehumanisation. This suggests that current visual representations of refugees emphasise a security issue rather than a humanitarian debate – refugees are depicted as “being a crisis” for host nations, rather than finding themselves “in a crisis”.</p>
<h2>Turning emotion to action</h2>
<p>We found that not only do these differences in images affect our attitudes toward refugees, they also influence our behaviour and action. We found that participants who had been exposed to images of large groups of refugees were also more likely to endorse anti-refugee petitions and less likely to endorse pro-refugee petitions.</p>
<p>We also tested whether exposure to these images affected people’s support for political leaders. We found that viewing images of large groups was associated with <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/105/32/11087">increased support</a> for more dominant and less trustworthy-looking political leaders.</p>
<p>Interestingly, in our research, it was not the emotions that viewers attributed to the people <em>in</em> the photographs that drove political effects. Instead, the driving factor seemed to be the specific emotions that the viewers <em>themselves</em> experienced (such as reduced pity) when looking at the images of large groups.</p>
<p>There are no neutral ways to visually depict human beings. Neither the medium of photography itself can afford such neutrality, nor the photographers, the publishers or the viewers themselves. </p>
<p>The decision of what photos to publish is often made by editors who are exposed daily to many images of human suffering. Our research shows that these decisions should consider both the likely emotions audiences will “see” in the images, but also the emotions they will “feel”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171865/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Manos Tsakiris receives funding from the European Research Council and the NOMIS Foundation. </span></em></p>Images of individual refugees are rare in media, but are less likely to make viewers dehumanise them.Manos Tsakiris, Professor of Psychology, Director of the Centre for the Politics of Feelings, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1674762021-09-13T15:30:58Z2021-09-13T15:30:58ZI’ve been talking to Afghans stuck on the Bosnian border – their predicament is horrifying<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420734/original/file-20210913-19-l5qzjk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=32%2C0%2C3600%2C2398&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alessandra Fuccillo</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the Taliban closed in on Afghanistan, the European Union co-signed a <a href="https://www.state.gov/joint-statement-on-afghanistan/">joint statement</a> with dozens of nations agreeing that “the Afghan people deserve to live in safety, security and dignity” and that the international community was “ready to assist them”.</p>
<p>As someone who has been researching the refugee crisis on Europe’s borders for years, I found the statement surprising. Before it was making bold statements about events in Kabul, the EU had spent years failing to help thousands of Afghans seeking help at its borders. </p>
<p>Since 2015, more than 570,000 Afghan citizens <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20210831-eu-holds-emergency-meeting-on-possible-influx-of-afghan-refugees">have sought protection in the EU</a>. Thousands of them remain stuck in Bosnia and Herzegovina, after having been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/oct/21/croatian-police-accused-of-sickening-assaults-on-migrants-on-balkans-trail-bosnia">pushed back by the Croatian police</a> catching them on the EU border.</p>
<p>Bosnia and Herzegovina is not a member of the EU, nor of the Schengen area, so only a small number of migrants apply for asylum there. A large majority try to move forward – to pass through in order to reach EU countries where they have a better chance of obtaining asylum. </p>
<p>For four years, migrants attempting to cross the Bosnian-Croatian border have been sent back by Croatian police forces. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights <a href="https://www.ecchr.eu/en/glossary/push-back/">defines</a> pushbacks as “a set of state measures by which refugees and migrants are forced back over a border – generally immediately after they crossed it – without consideration of their individual circumstances and without any possibility to apply for asylum or to put forward arguments against the measures taken”. Pushbacks violate – among other laws – the prohibition of collective expulsions stipulated in the <a href="https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/convention_eng.pdf">European Convention on Human Rights</a>, which <a href="https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/convention_eng.pdf">defines collective expulsion</a> as “any measure compelling aliens, as a group, to leave a country, except where such a measure is taken on the basis of a reasonable and objective examination of the particular case of each individual alien of the group”. </p>
<p>The Border Violence Monitoring Network recorded <a href="https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/croatia/asylum-procedure/access-**procedure-and-registration/access-territory-and-push-backs/">110 testimonies of pushbacks</a> affecting 1,656 people in 2020 alone. In almost 90% of the cases, witnesses reported some form of degrading treatment or torture.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men wrapped in blankets sit around a pot boiling on a fire in a camp on the Bosnian border." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420758/original/file-20210913-16-h4wngy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420758/original/file-20210913-16-h4wngy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420758/original/file-20210913-16-h4wngy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420758/original/file-20210913-16-h4wngy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420758/original/file-20210913-16-h4wngy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420758/original/file-20210913-16-h4wngy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420758/original/file-20210913-16-h4wngy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A group prepares food in a camp at the border.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alessandra Fuccillo</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Afghans arrive at this border alongside Syrian, Iranian, Iraqi and Pakistani refugees. From Bosnia, they attempt the so-called <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/03/27/976648642/for-migrants-in-bosnia-the-game-is-a-perilous-journey-to-a-better-life?t=1631180808924">“game”</a>. Refugees use this expression to describe the attempt to cross a border on foot. The “game” consists of days and nights walking in the woods that connect national frontiers. It takes at least 20 days to travel from the Bosnian border to Italy. The “game” is “played” against the border and against the police. They face low temperatures, wild animals and food and water shortage on one hand, the fear of police pushbacks on the other. </p>
<p>Several told us the police have taken their phones, shoes and money. Others have reported violence.</p>
<h2>Testimony from the border</h2>
<p>Amir has been travelling for five years. He left Afghanistan when the Taliban invaded his village. He went to Turkey where he worked for three years in a factory. When his temporary papers expired, he was afraid of being deported and continued his journey into Bosnia. “I have been stuck in Bosnia for nine months. I have tried the game 27 times and I am still here,” he told me.</p>
<p>The majority of those who remain blocked in Bosnia and Herzegovina stay in the so-called “jungle camps” scattered around the provincial roads that connect the cities of Bihac, Cazin and Velika Kladuša, or in the International Organization for Migration’s temporary reception centres. They live in awful conditions, far away from urban centres, often with no access to running water or electricity. </p>
<p>With each deportation, migrants have to regroup to find money and resources. Most of them are financially assisted by relatives in their home countries. But in the last month, many Afghan migrants have lost contact with their families.</p>
<p>Ali, a 26-year-old man from Kabul told us that he has not been able to talk to his dad:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My dad lives alone in Kabul. He did not like the Taliban and now I don’t know what happened to him. The Croatian police stole my phone, and I don’t have the money to buy another one and cannot ask him to send it. I don’t even know if he is alive.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ali is not the only one who has not been able to contact his family. The physical and psychological stress of squatting and deportation mixes with the anxiety generated by the events that are taking place in Afghanistan.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man looks around a dark room in a migrant camp. Graffiti on the wall reads 'Fight Fortress Europe'." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420760/original/file-20210913-21-1hge50n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420760/original/file-20210913-21-1hge50n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420760/original/file-20210913-21-1hge50n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420760/original/file-20210913-21-1hge50n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420760/original/file-20210913-21-1hge50n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420760/original/file-20210913-21-1hge50n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/420760/original/file-20210913-21-1hge50n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants are living in terrible conditions while they try to make it to Europe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alessandra Fuccillo</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are around 15 Afghan families living between the villages of Bojina and Sturlic, right on the Bosnian border. They have found shelter in the ruins of houses abandoned after the Bosnian war. Kala, a 17-year-old girl from Kabul has been travelling for four years with her mother and her younger brother. They have been stuck in Bosnia for nine months. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>During the last game, they even took our jackets and our backpacks. My brother was left in the rain with only a t-shirt. In the backpack there were my mom’s medicines. She is very ill and she needs them but they did not care and now she does not have them anymore.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Kala told us that the police had started being violent with women. “They use tasers on our necks to make us fall down,” she said. “They use sticks against us even if we surrender. Usually, it is a female officer to beat the women, but sometimes they even use dogs against us.” Sana, another girl travelling with her family, showed us dog bite marks on her leg and told us the police set dogs on her and her mother.</p>
<p>The stories of these people living in limbo at the border remind us that the Afghan crisis, while currently acute, is not new and is not far away. The EU’s indignation over what is happening in Afghanistan rings hollow when contextualised with the consistent unwillingness to address the situation in its own neighbourhood.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167476/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benedetta Zocchi receives funding from Leverhulme Trust</span></em></p>European leaders expressed solidarity with people trapped in Kabul with no reference to the people trapped in makeshift camps on its periphery.Benedetta Zocchi, Leverhulme Trust Doctoral Scholar, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1657452021-09-03T12:35:59Z2021-09-03T12:35:59ZDance and movement therapy holds promise for treating anxiety and depression, as well as deeper psychological wounds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418934/original/file-20210901-13-ojgvbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=584%2C121%2C6776%2C4933&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dance and movement therapy not only holds promise for treatment of trauma, anxiety and depression but can also contribute lifelong coping skills.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mother-and-kids-dancing-royalty-free-image/1080443848?adppopup=true">kate_sept2004/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A few years ago, framed by the skyline of Detroit, a group of about 15 children resettled as refugees from the Middle East and Africa leapt and twirled around, waving blue, pink and white streamers through the air. </p>
<p>The captivating scene was powerfully symbolic. Each streamer held a negative thought, feeling or memory that the children had written down on the streamers. On cue and in unison, the children released their streamers into the air, then sat down nearby. Then they gathered up the fallen streamers, which carried their collective struggles and hardships, threw them in a trash can and waved goodbye. </p>
<p>The children were participating in a dance therapy activity as part of our team’s research program exploring body-based approaches to mental health treatment in people resettled as refugees.</p>
<p>In 2017, our lab – the <a href="https://www.starclab.org">Stress, Trauma and Anxiety Research Clinic</a> – began <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2019.07.007">piloting movement therapies</a> to help address trauma in refugee families. We are learning that movement may not only provide a way to express oneself, but also offer a path toward healing and lifelong strategies for managing stress. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418924/original/file-20210901-17-138fwa0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Silhouette image of a participant engaging in streamers activity described in story" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418924/original/file-20210901-17-138fwa0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418924/original/file-20210901-17-138fwa0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418924/original/file-20210901-17-138fwa0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418924/original/file-20210901-17-138fwa0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418924/original/file-20210901-17-138fwa0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418924/original/file-20210901-17-138fwa0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418924/original/file-20210901-17-138fwa0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dance and movement therapy offers a self-empowering mind-body approach to mental health treatment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Dalton</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On average, every year about <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461515612933">60,000 children are resettled</a> as refugees in Western nations. Now, the refugee crisis resulting from the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan is bringing renewed attention to their needs. The UN Refugee Agency estimates that <a href="https://www.unrefugees.org/news/afghanistan-refugee-crisis-explained/">6 million Afghans</a> have been displaced over the past 40 years, and <a href="https://www.axios.com/afghanistan-withdrawal-refugee-crisis-us-europe-42e8c1ca-63b4-41a0-b5b8-eb4832799150.html">a new wave of tens of thousands</a> are now fleeing from Taliban rule. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JxIoO1sAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=1">I am a neuroscientist</a> who specializes in understanding how trauma reshapes the nervous system of developing youth. I use this information to explore creative arts and movement-based therapies to treat stress and anxiety. <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1469-7580.2009.01160.x">The instinct to move the body in expressive ways is as old as humanity</a>. But movement-based strategies such as dance therapy have only recently been given much attention in mental health treatment circles. </p>
<p>As a dancer myself, I always found the nonverbal emotional expression offered through movement to be incredibly therapeutic – especially when I was experiencing significant anxiety and depression in high school and college. Now, through my neuroscience research, I am joining a growing number of scholars working to bolster the evidence base supporting movement-based interventions. </p>
<h2>One mind and body</h2>
<p>During the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of anxiety and depression <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.2482">doubled in youth</a>. As a result, many people are searching for <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/insights-on-utilization-of-behavioral-health-services-in-the-context-of-covid-19">new ways to cope with</a> and handle emotional turmoil. </p>
<p>On top of the pandemic, <a href="https://www.mccaininstitute.org/the-global-refugee-crisis-continuing-challenges/">conflicts around the world</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/climate-change-and-disasters.html">climate change and natural disasters</a>, have contributed to the growing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12028">global refugee crisis</a>. This demands resources for resettlement, education and occupation, physical health and – importantly – mental health. </p>
<p>Interventions that offer physical activity and creativity components at a time when children and people of all ages are likely to be sedentary and with reduced environmental enrichment can be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2021.06.017">beneficial during the pandemic</a> and beyond. Creative arts and movement-based interventions may be well-suited to address not just the emotional but also the physical aspects of mental illness, such as pain and fatigue. These factors often <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.4088%2Fpcc.v07n0405">contribute to the significant distress and dysfunction</a> that drive individuals to seek care. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418927/original/file-20210901-15-1g6e8h3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Neuroscientist Lana Ruvolo Grasser does a tension-and-release exercise with study participants." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418927/original/file-20210901-15-1g6e8h3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418927/original/file-20210901-15-1g6e8h3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418927/original/file-20210901-15-1g6e8h3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418927/original/file-20210901-15-1g6e8h3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418927/original/file-20210901-15-1g6e8h3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418927/original/file-20210901-15-1g6e8h3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418927/original/file-20210901-15-1g6e8h3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With outstretched arms, neuroscientist Lana Ruvolo Grasser performs a tension-and-release exercise with her study participants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Dalton</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why dance and movement therapy?</h2>
<p>Body movement in and of itself is known to have a multitude of benefits – including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-008-0003-4">reducing perceived stress</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nri3041">lowering inflammation in the body</a> and even <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-exercise-pill-how-exercise-keeps-your-brain-healthy-and-protects-it-against-depression-and-anxiety-155848">promoting brain health</a>. In fact, researchers understand that the <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beyond-words/201109/is-nonverbal-communication-numbers-game">majority of our daily communication is nonverbal</a>, and traumatic memories are encoded, or stored, in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1300/J146v04n02_02">nonverbal parts of the brain</a>. We also know that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.704974">stress and trauma live in the body</a>. So it makes sense that, through guided practices, movement can be leveraged to tell stories, embody and release emotions and help people “move” forward. </p>
<p>Dance and movement therapy sessions place an emphasis on fostering creativity and adaptability in order to help people <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=BgMXDQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR1&dq=thinking+with+the+dancing+brain&ots=lMsipkiKJF&sig=L1F_sz-mZkAxamUmGWgS5jl6--M#v=onepage&q=thinking%20with%20the%20dancing%20brain&f=false">develop greater cognitive flexibility</a>, self-regulation and <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/B/bo18074343.html">self-direction</a>. This is especially important because research shows that early-life experiences and how children learn to cope with them can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2019.104089">have a lasting impact</a> on their health into adulthood. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://childmind.org/our-impact/childrens-mental-health-report/2018report/">Child Mind Institute Children’s Mental Health Report</a>, 80% of children with anxiety disorders are not receiving the treatment they require. This might be due to barriers such as clinician availability and cultural literacy, cost and accessibility, and stigma surrounding mental health conditions and treatment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418928/original/file-20210901-17-oyhxys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An ice-breaker exercise involving tossing strings of yarn to one another" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418928/original/file-20210901-17-oyhxys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418928/original/file-20210901-17-oyhxys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418928/original/file-20210901-17-oyhxys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418928/original/file-20210901-17-oyhxys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=630&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418928/original/file-20210901-17-oyhxys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418928/original/file-20210901-17-oyhxys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418928/original/file-20210901-17-oyhxys.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this ice-breaker exercise, study participants created a dream catcher by tossing strings of yarn to one another, introducing themselves and then tossing the string to another child across the room.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Dalton</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We are finding that dance and movement therapy and other group behavioral health programs can help fill important gaps. For instance, these strategies can be used in combination with services people are already receiving. And they can provide an accessible and affordable option in school and community settings. Dance and movement therapy can also instill coping skills and relaxation techniques that, once learned, can last a lifetime. </p>
<h2>But does it work?</h2>
<p>Our research and that of others are showing that dance and movement therapy can build up children’s <a href="https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&context=theses_dmt">sense of self-worth</a>, improve their ability to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10465-013-9152-3">regulate their emotions and reactions</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2017.02.010">empower them to overcome obstacles</a>. </p>
<p>Much like yoga and meditation, dance and movement therapy has, at the root of its practice, a focus on deep breathing through the diaphragm. This intentional breathing movement physically pushes on and activates the vagus nerve, which is a large nerve that coordinates a number of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3949/ccjm.76.s2.17">biological processes in the body</a>. When I work with kids, I call this form of breathing and nerve activation their “superpower.” Whenever they need to calm down, they can take a deep breath, and by engaging their vagus nerve, they can bring their bodies to a more restful and less reactive state. </p>
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<p>An analysis of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0197-4556(96)00027-5">23 clinical research studies</a> indicated that dance and movement therapy may be an effective and appropriate method for child, adult and elderly patients experiencing a wide array of symptoms – including psychiatric patients and those with developmental disorders. And for both healthy individuals and patients, the authors concluded that dance and movement therapy was most effective for reducing the severity of anxiety compared with other symptoms. Research from our team has also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2019.07.007">shown promise</a> for the benefits of dance and movement therapy in reducing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety in youth who resettle as refugees. </p>
<p>We have scaled up these programs and brought them <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2021.06.017">into the virtual classroom</a> for six schools throughout the metro Detroit region during the pandemic.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most promising evidence for dance and movement therapy isn’t, as the saying goes, what the eyes cannot see. In this case, it is what the eyes can see: children releasing their streamers, their negative emotions and memories, waving goodbye to them and looking ahead to a new day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165745/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lana Ruvolo Grasser receives funding from the National Institute of Mental Health (F31MH120927). She is affiliated with the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the National Science Policy Network and SciPol Detroit, the National Honor Society for Neuroscience--Nu Rho Psi--Wayne State Chapter, and Samaritas. </span></em></p>The COVID-19 pandemic and a growing global refugee crisis have shone a light on the ever-increasing need for new approaches to mental health treatment.Lana Ruvolo Grasser, Ph.D. Candidate and Graduate Research Fellow, Wayne State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1562472021-03-10T13:23:04Z2021-03-10T13:23:04ZHow COVID-19 became a cover to reduce refugee rights<p>Even before the arrival of COVID-19 refugee rights were in trouble. For decades politicians in Europe, the US and some countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have sought to <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2017/04/12/refugees-migrants-and-the-politics-of-fear/">manufacture and manipulate</a> fears around migration for political ends. </p>
<p>In Europe the politics of migration took a particularly toxic turn with the so-called <a href="http://www.medmig.info/">“migration crisis” of 2015</a>. While refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and countries across Africa drowned at sea or became trapped in badly managed asylum systems, EU member states jostled for position, <a href="https://qz.com/635110/these-are-the-routes-being-closed-off-to-refugees-fleeing-into-europe/">closing borders</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-fences-insight-idUSKCN0X10U7">building fences</a> and restricting, before eventually <a href="https://www.friendsofeurope.org/insights/europes-shame-criminalising-mediterranean-search-and-rescue-missions/">criminalising</a>, search-and-rescue efforts. </p>
<p>Across the Atlantic, similar political forces were at play. Donald Trump made immigration one of the <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/trump-takes-office-immigration-enforcement-and-policy-poised-undergo-major-changes">centrepieces of his 2016 presidential campaign,</a> with emphasis on stopping migration from Mexico by “<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/donald-trump-immigration-address-arizona-227612">building a wall</a>” and significantly reducing the number of refugees able to enter the US through what had once been the world’s largest <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2021/01/26/US-biden-election-refugee-resettlement-muslim">refugee resettlement programme</a>.</p>
<p>Other countries with similar protections have also been hostile. Although the laws protecting refugees in South Africa are among the most progressive in the world, they are <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-south-africa-is-denying-refugees-their-rights-what-needs-to-change-135692">hard to access</a> in practice and associated with long procedural delays. Many refugees remain entirely undocumented and without access to rights. Meanwhile xenophobic violence <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/09/17/they-have-robbed-me-my-life/xenophobic-violence-against-non-nationals-south">has surged</a>. This xenophobia, rooted in a system of deep-rooted economic and social inequality that has carried on long since the end of apartheid, is often blamed on migrants, <a href="https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/years-of-impunity-for-xenophobic-crimes-driving-the-latest-attacks-in-south-africa/">an idea actively promoted by the South African government</a>. </p>
<p>Refugees and asylum seekers only make up around <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/publications/migrationreport/index.asp">10% of all international migrants</a>. Yet they and the systems designed to protect them have come to be seen as “<a href="https://www.benjerry.co.uk/files/live/sites/uk/files/our-values/Beyond-Fear-and-Hate-v1.5-FINAL.pdf">touchstone issues</a>” for a wide range of other anxieties and concerns. It won’t be a surprise to learn that many of these issues only escalated for refugees after the arrival of COVID-19.</p>
<h2>Refugee vulnerabilities</h2>
<p>The consequences of adding the pandemic to these already serious issues have been depressingly predictable. Many refugees live in poor housing and overcrowded conditions in camps, informal settlements and urban areas. In these settings, the terms “stay home”, “stay safe”, and “social distancing”
<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3631707">carry very little meaning</a>. Refugees are also especially vulnerable to the economic impacts of the pandemic because they are <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/publication/locked-down-and-left-behind-impact-covid-19-refugees-economic-inclusion">60% more likely</a> than host populations to be working in highly affected sectors, such as accommodation and food services, manufacturing and retail. COVID-19 has also made it more difficult for refugees to access social safety nets and <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/unhcr-and-some-100-ngos-urge-world-not-leave-refugees-behind-covid-19-responses">aid provided by humanitarian organisations</a>, many of which have been forced to withdraw. </p>
<p>In South Africa, refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants are unable to access the same pandemic-related financial support, food parcels and healthcare services that others receive because the application process requires <a href="https://www.mideq.org/en/blog/covid-19-south-africa-whither-migrants/">identity documents</a> that many of these groups simply don’t have. </p>
<p>When fires destroyed the Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos in September 2020, 13,000 people were forced to live and sleep on the streets <a href="https://www.hhrjournal.org/2020/12/perspective-eu-migration-pact-fails-to-address-human-rights-concerns-in-lesvos-greece/">with almost no assistance</a>, no hygiene measures and no sanitation facilities. Most were then moved to a new camp, Moria 2.0, where they live in flimsy tents, some of which are pitched just 20 metres from the sea and have already been <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/29102/greece-government-criticized-as-moria-2-0-flooded-again">flooded and battered by strong winds</a>. Although the camp was built well into the pandemic, its design failed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 – and hundreds subsequently <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54239446">tested positive</a>.</p>
<h2>Border closures and access to protection</h2>
<p>The issues facing refugees aren’t just a direct consequence of the pandemic. Some governments are using COVID-19 as an excuse to double down on border closures as well as using migration policy to demonstrate the robustness of their response to it. Although countries are entitled to close borders on health grounds, they must still provide <a href="https://www.refworld.org/docid/5e7132834.html">access to asylum</a> for those seeking protection from persecution. In practice this isn’t the case – there is evidence of pushbacks from <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/world/covid-19-access-challenges-and-implications-border-restrictions">Europe</a>, <a href="http://opiniojuris.org/2020/04/03/covid-19-symposium-us-border-closure-breaches-international-refugee-law/">the US</a> and <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/around-the-world-migrants-and-refugees-are-stranded-between-closed-borders-97089">other parts of the world</a>.</p>
<p>Worse still, refugees and other migrants have been blamed for the spread of the virus by populists who wish to exploit the pandemic for political gain. In <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/03/03/orban-uses-coronavirus-as-excuse-to-suspend-asylum-rights-in-hungary">Hungary</a>, the pandemic has been used as an excuse to pass emergency laws closing down the country’s already very restrictive asylum system. Although steps had already been taken to prevent the arrival of boats into Italian ports, Italy’s powerful <a href="https://time.com/5789666/italy-coronavirus-far-right-salvini/">far-right opposition party</a> used the virus to attack its fragile government, attempting to tie COVID-19’s spread to wider issues of border controls and migration. Thousands of asylum seekers are currently <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/italy-migrants-offshore-quarantine-incidents-deaths/">quarantined on ships off the Italian coast</a>. </p>
<p>Elsewhere, governments have taken advantage of the pandemic to put internationally opposed refugee policies into practice. In <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55177688">Bangladesh</a> for example, around 1600 Rohingya refugees have been relocated from camps in Cox’s Bazar to Bhasan Char in the Bay of Bengal, a low-lying and previously uninhabited island completely cut off from the mainland and vulnerable to cyclones and flooding. Concerns about COVID-19 and <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/danger-disease-world-s-largest-refugee-camp">overcrowding</a> have provided the perfect pretext to push this controversial policy forward.</p>
<h2>The future for refugee rights</h2>
<p>A year after the arrival of COVID-19, the future for refugee rights is <a href="https://cadmus.eui.eu/handle/1814/68175">more uncertain than ever</a>. By <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/coronavirus-not-a-migration-problem">weaponising fear</a>, COVID-19 has become a convenient cover for reducing refugee rights and introducing restrictive policies that could <a href="https://www.tni.org/en/publication/covid-19-and-border-politics">become permanent</a> once the pandemic is over. In this context it seems likely that the pandemic will accelerate the course of history in relation to refugee rights, rather than changing its direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heaven Crawley receives funding from the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund</span></em></p>As governments use the pandemic as an excuse to double-down on border closures, refugees are losing vital protectionHeaven Crawley, Research Professor, Coventry UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1444452020-08-19T09:55:18Z2020-08-19T09:55:18ZHow the coronavirus pandemic may be shaping our feelings about people crossing the Channel in small boats<p>Ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s recently engaged in an unlikely exchange with the British government. In a <a href="https://twitter.com/benandjerrysUK/status/1293214277621489666">series of tweets</a>, the company pleaded with the home secretary to show more compassion towards immigrants who take on the dangerous journey across the English Channel to seek asylum in the UK, stating that “<a href="https://twitter.com/benandjerrysUK/status/1293218782668881930">people cannot be illegal</a>”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1293218782668881930"}"></div></p>
<p>In response, Home Office insiders branded the ice cream an “<a href="https://news.sky.com/story/ben-jerrys-tackle-home-secretary-over-migrant-crossings-and-get-a-chilly-response-12047420">overpriced junk food</a>”. The exchange emerged as <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8359253/Priti-Patel-wants-new-powers-curb-illegal-migrants-sneaking-UK-calls-law-change.html">the home secretary</a> called to change the UK asylum laws to help deter future Channel crossings. </p>
<p>Politicians are not the only ones who are concerned about the Channel arrivals. Major news outlets such as the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53704809">BBC Breakfast team</a> and <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/terrified-migrants-who-paid-thousands-for-boat-to-uk-left-stranded-in-channel-after-running-out-of-fuel-12046511">Sky News</a> provided a detailed coverage of the migrants arriving on British shores in small boats. </p>
<p>Given the ongoing coronavirus crisis across the UK, what is behind the sudden interest in asylum seekers entering the country? After all, the 4,000 crossings made this year represent <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/migrationstatisticsquarterlyreport/august2019#:%7E:text=In%20the%20year%20ending%20March%202019%2C%20612%2C000%20people%20moved%20to,since%20the%20end%20of%202016.&text=For%20the%20past%20year%2C%20net,EU8%20citizens%20leaving%20than%20arriving">less than 2%</a> of total migration to the UK in 2019. It may have something to do with the recent economic crisis in the UK caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Research on the subject, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41269-017-0067-8">including my own work</a>, shows that economic insecurity and rises in unemployment can lead to negative attitudes towards immigrants and other minority groups. In short, both politicians and the news outlets are taking advantage of a wider trend among the UK population. </p>
<h2>Why do crises increase prejudice?</h2>
<p>According to the Office for National Statistics, the UK entered the largest economic recession on record between April and June, when its economy <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/articles/coronavirusandtheimpactonoutputintheukeconomy/june2020">shrank by 20.4%</a>. The government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-extends-furlough-scheme-until-october">job retention scheme</a> is also due to end in October, so unemployment is expected to rise by a staggering <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/uk-unemployment-level-coronavirus-impact-bank-england-survey-a9598701.html">3.5 million people</a>. With businesses struggling even after the lockdown restrictions were eased, economists warn that recovery will take a long time.</p>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40878-019-0127-5#ref-CR4">Academic research</a> shows that economic downturns lead to negative views of those who do not belong to our social groups. There are two main explanations for this. <a href="https://academic.oup.com/esr/article/18/1/17/435155">The first theory</a> claims that crises lead to economic competition between social groups and increases hostility between them. In times of high unemployment and economic uncertainty, like the one caused by the coronavirus pandemic, people worry that they might have to compete with migrants and asylum seekers for limited resources, such as jobs, benefits or health services. During the pandemic, the number of jobs has sharply decreased and the access to health care has been limited. This competition could drive hostile attitudes towards migrants crossing the Channel. </p>
<p>The second theory states that people displace their fear and frustration caused by the crisis onto a more vulnerable group, treating them as scapegoats. When people feel unsafe, they look for worldviews that are simple and uncomplicated to restore a sense of order in their lives.</p>
<p>Black-and-white thinking of this kind is often encouraged by more nationalist and patriotic groups who believe that some people are less deserving of living in a particular country than others. This theory is particularly convincing because we also know that, in times of crisis, people are worried about more than economic competition – they also worry about the cultural impact of migration. That has little to do with how many jobs are available or how strained health services might be, so it instead reflects this sense of finding an outlet for fear. </p>
<p>Regardless of which theory we prefer to explain the rise in prejudice in times of economic crisis, many studies confirm that economic downturns lead to an increase in negative views of immigrants. These findings are also reflected in a recent <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/travel/survey-results/daily/2020/08/11/f4dc7/1">YouGov poll</a>, which shows that 49% of the British population have little or no sympathy for migrants attempting to cross the Channel. This is in comparison to 44% of Britons who feel some or a great deal of sympathy for the migrants.</p>
<p>With this in mind, it is worth remembering that the sudden increase in interest in the Channel crossings might have little to do with the scale of migration. Instead, it likely reflects the level of uncertainty and insecurity felt by the British people in the wake of an unprecedented health and economic crisis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barbara Yoxon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>At times of economic crisis, our feelings towards migrants can become hardened.Barbara Yoxon, Lecturer in Politics, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1444662020-08-14T13:06:09Z2020-08-14T13:06:09ZWhy are more small boats crossing the English Channel – and why are border forces struggling to stop them?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/352783/original/file-20200813-14-mi2sjg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C41%2C3919%2C2595&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Kirsty O'Connor/PA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats has increased significantly – up to <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/revealed-channel-migrant-crossings-five-times-higher-than-last-year-12047812">4,343 this year compared with 857</a> in the same period last year. The number of lurid headlines calling for action has also increased significantly but the issue is not always well understood. Calls to strengthen UK border security at sea often misapprehend the tensions and difficulties involved.</p>
<p>There is a reason more boats are suddenly arriving now. It is a direct consequence of a series of disruptions to the established routes, both legal and illegal, by which refugees and asylum seekers have sought to enter the UK. Legal options have been curtailed with the reported suspension of the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/refugee-crisis-coronavirus-resettlement-scheme-home-office_uk_5f2d1621c5b64d7a55f1d6e6">refugee resettlement scheme</a> due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Clandestine routes have also been disrupted by pandemic restrictions, with less freight being moved between France and the UK and fewer flights taking place.</p>
<p>For migrants fleeing often extreme insecurity or deprivation, getting to the UK offers a chance of security. When safer routes have closed or become more difficult, small boats have become the most viable option for desperate people. They offer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/09/if-i-die-that-is-ok-calais-refugees-nowhere-to-turn">a solution of sorts</a>, albeit one that is fraught with danger.</p>
<h2>A testing time for maritime security</h2>
<p>The crossings highlight the different problems at play in UK maritime security and the difficult and sometimes contradictory demands these place on UK government agencies.</p>
<p>The first of these is humanitarian. The English Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and vulnerable people attempting to cross it in small and overcrowded boats do so at considerable risk to their lives. </p>
<p>The UK has both moral and legal obligations to protect the safety of lives at sea in its extensive maritime <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/593127/mca_uksar.pdf">Search and Rescue Zone</a>. Such tasks are the responsibility – indeed the whole mandate – of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/maritime-and-coastguard-agency">Maritime and Coastguard Agency</a> and <a href="https://rnli.org/">Royal National Lifeboat Association</a> (RNLI) among others.</p>
<p>The second is the need to patrol the UK’s borders – a <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2020/08/13/support-RAF-Navy-English-Channel-migrant-crossing">politically charged</a> issue in recent years. The arrival of these small boats places fresh strains on cash strapped local authorities responsible for looking after the people who come in on them at a time when demands on their resources are already high. Border policing at sea is the responsibility of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/border-force">UK Border Force</a> in collaboration with local police forces and other agencies.</p>
<p>The third pressure is organised crime. While migrants themselves are the most visible people in this situation, their movements are often facilitated by <a href="https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/03/05/media-factsheet-small-boats/">organised criminal groups</a> in the UK, Belgium and France. These groups provide the boats and instructions to the migrants. In places like the Mediterranean, the networks smuggling people also smuggle <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/smuggling-probe-focuses-on-fuel-tankers-trail-1457576358">illicit goods</a>. There is concern this could also happen in this case.</p>
<p>So any maritime security enforcement that targets migrants also needs to be backed up by investigations into the criminal networks that enable these movements. The National Crime Agency leads <a href="https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/what-we-do/crime-threats/organised-immigration-crime">Project INVIGOR</a> to tackle this problem.</p>
<p>UK maritime security agencies face the difficult task of navigating between these three problems: protecting lives at sea, policing UK borders and addressing the organised networks that facilitate these movements. Doing so is not easy, not least because each of the organisations involved may be working on a different problem with different priorities. </p>
<p>Anecdotally, such differences have led to tensions between agencies and problems of coordination. Adding the navy to the mix, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/08/alarm-fingerprinting-custody-channel-migrants-uk">as has been proposed</a>, may add some extra capacity, but will do little to resolve these underlying tensions.</p>
<h2>What should be done?</h2>
<p>Maritime security and policing has historically been neglected in the UK and there are <a href="http://www.safeseas.net/brexit-how-the-uk-is-preparing-to-secure-its-seas-outside-the-eu/">key capacity gaps</a> that need addressing in the context of the country’s exit from the EU and evolving challenges at sea. </p>
<p>There is a need to invest in new patrol and surveillance assets, not just for search and rescue at sea and policing the UK’s borders, but also to counter other maritime threats and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308597X20300270?via%3Dihub">blue crimes</a> such as illegal fishing or narcotics trafficking by sea. Strengthening coordination and trust building between agencies is critical in order to manage these demands.</p>
<p>Cooperation with EU partners, particularly France, is also vital both in handling the problem of small boats at sea, but also to tackle the criminal networks that facilitate these movements. Despite his Darth Vader-like job title, the new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-secretary-appoints-small-boat-commander">Clandestine Channel Threat Commander</a> is in actual fact a well-respected civil servant with significant cross-agency maritime experience and sensitivity. His appointment shows that the UK is taking maritime security more seriously.</p>
<p>Either way, the UK’s moral and legal responsibilities to protect life at sea must not be compromised by politically driven demands to strengthen maritime borders. Historically, the UK has a proud record in maritime search and rescue, but the risk of a tragedy is real if crowded and unsafe boats are forcibly turned away at sea. </p>
<p>Between 2014 and 2018, the Mediterranean became a graveyard for an estimated <a href="https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/mediterranean">19,000 people</a> attempting to make it to Europe by sea. The same thing must not happen in the English Channel.</p>
<p>Even so, maritime security responses alone cannot substitute for sustainable migration policy. In the absence of such measures and legal options for entering the UK, desperate people will continue to do desperate things and adaptive criminal networks will help them to do so. In essence, any long-term solution to the problems posed by migration at sea is ultimately likely to lie on the land.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Edwards receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Grant no. ES/S008810/1: Transnational Organised Crime at Sea: New Evidence for Better Responses.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Edmunds receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Grant no. ES/S008810/1: Transnational Organised Crime at Sea: New Evidence for Better Responses.</span></em></p>With normal routes disrupted by the pandemic, more people are driven to dangerous tactics.Scott Edwards, Research Associate, University of BristolTimothy Edmunds, Professor of International Security at University of Bristol and Director of the Centre for Global Insecurity, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1432392020-07-24T14:43:04Z2020-07-24T14:43:04ZCanadian court correctly finds the U.S. is unsafe for refugees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349367/original/file-20200724-25-1xu6wr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3750%2C2238&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In this August 2017 photo, Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers greet migrants as they enter into Canada at an unofficial border crossing at the end of Roxham Road in Champlain, N.Y., on the Québec border. A federal court has invalidated Canada's Safe Third Country Agreement with the United States. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week, Canada’s Federal Court ruled that the <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/agreements/safe-third-country-agreement/final-text.html">Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA)</a> is unconstitutional.</p>
<p>Under the agreement, refugee claimants entering Canada at land ports-of-entry can be returned directly to the United States without being allowed to make a refugee claim in Canada. The agreement was a quid pro quo for concessions offered to the U.S. after 9/11, including a <a href="https://www.legislationline.org/documents/id/7543">“smart border” accord</a>, enhanced information-sharing and joint border enforcement.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.amnesty.ca/news/legal-challenge-safe-third-country-agreement-launched">Advocates for refugees</a> have long argued that the STCA violates international refugee law and Canadian constitutional law. Differences between the refugee determination systems in Canada and the U.S., as well as differences in the rights enjoyed by refugee claimants in both countries, mean that some people who would be recognized as refugees in Canada would be denied protection south of the border.</p>
<p>In other words, the U.S. is not “safe” for at least some refugees.</p>
<h2>Trump’s election worsened situation</h2>
<p><a href="https://today.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Report-Impact-of-Trump-Executive-Orders-on-Asylum-Seekers.pdf">These arguments</a> took on an especially urgent tone after Donald Trump’s election as American president in November 2016. </p>
<p>The Trump administration has implemented many racist, xenophobic and anti-refugee policies to dissuade people from seeking asylum in the U.S. For example: Harsh <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2018/10/usa-treatment-of-asylum-seekers-southern-border/">detention practices</a> (including detention of <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/06/child-detention-centers-immigration-attorney-interview/592540/">young children</a>), <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/11/us-family-separation-harming-children-families">family separation</a>, restrictions on the refugee definition (such as excluding people facing <a href="https://cgrs.uchastings.edu/news/attorney-general-sessions-attempts-close-door-women-refugees">gender-based violence</a>), <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/the-militarization-of-the-southern-border-is-a-long-standing-american-tradition/">militarization of the border</a> and of course attempting to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/immigration/border-wall-progress/">build a wall</a> along the U.S.-Mexico border.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A tall portion of metal wall stands as construction workers work at its base, with a bulldozer and tractors in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349368/original/file-20200724-19-np8jqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349368/original/file-20200724-19-np8jqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349368/original/file-20200724-19-np8jqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349368/original/file-20200724-19-np8jqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349368/original/file-20200724-19-np8jqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349368/original/file-20200724-19-np8jqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349368/original/file-20200724-19-np8jqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this September 2019 photo, government contractors erect a section of the border wall along the Colorado River in Yuma, Ariz.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Matt York)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This prompted a growing chorus of voices — from <a href="https://www.osgoode.yorku.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Lettre-Letter.pdf">law professors</a> to <a href="https://www.amnesty.ca/blog/call-canada-end-safe-third-country-agreement">human rights organizations</a> and <a href="https://www.ndp.ca/news/ndp-statement-safe-third-country-agreement">political parties</a> — to call on Canada to suspend or withdraw from the STCA.</p>
<p>Their arguments are persuasive. How can a country be considered safe for refugees if it locks up refugee kids in cages or refuses refugee protection to women facing gender-based violence?</p>
<h2>Closing the loophole</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, these voices have been ignored. Instead, worried about critiques from the right about weakness on border control, the federal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau contemplated trying to get the U.S. <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/03/17/news/blair-mulling-ways-close-loophole-safe-third-country-agreement">to extend</a> the agreement to the entire border — not just official land ports of entry. </p>
<p>The U.S., however, has little incentive to expand the agreement, which would block even more asylum-seekers from leaving the United States for Canada, and there has been little movement on this front.</p>
<p>This inaction left the matter to the courts. Lawyers for refugee and human rights organizations, as well as refugee claimants, went to Federal Court, arguing that the STCA is <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/safe-third-country-1.5346557">unconstitutional</a>.</p>
<p>Federal Court Justice Ann Marie McDonald agreed with them.</p>
<p><a href="https://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisions/en/item/482757/index.do">Her decision</a> focused narrowly on what happens to refugee claimants who are turned away under the STCA. </p>
<p>And what happens is atrocious. Refugee claimants are handed over to American officials who detain them for weeks. Conditions of detention are inhumane. Solitary confinement is common. Access to lawyers is restricted, which makes it harder to secure refugee protection.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Men are seen walking in an outdoor, caged walkway with their arms behind their backs and dressed in correctional facility garb." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349370/original/file-20200724-15-5boya9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349370/original/file-20200724-15-5boya9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349370/original/file-20200724-15-5boya9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349370/original/file-20200724-15-5boya9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349370/original/file-20200724-15-5boya9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349370/original/file-20200724-15-5boya9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349370/original/file-20200724-15-5boya9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this September 2019 photo, asylum-seekers walk with their hands clasped behind their backs along a line painted on a walkway inside a correctional centre Winnfield, La.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Worse still, these are intentional policies aimed at making the experience of seeking asylum in the U.S. so traumatic that others will be discouraged from making the same journey. </p>
<p>As Justice McDonald held: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The evidence clearly demonstrates that those returned to the U.S. by Canadian officials are detained as a penalty …. penalization of the simple act of making a refugee claim is not in keeping with the spirit or the intention of the STCA or the foundational conventions upon which it was built.”</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>No safety for refugees</h2>
<p>In other words, U.S. immigration detention practices violate international refugee law and undermine the basic premise of the STCA that both countries are safe for refugees.</p>
<p>So there we have it. A Canadian court has determined that American detention practices are “grossly disproportionate” and “shock the conscience,” and that Canada cannot be complicit by sending refugee claimants to the U.S. to face these practices without violating constitutional rights to life, liberty and security of the person.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of migrants, including a man holding a small baby, are seen standing together in a darkened room. One teenaged girl looks directly at the camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349373/original/file-20200724-35-131c82k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349373/original/file-20200724-35-131c82k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349373/original/file-20200724-35-131c82k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349373/original/file-20200724-35-131c82k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349373/original/file-20200724-35-131c82k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349373/original/file-20200724-35-131c82k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/349373/original/file-20200724-35-131c82k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Detained migrants huddle together in a storage room at the back of a hotel where they tried to hide from Mexican immigration agents conducting a raid, in Veracruz, Mexico, in June 2019. Under increasing U.S. pressure to reduce the flow of Central Americans through Mexican territory, Mexico stepped up enforcement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Felix Marquez)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The question now is what comes next.</p>
<p>The Federal Court suspended its declaration of constitutional invalidity for six months to allow Canadian Parliament to respond.</p>
<p>The government could appeal the decision. If that happens, the STCA will be tangled up in the courts for years — during which time more asylum-seekers like Nedira Mustefa, one of the applicants in the case, will find themselves in solitary confinement in U.S. detention centres. Mustefa told the court she felt “scared, alone and confused,” with no sense of when she would be released, during her time in American detention.</p>
<p>Alternatively, the Canadian government can send a clear signal that it cares about constitutional and international law, heed Justice McDonald’s findings and take steps to immediately suspend the STCA.</p>
<p>The detention practices that she focuses on in her decision are only one among many ways in which the U.S. has attacked refugee rights. These attacks are mounting. The Trump administration recently <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/11/875419571/trump-administration-proposes-rules-to-sharply-restrict-asylum-claims">proposed reforms</a> that would gut what remains of the American asylum system. Every day that the STCA remains in effect, Canada continues to be complicit in these attacks.</p>
<p>Enough is enough. The STCA must be suspended.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143239/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sean Rehaag is the Director of York University's Centre for Refugee Studies and an Associate Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. He has undertaken paid consulting work with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, and has served as an unpaid expert witness in constitutional litigation involving refugee issues and human rights in Canada. He is a member of refugee rights organizations such as the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers and the Refugee Lawyers Association, as well as several academic organizations such as Canadian Association of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies and the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration. He currently holds research funding from Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and from the Law Foundation of Ontario.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sharry Aiken is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, Queen's University. She is a recipient of research and conference funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. She is a co-researcher with the Canadian Partnership for International Justice, former president of the Canadian Council for Refugees, and past co-chair of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Centre for International Justice. </span></em></p>The Canadian government should send a clear signal that it cares about constitutional and international law, heed a Federal Court ruling and take steps to immediately suspend the STCA.Sean Rehaag, Director, Centre for Refugee Studies & Associate Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, CanadaSharry Aiken, Associate Professor of Law, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1332782020-03-18T13:36:30Z2020-03-18T13:36:30ZSolidarity with refugees can’t survive on compassion in crisis-stricken societies of Greece and Italy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320831/original/file-20200316-27643-miuo3t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=37%2C58%2C3495%2C2291&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Residents of the village of Thermi on Lesvos prevent the disembarkation of a boat of refugees and migrants in early March. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Orestis Panagiotou/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Encouraged by Turkey, refugees and forced migrants have once more been arriving at the <a href="https://theconversation.com/tensions-mount-at-greek-border-with-turkey-amid-contested-history-of-migration-in-the-aegean-132990">Greek-Turkish border</a> in recent weeks, hoping to reach northern Europe and begin a new life. The tens of thousands who arrived were much fewer than the hundreds of thousands who passed through Greece in 2015. But they have been met with violent hostility. </p>
<p>Across the land border of the River Evros (Meric in Turkish) in eastern Greece, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/greek-villagers-enlisted-catch-migrants-turkey-border-69452257">armed vigilante</a> groups of local villagers have tried to catch potential trespassers. </p>
<p>The Greek government has responded equally harshly by <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-51783410/water-cannon-and-tear-gas-at-turkish-greek-border">firing tear gas and water cannons</a> at people approaching the border. In mid-March, Turkey began to move some of the people <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/world/europe/turkey-greece-border-migrants.html">amassed on the border</a> back to Istanbul. </p>
<p>On the Greek islands, instead of hauling the refugee-filled boats to safety or handing out blankets, islanders from Lesvos have been preventing them from disembarking at all.</p>
<p>Yet less than five years ago, local communities across Greece and Italy joined forces with international networks of volunteers to address the most urgent needs of those arriving on European soil. As I’ve documented, this was often done in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aP_Ug11La4">a selfless and humbling manner</a>, with entire villages in <a href="https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/refugees-brought-this-small-dying-italian-village/">Italy</a> and Greece integrating refugees as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-40586229/the-greek-island-where-syrian-refugees-are-welcome">contributors to local communities</a>. </p>
<p>But there is little compassion left in Greece or Italy nowadays. This is to do with two linked developments: the decline of these countries’ welfare states after the financial crisis, and the EU’s de facto abandonment of its commitment to human rights for refugee populations.</p>
<h2>Public services stretched</h2>
<p>The retrenchment of public services is a reality across Europe and the developed world, not just Greece or Italy. As my research on health and social care in England and Sweden <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2010.01879.x">has shown</a>, securing equal access to public services according to need is no longer a priority on politicans’ agendas, making users and patients responsible for their illnesses or disabilities. Policies that have promoted liberalisation and the privatisation of the welfare state starting in the late 1980s have led to conditions of manufactured scarcity. This breeds anxiety and uncertainty in more vulnerable sections of the population who rely on it.</p>
<p>The worldwide dominance of a neoliberal policies has <a href="https://www.routledge.com/A-Psychoanalytic-and-Socio-Cultural-Exploration-of-a-Continent-Europe-on/Zajenkowska-Levin/p/book/9780367182779">drastically altered</a> the terms of debate on collective responsibility for the disadvantaged, affecting people’s willingness to assist them. In the aftermath of the financial crisis and austerity, refugees and migrants have often been seen as competitors for ever-decreasing public resources. This is only likely to get worse as the social and health consequences of the global coronavirus pandemic continue. </p>
<p>The current situation in Greece, which hosts growing numbers of refugees but has severely under-resourced public services, has cast this into sharp relief. The magnitude of refugees’ healthcare needs <a href="http://www.ijhpm.com/article_3611.html">would place</a> a major additional demand on the country’s stretched national health system in the event of a coronavirus outbreak <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/11/lesbos-coronavirus-case-sparks-fears-for-refugee-camp-moria">in the overcrowded and filthy camps</a>. On March 18, the Greek government <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/greece-to-restrict-migrant-camp-movements-in-virus-measure/">announced</a> it would suspend visits to the camps on the island for two weeks to stop the spread of the virus. Non-governmental organisations have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/mar/18/ngos-raise-alarm-as-coronavirus-strips-support-from-eu-refugees">called on authorities</a> not to abandon refugees and forced migrants. </p>
<h2>Humanitarianism suspended</h2>
<p>The situation has not been helped by a <a href="https://theconversation.com/outsourcing-a-humanitarian-crisis-to-turkey-is-that-the-european-thing-to-do-55915">controversial</a> 2016 EU–Turkey deal, which is <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/turkey-hopes-refugee-deal-eu-march-26-200310094525364.html">now threatened</a> by the recent tensions on the Greek-Turkish border. </p>
<p>The original plan was to send thousands of refugees back to Turkey in a deal aimed at preventing people from trying to reach the EU by sea. In exchange, Turkey would receive €6 billion (£5.3 billion) to assist the vast refugee community hosted there and Turkish nationals would be granted visa-free travel to Europe. Between 2016 to 2019 the EU has resettled more than 25,000 Syrians coming via Turkey, <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/only-189-migrants-returned-to-turkey-despite-eu-refugee-pact-report/a-52153279">while less than 2,000 people were returned</a>. But the number of clandestine arrivals reaching Greek islands by sea was more than <a href="https://migration.iom.int/europe?type=arrivals">70,000 in 2019</a> alone.</p>
<p>All the same, the EU frontier countries such as Greece and Italy are increasingly being left alone to accommodate the growing number of refugees from the war in Syria as well as migrants from Africa and the Middle East. This leads to a high number of traumatised and vulnerable people subsisting in limbo in <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-refugees-arrive-on-greek-islands-amid-overcrowding-and-water-shortages-123494">substandard dwellings and makeshift tents</a> with limited or no access to healthcare or education for their children in the Greek islands. In my <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14753634.2016.1238159?needAccess=true">ongoing research</a>, I’ve found that locals who helped refugees were increasingly marginalised in their communities while many islanders regretted the upheaval the arrivals brought.</p>
<h2>EU failure</h2>
<p>Despite the Greek government’s responsibility for the appalling conditions of those waiting for a response to their asylum claims, and the harsh response to the recent arrivals, above all this situation demonstrates the abject failure of European migration policy. </p>
<p>The EU governments appear unable and unwilling to take a coordinated approach to addressing the needs of refugees, fearful that populist politicians will active stoke up resentment towards “others”. This explains why the EU has turned a blind eye to <a href="https://theconversation.com/slave-auctions-in-libya-are-the-latest-evidence-of-a-reality-for-migrants-the-eu-prefers-to-ignore-88589">human rights violations in Libya</a>, another gatekeeper country receiving money to stem the flow of people crossing the Mediterranean in boats from Africa to Europe. </p>
<p>The arrival of refugees from the Middle East fleeing war and persecution has fundamentally challenged the commitment of European countries to solidarity with vulnerable people seeking protection from war and persecution, as <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/1951-refugee-convention.html">stipulated in the Geneva Convention</a>. But anti-migration sentiment may be a form of anxiety displacement arising from the dislocation many citizens experience in European countries where public services have been decimated and the number of people in precarious employment is on the rise. </p>
<p>Policies which try to address these issues, rather than appeal to compassion for the less advantaged, will be required to restore the values of solidarity and care for all those who need it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133278/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marianna Fotaki does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Five years ago, communities in Italy and Greece volunteered to help migrants and refugees. Now that solidarity has disappeared. Why?Marianna Fotaki, Network Fellow, Edmond J Safra Center for Ethics, Harvard University and Professor of Business Ethics, Warwick Business School, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1228342019-10-16T17:00:48Z2019-10-16T17:00:48ZForms and outcomes of citizens’ mobilisations during Europe’s refugee reception crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292502/original/file-20190915-8678-1vquf13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1790%2C1198&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mass mobilization of citizens and organizations around Brussels-North railway station.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=735478233328234&set=a.735474743328583&type=3&theater">FRANÇOIS DVORAK/fdvphotoreporter.wixsite.com/monsite</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The long summer of migration in 2015 had a profound impact on civil society throughout Europe. Whether countries were arrival points, on transit routes or were final destinations, and regardless of their geopolitical situations, a large and diversified set of attitudes and practices emerged.</p>
<p>The actions taken by citizens, whether they were negative or positive, intended to reject or welcome newcomers, made visible their dissatisfaction and criticism toward the way their political elites and institutions attempted to manage the situation. Over time they became systematic and structured, ultimately questioning the <a href="https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/issue/view/107">relationship between citizens and political institutions</a>. They also give a sense of what political participation means today.</p>
<p>As shown in <a href="https://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=1005529">our research</a>, while public opinions remained relatively stable throughout from 2015 to 2018, civil-society mobilisation rose and became polarised in all European countries. The profiles of those involved differed, as did their relationships with institutions and the outcomes. The range of motivations themselves showed to be relatively stable, and determined by sociocultural and political motivations.</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>Positive mobilisations</strong>: Humanitarian solidarity is the strongest catalyst and has an important impact on support activities. Donations and emergency help such as the distribution of food and clothes are the most common practices among individual volunteers and civil society groups. This is also true in those contexts where public opinion is more critical of migration, where institutions take a more restrictive approach, or where civil society is generally less proactive.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Negative mobilisations</strong>: These are inspired by tropes about the demographic threat from the Global South, including conspiracy theories on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_genocide_conspiracy_theory">“ethnic substitution”</a>, opposition to “foreignisation”, the conception of the national territory as “private property”, and the depiction of nations as victims of an <a href="https://www.leganord.org/component/tags/tag/stop-invasione">“invasion”</a>. During the reception crisis, perceived cultural threats revolving around national identity, cultural norms and values have significantly increased, especially in Eastern and Southern Europe.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Negative sociocultural beliefs are also embodied by political parties or movements. In Italy, far-right organisations as well as the anti-immigration mainstream party, the League and its leader Matteo Salvini, played this role. In Hungary, xenophobia is completely integrated into the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/21/hungary-accused-of-fuelling-xenophobia-human-rights-violations">rhetoric of the Orbán government</a>.</p>
<h2>From the social to the political</h2>
<p>In a second phase of the reception crisis, groups motivated by solidarity shifted to politically driven mobilisation, showing that sociocultural and the political forms of mobilisation are not exclusive or conflictual, but <a href="http://www.uninomade.org/the-gaze-of-autonomy-capitalism-migration-and-social-struggles/">overlapping</a>.</p>
<p>Only in rare instances did citizens’ reactions align with the governments’ stance. Instead, initiatives often aimed to correct – or more precisely, to suggest corrections to – state policies. When politically driven, positive mobilisation embraced the issue of formal access to rights, including questions of citizenship and <a href="https://sanspapiers.be/qui-sommes-nous/">recognition of undocumented people</a>. It aimed to have a direct impact on national politics, the policymaking process and field practices, as well as in those contexts where institutions show relative tolerance toward asylum seekers. Similarly, mobilisation against asylum seekers sought to integrate the government’s restrictive field practices such as <a href="https://euobserver.com/justice/142739">border and access control</a>. This happened especially when the reception systems in transit countries were overwhelmed and clearly no longer effective.</p>
<p>Interestingly, while positive mobilisation rarely sprang directly from political organisations or got backing from formal political parties, the most evident cases of negative mobilisation were structured around political groups that existed before 2015 – <a href="https://www.pegida.de">Pegida</a> in Germany, the Greek far-right party <a href="http://www.xrisiavgi.com">Golden Dawn</a> or Jobbik’s paramilitary wing, <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/can-europe-make-it/hungarys-future-antiimmigration-antimulticulturalism-and-antiro/">Hungarian Guard</a>. Italy is a case where the connection between negative mobilisation and formal politics is particularly evident: opposition to asylum seekers <a href="http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/cronache/sindaco-non-vuole-i-profughi-e-prefetto-deve-arrendersi-1150548.html">came directly from local governments</a>, and saw the spontaneous mobilisation of citizens only in rare cases.</p>
<p>The reception crisis also allowed far-right groups to portray asylum seekers as a national threat, and to gain space in the public debate. Golden Dawn had a strong impact, shaping the widespread impression that <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/d88eab00-5d30-11e5-a28b-50226830d644">Greece was a xenophobic country</a>. In Italy, the reception crisis was an opportunity for different segments of the right-wing and far-right spectrum to <a href="https://www.open.online/2019/05/02/matteo-salvini-e-casapound-un-rapporto-lungo-cinque-anni/">work together</a>. Even in Germany, where the concept of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/06/germany-refugee-crisis-syrian"><em>Willkommenskultur</em></a> shaped the mainstream debate and inspired the humanitarian response at the international level, a strong representation of anti-migration views and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-222-refugee-homes-burned-or-attacked-arrests-a6763506.html">extreme violence</a> against immigrants emerged in 2015.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297127/original/file-20191015-98653-34r8vl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/297127/original/file-20191015-98653-34r8vl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297127/original/file-20191015-98653-34r8vl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297127/original/file-20191015-98653-34r8vl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=384&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297127/original/file-20191015-98653-34r8vl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297127/original/file-20191015-98653-34r8vl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/297127/original/file-20191015-98653-34r8vl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">On December 17, 2015, German chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders sought to establish a new border and coast guard force to slow the influx of migrants across the EU’s external frontiers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alain Jocard/AFP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mobilisation outcomes</h2>
<p>The long summer of migration in 2015 had an impact on the relationship between civil society and the state. This happened in the way the former represents claims and takes actions within the public affairs, and how the latter interacts with – and reacts to – citizens’ sentiments and engagement.</p>
<p>There was an unprecedented wave of solidarity from Europeans who hadn’t previously been active supporters of asylum seekers or migration-related issues. Mobilisation was primarily in urban settings, with the exception of areas such as the Serbian/Croatian border in Hungary and the Greek islands that experienced mass arrivals. The crisis of reception structures led to the creation, consolidation, interaction and evolution of heterogeneous organisations, citizen initiatives and networks at the <a href="http://www.bxlrefugees.be">national</a> and <a href="https://www.refugees-welcome.net">international level</a>.</p>
<p>Mobilisation also occurred when dormant organisations reactivated and existing ones embraced the issue of asylum seekers and refugees. The nature of their activities and their principles adapted to the situation, the needs of newcomers and the policy structures surrounding them. European civil society reacted more or less explicitly to the problems, gaps and failures of political institutions and institutional policy measures. In doing so, citizen organisations and NGOs made visible the <a href="https://books.google.be/books?id=JSlWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT88&lpg=PT88&dq=organized+non-responsibility+pries&source=bl&ots=ji-emGEMoj&sig=ACfU3U13Zmyl6FAWnIR544gyhTlHK5runw&hl=it&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj628nI6bHkAhXKEVAKHU79DYAQ6AEwC3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=organiz&f=false">“organized non-responsibility”</a> that characterised the institutional approach of the European Union and the indifference of many countries during the emergency.</p>
<h2>The emergence of the local dimension</h2>
<p>As a consequence of the reception crisis, volunteer groups, citizen initiatives and civil-society organisations paved the way for inclusive approaches toward asylum seekers and migration in general. These approaches are specific to regions, municipalities and local areas. A new paradigm of integration established in these contexts, and marked a “local turn” in the management of the contemporary migration issue. Recent scientific articles published by <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.2017.1368371">Younes Ahouga</a> or <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0020852316688426">Zapata-Barrero, Caponio and Scholten</a> have observed this paradigm to be growing in Europe.</p>
<p>The crisis created opportunities for citizens to transform spontaneous mobilisation – negative and positive – into forms of political action and advocacy. In several instances at the local level, groups of citizens and volunteers working alongside the state-designated reception actors took on a formal organisational structure and became involved in the decision-making process.</p>
<p>While strong civil-society mobilisation provided an alternative to anti-migrant rhetoric and violence, it did not always have positive political repercussions. This is reflected in the strategies of anti-migrant governments to challenge the leadership of non-institutional actors, as well as in the attempts to criminalise NGOs and obstruct their support activities. Examples of such institutional strategies are Hungary’s so-called <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/20/hungary-passes-anti-immigrant-stop-soros-laws">“Stop Soros” laws</a>, or Italy’s second <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/15/italy-adopts-decree-that-could-fine-migrant-rescue-ngo-aid-up-to-50000">“Security Decree”</a>.</p>
<p>A few years before than international migration was turned into a political problem and the EU sought to fortify its external borders, sociologist <a href="http://www.seuil.com/ouvrage/la-double-absence-des-illusions-de-l-emigre-aux-souffrances-de-l-immigre-abdelmalek-sayad/9782020385961">Abdelmalek Sayad</a> reminded us that contemporary migration has a mirror function. It makes visible how governmental trends in the treatment of immigrants anticipate the way forms of social control and legal measures are designed to be directed toward native citizens. The 2015-2018 refugee reception crisis is no exception.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122834/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author does not work for, consults, owns shares in or receives funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 2015 reception crisis had a profound impact on civil society in Europe. A significant set of attitudes and practices emerged that give a sense of what political participation means today.Alessandro Mazzola, Post-doc Research Fellow, Sociologist, Université de LiègeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.