tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/african-migration-16739/articlesAfrican migration – The Conversation2024-03-27T09:52:04Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2265302024-03-27T09:52:04Z2024-03-27T09:52:04ZWhy EU information campaigns are failing to deter migrants from leaving<p>It was everywhere on the news and social media. In September 2023, <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230918-italy-extends-detention-period-to-deter-migrant-crossings-after-lampedusa-surge">10,000 migrants arrived on the island of Lampedusa</a>, more than doubling the island’s population of 6,000 and overwhelming its resources. The migrants – mostly men from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East – had to sleep outside, with the island’s reception centre only designed for 400 people.</p>
<p>Days after, Italy’s Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni, visited the island with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who presented a <a href="https://cyprus.representation.ec.europa.eu/news/10-point-plan-lampedusa-2023-09-18_en">ten-point plan</a> to stem the migrant flow. These included calls to “increase awareness and communication campaigns to disincentivise the Mediterranean crossings” and to “step up cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)”.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the fanfare with which these announcements were made, their methods were hardly new.</p>
<p>A leading actor in the field, the IOM has been organising <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230294882_9">such campaigns</a> for decades. One of the most notable ones was <a href="https://www.migrantsasmessengers.org/">“Migrants as Messengers”</a>, which took place across Senegal, Guinea and Nigeria from December 2017 to March 2019. Throughout the campaign, town halls screened video testimonies of migrant returnees, followed by Q&As with migrants who would act as “messengers” to deter them from embarking onto the perilous journey.</p>
<p>In 2022, the UNHCR also launched the <a href="https://www.tellingtherealstory.org/en/">“Telling the Real Story” campaign</a> across a number of African countries. Drawing mainly on a website and a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/tellingtherealstory/">Facebook page</a>, the campaign aims at “telling the real story” by emphasising the terrible ordeals that await would-be irregular immigrants, such as human smuggling and trafficking.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">“Telling the Real Story”, a video aimed at dissuading would-be emigrants.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The argument is always the same: would-be emigrants in Africa are unaware of the risks and must be informed so that they make the right decision – which is to stay at home or migrate only if they have the right to do so. This message is complemented by information on the opportunities in the country of origin and on Africans’ duty to contribute to the development of their country.</p>
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À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sauvetage-des-migrants-naufrages-en-mediterranee-comment-la-politique-de-lue-doit-evoluer-222453">Sauvetage des migrants-naufragés en Méditerranée : comment la politique de l’UE doit évoluer</a>
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<h2>Hundreds of campaigns</h2>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.bridges-migration.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/EU-funded-information-campaigns-targeting-potential-migrants.pdf">report</a> from the <a href="https://www.bridges-migration.eu/">European research programme “Bridges”</a>, the EU has spent more than €23 million since 2015 to organise nearly 130 information campaigns.</p>
<p>While Europe is at the forefront of such initiatives, it is not alone. Australia has distinguished itself with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/11/government-launches-new-graphic-campaign-to-deter-asylum-seekers">particularly biting messages</a>, with a 2014 <a href="https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/foi/files/2019/fa-190801764-document-released-p4.PDF">campaign</a> directly addressing people tempted by irregular immigration in stark terms: “NO WAY. You will not make Australia home”. Years later, in 2019, the strategy was enthusiastically touted by the then US president, <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7186189/Trump-praises-Aust-asylum-seeker-policy.html">Donald Trump</a>.</p>
<p>Campaigns can also be organised by private companies or NGOs. For example, the social enterprise <a href="https://seefar.org/">Seefar</a> carried out an extensive information campaign on the risks of migration in Senegal in 2021, reaching 1,987 young people across the country, according to the organisation. In addition to its rescue missions in the Mediterranean, the Spanish association Proactiva Open Arms also ran an awareness campaign in the same country, the <a href="https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2020/04/ngos-dilemma">“Origin” project</a>.</p>
<p>However, all these initiatives and players are faced with a major problem: no one is able to demonstrate the effectiveness of these campaigns.</p>
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À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/le-sauvetage-en-mer-au-defi-de-la-securisation-des-frontieres-le-cas-de-la-manche-170238">Le sauvetage en mer au défi de la sécurisation des frontières : le cas de la Manche</a>
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<h2>Difficult to assess effectiveness</h2>
<p>As the budgets devoted to them increase, however, some studies have begun to take a serious look at the impact of campaigns.</p>
<p>In 2018, an <a href="https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/evaluating_the_impact.pdf">IOM study</a> pointed out that campaigns are difficult to evaluate because they have a dual objective: to slash irregular immigration, but also to provide information.</p>
<p>Sometimes only one of the two objectives is achieved: in 2023, a <a href="https://publications.iom.int/books/irregular-migration-west-africa-robust-evaluation-peer-peer-awareness-raising-activities-four">study</a> devoted to the IOM’s “Migrants as Messengers” showed that this campaign did increase the level of information, while failing to reduce departures.</p>
<p>Overall, although it has been organising such campaigns for 30 years, the IOM has carried out only a few, belated impact studies. This is because seriously gauging campaigns’ effectiveness is expensive – but it also appears that European states prefer to multiply campaigns rather than fund evaluations.</p>
<p>The situation is even more confusing with other actors. Seefar, for example, <a href="https://seefar.org/the-migrant-project/#salamat-article">claims that</a>, in follow-up interviews, 58% of its campaign viewers reported having given up their migration project. But in the absence of basic information regarding this finding, like the number of interviews or the timeline over which interviewees were followed, it is difficult to know whether this is more than a wet-finger approach to justify the funds received by this private company.</p>
<p>In terms of independent research, a <a href="https://www.udi.no/globalassets/global/forskning-fou_i/rapport_11_19_web.pdf">study by the Institute for Social Research in Oslo</a> in 2019 looked at migrants from Eritrea, Somalia and Ethiopia in transit through Sudan with the intention of continuing on to Europe.</p>
<p>The aim was to evaluate a campaign launched in 2015 by Norway, entitled <a href="https://www.sciencenorway.no/forskningno-immigration-policy-norway/social-media-campaign-for-asylum-seekers-draws-angry-trolls/1448896">“Stricter asylum regulations in Norway”</a>, which used Facebook to inform potential migrants of the slim chances of obtaining asylum in that country. As with any advertisement, Facebook’s algorithm was designed to identify Internet users searching for information on immigration, Europe or visas, and to offer them targeted deterrent messages.</p>
<p>The study confirmed that migrants are connected and use social networks to obtain information and organise their migration. But while they have sometimes heard of European campaigns, most have not seen them. They know about the terrible living conditions of migrants in Libya, for example, but this does not dissuade them from leaving to escape the impasse of their situation.</p>
<h2>Migrants deported from Europe called to testify</h2>
<p>In 2023, a <a href="https://www.bridges-migration.eu/publications/why-information-campaigns-struggle-to-dissuade-migrants-from-coming-to-europe/">team of political scientists from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel</a> analysed the information available to young people tempted to emigrate from the Gambia to Europe, and how the campaigns affected their decision to leave. As in Sudan, the information on the risks of irregular immigration happened to correspond to what these young people already know. But in the absence of prospects at home, they will leave anyway, fully aware of the facts.</p>
<p>Another study carried out <a href="https://www.bridges-migration.eu/publications/a-comparative-study-on-the-role-of-narratives-in-migratory-decision-making/">with Afghans in transit through Turkey</a> came to similar conclusions.</p>
<p>However, this work also revealed another problem: the recipients of these campaigns do not take them seriously because they believe them to be biased by Europe’s political objectives – and so they prefer to get their information from relatives, or even smugglers.</p>
<p>This result has prompted new strategies. Following the example of “Migrants as Messengers”, campaigns known as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08865655.2022.2108111">“peer to peer”</a> (“de pair-à-pair”) ask migrants expelled from Europe to talk about their experience to <a href="https://jaspertjaden.com/policy/2019_migrants-as-messengers_the-impact-of-peer-to-peer-communication-on-potential-migrants-in-senegal/">those who might be tempted to imitate them</a>. This is part of a technique known as <a href="https://repository.law.umich.edu/articles/2611/">“unbranding”</a>, a marketing concept that refers to the omission of the brand name on a product in order to sell it better. In the case of the campaigns, this amounts to concealing the European and international institutions <a href="https://migrantprotection.iom.int/en/spotlight/articles/initiative/constantly-evolving-awareness-raising-campaign-aware-migrants">that fund them</a>.</p>
<p>Another strategy is not to target potential migrants, but the local actors who influence perceptions of migration, starting with the media and artists. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) works with <a href="https://theconversation.com/quand-la-lutte-contre-limmigration-irreguliere-devient-une-question-de-culture-112200">musicians popular with young Africans</a>, as well as with journalists.</p>
<p>Similarly, <a href="https://www.unesco.org/fr/articles/un-forum-dechanges-avec-des-journalistes-et-managers-de-medias-pour-une-narrative-diversifiee-et-de">Unesco</a> trains Senegalese journalists to talk about migration.</p>
<h2>Trade-offs with freedom of expression</h2>
<p>Against a backdrop of precariousness for media and cultural professionals, the support of international organisations is welcome, but raises the question of freedom of expression and freedom of the press on this politically sensitive subject.</p>
<p>In Morocco, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/RMJMigrations/">Network of Moroccan Journalists on Migration</a> has been set up to deal with migration issues independently, although this does not prevent these journalists from taking part in training activities organised by international organisations and supported by European funding.</p>
<p>In Gambia, a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08865655.2022.2156375">recent study</a> highlighted the dilemmas faced by local journalists who are asked to spread messages about the dangers of immigration while trying to maintain their independence.</p>
<p>In the eyes of their advocates, these campaigns are justified on the grounds that the migrants who die in the Mediterranean are the victims of misleading information from smugglers. Providing information would therefore save lives. But there are no studies to support this hypothesis: on the contrary, it appears that migrants leave in the full knowledge of the risks they are exposing themselves to.</p>
<p>Faced with this uncomfortable reality, it is possible that information campaigns only serve to give European leaders the feeling that they are acting to prevent the tragedies that result from their own policies. After all, it is partly <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1465116516633299">due to a lack of opportunities to migrate</a> legally that many migrants try their luck irregularly, with all the risks that this entails.</p>
<p>The scarcity of available evaluations shows that the effectiveness of the campaigns is not a priority for European states. This migration policy tool would therefore have primarily symbolic value – as proof that Europe is concerned about the fate of the many people it does not want on its soil.</p>
<p>But this political strategy nonetheless has very real effects on local players, and on the ability of societies in the South to debate independently the major political issues raised by international migration.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/226530/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mélodie Beaujeu is a member of Désinfox-Migrations, an association fighting disinformation around migration. The latter has received funding from the Porticus foundation as well as the Foundation for France.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Antoine Pécoud ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>The argument is a familiar one: African citizens are unaware of the risks tied to the perilous journey across the Mediterranean and the West must therefore enlighten them.Antoine Pécoud, Professeur de sociologie, Université Sorbonne Paris NordMélodie Beaujeu, Consultante et chercheuse, affiliée à l'Institut Convergences Migrations, Sciences Po Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2133652023-10-06T00:22:52Z2023-10-06T00:22:52Z‘No safe space in society’: new UN report reveals the extent of systemic racism faced by people of African descent in Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552239/original/file-20231005-16-1flnlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C26%2C5815%2C3844&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A special UN working group this week tabled its first-ever <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/country-reports/ahrc5467add2-visit-australia-report-working-group-experts-people-african">report</a> on the experiences of people of African descent in Australia to the <a href="https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1j/k1j104fnsk">United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva</a>. </p>
<p>The report documents what people of African descent living in Australia already know: Australia has a racism problem. </p>
<p>In fact, the UN’s <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/wg-african-descent">Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent</a> said in a press release at the end of their visit that people of African descent in Australia are living “<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/12/australia-people-african-descent-living-under-siege-racism-say-un-experts">under siege of racism</a>”. </p>
<p>The new report says people of African descent experience racism in many key areas of life, including health, education and employment. It also highlighted the use of racialised hate speech in political rhetoric, racial profiling in law enforcement, and the highly racialised nature of Australia’s immigration policies. In one section, the report said:</p>
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<p>Some refugees of African descent expressed surprise that settlement was less of a protection tool, and more of a pathway to prison for their communities, stating, “in Africa, we knew what was killing us.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552238/original/file-20231005-19-9bofx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552238/original/file-20231005-19-9bofx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552238/original/file-20231005-19-9bofx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552238/original/file-20231005-19-9bofx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552238/original/file-20231005-19-9bofx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552238/original/file-20231005-19-9bofx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552238/original/file-20231005-19-9bofx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552238/original/file-20231005-19-9bofx9.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>
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<span class="caption">A new report examines the experiences of people of African descent in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/growing-up-african-in-australia-racism-resilience-and-the-right-to-belong-113121">Growing Up African in Australia: racism, resilience and the right to belong</a>
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<h2>What the working group found</h2>
<p>At the invitation of the Australian government, the working group visited Australia for the first time in December last year.</p>
<p>The group’s task was to evaluate the human rights situation of people of African descent living in Australia. It collected information on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance during visits to Canberra, Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. It also met with various arms of government (including senior officials of the federal government, the Australian Border Force and Australian Federal Police), non-government stakeholders, academics and human rights defenders. </p>
<p>The working group, supported by the <a href="https://www.africanaustralianadvocacy.org.au/">African Australian Advocacy Centre</a>, also facilitated public consultations across Australia where it heard from individuals and community leaders. And it received formal written submissions during and after the visit.</p>
<p>In its report, the UN working group called attention to how the legacies of British colonisation and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-white-australia-policy-74084">White Australia policy</a> still continue to have harmful impacts on Black people of African descent living in contemporary Australia. </p>
<p>In reference to a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-10-03/andrews-under-fire-for-cutting-african-refugee/688430">2007 assertion</a> by then-Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews that African refugees fail to integrate, the report noted:</p>
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<p>This unsupported statement was never retracted nor repaired, even by subsequent governments. It lives on in the minds of people of African descent who see themselves as contributors to Australia and as African-Australian.</p>
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<p>The report also observed the politicised association of youth of African descent with “<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-media-are-to-blame-for-racialising-melbournes-african-gang-problem-100761">African gangs</a>” and criminality. It revealed their experiences of being racially profiled and surveilled by law enforcement.</p>
<p>Across Australia, young people also reported experiencing racism and cultural denial at university. <a href="https://theconversation.com/not-a-day-passes-without-thinking-about-race-what-african-migrants-told-us-about-parenting-in-australia-149167">Children</a> reported similar experiences at school, where they are not presented with positive images of themselves. In fact, many reported being ostracised, subjected to racial slurs and bullied by both classmates and teachers. Their complaints often go unaddressed.</p>
<p>One student told the working group about an incident at school when a football labelled with racial and misogynistic slurs was thrown at her and other Black students in maths class. She said:</p>
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<p>Essentially, we have all seen the slow response. We have seen the staff take little to no relevant action – believe it or not, sometimes they do not play by the rules. We have felt lost. Emotionally bruised.</p>
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<p>The working group noted children of African descent often feel there are “no safe spaces” for them to <a href="https://theconversation.com/growing-up-african-in-australia-racism-resilience-and-the-right-to-belong-113121">grow up Black</a> in Australian society.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552425/original/file-20231005-31-pspve2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552425/original/file-20231005-31-pspve2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552425/original/file-20231005-31-pspve2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552425/original/file-20231005-31-pspve2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552425/original/file-20231005-31-pspve2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552425/original/file-20231005-31-pspve2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552425/original/file-20231005-31-pspve2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&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">The working group had numerous recommendations for the Australian government to consider.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Scholars <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2158244017720483">Virginia Mapedzahama and Kwamena Kwansah-Aidoo</a> have previously written about the burden experienced by people of African descent with black skin living in Australia. </p>
<p>Mapedzahama and Kwansah-Aidoo write that the main issue is not people’s dark skin, but rather how it marks them as inferior, problematic and not belonging in a predominantly white space. </p>
<p>This can result in the diversity of Black Africans being flattened and their presence in Australia being seen in negative terms. Australian leaders have a particular responsibility not to contribute to such deficit-based portrayals of people of African descent. </p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/trauma-racism-and-unrealistic-expectations-mean-african-refugees-are-less-likely-to-get-into-australian-unis-121885">Trauma, racism and unrealistic expectations mean African refugees are less likely to get into Australian unis</a>
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<h2>Charting a path forward</h2>
<p>The working group’s report makes for difficult reading. </p>
<p>It shows the many compounding ways racism hinders the ability of people of African descents to fully participate in Australian society.</p>
<p>It also draws attention to the fact many felt their experiences of racism had been denied, minimised or ignored.</p>
<p>The report provides 27 recommendations to help guide the Australian government’s future actions to address the working group’s concerns. These include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>people of African descent should be meaningfully included in all decisions that impact their lives</p></li>
<li><p>narratives that feed a “culture of denial” of anti-Black racism should be confronted</p></li>
<li><p>and that the same care and commitment should be devoted to addressing systemic racism in Australian institutions that the government demonstrated in implementing the White Australia policy historically. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Although Australia has much to do, the UN report acknowledges the work the government has already done to guarantee the human rights of people of African descent. This includes the 2012 establishment of the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/rights-and-freedoms/parliamentary-joint-committee-human-rights">Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights</a> and the work of the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au">Australian Human Rights Commission</a>. </p>
<p>The report also welcomed the federal government’s willingness to engage in the process and take action.</p>
<p>Australia now has the opportunity to take on board the report’s recommendations. Doing so will bring us closer to empowering people of African descent to contribute to – and benefit more fully from – Australia’s prosperity.</p>
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<p><em>The author would like to acknowledge and thank Noël Zihabamwe, chairperson of the African Australian Advocacy Centre, for his contributions to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213365/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author has an ongoing research partnership with the African Australian Advocacy Centre (AAAC). The author is not a AAAC board member and maintains her academic independence. </span></em></p>The UN working group visited Australia for the first time in December last year. Their task was to evaluate the human rights situation of people of African descent living in Australia.Kathleen Openshaw, Lecturer in School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1837412022-06-05T07:20:17Z2022-06-05T07:20:17ZThe award-winning African documentary project that goes inside the lives of migrants<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465471/original/file-20220526-23-9tw5pp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Last Shelter plays out at a migrant shelter on the southern edge of the Sahara desert.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy Generation Africa/STEPS</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For far too long the west has been telling stories about and talking on behalf of Africa. However, a new slate of 25 documentary films by African filmmakers called <a href="https://www.generationafrica.co.za">Generation Africa</a> is currently making waves at international film festivals and is set to shift perspectives about migration in and from the continent. </p>
<p>It’s the latest initiative by a Cape Town-based organisation called <a href="https://steps.co.za">STEPS</a>. For 20 years the NGO has been an innovator in using film as a tool for social change and in developing talent from the continent. They produce ambitious theme-based collections of films that engage with pressing issues, in this case migration. The 25 new documentaries present diverse and nuanced insider perspectives of people moving both between African countries and from Africa.</p>
<p>Filmmakers from around Africa were invited to submit proposals for films specifically to address the missing perspective of Africans on this contentious global issue. Several of the films have been completed, among them ones that have been gathering media <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/generation-africa-the-young-face-of-african-cinema/a-60723861">attention</a> for high profile film festival selections and awards. The Last Shelter (Mali) had its world premiere at <a href="https://cphdox.dk/">CPH:DOX</a> in Denmark in 2021, where it also won the Dox:Award, the top prize at this festival. No U-Turn (Nigeria) received a <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.news24.com/channel/movies/news/generation-africa-film-no-u-turn-recognised-at-berlinale-20220222&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1653387231615205&usg=AOvVaw3SW0uRikbmtwkjS0MODJpp">Special Mention</a> from the jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in February. No Simple Way Home (South Sudan) has recently won the DOK.horizonte <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.dokfest-muenchen.de/Awards?lang%3Den&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1653387231639829&usg=AOvVaw1_ujDh21-ZXLQ_c516xD4j">prize</a> at DOK.fest Munchen. </p>
<p>Premiering at one of these A-list festivals would be a crowning achievement for a documentary from anywhere in the world. But festival success is merely the beginning of the plans for these films. From the start, STEPS wanted compelling stories that would offer images of Africans as active change-makers shaping their own destinies, whether they chose to move within the continent or out of it, whether to stay abroad or return.</p>
<h2>Social change</h2>
<p><a href="https://steps.co.za">STEPS</a> stands for Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects. The organisation laid the groundwork in South Africa for what was then called outreach by many and is now referred to as <a href="https://africasacountry.com/2022/03/countering-the-narrrative">impact producing</a>, the design and implementation of a social change strategy with a film at its centre.</p>
<p>Its first programme in 2001, <a href="https://steps.co.za/projects/steps-for-the-future/">STEPS for the Future</a>, focused on Southern African stories about people living with HIV/AIDS and pioneered the use of mobile cinemas to get films to hard-to-reach rural and semi-urban audiences. Though it often makes shorter films collaboratively with communities, STEPS also boasts a long history of high profile international successes, like co-producing the 2008 <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/sa-produced-doccie-wins-oscar-20080225">Oscar-winning</a> documentary <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0854678/">Taxi to the Dark Side</a> as part of its <a href="https://steps.co.za/projects/why-democracy/">Why Democracy</a> slate of 27 films.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-film-is-fighting-the-erasure-of-south-african-activist-dulcie-september-165895">How a film is fighting the erasure of South African activist Dulcie September</a>
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<p>STEPS intends that each of the Generation Africa documentaries has an impact campaign designed to effect targeted social change centred on the issues raised in the film. Socio-political, economic and climate change crises drive many Africans to move to new countries as migrants, refugees or asylum-seekers. Many of the Generation Africa films have the potential to help lobby for policy change, raise money or secure material support for affected communities. </p>
<p>The STEPS method relies on creating meaningful conversations through holding audience engagements after a screening. These sometimes include filmmakers and participants from the films and are aimed at influencing social change at individual, community and policy level. </p>
<h2>Three of the new films</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14574478/">The Last Shelter</a> centres on several characters at the House of Migrants on the edge of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Sahara-desert-Africa">Sahara</a> desert in the city of Gao in Mali. Some are about to undertake a perilous attempt to cross the desert, others seek shelter after failing to. It’s clear that Malian filmmaker <a href="https://www.idfa.nl/en/article/154845/how-ousmane-samassekou-turned-a-personal-story-into-the-award-winning-film-the-last-shelter">Ousmane Sammassekou</a> had privileged access to the people of the shelter. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465458/original/file-20220526-14-ngmvmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A crowded bus in transit, people staring ahead, out the windows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465458/original/file-20220526-14-ngmvmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465458/original/file-20220526-14-ngmvmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465458/original/file-20220526-14-ngmvmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465458/original/file-20220526-14-ngmvmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465458/original/file-20220526-14-ngmvmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465458/original/file-20220526-14-ngmvmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465458/original/file-20220526-14-ngmvmf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No U Turn (Nigeria).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Generation Africa/STEPS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17079294/">No U-Turn</a>, directed by <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-nollywood-to-new-nollywood-the-story-of-nigerias-runaway-success-47959">Nollywood</a> producer <a href="https://www.okayafrica.com/berlin-film-festival-ike-nnaebue/?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1">Ike Nnaebue</a>, is structured around the migration journey he himself took as a young man travelling from Nigeria to Morocco, dreaming of Europe.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17079296/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">No Simple Way Home</a> by <a href="https://www.okayafrica.com/berlinale-akuol-de-mabior/">Akuol de Mabior</a> reflects on her parents, who are past and present political leaders in South Sudan. She explores her own complicated relationship to the country.</p>
<p>Through attention to structure and storytelling, the Generation Africa films provide new insights by revealing the personal stories, circumstances, challenges and achievements of some of the individuals behind the anonymous statistics on migration. The films are able to move audiences in such a way that there is the potential to effect change. But impact strategy relies on much more than simply screening a film. </p>
<h2>Impact strategies</h2>
<p>To kickstart their impact strategy design, STEPS hosted an “impact lab” with the Generation Africa filmmakers. Best practice was explored on topics like facilitating audience conversations, working with partner organisations, creating impact goals for activist filmmakers, engaging with policy makers. </p>
<p>The Last Shelter’s impact producer, Giulia Boccato-Borne, has already commenced an impact campaign. The film provides a meaningful way to initiate conversations with potential migrants before they leave their home country. And also with communities who put pressure on young people to migrate in order to support their extended families financially. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465470/original/file-20220526-13-lkanmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women in the foreground standing with a small group of women, all looking back at something." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465470/original/file-20220526-13-lkanmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/465470/original/file-20220526-13-lkanmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465470/original/file-20220526-13-lkanmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465470/original/file-20220526-13-lkanmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465470/original/file-20220526-13-lkanmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465470/original/file-20220526-13-lkanmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/465470/original/file-20220526-13-lkanmr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=416&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">No Simple Way Home (South Sudan).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Generation Africa/STEPS</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>A specific goal at an individual level is to help Esther, a 16-year-old girl in the film running from a home situation so bad she chose to rather risk walking across the desert. She crossed to Algeria successfully after the film was shot but then fell into the hands of human traffickers. Khadidja Benouataf, one of the impact team, used her Algerian connections to find the girl and place her in foster care. They are working on securing asylum for her.</p>
<p>No U-Turn, which is still in the initial stages of impact strategy design, plays particularly well to a European audience as it reveals the dreams and goals that drive individuals to migrate. After watching the film it is much harder to see migration from Africa as a systemic problem that has to be ‘fixed’. One is, instead, invited to dream with each of the characters during the road trip vignettes that make up the film. The director reflects towards the end: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The countries of our birth do not allow us enough opportunities to dream. So we cross to the next border, hoping there will be space for our dreams there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>No Simple Way Home’s impact campaign has been supported by influential organisations like DocuBox Kenya, DocSociety, The Good Pitch and The Wickers. Their community screenings in South Sudan will kick off in July, led by impact producer Jacob Bul. Impact goals include opening intergenerational conversations around South Sudan’s future and solidifying women’s roles in leadership in Africa. </p>
<p>By contributing to conversations in Africa and globally about identity and home and the experience of being physically detached from your country of origin, the Generation Africa films play a role in shifting the contemporary narrative about migration and the people who move from country to country, and continent to continent, dreaming of a better future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liani Maasdorp is affiliated with the Documentary Filmmakers' Association (DFA).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Cain 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>Lifting awards at film festivals is just the start of the journey for documentaries like The Last Shelter (Mali), No U-Turn (Nigeria) and No Simple Way Home (South Sudan).Liani Maasdorp, Senior lecturer in Screen Production and Film and Television Studies, University of Cape TownJulia Cain, Lecturer in Screen Production and Film Theory & Practice, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1799212022-03-28T15:11:42Z2022-03-28T15:11:42ZSynik uses hip-hop to discuss Zimbabwe’s issues despite the censors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454319/original/file-20220325-19-1774bf2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Visual Narphilia courtesy Synik</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.” This is how British Somali poet <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-writing-life-of-a-young-prolific-poet-warsan-shire">Warsan Shire</a> begins her now famous poem called <a href="https://seekersguidance.org/articles/social-issues/home-warsan-shire/">Home</a>. These words resonate with the experiences of many Zimbabweans who have been forced to leave their country in search of better opportunities elsewhere. </p>
<p>The beginning of the 2000s saw the rapid economic and political decline of the country, largely due to the inopportune <a href="https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=5082&context=etd">land reform programme</a> instituted by the government of <a href="https://theconversation.com/robert-mugabe-as-divisive-in-death-as-he-was-in-life-108103">Robert Mugabe</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://hiphopafrican.com/2018/04/11/who-is-synik/">Synik</a> (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/synikzim/?hl=en">Gerald Mugwenhi</a>) is an award-winning Zimbabwean hip-hop artist currently based in Lisbon, Portugal. His first album <a href="https://3-mob.com/entertainment/synik-syn-city-album-review/">SynCity</a> details some of the challenges that force Zimbabweans to leave their homeland. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454322/original/file-20220325-21-1jttqpv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An album cover with a photo of a dreadlocked man in a brown coat from behind. In front of him a train passes." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454322/original/file-20220325-21-1jttqpv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454322/original/file-20220325-21-1jttqpv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454322/original/file-20220325-21-1jttqpv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454322/original/file-20220325-21-1jttqpv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454322/original/file-20220325-21-1jttqpv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454322/original/file-20220325-21-1jttqpv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454322/original/file-20220325-21-1jttqpv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&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="attribution"><span class="source">Synik Records</span></span>
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<p>His latest album, <a href="https://www.greedysouth.co.zw/2022/03/new-album-travel-guide-for-broken-by.html">A Travel Guide for the Broken</a>, chronicles what it means to be Zimbabwean in a foreign country. Synik’s new album is a logical extension of his earlier themes. </p>
<p>I first began to explore the way music offers Zimbabweans a space to discuss social issues some years ago. I have argued in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/18125980.2017.1322470">my research</a> that hip-hop artists like Synik offer a self-reflexive space to decry the diverse issues afflicting contemporary Zimbabwe. </p>
<p>In a country where the public sphere is heavily censored by the state, music proposes an alternative space to discuss what is happening.</p>
<h2>Censorship</h2>
<p>In Synik’s time numerous artists in Zimbabwe have had their work censored or banned. For example, visual artist Owen Maseko was arrested and his politically-charged <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-artists-have-preserved-the-memory-of-zimbabwes-1980s-massacres-143847">art exhibition</a> was banned. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-artists-have-preserved-the-memory-of-zimbabwes-1980s-massacres-143847">How artists have preserved the memory of Zimbabwe's 1980s massacres</a>
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<p>Over the years numerous songs have been banned from the national airwaves for being critical of the government. This has included music by non-Zimbabweans. For example, South African group Freshlyground was <a href="https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2011/06/27/freshlyground">banned</a> from performing in Zimbabwe. </p>
<p>Outspoken Zimbabwean writer Tsitsi Dangarembga explains in a <a href="https://codesria.org/IMG/pdf/Dangarembga_The_Popular_Arts-2.pdf">2008 lecture</a> that there “is practically no public sphere to speak of” in Zimbabwe:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Those who wish to parade peacefully for non-political issues … are refused permits … Those who do not comply with the refusal, and march or parade, are quickly broken up by the police.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Almost 15 years later, nothing has really changed. </p>
<h2>Difficult Zimbabwe</h2>
<p>Released in 2012, SynCity was Synik’s first album. The central theme is life in Harare – however, what happens in the capital city embodies what happens elsewhere in the country. For example, in the song Power Cut, he describes a party scene that is disrupted by an electricity outage, one of the daily struggles faced by Zimbabweans. These struggles, as he states in Marching As One, are man made.</p>
<p>In a more critical song, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/synikzim/videos/synik-greed/10153613199522083/">Greed</a>, Synik paints a grim picture of how greed is to blame for the various challenges bedevilling Zimbabwe. The first part of the song focuses on how a small ruling elite abuses its political power by amassing obscene wealth:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Steals from sanitation, from our homes and clinics</p>
<p>From our children’s education and the roads and bridges too</p>
<p>While they fly to foreign lands for their medical exams</p>
<p>Your folks are in the village dying without a plan</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Synik alludes to how those in positions of power steal from state coffers, so the basic infrastructure and healthcare needed by citizens is either non-existent or dilapidated. </p>
<p>This song ends on a didactic note as he proposes that “we got one world and its resources are limited, so we gotta check our greed if well all gonna live on it”. This is a recurring element in Synik’s songs. He calls for a change in the way people think and act.</p>
<h2>Diaspora blues</h2>
<p>On his <a href="https://synikzim.bandcamp.com/album/a-travel-guide-for-the-broken">new album</a>, Synik explains that although many problems cease when some move to foreign lands, they must deal with a set of new challenges there. </p>
<p>These include xenophobia, racism and racial profiling among many others. Dealing with them leads to a condition which Synik terms “diaspora blues”. In the song Underground he recounts some of these challenges:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Exploited daily, no unions rebuking the bosses</p>
<p>Who pay us half our wages to be boosting their profits</p>
<p>Working long shifts, modern enslavement in progress</p>
<p>Dependants back home is why we taking this nonsense</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He describes how foreigners are blamed for all the things that are wrong in the countries that they have adopted as home: “They are saying <em>kwerekweres</em> are the problem. They say we only there so we can rob them.”</p>
<p>While the diaspora offers economic possibilities, it remains an inhospitable place. In the song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIBAbupfXok">Rukuvhute</a> (the umbilical cord), Synik refers to how Zimbabweans in the diaspora have to deal with numerous hardships:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Plodding through the hardest of terrains</p>
<p>Conscious of the strain of being estranged from where you came</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Music as critique and alternative archive</h2>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454323/original/file-20220325-23-1gbcdh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man stand with his hands in his jacket pockets, in a grey hoodie with dreadlocks; he looks deadpan into camera." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454323/original/file-20220325-23-1gbcdh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454323/original/file-20220325-23-1gbcdh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454323/original/file-20220325-23-1gbcdh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454323/original/file-20220325-23-1gbcdh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454323/original/file-20220325-23-1gbcdh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454323/original/file-20220325-23-1gbcdh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454323/original/file-20220325-23-1gbcdh1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&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="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Visual Narphilia courtesy Synik</span></span>
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<p>Although the diaspora is inhospitable, it offers security for musicians such as Synik to openly critique the government back home. Academic Isidore Okpewho <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3821157.pdf">explains</a> how migration can offer a productive space of “asking the kinds of questions that lay the foundations for a morally responsible order of existence in the future”.</p>
<p>The music of artists such as Synik is important for its analysis of contemporary Zimbabwean culture and society. Against a background of a stifled and censored public sphere, music presents an alternative public arena. </p>
<p>Through music, Synik and other musicians create a space in which topical political issues can be discussed. The creation of “other” spaces of free speech is important in making known things which the state would rather stifle and obfuscate. Synik’s music is transformed into a tool of documentation that creates an archive of narratives and discourses that are ordinarily sidelined from the public sphere.</p>
<p>The critique offered by this alternative space is central in enabling us to challenge the role of politics and politicians in shaping not just our lives but, importantly, individual and national identity and consciousness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gibson Ncube 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>Synik’s new album continues to shape identity and consciousness in a country with limited freedom of speech.Gibson Ncube, Lecturer, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1516802021-01-28T14:11:29Z2021-01-28T14:11:29ZHip hop and Pan Africanism: from Blitz the Ambassador to Beyoncé<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373944/original/file-20201209-19-4bf5nl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Zambia-born, Botswana-raised hip hop artist Sampa the Great.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marc Grimwade/WireImage</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hip hop is many things. Most recently is has become more of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/korihale/2019/02/06/goldman-sachs-bets-on-hip-hop-and-millennials-for-music-revival/?sh=2b3ab2a46f17">commodity</a>, a commercial venture, but it has always been and remains a global culture that represents local realities. It speaks about where one is from – through rap lyrics, DJing, graffiti or breakdancing – by incorporating local slang, references, neighbourhood tales, sounds and styles.</p>
<p>Hip hop <a href="https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/how-the-burning-of-the-bronx-led-to-the-birth-of-hip-hop/">emerged</a> in the 1970s in the South Bronx, in New York City in the US, among young, working class African Americans as well as Caribbean and Latino immigrants. </p>
<p>Hip hop culture’s connection to African musical and social traditions would be well <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739193297/Hip-Hop-and-Social-Change-in-Africa-Ni-Wakati">documented</a>, including in my <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Hip-Hop+in+Africa">book</a> <em>Hip Hop in Africa: Prophets of the City and Dustyfoot Philosophers</em>. </p>
<p>In its roots and manifestations, I argue, hip hop has also proven to be a powerful vehicle for spreading and shaping Pan Africanism.</p>
<h2>Moving beyond borders</h2>
<p>Pan Africanism is an acknowledgement of the social, cultural and historical bonds that unite people of African descent. It’s an understanding of shared struggles and, as a result, shared destinies. It’s also an understanding of the importance of dismantling the divisions among African people in order to work towards greater social, cultural and political solidarity. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-77030-7_134-1">work</a> has focused on hip hop as a soundtrack for the transnationalisation – the spreading beyond national borders – of African communities and identities. </p>
<p>This includes the increased and diversified migration of Africans to countries around the world. Today, an increasing number of Africans have lived in more than two countries. There have also been increased migrations to Africa from the African diaspora – people of African descent who are spread across the world. Some of these diaspora migrants are also Africans migrating to countries in Africa other than their own. </p>
<p>One artist whose work is both an articulation of these transnational trends and of an advancing Pan Africanism is Ghanaian-born, New York-based hip hop star <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/11/27/247481464/blitz-the-ambassador-fighting-against-invisibility">Blitz the Ambassador</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373947/original/file-20201209-16-mctlq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man plays African drums and sings into a microphone, behind him a row of trumpeters and saxophonists." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373947/original/file-20201209-16-mctlq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373947/original/file-20201209-16-mctlq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373947/original/file-20201209-16-mctlq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373947/original/file-20201209-16-mctlq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=386&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373947/original/file-20201209-16-mctlq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373947/original/file-20201209-16-mctlq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373947/original/file-20201209-16-mctlq1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&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">Blitz the Ambassador in New York in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jack Vartoogian/Getty Images</span></span>
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<p>We see this throughout his entire catalogue, from songs like <em><a href="https://blitzemmetstill.bandcamp.com">Emmet Still</a></em> and <em>Sankofa</em> on his 2005 album <em>Double Consciousness</em> to <em><a href="https://youtu.be/zyQNUGMBhLY">Hello Africa</a></em> on his 2016 release <a href="https://jakartarecords-label.bandcamp.com/album/diasporadical"><em>Diasporadical</em></a>. </p>
<p>In <em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmqvguxPvu4">Hello Africa</a></em> he raps: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just touched down, Ecowas passport. Internationally known, I give ’em what they ask for. From Accra city all the way outta Marrakech…</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He proceeds to take us on a journey across Africa in a way that acknowledges his identity as an African belonging to the continent, and also his transnational relationship with the continent. He throws in different languages – Arabic, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Wolof – as he moves through different cities.</p>
<h2>The new Pan Africanism</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pan-africanism">Pan Africanism</a> is not a new idea, or movement. Its roots are pre-colonial. There continues to be serious investment in a Pan African agenda set by intellectuals like <a href="https://www.lincoln.edu/departments/langston-hughes-memorial-library/kwame-nkrumah-digital-information-site">Kwame Nkrumah</a> of Ghana, <a href="https://www.pambazuka.org/pan-africanism/nyerere-nationalism-and-pan-africanism">Julius Nyerere</a> of Tanzania, <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/james-clr/biograph.htm">C.L.R. James</a> of Trinidad and <a href="https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-w-e-b-dubois/">W.E.B. DuBois</a> of the US.</p>
<p>While we see growth in hip hop’s Pan African voice through artists like Blitz the Ambassador, we do also see movement away from a United States of Africa under a socialist state as a primary goal of Pan Africanists. What then are some of the primary objectives of Pan Africanism today? African music, especially hip hop, has always given us clues.</p>
<p>Hip hop is an important <a href="https://www.ohioswallow.com/book/Hip-Hop+in+Africa">catalyst</a> for Pan Africanism today. We are seeing a major cultural shift through collaborations between African and African diaspora artists, as well as the inclusion of Pan African elements in their music. </p>
<p>Some of these songs are significant in bringing together artists known for making social statements, such as <em>Opps</em> (2018) with Vince Staples (US) and Yugen Blakrok (South Africa) for the <em>Black Panther</em> <a href="https://www.vulture.com/2018/02/a-guide-to-black-panther-soundtracks-south-african-artists.html">soundtrack</a>. There are many more, like the remix to <em><a href="https://sampathegreat.bandcamp.com/album/time-s-up-remix-feat-junglepussy-3">Times Up</a></em> (2020) with Sampa the Great and Junglepussy.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Sampa the Great’s work embodies Pan Africanism today.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Zambia-born, Botswana-raised hip hop artist Sampa The Great spends her time between Australia and Botswana. Her album <em><a href="https://sampathegreat.bandcamp.com/album/the-return">The Return</a></em> (2019) was an important work that received much <a href="https://www.metacritic.com/music/the-return/sampa-the-great">praise</a>. From it, the songs <em><a href="https://youtu.be/H2lvgKDpiSA">Final Form</a></em> and <em><a href="https://youtu.be/dDubhAKSeB0">Energy</a></em> are representations of hip hop’s Pan African voice. </p>
<p>In the songs’ music videos, for example, we see dance styles found in diaspora and African communities. We see facial paint designs like those seen in South Africa and masks like those found in Mali. In <a href="http://pilerats.com/music/rap/sampa-the-great-energy/"><em>Energy</em></a> she features British-Sierra Leonean artist <a href="https://www.radicalartreview.org/post/black-visual-frequency-interview-with-nadeem-din-gabisi">Nadeem Din-Gabisi</a> performing poetry in <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-west-africas-pidgins-deserve-full-recognition-as-official-languages-101844">Pidgin English</a>.</p>
<h2>Collaborations</h2>
<p>We’ve seen important collaborations between hip hop artists across Africa and in the diaspora that go back to the early 1990s. But we see an increase after 2010. When African artists started using social media and file sharing they were able to increase their collaborations. </p>
<p>In 2011, Senegalese hip hop pioneer <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/feb/15/worldmusic.urban">Didier Awadi</a> released the major collaborative project, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/1fWlrQsVTwZo9avHCeZDzF?autoplay=true">Présidents d'Afrique</a> (Presidents of Africa) featuring collaborations with artists from Burkina Faso, DRC, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, France and the US. It also sampled speeches from past leaders like Aimé Césaire, Nyerere, Nkrumah, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.</p>
<p>And the growing presence of Africans in important positions in the US entertainment industry has meant these collaborations are beginning to happen in more mainstream platforms. </p>
<p>Two big budget projects that have attracted significant attention are the US film <em>Black Panther</em> (2018) and US pop star Beyoncé’s <em>Black is King</em> visual album (2020). </p>
<p>There are many important <a href="https://culture-review.co.za/black-america-is-king?fbclid=IwAR2aBSKryCvXuX1blBwJz7sFhViOestuSHNLtexPM6Npyzs4EQ6b6v3WTgU">criticisms</a> of these projects. Major labels prefer proven (profitable) formulas over artist innovation. There is a tendency towards a homogenisation – a lumping together – of Africa and a marginalisation of African artists’ voices. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Beyoncé is criticised for her representations of Africa.</span></figcaption>
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<p>But we also need to understand that both projects are products of the transnationalisation of African communities and identities. They exist in part because of the increased mobility of African communities around the world. We also must recognise their impact on helping to cultivate Pan African identities. </p>
<p>In <em>Black is King</em>, we see the prominent influence of West African culture. The project was the product of the creative vision of Beyoncé, Ghanaian creative director <a href="https://www.essence.com/entertainment/only-essence/black-is-king-director-kwasi-fordjour/">Kwasi Fordjour</a> and Ghanaian creatives Blitz Bazawule (Blitz the Ambassador) and <a href="https://www.emmanueladjei.com">Emmanuel Adjei</a>. Also on the project were Nigerian creative directors <a href="https://www.okayafrica.com/ibra-ake-mission-show-african-creatives-value-ownership-childish-gambino/">Ibra Ake</a> and <a href="https://100women.okayafrica.com/editorial/jennnkiru">Jenn Nkiru</a>. </p>
<h2>Pan Africanism is hip hop</h2>
<p>There will be more of these projects produced. There will also continue to be these projects produced on smaller budgets. But imagine if Sampa the Great’s <em>Final Form</em> had a <em>Black is King</em> budget? Would there be criticism of this artist if she incorrectly used a particular African symbol?</p>
<p>Songs like <em>Final Form</em> and <em>Hello Africa</em> are celebrations of Blackness, in global spaces. This Pan Africanism is recognition that African peoples are transnational and multicultural. It is an understanding that African peoples must stand together. It is also a call to understand and respect the differences in our struggles and to resist the temptation of imposing “universal” models of liberation. Pan Africanism is also feminist, anti-homophobic and anti-imperialist. </p>
<p>The importance of African music and hip hop is that it also clues us in on what is going on with Pan Africanism. Pan Africanism is not a movement that faded away or only lives on among a small minority. It is dynamic, and has adjusted to new realities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151680/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Msia Kibona Clark 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 increased migration of Africans and the global growth of hip hop culture has seen a dynamic new generation of Pan Africanism emerge.Msia Kibona Clark, Associate professor, Howard UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1375262020-06-02T10:07:04Z2020-06-02T10:07:04ZIntegrating languages should form part of South Africa’s xenophobia solutions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/334331/original/file-20200512-175229-j2ys32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Integrating African languages could help deal with some xenophobia in South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the last decade or so, xenophobic attacks have made headlines a number of times in South Africa. The <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/13/south-africa-punish-xenophobic-violence">most recent wave</a> occurred in August and September 2019, targeting migrants from other African countries in and around Johannesburg. </p>
<p>The government does not gather any data regarding xenophobic attacks. Organisations such as <a href="http://www.xenowatch.ac.za/about-xenowatch/">Xenowatch</a> and the <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/55cb153f9.pdf">UN Refugee Agency</a> bridge that gap. An <a href="http://www.xenowatch.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Xenophobic-Violence-in-South-Africa-1994-2018_An-Overview.pdf">overview report</a> by Xenowatch recorded 529 xenophobic incidents that led to 309 deaths; 901 physical assaults and 2 193 looted shops between 1994 and 2018. More than 100 000 people were displaced in this period. Between January and September 2019 <a href="http://www.xenowatch.ac.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Factsheet-1-Xenohopbic-violence-incidents-in-SA_-Jan-Sept-2019.pdf">Xenowatch</a> “recorded 68 incidents of xenophobic violence, which have resulted in 18 deaths, at least 43 physical assaults, 1449 displaced people and an estimation of at least 127 plus shops looted”. </p>
<p>There are many complex reasons for xenophobia in South Africa. These include <a href="https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1988&context=gc_etds">racial and linguistic diversity, low education levels and lack of service delivery</a>. Sometimes <a href="https://www.accord.org.za/ajcr-issues/linking-governance-and-xenophobic-violence-in-contemporary-south-africa/">local governance</a> is seen to sanction xenophobic attacks or not provide positive leadership. <a href="https://www.accord.org.za/ajcr-issues/linking-governance-and-xenophobic-violence-in-contemporary-south-africa/">Impunity</a> is another issue.</p>
<p>One aspect that has not been explored is the role that language might play in xenophobia. </p>
<p>We suggest that looking at xenophobia from a sociolinguistic angle could contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon, and longer-term solutions. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-south-africa-is-denying-refugees-their-rights-what-needs-to-change-135692">How South Africa is denying refugees their rights: what needs to change</a>
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<p>Three questions should guide this discussion. Firstly, what does the South African government do to integrate immigrants on a linguistic level? Secondly, are immigrants marginalised because of their linguistic backgrounds? Finally, how could linguistic interventions contribute to peace building?</p>
<p>It might be useful here to look at the work done by other countries or regions like the <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/lang-migrants">European Union</a>. Germany, for example, makes it compulsory for migrants to pass a German language test to encourage social integration and social cohesion. But South Africa cannot merely copy these examples: something is needed that will work for the country’s multilingual landscape and against the backdrop of its particular issues. </p>
<p>This isn’t to suggest that merely tackling linguistic issues will somehow eradicate the complex social phenomenon of xenophobia. But it is an important element that should be considered. </p>
<h2>Integration</h2>
<p>South Africa is a linguistically diverse country, with <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/chp01.html">11 official languages</a>. United Nations <a href="https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/wmr_2020.pdf">statistics</a> put the population of international migrants – most of them from other African countries –at around 4 million. Most, <a href="https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/data/estimates2/data/UN_MigrantStockByOriginAndDestination_2019.xlsx">according to</a> the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, come from Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Namibia and the United Kingdom. </p>
<p>There are no statistics available on what languages these migrants speak. It has been shown by <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02572117.2015.1112997">scholars</a> that migrants tend to use ‘destination languages’ once they arrive in South Africa. But this isn’t an organised or structured process; it’s done by individuals on an ad hoc basis.</p>
<p>South Africa’s <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/docs/other-docs/nap.html">Department of Justice and Constitutional Development</a> has created a <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/docs/other-docs/NAP/NAP-20190313.pdf">National Action Plan</a> to combat “racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance”, as well as an <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/docs/other-docs/NAP/NAP-20190313-ImplementationPlan.pdf">implementation plan</a>.</p>
<p>The action plan asserts that people may not be discriminated against based on language. But, there is only one reference to language in the implementation plan: to </p>
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<p>[p]romote and disseminate accessible human rights information and other materials in a simplified form in national and local languages, safeguarding the rights to equality and non-discrimination. </p>
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<p>This focus on national and local languages excludes immigrants from elsewhere in Africa. It means they don’t know their language rights. The plan also doesn’t explore ways in which immigrants can be integrated on a linguistic level. Nor do any linguistic plans exist anywhere else in the public domain. </p>
<h2>Marginalised languages</h2>
<p>The second question is whether immigrants are marginalised because of their linguistic backgrounds.</p>
<p>Research has shown that African immigrants in South Africa refrain from speaking their own languages and try to speak local languages to blend in. In <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/191c/c8c37523f54ba4b2d23222f243d7bdb35397.pdf">one study</a>, African international students at a Cape Town university said they’d learned basic isiXhosa and Afrikaans to protect themselves.</p>
<p>Immigrants have <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=1671003">told researchers</a> they are “victims of stereotypes, prejudices, intolerance and discrimination”. In <a href="http://schools.aucegypt.edu/GAPP/cmrs/Documents/Philip%20Culbertson_Thesis.pdf">a study</a> that focused on Zimbabwean immigrants’ experiences, participants said they’d been marginalised or even attacked by South Africans who accused them of not being able to speak a local indigenous language.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/university-education-in-refugee-camps-must-meet-refugee-needs-137796">University education in refugee camps must meet refugee needs</a>
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<p>There is clearly a need to destigmatise “foreign” African languages and to give African immigrants safe environments to learn South African languages. This brings us to the last question: how could linguistic interventions in an integration programme contribute to peace building?</p>
<h2>Peace building</h2>
<p>Languages alone will not solve the problem of xenophobia. But they are definitely a part of the solution. As UNESCO <a href="https://en.iyil2019.org">has said</a>, referring to the International Year of Indigenous Languages:</p>
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<p>[i]ndigenous languages matter for development, peace building and reconciliation.</p>
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<p>A linguistic intervention in South Africa could entail the following:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Educating people about their linguistic and other human rights and obligations in languages that they understand.</p></li>
<li><p>Ensuring that immigrants have safe access to language courses so that they can learn the regional lingua francas (isiXhosa, Setswana, Afrikaans, and so on). English alone will not suffice. Regional lingua francas will let them integrate faster as they might be regarded as “one of us”. This will be a good opportunity for the South African government to develop a truly multilingual society and ensure social cohesion.</p></li>
<li><p>South African officials working with immigrants should be trained to understand and appreciate linguistic and cultural differences. Basic language courses in other African languages might make a big difference.</p></li>
<li><p>South Africans should be made aware of their own prejudices and unfair stereotyping when it comes to languages. Language courses in foreign African languages could be helpful in this regard.</p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137526/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Russell H. Kaschula receives funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zakeera Docrat receives funding from the National Research Foundation (NRF). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karien Brits 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>Research has shown that African immigrants in South Africa refrain from speaking their own languages and try to speak local languages to blend in.Karien Brits, Part-time lecturer, University of JohannesburgRussell H. Kaschula, Professor of African Language Studies, Rhodes UniversityZakeera Docrat, Postdoctoral research fellow (Forensic Linguistics/ Language and Law), Rhodes UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/761762017-04-25T08:35:57Z2017-04-25T08:35:57ZFact Check: are a million African migrants already on their way to Europe?<blockquote>
<p>Already, I’m informed by very well informed guys and girls who are working on the area, and in the area at the moment, that there’s potentially up to a million migrants already, if not more in the pipeline coming up from Central Africa and the Horn of Africa.</p>
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<p><em>Joseph Walker-Cousins, senior fellow at the Institute for Statecraft and former head of the British Embassy Office in Benghazi, <a href="http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/a01fb416-0d84-4faa-9bb7-a6687bf8eed9">speaking to</a> the House of Lords EU External Affairs Sub-Committee on March 30, 2017.</em></p>
<p>Hard evidence on irregular migration in North Africa is a much sought after commodity; unfortunately, it is also highly unreliable. In its December 2016 assessment of the situation in Libya, the International Organisation for Migration <a href="https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/country/docs/Libya/IOM-Libya-Plan-of-Action-2016-2017.pdf">estimated</a> (IOM) that 425,000 <a href="https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/country/docs/Libya/IOM-Libya-Plan-of-Action-2016-2017.pdf">internally displaced persons</a> were resident in Libya and that “hundreds of thousands” were displaced into neighbouring countries.</p>
<p>Experienced researchers <a href="https://www.iom.int/news/iom-launches-study-migration-trends-across-mediterranean-connecting-dots">tend to be sceptical</a> of official statistics on migrants for good reasons. North Africa is both a destination and a transit region for sub-Saharan migrants. It is also extremely difficult to count migrants because migration tends to be clandestine, with people moving through politically unstable regions.</p>
<p>Further problems with official reports and comments such as those by Joseph Walker-Cousins are that they tend to focus on Libya (and fail to look at the wider regional picture). Findings are based on indirect evidence – information from informants, detentions, returns, and arrivals in Europe – not primary research that employs sound methodologies, as fieldwork in Libya is not possible. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the most likely and most effective barrier to migration – barring an effective policy response from other countries in the region – is death and detention. Thousands of migrants have <a href="https://www.iom.int/news/iom-cites-discovery-more-victims-sahara-among-migrants-bound-libya">died transiting the Sahara</a> and tens of thousands are <a href="https://www.globaldetentionproject.org/countries/africa/libya">“detained” in North Africa</a>. </p>
<p>While the IOM has been able to access some of the detention facilities in Libya, it has not reported on the number of people detained nor their legal status. While <a href="http://icai.independent.gov.uk/html-report/uks-aid-response-irregular-migration-central-mediterranean/">European development agencies</a> are beginning to engage with trans-Saharan migration, very little hard data has emerged from their efforts other than an acknowledgement that conflict and drought in northern Nigeria, Mali, Sudan and the Horn of Africa is pushing people northwards across the Sahara. </p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>We simply do not know how many migrants are “in the pipeline”. Nor have regional governments or the European Union agreed a viable strategy for dealing with the underlying processes driving this movement, as opposed to stopping migrants from reaching Europe. We do know two important facts. First, and as noted in the <a href="https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/country/docs/Libya/IOM-Libya-Plan-of-Action-2016-2017.pdf">2016 IOM study</a>, not all sub-Saharan migrants intend to come to Europe. Second, without an accurate assessment of the situation and serious policy dialogue with transit countries, no resolution to this issue is possible. </p>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p><em>Nando Sigona, deputy director of the Institute for Research into Superdiversity, University of Birmingham</em> </p>
<p>I agree with the verdict. The story that a million African migrants are ready or in “the pipeline” to reach Europe from Libya is nothing new and Joseph Walker-Cousins’s claim has previously been aired by other variously informed people. It resurfaces periodically in the media (<a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/libya-one-million-migrants-ready-reach-europe-says-eu-border-chief-1490831">2015</a>, <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/fluechtlinge-frontex-chef-leggeri-sieht-neuen-hotspot-in-aegypten-a-1100138.html">2016</a>, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4365870/Over-ONE-MILLION-migrants-pipeline-Libya.html">2017</a>), but repetition is no proof of validity; rather it is an example of how charts and figures play a significant role in how we understand and debate the so-called refugee crisis. </p>
<p>On the one hand, it encapsulates the power of numbers in firing up public and political debate and sustaining the “crisis mood” that pervades policy responses to boat migration. On the other, it shows the lack of scientific rigour and yet resilience that often characterises the numbers of the “crisis” that circulate so widely in the global media and among policy makers – impermeable to <a href="https://asile.ch/2015/06/21/decryptage-du-fantasme-du-million-de-personnes-pretes-a-sembarquer-pour-leurope/">attempts being</a> made to show how baseless they are.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76176/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John R Campbell receives funding from the UK's Economic and Social Research Council. This article does not reflect the views of the research council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nando Sigona has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. This article does not reflect the review of the research council. </span></em></p>The Conversation asked two experts to look at the data.John R Campbell, Reader in the Anthropology of Africa and Law, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/755572017-04-05T14:54:15Z2017-04-05T14:54:15ZWhite men’s privilege in emerging economies isn’t measured. It should be<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163666/original/image-20170403-21950-179ucvh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Economists need to focus on the role white privilege plays in modern, growing economies.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the same day I interviewed a white Dutch man living in Gurugram, just south of New Delhi, I spoke with a black Congolese migrant. Their contradictory experiences speak eloquently about the impact of skin colour on shaping migrants’ everyday experiences.</p>
<p>The Dutch gentleman, who is in his 30s, told me he increased his business team’s success rate in closing business deals just by showing up.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you bring a Western guy … then they really feel important, so if I come in there I almost feel like a God. […] Honestly, every meeting where I have been, they give me business afterwards … I always see that the business is increasing when I’ve been there. Not that because I’m so good, [but] because I’m a Western guy. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Congolese gentleman had been living in India for about a decade. He had recently lost his job and been evicted from his apartment. He suspected that in both cases his dark skin was to blame. Africans have a very hard time finding housing in South Delhi’s more middle-class colonies because people don’t like to rent to Africans. Africans also <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/06/african-india-demons-160620101135164.html">report</a> being vulnerable to sudden evictions and being harassed for rent money even when it’s not due.</p>
<p>The Dutch man’s white privilege makes him more effective in the workplace. It also imbues him with special status in the gated residential community where he lives with his family. He rents rather than owning an apartment, but was invited to sit in on meetings with homeowners – a privilege not extended to Indian tenants.</p>
<p>The Dutch and Congolese men’s experiences are echoed in many emerging market economies. My research focuses on migration and globalisation, primarily on what I call “<a href="http://www.grfdt.com/AbstractDetails.aspx?TabId=2139">frontier migration</a>”: the movement of people, capital, technology and ideas from a more “developed” economy to one that’s less “developed”. Through my work in India and earlier <a href="http://publicculture.dukejournals.org/content/29/2_82/261.abstract">research</a> in South Africa, I have concluded that migrant experience is over determined by perceived socio-economic class and what the migrant looks like - eye shape, height, hair texture and race.</p>
<p>Traditional economists cannot quantify or measure the effect of white male privilege in facilitating business dealings or obtaining employment in emerging market economies. This is because white privilege cannot be easily measured. Ironically, part of whiteness’ privilege derives from its position as the “norm” against which all else can be made visible for dissection. Meanwhile, it remains almost invisible itself.</p>
<h2>Social and economic capital</h2>
<p>In both South Africa and particularly in India, white men from the west benefit from positive stereotypes. People believe they are wealthy, are a boon to the economy and are “legal” migrants. </p>
<p>In India, one factor stands out far above the rest. Almost every single white man from a “developed” country whom I interviewed candidly explained the positive effect his white skin had on his migration experience. Many felt a mixture of discomfort and surprise at the power they’d gained by moving from a white-majority society to a white-minority society. At home they looked like everybody else. In a country like India, their whiteness set them apart.</p>
<p>It also gave them an exponential social and economic advantage. They report being ushered into nightclubs and concerts and, according to one 20-something American man living in Bangalore, receive a lot of positive attention on dating apps like Tinder. </p>
<p>Whiteness is a selling point for many employers. I interviewed a British man in his 60s who was the headmaster at an elite South Indian private school. During a speech to parents, he explained that he was happy to relocate to India because one of his great-grandparents was actually Indian. His employers were unhappy that he’d mentioned this Indian heritage. Part of the school’s cachet and competitive advantage derived from having a “genuine white guy” in charge.</p>
<p>White women and darker-skinned migrants have very different migration experiences from their white male counterparts.</p>
<p>In India, particularly in the north, dark skin is associated with poverty and being low-caste. British colonialism exacerbated this prejudice. Indians discriminate against others based on their degree of “darkness”. Darker Indians also struggle with this, but dark-skinned African foreigners are the most severely hit by this prejudice. </p>
<p>This has been grimly illustrated by a spate of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/nigerian-student-mob-beat-up-racist-attack-northern-india-greater-noida-cannibalism-drug-use-accuse-a7656566.html">mob attacks</a> on Africans in north India.</p>
<p>“Fairness” is associated with being high-caste. This is often correlated with a higher socio-economic status, so lighter skinned foreigners also benefit from this positive bias. A white South African man told me he feels “very welcome” in India because most Indians perceive him as a white Westerner, not an African.</p>
<h2>Measuring white privilege</h2>
<p>There is no simple way to quantify the impact of white privilege in the global economy. But economists should join sociologists and post colonial scholars in trying to do so. Countries like India and China represent greater and greater shares of <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/08/news/economy/india-china-economy-gdp-statistics/">global GDP</a>. As they grow, the role of white privilege in their economies will likely increase as well.</p>
<p>I have <a href="http://publicculture.dukejournals.org/content/29/2_82/261.abstract">argued</a> in my research that it’s important to speak about the global ethnic economy. Whether one is studying the role of entrepreneurs in increasing growth or trying to understand labour market dynamics, factors like race, ethnicity, gender and so on should be accounted for. This will deepen our understanding of daily global transactions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75557/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Tandiwe Myambo receives funding from Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study and conducted her India research thanks to a Fulbright-Nehru Professional and Academic Excellence Research Award. </span></em></p>Traditional economists cannot quantify or measure the effect of white male privilege in facilitating business dealings or obtaining employment in emerging market economies.Melissa Tandiwe Myambo, JIAS 2017 Writing Fellow, UJ; Research Associate, Centre for Indian Studies, Wits University, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/708522017-02-12T10:02:18Z2017-02-12T10:02:18ZHow strong family ties play a role in sex trafficking in Nigeria<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/155907/original/image-20170207-30934-1dxcexf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nigerian former sex worker "Beauty" at a social support centre for trafficked girls near Catania in Italy. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Tom Esslemont</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Discussions about <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35244148">human trafficking</a> between Africa and Europe are frequently blurred by generalisations about villainous traffickers and their naïve young victims who have been misled into prostitution. But the world of sex trafficking is far more complex.</p>
<p>For example, several studies have shown that Nigerian sex trafficking rings are dominated by women, known as madams, and use of black magic rituals, known as <em>juju</em>, to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284419256_Human_trafficking_for_sexual_exploitation_from_Nigeria_into_Western_Europe_The_role_of_voodoo_rituals_in_the_functioning_of_a_criminal_network">keep their victims captivated</a>. But little or no work has been done on other important dynamics. Two in particular are important.</p>
<p>The first is the active role that extended families play in helping women secure work in Europe. The second is the fact that women themselves are nowadays increasingly aware of the work that awaits them, even though they cannot imagine how brutal and miserable it actually is.</p>
<p>The lack of research has resulted in an incomplete understanding of the much more complex reality of the circumstances under which victims fall into the hands of traffickers. This has also compromised the effectiveness of prevention and rehabilitation projects in Nigeria, which seldom take into account the involvement of family members.</p>
<p>As part of my doctoral research I recently conducted interviews in rural communities outside Benin City, the capital of Edo State in southern Nigeria. Recruitment of women for work in Europe is <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-italy-trafficking-idUSKBN13301I?il=0">rife</a> in the area.</p>
<p>Many of the young women I interviewed knew that prostitution lay behind vague offers for work as hairdressers, cashiers or domestic workers in Europe. Nevertheless, out of desperation, some are prepared to take up the offers driven by the need to provide a <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12117-013-9199-z">better life for their families</a>.</p>
<p>In rural Nigeria, widespread emigration aspirations are often fuelled by the high levels of joblessness, corruption, poor infrastructure and family <a href="http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/nigeria-multiple-forms-mobility-africas-demographic-giant">struggles to make ends meet</a>.</p>
<p>My interviews with communities members and NGO representatives indicate that many young Nigerians see the opportunity of finding work abroad as their best, if not their only, means to a better future for themselves and their families. The dire economic situations which their families face, combined with a sense of obligation, is an important factor in the decision making process. Added to this complexity is the fact that extended family members often act as the link between human trafficking syndicates and their victims.</p>
<h2>The Nigeria/Europe nexus</h2>
<p>Nigerian sex traffickers have developed a highly organised and wide web of <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/italian-and-nigerian-gangs-a-deadly-alliance-2361393.html">criminal contacts throughout Europe</a>. Over the years this has grown as they have found new ways of overcoming logistical and law enforcement obstacles.</p>
<p>Italy serves as the primary gateway for Nigerian migrants entering Europe.
In 2016, almost 38,000 landed on Italian shores. Just under 10,000 <a href="https://qz.com/885170/the-number-of-nigerian-women-arrivals-to-italy-via-sea-from-libya-has-increased-almost-tenfold-since-2014-says-the-international-organization-for-migration/">were women</a>. </p>
<p>This number represents the largest jump in the yearly total of Nigerian women arriving in Italy in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/aug/08/trafficking-of-nigerian-women-into-prostitution-in-europe-at-crisis-level">last 10 years</a>. In August 2016 the International Organization for Migration reported that 80% of the Nigerian women who arrive in Italy would ultimately be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/aug/08/trafficking-of-nigerian-women-into-prostitution-in-europe-at-crisis-level">trafficked for sex</a>.</p>
<h2>The role of the family</h2>
<p>There is high awareness of sex trafficking in Nigeria thanks to the work of international organisations, local NGOs and the National Agency for the Prohibition of <a href="http://www.naptip.gov.ng/">Trafficking in Persons</a>. </p>
<p>But women continue to leave in large numbers to seek a brighter future in Europe. This is exacerbated by pressures put on them by their own families. </p>
<p>Family pressure is often the deciding factor in their leaving home. The struggle to make ends meet often leads families to view sending young women off to Europe as an investment, leading to future income for the household. Thus family members are involved in the recruiting phase of trafficking. </p>
<p>Women migrants – unlike their male counterparts – don’t have to finance their own trips to Europe. They are sponsored by their future “employers” and once in Europe are forced to work until they repay the debt incurred for passage. This can take years as the inflated sums can amount to as much as €60,000. This indebtedness also means that women are less likely to report their situation to the police. </p>
<p>Extended family members often mislead women into believing that their migration process will be different as their contact in Italy is a trusted one. </p>
<p>Unlike the Western “extended family”, Nigerian families are tightly knit through ancestral ties. This makes the closeness of the biological connection irrelevant in determining the <a href="http://eprints.covenantuniversity.edu.ng/4596/1/Mama2.pdf">importance of the relationship</a>. This creates a very profound sense of moral and financial obligation among family members, a factor which has great importance in the dynamics of sex trafficking. </p>
<p>In Nigerian families, for instance, the wealthier family members are both expected and feel obligated to provide financially for those who struggle. Nigerian “madams” use this to their advantage. For example they allow women to keep a small sum of money to send back home occasionally. </p>
<p>These remittances become a double-edged sword. They provide a financial incentive to the family in Nigeria to do whatever they can to discourage the women from escaping. </p>
<p>As long as the woman keeps sending money home, neither the community nor the family is likely to question the source of her income. Being unable to find success abroad and to live up to her financial responsibility to her family would be perceived as a failure and the source of significant shame and dishonour on a personal, family and community level. </p>
<h2>Fighting sex traffickers</h2>
<p>Several major international police operations and intelligence gathering projects funded by the EU and various EU member states are in place to fight Nigerian transnational sex trafficking.</p>
<p>But the increasing number of Nigerian women arriving in Europe suggests that their success is limited. The Nigerian criminal groups have proved to be very adaptable and to be able to quickly reconstitute themselves when put <a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/nigeria-italy-crime-trafficking-idINKBN134018">under legal pressure</a>.</p>
<p>Law enforcement operations should be combined with prevention and rehabilitation strategies for a more effective and holistic approach to address the Nigerian sex trafficking problem. </p>
<p>In Nigeria, projects to reintegrate the women back into their societies are often focused mainly on the re-empowerment of victims through either work training or access to micro credit grants for business start-ups. Too often little or no attention is given to the reintegration of the women in their families. </p>
<p>It’s undeniable that families play an important role in the sustainability of external sex trafficking. But the power of strong family ties could also be a great asset in preventing the women from joining the sex trade in the first place. Family based interventions and family counselling could play a pivotal role in the success of reintegration strategies for the victims as has been the case in addressing other issues such as <a href="https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-adolescent-substance-use-disorder-treatment-research-based-guide/evidence-based-approaches-to-treating-adolescent-substance-use-disorders/family-based-approaches">drug and alcohol abuse, bullying and gambling</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70852/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Valentina Pancieri receives funding from the University of Cape Town.</span></em></p>Nigerian women migrating to Europe are increasingly aware that work hidden in the form of menial jobs is actually sex work, even though they cannot imagine the brutality that comes with it.Valentina Pancieri, Ph.D. Candidate in Criminology, University of Cape Town, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/659602016-10-10T17:39:15Z2016-10-10T17:39:15ZAfrica has some work to do before it starts its own humanitarian agency<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140481/original/image-20161005-14250-1pycb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Burundian refugees fleeing conflict at home gather on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Kigoma region in western Tanzania.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Mukoya/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The African Union (AU) has recognised that there needs to be an urgent response to the humanitarian crisis caused by millions of people being displaced on the continent.</p>
<p>Africa has a huge challenge. <a href="https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2016/09/19/oxfam-we-cannot-ignore-chronic-displacement-in-africa">Almost 30%</a> of the world’s 41 million internally displaced people and <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/05/31/new-long-term-support-for-displaced-populations-in-africa">close to 20%</a> of the world’s refugees are in Africa. The root cause of <a href="https://unhcr-regional.or.ke/news/unhcr-global-trends-perspectives-on-sub-saharan-africa#sthash.Nwy0jRPQ.dpbs">displacement across the continent</a> is conflict. The impact is felt internally as well as <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/refugee-crisis-focus-shifts-to-north-africa-a-1089536.html">beyond</a> Africa’s borders.</p>
<p>And more people are bound to be displaced given the <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/10/15/there-no-time-left/climate-change-environmental-threats-and-human-rights-turkana">threat of climate change</a> and a growing wave of natural disasters.</p>
<p>Several proposals were canvassed at the <a href="http://www.au.int/en/newsevents/16832/specialized-technical-committee-stc-migration-refugees-and-internally-displaced">first meeting</a> of the specialised technical committee set up to consider the issues of migration, refugees and internally displaced persons. The most significant was the establishment of an African Humanitarian Agency. </p>
<p>The idea isn’t new: it was mooted in 2015 by the East African Regional Consultation on Humanitarian Effectiveness meeting in <a href="http://igad.int/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1183:igad-participates-in-african-union-organized-regional-consultative-meeting-on-world-humanitarian-summit-aimed-at-shaping-common-african-position&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=150">Arusha</a>, Tanzania. And the <a href="http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/newsevents/workingdocuments/29553-wd-cap_rev-final_version_as_of_13_april_2016.pdf">AU</a> presented the idea to the <a href="https://www.worldhumanitariansummit.org/">2016 World Humanitarian Summit</a> in Istanbul, Turkey.</p>
<p>But can it work?</p>
<h2>Ideally, what the agency would do</h2>
<p>The rationale is that Africa needs an institutional pillar for effective responses to humanitarian crisis across the continent.</p>
<p>The idea is that the new body becomes the key agency managing forced displacement in Africa. Its remit would include working with member states on addressing the <a href="http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/newsevents/workingdocuments/29553-wd-cap_rev-final_version_as_of_13_april_2016.pdf">triggers</a> of humanitarian crisis on the continent including conflict, natural disasters, development projects and climate change. </p>
<p>Some of this capacity already exists. Within the AU Commission, the Humanitarian Affairs, Refugees and Displaced Persons <a href="http://www.au.int/en/pa">Division</a> is involved in strategic policy formulation on forced displacement. Key humanitarian instruments have been developed through it, including the <a href="http://au.int/en/sites/default/files/treaties/7796-treaty-0039_-_kampala_convention_african_union_convention_for_the_protection_and_assistance_of_internally_displaced_persons_in_e.pdf">Kampala Convention</a> and the African Humanitarian Policy. </p>
<p>The agency is expected to coordinate groundwork on humanitarian actions in collaboration with AU member states and regional economic communities. While this initiative is laudable, its structure is yet to be decided. </p>
<p>In anticipation of the establishment of an agency, there are certain concerns that need to be addressed. </p>
<p>I will discuss the five key ones.</p>
<h2>Pitfalls to avoid</h2>
<p><strong>Institutional proliferation:</strong> The continent has a wealth of standards and institutions. But standards are often ignored and institutions battle to carry out their functions.</p>
<p>The AU must undertake a comprehensive assessment of the mandates of existing institutions involved in humanitarian activities. This will show what institutional gaps need to be filled. If the purpose of the agency is to harness, oversee and provide technical support to existing AU institutions with humanitarian-related mandates, such an assessment would help map the landscape it would be managing.</p>
<p><strong>Staff selection:</strong> The agency will need to be properly staffed. People should be appointed for their ability to handle complex humanitarian issues rather than because o their political connections. A selection plan would need to be drawn up prior to its formation. The AU must develop a clear strategy on how this will be achieved.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140483/original/image-20161005-14212-t34e50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140483/original/image-20161005-14212-t34e50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140483/original/image-20161005-14212-t34e50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140483/original/image-20161005-14212-t34e50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140483/original/image-20161005-14212-t34e50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140483/original/image-20161005-14212-t34e50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140483/original/image-20161005-14212-t34e50.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women collect water at a camp for the internally displaced in Bama, Borno State, Nigeria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>Collaboration</strong>: Clear and realisable goals need to be set. One clear target could be that in its first five years, the agency works with states to review laws that <a href="http://www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/GLU_Column/papers/no_243_Johannes_Machinya.pdf">criminalise</a> migrants, refugees and other forcibly displaced populations. Any targets set must reflect short and long-term humanitarian needs and serve as a benchmark for assessing the agency’s efficacy. </p>
<p><strong>Awareness and perception:</strong> The AU must develop an effective strategy to popularise the agency. One of the criticisms often levelled against the AU is that <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/10/disband-the-african-union/">it does little</a> to promote <a href="http://africanarguments.org/2014/01/09/why-is-the-african-union-still-failing-its-people-on-peace-and-security-by-martin-plaut/">peace and security</a> on the continent. This criticism is based partly on past events, but it is equally the result of low levels of awareness about some of the AU’s activities. </p>
<p>There is a perception that the AU is <a href="http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/will-brexit-break-up-the-african-union-20160624">removed</a> from ordinary people. These criticisms need to be addressed if humanitarian action is going to be effective. How the envisaged agency is perceived by key stakeholders – ranging from national humanitarian agencies, civil society organisations, external agencies and ordinary people – will matter. An effective strategy is needed to popularise its activities with the media on board as a key partner. </p>
<p><strong>Financing:</strong> The agency must be properly financed. This issue was flagged during a West African regional consultation held in Abuja, Nigeria. There, states emphasised the need to explore African funding solutions given a decline in humanitarian assistance and growing fatigue among traditional external donors. Currently, <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-15-4808_en.htm">80% of the African Union Commission’s budget</a> comes from the region’s cooperation with the European Union and its member states. This funding trajectory needs to be revisited.</p>
<p>A new funding model to foster African ownership of AU programmes and activities was proposed at the AU summit in July 2016. This included imposing a 0.2% levy on <a href="http://www.au.int/en/sites/default/files/decisions/31274-assembly_au_dec_605-620_xxvii_e.pdf">“all eligible imported goods”</a> into Africa. This would generate an annual income of about <a href="https://assodesire.com/2016/07/17/financing-the-african-union-would-the-kigali-decision-make-our-au-an-african-organization/">US$1.2 billion</a>. </p>
<p>However, the proposal is fraught with challenges. What qualifies as ‘eligible goods’ needs to be clarified. And the question of whether the levy can meet the AU’s financial needs must be answered. </p>
<p>The African Humanitarian Agency is a welcome initiative. But political, technical and financial support will matter. This will require the AU to take a pragmatic approach. The only question is: can it?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Romola Adeola 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 initiative to establish an African Humanitarian Agency is a welcome one. But political, technical and financial support will matter. This will require the AU to take a pragmatic approach. Can it?Romola Adeola, Steinberg Postdoctoral Fellow in International Migration Law, Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism, Faculty of Law, McGill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/500832015-11-16T04:16:28Z2015-11-16T04:16:28ZTeaching students about Africa may be one way to stem xenophobia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101268/original/image-20151109-29305-128q4z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Xenophobia is a huge problem in South Africa. Could better university teaching about Africa make a difference?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is no secret that South Africa views itself as somehow <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01436597.2011.560470">“outside”</a> the African continent. The country’s National Development Plan, a roadmap for the next 15 years, concedes that even the country’s policy makers lack knowledge about the continent. They also, the plan’s authors <a href="http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/ndp2030_chap6_chap7.pdf">say</a>, “tend to have a weak grasp of African geopolitics”.</p>
<p>Over the years, South Africa has had a bad reputation as a hot spot for xenophobia, much of it directed against people from <a href="http://www.redfame.com/journal/index.php/ijsss/article/view/102/66">elsewhere in Africa</a> who are part of the large immigrant population in South Africa – about 2.2 million according to the <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/census/census_2011/census_products/Census_2011_Census_in_brief.pdf">2011 Census</a>. </p>
<p>People may think that university students wouldn’t hold bigoted attitudes towards fellow Africans. After all, they spend much of their time in spaces dedicated to knowledge and learning, surrounded by people from all over the continent and world.</p>
<p>But research has shown that some South African students are <a href="http://alternation.ukzn.ac.za/Files/docs/20.4/06%20RSi.pdf">as guilty</a> of xenophobic attitudes and behaviour as anybody else. This is particularly problematic because the country is <a href="https://theconversation.com/international-students-love-south-africa-but-xenophobia-could-be-a-heartbreaker-41707">a regional hub</a> for students from across the African continent.</p>
<p>Universities must work harder to produce graduates who embrace South Africa’s “African-ness”, treat their peers from the rest of the continent with respect and spread this attitude among their communities. But how could this be done?</p>
<h2>Attitudes about Africa</h2>
<p>In <a href="http://witspress.co.za/catalogue/go-home-or-die-here/">Go Home or Die Here</a>, a book about a wave of xenophobic attacks that <a href="http://cormsa.org.za/wp-content/uploads/Research/Disaster/NarrativeHumanitarianResponse.pdf">shook South Africa</a> in 2008, academic Pumla Dineo Gqola was very critical of the country’s universities.</p>
<p>She argued that universities had not done enough since democracy in 1994 to open students’ horizons about Africa. This, Gqola wrote, has:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… contributed to the ignorance of the continent we are part of and inadvertently allowed the faceless African man and woman to remain throwaway people.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In more than eight years as a postgraduate student, lecturer and researcher in South Africa, I’ve encountered too many students with indifferent attitudes towards the continent. Most of the students I have dealt with don’t seem interested in learning about Africa. Some have even asked about my travels “in Africa”, as though the country at the southernmost tip is not part of the continent.</p>
<p>The 2008 attacks prompted a great deal of introspection throughout society, though such eruptions have become all too common in the past seven years. Universities have <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150423160546193">publicly condemned</a> such violence – but they don’t appear to have done much else.</p>
<h2>Three approaches</h2>
<p>I would argue that there are three approaches universities can take in dealing with xenophobia.</p>
<p>The first involves teaching students critically and factually about Africa. Xenophobia and similar social ills feed on <a href="https://africacheck.org/2015/02/08/analysis-are-foreigners-stealing-jobs-in-south-africa-2/">myths and perceptions</a>. Careful, thorough and accurate research presented to and debated with university students can help to dispel such myths. </p>
<p>This kind of teaching and engagement can also happen in high schools. South Africa’s government has already suggested that making History a compulsory school subject could help to <a href="http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/66406e004815f9e18593c578423ca9af/History-lessons-in-schools-could-help-prevent-xenophobia">prevent xenophobia</a>. However, higher education is particularly important since it is developing graduates and future leaders.</p>
<p>The second approach involves developing students’ understanding of how South Africa fits into the continent and world at large. Students must be encouraged to explore the links between local, regional and global socio-economic, political and cultural dimensions and phenomena. This will help them to better understand South Africa’s place and role in both Africa and the world.</p>
<p>The third, and probably most complex approach involves broader institutional change. Too many university subjects are still taught through a Euro or US-centric lens. The curriculum needs to be altered so that it no longer <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-to-take-the-curriculum-back-from-dead-white-men-40268">ignores or marginalises Africa</a>. Research suggests that when Africa takes centre stage in South African students’ classes, their levels of engagement <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-african-students-must-be-given-the-chance-to-read-what-they-like-41790">improve</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, South Africa needs academics who possess real knowledge and passion about the continent in order to teach current and future students about it. This will require finding and developing new academic staff as well as changing mindsets and developing new knowledge among existing lecturers.</p>
<h2>Beyond ivory towers</h2>
<p>South African universities and academics don’t only have a responsibility towards their students. They also need to play a more prominent role in the broader society rather than mainly observing and writing about it from ivory towers. </p>
<p>When it comes to xenophobia, this means conducting research and engaging with South African and immigrant communities to dispel myths and fallacies that lead to xenophobia.</p>
<p>Europe’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/africa/topics/migrant-crisis">refugee crisis</a> has prompted a wave of xenophobic and anti-immigrant <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/11951718/Germany-introduces-tough-asylum-policy-as-anti-refugee-movement-accused-of-Nazi-rhetoric.html">rhetoric</a>. One UK academic has suggested that universities and academics need to open up public engagement channels with local communities. This, she says, is a way to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/oct/02/universities-scholarships-jobs-offer-refugees">“temper the demonising of refugees with calm, evidence-based argument”</a>.</p>
<p>The same must be done to help South Africans move away from dangerous xenophobic attitudes towards their fellow Africans.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50083/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Savo Heleta 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>South African university students are as guilty of xenophobia as anyone else. Three approaches through teaching and research could make a huge difference.Savo Heleta, Manager, Internationalisation at Home and Research, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/410932015-05-07T05:34:36Z2015-05-07T05:34:36ZWithout immigrants, none of us would be here<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80296/original/image-20150504-23520-yzkcbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most of the migrants desperately crossing the Mediterranean from Africa are refugees.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/STR</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><strong>Foundation essay</strong>: This article is part of a series marking the launch of The Conversation in Africa. Our foundation essays are longer than usual and take a wider look at key issues affecting society.</em></p>
<p>In almost every country across the globe anti-immigrant sentiment is high. Already this year it is estimated that more than 1750 migrants have died crossing the Mediterranean. Last weekend, ten people died and an <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32573389">estimated 5800 migrants</a> were rescued off the Libyan coast. Yet Europe’s callous attitude to immigrants trying to cross the Mediterranean from North Africa is not only unethical but also ill-informed and <a href="https://theconversation.com/europes-war-on-migrants-while-we-argue-thousands-perish-in-the-mediterranean-40330">counterproductive</a>. </p>
<p>It’s a hostility echoed 7000 kilometres away in South Africa, where <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-04-29-xenophobia-the-past-comes-back-to-haunt-us">deadly attacks</a> on immigrants have been contained by <a href="http://ewn.co.za/2015/04/21/Xenophobia-Defence-force-to-be-deployed-to-Alex">the military</a>.</p>
<p>Yet, without immigration from Africa, none of us would be here. Experts now believe that <a href="https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/human-journey/">migration across Africa</a> between 60,000 and 70,000 years ago saved homo sapiens from climate-induced extinction. </p>
<p>The migration of these early Africans into the Middle East, then across the Mediterranean into Europe and Asia – and eventually into the Americas and Australia and the Pacific Islands – is the origin of today’s humanity. It will be our attitudes to the continuing movement of people that will define our national and collective futures.</p>
<h2>Opposition to migration – and why it’s wrong</h2>
<p>It is not difficult to understand why people blame foreigners for their troubles. High unemployment, rising inequality and increasingly unaffordable homes are among the legitimate concerns of citizens everywhere.</p>
<p>A key part of the explanation for these troubles is the <a href="http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/about/director/books/butterfly-defect/">rising impact</a> of foreign influences on all our societies. Globalisation has been a positive force for human progress. It has raised average living standards, improved health, and led to political change – not least across Africa. But it also is the source of cascading financial crises, rising inequality, pandemics, climate change, the wrecking of ocean systems, increasing antibiotic resistance and diabetes and other health challenges.</p>
<p>People around the world are kicking back against this rising uncertainty by supporting <a href="https://theconversation.com/geert-wilders-is-back-and-he-has-european-domination-on-his-mind-15775">extremist</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ukips-immigration-plan-is-not-realistic-but-it-really-doesnt-have-to-be-38405">parties</a> who wish to bring back protectionism and reverse globalisation. But blaming foreigners for our problems is a mistake. </p>
<h2>Migration should not be a scapegoat</h2>
<p>In the first place, average migration rates remain fairly low. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago the barriers to the movement of ideas, finance, trade and services have gone down, but the barriers to the movement of people have gone up. As a result, the <a href="http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/why-more-migration-makes-sense">share of migrants</a> in the world has remained roughly constant at 3% throughout the current era of globalisation.</p>
<p>Migrants are seldom the source of our societal ills. On the contrary, immigrants are a key contributor to the dynamism and growth in our societies. </p>
<p>Immigration is desirable for at least four reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li>It is a source of innovation and dynamism; </li>
<li>It addresses labour shortages; </li>
<li>It can address demographic imbalances; and </li>
<li>It provides an escape from poverty and persecution. </li>
</ul>
<p>By contrast, limiting migration slows economic growth and undermines societies’ long-term competitiveness. It also creates a less prosperous, more unequal, and partitioned world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80294/original/image-20150504-23497-1ojnceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80294/original/image-20150504-23497-1ojnceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80294/original/image-20150504-23497-1ojnceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80294/original/image-20150504-23497-1ojnceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80294/original/image-20150504-23497-1ojnceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80294/original/image-20150504-23497-1ojnceg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80294/original/image-20150504-23497-1ojnceg.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">Anti-migrant sentiment continues to rear its head across the world, including recently in South Africa.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Nic Bothma</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The cost of migration</h2>
<p>There are short-run, local costs to higher rates of migration that must be addressed if societies are to enjoy the much larger long-term benefits. These include the pressure on local housing and schooling arising from migration and the challenge to cultural homogeneity that migrants often pose. </p>
<p>Migrants can also take locals’ jobs, but the evidence suggests that because they also bolster growth and consumer demand, they tend not to depress overall wage levels or reduce the overall levels of employment of local workers.</p>
<p>The challenges posed by migration must and can be addressed through an honest and open discussion of the issues, but not become an excuse for shutting the frontier to migrants. Ensuring that all migrants are legally recognised and part of society, with all the necessary rights and also responsibilities that this implies, is a vital part of this process.</p>
<p>Despite domestic opposition in recipient countries, the number of international migrants has doubled over the past 25 years, and will double again by 2030. This is due to a combination of <a href="http://geography.about.com/cs/countries/a/newcountries.htm">new countries and borders being created</a> (34 have been created since 1990), population growth and migration pressures. Rapid economic and political change and, increasingly, environmental change threatens people and encourages the bravest to seek opportunity and security in new homes. </p>
<p>If this migratory process is allowed to take its course, it will stimulate global growth and serve to reduce poverty. However, it requires careful management to ensure that the benefits are harvested and the backlash of recipient societies does not lead to further polarisation.</p>
<h2>The economic case for greater migration</h2>
<p>While the incremental reduction of barriers to cross-border flows of capital, goods and services has been a major achievement of recent decades, international migration has never been more strictly controlled. Classical economists such as John Stuart Mill saw this as both economically illogical and ethically unacceptable. Adam Smith <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=rBiqT86BGQEC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=the+free+circulation+of+labour+from+one+employment+to+another.&source=bl&ots=Zz25XfRHLW&sig=rUadLaI5szMUp372x5_rWTGqFaM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=kVxHVf-MEYGE7gbHzYCIAw&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=the%20free%20circulation%20of%20labour%20from%20one%20employment%20to%20another.&f=false">objected</a> to anything that obstructed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the free circulation of labour from one employment to another.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By the 19th century, the development of steam and other transport meant that one-third of the population of Scandinavia, Ireland, and parts of Italy emigrated. Mass migration gave <a href="http://ieg-ego.eu/en/threads/europe-on-the-road/economic-migration/irial-glynn-emigration-across-the-atlantic-irish-italians-and-swedes-compared-1800-1950">millions of Europeans</a> an escape route from poverty and persecution, and fed the dynamism and development of countries like the US, the United Kingdom, and various colonies.</p>
<p>The rise of nationalism prior to the outbreak of the first world war led to the widespread introduction of passports and ushered in stricter controls on the international movement of people. One hundred years later, despite falling barriers to trade, finance and information, more than 100 countries have been created and the walls to free mobility have never been higher.</p>
<p>Approximately 230 million people now live in countries in which they were not born. These are the orphans of the international system.</p>
<h2>Migration helps alleviate poverty</h2>
<p>For the countries they leave, migrants do often <a href="http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/about/director/books/exceptional-people/">represent a brain drain</a>. Even so, they contribute significantly to their home countries. Taiwan and Israel are testimony to the role played by migrants abroad, with their diasporas providing crucial political support, investment flows, and technology transfer which has ensured the survival of these countries.</p>
<p>However, migration has historically been the most effective measure against poverty. Remittances sent home by migrants <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/10/06/remittances-developing-countries-five-percent-conflict-related-migration-all-time-high-wb-report">exceeded US$580 billion</a> in 2014. More than $430 billion of these flows went to developing countries.</p>
<p>In Africa, remittances are vital sources of income for many countries. Lesotho, Liberia and the Gambia received about 20% of their GDP from remittances.</p>
<h2>Everybody wins</h2>
<p>Both rich and poor countries would benefit from increased migration, with developing countries benefiting the most. It is estimated that increasing migration by just 3% of the workforce in developed countries between 2005 and 2025 would generate global gains of $356 billion, more than two-thirds of which would accrue to developing countries. </p>
<p>Although politically unrealistic, opening borders completely could produce gains as high as <a href="http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/about/director/books/globalisation/">$39 trillion</a> for the world economy over 25 years.</p>
<p>At certain times, such is the case in <a href="http://www.dw.de/lampedusa-suffers-under-weight-of-europes-refugee-crisis/a-18273580">Lampedusa</a> off the toe of Italy, or <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/berkshire/8405312.stm">Slough</a> in England, the geographical proximity to a gateway may account for a disproportionately high share of migrants. </p>
<p>Places which have unusually high shares of migrants due to accidents of geography and history should not be forced to pay the costs for society as a whole. It is society as a whole that benefits and much more needs to be done to support places and people under stress from high levels of immigration.</p>
<p>But there is no magic threshold beyond which migration is unacceptable. In the thriving Dubai and other cities in the United Arab Emirates, migrants are <a href="http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/labor-migration-united-arab-emirates-challenges-and-responses">more than 90%</a> of the population. Cities such as Toronto have <a href="http://www1.toronto.ca/wps/portal/contentonly?vgnextoid=dbe867b42d853410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD&vgnextchannel=57a12cc817453410VgnVCM10000071d60f89RCRD">more than 50%</a> migrants and have been voted among the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/10/07/most-livable-city-toronto_n_5944330.html">best to live in</a> globally for many years. In the UK, London is the most dynamic and popular city – <a href="http://www.migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/briefings/migrants-uk-overview">more than 30%</a> are migrants.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80298/original/image-20150504-23483-1hduyac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/80298/original/image-20150504-23483-1hduyac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80298/original/image-20150504-23483-1hduyac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80298/original/image-20150504-23483-1hduyac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80298/original/image-20150504-23483-1hduyac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80298/original/image-20150504-23483-1hduyac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/80298/original/image-20150504-23483-1hduyac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=320&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrants make up more than 90% of the population of the United Arab Emirates, represented here by Dubai.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Ali Haider</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Targeting people smugglers doesn’t work</h2>
<p>Most of the migrants desperately crossing the Mediterranean are refugees. The dangers they face in the crossing reflect that, for many, their lives at home are so desperate that they are prepared to endure the terrible dangers associated with leaving. </p>
<p>The idea that clamping down on smugglers or destroying the smuggling boats would stop migrants fleeing is not borne out by the evidence. Other means will be found, perhaps even more dangerous. </p>
<p>The most ethically perverse of all the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/27/uk-mediterranean-migrant-rescue-plan">suggestions</a> is that if the migrants are left to drown it will somehow reduce the desire of migrants to attempt the crossing. </p>
<p>The tragically cynical arguments made by British and other officials justified ignoring frantic requests to support Italy’s stretched lifesaving efforts and led to a dramatic rise in unnecessary deaths. But it did not stop the flows of migrants. On the contrary, it led to the predictable rise in deaths at sea.</p>
<h2>Fresh thinking and bold action</h2>
<p>Citizens are understandably concerned about the failure of our politicians to show effective leadership on migration. The resulting failures are a cause of daily death. But not only are migrants suffering terribly. </p>
<p>So too are our economies and societies who would benefit enormously from more but also more effective management of migration. The public debate is too urgent and it is too important to be left to politicians. We urgently need fresh thinking followed by bold action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41093/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Goldin is the author of 19 books, including Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped our World and Will Define our Future (Princeton University Press, 2011), Globalization for Development: Meeting New
Challenges (OUP, 2012) and The Butterfly Defect: How globalization creates systemic risks, and what to do about it (Princeton University Press, 2014). He is a trustee of the charity organisation Comic Relief.</span></em></p>The migration of early Africans into the Middle East, then across the Mediterranean into Europe and Asia – and eventually into the Americas and Australia and the Pacific Islands – is the origin of today’s humanity.Ian Goldin, Professor of Globalisation and Development; Director of the Oxford Martin School, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.