tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/european-immigration-policy-44751/articlesEuropean immigration policy – The Conversation2023-05-30T12:23:53Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2022802023-05-30T12:23:53Z2023-05-30T12:23:53ZFrom its birth 50 years ago, hip-hop has spread throughout Europe and challenged outdated ideals of racial and ethnic identity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528381/original/file-20230525-19-f5v2fn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=662%2C53%2C4419%2C3337&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rapper Eko Fresh performs during a fundraising concert in Hamburg, Germany, on Dec. 6, 2022. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/december-2022-hamburg-eko-fresh-rapper-is-on-stage-at-the-news-photo/1245427724?adppopup=true"> Georg Wendt/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>His name is <a href="https://top40-charts.com/artist.php?aid=15401">Alpha Diallo</a>, and in his 2016 song “I am at home,” the French rapper makes clear who and what he is.</p>
<p>“I am Black,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsOqEhMumaw">he sings</a>, “Proud to be French of Guinean origin.”</p>
<p>Known as Black M, Diallo, 38, is one of many African, Caribbean and Middle Eastern immigrants throughout Europe who use hip-hop to advance racial and economic justice. </p>
<p>In doing so, they are keeping their music in tune with rap’s <a href="https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/birthplace-of-hip-hop/">American origins</a>. The genre emerged in 1973 out of the anger and pain within Black American communities such as in the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20130809-the-party-where-hip-hop-was-born">South Bronx, New York</a>. </p>
<p>Back in those days, as they still do now, rappers talked about their experiences on the <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/hip-hop-standing-black-lives-decades-15-songs/story?id=71195591">margins of American society</a>. Those social messages connected with Black and immigrant youth throughout Europe who themselves were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/13/arts/music/french-british-hip-hop-afrobeats-afrotrap.html">searching for identity</a> in countries that have become more diverse but yet where discrimination remains entrenched.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=CeaQNawAAAAJ&hl=en">scholar of European studies and identity politics</a>, I know how historically oppressed people have used culture, language and music to regain a sense of identity throughout history. </p>
<p>But in my view, modern-day European rappers, particularly Black M, Arianna Puello and Eko Fresh, are taking those efforts a step further by challenging outdated European views of citizenship and reshaping public debate on racial and ethnic identity. </p>
<p>As migration from African, Caribbean and Middle Eastern countries to Europe continues to increase and European societies discuss questions of identity belonging, it’s my belief that hip-hop will continue to make significant contributions to ongoing public policy debates, and these three rappers briefly profiled below in particular will lead the charge. </p>
<h2>French ideal of a colorblind society</h2>
<p>In France, Black M is one of the musicians who raps about racism and the oppressive treatment of immigrants in a nation long known for its <a href="https://hir.harvard.edu/color-blind-frances-approach-to-race/">colorblind ideal</a> that all people share the same universal rights.</p>
<p>In many of his songs, he uses references to France’s national symbols, including the country’s red, white and blue flag and the <a href="https://ageofrevolution.org/200-object/phrygian-cap/">Phrygian cap</a>, a symbol of freedom. </p>
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<span class="caption">Black M performs at L'Olympia stadium in Paris in 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/black-m-performs-at-lolympia-on-april-21-2015-in-paris-news-photo/470566590?adppopup=true">David Wolff - Patrick/Redferns via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>But in “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsOqEhMumaw">Je suis chez moi</a>,” or “I am at home,” Black M talks about the mixed feelings he has about the country where he was born after his parents migrated to Paris from Guinea, a West African country. </p>
<p>“France is beautiful,” he sings. “But she looks down on me like the Eiffel Tower.”</p>
<p>In the same song, Black M challenges the racist stereotype of immigrants abusing the welfare system by singing: “My parents did not bring me into the world to get financial aid.” </p>
<p>Black M uses his lyrics as well as his fashion to demonstrate his social activism.</p>
<p>In another video, where he raps about police violence against immigrants, Black M wears a shirt reading “Justice for Adama: Without justice, you will never have peace.” </p>
<p><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-europe/assa-traore-and-the-fight-for-black-lives-in-france">Adama Traoré</a> was a Black French man <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/17/adama-traore-death-in-police-custody-casts-long-shadow-over-french-society">who died in police custody</a> in 2016 on his 24th birthday. His death sparked numerous anti-racist protests across France. </p>
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<h2>A Black woman in Spain</h2>
<p>Born in the Dominican Republic in 1977, <a href="https://17190.org/ari-puello/">Arianna Puello</a> moved to Spain when she was 8 years old and remembers listening to hip-hop music as she grew up in Salt, a small town nearly 4,000 miles away from rap’s birthplace in the Bronx. </p>
<p>“I used to listen to rap with my brother who did beat-boxing and my cousin who had contacts in New York and they gave him the vinyls,” she said in an interview. “But I wasn’t active. It was in Salt where I saw the rap groups that were there, the graffiti, break groups. … The whole hip-hop movement of the moment, the parties, the jams.”</p>
<p>Puello recalls telling herself: “This is my movement, and I want to be part of it.” </p>
<p>She recorded her first song in 1993, and her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kt8laXBjZE">2008 hit</a> “Juana Kalamidad” reached No. 6 on the Spanish music chart.</p>
<p>Now 46 years old, Puello is considered one of Spain’s most popular female rappers. Throughout her career, Puello has used her music and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IEr4gnaL9U">rapid-fire delivery</a> to confront the racism that she has faced as a Black female migrant in Spain. </p>
<p>Her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiAP5yyEQsY">2003 track</a>, for example, “Así es la negra,” or “That’s what the Black woman is like,” tells the “ignorant racist” that “You’re going to have to put up with me, / If I am born again I want to be what I am now, / of the same race, same sex and condition.” </p>
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<p>Puello’s music is successful beyond Spain. She has had several tours in Latin America, the Caribbean and throughout Europe. </p>
<p>But for Puello and other European rappers, hip-hop is not only about international tours and commercial success. </p>
<p>“Hip-hop is a way of transforming pain, the darkness of life, into art,” <a href="https://17190.org/ari-puello/">Puello explained</a>. “Instead of picking up a knife, a gun, and going out to shoot, you pick up and write, and your mind turns into philosophy and you turn the reflection of the street into something beautiful.”</p>
<h2>Three generations of Turkish immigrants in Germany</h2>
<p>Since the early 2000s, <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/eko-fresh-mn0001925342/biography">Ekrem Bora</a> has been a hip-hop sensation in Germany. Born in Cologne in 1983, Eko Fresh, as he is known, has rapped about his Turkish-Kurdish ancestry and the social stigma that his family endured in a country divided over the treatment of immigrants. </p>
<p>In his 2021 track “1994,” he describes his family story that starts with his grandfather leaving Turkey to work a blue-collar job in Germany. At the time, the grandfather only knew one word of the German language – “ja” or “yes” – and, as a guest worker, was not considered a German citizen.</p>
<p>Despite such meager beginnings, his grandchildren are now German citizens with full voting rights, and Eko Fresh thanks his grandfather for that. “Grandpa kept saying ‘We came here for you’,” <a href="https://genius.com/Eko-fresh-1994-lyrics">he raps</a>. “Because he didn’t come here with anything, his grandson can now have a say.”</p>
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<p>In his <a href="https://lyricstranslate.com/en/aber.html-0">2018 track</a> “Aber,” Eko Fresh explains how he uses his citizenship and specifically addresses the AfD, the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/24/europe/afd-youth-wing-extremist-label-intl/index.html">right-wing political party</a> in Germany that opposes immigration:</p>
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<p>“I’m working hard and don’t even get a loan for a home<br>
You’ve got big cars, I’m still using the tram<br>
But on election day I’ll punish you, then<br>
I’ll take matters in my own hand and you will all see<br>
I stand for my country because I vote AfD.”</p>
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<p>Despite his ability to vote, his life as an immigrant in Germany is complicated. </p>
<p>Much like Black M, Eko Fresh laments his treatment as a second-class citizen in German society.</p>
<p>“We love Germany from the heart like crazy,” he writes in “Gastarbeiter,” or “Guest worker.” “But unfortunately it does not love us back every time.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Armin Langer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Born out of the pain and anger in Black American communities, rap music struck a similar chord throughout Europe, as immigrants struggle to retain their ethnic identities on the margins of society.Armin Langer, Assistant Professor of European Studies, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1857582022-07-28T12:25:13Z2022-07-28T12:25:13ZWestern countries are shipping refugees to poorer nations in exchange for cash<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475506/original/file-20220721-24-ynnef4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=595%2C109%2C3967%2C3030&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta shakes hands with U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/rwandan-foreign-minister-vincent-biruta-r-shakes-hands-with-news-photo/1239993628?adppopup=true">Cyril Ndegeya/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.K. government was due to begin its first deportation flight to remove asylum-seekers to the East African country of Rwanda on June 14, 2022, exactly two months after signing the <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/rwanda-uk-sign-major-deal-on-asylum-seekers-amid-criticism/2564054">U.K.-Rwanda agreement</a>. The asylum-seekers were from several <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/8/uk-rwanda-deportation-refugees">war-torn and politically unstable countries</a>, including Syria, Sudan and Iran. </p>
<p>Each year, thousands of people – many fleeing repressive governments or poverty – attempt to cross the English Channel in fragile boats in the hope of starting a new life in the U.K.</p>
<p>Boris Johnson, the U.K. prime minister, defended the U.K.-Rwanda deal in June 2022, saying it would “<a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/britains-boris-johnson-defends-migrant-deal-on-rwanda-visit">remove the illegal cross-Channel trafficking of people whose lives are being put at risk</a>.”</p>
<p>In exchange for Rwanda receiving the deportees, the U.K. has paid the country <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/united-kingdom-great-britain-and-northern-ireland/uk-rwanda-agreement-represents-another-blow">about US$142 million</a> to cover the initial costs of operating the program as well as economic development projects in Rwanda. </p>
<p>The U.K. deportees were expected to <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/rwanda-uk-sign-major-deal-on-asylum-seekers-amid-criticism/2564054">integrate their lives into Rwandan social communities</a>. </p>
<p>But the first Rwanda deportation flight did not take off as planned. </p>
<h2>Deterring refugees and asylum-seekers</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.echr.coe.int/Pages/home.aspx?p=home">European Court of Human Rights</a>, the regional judicial human rights body in Europe, issued what are called <a href="https://theconversation.com/rwanda-deportations-what-is-the-european-court-of-human-rights-and-why-did-it-stop-the-uk-flight-from-taking-off-185143">interim urgent measures</a> to stop the scheduled flights. </p>
<p>Such measures are most often issued in cases where there is <a href="https://ijrcenter.org/european-court-of-human-rights/">imminent risk of death or torture</a>. </p>
<p>Member states are bound by the decisions of the Court, and its rulings are enforced by the Committee of Ministers of the <a href="https://www.coe.int/en/web/about-us/who-we-are">Council of Europe</a> – Europe’s leading human rights organization.</p>
<p>But instead of abiding by the decision, the U.K. government not only <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/253313d2-cc88-406e-8cc4-da48e66781a4">stressed its commitment to deportation flights</a>, it also signaled its intention to pull out of the European Court of Human Rights.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://www.american.edu/sis/faculty/sajjad.cfm">scholar of refugees and postwar reconstruction</a>, I see the deportation flights to Rwanda as part of a growing list of what are euphemistically known as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/233150241700500103">migrant deterrence practices</a>. These practices are used by Western countries to deter future migration of mainly people of color from countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania, collectively known as the Global South. </p>
<p>In exchange for money paid to the receiving country, asylum-seekers are sent to those poorer countries to enable wealthier nations to circumvent international legal obligations to those seeking asylum.</p>
<h2>Beyond Rwanda</h2>
<p>The use of countries like Rwanda by Western states is on the rise. </p>
<p>The recent <a href="https://immigrationforum.org/article/explainer-the-migrant-protection-protocols/">U.S.-Mexico Migrant Protection Protocol</a> and the U.S.-Guatemala <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/30/trumps-safe-third-country-agreement-with-guatemala-is-a-lie/">“third country safe” agreement</a> follow a similar principle. </p>
<p>Since 1992, Australia has had <a href="https://time.com/13682/australia-asylum-seeker-policy-compared-to-guantanamo/">a mandatory detention policy</a> for “unauthorized” arrivals, which have included asylum-seekers. </p>
<p>Since 2001, it has also been <a href="https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/australias-refugee-policy-overview">removing asylum-seekers</a> to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/10/a-short-history-of-nauru-australias-dumping-ground-for-refugees">Nauru</a> – a poor island country in the Pacific Ocean – for processing. </p>
<p>This has been the case even if arrivals applied for asylum in mainland Australia immediately upon arrival. </p>
<p>According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, “<a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/press/2021/7/60f558274/unhcr-statement-on-8-years-of-offshore-asylum-policy.html">externalization of Australia’s asylum obligations has undermined the rights of those seeking safety and protection and significantly harmed their physical and mental health</a>.”</p>
<p>European countries have also been pursuing similar programs with <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369183X.2022.2061930">Libya</a>, <a href="https://comparativemigrationstudies.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40878-019-0128-4">Morocco</a>, <a href="https://euobserver.com/migration/154812">Egypt, Tunisia</a> and West African nations such as <a href="https://www.asileproject.eu/eu-external-migration-management-policies-in-west-africa/">Nigeria</a>. </p>
<p>They each provide financial aid packages to the respective low-income countries in exchange for preventing migrant mobility and absorbing deported asylum-seekers. </p>
<p>Thus far, <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/austria-tells-europe-to-imitate-uks-rwanda-migrant-deal-7trf5p3w6">Austria</a>,
<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/apr/15/sending-uk-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda-will-save-money-says-minister">Denmark and the Flemish far-right in Belgium have welcomed</a> the U.K.-Rwanda agreement with the hope that more European states will seek partnerships with countries outside the continent to address irregular immigration. </p>
<p>Johnson’s <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-62070755">resignation</a> on July 7, 2022, is not expected to halt the U.K. government’s plans to continue deportations to Rwanda. But in a new turn of events, Rwanda said on July 22 that it can only <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/22/rwanda-can-hold-just-200-channel-migrants-cant-stop-returning/">accommodate 200 deported asylum-seekers</a> and will not be able to stop their efforts to cross the English Channel again.</p>
<h2>The 2022 Nationality and Borders Act</h2>
<p>Deportations to Rwanda are part of the U.K.’s <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2022/36/contents/enacted">2022 Nationality and Borders Act</a>, a law that drastically changed citizenship and asylum rules in the U.K. </p>
<p>In addition to deportations, the act allows the government to <a href="https://theconversation.com/stripping-british-citizenship-the-governments-new-bill-explained-173547">strip citizenship</a> from British people without notice for reasons related to, among other things, national security or counterterrorism. </p>
<p>In the U.K., the reasons to strip citizenship can be <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1743872116655305">defined broadly</a> and may affect about <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2021/12/exclusive-british-citizenship-of-six-million-people-could-be-jeopardised-by-home-office-plans">6 million Britons from immigrant backgrounds</a>.</p>
<p>The 2022 Nationality and Borders Act also allows for the criminal prosecution of those who cross the English Channel on small boats to seek asylum. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/">U.N. Refugee Agency</a> has criticized the legislation on which the act is based for being at “<a href="https://www.unhcr.org/uk/615ff04d4.pdf">odds with the United Kingdom’s international obligations under the Refugee Convention</a>.” These obligations include “not expelling refugees who are lawfully in the territory except on grounds of national security or public order.”</p>
<h2>Back into chaos</h2>
<p>Deportations under such conditions are controversial because they are violations of the <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/Migration/GlobalCompactMigration/ThePrincipleNon-RefoulementUnderInternationalHumanRightsLaw.pdf">principle of non-refoulement</a> in international refugee law. </p>
<p>The goal of the principle is to prevent individuals from being returned to countries where they have fled and may still be in danger of torture, persecution or death.</p>
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<img alt="a police officer stands on the beach and watches people get off of a lifeboat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475539/original/file-20220721-24-woz2tj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A British police officer stands guard as migrants disembark from a lifeboat after they were picked up at sea while attempting to cross the English Channel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/british-police-officer-stands-guard-on-the-beach-of-news-photo/1241322925?adppopup=true">Ben Stansall / AFP/via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>Despite this, the U.K. and other European countries have continued to deport asylum-seekers to such places.</p>
<p>Between 2007 and 2016, <a href="https://www.aa.com.tr/en/politics/uk-underestimates-number-of-young-deported-to-war-zones/519001">the U.K. deported</a> 2,748 young people to war-torn and unstable countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya and Syria. </p>
<p>At least <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2015-07-16/schooled-in-britain-deported-to-danger-uk-sends-600-former-child-asylum-seekers-back-to-afghanistan">605 of them were Afghans</a> who had arrived unaccompanied as asylum-seeking children from their war-ravaged country.</p>
<p>According to Amnesty International, many of the deportees face <a href="https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/european-governments-return-nearly-10000-afghans-risk-death-and-torture-new-report">arbitrary detention, kidnapping, torture and even death</a> in the the countries where they’re sent. </p>
<p>In addition, studies have shown deportations like the kind that have taken place in Europe have caused long-term damage. </p>
<p>These include <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00148/full">undue burdens</a> on family members, such as loss of family income to meet basic needs, <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2021/reports-highlight-the-harms-faced-by-uk-families-threatened-with-a-family-members-deportation">family separation</a> that causes psychological damage including depression and trauma, especially in children. </p>
<h2>Rwanda’s acceptance of asylum-seekers</h2>
<p>In recent years, Rwanda has become a host country for approximately <a href="https://reliefweb.int/report/rwanda/unhcr-operational-update-rwanda-february-2022">130,000 refugees</a> from around East Africa, particularly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi.</p>
<p>In addition, between 2013 and 2018, Israel paid <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-pay-rwanda-5000-every-african-refugee-it-accepts">$5,000 for every African migrant deported to Rwanda</a> under a “voluntary” migration agreement. </p>
<p>Israel made a <a href="https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4424022,00.html">similar arrangement with Uganda</a>. Under the terms of the controversial arrangement, several thousand Sudanese and Eritrean asylum-seekers had to <a href="https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2018/10/moving-under">choose between immigration detention</a> in Israel or to “voluntarily” agree to be deported to Rwanda and Uganda. </p>
<p>Many of those deported to Rwanda have consistently <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2018-02-02/ty-article/asylum-seekers-who-left-israel-for-rwanda-warn-those-remaining-dont/0000017f-db59-d856-a37f-ffd97da60000">struggled with lack of documentation and poverty, and have mostly fled the country</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-61882542">attempted to return to Europe</a>. </p>
<p>Facing international and national criticism, the Israeli program was later <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/02/israel-agrees-un-deal-scrap-plan-deport-african-asylum-seekers">abandoned</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tazreena Sajjad does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A UK plan to move asylum seekers on its shores to Rwanda has been met with stiff opposition from human rights organizations. But the UK persists, and Rwanda is all too willing.Tazreena Sajjad, Senior Professorial Lecturer of Global Governance, Politics and Security, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822252022-05-13T12:14:38Z2022-05-13T12:14:38ZA court case against migrant activists in Italy offers a reminder – not all refugees are welcome in Europe<p>As many European countries <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/05/05/1095466197/whats-a-good-word-for-the-welcome-given-to-ukrainian-refugees-in-europe-generous">welcome Ukrainians</a> fleeing war, recent charges against a migrant advocate in Rome offer a reminder that popular <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/anti-immigrant-attitudes-rise-worldwide-poll/a-55024481">anti-migration sentiments</a> persist across Europe.</p>
<p>Andrea Costa, the president of Rome-based migration nonprofit <a href="https://baobabexperience.org/">Baobab Experience</a>, was <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/40301/baobab-chief-risked-18-years-for-helping-migrants-acquitted">recently acquitted</a> on charges of facilitating <a href="https://www.criminaljusticenetwork.eu/it/post/usi-ed-abusi-delle-disposizioni-contro-il-favoreggiamento-dellimmigrazione-clandestina-in-italia">illegal migration</a> – a form of <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/policies/migration-and-asylum/irregular-migration-and-return/migrant-smuggling_en">migrant smuggling</a>. </p>
<p>Costa and two volunteers with Baobab Experience faced up to 18 years in prison after they purchased bus tickets for African migrants trying to travel from Rome to Genoa in 2016. </p>
<p>An Italian judge dropped charges against <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/40301/baobab-chief-risked-18-years-for-helping-migrants-acquitted">Costa and his co-workers</a> on May 9, 2022, because the <a href="https://www.ansa.it/english/newswire/english_service/2022/05/03/rome-migrant-centre-head-cleared-of-illegal-immigration-5_a0400d10-c872-400c-97d0-a60957380e00.html">“crime was nonexistent</a>.” </p>
<p>Migrant activists are celebrating the recent court decision as a victory for groups like Baobab that offer help to people in transit trying to find safety in Europe. But <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=83Lb0dwAAAAJ&hl=en">as a scholar</a> of Mediterranean migration and asylum in Europe, I think it is important to keep in mind that the smuggling allegation still sends a message that authorities in Italy – and across Europe – view providing humanitarian assistance as potentially criminal.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man in a blue shirt speaks into a voice amplifier while rows of people sit behind him on steps" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462560/original/file-20220511-14-onuxo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Andrea Costa, director of the migrant rights group Baobab Experience, protests with migrants in Rome in August 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/migrants-and-a-group-of-volunteers-of-the-garrison-organized-by-in-picture-id827371216?s=2048x2048">Andrea Ronchini/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Migrant homelessness</h2>
<p>More than <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911">1 million migrants</a> crossed the Mediterranean Sea in 2015, fleeing violence and political and economic instability in Africa and the Middle East in hopes of finding refuge in Europe. </p>
<p>Since 2015, migrants have continued to journey to Europe from other unstable regions, with Ukraine as the latest – and largest – <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/un-ukraine-refugee-crisis-is-europes-biggest-since-wwii/">displacement in Europe</a> since World War II. </p>
<p>The increase in arrivals in 2015 became known globally as Europe’s <a href="https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/stories/2015/12/56ec1ebde/2015-year-europes-refugee-crisis.html">“refugee crisis</a>.” The large influx of people tested European Union countries’ migration and refugee policies, and <a href="https://rm.coe.int/annual-report-on-ecri-s-activities-covering-the-period-from-1-january-/16808ae6d6">racist, anti-immigrant sentiments</a> grew throughout Europe. </p>
<p>European Union countries also <a href="https://publications.iom.int/system/files/pdf/ch16-over-troubled-waters.pdf">scaled back rescue operations</a>, leaving <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news-feature/2021/01/12/migration-central-mediterranean-timeline-rescue">thousands of migrants to drown</a> at sea. </p>
<p>In the meantime, <a href="http://aei.pitt.edu/80163/1/LSE_No_94_DocumentingMigration.pdf">migrant homelessness</a> increased across Europe. </p>
<p>In Italy, some migrants chose to live on the streets rather than stay in <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2016/08/italys-migrant-hotspot-centres-raise-legal-questions">overcrowded reception centers</a>, some of which had <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/feb/01/migrants-more-profitable-than-drugs-how-mafia-infiltrated-italy-asylum-system">ties to organized crime</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.unhcr.org/4a9d13d59.pdf">European Union policy</a> mandates that migrants register their asylum claims in the country where they first enter the region. For many, their first stop was Italy, where migrants live in <a href="https://www.vuesdeurope.eu/en/brief/an-overview-of-reception-conditions-for-asylum-seekers-across-european-countries/">reception centers</a> while authorities process their claims. At these centers, migrants receive meals and basic aid, but they have limited options for working or for integrating socially while waiting on their cases. The asylum process is slow, and migrants can wind up living in <a href="https://asylumineurope.org/reports/country/italy/reception-conditions/short-overview-italian-reception-system/">reception centers</a> for two years while waiting to hear if they can get legal protection and stay in Europe. </p>
<p>In 2016, the health nonprofit Doctors Without Borders documented <a href="https://www.msf.fr/communiques-presse/out-of-sight-informal-settlements-2nd-edition">at least 10,000 migrants</a> living in <a href="https://gsdrc.org/topic-guides/urban-governance/key-policy-challenges/informal-settlements/">informal settlements</a> throughout Italy. </p>
<h2>The case in question</h2>
<p>Through my research at migrant <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1536504218776959">camps</a> and Italian migrant <a href="https://www.fmreview.org/recognising-refugees/paynter">reception centers</a>, I have observed how local nonprofits play an important role in meeting migrants’ basic needs when national and local governments fail to do so. </p>
<p>In 2016, Baobab Experience operated an <a href="https://lavocedinewyork.com/mediterraneo/2016/07/25/campo-profughi-citta-migranti-via-cupa/">unofficial encampment</a> in a street called Via Cupa in Rome, where homeless migrants could stay in tents, and where volunteers provided them with free meals, medical care and legal aid.</p>
<p>In October 2016, police closed down the camp, leaving residents without shelter. Rome’s reception centers were already overcrowded. Nine Chadian and Sudanese migrants who had been living in Via Cupa decided to travel to a <a href="https://www.infomigrants.net/en/post/10248/rise-in-migrants-in-ventimiglia-red-cross-camp">Red Cross migrant camp</a> in Ventimiglia, along the French border. </p>
<p>Costa and two other volunteers purchased these migrants bus tickets to Genoa in October 2016. One volunteer accompanied them there and then farther west to the camp in Ventimiglia. </p>
<p>Italy’s Anti-Mafia Directorate, a national investigative body that combats organized crime and has <a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/04/30/italy-anti-mafia-migrant-rescue-smuggling/">handled cases related to trafficking in immigration since 2013</a>, alleged that the ticket purchase constituted migrant smuggling. Rome prosecutors <a href="https://nowheadline.com/migrants/baobab-chief-risked-18-years-for-helping-migrants-acquitted/">charged Costa</a> and his colleagues with aiding and abetting illegal immigration.</p>
<p>The aid workers earned nothing from the exchange, nor did they transport anyone across an international border. But <a href="https://www.criminaljusticenetwork.eu/en/post/uses-and-abuses-of-the-anti-smuggling-law-in-italy">under Italian law</a>, investigators do not have to prove that someone profited off of migrants to charge them with smuggling. </p>
<h2>Criminalizing aid in Europe</h2>
<p>In recent years, local and national authorities in France and <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/93yk55/decade-of-hate-italy-matteo-salvini">Italy</a> and <a href="https://ecre.org/malta-intensifies-crackdown-on-rescuing-organisations-while-deaths-in-the-mediterranean-are-on-the-rise/">Malta</a> have brought criminal charges against groups providing humanitarian assistance to migrants. </p>
<p>Since 2017, for example, some nonprofit rescue ship crews who <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/italy-ngos-argue-over-migrant-rescue-code-of-conduct/a-39825332">refused to sign</a> an Italian government recommended <a href="https://deeply.thenewhumanitarian.org/refugees/community/2017/08/16/expert-views-should-rescue-ngos-sign-mediterranean-code-of-conduct">code of conduct</a> allowing armed police to board their vessels have faced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/04/refugee-rescuers-charged-in-italy-with-complicity-in-people-smuggling">charges of working with human smugglers</a>. </p>
<p>This political shift has created a culture of uncertainty, where humanitarian assistance comes with legal risk. Other cases also speak to this trend.</p>
<p>In Greece, for example, Irish citizen Seán Binder and Syrian refugee Sara Mardini <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/magazine/greece-migration-ngos.html">face a long list of charges, including money laundering, espionage and trafficking</a>, for their work helping migrants with the Greek search-and-rescue nonprofit Emergency Response Center International. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two men wearing life jackets and masks sit with small children in a motorboat at sea." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462567/original/file-20220511-13-jkc5nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children were among the stranded migrants rescued by a search-and-rescue boat in French waters on May 9, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/migrants-are-rescued-by-crew-members-of-the-abeille-languedoc-ship-picture-id1240573049?s=2048x2048">Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A moment in European politics</h2>
<p>The acquittal of the Baobab Experience president and volunteers comes at a moment that has revealed contradictory ideas of who deserves refuge in Europe. </p>
<p>In early April, Costa and a group of volunteers returned from Moldova to Italy, bringing with them several people fleeing Ukraine. “We crossed five international borders … to the applause of authorities,” Costa said at an April 14 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=297985892517022">press conference</a>. </p>
<p>A few weeks later, Costa’s 2016 bus fare purchase for migrants from Africa’s Sahel region risked landing him in prison, as the case had just reached a judge in May 2022.</p>
<p>Some migration aid groups are trying to highlight this discrepancy and hold national authorities accountable for policies that they say result in migrants’ dying. </p>
<p>Italian far-right politician Matteo Salvini, for example, faces federal charges of kidnapping in Palermo for his <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20211023-italy-s-former-interior-minister-salvini-stands-trial-on-migrant-kidnapping-charges">attempts to close ports to rescue ships</a> in 2019. Charges allege that Salvini’s “closed ports” policy prevented the Open Arms ship from bringing rescued migrants to safety, essentially holding them hostage at sea. <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20211023-salvini-s-moment-has-passed-fading-champion-of-italy-s-right-wing-on-trial-for-migrant-kidnapping">Several migration</a> groups are serving as civil parties in the <a href="https://mediterranearescue.org/en/news-en/mediterranea-civil-party-in-the-case-against-salvini/">case against Salvini</a>. In Italy, civil groups can sign on to a criminal case to support legal charges. </p>
<p>Costa’s case now joins other recent court cases in Europe that involve rescue and humanitarian groups and have also resulted <a href="https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.de/sites/default/files/2018-italy-report-informal-refugee-settements.pdf">in dropped</a> charges.</p>
<p>In France, Cédric Herrou, a farmer charged with smuggling after he drove migrants across the border from Italy, was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/06/world/europe/france-migrants-farmer-fraternity.html">cleared of wrongdoing</a> in 2018. </p>
<p>Italy brought charges against German national Carola Rackete, captain of the Sea Watch rescue ship, but eventually dropped them. Rackete was arrested in 2019 after she <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/02/more-than-1m-raised-for-rescue-ship-captain-carola-rackete-italy">entered Italian waters without permission</a> to disembark 40 rescued migrants in the port of Catania. </p>
<p>Cases like these give hope to migrant rights and aid groups. But the allegations still send a broader political message that not all assistance is welcomed.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60492918">Migrants themselves</a> are confronting <a href="https://www.borderline-europe.de/unsere-arbeit/kheiraldin-abdallah-und-mohamad-paros3-zu-ingesamt-439-jahren-haft-verurteilt-weil-sie?l=en">extreme sentences</a> on smuggling charges. Rescue crews also face <a href="https://iuventa-crew.org/2022/03/10/italy-launches-its-biggest-trial-against-sea-rescue-ngos/">similar allegations</a> – meaning that European groups helping migrants continue to operate in uncertainty about whether they will be able to continue their work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182225/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eleanor Paynter has conducted ethnographic research in camps operated by Baobab Experience.</span></em></p>Italian aid workers charged with helping migrants travel through the country were acquitted in May 2022. But migrants are often not well received in Europe, despite a welcome of Ukrainian refugees.Eleanor Paynter, Postdoctoral Associate in Migrations, Einaudi Center for International Studies, Cornell UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1177172019-05-31T18:44:31Z2019-05-31T18:44:31ZTo tackle climate change, immigration and threats to democracy, Europe’s fractious new Parliament will have to work together<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277267/original/file-20190530-69083-150xsou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The European Parliament is more fragmented than ever in its history, which could lead to legislative paralysis.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU1OTI3MDMyNCwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfMTMyNTYyOTg3NCIsImsiOiJwaG90by8xMzI1NjI5ODc0L2h1Z2UuanBnIiwibSI6MSwiZCI6InNodXR0ZXJzdG9jay1tZWRpYSJ9LCJzOHJvNEcyQnY4Uy8zd20yZlVRZXVDN051ZGciXQ%2Fshutterstock_1325629874.jpg&pi=33421636&m=1325629874&src=105_PBLf7O4bjR8H69qEaA-1-46">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The European Union has survived its <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-things-to-look-out-for-in-the-european-elections-117531">latest contest</a> between pro-EU and anti-EU forces. </p>
<p>Helped by high turnout, pro-EU centrist and leftist parties <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/05/27/727293356/4-takeaways-from-the-european-parliament-election-results">together won more than two-thirds of seats</a> in the European Parliament elections held in 28 countries from May 23 to 26. Populist parties intent on <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/world/europe/europe-parliament-elections-populists.html">destroying the EU from within</a> made only <a href="https://election-results.eu/">modest gains</a>, increasing their share from 20% to 25% of the 751 seats. </p>
<p>The European Parliament – one of the three institutions involved in passing laws in the European Union – was once a debate society with no real influence. Today, it has a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/06/what-is-the-european-parliament-and-do-the-elections-matter?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">significant role</a> in shaping how EU countries will tackle climate change, threats to democracy, immigration and other matters of great concern to European voters.</p>
<p>The election outcome ensures that populist forces cannot form a blocking minority, which could paralyze the work of the European Parliament. </p>
<p>Despite hobbling populist forces, the result is messy. No single party has a majority of seats, meaning the EU will be governed by a broad coalition – one that will likely have to accommodate <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/may/27/far-right-eu-elections-europe-centre-green-liberal-surge?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other">left, right and centrist views</a>.</p>
<p>I’m a scholar of <a href="https://theconversation.com/us-and-europe-face-an-increasingly-loveless-marriage-after-trumps-iran-deal-withdrawal-96395">European politics</a>. While the European Parliament relies on bargaining between its groups, this is the most fragmented I’ve ever seen it. </p>
<p>It is possible that the necessity of building coalitions among the varied pro-EU parties could foster compromise. But with lots of small parties and divergent opinions vying for influence, legislators may also struggle to make any concrete legislative progress at all. </p>
<h2>Climate change</h2>
<p>Pre-election polling showed that European voters saw climate change as a <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/climate-environment/news/climate-will-be-key-issue-in-eu-elections-poll-shows/">major factor</a> in casting their ballot, citing concern over <a href="https://europeanclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/European-Parliament-Study_Media_EU.pdf">environmental conservation and global warming</a>.</p>
<p>In recent months, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/05/24/world/europe/ap-eu-european-elections-climate-protests.html%20">student-led school strikes against climate change have spread across Europe</a>.</p>
<p>These environmental concerns contributed to the surge of Green Party representatives, who won 9% of the vote – increasing their parliamentary seats from 52 to 69. </p>
<p>Greens were particularly effective in Western Europe and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/european-greens-surge-as-voters-abandon-old-parties-over-climate/2019/05/27/185be506-8085-11e9-b585-e36b16a531aa_story.html?utm_term=.a70851ea95bf">with younger voters</a>, capturing <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/eu-election-germanys-youth-wield-their-political-power/a-48910893">one-third of all German voters under the age of 30</a>. Their campaign pledges to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/28/greens-eu-election-mandate-leverage-climate-policy">push for urgent climate action, social justice and civil liberties</a> were less successful in Central and Eastern Europe.</p>
<p>“We will need to see much more serious climate action, a real change of attitude: a price on CO2, properly tackling aviation, the greening of agriculture,” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/28/greens-eu-election-mandate-leverage-climate-policy">said Bas Eickhout</a> after the election. Eickhout is a leading member of the Greens in the European Parliament.</p>
<p>Pressuring EU countries to meet these environmental goals, however, will not be straightforward. </p>
<p>While 77% of Europeans surveyed in a recent study <a href="https://europeanclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/European-Parliament-Study_Media_EU.pdf">want to see meaningful action on climate change</a>, European politicians are <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/climate-strategy-2050/news/summit-leak-reveals-eu-rift-on-climate-change/">divided</a> on the issue. </p>
<p>Germany and Poland have <a href="http://www.gmfus.org/blog/2019/05/21/climate-stake-european-parliament-elections?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=ww%205-15-2019">refused to endorse</a> a bold plan to achieve carbon-neutral economies by 2050. That has put them at odds with many of their partners in the EU, such as France, the Netherlands and Sweden. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277271/original/file-20190530-69051-1h5qjy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277271/original/file-20190530-69051-1h5qjy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277271/original/file-20190530-69051-1h5qjy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277271/original/file-20190530-69051-1h5qjy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277271/original/file-20190530-69051-1h5qjy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277271/original/file-20190530-69051-1h5qjy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277271/original/file-20190530-69051-1h5qjy1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A sign erected by climate activists outside the European Parliament in Brussels before the European elections, May 26, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Belgium-European-Elections/1673c40c53e34911b53e076e0d5dffe1/67/0">AP Photo/Francisco Seco</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any legislative action on the environment, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-green-surge-could-mean-for-the-new-european-parliament-117953">reforming EU agricultural or trade policies</a>, will require agreements between parliamentary groups. The likely coalition of the center-right, liberal, center-left and Green parties would bring together groups with <a href="http://www.caneurope.org/publications/press-releases/1758-defenders-delayers-or-dinosaurs-where-do-eu-political-groups-stand-on-climate-change">very different environmental records</a>. </p>
<p>That will likely mean more compromise and less ambitious policies.</p>
<h2>Rule of law</h2>
<p>The members of this fractious likely alliance also hold divergent views on how – and indeed whether – to grapple with the decline of democracy across Europe.</p>
<p>The populist leaders of Hungary and Poland have both <a href="https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/european-parliament-elections-eu-reform-by-ana-palacio-2019-05">undermined the rule of law</a> in recent years, curtailing the independence of key institutions like the press and the judiciary. Both countries have also passed <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/hungary-passes-draconian-law-targeting-migrants-and-ngos-1.3537829">harsh laws</a> that reduce civil liberties, restricting <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/pis-polish-ngos-fear-the-governments-embrace/">the ability of human rights organizations</a> to operate. </p>
<p>Such laws violate the values of the European Union, a political and economic alliance founded in 1957 with a <a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/treaty/teu_2012/art_2/oj">clear commitment to protect liberal democracy and the rule of law</a>. </p>
<p>But efforts by the EU to sanction Poland and Hungary have hit roadblocks. Populist parties view EU punishment as an <a href="https://carnegieeurope.eu/2018/10/11/could-illiberal-europe-work-pub-77463">infringement on national sovereignty</a>, and even the more centrist European People’s Party also refused for years to censure <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/viktor-orban-loses-his-political-patron/">Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán</a> because he is a member of their group. </p>
<p>In September 2018, European Parliament members eventually voted 448 to 187 to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/eu-lawmakers-move-against-hungary-over-rule-of-law/2018/09/12/6717a0bc-b67e-11e8-ae4f-2c1439c96d79_story.html?utm_term=.f6c2f4a5338a">recommend that Hungary’s EU voting rights be suspended</a> – the <a href="https://euobserver.com/opinion/144766">main tool available to rebuke European countries</a> that violate EU rules. </p>
<p>However, for this severe sanction to take effect, all EU member states except the offending country must vote in favor of the punishment. That’s an impossibly high bar to clear, especially since Poland and Hungary have been protecting each other.</p>
<p>But unless the EU and the European Parliament can find some way to reprimand Hungary and Poland, it could embolden illiberal-leaning Romania and the Czech Republic to follow in their footsteps. </p>
<h2>Immigration</h2>
<p>Immigration is another controversial topic that the European Parliament will want to act on in the coming years. </p>
<p>The number of undocumented migrants entering Europe <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/05/europe/migrant-figures-drop-europe-intl/index.html">has dropped significantly since the 2015 refugee crisis</a>, but pre-election polls showed that many European voters <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/files/be-heard/eurobarometer/2019/parlemeter-2019/report/en-parlemeter-2019.pdf">saw immigration</a> as a top campaign issue.</p>
<p>After years of discussion about reforming Europe’s shared asylum system, EU member states remain <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/justice-home-affairs/news/juncker-commission-gives-up-on-dublin-asylum-reform/">stubbornly divided</a> on this subject. </p>
<p>In both national politics and the European Parliament, <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/eu-elections-2019-where-do-parties-stand-on-migration/">centrists and leftists across Europe</a> generally seek to collaborate on a regulated approach to immigration that fairly shares responsibility across the region. But <a href="https://carnegieeurope.eu/2018/12/11/2019-european-parliament-elections-will-change-eu-s-political-dynamics-pub-77922">populist parties want closed borders</a>, and anti-immigrant rhetoric has fueled their rise. </p>
<p>Given Europe’s divided new Parliament, finding agreement on how to <a href="https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/eu-elections-2019-where-do-parties-stand-on-migration/">proceed on this issue will be hard</a>. </p>
<p>Europeans have high expectations of their leaders. Polls show that <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/at-your-service/files/be-heard/eurobarometer/2019/parlemeter-2019/report/en-parlemeter-2019.pdf">68% of Europeans view membership in the EU as beneficial</a>. The high turnout in European Parliament elections and strong showing of pro-EU parties confirm that the contested union is experiencing something of a resurgence. </p>
<p>If the EU’s parliamentarians can forge agreement across the political spectrum, they may foster a renewed, pluralistic defense of European integration that will satisfy voters on immigration and other critical everyday matters.</p>
<p>If paralysis results instead, anti-EU populists may well triumph the next time around.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Garret Martin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Populists didn’t do well enough in the EU’s recent elections to destroy Europe from within. But with far-right and far-left parties winning new seats, consensus on key issues looks ever less likely.Garret Martin, Professorial Lecturer, American University School of International ServiceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/909112018-01-31T23:29:56Z2018-01-31T23:29:56ZHow Canada is inspiring Scandinavian countries on immigration<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203910/original/file-20180130-89550-b3j2ov.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Muslim woman wearing a hijab headscarf stands side by side with a punk woman with a green mohawk at a rally in support of Syrian refugees in Oslo, Norway, in 2015. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As a wave of <a href="http://lexicon.ft.com/term?term=Scandimania">“Scandimania”</a> sweeps the world, Canada is serving as an inspiration for Scandinavian countries dealing with the challenges of increased immigration and ethnic diversity.</p>
<p>Scandinavia has, for a long time, been portrayed as a model for other countries. </p>
<p>The international fascination with Scandinavia derives from a broadly shared impression that Denmark, Norway and Sweden have successfully combined private capitalism and economic growth, on the one hand, with state intervention and social equity on the other. </p>
<p>International observers have also noted that economic efficiency and social welfare in Scandinavia have reinforced each other. That’s shown by consistently high rankings in international indices of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-nordic-countries-are-more-competitive-than-everyone-else-2012-7">competitiveness</a> <a href="http://time.com/4706590/scandinavia-world-happiness-report-nordics/">and happiness.</a> </p>
<p>A few years ago, The Economist featured a bearded, horned-helmet-wearing Viking <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21571136-politicians-both-right-and-left-could-learn-nordic-countries-next-supermodel">on its front cover</a>, with the headline <em>The Next Supermodel</em>. </p>
<p>The overriding wisdom is that the world has a lot to learn from Scandinavia.</p>
<p>The Scandinavian model has also received substantial attention in Canada. Academics, journalists, politicians and leaders of non-governmental organizations alike continue <a href="http://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/article/2014/04/22/le-bon-sens-a-la-scandinave/">to evoke Scandinavian solutions</a> to Canadian and global challenges.</p>
<h2>Canada no longer a ‘policy borrower?’</h2>
<p>Canada and the world have looked to Scandinavia on many issues. These include proportional representation, voter turnout, coalition governments, gender equality, education, environment and energy policy, welfare provisions and health-care delivery strategies — not to mention international humanitarianism and conflict resolution.</p>
<p>In contrast, Canada is usually described as a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-public-policy/article/div-classtitlesleeping-with-an-elephant-the-american-influence-on-canadian-environmental-regulationa-hreffn01-ref-typefnadiv/6009A069C5F7E195B8A184C3A1BB7A34">policy “borrower.”</a> </p>
<p>But in the area of immigration and integration policies, the relationship has turned on its head. Canada is the policy lender; Scandinavia the policy borrower.</p>
<p>As immigration novices, Denmark, Norway and Sweden have been searching for inspiration and new solutions abroad. And the Canadian immigration and integration policy model <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/njmr.2014.4.issue-3/njmr-2014-0016/njmr-2014-0016.xml">is attracting avid interest.</a></p>
<p>In fact, the Canadian model has played a significant role in the Scandinavian reform process since the early 2000s. </p>
<p>In particular, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/immigration-canada-2018-1.4371146">Canada’s positive view</a> of “immigrants as a resource” has served to inspire new attitudes towards labour immigration in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203893/original/file-20180129-89590-13n1hyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203893/original/file-20180129-89590-13n1hyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203893/original/file-20180129-89590-13n1hyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203893/original/file-20180129-89590-13n1hyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203893/original/file-20180129-89590-13n1hyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203893/original/file-20180129-89590-13n1hyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203893/original/file-20180129-89590-13n1hyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eritrean refugees wave from an Italian police aircraft bound for Sweden in October 2015. The 19 Eritreans were among the first refugees to Sweden under a European Union resettlement program.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Canada’s focus on <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry.html?utm_source=slash-expressentry_entreeexpress&utm_medium=short-url-en&utm_campaign=express-entry">skilled economic immigrants</a> — a group that ostensibly integrates more easily in the labour market — has been held up as an alternative to humanitarian and family migrants. That phenomenon has contributed to a significant <a href="http://ftp.iza.org/dp9943.pdf">immigrant-native employment gap in Scandinavia</a>. </p>
<p>However, the three Scandinavian countries haven’t totally emulated the Canadian system. </p>
<p>Their immigration strategies, though focused on a Canada-style open and selective system, have differed from the original Canadian programs and policies. They’ve been adapted to domestic circumstances in a pragmatic fashion.</p>
<p>Still, the Canadian emphasis on immigrants’ personal responsibility for integrating into the labour market — and society at large — has resonated in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. </p>
<p>As has a greater emphasis on so-called <a href="https://comparativemigrationstudies.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40878-016-0045-8">activation</a> — the transfer of responsibility to social service users for their productive role in society.</p>
<h2>Inspired by Canada</h2>
<p>Norway’s adoption of <a href="https://www.regjeringen.no/en/topics/immigration/innsikt/statsborgerloven/id2343481/">citizenship ceremonies</a> and the <a href="http://workpermit.com/immigration/denmark/danish-green-card-points-based-system">Danish points system</a> for economic immigrants were openly transferred from Canada. The Canadian model also played a role in the acceptance of dual citizenship in Sweden.</p>
<p>The Scandinavian fascination with the Canadian model persists, and last month I was invited to talk about Canada’s Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program to a Swedish audience in Stockholm.</p>
<p>My upcoming book, <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/policy-learning-from-canada-1">Policy Learning from Canada</a>, soon to be published by Toronto University Press, has also generated much interest in Scandinavia. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203892/original/file-20180129-89556-8ujtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203892/original/file-20180129-89556-8ujtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203892/original/file-20180129-89556-8ujtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203892/original/file-20180129-89556-8ujtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203892/original/file-20180129-89556-8ujtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203892/original/file-20180129-89556-8ujtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203892/original/file-20180129-89556-8ujtel.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author’s book on Canada’s inspiration to Scandinavian countries on immigration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Trygve Ugland)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The relevance of the Canadian model for Scandinavia is intriguing for several reasons.</p>
<p>First, it demonstrates that the Canadian model, a product of unique socio-political and geographic circumstances — including Canada’s size, long history of immigration and early adoption of multiculturalism as official policy — can still be relevant to other countries lacking these underlying conditions. </p>
<p>As latecomers to modern immigration, the Scandinavian countries are clearly different from Canada. Still, the Canadian model is relevant for other countries lacking its unique circumstances, just as it is for Scandinavia. </p>
<h2>Promotes Canada’s image abroad</h2>
<p>What’s more, Canada’s status as an international immigration model in Scandinavia shows that a country typically described in public policy literature as a “policy borrower” can become a “policy lender” for those that have traditionally served as policy exporters. </p>
<p>This challenges much of the <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/7625455/lesson-drawing-in-public-policy-a-guide-to-learning">established knowledge</a> in the field. And it suggests that the active promotion of the Canadian model by successive federal governments in Ottawa has succeeded. </p>
<p>Indeed, Canada’s international leadership role in immigration and integration policy is an effective way of promoting Canadian interests and values internationally, a central priority of <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affairs/news/2017/06/address_by_ministerfreelandoncanadasforeignpolicypriorities.html">Canadian foreign policy</a>. </p>
<p>The Canadian model’s future relevance for Scandinavia and elsewhere will largely be dependent on its pragmatic adaptation to changing circumstances, while producing benefits for both Canada and its immigrants.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90911/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Trygve Ugland has received funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p>As immigration novices, Denmark, Norway and Sweden have actively been searching for inspiration and new solutions abroad. Canada is providing some critical inspiration.Trygve Ugland, Professor of Politics and International Studies, Bishop's UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/536672016-01-25T15:19:22Z2016-01-25T15:19:22ZOur understanding of states, sovereignty and statelessness is being tested<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109155/original/image-20160125-19667-bbr0pc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Refugees walk through a frozen field after crossing the border from Macedonia, near the village of Miratovac, Serbia</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Marko Djurica</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One leg of a complicated travel schedule over the holidays imprisoned me in an airport lounge for 12 hours: caught in this liminal space, I began to think about the state, its sovereignty, and the idea of statelessness.</p>
<p>It is not the first time these thoughts have come around.</p>
<p>When the glamour of globalisation was the rage a decade or so ago, it was tempting to believe that - to invoke Leon Trotsky’s famous 1917 phrase - the world was on the edge of condemning the state and sovereignty to the <a href="http://dinafainberg.com/about/">dustbin of history</a>.</p>
<p>But I was disbelieving that globalisation could herald some kind of new market-driven nirvana where states and sovereignty would no longer count for much.</p>
<p>The idea of making both peace and paradise through the power of the purse was never really on: too many messy corners remained to be tidied up, and it is to several of these that my holiday peregrinations took me.</p>
<p>In the late-1960s, however, I was attracted to an earlier strain of post-sovereign thinking, the idea of “the global village”. This has been largely associated with Canadian media theorist, <a href="http://www.mcluhanmedia.com/m_mcl_manmessage.html">Marshall McLuhan</a>. The idea was that greater connectivity would “shrink” the world, but leave state sovereignty intact.</p>
<p>This notion of shrinking the world was recently re-captured by the acclaimed Marxist theorist, David Harvey, in the phrase <a href="http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199874002/obo-9780199874002-0025.xml">“time-space compression”</a>. We live in a “24/7” world, while geographical boundaries have been rendered meaningless.</p>
<p>In one form or another the ideas – globalisation, the global village, time-space compression - were once easily illustrated by pointing to what was happening in Europe.</p>
<p>After centuries of promoting conflict, sovereignty within Europe was demonstrably losing its grip: states previously at war were willing to surrender their dominion in order to merge, mingle and mix. Surely, this was the pathway to modernisation.</p>
<p>But Europe’s value as the proverbial case-in-point has recently been drawn into question.</p>
<p>The promise of economic prosperity for all who live within its capacious borders has been hobbled by market-inspired thinking. The very idea of Europe has been eroded by the incessant bleating by the British that their sovereignty is exceptional – destined to command the world, not be sullied by European provincialism.</p>
<p>But importantly for present purposes, events in Europe suggest something new about states, sovereignty – and the stateless.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding solemn declarations by Brussels - and separate deals with neighbouring states - it is a sure bet that the inward <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34131911">migration to Europe</a> will continue unabated.</p>
<p>The reason for this is plain: those dislodged by conflict in the Middle East know that Europe – a place with no internal borders – is almost within walking distance.</p>
<p>It is true, of course, that around the wider EU borders are in place. These were once the edge of what, a decade and more ago, was called <a href="http://www.movingpeoplechangingplaces.org/migration-histories/fortress-europe.html">“Fortress Europe” </a> – a ring of legislation and international law which could protect prosperous Europe from the intrusion of outsiders.</p>
<p>But it is difficult today to see how – short of war, as in the Ukraine – Fortress Europe can reassert this outer boundary of its sovereignty.</p>
<p>The lesson of this is clear: no longer bound by states, those who have become stateless seem to be seeking a place in the only space where sovereignty has little purchase on the lives of individuals.</p>
<p>There seems to be something else going on too: our understanding of states, sovereignty and statelessness is being tested.</p>
<p>Paradoxically, as the stateless seek out Europe, thousands are leaving it to join the <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/597254/ISIS-Map-Europe-Terror-Organisation-Andrew-Hosken-Caliphate-Abu-Musab-al-Zarqawi">ISIS caliphate</a>, a sovereign-free zone straddling two nominally sovereign countries – Syria and Iraq.</p>
<p>But here, law and politics clash. In effect the caliphate exercises political sovereignty, although legally it has none. So it occupies that liminal space between “what is” and “what should be”.</p>
<p>As a result, the idea of the caliphate is testing our lexicon, our grammar and our political imagination.</p>
<p>Many questions follow of which this may be the most important: short of war, how are we to deal with it if it is invariably seen as dystopian, or described a “threat”?</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.e-ir.info/2016/01/22/neglected-yarns-and-new-beginnings-a-delhi-diary/">small conference in Delhi</a>, which came at the end of a month-long perambulation, drew me towards the understanding that we can only read state, sovereignty and statelessness as a process of social negotiation. Seldom are these notions settled: instead, they are continuously mediated by circumstances.</p>
<p>In contrast to what we have been taught - or teach our students - we live in an increasingly hybrid world. </p>
<p>In this world outcomes are produced that are not stable and so generate only doubt, not certainty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
In contrast to what we have been taught - or teach our students - we are living in an increasingly hybrid world.Peter Vale, Professor of Humanities and the Director of the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS), University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.