Changes in EU policy needed to address migrant crisis: Experts
2. Revise migration and protection categories to reflect the multiple reasons that people are on the move: The research indicates that there is a strong need to have a better understanding of why people become migrants. Current protection mechanisms do not reflect (i) the diverse forms of violence and conflict that people seek to escape, (ii) the multiplicity of sites that people flee, and (iii) the fragmented and fluid journeys involved. The academics propose that the categories of ‘forced’ and ‘voluntary’ migration are rejected in favor of diversified categories that are based on a deeper appreciation of international refugee and human rights law, and are more reflective of reality.
3. Open safe and legal routes for migration, and improve reception conditions and facilities: The team’s findings demonstrate that current Search and Rescue mechanisms do not address the vulnerabilities of those migrating across the central and eastern Mediterranean, and that the relationships between those migrating and those facilitating migration are diverse and often ambiguous. They support calls to open safe and legal routes to the EU and to improve reception conditions and facilities at all arrival points across the EU, to ensure that human rights and international protection obligations are met in full.
4. Improve rights-oriented information campaigns across neighboring, transit and arrival regions: Dr. Squire and her team concluded that migrants should be provided with better information. They found that new arrivals have little understanding and information on procedural processes and reception conditions either before or after entering the EU. They propose the development of rights-oriented information campaigns that mobilize social networks in order to offer clear and accurate information on admission and asylum processes across neighboring, transit and arrival regions.
This briefing paper, which was presented at the University of Warwick Brussels Office provides an overview of research findings across each of the three sites – Kos, Malta and Sicily in Phase 1 - and proposes policy suggestions on the basis of the analysis to date. The research findings provide insights into migratory journeys and experiences across the three sites, and shed light on policy effects by addressing the knowledge and expectations informing migrant/refugee decision-making.
Dr Squire said: “Current policy interventions urgently need assessing in light of unprecedented levels of migration and a catastrophic increase in deaths across the Mediterranean.
“EU Member States have struggled to adopt a unified approach to handling the issue. It is in this context that the European Agenda on Migration, proposed in 2015, needs to be reviewed. Our research produces a timely and robust evidence base as grounds for informing policy interventions.”
The academics’ analysis will be developed in Phase 2 of the project to capture changing migratory dynamics and to deepen the understanding of policy effects. This briefing will be supplemented by further papers and organized events in November 2016 and again in the spring/summer of 2017.
— Read more in Vicki Squire et al., Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by boat: Mapping and documenting migratory journeys and experiences (University of Warwick, 2016)
