Humanitarian Crises and Migration

Causes, Consequences and Responses

Susan F. Martin, Sanjula Weerasinghe, Abbie Taylor, Susan F. Martin, Sanjula Weerasinghe, Abbie Taylor

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781135085544
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politica e relazioni internazionali
• Subtopic: Relazioni internazionali

Whether it is the stranding of tens of thousands of migrant workers at the Libyan–Tunisian border, or the large-scale displacement triggered by floods in Pakistan and Colombia, hardly a week goes by in which humanitarian crises have not precipitated human movement. While some people move internally, others internationally, some temporarily and others permanently, there are also those who become "trapped" in place, unable to move to greater safety. Responses to these "crisis migrations" are varied and inadequate. Only a fraction of "crisis migrants" are protected by existing international, regional or national law. Even where law exists, practice does not necessarily guarantee safety and security for those who are forced to move or remain trapped. Improvements are desperately needed to ensure more consistent and effective responses.

This timely book brings together leading experts from multi-disciplinary backgrounds to reflect on diverse humanitarian crises and to shed light on a series of exploratory questions: In what ways do people move in the face of crisis situations? Why do some people move, while others do not? Where do people move? When do people move, and for how long? What are the challenges and opportunities in providing protection to crisis migrants? How might we formulate appropriate responses and sustainable solutions, and upon what factors should these depend? This volume is divided into four parts, with an introductory section outlining the parameters of "crisis migration, " conceptualizing the term and evaluating its utility. This section also explores the legal, policy and institutional architecture upon which current responses are based. PartII presents a diverse set of case studies, from the earthquake in Haiti and the widespread violence in Mexico, to the ongoing exodus from Somalia, and environmental degradation in Alaska and the Carteret Islands, among others. Part III focuses on populations that may be at particular risk, including non-citizens, migrants at sea, those displaced to urban areas, and trapped populations. The concluding section maps the global governance of crisis migration and highlights gaps in current provisions for crisis-related movement across multiple levels.

This valuable book brings together previously diffuse research and policy issues under the analytical umbrella of "crisis migration." It lays the foundations for assessing and addressing real challenges to the status quo, and will be of interest to scholars, policy makers, and practitioners committed to seeking out improved responses and ensuring the dignity and safety of millions who move in the context of humanitarian crises.

PART I Introduction and a Theoretical Perspective

1 SETTING THE SCENE

DOI: 10.4324/9780203797860-1

Susan F. Martin, Sanjula Weerasinghe and Abbie Taylor

Introduction

Not a week passes in which humanitarian crises do not precipitate some form of movement. The movements that occur in the context of humanitarian crises are complex and diverse. People move within their countries and across international borders, on a temporary or permanent basis, in a legal or irregular manner. They move on their own or with assistance from external actors. Some benefit from evacuation mechanisms, voluntary migration programs, or social and diaspora networks. Others resort to clandestine networks, travelling by land or sea and taking enormous risks. Many move in direct response to acute events, while others migrate in anticipation of future harm. Yet others remain trapped in their home communities or in transit, their movement inhibited by the unfolding crisis, or by lack of resources or capacity to reach safety. Both citizens and non-citizens of countries experiencing crises are affected. These movements have implications that extend well beyond immigration control and national interests, touching upon human rights, humanitarian and development principles, and the frameworks for international protection, cooperation and burden sharing, among others. Existing legal and institutional frameworks manifest limited capacity to accommodate all those with protection needs, and yet a coherent set of principles for addressing such movements and protection is still to be devised. This volume is a first step toward this endeavor.

At the time of writing in 2013, the ongoing conflict in Syria has cost the lives of more than 100,000 people. There are more than six million displaced persons inside Syria and more than two million refugees who have fled to neighboring countries, with a few thousand people leaving Syria every day according to the United Nations (OCHA 2013; UNHCR 2013). Among the millions of people affected by the crisis in Syria, thousands remain trapped inside houses and makeshift shelters without basic supplies, as their neighborhoods have become battlegrounds between government and opposition forces. In Yemen, severe food insecurity and malnutrition overshadowed by violence and political instability is affecting more than ten million people (IRIN 2013a), including refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) residing inside and outside of camps, Yemeni migrant workers deported from the Gulf countries, and transit migrants arriving from the Horn of Africa. The intersection of drought and conflict continues to play out in the Sahel region, too, where more than one million remain displaced and 11 million are food insecure (WFP 2013). In the villages of northern India and Nepal, where flooding displaced some five million people in 2012, heavy seasonal rains have prompted flooding and landslides that have overwhelmed communities and submerged dozens of villages once again. More than 6,000 are presumed to have died during the flooding and evacuation efforts, and more than 250,000 local residents, pilgrims and tourists were forced to flee to higher ground (BBC 2013; Reliefweb 2013). Meanwhile, many of those living in coastal regions, such as the shore towns of Pakistan’s Sindh province, are being relocated or are moving inland by their own means, confronted with rising sea levels, cyclones and storm surges that have destroyed homes and depleted their livelihoods as fishermen and farmers (IRIN 2013b).

In the background, protection gaps remain for those who moved in the context of crises that peaked not long ago—the returned and stranded migrant workers who fled in the wake of protests in Libya, conflict-affected and malnourished individuals within and outside famine-hit Somalia, the hapless communities devastated by back-to-back floods in Pakistan and Colombia, the evacuees of Japan’s tsunami and nuclear accident, and the IDPs existing in Haiti’s camps, many of whom suffered a cholera epidemic following the earthquake that ravaged the country in 2010. Equally, ongoing and intense violence in Mexico and chronic governance failures in countries such as North Korea create silent and often hidden needs for citizens and non-citizens alike, compounding the complexity of movements and necessary responses.

These recent examples, many of which are elaborated in the contributions to this volume, highlight the perpetual reality and significance of movement as a crucial and time-honored response to humanitarian crises. Indeed, the number and frequency of these crises may well increase substantially in the years ahead. Climate change is expected to generate internal and international movements due to increases in the intensity and frequency of natural hazards, rising sea levels, persistent drought and desertification, and, potentially, new conflicts over scarce resources. At the same time, recent and historical lessons demonstrate that processes of political change have a destabilizing effect, provoking violence and influencing new movements and protracted needs. Such circumstances underline the need to respond to crisis-related movements through effective, humane and implementable principles and practices.

Among them, the chapters in this volume illustrate: (1) the disparate ways in which humanitarian crises manifest; (2) the diverse forms of movements (and non-movements) that occur in such contexts—described for the purposes of this book as “crisis migration,” with the descriptive term “crisis migrants” encompassing all those who move and those who remain trapped but in need of relocation in the context of crises; (3) protection and assistance needs of crisis migrants; and (4) factors to consider when formulating and analyzing responses targeted to address crisis migration. In doing so, the contributors shed light on the commonalities and differences in movements across diverse crisis situations, the commonalities and differences in associated protection needs of crisis migrants, and the potential and shortcomings of existing legal, policy and institutional frameworks for affording protection and assistance to crisis migrants.

The volume is divided into four sections: the first, including this chapter, introduces and conceptualizes the analytical premise of crisis migration upon which this book is based, and reflects on key considerations and preliminary recommendations for protecting crisis migrants; the second highlights the types of movement, protection needs and responses in a collection of case studies that feature humanitarian crises; the third focuses on populations “at risk” due to their status, the nature of their movement (or non-movement) and/or the context in which they move; and the fourth maps the global governance of crisis migration, examining the interplay between the local, national and international levels. The remainder of this chapter guides the reader through the components of a humanitarian crisis, the concept of crisis migration, and types of crisis migrants. In outlining the existing protection framework, identifying important parallels between diverse crises and guiding future action, this framing chapter is enriched by observations and recommendations drawn from the findings of the contributing authors.

What is a humanitarian crisis?

For the purposes of this volume, a “humanitarian crisis” is any situation in which there is a widespread threat to life, physical safety, health or basic subsistence that is beyond the coping capacity of individuals and the communities in which they reside. Humanitarian crises may be triggered by events or processes, and can unfold naturally, in combination with anthropogenic factors and/or through human accident or ill will. Hurricanes, cyclones, tsunamis, earthquakes, epidemics and pandemics, nuclear and industrial accidents, “acts of terrorism,” armed conflict, environmental degradation, drought, famine, other climate change impacts, and situations of generalized violence and political instability are all potential triggers.

While events and processes may be the trigger or immediate “cause” of a humanitarian crisis, in most cases, underlying structural factors or contemporaneous stressors provide the context in which they occur. Lack of, or poor, national and local governance and emergency preparedness, high levels of poverty and inequality, human rights violations, insufficient access to basic services, and weaknesses in local and national capacity combine to precipitate (and at times perpetuate) humanitarian crises. Wealthy countries are not immune, although stable and more economically advanced countries generally have greater capacity to assist affected populations. Even the most precipitous events, such as earthquakes, do not necessarily result in humanitarian crises, if individuals, households and communities have the capacity to mitigate their most destructive impacts (for example, through earthquake-resistant buildings, disaster preparedness frameworks and established early warning systems), supported by good governance.

Each of the case study contributions to this volume illustrates the threats to life, physical safety, health and/or subsistence encountered during the crisis in question. The impact of structural and contemporaneous stressors on the threats and the coping capacities of the individuals and communities are elaborated in many cases. With more than half of the world’s population now living in urban areas, and towns and cities increasingly overcrowded sites of human insecurity and depleted infrastructure, urban landscapes feature in numerous chapters.

Examples of events that have the potential to trigger acute crises and influence movements include extreme natural hazards. Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma in 2008, inflicted massive loss of life and caused significant numbers to be internally displaced or trapped in the worst affected areas. The damage was due, in large part, to a delayed and inadequate response from the government, which was also loath to cooperate with the international community in providing assistance. In her case study of Haiti, Elizabeth Ferris (Chapter 4) situates both the 2008 hurricanes and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti within a history of crisis migration amid chronic political and economic instability, state fragility and endemic poverty. Ferris argues that while the type of movement may vary depending on the trigger, Haiti has endured decades of an intractable humanitarian crisis. Accordingly, an analysis reveals the merits of considering the interconnections between underlying stressors, triggers and subsequent patterns of movement, in crafting appropriate and durable responses.

Hazards can also be human-made, such as nuclear, chemical and biological accidents and attacks, accidental or deliberate setting of fires, and similar situations that make large areas uninhabitable. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in 1986, for example, resulted in the evacuation of more than 100,000 people within days (World Nuclear Association 2009). Twenty-five years later, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan led to nuclear power plants losing their capacity to cool reactors, forcing the evacuation of thousands. In both cases, to varying degrees, a lack of disaster preparedness and insufficient information and consideration for the extent of the impact on affected populations, including effects on at-risk demographics such as the elderly, contributed to the crisis. Epidemics and pandemics, namely the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe and the SARS, H1N1 and HIV/AIDS viruses, also carry movement implications. Based on their case studies, Michael Edelstein, Khalid Koser and David Heymann (Chapter 5) find little evidence of cross-border movement in the context of health emergencies. They note, however, that short-term internal migration, and instances of people becoming trapped or contained, are common features that require further consideration and action from governments and international health bodies to coordinate appropriate preventive mechanisms and timely responses.

Conflict, political instability and generalized violence can also trigger acute crises, particularly if the state is party to the violence or unable and/or unwilling to respond. Recent events in North Africa and the Middle East fit into this category. Violence following contested elections in Kenya (2007), Zimbabwe (2008) and Côte d’Ivoire (2011) are other examples. Each of these situations generated large-scale internal and cross-border movements, the latter involving neighboring host countries. Communal violence that does not rise to the level of armed conflict has displaced large numbers in and from the Karamoja region of Uganda, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and elsewhere. The violence can be between clans, ethnic groups, economic competitors, religious groups or pastoralists claiming the same land. Gang and cartel violence is increasingly a factor in movements from and within Central America and Mexico. In his discussion of this particular issue, Sebastián Albuja (Chapter 6) observes the complexities involved in identifying those directly and indirectly affected, including both Mexicans and Central Americans caught up in pervasive violence in Mexico. Between 2007 and 2012, an estimated 70,000 people are thought to have died in Mexico, with hundreds of thousands moving throughout the country and across borders to escape the effects of a complex and omnipresent “war” involving gangs and drug cartels, and federal, state and local authorities. In one city in the north of Mexico, some 230,000 people have moved, as violence has threatened lives, physical safety and the ability to sustain a livelihood. Due to the extensive span of violence and subsequent movements, identifying and meeting the protection needs of those moving in the context of violence has proved challenging. These difficulties are exacerbated by a lack of willingness and capacity on the part of the Mexican government to acknowledge and respond adequately to the situation.

Slower-onset crises arise in a number of different contexts. Jane McAdam prefaces the selection of case studies in this volume by unsettling traditional notions of a “crisis” as a finite event, particularly in the context of slow-onset emergencies and protracted situations (Chapter 2). Such gradual processes make it imperative to understand the so-called “tipping point” of any given crisis, and to observe the individual agency and coping capacities of households and communities as they make the decisions when to move, how to move and for how long, if at all. Prolonged drought is a principal trigger of slow-onset crises and a major reason why millions who are reliant on subsistence agriculture and pastoralist activities decide to move. Recurrent droughts undermine livelihoods when crops fail and livestock are sold or die because of inadequate rain and depletion of other water sources. When markets do not function in a manner that allows a redistribution of food to drought-affected populations, migration within and across borders becomes one of the main ways to cope with losses caused by the environmental change. In worst-case examples, when drought intersects with conflict or other politica...