Geography
Forced Migration
Forced migration refers to the displacement of people from their homes due to factors such as conflict, persecution, or environmental disasters. It often results in the movement of large groups of people across national borders or within their own countries. This phenomenon has significant geographic implications, including the redistribution of populations and the creation of refugee camps and temporary settlements.
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11 Key excerpts on "Forced Migration"
eBook - PDF- Joseph P. Stoltman(Author)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
Migration involves people leaving a place (origin) and arriving at a new place (destination) under varying circum- stances. Migration is not pursued in isolation because the decision to migrate is linked to numerous push and pull factors. If City A has 30% unemployment and City B has a 5% or lower unemployment rate, it seems apparent that the economic hardship would act as the push factor to encourage people to leave City A and the opportunity (low unemployment rate) would act as the factor pulling people toward City B. There are intervening obstacles, which may impede migration, and that discussion is presented later in the chapter. Wherever there are movements of people, there are consequent demographic, social, and economic changes with spatial implications. Geographers study the spatial nature of movement and seek to derive the motives that people have for moving. The geographic contexts for 231 232 • HUMAN GEOGRAPHY migration occurs in multiple forms, such as people fleeing regions experiencing military conflicts, land-poor people settling new lands that are available for agriculture, or the mass migrations of Europeans moving to the Americas during times of religious, economic, and political repres- sion. These movements represent humans' quest for new beginnings and illustrate the migration phenomenon and restructuring of populated places in the world. Geography as a spatial discipline synthesizes and analyzes migration at different scales in the context of a place of origin and a place of destination. What Is Migration? What is migration? It can be defined spatially, based on where and how long individuals change their residential address domestically or internationally. Is the move perma- nent or semipermanent? Is it migration if a person moves from downtown Los Angeles to Hollywood? How about Mr.
eBook - PDF- Alexander Betts(Author)
- 2009(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
10 Introduction The Relationship Between Forced Migration and Global Politics Forced Migration lies at the heart of global politics. The relationship between Forced Migration and global politics can be identified on three different levels: the causes of Forced Migration, the consequences of Forced Migration, and responses to Forced Migration. On each of these three levels, the con-cepts of International Relations have a contribution to make to understand-ing Forced Migration and Forced Migration has a contribution to understanding world politics. This section explains each of these levels at which the relationship exists. Causes The underlying causes of Forced Migration are highly political. Analytically, if displacement is seen as a dependent variable, political factors represent impor-tant independent variables in explaining displacement. The causes of human displacement are closely connected with trends in the international system, geopolitics, and the global political economy. These broader macro-level trends may in turn shape the country conditions that lead to human displace-ment. For example, wider inter-state relationships between countries of origin and great powers or former colonizers may sustain oppressive, authoritarian governments that persecute their populations; environmental trends at the global level may mean people are compelled to leave their homes; an interna-tional demand for raw materials or commodities such as diamonds may fuel or mitigate conflicts that lead to displacement; the role of multinational cor-porations may contribute to the type of development project that leads to displacement. In other words, in order to understand why Forced Migration occurs, it is likely to be insufficient to look at trends within the country in which displacement takes place. Instead, there is a need to also look at global political trends.
eBook - PDF- Rodolfo B. Valdenarro(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Delve Publishing(Publisher)
• Forced Migration – When an individual can’t return home (exile), or experiences a lawful method to qualify as an outcast in the host nation (asylee), or is driven away from their home because of a contention or improvement however does not cross any limits (inside dislodged individual [IDP]). Applied Human Geography 190 Figure 9.2: Representation of Types of Migration. 9.3. COMPONENTS INFLUENCING PEOPLE TO MI-GRATE Migrants themselves can be separated into two general classes: helpful and monetary. Philanthropic transients incorporate shelter searchers and evacuees. These people by and large move to nations topographically near their nation of starting point. Over the previous decade, Afghanistan has been a noteworthy wellspring of philanthropic displaced people, with Pakistan and Iran turning into their fundamental goal nations. Monetary transients, then again, relocate so as to discover work or improve their money related conditions. 9.3.1. Socio-Political Factors Social push elements can incorporate ethnic, religious, racial, and social mistreatment. Fighting, or the danger of contention, is likewise a noteworthy push factor. In the Australian setting, most refuge searchers touching base by vessel in the most recent decade have originated from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Sri Lanka. These nations, aside from Iran, have experienced very destabilizing clashes as of late. Then again, while it is free of fierce clash, Iran has one of the most exceedingly terrible human rights records on the planet driving a significant number of its residents to look for haven outside of its fringes. The politicization of religious and ethnic personalities can possibly cause critical degrees of contention inside states. Observational Migration: The Human Movement to Other Places 191 proof recommends that states experiencing a political progress from dictator guideline to popular government are at more serious danger of unsteadiness and inside clash.
eBook - ePubGoverning Climate Induced Migration and Displacement
IGO Expansion and Global Policy Implications
- Andrea C. Simonelli, Kenneth A. Loparo, Graycar(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
Capitalist development causes both pull- and push-based migration. Globalization essentially means flows across borders of capital, commodities, ideas, or people. National governments remain suspicious of the latter two (Castles, 2007). This body of work, however, does not consider the larger sphere of situational influences that can affect a potential migrant. A subsistence farmer who has a poor growing season is not necessarily looking to move into a new career as much as to supplement a current short-term difficulty. The same can be said for the same farmer whose business has dried up due to trade agreements. NAFTA has been a disaster for small farmers in Mexico, increasing rural poverty. An estimated two million Mexican corn farmers have been forced out of business by cheaper, subsidized US imports (Belton and Morales, 2009). These examples and their implications begin to question the extent to which migration is purely voluntary in the sense of economic maximization or is forced based on prevailing outside influences. This discrepancy will be discussed further in the next chapter. 1 Forced Migration as a field of study Forced Migration studies is a subfield of migration studies. It is concerned with the types of “push” factors which drive migrants to leave their homes. This also includes studies on displacement types, such as disaster induced displacement, development induced displacement, environmental displacement, and all those labeled refugees. 2 The main debate within this subfield is whether refugee studies should be part of Forced Migration studies or be a separate field of study. Hathaway (2007) argues that marrying refugee studies with Forced Migration studies will take away from the special circumstances of refugees and encourage work on the phenomenon itself instead of on refugee rights
eBook - PDF- Ronald Skeldon(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Edward Elgar Publishing(Publisher)
34 Conclusion An important final source of expulsion and Forced Migration lies in environmental change, specifically climate change, but that discussion will be postponed until Chapter 7. This chapter has examined the idea of forced movements and expulsion and attempted to place them within the context of migration more generally. While certain movements are indeed entirely constrained as in the case of those fleeing “from the mouth of the shark”, others are more nuanced where movers have agency or the capabilities to assess among a number of alternatives despite the existence of constraints. Conversely, in situations where individuals might seem to have the ultimate choice, as in the case of high-skilled migrants, constraints exist when, based in a senior position in London or MIGRATION CONSTRAINED: THE POLITICAL CONTEXT 67 New York, they are told to “head-up a section in Dubai starting a week from Monday”, the real choice is either to leave the company or to accept the edict. As we will see in the following chapter, high-skilled migrants are highly mobile and directed migration is part of the career path. Thus, forced and voluntary migration is largely a false dichotomy in which all moves are a balance of options and constraints. A continuum exists and it is recommended that the term “refugee”, as defined earlier in this chapter, should only be applied to those at the extreme forced end and should not be applied to others, such as those displaced by climate or development. This issue will be considered in more detail in the chapter on migration policy. We now turn from a discussion of the more conceptual dimen- sions of human migration towards more practical aspects and commence with an examination of the role that migration plays in both constraining and promoting development. Notes 1. For a discussion of migration within one imperial space, that of the British Empire, see Harper and Constantine 2010.
eBook - PDFHuman Geography
People, Place, and Culture
- Erin H. Fouberg, Alexander B. Murphy(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
Most are migrants who reported average salaries of less than $150 a month. This chapter explores why people migrate, whether by force or voluntarily. We discuss where people migrate, both within countries and across country borders, and how governments impact migration. CHAPTER OUTLINE 3.1 Explain migration as a type of movement. • Cyclic Movement • Migration 3.2 Explain Historic and Modern Forced Migration. • Historic Forced Migration • Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking 3.3 Explain the Theories of Migration and Understand the Motivations for Migration. • Laws of Migration and the Gravity Model • Push and Pull Factors 3.4 Identify why refugees are a distinct group of migrants and describe where most refugees migrate. • Distribution of Refugees • Areas of Dislocation 3.5 Determine how government policies impact migration. • Waves of Immigration in the United States • Legal Restrictions Photo by A.B. Murphy. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. FIGURE 3.1 Mumbai, India. A view from the top of a high-rise in the central city, looking at one of the slums found tucked between buildings throughout the city. The Census of India reports that more than 50 percent of the Mumbai’s residents live in slums. 3.1 Explain Migration as a Type of Movement 63 Migration is a type of movement that changes both the places migrants leave and the places they go. The movement of peo- ple along paths of migration creates connections and networks among places. Migration changes how people see themselves and others. It also increases spatial interaction and speeds the diffusion of ideas and innovations among places connected through migration. Geographers identify two basic types of movement. Leav- ing home for a defined amount of time and returning home is called cyclic movement. Migration changes the location of home and has a degree of permanence not found in cyclic movement. Migration is movement from a home location to a new place with an intent to stay in the new place permanently.
- M. Czaika(Author)
- 2009(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
10 2 Forced Migration Patterns and Politics Abstract This chapter provides a general overview on migration characteris- tics, such as different types and causes of migration. Furthermore, the main actors in migration and refugee politics are introduced and the most relevant alternatives in international and national ref- ugee policy are briefly described. 2.1 Introduction Migration is a global phenomenon. There is no country in the world that does not register either transnational or internal migration movements. The ever increasing integration of world markets works as a major driving force of economically motivated migration move- ments. Yet, individuals do not only move for economic reasons. Refugees (or, forced migrants) constitute a substantial part of the worldwide migration stocks and flows. By definition, they do not (primarily) leave their home village or country in order to find better economic living conditions for themselves and their families, but because they seek protection from suppression, persecution and vio- lation of their human rights. In general, states try to control migra- tion by various measures that restrict immigration. 4 However, the intensity of efforts to limit immigration varies significantly across states; some countries have more liberal immigration laws than oth- ers. In principle, all national states try to manage migration flows; no country has completely open borders. Nevertheless, international Forced Migration Patterns and Politics 11 migration continues to increase, and policymakers in many states suggest that more international cooperation is needed to arrest the trend of continuously increasing numbers of all types of (interna- tional) migrants. This is particularly critical in view of the proceed- ing integration of world markets, increasing wealth and income inequalities, as well as political insecurity in many states of the developing world.
eBook - ePub- Dina Ionesco, Daria Mokhnacheva, François Gemenne(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
Climate change brought about the 'rediscovery' of the environment as a determining factor in migration, from the moment that it was – justly – described as a considerable threat to human populations, which would first and foremost materialize in the form of massive population displacement. Although some precursory work on this phenomenon was touched upon in 1948, and then during the 1970s, the issue started to be seriously addressed in the 1990s, notably following the publication of a report commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme in 1985. Since the middle of the 2000s, the impacts of climate change have become a reality and the world has been rocked by several major natural disasters. Environmental migration has thus been included on the migration studies agenda.This generic concept, however, conceals a myriad of different dynamics. The term environmental migrants can include both Bangladeshi villagers forced to abandon their land due to repeated flooding and American retirees moving to Florida to spend more time in the sun; or the inhabitants of small Pacific islands that migrate abroad before sea-level rise makes their land uninhabitable and Haitians housed in a camp because their homes have been destroyed by an earthquake, It can be argued that the only thing these different instances of migration have in common is their link to the environment. Environmental migration can be forced and voluntary, temporary and permanent, domestic and international, without forgetting the flip side, namely the forced immobility of many populations, trapped by the impacts of environmental changes, The term 'environmental migration' covers such a range of different situations that it sometimes even seems inadequate and tends to be replaced by the term 'mobility'. Mobility, a more consensual term, includes different forms of movement and refers to the ability to migrate, It also helps to circumvent the extremely blurred division between forced and voluntary migration. Independent of empirical reality, these terms are also political constructs that are useful for highlighting the growing importance of environmental degradation as a factor of migration. It is not so much a matter of creating a particular category of migration as of drawing attention, as this Atlas
eBook - PDFClimate and Human Migration
Past Experiences, Future Challenges
- Robert A. McLeman(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
The first of these categories consists of displacees – people dislodged from their place of residence by forces beyond their immediate control. The displacing force may be environmental in nature, such as an extreme storm, fire, or riverbank erosion, or the result of a wide range of human activities from violence to land degradation to planning decisions. The International Disaster Monitoring Center (IDMC) estimated that in 2010 more than 40 million people worldwide were displaced because of sudden-onset natural hazards. Not all persons displaced by natural disasters become migrants; assuming it becomes safe and feasible to do so, many displacees will return to their place of res- idence (see Chapters 4 and 5). Cernea (2009) has suggested that international devel- opment projects are an important and often overlooked driver of Forced Migration and permanent displacement in developing countries. The largest single source of development-related displacements has been China’s Three Gorges Project, which has displaced an estimated 1.3 million people (Wilmsen, Webber, and Duan 2011a,b; see also Chapter 5). 6 Workers on organic farms do, however, report higher levels of short-term happiness with their employment. 2.6 Categorizing Migrants Based on Agency 31 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR 2012) estimates that the worldwide population of forcibly displaced people has reached 42.5 million – 27.3 million still living within their own countries and another 15.2 million living out- side their countries of origin. Under international law, the former group is known as ‘internally displaced persons’ (IDPs), while the latter are described as refugees. This spatial distinction – the act of crossing an international boundary – is a key element in the distinction between displacees and refugees in Figure 2.2. It is also one element in the definition of a refugee under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
- Hana Horáková, Stephanie Rudwick, Martin Schmiedl, Hana Horáková, Stephanie Rudwick, Martin Schmiedl(Authors)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- LIT Verlag(Publisher)
Introduction: Migration and Mobility in and out of Africa Hana Horáková and Stephanie Rudwick Migration patterns flow like a common thread through the history of Africa. Since pre-colonial times, African people can be characterised by high levels of mobility in response to demographic, social, economic, political and environmental factors. The causes of migration of Africans are often also associated with involuntary circumstances. While there was much migration in Africa before colonisation, Africans mostly experienced forced displacement on a grand scale due to trans-Atlantic slavery and migrant labour systems, but also more recently through the current displacement of refugees, “internally displaced persons,” and victims of human trafficking networks (Rodriguez 2012; Carpenter and Lawrance 2018: 21). The longue durée of African migration has had a deep and lasting impact on people across and beyond the African continent. There is a host of reasons why individuals or groups of people leave their villages, homelands, or countries. Over time these mobilities have taken many forms, including forced removals and banishment, infamously known practices of apartheid South Africa (see Badat 2013); self-imposed expatriation or exile; seasonal and circular intra-regional migration; cross-border entrepreneurial activities; or trans-continental emigration. African mobilities have reshaped the continent and influenced the racial, cultural, ethnic, and linguistic composition of its populations. New forms of labour migration, economic enterprise, cultural production, and social practice were defined by mobility and thus shaped the practices and values that formed the foundations of many African societies. “It was through migration, coerced displacement and exile that communities were built and maintained – intellectually, spiritually, and materially” (Carpenter and Lawrance 2018: 12).
eBook - PDFDevelopment-induced Displacement
Problems, Policies and People
- Chris de Wet(Author)
- 2005(Publication Date)
- Berghahn Books(Publisher)
Refugees and ‘Other Forced Migrants’ There has been a growing tendency, over the past few years, in both aca-demic and policy circles, for refugees to be mentioned alongside, and almost in the same breath as, ‘other forced migrants’. But who are these ‘other forced migrants’? A brief look at four recent publications, which can be seen as falling squarely within the field of refugee studies, shows that the people referred to belong to a particular category of displaced people, defined, like refugees, in terms of the reasons for their flight and their sta-tus in international law, namely ‘internally displaced persons’ (IDPs). In an edited collection, Managing Migration: Time for a New International Regime? (Ghosh 2000), Gil Loescher has written a chapter entitled ‘Forced Migration in the Post-Cold War Era: The Need for a Comprehensive Approach’. This call for a ‘comprehensive’ approach to Forced Migration focuses overwhelmingly on refugees, defined as ‘people who have fled from and are unable to return to their own country because of persecution Who is a Forced Migrant? | 25 and violence’ (Loescher 2000: 190). There is a short section, however, on the ‘internally displaced’, 3 defined as ‘people who have been uprooted because of persecution and violence but who remain in their own coun-tries’ (loc. cit.). Passing reference is made to ‘people who have been uprooted by development projects’, but only to point out that they are among the ‘millions’ of forced migrants ‘who are outside UNHCR con-cern’ (Loescher 2000: 191). In his section on the ‘internally displaced’, which is headed ‘Addressing the growing problem of internal displacement’, Loescher notes that ‘a new comprehensive international regime for forced migrants will necessarily have to place internally displaced persons at the centre of its concern’ (Loescher 2000: 210).
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