Ahead of International Day of Peace, 21 September, fear and conflict are returning to Burundi, warns migration expert Dr. Sonja Fransen. Her research shows that conflict and forced migration have long-term effects — effects that trickle down to post-war generations. The International Day of Peace, 21 September, was pushed through the 1981 UN General Assembly with a view to “strengthening ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples”. Yet now, in 2015, the prospects for wo...
Prof. Parvati Nair, UNU-GCM: United Nations University, Barcelona A child should not have to die to mobilise goverments into credible action. The photograph of three-year-old Alan Kurdi’s body washed ashore, which has mobilised international responses to the ongoing migration crisis in the Mediterranean over the past week, signals two inter-related tragedies: firstly, that of the human loss and suffering that is ongoing in this context, and secondly, that of the dire shortcomings of global and r...
The Dutch development aid budget has fallen dramatically in recent years. In 2013 the Dutch Government stopped respecting the 0.7% norm, pushing through large budget cuts on development aid cooperation. The allocation of development aid is also more and more scrutinised, and one of the more controversial expenses is the first-year shelter of asylum seekers. According to OECD guidelines, shelter expenses can be paid from development aid budgets, but some countries choose otherwise. The Dutch used...
The path to doctoral funding is littered with Google searches, open calls, and endless talks with friends, colleagues, and contacts. So what’s the key to finding and securing funding? PhD fellow Ayla Bonfiglio shares her own backstory, along with her (proven) tips for success. The doctoral candidate is at a stage in his or her academic career when early career scholarships are not yet applicable and larger-scale projects with core funding are inappropriate and likely to be unrealistic. Wha...
What is the difference between trafficking and smuggling? Can technology help turn the tables? How strong are legal protections worldwide? Just a few of the questions put to migration expert Dr. Melissa Siegel ahead of World Day against Trafficking in Persons, 30 July. What is the difference between trafficking and smuggling? MS: The question of what’s the difference between trafficking and smuggling is a really important one and with this important day and having a focus on trafficking, it’s re...
Greece has received unprecedented migrant arrivals over the past few years, being at the frontline of entry into the European Union. The EU’s Frontex agency has just released new figures showing that the Turkey-Greece border has again become the primary mode of entry into the EU, writes Dr. Katie Kuschminder. In May 2015, I interviewed several migrants, including recent arrivals to Athens on their experiences, future plans, and aspirations as part of the Irregular Migrant Decision Making F...
Do migration partnerships improve policy and institutional coherence? Do they help countries to promote the positive effects that migration can have while addressing its challenges constructively? Do they reflect an even balance of power between partner countries? Are they a potential model for bilateral cooperation on migration? These were some of the questions explored in a recent evaluation of the Swiss migration partnerships by researchers at UNU-MERIT and its School of Governance. The findi...
How do different countries deal with migrant integration? Do policies give immigrants the chance to survive or even excel? Or do policies act as barriers to integration? Just a few of the questions tackled by Dr. Özge Bilgili in the Migrant Integration Policy Index 2015. With the increase and diversification of migration flows to major European countries, especially with the current asylum policy crisis, not a day goes by without finding some news relating to immigrants and their settlement in t...
Date & Time: Wednesday 26 August 2015, 12:00 PM EST / 18:00 CET Duration: Around 1 hour (45 minutes presentation, 15 minutes discussion). The ‘Arab Spring’ in Tunisia and ongoing conflict in Syria have caused global waves — in terms of geopolitics, security and of course migration. As diasporas settle around the world, how do they develop and express a group ‘consciousness’? Going further, what factors enable or constrain engagement of diasporas in politically f...
There are now 59.5 million refugees worldwide, according to the latest figures from UNHCR. Ahead of World Refugee Day, 20 June 2015, we assembled a roundtable of experts — Prof. Ronald Skeldon, Dr. Melissa Siegel, and Dr. Katie Kuschminder — to put the major issues in perspective: from Myanmar to the Mediterranean, statelessness to child refugees. Below is an edited transcript and various media drawn from the roundtable, which was moderated by Howard Hudson. In 2012, UNHCR said there...