North Africa in transition: mobility, forced migration and humanitarian crises
6 May 2011
An examination of the key dilemmas faced by the international community as they assess the humanitarian, political and military realities emerging from the ‘Arab Spring’ will be the subject of a discussion on 6 May. It will involve leading academics and key practitioners currently working in the region.
Leading experts from the UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration and academics in migration studies at Oxford University will focus on how these crises have influenced different forms of population displacement. They will also look at the key protection and legal challenges faced by the international community in the light of this.
They will focus in particular on the challenges surrounding the displacement of people following the popular uprisings across North Africa and the Middle East. The diverse crises have resulted include economic migrants becoming forced migrants and forced migrants entering irregular migration channels in the search for survival while other migrants have become ‘involuntarily immobile’, such as migrant workers stuck inside Libya.
Speakers include Elizabeth Eyster from the UNHCR and Marc Petzoldt from the International Organisation for Migration and Oxford academics Dr Michael Willis, HM King Mohammed VI Fellow in Moroccan and Mediterranean Studies from Oxford’s Middle East Centre; and Dr Hein de Haas, Senior Research Officer and James Martin Fellow at the International Migration Institute.
Dr Hein de Haas said: ‘Perhaps surprisingly and in contrast with politicians’ statements, there is no indication that there is a major increase in migration to Europe in response to the popular uprisings in North Africa and the Libyan crisis. The vast majority of migrants fleeing Libya have returned home and most refugees have remained within the region. The movement out of Libya is related to the arrivals of some 25,000 mainly Tunisians on Lampedusa, which is part of an established pattern of boat migration by mainly North African young men in search of work. While most attention is given to the situation of people fleeing Libya, the real migration crisis seems to be unfolding within Libya. Hundreds of thousands of migrants are believed to be trapped and face potentially life-threatening danger.’
Dr Dawn Chatty, from the Refugees Studies Centre, said: ‘There are lessons to be learned from the speed with which these humanitarian crises unfolded. Perhaps anticipating large population movements when armed conflict and unrest break out is one lesson. Turkey seems to be doing just that with regard to the current crisis in Syria. It is setting out details to permit some numbers from Syria to enter Turkey and creating a ‘safe haven’ Plan B in Syria if the numbers seeking to leave become too great.’
Media are invited to attend or to arrange interviews with the participants, please contact the University of Oxford Press Office on +44 (0)1865 280534 or email press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk