In 2015, faced with a mounting humanitarian crisis on its borders, the European Union introduced a plan to relocate some asylum seekers from overburdened Greece and Italy to other EU countries. Yet Member States’ reluctance to make concrete relocation pledges and asylum seekers’ resistance to being moved to destinations they viewed as less desirable meant that a year on, far fewer had been relocated than was originally envisioned. As EU policymakers debate new proposals to deal with future … [Read more...]
The role of migration‐specific and migration‐relevant policies in migrant decision‐making in transit
In follow-up to the Occasional Paper 'Understanding Irregular Migrants Decision Making Factors in Transit' Khalid Koser and I have just published this working paper that further examines the role of policies in migrants decision making. Abstract This paper examines the role of migration-specific and migration-relevant policies in migrant decision-making factors for onwards migration or stay in Greece and Turkey. In this paper we distinguish migration-specific … [Read more...]
EuroNews Opinions Piece on Migrants in Greece and Turkey
In order to stem the flow of migrants crossing into Europe, the EU signed a deal with Turkey that aims to return migrants without an asylum claim to Turkey. Recently, EU leaders met in Malta and agreed to a new deal with Libya aimed at curtailing the flow of migrants from Libya to Italy. The EU-Turkey deal has been viewed as successful from a policy standpoint in that it has effectively reduced the number of boats crossing from Turkey to Greece. Yet, it is important for us to reflect on why … [Read more...]
Why Don’t Refugees Just Stay in Turkey or Greece? We asked them
Here is a post co-authored with Khalid Koser for the Conversation (re-posted here). It has also been reposted to Time, World Economic Forum, and the Huffington Post. Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters The European Commission has decided to start returning migrants from other European countries back to Greece, lifting a ban on the practice that was put in place in 2011. The decision is influenced by concerns that 13,000 migrants recently disappeared from camps in Northern … [Read more...]
Occasional Paper: Understanding Irregular Migrants Decision Making Factors in Transit
This Occasional Paper co-authored with Khalid Koser is the first of two Occasional Papers to be published from the Understanding Irregular Migrants Decision Making Factors in Transit Study. The purpose of this Occasional Paper is to better understand how migrants in transit make decisions about whether to stay, move onwards or return. The term ‘transit’ is ill-defined in the academic literature. In this study, it refers to Greece and Turkey as countries from which the potential for onward … [Read more...]