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Africa: Migration Reports Show Complex Realities
AfricaFocus Bulletin
August 27, 2018 (180827)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"In the case of Africa, the very idea that the situation to be faced is a rapidly
increasing “migration crisis” driven by a growing number of young men and women
desperately trying to enter Europe denies the basic facts [such as that]
the vast majority of Africans move within the continent; most Africans move for
reasons of work, study and family; and most Africans living abroad are not from the
poorest sections of their societies of origin." - UN Economic Commission for Africa,
Situation Analysis
The images of African migrants drowning in the Mediterranean or trying to cross the
barbed-wire fences between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, while anti-immigrant
politicians in the European Union rant against migrant "invaders," are
real. But their prominence in the news is misleading, as made clear by reports by
international agencies and scholars as well as news coverage by journalists willing
to take the time to explore in greater depth.
In fact, notes the report cited above and excerpted in this AfricaFocus Bulletin,
"African migration is not necessarily essentially different from migration in and
from other world regions. In fact, Africans are underrepresented in the world migrant
population and Africa has the lowest intercontinental outmigration rates of all world
regions."
Moreover, as stressed in the latest report from the UN Conference on Trade and
Development, cited below, migration and development as normal phenomena should be
mutually reinforcing. Instead of trying to curb migration, both source and
destination countries should be trying to maximize the benefits for both sides, while
at the same time protecting both voluntary and forced migrants from human rights
abuses.
Increasing restrictions with walls and stepped-up policing of borders, argues a
recent analytical book, are themselves fueling violence, in contrast to an approach
that would regulate but not close off borders. [See Violent Borders, by Reece Jones,
Verso Books, 2016. https://amzn.to/2PDu3fP]
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains excerpts from the two reports cited above, as well
as suggestions for sources to follow for regular in-depth coverage of migration
issues. Journalists face a difficult task in calling attention to crises while not
reinforcing stereotypes. But readers also have the obligation to put the stories in
context of deeper analysis.
One example, of internal migration within Africa, illustrated below with a graphic
and links to relevant sources, is the migration from West Africa to North West Africa
(the Maghreb), not only as a route to Europe but also for education and employment
within the Magheb. That migration, as with migration out of Africa, features both
"normal" migration and the violence which comes from the attempts to curb migration
by destination-country states.
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on migration, visit
http://www.africafocus.org/migrexp.php
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++
Sources for In-Depth News Reporting on Migration
For articles that give background as well as first-hand reporting on migration, two
regular sources to follow are IRIN News (http://www.irinnews.org/migration) and
Refugees Deeply (http://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees). You can bookmark these sites
and subscribe to regular email updates from either site.
A selection of recent articles from the two sites shows the range of topics:
Refugees Deeply, Aug. 16, 2018
Fear Dampens Hope Among Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia
http://tinyurl.com/y987ymxs
Refugees Deeply, Aug. 16, 2018
School Started by Refugees Becomes One of Uganda’s Best
http://tinyurl.com/y83pd5lx
IRIN News, Aug. 16, 2018
Returning from Libyan detention, young Gambians try to change the migration exodus
mindset
http://tinyurl.com/y85ktsvz
IRIN News, Aug. 7, 2018
Meet “Baba IDP”: the local hero making sure Boko Haram victims get healthcare
http://tinyurl.com/y8npyu2z
Refugees Deeply, Aug. 2, 2108
Unlike Salvini, Italians Still Believe in Welcoming Strangers
http://tinyurl.com/ya74nuo9
IRIN News, July 19, 2018
From the hopeful refugee to the frustrated detainee, meet the real people stuck in
Libya
http://tinyurl.com/y9r839h2
Refugees Deeply, July 10, 2018
Why Algeria Is Emptying Itself of African Migrant Workers
http://tinyurl.com/y7l3hn8s
IRIN News, July 5, 2018
Thousands of Sudanese fled Libya for Niger, seeking safety. Not all were welcome
http://tinyurl.com/y96wewa4
African Regional Consultative Meeting on the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and
Regular Migration
Addis Ababa, 26 and 27 October 2017
Draft report 1
Situation analysis
Patterns, levels and trends of African migration
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
http://www.uneca.org – Direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/y9vgjake
[Excerpts only – see full 33-page report for footnotes, graphs, and references.]
This document has been drafted by Hein de Haas, and incorporates insights from the
subregional reports prepared by Papa Demba Fall, Pierre Kamdem, Caroline Wanjiku
Kihato, David Gakere Ndegwa and Ayman Zohry.
Introduction
1. More than migration in other world regions, African migration is commonly
portrayed as a phenomenon driven by poverty, violence and other forms of human
misery. Media images and political narratives routinely portray African migrants as
victims, who easily fall prey to “unscrupulous” smugglers and human traffickers who
“ruthlessly” exploit their desperation to reach the European “Eldorado”. Images of
rickety boats packed with African migrants and refugees arriving on European shores
and the increasing death toll this involves add to the image of an increasing
“migration crisis”. In the media, in policy and in some academic circles, a dominant
narrative is that fast population growth and persistent poverty and conflict in
Africa combined with environmental degradation and climate change threaten to lead to
a possibly uncontrollable increase in the number of young Africans desiring to cross
towards Europe and other overseas destinations (see Collier 2013). Such ideas of an
African exodus tap into deep- rooted fears of an impending “migration invasion” that
may well spiral out of control and that therefore needs to be dealt with as a matter
of urgency.
2. The most common “solutions” for the perceived migration crisis proposed by
Governments and international organizations typically consist of a blend of:
(a) Preventing unauthorized migration by [sic] “fighting” and “combating” smuggling
and trafficking (through intensified border patrolling and policing in transit
countries);
(b) Deportation or pressuring unauthorized migrants and rejected asylum seekers into
“voluntary return” or “soft deportation” (Boersema, Leerkes and van Os 2014; Pian
2010) (through readmission agreements with origin and transit countries such as
Libya, Morocco, Senegal and Turkey);
(c) Addressing the root causes of migration by reducing poverty and increasing
employment in African countries (particularly through aid (Böhning and SchloeterParedes
1994), which has increasingly become conditional on collaboration with
readmission of unauthorized migrants);
(d) Informing and sensitizing prospective migrants about the dangers of
(unauthorized) migration and the arduous circumstances in Europe (through media
campaigns, artistic events, and other activities (see Pelican 2012));
3. Such narratives tend, however, to be based on a number of questionable assumptions
about the nature and drivers of African migration, in particular, and migration from
and towards developing countries more generally. In the case of Africa, the very idea
that the situation to be faced is a rapidly increasing “migration crisis” driven by a
growing number of young men and women desperately trying to enter Europe denies the
basic facts that:
- The vast majority of Africans move within the continent.
- Africa is the least migratory region in the world.
- Most Africans move for reasons of work, study and family.
- Most Africans living abroad are not from the poorest sections of their societies of
origin.
- Unauthorized overland and maritime journeys represent a minority of all moves.
- Only a very small fraction of unauthorized migration can be characterized as
“trafficking” (see Kihato 2017).
4. Such basic facts also make it clear that African migration is not necessarily
different in its essence from migration in and from other world regions. The whole
idea that African migration is somehow “exceptional” seems – largely unconsciously –
to tap into European stereotypes and colonial ideologies about Africa as a continent
of general disorder, violence and poverty, which partly served to justify colonial
occupation, with Europeans intervening to impose order, peace and prosperity (see
Davidson 1992). Such stereotypes perpetuate the idea that African countries somehow
need to be “helped” to foster development and manage migration – which in practice
often amounts to “externalizing” European political agendas aimed at an increased
policing of African borders and the overall criminalization of migration and
smuggling (Brachet 2005; Kihato 2017). That, in turn, often clashes with the desire
of African Governments to liberalize internal movement and to proceed to the full
implementation of the various treaties signed on the protection of migrants and
refugees.
5. Furthermore, the idea that African prospective migrants need to be informed about
the dangers of the journey, that they need to be “rescued” from the hands of
smugglers and traffickers and that they would be better off if they had stayed at
home, is based on the paternalistic assumption that most African migrants do not know
what is in their own best interest. Many African (and other) migrants must deal with
exploitative recruiters and employers and although many migrants’ expectations of
life at their destination will remain unfulfilled, and notwithstanding the fact that
thousands of migrants have died while crossing borders in recent decades (see Crawley
and others 2016b; Perkowski 2016), the idea is, nevertheless, deeply problematic that
African migration is a largely desperate and generally irrational response to
poverty, violence and human misery at home. First, it reduces (poor, African)
migrants to victims and denies their capability (their “agency”) to make reasoned and
rational decisions for themselves. Second, it taps into stereotypes about Africa as a
region of poverty, violence and general disorder in which a deepening humanitarian
crisis is causing an increasing exodus of desperate young people from the continent.
Such stereotypes about African “misery migration” continue to be fuelled by media
images about the phenomenon of trans-Mediterranean “boat migration’ and political
narratives about an impending migration invasion.
6. Third, it misinterprets the nature and causes of African migration as essentially
different and exceptional compared to migration elsewhere. This does not of course
mean that poverty and violence are irrelevant for understanding African migration,
but that there is a risk of “pathologizing” African migration as a largely desperate
“flight from misery” and a response to destitution and population pressures.
7. Fourth, and most crucially, such representations of migration as the antithesis of
development are based on flawed assumptions of the fundamental causes of this
migration. In particular, they ignore increasingly robust scientific evidence that,
particularly in low-income countries, processes of economic and human development
tend to increase internal and international “outmigration” (Clemens 2014; de Haas
2010b; Skeldon 1997; Zelinsky 1971),
8. Such evidence upsets popular but misleading push-pull models, which predict that
most migration should occur from the poorest communities and societies. This
illustrates the need for a fundamental rethinking of the nature and causes of human
migration. That is particularly relevant in the context of African migration, which
is still predominantly cast in essentialist portrayals driven by sensationalist media
images and political crisis narratives. To contribute to such an effort, this
situation analysis aims to achieve an evidence-based understanding of the nature and
drivers of African migration over the post-Second World War period.
9. The present report will start by reviewing the main patterns and trends of African
migration over the past decades. While focusing on international migration, the
analysis will not artificially ignore internal migration, based on the understanding
that movement within and across borders are intrinsically interlinked (King and
Skeldon 2010) and that they stem from the same processes of social transformation and
development (de Haas 2010b).
10. The analysis will draw mainly on, first: our own analysis of available migrant
population (“stock”) and migrant flow data, such as that obtained from the United
Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Determinants of
International Migration project; second: it will draw on available empirical studies
from African countries and also on the subregional reports that have been prepared
for the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in concordance with this regional report
(Fall 2017; Kamdem 2017; Kihato 2017; Ndegwa 2017; Zohry 2017). Where appropriate,
however, this analysis will occasionally draw on evidence gathered in other
developing regions or global analyses in order to assess the extent to which African
experiences resemble – or differ from – more general evidence on the characteristics,
patterns and drivers of human migration as well as the role that policies play in
affecting these.
...
Conclusion
56. The preceding analysis highlights interesting figures and trends on African
migration. Although political narratives and media images focus on the purported
“exodus” of Africans to Europe, the bulk of African migrants move within the
continent. However, the overall intensity of intra-African international migration
has remained stable in recent years. This stagnation of migration intensities seems
to be related to the imposition of migration barriers which reduce unrestricted
migration. Given the dominance of intra-African migration, it is appropriate that the
migration discourse, policy responses and research interests should focus more on
this form of migration.
57. The idea that African migration is somehow “exceptional” seems to tap into
stereotypes. African migration is not necessarily essentially different from
migration in and from other world regions. In fact, Africans are underrepresented in
the world migrant population and Africa has the lowest intercontinental outmigration
rates of all world regions. Africa has also re-emerged as a migration destination,
particularly for Chinese workers and merchants as well as European skilled workers,
retirees and other “expats”. The absolute number of international migrants living on
African soil has grown from an estimated 20.3 million in 1990 to an estimated 32.5
million in 2015.
58. The share of African-born people living outside of the continent has shown a
slight increase – from 1.1 per cent in 1990 to 1.4 in 2015. This increase is high and
rising in absolute terms – although still relatively small in terms of the proportion
of Africans in the global migrant population. This increase has, however, been
largely due to legal, registered and thus “orderly” migration rather than to a
rising, disorderly and potentially uncontrollable tide of
59. Although more research is needed to corroborate this hypothesis, the increasing
policy focus on selection of skilled migrants by OECD countries has facilitated the
emigration of educated and relatively well-off Africans, but visa requirements and
border controls have decreased access of relatively poor Africans to legal migration
opportunities, particularly to Europe. On the one hand, this seems to have increased
their reliance on smuggling and unauthorized border crossings – the unauthorized
status of migrants increases the risks of labour exploitation, discrimination,
violence and other forms of abuse, which can sometimes evolve in situations of
trafficking.
60. On the other hand, the limited opportunities for legal migration to OECD
countries for lower-skilled workers seem to have partly stimulated the partial
geographical reorientation and diversification of African migration to countries in
the Gulf, China and elsewhere. Other explanatory factors behind this geographical
diversification of African emigration may include the waning influence of (post-)
colonial ties to Europe and the growing politico-economic and cultural influence of
China and the Gulf countries in Africa as well as the more liberal entry regimes in
the new destination countries.
Destination Maghreb
For a report on recent expulsions from Algeria, see
"Inside Algeria’s Mass Expulsions of Sub-Saharan Migrants
Aug. 7, 2018 - http://tinyurl.com/ydxao9or
For a report analyzing the nuances of "Changing Migration Patterns in North Africa,"
May 2, 2018, see https://www.csis.org/analysis/destination-maghreb
Economic Development in Africa Report 2018: Migration for Structural Transformation.
UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), May 2018
http://unctad.org / Direct URL: http://tinyurl.com/ybj28u8l
Foreword
Images of thousands of African youth drowning in the Mediterranean, propelled by
poverty or conflict at home and lured by the hope of jobs abroad, have fed a
misleading narrative that migration from Africa harms rather than helps the
continent. The latest edition of the UNCTAD flagship Economic Development in Africa
Report takes aim at this preconceived notion and assesses the evidence to identify
policy pathways that harness the benefits of African migration and mitigate its
negative effects.
This year, 2018, offers the international community a historic opportunity to realize
the first global compact for migration, an intergovernmentally negotiated agreement
in preparation under the auspices of the United Nations. Our contribution to this
historic process is the Economic Development in Africa Report 2018: Migration for
Structural Transformation.
Migration benefits both origin and destination countries across Africa. The report
argues that African migration can play a key role in the structural transformation
of the continent’s economies. Well-managed migration also provides an important
means for helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, both in Africa and
beyond.
The report adopts an innovative, human-centred narrative that explores how migrants
contribute to structural transformation and identifies opportunities for absorption
of extra labour in different sectors across the continent. African migrants include
from highly skilled to low-skilled persons, who migrate through legal channels and
otherwise.These migrants not only fill skills gaps in destination countries, but also
contribute to development in their origin countries. Children remaining in the origin
country of a migrant parent are also often more educated than their peers, thanks to
their parent’s migration. The connections that migrants create between their origin
and their destination countries have led to thriving diaspora communities. They have
also opened up new trade and investment opportunities that can help both destination
countries and origin countries to diversify their economies and move into productive
activities of greater added value.
Contrary to some perceptions, most migration in Africa today is taking place within
the continent. This report argues that this intra-African migration is an essential
ingredient for deeper regional and continental integration. At the same time, the
broad patterns of extra-continental migration out of Africa confirm the positive
contribution of migrants to the structural transformation of origin countries.
We believe this report offers new and innovative analytical perspectives, relevant
for both long-term policymaking and for the design of demand-driven technical
cooperation
projects, with a shorter time frame and will help Governments and other stakeholders
in reaching informed decisions on appropriate migration policies in the context of
Africa’s regional integration process.
It is our hope that these findings will improve policy approaches to migration for
African Governments, as well as for migration stakeholders outside the continent.
Mukhisa Kituyi
Secretary-General of UNCTAD
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication providing reposted
commentary and analysis on African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and
international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
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