Nation States have exaggerated migration and refugee phenomenon and elevated it above politics – a term in security studies call ed ‘securitization’ through speech acts by agents of security. Migration is as old as mankind and refugees are by no means a twenty first century phenomenon, however, only at the end of the First World War did the Western world focus its attention on the plight of people forced by adverse circumstances to leave their homes and seek refuge elsewhere.
This realization began a slow process of legal definition that eventually led to the drafting of international refugee legal instruments such as the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees and at the institutional level, the creation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The rights of refugees are enshrined in these legal frameworks and states have an obligation to protect refugees, among other responsibilities.
International migration is an issue the world has been grappling with for decades and the 2019 UNHCR report puts the number of people forced to flee their homes due to conflict and persecution at over 70 million. However, at the time when the world is facing the worst refugee crisis, countries in the Global North are cutting on the number on immigrants they accept and integrate.
Refugees are considered some of the most vulnerable people in the world because they lack the protection of their own countries, and their safety depends on the commitment of other states both individually and through collective efforts. Providing refuge to people fleeing conflict or persecution not only benefits such people but also promotes international peace and security.
The phenomenon of migration has been securitized within nation-states, the securitization of the migration crisis through speech acts by far-right elites in advanced industrialized states became more visible after the 9/11. Refugees have been constructed as a homogeneous collective that threatens state interests. Some political leaders have been quoted referring to refugees as “an invasion of foreigners,” switching the context of the reality of refugees from humanitarian crisis to security threat.
The 9/11 double attack and the 2008 global economic crisis increased the securitization of migration. As a result, the world has witnessed an increase in the migration-terrorism-economic welfare-related fears in migrant receiving countries. Increasingly, the world is witnessing alarmist speech acts portraying asylum seekers and migrants as threats to national security. Such rhetoric from people in power have led to a wave of xenophobic attacks and an increase in identity politics, an aspect which threatens peace and stability in an increasingly globalized world.
All this explains the indifference to the fate of refugees and migrants perishing in the Mediterranean Sea which is symbolic of a securitized phenomenon. In Security Studies, it’s important to note that the notion of national security has aggressive and defensive attributes, as one country maximizes its national security, it reduces/threatens the security of other states in the international system. So, as states take measures to protect their citizens from threats supposedly posed by migration, describing migrants as a security threat strips them of their humanity.
There is no doubt about the fact that in an increasingly interconnected world, threats have become transnational in nature meaning they don’t respect geographical boundaries. The most recent one being the COVID-19 that originated from Hubei province in China but has quickly escalated into a pandemic hard to contain and with no vaccine. The migration crisis is a transnational security concern that can only be addressed through concerted efforts.
The refugee problem affects all countries both poor and rich whether as hosts or sources of refugees. Countries in the Global South have more receptive policies as compared to their counter parts in the Global North where far-right politicians are calling for restrictive measures against refugees. In addition, geopolitics explains why some internal conflicts (the leading cause of flight) have persisted, great powers take part in small arms proliferation by availing weapons to warring parties.
In regions like Africa where majority of forced migration takes place, part of the African Union’s 2063 agenda is silencing the guns, an initiative to achieve a conflict-free Africa. It is important to address the root causes of intra-state conflicts which are to a larger extent non-military in nature. These include; corruption, abuse of human rights, poverty among others. All these are human security issues with the potential to cause national insecurity.
Many migrants remain stuck in detention centers in countries like Libya under dire conditions, exposed to modern day slavery. Many of them are young people, women and children, groups that are potential targets for recruitment by violent extremist groups. Therefore, policy debates both at national and international levels have got to highlight the fact that security interests of host governments and those of displaced populations can be aligned. Promoting the security of refugees is in the security self-interests of states and has the potential to improve global peace and stability.
Critical Security theorists like Kenneth Booth, argue that an issue can be securitized in a positive win-win manner through collective means to the common problems facing the world today. The refugee crisis is a human security issue that requires governments and the international community to proactively address the root causes of flight in order to find durable solutions to the refugee problem. The act of states deterring refugees or asylum seekers from reaching their territories is indicative of the states’ lack of commitment to the 1951 Refugee Convention and other international norms that place obligations on states to protect refugees.
In conclusion, the migration crisis is a global issue that requires collective efforts for viable solutions to be achieved. There is need to acknowledge that there is a dialectic between the security of refugees and the global security, the very way human security communicates to national security at national level. Securitizing refugees as potential security threat undermines their safety and in the long run it has the potential to cause risks to national and global security. There is need for a more people-friendly and inclusive international security architecture where states reinforce their cooperation and commitment to finding permanent solutions to the migration crisis by addressing the root causes of flight.
By Patricia Namakula
@trishmakula256
Image Source: Reuters
Well articulated. Thank you consultant