“…just one major international media outlet covered this milestone.”
September 5-12, 2022 Mixed Migration—hebdo, spotlighting the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Za'atari refugee camp, then following with the week's global news review.
Welcome to Mixed Migration—hebdo! Here, in the time it takes to read one feature, you get a global sweep of the last week's most relevant migration policy developments, along with links to all the articles you need to dig deeper.
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Spotlight
Last July saw the 10th anniversary of the formation of the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. Though the humanitarian sector has long been trying to move away from encampment and toward community settlement for refugees, this milestone betrays how much work remains to be done in that pursuit.
Za’atari was set up in 2012 to accommodate an initial 450 Syrian refugees. Since then, its population has grown to ~80.000, roughly half of whom are children. Since then, 20.000 children have been born within. Their parents observe that their camp-born children struggle to grasp, at a conceptual level, what Syria is.
Though UNHCR issued a press release on the day of the tenth anniversary, and OXFAM released a report, just one major international media outlet covered this milestone.
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On to the news…
Asia
Afghanistan and its neighbors
Last Tuesday, Russian officials announced, on the heels of a bomb attack on Monday, the temporary closure of the Russian Embassy, including its visa issuance office—one of the few foreign consular missions remaining in Kabul. | On Wednesday, Eurasianet relayed that at least 200 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from Tajikistan in the last 2 weeks, with little to no due process. On the same day, local officials reopened 6 girls’ secondary schools in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktia province. | On Friday, NBC News revealed that there are at least 230 Afghan unaccompanied minors on U.S. soil, awaiting reunification with kin who remain in Afghanistan without near-term evacuation prospects. | On Saturday, secondary school-age girls in Paktia gathered to protest the prompt closure of girls’ schools, shortly after their Wednesday reopening by local authorities. | On Sunday, The New York Times highlighted the depth of flood-borne destruction and disruption in Pakistan, where floodwaters—which continue covering an area roughly the size of Britain—have wiped out roughly half of Pakistan’s cotton harvest, and threaten to derail its wheat planting season.
Conflict and displacement within and beyond Myanmar
Last Tuesday, Thai fishermen rescued 10 Rohingya refugees shipwrecked off the coast of Thailand’s southwestern Satun province, where authorities located another 41 Rohingya on the following day. On the same day, local resistance fighters revealed that ~40.000 people have been displaced by fighting in the last 2 weeks from Kantbalu district, in central Myanmar’s embattled Sagaing region. Also on Tuesday, Rohingya Khobor highlighted the impact of accelerating conflict between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army on diplomatic relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar—and on the improbable beginning of refugee returns within 2022. | On Wednesday, The New Humanitarian highlighted efforts by displaced clinicians in Mizoram, overcoming inadequate infrastructure and precarious legal standing, to provide healthcare to Burmese refugees from Chin and Sagaing, and to local communities alike. On the same day, Frontier Myanmar highlighted the increasing difficulties Rohingya refugees are facing in exile in Malaysia, as the sympathy shown them upon initial displacement fades while legal status remains a chimera. | On Sunday, a Bangladeshi court indicted 29 individuals—only 15 of whom are in custody—over the 2021 murder of Rohingya civil society leader Mohib Ullah. | This Monday, local resistance groups reported that ~5.000 civilians were displaced by fighting over the week prior in Myanmar’s southeastern Shan State.
Sources: TOLOnews, Eurasianet, NBC News, The New York Times, Thai PBS World, The Irrawaddy, Rohingya Khobor, The New Humanitarian, Frontier Myanmar, The Financial Express
Sub-Saharan Africa
Drought and civil war in the Horn of Africa
Last Wednesday, the UN assessed 8 regions of Somalia, home to 7.1 million civilians, to be on the verge of an IPC Phase 5 famine determination on the heels of a failed sorghum and maize harvest last July. | On Friday, TPLF leadership announced it had offered a conditional truce to Ethiopian authorities, provided that humanitarian access into Tigray be restored. | On Saturday, TPLF leadership indicated its consent to ceasing hostilities and joining AU-mediated peace talks with Ethiopian authorities without preconditions—dropping a prior demand for the restoration of humanitarian access and basic services before entering into negotiations.
Conflict, displacement, and labor mobility in east Africa
Last Wednesday, local officials tallied ~10.000 displaced civilians from the DRC’s western Kwamouth region currently sheltering in Mongata, east of Kinshasa, with limited humanitarian assistance. | On Friday, UNHCR appealed for $68 million to provide humanitarian support to ~96.000 refugees displaced by fighting between EAC forces and the M23 rebel group in northeastern DRC. On the same day, local authorities appealed for help providing for ~4.100 IDPs—including ~2.000 who had been pushed back from Uganda—in the northeastern DRC town of Rutshuru. The EastAfrican highlighted the poor results, thus far, of the East African Community’s common market and its protocol providing for the free movement of labor, observing that the lack of portability of social security and pension benefits make workers reluctant to relocate within the EAC to pursue job opportunities.
Sources: HumAngle, Africanews, CNN, UNHCR, The EastAfrican.
Middle East and North Africa
Internal displacement in Syria and Iraq
Last Tuesday, The New Arab highlighted a continuous increase in femicides in Syria in recent months. | On Wednesday, the Washington Post highlighted the increase in climate-driven internal migration from Iraq’s southwestern countryside to cities such as Basra, where infrastructure and services can hardly keep up with existing residents, let alone new arrivals. | On Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights tallied 7 fatalities and 15 injuries as a result of a Russian airstrike just west of Idlib city in northwestern Syria. | On Saturday, Kurdish authorities announced a cholera outbreak had begun affecting people in Raqqa and Deir Ezzor, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights attributed to authorities ceasing chlorination efforts. | This Monday, Syria’s Ministry of Health confirmed 2 dozen cholera cases and 5 fatalities across the country, with the outbreak currently concentrated in Aleppo.
Asylum seeker (im)mobility in the MENA and Sahel regions
Last Wednesday, EUobserver revealed a ‘mini-concept paper’ drafted by the EU external action service proposing to integrate migration management into Common Security and Defence Policy missions in the Sahel and Middle East, enabling diplomatic missions in countries of transit to contribute to interdiction activities conducted by domestic security forces. | On Thursday, authorities in Niger recorded the arrival of 847 asylum seekers—including 74 minors—pushed back from Algeria. | On Friday, local officials and advocates began reporting early signs of a significant number of Syrian refugees in Turkey intending to organize into mutual support convoys to try to migrate onward into the EU, fleeing economic deterioration and an increasingly hostile political climate in Turkey. On the same day, The New Humanitarian highlighted increasing food insecurity in Sudan, where 12 million people are believed to be facing acute hunger at the moment—a figure liable to rise to 18 million within the month. | On Sunday, Moroccan police trying to prevent a maritime departure towards the Canary Islands opened fire on a group of 29 asylum seekers, killing 1 woman. | This Monday, Turkish authorities announced they had deported just under 3.050 asylum seekers between September 2 and 8, including just under 1.450 Afghan and just under 450 Pakistani nationals.
Yemen’s civil war
Last Wednesday, advocates and UN officials issued renewed pleas for the international community to raise the remaining $12 million needed to initiate a salvage operation to transfer 1.1 million barrels of crude oil from the decaying FSO Safer, endangering Yemen’s western coastline and the whole of the Red Sea. | On Sunday, UN officials signaled their confidence in their ability to raise the $12 million still needed to salvage the FSO Safer, despite having received no new pledges in recent weeks, nor the disbursement of all but $10 million of the funding pledged thus far. On the same day, Reuters revealed that Yemen’s divided Political Leadership Council, the internationally-recognized government’s executive, have stalled the formation of committees to monitor corruption and oversee tender issuance, preventing the injection of $3 billion into Yemen’s foundering central bank by Saudi and UAE authorities.
Israeli asylum judicialization
Last Thursday, an Israeli court ruled that, from December 8, nationals of the DRC will lose temporary protected status, facilitating the repatriation of 225 Congolese asylum seekers with pending claims, as well any rejected claimants.
Sources: The New Arab, the Washington Post, AFP, Middle East Eye, AP, EUobserver, Africaews, The Jerusalem Post, The New Humanitarian, InfoMigrants, Middle East Monitor, Deutsche-Welle, Forbes, Reuters, Haaretz.
Maritime Migration Routes to & through the West
Ruta Canaria
Last Monday, Salvamento Marítimo rescued 55 asylum seekers, and retrieved 1 lifeless body, from a vessel that ruptured as rescuers were approaching in waters off of Fuerteventura. | On Wednesday, Salvamento Marítimo rescued 70 asylum seekers from 2 vessels in waters off of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. | On Sunday, Salvamento Marítimo rescued 55 asylum seekers from a vessel in waters 50 kilometers east of Lanzarote.
Central and western Mediterranean
Last Wednesday, Italian authorities designated Taranto as a safe port of disembarkation for the 267 asylum seekers rescued from the Central Mediterranean by the GeoBarents (MSF-IFRC) over the week prior. | On Thursday, Tunisian authorities rescued 14 asylum seekers, retrieved 8 lifeless bodies, and tallied 15 missing persons from a distressed vessel in waters off of Chebba, on Tunisia’s eastern coast.| On Saturday, the Sea-Watch 3 rescued 34 asylum seekers, bringing the total number of rescued over this past week to 394, as the Humanity 1 (S.O.S. Humanity) rescued another 25 asylum seekers, bringing the total number on board to 208. | On Sunday, Tunisian authorities announced they had recovered an additional 3 lifeless bodies on the heels of the shipwreck that had taken place off of Chebba on Thursday. | This Monday, 26 asylum seekers reached the Sicilian port of Pozzalo autonomously, along with the lifeless bodies of 6 passengers, including 3 children, who perished during the 4-day crossing.
Aegean Sea
Last Wednesday, 61 asylum seekers were disembarked in Crete after spending 10 days on a fishing vessel that had set sail from Lebanon trying to reach Italy, but had suffered engine failure and drifted for several days in Maltese SAR waters—during which time 4 children perished. | On Saturday, Turkish authorities issued drone footage purportedly capturing the interception and pushback of an asylum seeker vessel in waters off of Bodrum—as tensions between the two states, driven largely by populist electioneering in Turkey, continue increasing.
Gulf of Mexico
Last Monday, U.S. authorities apprehended 15 Cuban asylum seekers upon their arrival to Haulover Beach, on Florida’s southeastern coast. | On Saturday, the Red Panamericana y Caribeña de Organizaciones por los Derechos Humanos revealed that 31 Venezuelan asylum seekers trying to reach Curaçao by boat had been intercepted by Dutch colonial authorities on Sunday prior. On the same day, 9 Cuban asylum seekers arrived autonomously in Long Key, where they were promptly apprehended by U.S. officials.
Sources: EFE, Reuters, InfoMigrants, AP, The New Arab, CNN, En Frontera, 7 News Miami.
Europe
EU migration policymaking
Last Tuesday, IOM disclosed that 919 asylum seekers had been refouled to Libya from the Central Mediterranean over the week prior. On the same day, Italy’s Court of Cassation ruled that irregular migrants do not need a permanent work visa to be eligible for a stay of deportation, finding that holding a fixed-term contract and making earnest efforts to learn Italian meet the threshold to demonstrate ‘serious intention’ to integrate into Italian society. | On Wednesday, the European Court of Justice ruled that foreign family members of an EU national residing in the EU on the basis of family unity inhabit the EU as long-term residents, and thus are eligible for long-term residence permits (see the ECJ’s full judgment here). On the same day, the EU Council and European Parliament issued a roadmap to completing negotiations on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum by February 2024. Also on Wednesday, EUobserver revealed a proposal by the Czech Presidency or the EU Council to advance EU legislation allowing affected states to curtail asylum rights and expedite deportations in the event of a sudden increase in arrivals engineered by a bordering state wielding hostile intent. | On Friday, Danish authorities announced the co-signing, alongside Rwandan authorities, of a letter of ‘joint ambition’ to collaborate on migration management, a possible precursor to an offshoring agreement.
European migration (mis)management
Last Monday, Bulgarian authorities reported a substantial increase in irregular arrivals from Turkey this year, with 85.000 arrivals recorded since the new year, against 41.000 in all of 2021. | On Tuesday, Bulgarian authorities announced disciplinary measures against 10 border police officers believed to be facilitating irregular arrivals into Bulgaria. On the same day, advocates blasted German authorities’ dispatching of a deportation flight from Munich to Islamabad, demanding that repatriations be halted while Pakistan remains affected by catastrophic flooding. | On Thursday, Deutsche-Welle described how Greece’s Automated Border Surveillance System ought to have been able to find 39 asylum seekers who became stranded on an islet in the Evros for a week in early August. | On Friday, an asylum seeker was shot and injured at the Loon-Plage informal settlement near Calais, the second shooting in 2 days, on the heels of shootings that injured 9 asylum seekers at the end of August. | On Saturday, an ordinance entered into effect prohibiting asylum seekers not yet registered at the Ter Apel reception center in the Netherlands from entering the center of the town itself. | On Sunday, the Guardian relayed increasing concerns among Ukrainian refugees in Europe facing a looming squeeze, this winter, between lapsing state support and host communities’ ability to continue providing community-based support amid spiking energy prices. | This Monday, NU.nl issued a report finding that 30 major Dutch cities that have hosted asylum seeker reception centers over the last 5 years experienced no relevant disruptions as a result, belying the notion that asylum seeker reception should be contained to Ter Apel.
Dystopia at the Home Office
Last Monday, the Independent signaled growing concern among UK councils about increasing homelessness claims from Ukrainian households losing access to the Homes for Ukraine scheme as their 6-month terms begin expiring this September. | On Wednesday, newly-appointed Home Secretary Suella Braverman began alienating Home Office civil servants with her inaugural speech to her staff, demanding in-office attendance and insisting on an unworkable target of preventing all irregular crossings of the English Channel. | On Friday, documentation submitted to the High Court as part of ongoing litigation over the legality of the UK-Rwanda asylum seeker deportation deal further revealed the Home Office’s dismissals of warnings from the civil service that Rwanda falls short of the criteria to be considered a safe country of deportation for at-risk individuals.
Sources: EFE, ANSA, InfoMigrants, EUobserver, Bloomberg, EURACTIV, Deutsche-Welle, NLTimes, the Guardian, the Independent.
The Americas
U.S. migration policymaking
Last Tuesday, Texas authorities disclosed they had disbursed $12 million to bus recently arrived asylum seekers from the U.S.-Mexico border to Washington, DC, New York, and Chicago over the previous 5 months. | On Thursday, the Biden Administration announced new regulations to enter into effect this December easing requirements for permanent residence applicants to be designated a public charge and rendered ineligible for green cards—restoring access to permanent status restricted by the preceding Administration. On the same day, USCIS indicated it was on track to issue a record 280.000 employment-based green cards this year, drawing criticism from advocates for adjudicating cases not by the order of their filing, but rather by ease of adjudication—leaving complex pending cases in the backlog rather than adjudicating them first, per standard procedure. Also on Thursday, Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a public emergency over continuing asylum seeker arrivals by bus from Texas and Arizona, allowing her Administration to access up $10 million to fund a novel municipal Office of Migrant Services, to coordinate sheltering and service provision. | On Friday, local officials announced plans to open a municipal reception center and charter a bus company in response to this week’s release of nearly 500 asylum seekers into the U.S. border city of El Paso from over-capacity federally-managed reception centers—more of which are expected in coming weeks. On the same day, the Biden Administration also announced it would keep the refugee resettlement ceiling at 125.000 for FY2023, as actual resettlement arrivals within FY2022 remain far short of the current year’s goal.
Irregular migration in Latin America
Last Tuesday, Mexican authorities disclosed they had intercepted 266 asylum seekers being transported irregularly across Mexican soil in concealed truck holds. | On Friday, En Frontera tributed the 17 Venezuelan asylum seekers who have perished, and 9 more who have gone missing, trying to cross the Rio Grande thus far this year, as autumn weather accentuates its flow and currents. On the same day, the Mexican Economy Secretariat signed an agreement with civil society organization Fuerza Migrante to facilitate the integration of recently arrived migrants into educational and labor market opportunities in Mexico. | On Saturday, U.S. authorities repatriated 74 Cuban asylum seekers intercepted mid-sea ~7 miles off of Long Key. | On Sunday, a novel caravan composed of ~1.000 asylum seekers—the 7th thus far in September—departed Tapachula, headed to San Pedro Tapanatepec in Oaxaca to petition for temporary visas whose issuance is severely delayed in Tapachula. On the same day, authorities in Guatemala disclosed they had intercepted 534 asylum seekers irregularly transiting through Guatemalan soil over the week prior. | This Monday, advocates blasted the 2.6 million peso increase to COMAR’s budget, to just under 48.340.000 pesos, projected in the Mexican government’s 2023 budget proposal, arguing COMAR needs at least 3 times as much funding to properly serve the protection needs of arriving asylum seekers.
Sources: ABC News, CBS News, the Washington Post, Bloomberg, El Paso Matters, teleSUR, En Frontera, Milenio, CNW, AGN, el Diario del Sur, La Razón.
Oceania
Migration policymaking in Australia and New Zealand
Last Tuesday ~1.000 asylum seekers demonstrated in Canberra to demand action on the recently-elected Albanese government's electoral promise to provide permanent solutions to some of Australia's ~31.000 temporary visa holders. | On Saturday, The Saturday Paper highlighted the costs, financial and human, of Australia’s draconian offshore asylum seeker detention system and of its slow and secretive refugee resettlement. | This Monday, authorities in New Zealand issued statistics indicating that, following the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, New Zealand is on the cusp of returning to net positive migration.
Sources: al Jazeera, The Saturday Paper, InterestNZ.
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