Wondering how counter-smuggling operations impact the safety of migrants and the local dynamics of mobility? Find out by watching the full webinar.
Migrant smuggling—the facilitation for profit of the entry of a person into a country other than their own—is at the core of the discourse worldwide on irregular migration, migration controls, and border security. The term ‘smuggling’, along with specific claims about its nature, has long been invoked by countries concerned about the presence of irregular migrants. It is routine to characterize smuggling as managed by complex and cruel criminal organizations that garner staggering profits from their illegal actions. Recently, however, empirical work from several migration corridors has called into question many of these generalizations about sophisticated smuggling operations, calling for a more nuanced and bottom-up understanding of the facilitation of irregular migration.
Although this empirical work has provided important and useful insights into the complexities of smuggling, it has neglected the impact of counter-smuggling measures on irregular migration. Counter-smuggling programs have become ubiquitous and often take the form of externalizing border controls through agreements with countries of transit. To fully understand irregular migration, we must consider the effects of counter-smuggling measures on migration patterns, on the migrants themselves, and on the societies from which they come and to which they travel. Efforts to control the smuggling services that are relied upon by many migrants can bring their own harms. The case studies now available suggest that criminalizing certain forms of migration and associated facilitation services by labelling them as ‘smuggling’ perversely fosters rather than contains clandestine mobility and exacerbates migrant victimization. Furthermore, counter-smuggling initiatives seem to create new, informal but consequential policing interactions among citizens as the responsibility to “detect” migrants travelling irregularly is extended to include bus drivers, shopkeepers, hotel owners, and ordinary citizens.
In this webinar, we draw from examples in Europe, North Africa and the Americas to shed light on the effects of counter-smuggling operations on the safety of migrants and on the local dynamics of mobility.
Date: Wednesday June 15 2022
Time: 10:00-11:15 EST (Ottawa, ONT)
This is 07:00 PST (Vancouver), 15:00 GMT (London), 16:00 CET (Amsterdam), 17:00 TRT
(Istanbul, TR, and 22:00 SGT (Singapore).
Wondering how counter-smuggling operations impact the safety of migrants and
the local dynamics of mobility? Join us for the upcoming webinar organized by
Metropolis International.
Only registered persons can be allowed to the webinar. For those who have not yet
registered, click here.
Migrant smuggling—the facilitation for profit of the entry of a person into a country
other than their own—is at the core of the discourse worldwide on irregular migration,
migration controls, and border security. The term ‘smuggling’, along with specific
claims about its nature, has long been invoked by countries concerned about the
presence of irregular migrants. It is routine to characterize smuggling as managed by
complex and cruel criminal organizations that garner staggering profits from their
illegal actions. Recently, however, empirical work from several migration corridors has
called into question many of these generalizations about sophisticated smuggling
operations, calling for a more nuanced and bottom-up understanding of the facilitation
of irregular migration.
---
Although this empirical work has provided important and useful insights into the
complexities of smuggling, it has neglected the impact of counter-smuggling measures
on irregular migration. Counter-smuggling programs have become ubiquitous and
often take the form of externalizing border controls through agreements with countries
of transit. To fully understand irregular migration, we must consider the effects of
counter-smuggling measures on migration patterns, on the migrants themselves, and
on the societies from which they come and to which they travel. Efforts to control the
smuggling services that are relied upon by many migrants can bring their own harms.
The case studies now available suggest that criminalizing certain forms of migration
and associated facilitation services by labelling them as ‘smuggling’ perversely fosters
rather than contains clandestine mobility and exacerbates migrant victimization.
Furthermore, counter-smuggling initiatives seem to create new, informal but
consequential policing interactions among citizens as the responsibility to “detect”
migrants travelling irregularly is extended to include bus drivers, shopkeepers, hotel
owners, and ordinary citizens.
---
In this webinar, we draw from examples in Europe, North Africa and the Americas to
shed light on the effects of counter-smuggling operations on the safety of migrants
and on the local dynamics of mobility.
Metropolis International, established in 1996, is the largest cross-sectoral international
network of professionals in the field of migration, integration/inclusion, and diversity. It
provides an international platform for constructive dialogue and effective production &
dissemination of policy-relevant, socially-meaningful, and evidence-based knowledge across
the policy, research, civil society, and private sectors.
Only registered persons can be allowed to the webinar. For those who have not yet
registered, click here.
The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Metropolis International invite the submission of proposals for workshops, individual papers and posters for the 25th International Metropolis Conference 2022, taking place in Berlin from 4 to 9 September.
We welcome submissions in all areas of migration, mobility and its governance around the world, integration & inclusion, as well as population diversity. Proposals that address the conference themes or any of the plenary topics are especially welcome. So are those that approach migration, integration & inclusion, and diversity from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective.
SUBMIT A PROPOSAL ON THE CONFERENCE WEBSITE
Metropolis Asia-Pacific invites you for another Webinar Series on November 25, 2021.
Join us, as our migration experts discuss the Report on the UN Climate Change Conference and the Impact of Climate Change on migration in South East Asia.
November 25, 2021 (Thursday):
6:00 AM | GERMANY
10:30 AM | INDIA | SRI LANKA
11:00 AM | BANGLADESH12:00 PM | THAILAND
1:00 PM | PHILIPPINES | CHINA | SINGAPORE | MALAYSIA
2:00 PM | KOREA
4:00 PM | AUSTRALIA
6:00 PM | NEW ZEALAND | FIJI
OVAIS SARMAD: Deputy Executive SecretaryUnited Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC)Bonn, Germany
KRISTIN MARIE DADEY Chief of MissionInternational Organization for MigrationManila, Philippines
CARL MIDDLETON Director Center for Social Development StudiesChulalongkorn University, Thailand
Register in advance for this webinar:
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Webinar will be streamed live in Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/MetropolisAsiaPacific
For additional information, check out our website: www.metropolisasiapacific.org
Wondering how architecture and planning influence the settlement, integration, and well-being of immigrants and refugees? Find out by watching the full Webinar reply below.
Among the aspects of newcomer settlement and integration that we usually emphasize such as
language, education, skills, discrimination, respect for rights, we rarely include architecture
and urban planning. And yet, if we think about what makes immigrants, refugees, and asylum
seekers feel comfortable in a new society, allows them to feel that they belong there, the built
environment is significant. Whether the homes they live in, the shops they visit, the places of
worship in which they gather, the schools they and their children attend, the spaces in which
they can socialize, the design of the buildings and their location relative to one another, all of
these affect the quality of their lives. Informal neighbourhoods in developing countries often
arise without the hand of professional architects or planners, yet bear identifiable cultural
hallmarks. Urban plans of cities in the West tend to ignore the cultural differences among
their residents, and architectural designs, whether mandated by regulations or not, tend to
reflect the mainstream populations’ preferences. But when newcomer neighbourhoods
become larger and more highly concentrated as in modern middle class suburban ethnic
enclaves or in arrival spaces for large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers, the effects of
architecture and urban plans can become acute.
Metropolis International, established in 1996, is the largest cross-sectoral international
network of professionals in the field of migration, integration/inclusion, and diversity. It
provides an international platform for constructive dialogue and effective production &
dissemination of policy-relevant, socially-meaningful, and evidence-based knowledge across
the policy, research, civil society, and private sectors.
It is with great sadness that the migration community has to unexpectedly say the farewell to Ambassador Swing, former Director General of IOM. Many of us had the pleasure to meet and listen to him at International Metropolis Conferences over the years and to work with him to improve migration governance. We considered him a friend.
Metropolis International joins the larger community in taking a moment to honour his drive, leadership and compassion in this field, and to relay the International Steering Committee's condolences and support to his family and his colleagues at IOM.
IOM Mourns Death of Former Director-General William Lacy Swing
June 2021
Metropolis International
Prof. Jan Rath, Co-Chair
Prof. em. Paul Spoonley, Co-Chair
Mihaela Vieru, Senior Program Manager
https://carleton.ca/metropolis/
Wondering how architecture and planning influence the settlement, integration, and well-being of immigrants and refugees? Join us for the upcoming webinar organized by Metropolis International.
Wednesday June 30, 2021, 11:00-12:15 EDT (Ottawa, ONT)
This equals 08:00 EDT (Vancouver), 16:00 BST (London, UK), 17:00 CEST (Amsterdam), 18:00 TRT (Istanbul) or 23:00 SGT (Singapore).
Among the aspects of newcomer settlement and integration that we usually emphasize such as language, education, skills, discrimination, respect for rights, we rarely include architecture and urban planning. And yet, if we think about what makes immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers feel comfortable in a new society, allows them to feel that they belong there, the built environment is significant. Whether the homes they live in, the shops they visit, the places of worship in which they gather, the schools they and their children attend, the spaces in which they can socialize, the design of the buildings and their location relative to one another, all of these affect the quality of their lives. Informal neighbourhoods in developing countries often arise without the hand of professional architects or planners, yet bear identifiable cultural hallmarks. Urban plans of cities in the West tend to ignore the cultural differences among their residents, and architectural designs, whether mandated by regulations or not, tend to reflect the mainstream populations’ preferences. But when newcomer neighbourhoods become larger and more highly concentrated as in modern middle class suburban ethnic enclaves or in arrival spaces for large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers, the effects of architecture and urban plans can become acute. This Metropolis webinar will explore the effects of architecture and planning on the settlement, integration, and well-being of immigrants and refugees and offer a corrective to the general neglect of these effects in our discussions of how best to manage the arrival of newcomers in our societies. Our speakers will offer a rare combination of expertise on both migration and architecture/urban planning.
Metropolis International, established in 1996, is the largest cross-sectoral international network of professionals in the field of migration, integration/inclusion, and diversity. It provides an international platform for constructive dialogue and effective production & dissemination of policy-relevant, socially-meaningful, and evidence-based knowledge across the policy, research, civil society, and private sectors. https://carleton.ca/metropolis/
Only registered persons can be allowed to the webinar. For those who have not yet registered, click here to register.
Time & date
The webinar took place on Wednesday May 26, 2021, 16:30-18:00 EEST (Beirut, UTC+3).
Description
It was ten years ago that Syrians fleeing the civil war in their country began seeking refuge in Lebanon as well as Turkey, Jordan, and elsewhere. Now with roughly 1.5 million Syrian refugees, Lebanon is host to the highest per capita population of refugees in the world at 20%. This is an astonishing figure for any country, but especially for a country as otherwise troubled as Lebanon. Many of those Syrians who fled the dangers of civil war have encountered in Lebanon poverty, food insecurity, discrimination, violence, and clear efforts to have them return to an as yet unsafe homeland. These conditions were exacerbated by the Beirut explosion and more recently by the Covid pandemic. Life for the Syrian refugees has been difficult, but their presence in an already fragile country has made things yet more difficult for the Lebanese nationals.
This webinar will look at the living conditions of Syrian refugees in informal settlements and in Lebanon’s towns and cities. The three speakers will offer the results of their in-depth research into how the Lebanese government, humanitarian organizations, and the international community have handled the crisis so far while offering prospects for effective policies beneficial to the situation of refugees and that of the vulnerable communities hosting them. The focus of the webinar will be on future approaches that would improve refugees’ living conditions accompanied by a retrospective on what has been done so far in dealing with their situation.
Convenors
Speakers
Hosted by
Metropolis International, established in 1996, is the largest cross-sectoral international network of professionals in the field of migration, integration/inclusion, and diversity. It provides an international platform for constructive dialogue and effective production & dissemination of policy-relevant, socially-meaningful, and evidence-based knowledge across the policy, research, civil society, and private sectors.
Webinar 1 — African Migration: dreams and trajectories
Date: Wednesday April 28, 2021, 15:00-16:15 WET (UTC+0)
Description
The African continent has always been a site of population mobility, due to a host of structural determinants varying from economic inequality, environmental risks, social and political conflicts, education, adventure and so forth. In some ways, the root causes of migration in Africa are exactly the same as everywhere else.
The second webinar revolves around European and African attempts to regulate these processes. The European Union (EU) and its members states have been uneasy with African migration to the North and aims to intervene in a variety of ways, with unprecedented force, and to a certain extent in collaboration with African partners so as to contain African mobility. How do these efforts, that some see as paternalistic and exclusionist, intervene in the journeys that many Africans are undertaking?
Convenors
Speakers
Webinar 2 — African Migration: the making of the ‘responsible migrant’
Cohosted by
The Moroccan Institute of Advanced Studies (IMEA), recently established by the Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco has the mission to promote high-level research in the humanities and social sciences and to promote dialogue and interactions with other scientific fields. http://imea.um5.ac.ma/en/home-2/
Metropolis International, established in 1996, is the largest cross-sectoral international network of professionals in the field of migration, integration/inclusion, and diversity. It provides an international platform for constructive dialogue and effective production & dissemination of policy-relevant, socially-meaningful, and evidence-based knowledge across the policy, research, civil society, and private sectors.
Webinar 1 — African Migration: dreams and trajectories
Date: Wednesday April 28, 2021, 15:00-16:15 WET (UTC+0)
Description
The African continent has always been a site of population mobility, due to a host of structural determinants varying from economic inequality, environmental risks, social and political conflicts, education, adventure and so forth. In some ways, the root causes of migration in Africa are exactly the same as everywhere else.
Taking these well-known structural causes as a starting point, the first webinar aims to explore what individuals and families do with it. Key words then are hope and aspiration, motivations, dreams. Those who decide to move to greener pastures embark on an unknown journey into an ever changing environment full of uncertainties, risks and new opportunities. How are they able to maneuver through life and across space by circumventing social, cultural and political hurdles, and by finding the narrow path from one small opportunity to the other?
Convenors
Speakers
Webinar 1 — African Migration: dreams and trajectories
Cohosted by
The Moroccan Institute of Advanced Studies (IMEA), recently established by the Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco has the mission to promote high-level research in the humanities and social sciences and to promote dialogue and interactions with other scientific fields. http://imea.um5.ac.ma/en/home-2/
Metropolis International, established in 1996, is the largest cross-sectoral international network of professionals in the field of migration, integration/inclusion, and diversity. It provides an international platform for constructive dialogue and effective production & dissemination of policy-relevant, socially-meaningful, and evidence-based knowledge across the policy, research, civil society, and private sectors.