Migration policies in Europe, the United States and Australia start with the assumption that all migrants aspire to move to countries in the Global North. Policy measures seek to counter these aspirations by immobilising displaced people where they are: internally displaced people are expected to stay in designated camps, while people who have already crossed the border are expected to settle in neighbouring countries. The majority of policies deter, remove, detain, and deport. Others aim to ‘fight the root causes of migration’ by reorienting migrants’ life aspirations towards where they live. They try to enhance livelihoods by providing education or help with starting a business, for example, as well as by ensuring access to basic needs.
The efficiency of both approaches is questionable, especially in forced migration scenarios. Trying to convince people to stay where they are or to force them to take the most dangerous route available is, to say the least, morally dubious. Yet for most policy makers enabling onward mobility through legal channels is the least preferred option. On the contrary, more resources are put on return policies.
In this part of our roundtable, we invite our experts and researchers to share their observations on the effects of a wide range of migration policies on migrants’ life aspirations from return practices to internal controls: from externalisation of migration policies to immobilising the internally displaced people.
