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Interview: the cat and mouse game of creating ‘safe passage’

As states fortify their external borders the calls for creating ‘safe passage’ are growing louder, yet the term is hard to define and the ways to dodge responsibility are many.

By Cameron Thibos and Kevin Appleby
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Berlin, in February 2016. Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/DPA/PA Images. All rights reserved.

Kevin Appleby: I'm Kevin Appleby, and I'm the senior director for international migration policy for the Scalabrini International Migration Network. This is a network run by the Scalabrini fathers of the Catholic Church that provides safe haven for migrants around the world. They have programmes such as shelters, community centres, and schools that serve migrants. I try to take what they're doing on the ground and translate it to policy recommendations and advocacy, both at the UN and in Washington DC.

Cameron Thibos (oD): There's a lot of policy talk today about safe passages. This is not a term that is readily understood by many, so could you start by explaining what is meant by 'safe passage'?

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0