The fence around the Spanish enclave of Melilla in 2006. Sara Prestianni for Noborder Network/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by)Migration is not just a phenomenon or a ‘mega-trend’, nor merely a means to achieve development or alleviate demographic pressures, although these goals are laudable.
At its heart, migration is fundamentally about people, individual human beings. And even a cursory glance at migratory routes and communities around the world reveals the human cost of migration today.
Of course, many migrants are able to move in safety and dignity, truly able to benefit and contribute in the prized (albeit often mythical) ‘win-win-win’ scenario. Yet millions more are compelled to move in unsafe, irregular and (necessarily) disorderly ways, often leaving their homes because that is the only way they see to survive, and subject to human rights violations in transit and at destination.
