Mixed Migration

The governance of international migration is structured around the distinction between ‘voluntary' and ‘forced' migration, even though it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between these in practice. More than ever, today's migration flows often include asylum seekers, irregular migrants, labour migrants and other kinds of mobile people driven by similar forces and using the same routes and means of migration. Research at COMPAS on Mixed Migration challenges the empirical, conceptual and policy bases of official categorisations of migrants and explores how such categories influence their everyday lives and strategies.

Projects:

The migration-asylum nexus: the Somali and Tamil diaspora (MAST)
A new asylum paradigm: rhetoric or reality? (NAP)
Migration on the fringes of Europe: Transit Migration in Ukraine and Turkey (FringeMig)

1) The migration-asylum nexus: the Somali and Tamil diaspora (MAST)

By investigating particular diaspora communities in the UK and Europe (currently Somalis and Sri Lankan Tamils), this project explores relations among people who have arrived at different times, from different socio-economic backgrounds, and through different migration channels. The project seeks to explain why migration takes the forms it does at particular times, and why changes occur, by taking account of wider shifts in policy, economy and society.

It explores how categories of migration (labour, asylum, refugee, family reunion etc) are formed and used by the state and migrants.
It investigates how different migrant groups engage transnationally and can influence the homeland.
It points to the extent to which different types of migration are susceptible to influence by policy instruments.

Researchers: Nicholas Van Hear (Main contact person - link), Stephen Castles, Anna Lindley (doctoral researcher)
Timeline: 2004-2006
Funder: COMPAS core funds
Outputs: Workshop report: Tamils in Britain: achievements and challenges

2) A new asylum paradigm: rhetoric or reality? (NAP)

This project explores whether a ‘new asylum paradigm' (NAP) is emerging around recent policy initiatives that seek to shift asylum processing and management closer to regions of origin. The policy measures claim to address mixed flows of asylum seekers and economic or irregular migrants, and can be seen as part of a wider thrust towards ‘migration management'. Two workshops have been held, involving a range of researchers, policy makers and practitioners, and a number of reports and papers have been produced. New research will be conducted on migrants and refugees on the ‘fringes of Europe', taking Ukraine and Turkey as case studies. The work will focus on transit migration as well as the emergence of new asylum and refugee regimes in those countries.

Researchers: Franck Duvell (Main contact person - link), Nicholas Van Hear. Collaborating Individuals: Stephen Castles, Alexander Betts (doctoral student)
Timeline: 2004-2007
Funder: Seed money from COMPAS core funds
Outputs: Events and working papers - see below.

3) Migration on the fringes of Europe: Transit Migration in Ukraine and Turkey (FringeMig)

This project studies mixed flows – transit migration, asylum migration, irregular migration and labour migration –in the immediate neighbourhood of the EU, taking Ukraine, Turkey and Moldova as case studies. It looks both at national, EU and international policy responses and at human rights implications. It seeks to understand the consequences of the externalisation of EU migration policy for both transit countries and migrants, it explores civil society activities in CEE and CIS countries and investigates migrants' strategies and decision-making under conditions of increasing controls and in course of complex migration trajectories. The project aims to: clarify the concepts of transit migration and of mixed flows; address the highly politicised nature of the according discourses; explore the overlaps between diverse regional migration systems; reveal the interaction between migration controls and migrants' strategies.

Researcher: Franck Düvell (Main contact person - link)
Timeline: 2006-2008
Funder: COMPAS core funds, EU 6th Framework
Outputs: Click here for further information on all outputs related to this project.

Also see:

The migration-asylum nexus Programme - Link

Immigrant Work Strategies and Networks - Link

Events and Publications:

Events:

Central and Eastern Migrations: Research and Networking Meeting
The Eastern European Migration Initiative (EEIM) at COMPAS, Oxford University
9th June 2006, Institute of Ageing, Oxford

Labour migration from Moldova
Eugene Burdelnii, Senior Advisor to the Moldovan parliament
13 December 2006, COMPAS, Oxford

Migration on the Fringes of Europe
COMPAS Hilary Term 2007 seminar series
January-April 2007, COMPAS, Oxford

'Forced migration, globalization and governance' (two panels of six papers) at the Queen Elizabeth House, 50th Anniversary Conference on ‘New development threats and promises'
4-5 July 2005, University of Oxford

14th June 2005 - COMPAS, Oxfam and Refugee Studies Centre hosted: A New Asylum Paradigm? Click here for more information.

January 2005 - COMPAS Panels at the 9th International Association for the study of Forced Migration (IASFM) Biennial Conference on The migration-asylum nexus: definitions and dimensions. Click here for more information.

Publications:

'At the fringes of Europe: transit migration in Ukraine and Turkey', Project Briefing Document - Download

Click here for information on an event held on Central and Eastern Migrations.

Transit, Migration and Politics: Trends and Constructions on the Fringes of Europe, Franck Düvell. A Summary paper written for the EU Network on International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion (IMISCOE) and COMPAS - Download. This paper has also been published by IMISCOE - Link

A series of research reports on Central and East European Migration are now available.

Ukraine – Europe’s Mexico?, Franck Düvell - Download
On The Fringes of Europe: Refugees in Ukraine, Franck Düvell - Download
Ukraine – Immigration and Transit Country for Chechen Refugees, Franck Düvell- Download

Düvell, Franck, 2006, Crossing the Fringes of Europe: Transit Migration in the EU's neighbourhood. COMPAS Working Paper 06-33.

Van Hear, N. and McDowell C., (eds), 2006, Catching Fire: containing forced migration in a volatile world, Lexington: Oxford (ISBN: 0-7391-1244-9)

Van Hear, N., Stephen Castles et al., 2005, ‘Developing DfID’s policy approach to refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced people’. This broad-ranging study was designed to assist the Department for International Development UK (DFID) in defining a coherent policy position to inform its dealings with and on behalf of refugees and internally displaced persons. Click here for more information and to download. Link to id21 report summary.

Liza Schuster, 2005, The Realities of a New Asylum Paradigm, COMPAS Working Paper - WP-05-20. Click here for summary and download.

Alexander Betts, 2005, What does 'efficiency' mean in the context of the global refugee regime? - WP-05-09. Click here for summary and download.

Nicholas Van Hear, 2004, I went as far as my money would take me’: conflict, forced migration and class, COMPAS Working Paper - WP-04-06. Click here for summary and download.

Liza Schuster, 2004, The Exclusion of Asylum Seekers in Europe, COMPAS Working Paper - WP-04-01. Click here for summary and download.

COMPAS Staff Members working on this issue:

Nicholas Van Hear, Senior Researcher - Link to Biography
Stephen Castles, Senior Advisor - Link to Biography
Franck Duvell, Senior Research Officer - Link to Biography

Associates:
Alexander Betts, a DPhil student focusing on international cooperation in forced migration - Link to Biography

Links:

Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford University - Link
Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees, City University - Link