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Human Migration in Context

"Migration has always been with us. Climate change, demographics, instability, growing inequalities, and aspirations for a better life, as well as unmet needs in labour markets, mean it is here to stay. The answer is effective international cooperation in managing migration to ensure that its benefits are most widely distributed, and that the human rights of all concerned are properly protected." — António Guterres, UN Secretary-General

"The success and development of humanitarian action hinges on a constructive dialogue among academics, policy-makers and practitioners. A forum that is multi-disciplinary, responsive, timely, and open access allows us to highlight contemporary challenges, to critically reflect upon current practices, and to ultimately advance the field of humanitarian action." — Philipp Olbrich, Managing Editor, Journal of International Humanitarian Action

Human migration is one of many global challenges that have captured the world’s attention, yet the complexity of this multi-dimensional phenomenon is still poorly understood. Migration has both mediated and transformed economic, political, sociological, and cultural structures, impacting our daily lives. This collection brings together some of the latest open access research from different disciplinary perspectives in an effort to give voice to the communities immersed in this complex process and to stimulate and engage with the discourse around this hot topic. 

Featured ArticleVoting with your feet: migration flows and happiness

Voting with your feet: migration flows and happiness
Authors: Helena Marques, Gabriel Pino, J.D. Tena
SERIEs – Journal of the Spanish Economic Association
Published 12 February 2018

Article CollectionRacism in counter-terrorism

Racism in counter-terrorism and surveillance discourse
Edited by Dr Katy Sian
Palgrave Communications
Published 2 May 2017 onwards

Minority and Migrant HealthArticle Collection

Minority and migrant health
Edited by Theodore Tulchinsky, Henrique Barros, Bent Greve, Walter Ricciardi
Public Health Reviews
Published 8 July 2016 onwards

Call for Papers
Emotional care and labor
Geographies of Emotional and Care Labour
Edited by Jean Michel Montsion and Jessica Parish
Palgrave Communications
This is a rolling collection and as such submissions/proposals will be welcome throughout 2017.

Original Article
Democratizing education at the margins: faculty and practitioner perspectives on delivering online tertiary education for refugees

Online distance learning is rapidly becoming a mainstay in higher education. Yet, there still exists unequal access to internet technology among the world’s most vulnerable populations. This article reviews the implementation of an online pilot program that provided tertiary education to refugees in Africa and the Middle East, using a unique blend of brick-and-mortar and virtual instruction. Faculty experiences mirrored much of the experiences of instructors in more traditional online education – while onsite staff provided a unique perspective on the embedded nature of the program, based in local contexts.

Thomas M. Crea and Neil Sparnon
International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education​​​​​​​
15 December 2017

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Original Article
Immigration and the rate of population mixing: explorations with a stylized model

The integration or mixing of immigrants with non-immigrants is an important issue in many countries. There are various forms of mixing. We consider here cross-parenting, the bearing of children with one immigrant parent and one non-immigrant. Our objective is to model cross-parenting as a demographic process and investigate the rate at which such mixing could occur.

Frank Trevor Denton and Byron Grant Spencer
IZA Journal of Development and Migration
13 September 2017


Original Article
International students, immigration and earnings growth: the effect of a pre-immigration host-country university education

While destination-country education provides many potential advantages for immigrants, empirical studies in Australia, Canada and the USA have produced mixed results on the labour outcomes of immigrants who are former international students. This study uses large national longitudinal datasets to examine cross-cohort trends and within-cohort changes in earnings among three groups of young university graduates: immigrants who are former international students in Canada (Canadian-educated immigrants), foreign-educated immigrants who had a university degree before immigrating to Canada and the Canadian-born population.

Feng Hou and Yuqian Lu
IZA Journal of Development and Migration
13 June 2017


Original Article
Have the Olympic Games become more migratory? A comparative historical perspective

It is often believed that the Olympic Games have become more migratory. The number of Olympic athletes representing countries in which they weren’t born is thought to be on the rise. It should, however, be noted that migration in the context of sports is hardly a new phenomenon. In this paper we hypothesise that, as a reflection of global migration patterns and trends, the number of foreign-born Olympians hasn’t necessarily increased in all countries.

Joost Jansen and Godfried Engbersen
Comparative Migration Studies
12 July 2017


Original Article
Does citizenship always further Immigrants’ feeling of belonging to the host nation? A study of policies and public attitudes in 14 Western democracies

Immigrants’ access to citizenship in their country of residence is increasingly debated in Western democracies. It is an underlying premise of these debates that citizenship and national belonging are closely linked, but at the same time there is considerable cross-country variation in how citizenship is approached in Western democracies. In the literature, these differences are typically understood to reflect varying degrees of openness to seeing immigrants as part of the host national community. Motivated by this observation, the article examines whether the degree to which immigrants experience greater attachment to the host nation (i.e. belonging) from having host country citizenship is affected by the host country’s approach to citizenship.

Kristina Bakkær Simonsen
Comparative Migration Studies
1 March 2017


Original Article
Aspirations and the subjective future of migration: comparing views and desires of the “time ahead” through the narratives of immigrant domestic workers

Migrants’ aspirations are a meaningful and under-appreciated research subject. My paper investigates their development and implications over the life course, building on an archive of life stories of immigrant domestic workers in Italy. It dissects the biographical bases of aspirations as ways of cultivating open representations of the future; hence, as a window on migrants’ potential to shape the future itself, given their assets, the external structure of opportunities and the relational fields in which they are embedded.

Paolo Boccagni
Comparative Migration Studies
10 February 2017


Research
Migrant pupils’ scientific performance: the influence of educational system features of origin and destination countries

Earlier studies using a double perspective (destination & origin) indicate that several macro-characteristics of both destination and origin countries affect the educational performance of migrant children. This paper explores the extent to which educational system features of destination and origin countries can explain these differences in educational achievement of migrant children, next to these macro-characteristics.

Jaap Dronkers, Mark Levels and Manon de Heus
Large-scale Assessments in Education
14 January 2014


Original Article
Migration and aspirations – are migrants trapped on a hedonic treadmill?

Based on longitudinal information from two waves of the Indonesian Family and Life Survey (IFLS) in 2000 and 2007, we find evidence that migrants are self-selected along higher individual aspirations acquired (or, inherited) before migration. About 70 per cent of aspiration differentials can be explained by factors such as young age, good education, or superior socio-economic background, while the residual seems to be linked to an individual pre-disposition for higher aspirations. However, despite the fact that migration is economically beneficial for most migrants, the migration experience itself seems to further increase economic aspirations, hereby trapping migrants on a ‘hedonic treadmill’.

Mathias Czaika and Marc Vothknecht
IZA Journal of Development and Migration
29 January 2014


Original Article
Do migrants adopt new political attitudes from abroad? Evidence using a multi-sited exit-poll survey during the 2013 Malian elections

In this article, we examine whether migration experience provides an opportunity for Malian migrants to learn and adopt new political values and norms, and whether this translates into different attitudes towards domestic politics and institutions. We use a multi-sited exit-poll survey which was conducted during the Malian 2013 presidential election in Mali, France, and Côte d’Ivoire to investigate whether Malian migrants have different perceptions and political behavior than their non-migrant counterparts.

Lisa Chauvet, Flore Gubert and Sandrine Mesplé-Somps
Comparative Migration Studies
3 November 2016


Correspondence
Overcoming language barriers in community-based research with refugee and migrant populations: options for using bilingual workers

Although the challenges of working with culturally and linguistically diverse groups can lead to the exclusion of some communities from research studies, cost effective strategies to encourage access and promote cross-cultural linkages between researchers and ethnic minority participants are essential to ensure their views are heard and their health needs identified. Using bilingual research assistants is one means to achieve this. In a study exploring alcohol and other drug service use by migrant women in Western Australia, bilingual workers were used to assist with participant recruitment and administration of a survey to 268 women who spoke more than 40 different languages.

Susan K Lee, Cheryl R Sulaiman-Hill and Sandra C Thompson
BMC International Health and Human Rights
12 April 2014


Original Article
Age at immigration matters for labor market integration—the Swedish example

This paper analyses how age at immigration to Sweden and getting a first foothold in the labor market is related. We estimate hazard rate models using registry data on all persons who arrived in each of the years 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2002.

Bjorn Anders Gustafsson, Hanna Mac Innes and Torun Österberg
IZA Journal of Development and Migration
21 April 2017


Article
Assessing the role of migration as trade-facilitator using the statistical mechanics of cooperative systems

Interactions between natives and foreign-born individuals may help to stimulate the development and the diversification of bilateral trade relationships. In fact, migrants act as trade facilitators reducing transaction costs in export activities and, consequently, more local firms are able to establish new trade relationships abroad.

Adriano Barra, Andrea Galluzzi, Daniele Tantari, Elena Agliari & Francisco Requena-Silvente
Palgrave Communications
24 May 2016


Original Article
Factors influencing migration of female workers: a case of Bangladesh

Unemployment and low wages prevailing in the domestic market pushes female workers to look for better employment abroad. Investment in the shape of remittance further builds human capital, financial capital, and the social capital. The aim of this study is to analyze the trend of Bangladeshi female migrant flow by time and destination.

Humera Sultana and Ambreen Fatima
IZA Journal of Development and Migration
30 May 2017


Original Article
The impact of host language proficiency across the immigrants’ earning distribution in Spain

This paper explores the impact of Spanish language proficiency on immigrant earnings in Spain using an instrumental variable quantile regression approach. The impact is on average roughly 17.2% but varies substantially across the earning distribution. The return to destination language proficiency actually ranges from zero at the bottom quantiles to 30% at the top quantile of the earning distribution.

Santiago Budría, Carlos Martinez de Ibarreta and Pablo Swedberg
IZA Journal of Development and Migration
29 August 2017


Original Article
Prospects of labour migration pressure in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey

Gaining control over refugee flows and undocumented migrants currently dominate the media and political arenas in Europe. Underlying driving and enduring forces, such as employment-related migration pressure, tend to be relegated to the background. In this article, we explore migration pressure prospects up to 2035 in four countries with a tradition of emigration to Europe: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey.

W. G. F. (George) Groenewold, J. A. A. (Joop) de Beer, and H. A. G. (Helga) de Valk
Genus
2 December 2016


Original Article
Skill mismatch among migrant workers: evidence from a large multi-country dataset

This article unravels the migrants’ incidence of skill mismatch taking into consideration different migration flows. Mismatch is the situation in which workers have jobs for which lower skill levels are required compared to their education. We use a dataset (from a large multi-country web survey) particularly suited to investigate differences in skill mismatch between native and migrant workers. The main advantages are its ample size and the large variety of country of origin and destination combinations, which allows for detailed analysis of different migration flows.

Stefano Visintin, Kea Tijdens and Maarten van Klaveren
IZA Journal of Development and Migration
24 July 2015


Original Article
The determinants of Mexican migrants’ duration in the United States: family composition, psychic costs, and human capital

This paper analyzes the determinants of migration duration focusing on family composition and human capital. A utility maximization model is built to show that migrants face a trade-off between avoiding psychic costs from leaving family members and accumulating wealth to support their consumption. The empirical analysis on Mexican men’s US experience carried out using the hazard model shows that marriage and children, which imply a heavier financial burden, are negatively associated with migrants’ duration in the USA. Fathers with more young children under age 12 stay even shorter, because taking care of them is time intensive.

Shan Li
IZA Journal of Development and Migration
28 January 2016


Research
Learning from returnee Ethiopian migrant domestic workers: a qualitative assessment to reduce the risk of human trafficking

International migration has become a global political priority, with growing concern about the scale of human trafficking, hazardous work conditions, and resulting psychological and physical morbidity among migrants. Ethiopia remains a significant “source” country for female domestic workers to the Middle East and Gulf States, despite widespread reports of exploitation and abuse. Prior to introduction of a “safe migration” intervention, we conducted formative research to elicit lessons learned by women who had worked as domestic workers abroad. The aim of the study was to identify realistic measures future migrants could take to protect themselves, based on the collective insights and experience of returnees.

Joanna Busza, Sehin Teferra, Serawit Omer and Cathy Zimmerman
Globalizations and Health
11 September 2017


Research
Migration to middle-income countries and tuberculosis—global policies for global economies

International migration to middle-income countries is increasing and its health consequences, in particular increasing transmission rates of tuberculosis (TB), deserve consideration. Migration and TB are a matter of concern in high-income countries and targeted screening of migrants for active and latent TB infection is a main strategy to manage risk and minimize transmission. In this paper, we discuss some aspects of TB control and migration in the context of middle-income countries, together with the prospect of responding with equitable and comprehensive policies.

Julia Moreira Pescarini, Laura Cunha Rodrigues, M. Gabriela M. Gomes and Eliseu Alves Waldman
Globalizations and Health
15 March 2017

Research Article
Medical conditions and treatment in a transit camp in Serbia for Syrian, Afghani, and Iraqi migrants

Thousands of migrants arrived in Europe via the Balkan route, many with various health conditions. The camp of Preševo, Serbia, close to the Macedonian border, was established by the Serbian government and run by the United Nations High Commissioner. The camp was established for Refugees (UNHCR) late in 2015 as a registration and a transfer camp for refugees traveling through the Balkans on their way from the Near East to Western Europe.

Einav Levy, Michael Alkan, Sharon Shaul and Yori Gidron
Journal of International Humanitarian Action
30 October 2017


Research Article
Health service utilization and access to medicines among Syrian refugee and host community children in Lebanon

With over 500,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, we undertook this study to assess unmet child health needs and health service utilization among Syrian refugees and affected host communities in Lebanon with the aim of informing humanitarian programming. A cross-sectional survey of Syrian refugees and host communities in Lebanon was conducted using a two-stage cluster survey design with probability proportional to size sampling. 

Emily Lyles, Baptiste Hanquart, the LHAS Study Team, Michael Woodman and Shannon Doocy
Journal of International Humanitarian Action
16 July 2016


Editorial
Discussion of “Health service utilization and access to medicines among Syrian refugee and host community children in Lebanon” by Lyles et al.

This editorial constitutes a discussion of the article “Health service utilization and access to medicines among Syrian refugee and host community children in Lebanon” published in the Journal of International Humanitarian Action in July 2016. The exchange has been initiated by El-Jardali et al. with a letter to the editors. After consultation with all involved parties, El-Jardali et al. and the original authors of the article, Lyles et al., agreed to engage in the form of this special discussion forum.

Fadi El-Jardali, Michael Woodman, Rawan Hammoud, Ola Kdouh, Randa Hamade and Walid Ammar
Journal of International Humanitarian Action
13 February 2017


Original Article
Migration, health knowledge and teenage fertility: evidence from Mexico

Migration may affect fertility and child health care of those remaining in the country of origin. Mexican data show that having at least one household member who migrated to the United States decreases the occurrence of pregnancy among teenagers by 0.339 probability points. This finding can be partially explained by the fact that teenagers in migrant households have a higher knowledge of contraceptive methods and likely practice active birth control. 

Marianna Battaglia
SERIEs
10 May 2015


Research Article
Oral health behaviour in migrant and non-migrant adults in Germany: the utilization of regular dental check-up

Migrants in many European countries including Germany tend to utilize preventive measures less frequently than the majority population. Little is known about the dental health of migrants as well as about their oral health behaviour, particularly in the adult population. The aim of this study was to examine differences in the uptake of annual dental check-ups in adult migrants and non-migrants in Germany.

Fabian Erdsiek, Dorothee Waury and Patrick Brzoska
BMC Oral Health
10 May 2017


Research
Health-related quality of life and influencing factors among migrant children in Shaoxing, China

Due to increasing export of labor service, many children following their parents leave from rural areas to urban areas in China. These migrant children might have psychological stress and lower quality of life. However, even up to this day, little is known about the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of the migrant children. This study aims at investigating their living conditions and exploring the influencing factors of migrant children’s HRQoL.

Fengjiao Xu, Haiyan Xing, Wei Yu, Sanmei Chen and Hui Li
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
30 August 2017


Research
Modern contraceptive use among migrant and non-migrant women in Kenya

Manifest socio-economic differences are a trigger for internal migration in many sub-Saharan settings including Kenya. An interplay of the social, political and economic factors often lead to internal migration. Internal migration potentially has significant consequences on an individual’s economic growth and on access to health services, however, there has been little research on these dynamics. In Kenya, where regional differentials in population growth and poverty reduction continue to be priorities in the post MDG development agenda, understanding the relationships between contraceptive use and internal migration is highly relevant.

Rhoune Ochako, Ian Askew, Jerry Okal, John Oucho and Marleen Temmerman
Reproductive Health
1 June 2016


Research
What do register-based studies tell us about migrant mental health? A scoping review

Previous studies investigating the mental health of migrants have shown mixed results. The increased availability of register data has led to a growing number of register-based studies in this research area. This is the first scoping review on the use of registry and record-linkage data to examine the mental health of migrant populations. The aim of this scoping review is to investigate the topics covered and to assess the results yielded from these studies.

Kishan Patel, Anne Kouvonen, Ciara Close, Ari Väänänen, Dermot O’Reilly and Michael Donnelly
Systematic Reviews
11 April 2017


Research article
Forced migrants involved in setting the agenda and designing research to reduce impacts of complex emergencies: combining Swarm with patient and public involvement

The UK’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Emergency Preparedness and Response was asked to undertake research on how to reduce the impact of complex national/international emergencies on public health. How to focus the research and decide on priority topics was challenging, given the nature of complex events. Using a type of structured brain-storming, the researchers identified the ongoing UK, European and international migration crisis as both complex and worthy of deeper research. 

Julii Suzanne Brainard, Enana Al Assaf, Judith Omasete, Steve Leach, Charlotte C. Hammer and Paul R. Hunter
Research Involvement and Engagement
6 November 2017


Research
Common mental disorders in asylum seekers and refugees: umbrella review of prevalence and intervention studies

In recent years there has been a progressive rise in the number of asylum seekers and refugees displaced from their country of origin, with significant social, economic, humanitarian and public health implications. In this population, up-to-date information on the rate and characteristics of mental health conditions, and on interventions that can be implemented once mental disorders have been identified, are needed. This umbrella review aims at systematically reviewing existing evidence on the prevalence of common mental disorders and on the efficacy of psychosocial and pharmacological interventions in adult and children asylum seekers and refugees resettled in low, middle and high income countries.

Giulia Turrini, Marianna Purgato, Francesca Ballette, Michela Nosè, Giovanni Ostuzzi and Corrado Barbui
International Journal of Mental Health Systems
25 August 2017


Research
Measuring the effects of socioeconomic factors on mental health among migrants in urban China: a multiple indicators multiple causes model

Since 1978, rural–urban migrants mainly contribute Chinese urbanization. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of socioeconomic factors on mental health of them. Their mental health was measured by 12-item general health questionnaire (GHQ-12).

Ming Guan
International Journal of Mental Health Systems
6 January 2017


Research
Causes of and risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder: the beliefs of Iraqi and Afghan refugees resettled in Australia​​​​​​​

Resettled refugees are a vulnerable group for mental health problems and in particular, trauma-related disorders. Evidence suggests that poor ‘mental health literacy’ (MHL) is a major factor in low or inappropriate treatment-seeking among individuals with mental health problems. This study sought to determine the beliefs regarding the causes of and risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) amongst two resettled refugee groups in Australia.

Shameran Slewa-Younan, Maria Gabriela Uribe Guajardo, Anisa Yaser, Jonathan Mond, Mitchell Smith, Diana Milosevic, Caroline Smith, Sanja Lujic and Anthony Francis Jorm
International Journal of Mental Health Systems
3 June 2017


Research
The variation in the health status of immigrants and Italians during the global crisis and the role of socioeconomic factors

The effects of the recent global economic and financial crisis especially affected the most vulnerable social groups. Objective of the study was to investigate variation of self-perceived health status in Italians and immigrants during the economic global crisis, focusing on demographic and socioeconomic factors.

Alessio Petrelli, Anteo Di Napoli, Alessandra Rossi, Gianfranco Costanzo, Concetta Mirisola and Lidia Gargiulo
International Journal for Equity in Health​​​​​​​
12 June 2017


Research
Strengthening health system to improve immunization for migrants in China

Immunization is the most cost-effective method to prevent and control vaccine-preventable diseases. Migrant population in China has been rising rapidly, and their immunization status is poor. China has tried various strategies to strengthen its health system, which has significantly improved immunization for migrants.

Hai Fang, Li Yang, Huyang Zhang, Chenyang Li, Liankui Wen, Li Sun, Kara Hanson and Qingyue Meng
International Journal for Equity in Health​​​​​​​
1 July 2017


Research Article
Migrant’s access to preventive health services in five EU countries

Preventive health services (PHSs) form part of primary healthcare with the aim of screening to prevent disease. Migrants show significant differences in lifestyle, health beliefs and risk factors compared with the native populations. This can have a significant impact on migrants’ access to health systems and participation in prevention programmes. Even in countries with widely accessible healthcare systems, migrants’ access to PHSs may be difficult. The aim of the study was to compare access to preventive health services between migrants and native populations in five European Union (EU) countries.

Aldo Rosano, Marie Dauvrin, Sandra C. Buttigieg, Elena Ronda, Jean Tafforeau and Sonia Dias
BMC Health Services Research
23 August 2017


Debate
Health and legal literacy for migrants: twinned strands woven in the cloth of social justice and the human right to health care

Based on an analysis of published literature, this paper provides an over-view of the challenges associated with delivering on the right to access quality health care for international migrants to industrialized countries, and asks which group of professionals is best equipped to provide services that increase health and legal literacy. Both rights and challenges are approached from a social justice perspective with the aim of identifying opportunities to promote greater health equity. That is, to go beyond the legal dictates enshrined in principles of equality, and target as an ethical imperative a situation where all migrants receive the particular assistance they need to overcome the barriers that inhibit their equitable access to health care.

Bilkis Vissandjée, Wendy E. Short and Karine Bates
BMC International Health and Human Rights
23 August 2017


Letter to the Editor
Rescue medical activities in the mediterranean migrant crisis

The central Mediterranean route, between Libya and Italy, is considered the most dangerous of the migration pathways to Europe. In 2015, 3771 people died trying to reach Europe’s shores; and there were 4655 deaths or disappearances between January and November 2016 [1]. In response to this extreme situation, in early 2016, Medicines du Monde France (MdM), in partnership with SOS Mediterranee, launched an emergency project on board of the MV Aquarius, a ship adapted for search and rescue operations. We describe here the main clinical features observed during search and rescue activities in the central Mediterranean route.

Favila Escobio, Maryse Etiennoul and Stephany Spindola
Conflict and Health
22 March 2017


for more articles on Migrant Health please see the collection:

Minority and Migrant Health
Edited by Theodore Tulchinsky, Henrique Barros, Bent Greve, Walter Ricciardi
published in Public Health Reviews.

Original Article
Cycles of judicial and executive power in irregular migration

This article argues that power struggles between judiciaries and executives are fuelled by tensions of securitisation, border control and human rights over the issue of irregular migration. The article juxtaposes three paradigm court cases to render the argument concrete, focusing on two Australian High Court decisions (M70 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship and CPCF v. Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor) and one decision from the European Court of Human Rights (Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy).

Marinella Marmo and Maria Giannacoloulos
Comparative Migration Studies
11 October 2017


Original Article
Conceptualizing and measuring migration policy change

This paper outlines the methodology of DEMIG POLICY, a new database tracking around 6,000 migration policy changes in 45 countries between 1945 and 2014. The article conceptualizes the notion of migration policy change and presents the coding system used to operationalize policy content, changes in policy restrictiveness, as well as the magnitude of policy changes.

Hein de Haas, Katharina Natter and Simona Vezzoli
Comparative Migration Studies
1 December 2015


Research Article
Displacement and dispossession: redefining forced displacement and identifying when forced displacement becomes pillage under international humanitarian law​​​​​​​

Conflict-induced migration is arguably the most urgent humanitarian challenge today. A growing number of people are forced from their homes each year. The dispossession of civilians by armed parties, furthermore, through forced displacement has become a prevalent phenomenon. This article seeks to provide clarity to civilians, humanitarians, and other stakeholders, attempting to reduce civilian vulnerability to forced displacement through the application of international humanitarian law (IHL). While IHL prohibits forced displacement, pillage, and illegal appropriation, a number of problems arise when we try to implement these laws in practice.

Kerrin Geoffrey Buck
Journal of International Humanitarian Action
15 February 2017


Research
Achieving human security for migrants: the limits of state policies and migration-development initiatives

The Philippines is one of the top migrant sending countries and is often lauded as a model migrant country due to its skilled migrant labor force, high remittance rates and forward-thinking government policies. However, it is often criticized for its policies of exploitative labor migrant export, its dependency to migrant remittances, and its failure to offer migrant protection. In recent years, scholars and policy makers have suggested using human security as an approach to address the challenges of migration.

Benjamin A. San Jose
Bandung: Journal of the Global South
8 September 2015


Research Article
Migrant integration policies and health inequalities in Europe

Research on socio-economic determinants of migrant health inequalities has produced a large body of evidence. There is lack of evidence on the influence of structural factors on lives of fragile groups, frequently exposed to health inequalities. The role of poor socio-economic status and country level structural factors, such as migrant integration policies, in explaining migrant health inequalities is unclear. The objective of this paper is to examine the role of migrant socio-economic status and the impact of migrant integration policies on health inequalities during the recent economic crisis in Europe.

Margherita Giannoni, Luisa Franzini and Giuliano Masiero
BMC Public Health
1 June 2016

Original Article
Early tracking and immigrant optimism: a comparative study of educational aspirations among students in disadvantaged schools in Sweden and the Netherlands

Educational tracking affects both the trajectories and the composition of peers that students meet in school. This study compares the effect of significant others on students’ educational aspirations within two transition regimes: the more comprehensive Swedish system and the more stratified Dutch. Separating between doxic and habituated aspirations, I hypothesize that (1) aspirations among students in disadvantaged schools will be lower in the Netherlands than in Sweden; (2) the higher educational aspirations of girls and children of immigrants will disappear when significant others are controlled for; and (3) the positive effect of significant others is more marked among Swedish students than among Dutch due to greater student heterogeneity.

Olav Nygård
Comparative Migration Studies
14 December 2017


Original Article
Surveying immigrants without sampling frames – evaluating the success of alternative field methods

This paper evaluates the sampling methods of an international survey, the Immigrant Citizens Survey, which aimed at surveying immigrants from outside the European Union (EU) in 15 cities in seven EU countries. In five countries, no sample frame was available for the target population. Consequently, alternative ways to obtain a representative sample had to be found. In three countries ‘location sampling’ was employed, while in two countries traditional methods were used with adaptations to reach the target population. 

David Reichel and Laura Morales
Comparative Migration Studies
3 January 2017


Article
Ideas, structures, and the (un)conventional politics of minority rights in Romania and Ukraine

This article uses a paired comparison of ethnic politics in postcommunist Romania and post-Soviet Ukraine to explore the example of language policy implementation, empirically speaking. It argues that the (variable) behaviours of linguistic minority elites—the Hungarians in Romania and the Russophones in Ukraine—are driven by elites’ ideas (or ideational elements), theoretically speaking.

Egor Fedotov
Palgrave Communications
20 June 2017


Original Article
Deconstructing the meanings of and motivations for return: an Afghan case study

Return migration after conflict is the result of a complex decision-making process. However, our understanding of this complexity is blurred by changing politicized understandings of return. In this paper, we compare the autobiographical narratives of return of ‘early’ and ‘late’ (post-mid-1990s) arrivals of Afghans who met with changing reception regimes in Europe and returned to Kabul under a wide range of circumstances.

Marieke Van Houte, Melissa Siegel and Tine Davids
Comparative Migration Studies
7 December 2016


Comment
Crossing between the Great Wall of China and the “Great” Trump Wall

Can a border wall really deter invaders and crossers alike, while defending, unifying, and maintaining the “purity” of the culture that it encircles? The first Chinese emperor Qin Shihuang (259-210 BC) and his successors in the following dynasties tried to achieve the purpose; the Great Wall of China testifies timelessly to such epic efforts. Have the Chinese rulers succeeded?

Mimi Yang
Palgrave Communications
14 November 2017


Original Article
Pragmatism, moral responsibility or policy change: the Syrian refugee crisis and selective humanitarianism in the Turkish refugee regime

This article scrutinizes how the Syrian crisis affects the management of Turkey’s refugee regime. It also analyses how the Turkish government has treated the Syrian refugees preferentially in comparison to refugees of other nationalities. The article illustrates that the current Turkish humanitarian assistance to refugees is selective, and it predominantly welcomes those that have religiously, ethnically and politically acceptable backgrounds to the Islamist AKP (Justice and Development Party) ideology in government.

Umut Korkut
Comparative Migration Studies
2 March 2016


Original Article
African migration: trends, patterns, drivers

Africa is often seen as a continent of mass migration and displacement caused by poverty, violent conflict and environmental stress. Yet such perceptions are based on stereotypes rather than theoretically informed empirical research. Drawing on the migration and visa databases from the Determinants of International Migration (DEMIG project) and the Global Bilateral Migration Database (GBMD), this paper explores the evolution and drivers of migration within, towards and from Africa in the post-colonial period.

Marie-Laurence Flahaux and Hein De Haas
Comparative Migration Studies
22 January 2016


Article
Mobilizing Māori identity: cultural capital and expatriate “portable personhood”

Elliott and Urry suggest that the paradigm of mobilities is “becoming increasingly central to contemporary identity formation and re-formation” (7). I match this claim against a focus group study I undertook with expatriate New Zealanders in London. The participants were questioned about their experiences of watching Aotearoa New Zealand films while living overseas to understand their perspectives regarding “mobilized” national identity.

Davinia Thornley
Palgrave Communications
21 April 2015


Original Article
Intentions on desired length of stay among immigrants in Italy

The decision to emigrate from the country of origin may not be a permanent one: migrants can decide to return home or to emigrate to a third country. This phenomenon, established for some time in certain other European countries, has become an important one for Italy only recently. This paper contributes to the knowledge of migrants’ intentions in two ways: on the one hand, it analyses the factors associated with indecision about future plans; on the other, it focuses on the desired length of stay and its relationship with attachments (family, economic, socio-cultural and psychological) to host and home country.

Elisa Barbiano di Belgiojoso
Genus
14 July 2016


Research Article
Non-state actors and education as a humanitarian response: role of faith-based organizations in education for Syrian refugees in Turkey

In the shadow of the Syrian conflict generating millions of displaced people, education provision for Syrian children has become one of the biggest challenges for Turkey. This paper sheds light on the role and rationale of faith-based humanitarian organizations in education provision for Syrian children in Turkey based on the interviews conducted with representatives of humanitarian organizations.

Aslıhan Tezel Mccarthy
Journal of International Humanitarian Action
13 November 2017


Research Article
Are cash-based interventions a feasible approach for expanding humanitarian assistance in Syria?

The conflict in Syria is the largest driver of displacement worldwide with 4.1 million Syrian refugees, more than 6.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs), and 13.5 million people in need (PiN) of protection and humanitarian assistance inside Syria. Over the past decade, cash-based interventions (CBIs), including both conditional and unconditional cash transfers and voucher programs, have become increasingly common. While the cash-based response within Syria to date has been small compared to in-kind assistance, there is widespread interest in expanding the use of CBIs. This study explores the feasibility of cash-based modalities with the aim of informing future humanitarian assistance delivery strategies in northern Syria.

Shannon Doocy, Hannah Tappis and Emily Lyles
Journal of International Humanitarian Action
17 November 2016


Research Article
Power, paternalism and children on the move

In this article I set out to critically explore how campaigning for the rights of “children on the move” impacts on paternalism in humanitarianism. My aim was to trace the development of the notion of children on the move, the productive power that permeates it, and the way this translates into paternalism in humanitarianism. Using this method, I describe the two main features of power within the field of children on the move: the power to shape reality through the construction of a relatively new concept and the power of moral and expert authority.

Kyle Vella
Journal of International Humanitarian Action
1 March 2016


Research
A crisis of protection and safe passage: violence experienced by migrants/refugees travelling along the Western Balkan corridor to Northern Europe

Pushed by ongoing conflicts and pulled by the desire for a better life, over one million migrants/refugees transited Balkan countries and arrived in Europe during 2015 and early 2016. To curb this influx, European countries instituted restrictive migration policies often characterized by building of razor-wire border fences and border closures. Among migrants/refugees who received mental health care in Serbia while travelling through Balkan countries to Northern Europe, we assessed the prevalence and patterns of violent events experienced including physical trauma.

Jovana Arsenijević, Erin Schillberg, Aurelie Ponthieu, Lucio Malvisi, Waeil A. Elrahman Ahmed, Stefano Argenziano, Federica Zamatto, Simon Burroughs, Natalie Severy, Christophe Hebting, Brice de Vingne, Anthony D. Harries and Rony Zachariah
Conflict and Health
16 April 2017


Review
Refugees, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants and the experience of parenthood: a synthesis of the qualitative literature

To synthesize the recent qualitative literature and identify the integrative themes describing the parenthood experiences of refugees, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants. We searched seven online databases for the period January 2006 to February 2017. We included English and French published peer-reviewed articles and graduate-level dissertations, which qualitatively examined the parenthood experiences of refugees, asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants. We summarized study characteristics and performed a thematic analysis across the studies.

Lisa Merry, Sandra Pelaez and Nancy C. Edwards
Globalizations and Health
19 September 2017


for more articles on Migration, Sociology, and Anthropology please see the collection:

Racism in counter-terrorism and surveillance discourse
Edited by Dr Katy Sian
published in Palgrave Communications