Strengthening EU border security won’t stop the deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean

On 30 June, a fishing boat containing the bodies of thirty people was found heading for Italy, once again highlighting the problem of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean. As Nina Perkowski writes, the incident came at a time when Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had been pushing for the EU to take a greater role over the issue, with Italy also threatening to halt its ‘Mare Nostrum’ operation aimed at intercepting boats headed for the country. She argues that ultimately the only way to prevent the death of migrants in the Mediterranean is to provide safe and legal entry routes into the EU

Legal entry routes are the only real solution to migrant deaths in the Mediterranean

As many as 700 migrants are feared to have died after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean on 19 April. The deaths, which followed around 400 migrants dying in a separate incident less than a week earlier, have led to Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi calling for urgent EU action on the issue. Nina Perkowski writes that while the focus will now inevitably be on developing a better search and rescue operation to prevent such incidents from occurring, the only real solution is to provide legal entry routes for refugees from North Africa

Humanitarianism, human rights, and security in EUropean border governance: the case of Frontex

This thesis explores the (re-)positioning of the EU border agency Frontex within a wider shift towards humanitarianism and human rights in EUropean border governance. By examining Frontex’s public self-representation through time, it shows that the agency has gradually appropriated humanitarianism and human rights, while at the same time continuing to rely on a conceptualisation of migration as a security issue. The thesis traces this development, outlining how the agency has increasingly mobilised all three discursive formations in its public narratives about itself, border controls, and unauthorised migration to EUrope. Seeking to move beyond analysing Frontex through its public documents and statements only, the thesis complements this analysis with insights gained through interviews and informal conversations with Frontex staff and guest officers, as well as participant observations at Frontex events and in joint operations between May 2013 and September 2014. Exploring the perceptions of those working for and with Frontex, it complicates common portrayals of Frontex as a unitary, rational actor in EUropean border governance. Instead, it argues that Frontex is better understood as a highly fragmented organisation situated in an ambiguous environment and faced with inconsistent and contradictory demands. Situated at the intersection of critical security studies and critical migration and border studies, this thesis seeks to make three contributions to these literatures: first, it argues that critical security studies would benefit from a cross-fertilisation with insights gained in new institutionalism, which add organisational dynamics as an additional layer of analysis to developments in broader security fields. Second, it provides insights into the relationships between the discursive formations of security, humanitarianism, and human rights in contemporary border governance. The thesis argues that the three formations, at times seen as opposed to one another, share a number of important commonalities that create the conditions of possibility for the appropriation of humanitarianism and human rights by security actors such as Frontex, and for the emergence of new coalitions of actors in the EUropean border regime; as security, humanitarian, and human rights actors share the goal of rendering EUropean border controls less (visibly) violent. Third, the thesis provides rare empirical insights into the security actor Frontex, which has remained relatively opaque and elusive despite attracting much interest within academic and activist communities alike

The anti-policy of European anti-smuggling as a site of contestation in the Mediterranean migration ‘crisis’

This article analyses the European anti-smuggling agenda as an anti-policy that derives legitimacy from fighting ‘bad things’, in terms that mask political disagreement. By juxtaposing the agenda to the experiences and understandings of those whom such measures affect most directly – people migrating without authorisation to the EU – it uncovers the productivity of anti-smuggling and the political contestations surrounding it. Based on a qualitative analysis of 257 interviews carried out with 271 people who travelled – or sought to travel – across the Mediterranean Sea by boat using smuggling networks, the article highlights the complicity of governing authorities and officials with smuggling networks and practices, as well as the diversity and ambivalences of relationships between smugglers and the smuggled. Going further, the article points to the specific ways in which anti-smuggling is contested by those on the move, which expose a central political disagreement over the legitimacy of mobility across borders

Reclaiming migration

Reclaiming Migration critically assesses the EU’s policy agenda on migration by directly engaging the voices of Europe’s so-called ‘migrant crisis’ that remain largely unheard: those of people on the move. It undertakes an extensive analysis of a counter-archive of migratory testimonies co-produced with people on the move across the Mediterranean during 2015 and 2016, to document the ways in which EU policy developments both produce and perpetuate the precarity of lived experiences on the part of those migrating under perilous conditions. The book draws attention to the flawed assumptions embedded within the deterrence paradigm and policies of anti-smuggling, within protection mechanisms and asylum procedures that rely on a linear account of migratory journeys, and within the EU’s self-identification as a place of human rights and humanitarianism. Yet, it also goes further to show how the experiences of precarity to which such policies give rise are inseparable from claims and demands for justice that are advanced by people on the move, who collectively provide a damning critique of the EU policy agenda. Reclaiming Migration develops a distinctive ‘anti-crisis’ approach to the analysis of migratory politics and highlights the ways in which migration itself can be understood as an anti-colonial movement. Written collectively by a team of esteemed scholars from across multiple disciplines, the book serves as an important contribution to debates within migration, border and refugee studies, as well as more widely to debates about postcolonialism and the politics of knowledge production

Reclaiming migration:Voices from Europe's 'migrant crisis'

Reclaiming migration critically assesses the EU's migration policy by presenting the unheard voices of the so-called migrant crisis. It undertakes an extensive analysis of a counter-archive of migratory testimonies, co-produced with people on the move across the Mediterranean during 2015 and 2016, to document how EU policy developments create precarity on the part of those migrating under perilous conditions. The book draws attention to the flawed assumptions embedded within the policy agenda, while also exploring the claims and demands for justice that are advanced by people on the move. Written collectively by a team of esteemed scholars from across multiple disciplines, Reclaiming migration makes an important contribution to debates surrounding migration, borders, postcolonialism and the politics of knowledge production

Reclaiming migration:Voices from Europe's 'migrant crisis'

Reclaiming migration critically assesses the EU's migration policy by presenting the unheard voices of the so-called migrant crisis. It undertakes an extensive analysis of a counter-archive of migratory testimonies, co-produced with people on the move across the Mediterranean during 2015 and 2016, to document how EU policy developments create precarity on the part of those migrating under perilous conditions. The book draws attention to the flawed assumptions embedded within the policy agenda, while also exploring the claims and demands for justice that are advanced by people on the move. Written collectively by a team of esteemed scholars from across multiple disciplines, Reclaiming migration makes an important contribution to debates surrounding migration, borders, postcolonialism and the politics of knowledge production

Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by Boat:Mapping and documenting migratory journeys and experiences - final project report

This report provides a unique, in-depth analysis of the impact of EU policies in addressing the so called European migration or refugee ‘crisis’ in 2015 and 2016. Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by Boat undertook 257 in-depth qualitative interviews with a total of 271 participants across seven sites in two phases: Kos, Malta and Sicily from September-November 2015, and Athens, Berlin, Istanbul and Rome from May-July 2016.Uniquely, the project focused directly on the impact of policies upon people on the move,drawing together policy analysis and observational fieldwork with in-depth analysis of qualitative interview data from people making – or contemplating making – the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea. As such, the report provides previously-unconsidered insights into the effects of policy on the journeys, experiences, understandings, expectations, concerns and demands of people on the move.In addition to providing seven site-based case study analyses, the project also provides the first detailed assessment of policies associated with A European Agenda on Migration in terms of policy effects both across routes (eastern and central Mediterranean) and over time (2015 and 2016). The findings and analysis summarised in this report are presented with the aim of informing policy developments, moving forward

Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by boat. Mapping and documenting migratory journeys and experiences, final project report

This report provides a unique, in-depth analysis of the impact of EU policies in addressing the so-called European migration or refugee ‘crisis’ in 2015 and 2016. Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by Boat undertook 257 in-depth qualitative interviews with a total of 271 participants across seven sites in two phases: Kos, Malta and Sicily from September-November 2015, and Athens, Berlin, Istanbul and Rome from May-July 2016. Uniquely, the project focused directly on the impact of policies upon people on the move, drawing together policy analysis and observational fieldwork with in-depth analysis of qualitative interview data from people making – or contemplating making – the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean Sea. As such, the report provides previously-unconsidered insights into the effects of policy on the journeys, experiences, understandings, expectations, concerns and demands of people on the move. In addition to providing seven site-based case study analyses, the project also provides the first detailed assessment of policies associated with A European Agenda on Migration in terms of policy effects both across routes (eastern and central Mediterranean) and over time (2015 and 2016). The findings and analysis summarised in this report are presented with the aim of informing policy developments, moving forward