Humanitarianism as politics: civil support initiatives for migrants in Milan's Hub

Humanitarianism is increasingly used to address migration in Europe, from search and rescue operations at sea to reception on land. Scholars often interpret humanitarianism as a means for states to depoliticize migration and prioritize securitization. In this article, I analyze perspectives on humanitarianism among civil society volunteers and workers who, alongside institutions, deliver humanitarian support to migrants. Civil initiatives in this field by independent volunteers, non-governmental organizations and charities have surged, thus shifting tasks traditionally under the responsibility of the state to non-state actors. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in and around the premises of the Hub (a center providing humanitarian assistance to migrants transiting in the Italian city of Milan), I show that engaging in such civil support initiatives raises the levels of political awareness and activism among ordinary citizens. Through insight into the daily actions, motivations and aims of the men and women operating at the Hub, I show that their involvement in humanitarian assistance marks the beginning of a personal journey in which they gradually conceive what they do as far from being in support of depoliticizing state securitization policies and rather as politically loade

Key Criteria of "Good Practice" for Constructive Diaspora Engagement in Peacebuilding

This discussion paper focuses on the engagement of diasporas in peacebuilding processes in their countries of origin. The main argument put forward in this paper is that, given certain conditions, diasporas carry a potential to fruitfully engage in the field of peacebuilding. After substantiating this claim with a critical discussion of literature and research insight, the issue is further addressed by identifying and collating a set of key criteria of “good practice” for constructive diaspora engagement. This is to help third parties identify diaspora organisations and groups that have the potential to engage transparently and in long-term processes, while also presenting the capacity to foster the resolution, transformation and management of conflicts in their respective countries of origin. In an endeavour to strengthen cooperation between diaspora organisations and other actors, the aim of this discussion paper is therefore to offer to International Agencies, the European Union and its member states, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders an indicative tool that will assist them in the identification of potential cooperation partners within the diaspora community to work together in conflict settings. Given the particularly sensitive nature of interventions in this field, the suggested criteria take into account factors that are generally related to collaboration with diaspora organisations, as well as factors that take into account a specific concern for their engagement in peacebuilding. In addition, it is hoped that the criteria may also facilitate purposeful self-reflection among diaspora groups on how they operate and on new potential areas for engagement in their countries of origin

Diasporas as partners in conflict resolution and peacebuilding

This paper explores the topic of collaboration between diasporas and governmental and non-governmental actors in peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction initiatives. Its purpose is to identify key policy recommendations for external parties wishing to establish working relationships with diasporas specifically in these fields. The paper therefore mainly targets an audience of policy makers, however the considerations in the pages that follow will be of interest also to other practitioners in the development field as well as to diaspora groups themselves. The paper is based on data collected within the DIASPEACE research project, analysing how external actors and diaspora groups interact in peacebuilding initiatives. The results discussed in this paper derive from data collected in five European countries (Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Finland) and focus on the specific case-study of diasporas originating from the Horn of Africa

Immigrazione Senegalese in Italia: stato dell¿arte

È trascorso ormai circa un trentennio da quando i primi immigrati senegalesi giungevano in Italia nella seconda metà degli anni Ottanta. Nel corso di questi tre decenni, essi hanno stabilmente rappresentato la presenza straniera più significativa in provenienza dall’Africa subsahariana. È questo, tuttavia, forse l’unico dato costante, dal momento che in questo arco di tempo non solo la presenza senegalese in Italia è notevolmente cresciuta in termini numerici, ma si è altresì accompagnata a profonde trasformazioni nelle caratteristiche e nei percorsi migratori, nelle dinamiche associative, nelle traiettorie di inserimento nel territorio e nel mercato del lavoro locale da parte dei singoli. Ormai lontani dal modello unitario del migrante dedito alla vendita ambulante e appartenente alla confraternita mussulmana senegalese dei murid, i percorsi di radicamento dei senegalesi nella realtà italiana offrono oggi uno spaccato ben più ricco e diversificato. Questo quadro generale rende particolarmente gradita la comparsa nelle librerie di alcuni recenti volumi frutto di contributi di ricerca sui senegalesi in Italia. I quattro libri illustrati qui di seguito costituiscono un importante corpus di lavori che da un lato fotografa i tratti salienti dell’evoluzione vissuta dall’immigrazione senegalese in Italia e, dall’altro, offre utili spunti di riflessione per la sua migliore comprensione

Participation of Diasporas in Peacebuilding and Development

This handbook follows a range of other reports and publications on diaspora involvement in development and peacebuilding (COWI, 2009; De Haas, 2006; GTZ, 2009; Sinatti, 2010; Sinatti et al., 2010). It has been written mainly for European practitioners and policymakers, and was developed as a result of our observation that there is now a markedly increased interest among European actors in ‘engaging diasporas’ that is not necessarily matched with confidence on how to approach the task. During our research for the handbook, a common refrain that we heard was: ‘Our organization is very interested in engaging the diaspora, but we need to gain experience on how to do this.’ In this document, examples are presented from various projects within five European countries: Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway. In these countries, most diaspora-focused initiatives are relatively recent. By bringing together lessons learned from the experiences in these five countries, we hope the present document will facilitate an exchange of knowledge and experience between different European actors

Zingonia: vecchi e nuovi abitanti, vecchie e nuove questioni

Una ricerca mirata ad esplorare alcune delle specifi cità dell’immigrazione straniera nella Provincia di Bergamo non poteva non dedicare un capitolo speciale alla realtà di Zingonia. Una serie di motivi fanno sì che questa città del tutto particolare richiami l’attenzione di chi si occupa di migrazioni. Zingonia infatti è storicamente nata come città d’immigrazione e accoglie oggi un addensamento signifi cativo e multi-nazionale di popolazione straniera. Oggetto di grande attenzione mediatica, Zingonia è anche un luogo fortemente associato, nell’opinione comune, a stereotipi negativi. Più che le ragioni appena esposte, tuttavia, è la sua natura di forte rompicapo per gli amministratori locali che giustifi ca un’attenzione speciale per Zingonia

Return migration, entrepreneurship and development: Contrasting the economic growth perspective of Senegal’s diaspora policy through a migrant-centred approach

In recent years, the prominence of ‘migration’ as a policy domain in many African countries has shifted from labour-export policies to so-called ‘diaspora policies’. In these policies, migration is emphasised as a key instrument to stimulate development, particularly through return to the homeland and migrant entrepreneurship. Despite much attention accorded to migrants’ agency and affiliated cultural aspects in the ‘migration and development nexus’ debate, practices of return migration policy suffer from an inconsistency problem. The intention to promote national development is restricted by conceptual boundaries that define ‘return migration’ as a uni-directional flow from countries of immigration to countries of origin, and that reduce ‘development’ to its economic dimension. Acknowledging that migration and development have been long recognised in the scholarly literature as multi-faceted phenomena, this article exposes this inconsistency problem through ethnographic research among return businessmen in Senegal, whose experiences are advocated in diaspora policy as ideal returnees. I show how their practices are rooted in transnational relationships with the former country of immigration and, by implication, are built on bi-directional rather than uni-directional flows. Their motivations to return and invest depend on the sustainability of such relationships. I further illustrate that, by cultivating transnational linkages, initiating innovation and setting new examples, return businessmen bring implications for development well beyond economic growth as the core interest of diaspora policy. I conclude that the framing of development as a goal of diaspora policy in economic terms neglects what return migrants themselves value as important development objectives and outcomes