Irregular migration in senegal faith, dreams and human smuggling through the desert and sea

The paper provides a bottom up view on human smuggling facilitation and the rationale behind extremely high-risk and complex irregular migration journeys from the Kolda region of Senegal across the Sahara and through the Atlantic sea. Interviews with aspiring, returned and deported migrants as well as smugglers and their associates provide insights into the organization of migration facilitation and how this is sustained in the current policy context. The research highlights the role of religious beliefs in preparing for and interpreting the experiences of harrowing journeys with a high risk of harm and death. The study also sheds light on hitherto under-recognised gendered aspects of the infrastructure of migration facilitation in Kolda: while migration is male dominated, women play a critical role in enabling migration by mobilising religious and financial support. The paper also discusses the differences in the social constructions of male and female migration and the differences in their social relations with smugglers and other actors involved in facilitating irregular migration. In conclusion the authors suggest that there is a need to revisit migration policies that are based on dissuading migrants through risk-awareness campaigns and heightened controls towards policies that address global structural inequalities that drive migration; develop a more accurate understanding of personal and family aspirations for change; create more opportunities for legal migration; initiate discourses on culturally sensitive topics such as female migration and failed migration, and the role of Islamic spiritual leaders (Marabouts)

Migration and Human Development in India

The paper discusses how gaps in both the data on migration and the understanding of the role of migration in livelihood strategies and economic growth in India, have led to inaccurate policy prescriptions and a lack of political commitment to improving the living and working conditions of migrants. Field evidence from major migrant employing sectors is synthesised to show that circular migration is the dominant form of economic mobility for the poor; especially the lower castes and tribes. The authors argue that the human costs of migration are high due to faulty implementation of protective legislation and loopholes in the law and not due to migration per se. The paper discusses child labour in specific migration streams in detail stressing that this issue needs to be addressed in parallel. It also highlights the non-economic drivers and outcomes of migration that need to be considered when understanding its impacts. The authors calculate that there are roughly 100 million circular migrants in India contributing 10% to the national GDP. New vulnerabilities created by the economic recession are discussed. Detailed analysis of village resurveys in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are also presented and these show conclusively that migration is an important route out of poverty.India; circular migration; caste; tribe; child labour; human development

Migration and Human Development in India

The paper discusses how gaps in both the data on migration and the understanding of the role of migration in livelihood strategies and economic growth in India, have led to inaccurate policy prescriptions and a lack of political commitment to improving the living and working conditions of migrants. Field evidence from major migrant employing sectors is synthesised to show that circular migration is the dominant form of economic mobility for the poor; especially the lower castes and tribes. The authors argue that the human costs of migration are high due to faulty implementation of protective legislation and loopholes in the law and not due to migration per se. The paper discusses child labour in specific migration streams in detail stressing that this issue needs to be addressed in parallel. It also highlights the non-economic drivers and outcomes of migration that need to be considered when understanding its impacts. The authors calculate that there are roughly 100 million circular migrants in India contributing 10% to the national GDP. New vulnerabilities created by the economic recession are discussed. Detailed analysis of village resurveys in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are also presented and these show conclusively that migration is an important route out of poverty.India; circular migration; caste; tribe; child labour; human development

Migration, Brokerage, Precarity and Agency

Globally, brokerage is widespread in migrant labour markets. Brokers fill the gap between migrants and the countries or places they are travelling to, and help migrants traverse complex immigration systems, border controls and labour markets. They are involved in the placement of migrants into precarious jobs but also mitigate the precarity of migrants from marginalised classes and ethnicities. The prominent debates around people trafficking and smuggling, and subsequent changes in law and policy, highlight how brokers have become of concern to policymakers in both migrant sending and receiving countries. This brief summarises Migrating out of Poverty research from Ghana, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Qatar, and South Africa. It is hoped that the findings in this brief will help policymakers better understand why migrants might use brokers to make potentially dangerous journeys to work in sectors that are poorly regulated. It places the migrant–broker relationship within wider systems of labour circulation in globalised and neoliberalised systems of services and manufacturing as well as geopolitical tensions. Finally, it suggests some adjustments that may improve policy in this area.DFIDMigrating out of Povert

The Business Model of Brokers in Bangladesh, Ghana, and Singapore: Lessons for Policy

A top priority for governments and human rights organisations aiming to end trafficking, forced labour, and modern slavery in migration is to “break the business model” of brokers who are believed to be the main channel through which exploitation occurs. This research provides insights into hitherto unknown aspects of the structure and functioning of the migration industry. It also attempts to convey the advantages and disadvantages of migrating through a broker from the perspective of the migrant. This viewpoint shows how migrants’ understanding of the risks and success of such migration and the reliability of brokers is at variance with the dominant discourse which focuses on comparing working conditions against international standards of decent work.DFIDMigrating out of Povert

Poverty Reducing Potential of Labour Migration for Construction Work: Lessons from South Asia

Rural-urban migration for construction work is widely characterised as forced migration, offering few prospects for economic or social improvement in the lives of those who move for work. Within mainstream advocacy there is a preoccupation with working conditions, wages, costs and risks. We sought to better understand migrants’ own perceptions of their journey, the circumstances that migrants have come from, and where they feel they are headed to.DFIDMigrating out of Povert

Towards contextualised, disaggregated and intersectional understandings of migration in India

New patterns of mobility are continuously shaping and being shaped by macro processes of liberalisation and capitalism on the one hand and local processes embedded in culture, class, ethnicity and race on the other hand. India is no exception and new transregional alliances as well as actors and institutions are shaping the “power geometry” (Massey, 1993) of migration by determining who migrates, why, where and under what circumstances. There has been an increase incertain forms of migrant labour such as construction work, care work and industrial labouror, what Sassen (2001) calls the “real work” of modern societies

Does migration for domestic work reduce poverty? A review of the literature and an agenda for research

This review of the published academic literature on internal and regional migration for domestic work in Africa and Asia shows a dearth of studies on internal migration for domestic work in South Asia, and both internal and regional migration for domestic work in East Africa and West Africa. The existing literature is heavily dominated by papers on the transnational migration of domestic workers from South East and East Asia which examine in detail the shortcomings of the legal framework for regulating working conditions and recruitment practices resulting in little protection for migrant workers against exploitation. The paper highlights the serious lack of attention paid to the impacts of migration for domestic work on poverty levels within families in source areas. This is a significant gap in the literature given that migration is usually a household decision in which one member migrates to access more remunerative employment and remit money home. The paper offers a number of suggestions for improving the evidence base on this important migration stream

Internal and regional migration for construction work: a research agenda

This working paper reviews evidence from the literature on internal migration for work in construction in developing countries. The literature reviewed was found through a search of academic databases and selected by the authors. The review identifies cases and contexts in which migration for construction work leads to exits from poverty as well as those in which it entrenches poverty. We also focus upon migrant selectivity and discourses within the literature about migration for construction work. The review identifies gaps in the literature and important themes, in particular those issues and phenomena relating to poverty and development. The small and diverse set of literature, identified for the purpose of this paper, focuses mainly on South Asia. Several areas for future research are suggested throughout the paper and in the concluding section

Decent work country programmes and human mobility

The aim of this review is to assess the ways in which Decent Work Country Programmes (DWCPs) address the issue of internal migration, and to evaluate the extent to which this discussion is related to rural-urban linkages and rural livelihood strategies. Toa lesser extent, the review also investigates the discussion of other types of migration within DWCPs –including emigration, immigration and regional migration protocols.DFID/FAO