Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520297128
- eISBN:
- 9780520969629
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520297128.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
War and terror, demographic imbalances, unchecked climate change, and rampant criminality are the drivers of catastrophic migrations. In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, we witnessed ...
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War and terror, demographic imbalances, unchecked climate change, and rampant criminality are the drivers of catastrophic migrations. In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, we witnessed the largest number of forcefully displaced human beings in record. Concurrently the world is now facing the largest “crisis of confinement” in history, leaving millions of human beings in search of shelter far away from the high and middle-income countries, lingering in interminable limbo.
In the aftermath of World War II, Europe, the United States, and their allies developed policies for forcefully displaced refugees based on the assumption that whatever caused them to flee their homes would be resolved and refugees would return home. These architectures, we argue, are misaligned with the new conditions. Devastated environments in states with weak institutional capacities hold little promise for safe return. A new twenty-first-century cartography of mass migration suggests forms of migration that do not fit existing policy frameworks. First, most forcefully displaced migrants today stay as internally displaced either in their own countries or in camps in neighboring states often in subhuman conditions with few protections. Second, protracted conflicts are sending millions fleeing with no expectation of returning. Third the architectures in place are generally blind to the developmental needs of children.
Crying children are the face of the catastrophic migrations of the twenty-first century. Worldwide, one in every two hundred children is a refugee, almost twice the number of a decade ago. In 2017, there were over twenty-eight million children forcefully displaced. For the first time in history, over half of all refugees under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees mandate are minors. Even when temporary protection is possible or desirable, children in flight need more than a safe haven. They need a place to grow up. They need the safety of home. In this Introduction we review the best evidence and current thinking on physical health, mental health, and trauma; legal protections; and education for forcefully displaced children and youth.Less
War and terror, demographic imbalances, unchecked climate change, and rampant criminality are the drivers of catastrophic migrations. In the first quarter of the twenty-first century, we witnessed the largest number of forcefully displaced human beings in record. Concurrently the world is now facing the largest “crisis of confinement” in history, leaving millions of human beings in search of shelter far away from the high and middle-income countries, lingering in interminable limbo.
In the aftermath of World War II, Europe, the United States, and their allies developed policies for forcefully displaced refugees based on the assumption that whatever caused them to flee their homes would be resolved and refugees would return home. These architectures, we argue, are misaligned with the new conditions. Devastated environments in states with weak institutional capacities hold little promise for safe return. A new twenty-first-century cartography of mass migration suggests forms of migration that do not fit existing policy frameworks. First, most forcefully displaced migrants today stay as internally displaced either in their own countries or in camps in neighboring states often in subhuman conditions with few protections. Second, protracted conflicts are sending millions fleeing with no expectation of returning. Third the architectures in place are generally blind to the developmental needs of children.
Crying children are the face of the catastrophic migrations of the twenty-first century. Worldwide, one in every two hundred children is a refugee, almost twice the number of a decade ago. In 2017, there were over twenty-eight million children forcefully displaced. For the first time in history, over half of all refugees under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees mandate are minors. Even when temporary protection is possible or desirable, children in flight need more than a safe haven. They need a place to grow up. They need the safety of home. In this Introduction we review the best evidence and current thinking on physical health, mental health, and trauma; legal protections; and education for forcefully displaced children and youth.
Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520297128
- eISBN:
- 9780520969629
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520297128.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
The world is witnessing a rapid rise in the number of victims of human trafficking and of migrants—voluntary and involuntary, internal and international, authorized and unauthorized. In the first two ...
More
The world is witnessing a rapid rise in the number of victims of human trafficking and of migrants—voluntary and involuntary, internal and international, authorized and unauthorized. In the first two decades of this century alone, more than 65 million people have been forced to escape home into the unknown. The slow-motion disintegration of failing states with feeble institutions, war and terror, demographic imbalances, unchecked climate change, and cataclysmic environmental disruptions have contributed to the catastrophic migrations that are placing millions of human beings at grave risk. Humanitarianism and Mass Migration fills a scholarly gap by examining the uncharted contours of mass migration. Exceptionally curated, it contains contributions from Jacqueline Bhabha, Richard Mollica, Irina Bokova, Pedro Noguera, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, James A. Banks, Mary Waters, and many others. The volume’s interdisciplinary and comparative approach showcases new research that reveals how current structures of health, mental health, and education are anachronistic and out of touch with the new cartographies of mass migrations. Envisioning a hopeful and realistic future, this book provides clear and concrete recommendations for what must be done to mine the inherent agency, cultural resources, resilience, and capacity for self-healing that will help forcefully displaced populations.Less
The world is witnessing a rapid rise in the number of victims of human trafficking and of migrants—voluntary and involuntary, internal and international, authorized and unauthorized. In the first two decades of this century alone, more than 65 million people have been forced to escape home into the unknown. The slow-motion disintegration of failing states with feeble institutions, war and terror, demographic imbalances, unchecked climate change, and cataclysmic environmental disruptions have contributed to the catastrophic migrations that are placing millions of human beings at grave risk. Humanitarianism and Mass Migration fills a scholarly gap by examining the uncharted contours of mass migration. Exceptionally curated, it contains contributions from Jacqueline Bhabha, Richard Mollica, Irina Bokova, Pedro Noguera, Hirokazu Yoshikawa, James A. Banks, Mary Waters, and many others. The volume’s interdisciplinary and comparative approach showcases new research that reveals how current structures of health, mental health, and education are anachronistic and out of touch with the new cartographies of mass migrations. Envisioning a hopeful and realistic future, this book provides clear and concrete recommendations for what must be done to mine the inherent agency, cultural resources, resilience, and capacity for self-healing that will help forcefully displaced populations.