Economic refugees - in the context of current migration cri - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Economic refugees - in the context of current migration crisis in the EUPart 2

Agnieszka Piekutowska

Faculty

of

Economics

and Management

University of

BialystokSlide2

3. Economic refugees in the European Union in the background of migration crisis

Figure 2. The number of applications for international protection in the

EU

in 1998-2016Source: authors’ own study based on: [Eurostat, 2017].Slide3

Figure 3. Asylum applications: the top ten receiving countries (2016)Slide4

Figure 4. Asylum applications: the top ten receiving countries; dynamics (

2014-

2016

)Source: Eurostat 2017Slide5

Figure 5. Asylum applications: the rest of the

receiving

countries

; (2016)Source: Eurostat 2017Slide6

3. Economic refugees in the European Union in the background of migration crisis

question

about the capability of hosting

migrants in the EU;claims

that most migrants cannot be granted a refugee status because they arrive to improve their economic situation rather than find

shelter;

opinions

that “majority of migrants are economic refugees

”;

Is

it really true that the present migration crisis in the European Union mostly embraces economic refugees understood as people escaping from extreme poverty?

Or

perhaps they are economic migrants who migrate not because they have a bad life but because they want a better

one? Slide7

Figure 6. Main countries of origin of people seeking international protection in the EU in 2015 and the ratio of positive decisions granting international protection with regard to the applicant’s citizenship

Source:

own

estimations based on: EurostatSlide8

3. Economic refugees in the European Union in the background of migration crisis

The ratio of positive decisions amounted

to:

Albania 2.62% Kosovo 2.34% Serbia 1.6%Macedonia 1.06%Poverty level measured

as the percentage of the population living on less than $1.90 a day, in the last year of the

study:

Albania

– 1.1% in

2012

Kosovo

– 0.8% in

2013

Serbia

– 0.2% in

2013

Macedonia

– 1.3% in

2008

*

*

The

World Bank,

Poverty and Equity Database

, retrieved on

April 10, 2017

from

http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=poverty-and-equity-database#Slide9

3. Economic refugees in the European Union in the background of migration crisis

the

analysis of the structure of individuals applying for protection within the EU territory has not confirmed the occurrence of economic refugees in the

EU in the group of fifteen main countries submitting applications for protection within the EU territory the highest ratio of rejected decisions concerned applications submitted by migrants that do not come from the areas affected by extreme, life threatening poverty - they are not economic refugees in the meaning of definitions provided by the literature due to restrictive and selective migration policies, applying for a status of a refugee or illegal migration is, more often

the

only way to the European labor

market

we

should distinguish another category of migrants:

fake or false

refugees

; they

should not be mistaken for

economic refugees

t

he

influx of different categories of migrants evokes various responses in the host countries’

communities; relevant

terminology should

be used with

due care and

diligenceSlide10

Economic refugeesCase 1: Haiti

history

of violence and economic

disparity;Francois Duvalier takes power in 1957 - totalitarian regime -

Tontons

Macoutes

("Bogeymen

")

;

the

Duvalier regime

:

until 1986

;

the

death

of

Francois Duvalier

in

1971;

the

presidency

is

taken

over

by

his

son

, Jean-Claude

Jean-Claude

Duvalier

steps

down

after

the

massive

riots

of

1986;

i

n

1990, Jean Bertrand Aristide

is

elected President

;

A

bolition

of

Aristide

in

September 1991

by the

military

coup

result

s

in a mass exodus of Haitians t

o the

US and

the

Dominican

Republic

;

the

economy

largely

polarized between the

political

elite and the poor agricultural

workers

;

i

n 1980

only about one-seventh of Haiti's land

was

arable

;

a

ccording

to the World Bank data, the poverty ratio was at the level of 53,9% in

2012

.Slide11

Economic refugeesCase 1: Haiti

financial

support of the

US to Haiti government as the totalitarianism was explained as a Haiti's protection against communism;US treats Haiti government friendly as the

anti-communist government

;

U

S

has

the

favorable

attitude

toward

the Haitian government,

not

necessary

to

Haitian

people attempting to enter the

U

S;

Haitians

classifie

d by t

he

U.S. government

as

"economic" not "political"

refugees

; the

reason

:

conviction

that the refugees do not suffer

reprisals

;

1981

:

the Reagan

Administration

&

interdiction

program

between June 1983 and September 1986

out o

f

the 1,661 asylum cases Haitians

filed,

only thirty were

granted

;

Another wave of refugees from Haiti takes place in

1991

:

abolition

of Aristide:

civil conflict and debilitating economic

conditions

;

economic

conditions

bec

ome

inseparable from political conditionsSlide12

Economic refugeesCase 1: Haiti

President Bush's Executive Order No. 12807 (Interdiction of Illegal Aliens

)

; resistance in Congress and the UNHCR disapproval;President Clinton continues to implement the policy + american

society

has

unfavourable

attitude

toward

migrants

from

Haitians

+

recession

in

the

US

Clinton

Administration

:

aid

in restoring democracy

in Haiti -

supporting Aristide

as

a

President

;

the

weakness and inappropriateness of distinguishing between political and economic

refugees

;

Effective

policy?Slide13

Economic refugeesCase 1: Haiti

the

earthquake

in January 2010;large donations by the international community but lack of solidarity with those

Haitians

who

fled

the

country

;

France

and the US –

r

eluctant

to accept refugees from

Haiti

: post-

earthquake

migrants

do not

fulfill

the

criteria

to be

legally qualified as refugees under the 1951 Refugee Convention;the Cartagena Declaration on Refugees of 1984 promotes an expansion of refugee protection in Latin America, the inclusion of those asylum seekers, who:non-binding nature of this document; yet many Latin American countries (including Brazil) have applied this broad refugee definitionSlide14

Economic refugeesCase 1: Haiti

Brazil

as

one of the destination countries for Haitians after the 2010 earthquake; Did brazilian

broad

definition

on

refuge

assure

Haitians

an

access

to refugee

status

?

National

Committee for

Refugees

:

the

displaced Haitians

couldn

’

t

be granted

asylum

as they were not able to demonstrate the existence of a threat to their lives;However, special permit to stay in Brazil for Haitians were provided;Support of UNHCR, but human rights NGOs: the action was insufficient;January 2012: an increase in the number of arriving Haitians - a quota system introduced

by the Brazilian authorities;

broad definition of the refugee does not guarantee effective protection;r

ecognizing migrants fleeing from fragile states is dependent on political will. Slide15

Economic refugeesCase 2: EL SALVADOR

El Salvador was engaged in civil war that begun in

1979/1980

; in October 1979, the Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador gets the power;more

radical oppositionists

creates

(

armed

)

The

Farabundo

Marti Front for National Liberation (FLMN

)

;

repressions

:

massacre

in El

Mozote

;

s

upport

from

the US to fight the

guerrilla

;

partisans: destruction of infrastructure, armed attacks;many workers displaced, employment expansion stopped; high levels of government spending …on military purposes;political (and simultaneously economi ) reasons to leave the country - many refugees fled to the US and Guatemala. Slide16

Economic refugeesCase 2: EL SALVADOR

r

emittances from

Salvadorans in US – main source of income for citizens in El Salvador;assumption:

main

motive

for immigration from El Salvador

to US

is economic

;

Honduras

and

Guatemala

as a

destination

countries

(

next

to US) -

purpose

of

emigration

from El Salvador

not

purely

economic;the 1986 earthquake: 1500 deaths, 10,000 injuries, and 100,000 people left homeless*.*David H. Harlow, Randall A. White, Michael J. Rymer, Salvador Alvarez G., The San Salvador earthquake of 10 October 1986 and its historical context, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 1993.Slide17

Economic refugeesCase 2: EL SALVADOR

suppor

t of the US

officially aimed at promoting democracy and cutting violations of human rights;Front for National Liberation counters this aid;

although

evidence

of life-threatening

conditions

– US

continues

to deny applications for asylum to

Salvadorans

;

b

etween

1983 and 1990, less than

3%

percent

of applications

approved

;

a

ccording

to World Bank data:

p

overty

headcount ratio in 1991: 20,7% (3,0% in 2014);1988-89, more than three thousand Salvadorans deported from US;Between 1980 and 1990: the Salvadoran immigrant population in US increased nearly fivefold: from 94,447 to 465,433;rising number of undocumented Salvadorans in the US:

estimations on even

850,000.Slide18

Economic refugeesCase 2: EL SALVADOR

The 1990 Immigration

Act

: Temporary Protected Status (TPS);

for

noncitizens of the United States who are

temporarily

unable to return to their counties because of armed conflict or

environmental

disaster

;

El

Salvador as a first country whose nationals could seek

TPS

;

l

imitation

s:

TPS

was not a path to get a resident

status

;

statutory

prohibition on transitioning to permanent resident

status

….

many of

those

who get TPS status ultimately got a green cards;despite the signing of peace accords in December 1991 in El Salvador, emigration from the country did not stop.Slide19

Economic refugeesCase 2: EL SALVADOR

Source:

own

elaborations based on: UN Migration Stock databaseSlide20

thank you for attention