How Europe’s (anti-)migration policies are fueling a humanitarian crisis (2021)

Registration of a webinar on 9 September 2021 presented by International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) and KUNO. During the webinar key findings were presented of a special issue of the International Migration Journal on 'Politics, humanitarianism and migration to Europe'.

When some one million people crossed the Mediterranean in the course of 2015 to seek refuge, European countries called it a crisis. Yet the real crisis was created by European immigration and asylum policies and by the challenges they posed for aid providers. The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the violence experienced by people seeking safety in countries such as Italy, Greece, France, Belgium, Germany, Norway, and the UK.

Policies such as strengthening border controls, the externalisation of borders, and a focus on smuggling and trafficking rather than on the causes of forced migration all result in humanitarian crisis. The new reality affects humanitarian organizations, including the criminalisation of assistance provision, as well as the rise in resistance and activism by newly created volunteer groups. 

Speakers: prof. Thea Hilhorst, dr. Susanne Jaspars, Marte Welander, Francesca Pusterla, Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, and Adil Izemrane.