The Security – Migration Nexus
BICC brief 36
Challenges and Opportunities of
African Migration to EU Countries
by Jerry Sommer and
Andrea Warnecke (eds.)
(2721K, 92 pages)
The BICC -Web opens the promotion of the brand new publication with a sentence of Erich Stather, State Secretary in the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Developement :
„Migration is an old phenomenon“.
What kind of Migration?
His main focus is, of corse, human migration, and not geological migration of oil – its no Bush-Adminsistration publication. But on the other hand, an interesting approach would be the focus on migration of life with human beings as one form of life. But this focus is even in germany too ambitious.
BICC: …
„However, the recent discussions about migration are still burdened with fears.
New potentials and challenges of migration have recently reinforced calls for the establishment of an overall system of international migration governance. This development has strongly influenced the highly interwoven discourses on peace-building, security and development policies„. The later discourse is delicate when we think to missionary US-policies in iraq.
Security an Peace
When I think security, then I think to Galtung, because: In this context Johan Galtung has interesting views questions: „The road to security passes through peace. There is no road to peace that passes through security.“ Because security is a focus of the rich and wealthy.
BICC: „In these discussions financial and social remittances of migrant communities to foster peaceful development and stability in their countries of origin play an important role. But the concepts of ‘brain circulation’ to tackle the dilemma of brain drain from developing countries through a more flexible system of international migration governance are equally important.“
Despite these promising concepts, in European countries the perception persists that
„international migration and migrant communities are more or less substantial threats to the security situation of the recipient countries.“
„Hence, while the issues of security and migration are certainly closely connected, there seems to be little agreement as to the exact nature of this link {fn} and its implications for all affected stakeholders.
Against this background, the Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC) organized an international conference entitled “The Security-Migration Nexus:
Challenges and Opportunities of African Migration to EU Countries
Bonn, 22–23 February 2008
„The event was commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and brought together 150 experts from
- academia, political and
- civil society institutions as well as
- diaspora representatives not only from Germany, but from different European countries.
„Trying to incorporate the security needs and aspects of all affected stakeholders, that is
- the societies in the countries of origin and residence and
- in particular the migrants themselves,
the first conference day was dedicated to discussing the ‘Feasibility of Triple-Win’ from a research perspective. It started with the wide ranging and thought provoking keynote speech of Prof. Rita Süssmuth, the former President of the German Federal Parliament. For many years now she has been actively involved in issues of migration and integration, e.g. as a member of a number of national and international expert commissions like the Global Commission on International Migration.
Building on these results and findings, the second conference day followed up these debates by focusing on practical and applied policy implications of these issues for both state and non-state actors.
Among the stakeholders involved in these discussions were representatives of the
- German Federal Agency for Migration and Refugees (BAMF),
- Migration for Development in Africa program of the International Organization for Migration,
- Federation of African Associations in NRW,
- German Technical Coorporation (GTZ),
- German Development Bank (KfW), as well as of the
- African Rally for Peace and Development (ARPD).
„Also, the second day provided for an active participation of all participants through an ‘open space forum’.
In this ‘BICC brief’
The BICC documents
- the papers and speeches presented at the conference.
- It highlights the complexity of the issues, perspectives and requirements that have to be taken into account when dealing with the nexus of security and migration — both on a scientific and policy-oriented level.
Following up the active discussions during the conference, BICC hopes that this publication will foster an
- open and balanced dialogue between the affected stakeholders — migrants, countries of origin and of residence — and contribute to a more thorough understanding of their mutual expectations and
- requirements.
From my point of view this conference and the carefully and professionally lay-outed BICC-publication-Brief 36 did a good job!
- Rich discourses
- Facts and figures, maps, Charts
- good photos
Everybody who works in the field or is interessed in this human top issue should read it.
Posted in Rezension
