New Year, new Blog!
The Team at SIHMA will be keeping you up to date about human mobility in the African continent. We launch our new blog which will have regular weekly posts every Tuesday on all research, events and activities happening in Africa concerning migrants, refugees and people on the move.We start with our first blog, wishing you an Happy New Year that’s about to begin, full of surprise and joy and everything you want in life.
Women are migrating to follow their aspirations
As of 2017, the total number of international migrants is estimated at around 258 million of which 48 percent are women. The term feminization of migration indicates an increase in the percentage of female migrants and refers to women who migrate independently. Scholars debate whether the feminization of migration is a new phenomenon or not. Some argue that women have always migrated but their movements were of less interest to academics. Between 1960 and 2015, the female share...
Spazas, Foreigners, and Crime – It’s More Complicated than That
In May 2008, the world watched in shock as xenophobic violence raged across South Africa. Nationals violently attacked foreign nationals, displacing tens of thousands of migrants and brutally killing over 60. Migrants’ properties and businesses were destroyed in great numbers, with over 550 foreign-owned shops looted or burned to the ground. This storm of attacks ushered in a decade of rising awareness of xenophobic violence among South Africans, and it has become widely assumed that this violence and accompanying xenophobic...
Caught in a Catch-22: Child Migrants in South Africa – Are short-term plans and implementation gaps putting foreign children at risk?
In 2004, a court case brought by the Centre for Child Law reflected the severe challenges and restrictions that children face in the South African migration landscape. Responding to the detention of over 100 children at Lindela, including some who were illegally held with adults, the Pretoria High Court ruled that such detention of minors was unlawful and a shameful transgression against the children’s rights and interests. In spite of this, approximately 50 children have been discovered at Lindela since...
Migration-Security Nexus vs Migration-Development nexus. Is decolonization of migration a third way?
The shift towards the securitization of migration is complete and this is not a news. However, so far, the debate around security and migration has involved countries in the Global North, while on the African continent discussions have privileged the migration for development paradigm and its agenda. Nonetheless, the security paradigm is gaining consensus amongst African states, some of which receive financial aid from the European Union to stop irregular migration. Countries such as Niger, Ethiopia and Sudan have put in place interventions aiming...
The African Observatory for Migration and Development: for the benefit of whom?
During the 28th summit of the African Union (AU), as soon as Morocco returned to the AU after thirty years of absence, the country’s sovereign, King Mohammed VI, was appointed Africa’s leader for migration. Part of this decision was based on the positive development of the 2013 Moroccan policy on national immigration and asylum which aimed at regularizing the situation of many migrants and which benefited 25,000 migrants in 2014 alone. The King started working towards an African Agenda on...
