SAMP at International
Metropolis conference

Dr Abel Chikanda, University of Kansas and SAMP Associate, was a plenary speaker at the International Metropolis Conference held in Ottawa, Canada, with the theme The Promise of Migration: Inclusion, Economic Growth and Global Cooperation.

Dr Chikanda discussed Xenophobia and Immigrant Entrepreneurs in South Africa’s Informal Economy in a plenary on Public Confidence in Migration.

Also, SAMP – in partnership with the International Migration Research Centre (IMRC) – organized a conference workshop on Installing South-South Migration on the Research and Policy Agenda:

Panel 1: Concepts, Corridors and Connections

Chair: Jonathan Crush

South-South Migration: Definitions and Dynamics

Abel Chikanda (University of Kansas)

Jonathan Crush (Balsillie School of International Affairs)

South-South migration (SSM) has emerged as an important research and policy issue as global and regional debates about the relationship between migration and development have intensified. The new interest in South-South migration stems from a growing appreciation that intra-South migration has been consistently sidelined in these debates. There is substantial evidence that globally SSM is becoming as voluminous as South-North migration, and for most origin and destination countries in the South it is by far the most important form of migration. The paper first examines the implications of different definitions of the ‘Global South’ for addressing the phenomenon of SSM. It then discusses the available sources for constructing a global picture of SSM, identifying the major origin and destination countries in the global South, as well as the major South-South migration corridors. Research and policy-making on SSM is still in its infancy, and the paper concludes by drawing attention to research gaps and policy implications.

Gendered Mobility and Multi-Scalar Governance Models: Exploring the Case of Nurse Migration from South India to the Gulf

Margaret Walton-Roberts (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Irudaya Rajan (Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum Kerala)

Jolin Joseph (York University)

The emigration of skilled female workers, although it has not received the same level of attention as low skilled female migration, is on the increase. This paper examines nurse migration from India to various Gulf States, which since 2015 has been managed through the system of “Emigration Clearance Required” (ECR) and routed through select public sector agencies.  This recent policy change is aimed at controlling predominately female migration in the nursing occupation through the use of the ECR process, which has been characterised as a means to discriminate based on education, and is typically only applied to low skilled migration flows to Gulf nations. Since this policy has been introduced the numbers of nurses heading to the Gulf initially declined, but recent surveys of migrants in the Gulf suggest that available Indian data on the magnitude of ECR migration to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries may not correspond with the actual numbers of Indian migrants there. Based on secondary data and policy analysis, the paper will examine this form of migration regulation, how it has informed the character of Indian nurse migration to Gulf nations, and its gendered migration and labour market implications. The paper examines this context in the following manner: First, we provide some background on the international migration of nurses from India; second we explore the infrastructure and policy framework relevant to the training and migration of nurses; third we consider the impacts and implications of the extension of ECR Status to Nurse Migrants; fourth we consider if this ECR application to nursing is a form of gendered transnational migration governance.

The Relationship Between Remittances, Entrepreneurship Development, and Household Food Security in Malawi

Anil Dhakal (University of Waterloo)

Channelling remittances for productive investments has been a challenge for many remittance-receiving countries in the Global South. Many scholars and policymakers have emphasized the need for leveraging remittances for making investments in productive sectors. On the other hand, household food insecurity is also an emerging problem in the cities of developing countries. Studies suggest that most remittance-receiving households in urban areas use a major portion of the remitted income for food. indicating a close relationship between remittances and food security. However, understanding of how remittances are related to food security is still underexplored. More specifically, what is the role of remittances in overcoming food insecurity both directly as an additional means available to access food, and indirectly as a source of investment to boost income-generating activities? This study focuses on the case of Mzuzu in Malawi and is based on a field study conducted from May to August 2018 which included interviews with migrant households, returnee migrants from South Africa and Tanzania, and key informants. The findings suggest that households use remittances for meeting their immediate needs and that remittance investments in entrepreneurial activities are very limited for reasons explored in the presentation.

En Masse: Dispositions and Divergences of ‘Irregularity’ in India

Sujata Ramachandran (Wilfrid Laurier University)

‘Irregular’ migration has often been understood as a unitary, fixed category determined by infringements of immigration regulations in receiving countries, through informal entry or overstay. A recent body of research has sought to unsettle the solidity and criminality of this classification, by exposing the multiple, often selective, and discriminatory trajectories through which irregularity is forged and widened. Treading a similar course, this paper will highlight the key divergences between conventional understandings of such migrations and its problematic dispositions in India. It highlights the complex ways in which histories, politics, geographies, and state laws, along with enforcement practices have coalesced with ethnic and cultural continuities/discontinuities to shape its unstable, risk-laden character. The shadowy, threatening figures of the ‘irregular Bangladeshi migrants’, increasingly associated with marginal Muslim residents, are closely bound with these shifting and vexed configurations in national and local geographies. The governance challenges associated with these difficult configurations will be discussed, including immigration control mechanisms such as migrant detention and deportation and the drawing up of citizens’ register; as well as social justice implications for those labeled as ‘irregular migrants’.

Panel 2: Crises, Controls and Contradictions

Chair: Margaret Walton-Roberts

 A Politics of (Non-)Response: Trinidad & Tobago and the Venezuelan In-Migration Question

Shiva S. Mohan (Wilfrid Laurier University)

 The crisis in Venezuela has prompted unprecedented rates of emigration. It is estimated that there are 40,000 to 60,000 Venezuelans, both documented and undocumented, in the neighbouring twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. The response by the Trinidad and Tobago government to this ‘influx’ of persons has been apathetic. The island’s immigration policy is fragmented and ad hoc, and there has been slow and limited progress to revision. To examine the limits of response by Small Island Developing State (SIDS) in the Caribbean to such an acute migration moment, this paper uses in-depth interviews, policy mapping and media analyses, to interrogate the ‘settlement’ experiences of Venezuelan immigrants in Trinidad as a case study. Immigrants’ experiences and migratory aspirations are indicative of the configurations and gaps in existing policy and can also provide suggestions to better managed migration. Further, this paper argues that – notwithstanding the limited capacity of SIDS, the lethargy of response by the Trinidad and Tobago government to this in-migration episode, is a measured and strategic in/action driven by the privileging of regional geo -political and -economic relations, a series of complex interactions of mainland-island mobilities, and domestic politics.

The Ability to Exclude While Claiming Inclusion: The Role of Temporary Humanitarian Visas in Reproducing Precarious Migrants

Carla Angulo-Pasel (Post-Doctoral Fellow Wilfrid Laurier University/Balsillie School of International Affairs)

Using Mexico’s Tarjeta de Visitante por Razones Humanitarias (TVRH) as a primary case study, this paper examines how states can use humanitarian visas as a border security instrument while claiming to provide protection. Although the humanitarian visa offers a legal pathway and status to move within Mexico, it equally supresses certain permanent residency rights due to its temporary nature. It becomes form of interdiction by which the state has the fundamental right to be able to “exclude and define the limits” of a particular population; allowing for mobility in some cases while enforcing immobility in others (Salter 2006). Despite the claim of protecting migrants, the application of these visas essentially becomes a security instrument, which sustains the political framing of migration as ultimately a “threat” that needs state control (Aradau 2004, Huysmans 2006). On-the-ground, migrants occupy a liminal space and live a precarious existence while the state has significant control over their mobility and livelihoods. This power-imbalance exists more often as states prefer to grant a temporary immigration status, rather than assuring a permanent legal status, which is accompanied by more rights and protections. Based on policy analysis and field work, the paper will examine the TVRH, the processes for obtaining this legal status, and the consequences for irregular migrants.

Walking Protection Back: From Dysfunction to Denial in South Africa’s New Immigration Policy

Jonathan Crush (Balsillie School of International Affairs)

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South Africa has struggled to develop and implement a coherent and rights-regarding immigration policy that is consistent with the constitution and various international and regional instruments to which it is a signatory. Although a progressive refugee protection policy was legislated in 1997, it took eight years before a post-apartheid Immigration Act was passed and implemented in 2002.  In practice, the implementation of both pieces of legislation has been compromised by dysfunctionalities that include policy incoherence, capacity issues, and populist xenophobia. In 2015, government embarked on a policy initiative to completely overhaul the existing system and develop a new policy framework and legislation. However, while the new framework gives lip-service to the concept of migration as a force for development, it is characterised more by a stress on the need for greater controls, policing and enforcement, and a roll-back of basic rights hitherto accorded to migrants and refugees. This paper examines the development and contents of the new policy direction and argues that it fundamentally shifts the policy terrain from a system that was reasonably progressive, though compromised by ambiguity and dysfunctionality, towards an unambiguous emphasis on denial of access, rights, and a path to integration and citizenship. At the heart of the proposed new policy direction is deeply-entrenched hostility to South-South migration from other countries in Africa.

A Thankless Effort: Government Authorities’ Response to Migrant Entrepreneurs Contribution to Urban Food Security in Zimbabwe

Percy Toriro (QES-AS Scholar, University of Cape Town)

Most cities of the global South experience food insecurity for low-income residents. In Zimbabwe, some enterprising small-scale business people have resorted to migrant entrepreneurship by importing food for own consumption as well as for sale thereby contributing to better food availability. These people, however, experience various difficulties including harassment. Their experiences show that the authorities have not facilitated their efforts but have largely constrained them from making meaningful and decent livelihoods. Based on interviews with the migrant business operators, municipal and government officials, as well as civil society representatives, the presentation examines the different challenges experienced by these small-scale migrant entrepreneurs.