27/11/2024 – UNU-MERIT Migration Seminar Series: Where to next: the evolving situation of Eritreans on the move
You are cordially invited to the next UNU-MERIT Migration Seminar Where to next: the evolving situation of Eritreans on the move.
Ethiopia and Sudan have been the major first countries of refuge for Eritreans for decades. Likewise, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Europe have been major destination countries for Eritreans escaping their country. However, civil wars and violence have made large parts of Ethiopia and Sudan unliveable and restrictive immigration regimes have made Saudi Arabia, Israel and Europe unreachable. For those who had already settled in these locations, camp closures, deportations and changes to visa processes have also necessitated that they either move on, or face being more forcibly removed. Given how spaces of refuge are shrinking for Eritreans, this research asks: Where are Eritreans looking for refuge now? The project specifically investigates the decision-making of secondary displaced Eritreans in Ethiopia (Addis Ababa), Egypt (Cairo) and in Uganda (Kampala). Based on 40 interviews with secondary displaced Eritreans and 20 interviews with key informants, the study explores how people decide about their next destination given the shrinking possibilities ahead of them and the role of social (networks) and financial (remittances) mechanisms in supporting Eritreans’ mobility. The research is also exploring Eritreans’ hopes for the future and questions how governments and international organisations can support Eritreans on the move. The research is supported by the Mixed Migration Center and the Danish Refugee Council. The presentation is based on preliminary analyses and all feedback from the audience will be welcome.
MEET THE SPEAKERS:
Milena Belloni is Research Professor in Migration and Global Mobility and coordinator of MIGLOBA, the Network of Migration and Global Mobility at the University of Antwerp. She is an ethnographer specialized in migration and refugee studies. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Italy, Belgium and Holland. Her research mainly concerns refugees’ migration dynamics and inclusion pathways, transnational refugee families, migrant smuggling, protracted displacement in Europe and in the Global South, home and housing studies, and ethnographic methods. She published in several international peer reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Refugee Studies, the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, and Global Networks. Her monographic study on the migration of Eritreans to Europe, The Big Gamble, is published by the University of California Press (2019). For more information on her work see https://antwerp.academia.edu/MilenaBelloni
Georgia Cole is currently a Chancellor’s Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences. Her research focuses on the alternatives that people pursue to formal asylum pathways and on pluralising geographies of refuge to account for diverse sites of protection and respite. She works primarily with Eritrean refugees and migrants in Eritrea, East Africa and the Gulf States, where she is trying to understand the historical and contemporary role of Gulf actors in global systems of displacement and humanitarianism. More broadly, she is interested in exploring how displaced populations access durable solutions and how international and domestic politics affects this, and on displacement dynamics within the Horn of Africa. At Edinburgh, she is involved in projects including the Mastercard Foundation-funded blended bridging programme for refugee and host community learners in Uganda, which is being designed and implemented in partnership with the Refugee Law Project and the American University of Beirut. She is also working on a project with the Mixed Migration Centre of the Danish Refugee Council to design a longitudinal survey tool to capture how decision-making evolves among mixed migrants in North and East Africa.
Aron Hagos Tesfai is a postdoc fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. His research focuses include forced displacement and psychosocial well-being of refugees. Currently he is involved in a multi country project titled Growing up while Crossing borders. The aim of the project is exploring the experiences of young refugees growing up while crossing borders and implication for their transition into adulthood. He is also interested in Eritrea diaspora politics and transnational networks.
To participate, reach out to Soha Youssef – youssef@merit.unu.edu.