In the summer of 2015, Europe witnessed a ‘troubling’ phenomenon, with thousands of desperate refugees from its eastern side trying to reach the borders of Europe. This deluge of Syrian refugees caused a sense of horror among the Atlantic countries; termed internationally a ‘crisis’. The scale and the intensity of this influx seemed unprecedented, and the resultant media attention caught governments and policymakers off guard. This unprecedented crisis in Europe resulted in a revaluation of the refugee management paradigm, which in turn resulted in two Global Compacts vis-à-vis ‘refugees’ and ‘migrants’. Paula Banerjee takes her turn to unfold a sequence of events by offering a postcolonial critique of global protection regime. The book provides insights into the various fault lines of forced migration like gender and race, which had been neglected hitherto in popular human rights and migration discourse. This elegantly compiled volume exposes an intricate link between refugee discourse in the Global South and the associated geopolitics in the Global North; thereby serving the requirements (economic logics) of late capitalism. The authors have attempted a call for a change in refugee policies that must be region-specific, and at the same time respect the dignity of the people. In contemporary parlance, critical theorists are all progressively challenging categories such as ‘refugees’, ‘migrants’, and ‘the stateless’. The concerns mainly surround voices of the forced migrants themselves by realizing that people have rights and are not bare bodies to be tossed around. It is in this context, the authors challenge the notions of ‘protection’ as formulated by the Global Compact. There is a concerted effort to bring back the notions of rights, ethics, and justice amidst the dissonance of development and technology.
One of the central arguments the authors delineate is that, in our times, the idea and issue of protection must be viewed as dynamic and constantly evolving. There is a progressive criminalization of migrants, which leads to the subversion of the norm-based responsibilities of states concerning the granting of asylum. States are now effectively practicing what is known as ‘distancing as governance’ even though 142 countries recognized by the United Nations have signed the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol. The states of the Global North are actively rebuffing migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, and in many cases holding them in distant places (pp. 22-24). According to UN data, the total number of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers—has reached 281 million, which consists of 117 million internationally and internally displaced people. These figures indicate the growing numbers of people who are on the move to improve their plight but often face issues of ‘crimmigration’. The hyperbole of political economy of migration as per the volume deprives the migrant populations of liberty and agency through various harsh measures adopted by host countries.
Shibashis Chaterjee in ‘Population Flows, Refugees, and the Responsibility to Protect’ argues that the global refugee flows have manifestly worsened in the past few years, with the crisis appearing deeper and more expansive than ever. Almost every continent is infested with massive displacement, and international efforts remain paltry and inconsistent. For most major powers, humanitarian assistance remains a sad footnote vis-à-vis their international efforts. The nature of geopolitics and neoliberal policies have made great powers increasingly hostile towards refugees.
Since none of the South Asian states have signed the 1951 Convention, they never legally recognize having refugees. On the contrary, they have sought to deal with such challenges through numerous national legal frameworks. The patterns of national interest decide state responses. The European Union (EU) today is deeply divided on how to cope with the influx of people from West Asia, which is testing the principle of solidarity and making the Union look heartless and ineffective, pitting member states against each other, thereby infusing populism and anti-Islamic sentiments. Priya Singh, one of the contributing authors in her chapter titled ‘Reframing Refugee Crisis: Resistances and Solidarities’ tries to make sense of the waves of forced migration to Europe since 2015 in the backdrop of politics, practices, and policies of the EU, particularly with reference to Syrian refugees. Europe’s response has largely been caliginous in this context. By adopting the policy of shutting out migrants and not so glorious projects such as ‘Fortress Europe’, the EU would only shatter the geographic, political, and economic complexities of Europe’s neighbourhood, which is politically volatile. The idea of Fortress Europe constructed via both fences and legal restrictions is not in synchronization with global markets, communication or capital flows. It ignores the fact that migration is profoundly entangled with globalization. The negative aspect of globalization tells us that it would be foolish to think what happens in the Middle East will remain confined to the region, be it the issue of terrorism or the refugee crisis. By securitizing migration, the EU has only made these people vulnerable to the core.
The authors, particularly Paula Banerjee, contend that citizenship and migration rest on a triad of the axes of race, religion, and resources. However, ‘gender’ remains the unspoken fourth axis. Banerjee shows us how race and gender have affected the question of citizenship, thereby influencing the questions of forced migration. To quote her, ‘forced migrants are created as a result of conscious will, and gender becomes the axis along which groups are made vulnerable’ (p. 212). State policy is not un-gendered but results from a political effort to homogenize citizenship. The ruling elite decides who belongs and who does not. The issue of Asian women workers in the Gulf is the most contentious issue the authors have highlighted. These migrant workers are encountering numerous challenges, which are mostly systemic, thereby contributing to their vulnerability.
Migration and refugee studies vis-à-vis neoliberal global capitalism is an important area to explore. This edited volume makes an argument that in recent times, one of the most successful means as vocalized by neoliberalism is the informalization of the labour space. The ‘refugee economy’ at the heart of the market helps to sustain this process of informalization. Nonetheless, we can infer that the refugee economy is not something abnormal, rather an important factor that is shaping contemporary global markets. This empirically rich analysis attempts a plausible critique of protection regimes through an intersectional frame. The authors call attention to how these protection regimes can reproduce and exacerbate inequalities rather than simply remedy displacement.
Abidullah Baba is a Political Scientist.