Securitization of Migration and South Asia

1
Securitization of Migration and South Asia

• Tasneem Siddiqui
• Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit
  (RMMRU)
• Migration and Remittance Non-Traditional Issues
  in Asian Security DiscourseBRAC CDM,
  Rajendrapur, Dhaka22-23 August, 2008

2

• Securitization is a deliberate action of
  purposeful actors who frame new or previously
  ignored challenges as existential threats to the
  survival and well being of people, state and
  international community.
• Interested actors through speech act create
  justification for requiring emergency measures
  and state actions outside the normal bounds of
  political procedure.
• Outcome of securitization are greater resource
  allocation of the issue and militarization of the
  issue.

3
Approaches to Securitization of Migration

• Teitelbaum (2002) Large scale population
  movements can effect the cohesion of societies
  and become source of inter-state and intra-state
  conflict
• Weiner (1990) four types of situations
• Oppose the regime of their country of origin
• Perceived as political threat to a particular
  regime of the receiving country
• Viewed as threat to culture of receiving country
• Seen as exerting pressure on social services and
  economic opportunities

4
Approaches to Securitization of Migration (contd.)

• Cronin (2003) Freer movements across boundaries
  are enabling terrorists to carry out attacks more
  easily.
• Kerb and Levy (2001) Linked illegal weapons
  smuggling, drug trafficking and other
  transnational criminal activities with migration.

5
Approaches to Securitization of Migration (contd.)

• Migration identified as source of existential
  threat
• Calls for action outside the normal bounds of
  political process
• Adoption of emergency measures

6
Approaches to Securitization of Migration (contd.)

• Buzan (1998) Threat to societys dominant
  identity
• Refrained from securitizing migration

7
What is Securitization of Migration?

• Construction of a security knowledge that links
  together various day to day social threats like
  arms smuggling, drug trafficking, terrorism with
  the image of immigrant as the nexus of all fears.

8
Securitization through Speech Act

• Migrants as threat to national security
• Involvement in subversive activities and
  terrorism
• Demographic invasion
• Linked with crime, petty theft to drug peddling,
  arms running and human trafficking
• Pressure on civic facilities
• Robbing scarce jobs of the locals
• Threat to social and cultural identity
• Change in terminology economic migrants to
  infiltrators

9
Securitising actors

• State are major securitizing actors in area of
  migration.
• Electronic and print media, defense
  establishment.
• Intelligence agencies, a section of civil
  society, the judiciary are other important
  actors

10
Conclusions

• Migration poses new challenges for
• policymakers in the 21st century
• Migration challenges cannot be addressed
• through securitizing
• Securitization of migration does not
• ensure increased level of state security
• Securitization brings in new threats to
• human security of migrants
• Challenges that migration throws should be
• addressed through regular political and
• administrative processes

11
Conclusions (contd.)

• Migration should be de-securitized
• Opportunities for migration through regular
  channels should be facilitated
• Better governance of migration at international,
  regional and national levels should be ensured
  (Ratification of 1990 UN Convention on Rights of
  Migrants Workers)
• Social and cultural adaptation can address the
  threat to dominant identity of receiving
  societies