A Long Way to Go: Irregular Migration Patterns, Processes, Drivers and Decision-making

“The Best Risky Point”: Agency and Decision-Making in Young Unaccompanied Asylum Seekers' Stories of Leaving Home and Travelling to Australia

“…The journeys ranged from several days to several months. This is consistent with established knowledge about the routes that asylum seekers take from Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and Iran to Australia to seek asylum (Loschmann et al, 2017;McAuliffe & Koser, 2017). Many young people described moving through complex situations and arrangements, often accompanied by a people smuggler who was recruited to facilitate their passage to Australia, and travelling alongside other people trying to seek asylum.…”

“…Recent research on the reasons young people leave home to seek asylum include experiences of war and armed conflict, gang violence, and direct persecution (Bhabha & Crock, 2006;Correa-Velez et al, 2017;Horning et al, 2020;Moleiro & Roberto, 2021;Vervliet et al, 2015). Young people also leave home for reasons associated with their family situations: for example, a parent dying or being imprisoned, or the need to reconnect with family who have already made the journey (McAuliffe & Koser, 2017). Many young people seeking asylum alone are also running away from the threat of recruitment into military or religious groups or from undesired situations after being orphaned, including forced labour and exploitation (Moleiro & Roberto, 2021).…”

“…For some, there are many decisions to be made along the way. While the common routes Afghan asylum seekers take towards their asylum destination (from Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Iran through the Southeast Asian countries of Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia) are well documented (Loschmann et al, 2017;McAuliffe & Koser, 2017), the experiences of young people who travel unaccompanied require more attention. This is because despite the challenges they face, unaccompanied young people seeking asylum demonstrate high levels of adaptability and adjustment that protects them from long-term and incapacitating mental health problems (Copolov et al, 2017;O'Higgins, 2019).…”