Human Insecurity: Understanding International Migration from a Human Security Perspective

Abstract

This article examines contemporary, mass migration from the perspective of human security. It tracks the development of the human security model of international relations, and compares it to the well-established state security model that has served as the dominant paradigm for international relations since the seventeenth century. The article argues that human security offers a more effective approach to many of the underlying problems and threats associated with mass migration, than does the traditional state-security model. It challenges national and international authorities to address threats to human security, in order to minimize forced migration and to create the conditions for migration by choice, not necessity.

Migration crisis in the EU: developing a framework for analysis of national security and defence strategies

“…Nowadays, there are two large demographic trends in the European Union (hereinafter EU): continuous population ageing and increasing migration flows (European Commission, 2014), both relevant to study the relation between demography and security though this article only focuses on the second one. The abolition of internal borders within the EU fostered the dissemination of narratives that suggest a security deficit and new challenges to public order derived from the opening of internal borders, leading to increasing politicization and securitization of migration and asylum issues (Huysmans, 2006; Guild, 2009; Bourbeau, 2011; Vietti & Scribner, 2013). This de-nationalization of state sovereignty demands cooperation and though close cooperation in security and defence appears to be indispensable in the EU, there is no common ‘EU’ropean position on how to deal and how to move beyond the humanitarian crisis management after the so-called refugee crisis, which can rely on diverging national strategic cultures that end up enforcing different security and defence policies within the EU (Biehl, Giegerich, & Jonas, 2013).…”

Utilización de anticonceptivos en población migrante: el caso de las gestantes migrantes venezolanas en dos ciudades receptoras de la costa norte de Colombia

“…No obstante, los cambios en los estilos de vida, incluyendo las prácticas sexuales, las dificultades de acceso a los servicios de salud y las carencias socioeconómicas exponen a las mujeres migrantes, en particular a aquellas en situación de irregularidad, a embarazos no deseados [21,22]. Adicionalmente, se ha reportado que las mujeres que migran por fuera de los canales legales se enfrentan a situaciones de violencia sexual [23][24][25] y de abuso de poder por parte de sus parejas, que les impiden negociar relaciones sexuales protegidas [26].…”

The human (in)security trap: how European border(ing) practices condemn migrants to vulnerability

“…While mobility itself entails several risks exposing migrants to other threats (Oberleitner and Salomon 2017: 11), migration remains a vital strategy to protect or attain human security (CHS 2003). Nevertheless, migration has always been perceived as a question of control over sovereign territorial domains (Vietti and Scribner 2013), with states retaining their role of gatekeepers of mobility (Song 2015). The enforcement of physical borders, walls and customs not only inhibits mobility, but also generates human insecurity by preventing vulnerable people from escaping critical and pervasive threats.…”