(Im)mobility in the Age of COVID-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global human mobility dynamics. This IMR Dispatch examines the historical, bidirectional links between pandemics and mobility and provides an early analysis of how they unfolded during the first nine months of the COVID-19 emergency. Results show, first, that international travel restrictions to combat the spread of the coronavirus are not a panacea in and of themselves. Second, our analysis demonstrates that the pandemic, government responses, and resulting economic impacts can lead to the involuntary immobility of at-risk populations, such as aspiring asylum-seekers or survival migrants. In a similar fashion, stay-at-home measures have posed dire challenges for those workers who lack options to work from home, as well as for migrants living in precarious, crowded circumstances. Moreover, global economic contraction has increased involuntary immobility by reducing both people’s resources to move and the demand for labor. Third, we show that people’s attempts to protect themselves from the virus can result in shifting patterns of mobility, such as increases in cross-border return migration and urban-to-rural movements. Drawing on international guidance for measures to combat pandemics and relevant frameworks on mobility, we propose approaches to alleviate the burden of travel restrictions on migrants and people aspiring to move, while still addressing the need to contain the pandemic and lessen its repercussions.

Migrant subjectivities and temporal flexibility of East‐Central European labour migration to the United Kingdom

“…Second, our paper also contributes to broader discussions about management of temporal flexibility and change in migration (Martin & Bergmann, 2021), which became particularly pertinent in the context of recent responses to crises such as the COVID19 epidemic or Brexit.…”

Reunion of International Couples in Formal and Informal Relationships during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“…One dimension of the measures implemented during the COVID-19 is the drastic restriction of international mobility. Most countries have implemented travel bans and/or border enforcement measures in response to the pandemic (Martin & Bergmann, 2021). However, the degree of intensity of these measures greatly varies from one country to another.…”

“…This suggests that the travel regulations in response to the pandemic were not driven solely or even primarily on epidemiological grounds. In fact, research suggests that the effectiveness of border enforcement measures in containing the epidemic is unclear, except, in the best case, a slowdown in the spread of the virus (Martin & Bergmann, 2021;Wells et al, 2020). Often, it is more public opinions and the structures of countries' border policies that frequently drive different countries' responses to the pandemic (Kenwick & Simmons, 2020).…”

Migraciones en tránsito sur-norte, fronteras selectivas y la Costa Rica del COVID-19.

“…La pandemia del COVID-19 y las medidas fronterizas adoptadas en favor de su control, han planteado una serie de transformaciones profundas en las políticas migratorias, sus tecnologías de control, las dinámicas fronterizas y la propia configuración de los flujos migratorios. Cierres selectivos o totales de fronteras, complejos escenarios para poblaciones vulnerables, refugiados y solicitantes de asilo político, migrantes en tránsito, irregulares o en proceso de regularización, se han enfrentado a una nueva lógica determinada por la "emergencia", que ha redefinido la movilidad migratoria e incluso, las guías básicas de los derechos humanos en campo (CHAMIE, 2020;MARTIN;BERGMANN, 2021;MEER et al, 2020;O'BRIEN;EGER, 2020).…”

“…Es con esta pregunta que nos remitimos a las fronteras, las cuales se han convertido desde 2020 en lugares de cuarentena, espacios que impiden desde la condición más generalizante del discurso médico, el supuesto avance o propagación de la enfermedad. Como han expresado algunos autores, esos espacios de inmovilidad se han mimetizado con la enfermedad, y se han constituido en campos de inmovilidad que contestan las convenciones generales del derecho internacional sobre refugio, asilo político y migración en general (MARTIN;BERGMANN, 2021;MEER et al, 2020;O'BRIEN;EGER, 2020).…”