SPATIAL TECHNOLOGIES

Aims
To meet the demand for pragmatic and thoughtful responses to the
challenges and opportunities that large-scale migration, whether
voluntary or forced, presents to communities and institutions in an
increasingly integrated world.
Features
MPI works with the UNHCR and NGOs to clarify some of the
interpretive issues that make consistent application of refugee law
difficult different interpretations
MPI helps governments to develop solutions to migration problems
eg: developing immigration laws or managing the impact of
immigration on society
Research to better understand the process of change for both
immigrants and society eg: access to labour market, social mobility,
civic participation and social cohesion
The international migration system now includes almost every country in
the world. Many of them are relatively new to large-scale migration and
have not developed the institutions, laws, and policies needed to manage
migration flows optimally. Economic, humanitarian, social, and political
priorities often dictate contradictory policy directions or conflict with
international obligations. MPI uses the extensive expertise of its directors
and staff to assist governments and civil-society organizations to develop
solutions to these migration problems. MPI's work addresses the following
questions:
How to organize an immigration agency within governmental
structures
How to address a migration/refugee emergency
How to balance domestic security with immigration demands
How to redirect immigration policy to reflect changing economic or
demographic realities
How to protect human rights (including the right to seek asylum)
while implementing border controls and other programs to regulate
entry
How to manage the impact of immigration on disadvantaged sectors
of domestic society
How to enforce domestic labor, immigration, and anti-trafficking
laws without increasing the vulnerability of immigrants.
In addition, MPI is examining countries that, in the past two decades, have
made relatively abrupt transitions from countries of emigration to
countries of immigration. MPI and MPI Europe are also engaged in the
European debate on immigration and asylum policies. MPI and MPI Europe
policy analysts participate in high-level policy forums as well as analyze
European policy developments, bringing to the European debate relevant
experiences and best practices from other regions, and working with

European officials and civil-society organizations to put forward practical

options for more constructive migration management.
MPI is employing a combination of legal and social science research to
track new developments in thinking, law, and practice in the realm of
refugee protection. The Institute works with civil-society organizations,
NGOs, international organizations, and policymakers to devise workable
alternatives that relieve tensions between the needs of refugees and
sovereign states.
MPI is working closely with the office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), other international organizations,
governments, and NGOs to clarify some of the interpretive issues that are
making consistent application of refugee law difficult. These include
determining the appropriate time to cease their protection status, the
issues surrounding reunifying families and the meaning of particular
social group in the context of the 1951 refugee convention.
In addition, MPI works on implementation of refugee protectionin
particular the physical and administrative barriers that prevent would-be
refugees from gaining access to full and fair asylum adjudication. Because
the most secure form of refugee protection is permanent resettlement in a
safe and prosperous countrya solution that currently is available to only
about 1 percent of the world's refugeesMPI studies the U.S. resettlement
program, the world's largest, to assess its success.
Strengths
Internationally recognised scholars among its contributors
MPI has played an influential role in the immigration policy
discussions that have taken place in the USA, Mexico, Canada,
Europe
MPI has published 300 books/reports on population issues
Limitations
A work in progress: 2015 data is provisional (not confirmed yet)
Doesnt show a global perspective (ie can only see one country data
at a time) so direct comparisons cant be seen visually
Difficult to keep up with relevant data
Strengths
Highly accessible

Weaknesses

Threats
Not having accurate data
collection strategies
Keeping pace with the growing
influx of refugees and
population movement
A potential lack of information
from some governments to
allow access to data
Funding

Opportunities
Potential for multilateral
communication and policy
making
Springboard into international
forums
Provide and refine data
collection strategies

Economic heavily reliant on funding and if it ceases

Accessibility working progress
Awareness scholars and academics involved in the program
Effectiveness largely effective

Name of response and

scale

Global Scale response:

UNHCR (nongovernment)

ABOUT

STRENGTHS
(social, political,
economic etc)

Protecting rights of
refugees worldwide

89% of staff based in the

field

Work in 126 countries

Employ statisticians who

can predict how many
people displaced and how
many staff needed to look
after them as conflict
breaks out

Provide basic needs to

refugees in camps
Help with repatriation or
resettlement in another
country

Accurate relevant and

timely data
Detailed information on
countries
Over the past decade
1.1million refugees have
become citizens of their

WEAKNESSES
(social, political,
economic etc)

Relies on voluntary
contributions mainly from
governments and EU
Highest levels of
displacement in history so
increasingly difficult to
keep up
Has less than 10% of funds
needed in Ethiopia alone

country of asylum
Refugee Olympic Team
Regional Scale
response:
Migrant Offshore Aid
Station

Regional Scale
response:
Migrant Offshore Aid
Station
CONTINUED..
National Scale
response:
Operation Sovereign
Borders Australia
(government)

NGO founded in 2013

involved in search and
rescue missions in
Mediterranean Ocean
Provide food, water, life
rafts to vessels in distress
Co-ordinated from a
station in Malta

Aug 2014-Oct 2015 they

rescued 14,000 people
from Mediterranean Sea
No political agenda
It is equipped with an 18-strong
crew including seafarers, rescuers,
paramedics and doctors

Christopher and Regina

Catrambone privately
funded it
Public funding allowed
expansion
Relies on volunteers

The Phoenix has its own clinic,

rescue RHIBs and drones to assist
in search and rescue.

Launched Sept 2013

Zero tolerance policy to
illegal boat arrivals
Aimed to stop people
smugglers
Illegal boats are
intercepted before they
enter Australian waters
and towed to offshore
processing centres in
Nauru or PNG

Abbott govt claimed 90%

reduction in illegal boat
arrivals; clearly fewer
boats arriving to Australia
therefore the policy is
successful
Australia claims that
international law has not
been breeched as boats
are not returned to the
place they came from

Nauru files recently

exposed mistreatment and
abuse of children and
adults in Nauru
Several boats have infact
been turned back to Sri
Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia
Cost of running Nauru =
$1 bn per year taxpayers
money
Australia accused of

breech of UN Convention
for Refugees 1951

Gambella refugee Camp

Ethiopia
Educating children from
the conflict in Sudan (child
soldiers) in emergency
schools

Life skills and formal

education given to children

Funding from EU could

have political implications

Healing process from

conflict provided

Relies in CARE
providing/Finding teachers

More than 29000 children

educated in 8 centres
Local Scale response:
Learning without
borders CARE

little libraries established

to provide reference books
and reading spaces for
children in the camps
Equal participation for girls
and boys
Girls supported with
sanitary pads and hygiene
products to help them stay
in school
New permanent schools
under construction to be
linked with national
curriculum

Climate refugees
People who must leave their homes and communities because of the effects of climate change and global
warming

Caused by natural events (earthquakes, volcanoes) and human activity (floods, sea level rise, melting
glaciers)
Environmental refugees are not protected by international laws. They face greater political risks than
refugees who flee their homes due to conflict or political oppression
Unlike tradition refugees, climate refugees may be sent back to their devastated homeland or forced into a
refugee camp
Most are internally displaced people

Migration has been increased since 1950s. identify the main causes that have led to this. Provide specific evidence
in your response.
There has been a 50% increase since the 1950s
War and conflict: increasing prevalent conflicts across the world has led to an increase in the number of
people seeking refuge as a result of the dangers of war and the destruction of their homes and communities.
Syria/South Sudan to Ethiopia
Rural to urban migration: pull factors towards the city, now more than 50 percent of the world live in urban
regions
Environmental refugees destruction of their homes and communities force them to flee
Temporary migration: international students

Benefits and disadvantages of labour migration

Donor country
BENEFITS
DISADVANTAGES
Better support for families at
Families separated
home
Young children brought out by
Their remittance money
extended family
provides an important source of A loss of young and
funds (436 billion for developing
economically active people in
countries, 583 billion for
the region
developed)
Dramatic effect on rural
communities enabling them to
purchase food and other
essentials but also improve
their standards of living
Reduces poverty
Host country
BENEFITS
Boosts supply of low cost labour
Services can be maintained
though filling vacant jobs
Cheaper migrant labour reduces
the costs in industries including
agriculture, manufacturing and
construction
Contribute to economic growth
by spending money on food and
services

DISADVANTAGES
Face language difficulties
Place pressure on housing and
services
Locals fear losing their jobs to
incoming migrants
Trapped in unskilled jobs with
no prospects to develop their
careers
Racial and ethnic tensions: for
example, there was large scale
migration of workers from
Turkey to Germany in the
1960s-1970s, most of which
worked in the car industry.
Although they were the largest
group of non-citizens in
Germany, it was still difficult for
them to obtain citizenship until
2000 when new citizenship laws
took effect.