MIGNEX: Comparative Experiences of Transit Migration Management
June 2023
While as a term, ‘transit migration’ is criticised due to its analytical shortcomings, Eurocentric origins and political implications for migrants as well as for countries associated with transit; it is an important part of how people move from one place to another. How it is managed can help or hinder their mobility.
Our approach in studying transit migration starts with the empirical observation that transit migration has become not only a policy area concerning Europe, but a global phenomenon with a real impact on the policies of destination countries, but also of countries situated along migration routes.
As part of the MIGNEX (Aligning Migration Management and the Migration–Development Nexus) consortium, Samuel Hall contributed to a background paper on ‘Comparative experiences of transit migration management’.
The text engages critically with the concept of transit migration and identifies key patterns of transit migration management at global, regional and country level. Through comparative analysis it examines the transit migration routes and policies of four countries: Turkey, Tunisia, Ethiopia and Pakistan.
According to Samuel Hall’s findings, transit migrants face a number of challenges, including exploitation, violence, detention, and lack of access to basic services.
As a way forward the background paper invites more research into discerning the impact of transit migration management on individual countries, on state and non-state actors, and on migrants themselves along migration routes.
Devising policy suggestions that will lead to a fairer distribution of responsibility to address protection needs in so-called ‘transit countries’ is also crucial.