'Constrained mobility': a feature of protracted displacement in Greece and Italy

Protracted displacement is often implicitly associated with passivity and immobility, and it is not by chance that protracted displacement is often described through the metaphor of 'limbo'. But people living in protracted displacement are far from immobile. On the contrary, both in their...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inForced migration review no. 68; pp. 59 - 62
Main Authors Hatziprokopiou, Panos, Papatzani, Evangelia, Pastore, Ferruccio, Roman, Emanuela
Format Magazine Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Refugee Studies Centre, Oxford Department of International Development 01.11.2021
Subjects
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Employment
Farmworkers
Informal economy
Labor market
Migrants
Migration
Mobility
Political asylum
Refugees
Regulation
Socioeconomic factors
Greece
Turkey
Italy
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Summary:Protracted displacement is often implicitly associated with passivity and immobility, and it is not by chance that protracted displacement is often described through the metaphor of 'limbo'. But people living in protracted displacement are far from immobile. On the contrary, both in their everyday lives and over time, they experience 'constrained mobility' at different scales and in pursuit of different goals. While heavily constrained by a complex and constantly evolving combination of legal and socioeconomic factors, these mobility patterns are a crucial form of 'agency under duress'. Here, Roman et al use the cases of Greece and Italy to explore what protracted displacement looks like in reality. These countries share at least three common structural features. First, both are 'first entry' countries in the European Union (EU), where asylum seekers' mobility is constrained by Dublin Regulation rules. Second, both countries have comparatively low administrative capacity, in particular in the fields of reception and integration of asylum seekers and refugees. Finally they are both characterized by stagnant official labor markets and sizeable underground economies. All of these factors deeply shape the patterns of mobility and inclusion/exclusion of migrants living in protracted displacement.
ISSN:1460-9819
2051-3070