The International Conference on Migration in Africa (ICMA) hosted by the Scalabrini Institute for Human Mobility in Africa (SIHMA) and the Institute for Social Development at UWC, on 3 December 2014 brought together local, African and international scholars, academics, researchers, practitioners, professionals, policy makers and NGO representatives and funding bodies to discuss issues relating to human mobility in Africa. The topics included south-south migration, the nexus between migration and development, irregular migration and reintegration of returnee migrants.

1. Irregular Migration
SIHMA Conference
December 3, 2014
Laura ZANFRINI
Università Cattolica di Milano
Fondazione ISMU, Milan

2. Irregular Migration (IM)
It is a movement that takes place outside the
regulatory norms of the sending, transit and
receiving countries
From the perspective of receiving country:
Entry, stay or work in the country without the necessary
authorization or documents required under immigration
rules
From the perspective of sending country:
Leaving the country without a valid passport or travel
documents or without fulfilling the administrative
requirements

3. The Issue of Borders
Borders = human “invention”, introduced only
recently in human history
Borders’ defense = one of the last symbols of the
State sovereignty
Particularly after 2011, IM connected with security
issues = reinforcement and externalization of
borders
Both in Europe and US: restrictive immigration
policies and borders’ enforcement = growth of IM
Borders and “mixed flows” = difficult to distinguish
among asylum seekers, people in need of protection
and migrant not in need of protection

4. Few Emblematic Examples
CIS countries: IM resulting from new borders of
the States
Some African countries: IM from imposition of
artificial borders by colonial powers
In many Latin and Central American countries:
increase of African and Asian IMs mainly due to
US restrictive policies
EU: admission of new countries and millions of
IMs transformed in regular migrants
Pacific Islands: offshore camps for IMs (“Pacific
solution”)

5. Political Construction of IM
The regular/irregular status = not a permanent
attribute, but a temporary situation
IM status = result of political construction
(definition of the borders + conditions for entry)
IM status can vary over the course of the
migration experience for different causes
IM opens a debate on the ethical (or non ethical)
foundations of its definition and the “right to
migrate”
Consequence of the implementation of
immigration policies stating conditions for entry

6. Causes of IM
Unequal development, structural changes
(globalisation) and strong social inequalities
Lack of labor and livelihood opportunities,
education and efficient welfare system
Threats to personal security: conflicts, political
instability and environmental/climate changes
Disproportion between no. of candidates and no.
of regular migrants set by receiving countries
Inconsistency between entry requirements and
needs of the local economy in receiving countries
High costs and long waiting time of regular
channels
Restrictive rules concerning family reunions

7. Causes of IM
The huge “Migration Industry”
Introduction of free-visa entry and free circulation
spaces with no right to stay and work
Demand for cheap labor in destination countries,
growing flexibility and precariousness of
employment relations, “parallel welfare systems”,
presence of employers of same ethnic background
Strong ethnic and social networks favoring the
arrival and the stay of irregular co-nationals
Misleading advocacy of some actors and
organization resulting in reinforcing the culture of
irregular migration

8. Who Gains from IM?
Smugglers and traffickers + mediators and fixers
Sending countries governments (remittances)
Corrupted public officials
Employers, and large outsourcing corporations
Private households who employ low-paid domestic
workers
Consumers who purchase goods produced under
exploitative work conditions
Owners and clients of the sex industry
Actors managing the informal remitting channels

9. Who Loses from IM?
Victims of human trafficking
All IMs (rights abuse and no possibility to go home)
Left behind families (no possibility of family
reunification)
The host country fiscal system (no contributions
from IMs)
Local and regular migrant workers, (social dumping
and deterioration of labor standards)
Honest employers (unfair competition by employers
of IMs)
Hosting society cohesion (negative perception of
IMs)

10. The Social Perception of IMs
Criminals who keep at risk national sovereignty,
public order and collective security, cause social
dumping phenomena and feed the criminal
economy
 expulsion, deportation, detention, punishment
Victims of trafficking organizations, who suffer
conditions of exploitation and slavery
 policies of assistance and protection
Free actors who deliberately chose to violate an
illegitimate international order
 access to rights, regularization, reform of migration
policies

11. EU Unresolved Paradoxes
European history: tensions between declared policy
goals and evolution of migration processes,
attempting to bridge opposite intents:
Limitation of new entries vs. integration of resident migrants
Liberal logic of open markets vs. fear for “migrants’ invasion”
Protection of the European traditional identity vs. enhancement
of mobility and diversity
Institutional discrimination against non-EU migrants vs.
protection of fundamental human rights, regardless of
nationality and status
Restrictive admission policies vs. a deregulation of the labor
market and tolerance towards underground economy
Defense of local communities from migrants vs. defense of
migrants

12. EU Unresolved Paradoxes
In the EU government of IM, there are some clear
tendencies:
To renounce to some basic juridical principles in order to limit
“unwanted migration”
To represent borders management as a technocratic task,
neglecting its ethical implications
To devote enormous resources to fight irregular migration,
(with little results) and little resource to support social
integration projects
To submit the process of comunitarisation to the logic of
securitization and distribution of the burden of border control
To bound international cooperation to sending countries’
cooperation in migration control (retention and repatriation)

13. A Decalogue of Priorities
1. Promote the “right not to migrate”, making migration a
real option and combat the “irresponsibility” of sending
countries (emigration vs. development policies)
2. Eradicate the culture of (irregular) migration with specific
awareness raising initiatives (individuals and families)
3. Combat the improper use of entry and regularization
policies, particularly those tending to extend the
protection for humanitarian reasons to “fake” asylum
seekers
4. Introduce regular migration schemes aiming at satisfying
the real demands of the receiving countries’ markets
5. Reinforce incentives for families who regularly employ
migrants; contrast the social acceptance of migrant
irregular employment within the households

14. A Decalogue of Priorities
6. Apply stronger sanctions to employers of IMs and
improve the overall labor market management
7. Question the characteristics, functioning and role of
detention centers, looking for alternative solutions
8. Develop the cooperation among civil society
organizations and religious groups of the receiving and
the sending countries, in order to provide valid
alternative to irregular migration and enhance the use of
regular migration channels
9. Promote the dialogue between sending, transit and
receiving countries in order to enhance the
harmonization of migration laws and policies
10. Promote at all governance levels and among all actors
the awareness of the basic principle of human dignity