Forced migration

An overcrowded train carrying refugees during the partition of India in 1947. This is considered to have been the largest migration in human history. It forced millions of people to be displaced.^[1]

Forced migration (also called displacements) is when people are made to leave their home or homeland. It is usually caused by violence, persecution,^[2] danger, or because an authority (such as a government) has told people to move. People are removed either by force or because of a threat or command. A person who has become forced to migrate is called a "forced migrant" or "displaced person". They may be called a refugee, but that term has a specific legal definition.

Migration of people is constantly happening, but in a stable society it usually happens because a person chooses to do it. Forced migration occurs when people's lives, well-being or freedom is endangered. They may have little or no choice but to move. In some cases, such as human trafficking and slavery, people are physically removed from their homes.

Occasionally a government forces people and communities out of their homes or homelands for the purposes of economic development or military. It has been most often been associated with the building of dams and military bases.

Migration can also be forced by natural disasters, when people are forced to evacuate an area.^[3] This is usually temporary, and people can return to their land once it is safe. If not, such forced migrantion violates Fourth Geneva Convention.^[4]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says Afghanistan produces the most number of refugees each year. It has held that position for 32 years. Almost half of refugees are children under the age of 18. Many of these are separated from their parents.^[5]

Forced Migration Media

General deportation currents of the dekulakization 1930–1931
Damage to residence in Nias, Indonesia from the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami
Displaced ethnic Armenians boarding buses in Nagorno-Karabakh on 21 September 2023
Jews forcibly displaced by the Nazi regime during Germany's WWII occupation of Poland, loaded onto trains for transport to concentration camps.
Children of undocumented immigrants from Latin America to the United States detained in the Ursula Detention Center, McAllen, Texas, June 2017

Related pages

References

↑ Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar (February 2013). "India–Pakistan Partition 1947 and forced migration". The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm285. ISBN 9781444334890.
↑ Conventions No. 29, 105, 138 and 182; Convention No. 97 (Art. 3, Annex I; Art. 8 and Annex II, Art. 13); Convention No. 143, Part I; 1990 International Convention (Art. 21)
↑ Bogumil Terminski (2012). Environmentally-Induced Displacement: Theoretical Frameworks and Current Challenges, University de Liege.
↑ Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49
↑ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "New UNHCR report says global forced displacement at 18-year high". United Nations. Retrieved 16 February 2016.

Other websites

What is Forced Migration? Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine, an introductory guide for those who are new to the subject.

[1] Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar (February 2013). "India–Pakistan Partition 1947 and forced migration". The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. John Wiley & Sons. doi:10.1002/9781444351071.wbeghm285. ISBN 9781444334890.

[2] Conventions No. 29, 105, 138 and 182; Convention No. 97 (Art. 3, Annex I; Art. 8 and Annex II, Art. 13); Convention No. 143, Part I; 1990 International Convention (Art. 21)

[3] Bogumil Terminski (2012). Environmentally-Induced Displacement: Theoretical Frameworks and Current Challenges, University de Liege.

[4] Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49

[5] United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "New UNHCR report says global forced displacement at 18-year high". United Nations. Retrieved 16 February 2016.

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