Boats, Borders and Asylum: the Global Politics of Irregular Migration in Maritime Space

该项目调查海洋空间中不断变化的非正常或无证移徙模式。报告询问边境安全和庇护政策的变化如何影响非正常移徙者的经历和做法，以及这些移徙模式本身如何推动政策变化。该项目特别侧重于试图应对人口贩运和人口走私（通常将两者混为一谈）的安全工作如何影响移民，特别是寻求庇护者在跨越海上边界时的脆弱性。在探讨这些问题时，本研究优先考虑移民本身的经验和观点，采用创新的定性方法，使移民能够以自己的方式讲述自己的故事。该项目的目标是将移民经历置于我们理解非正常海上移民的中心，将当地案例研究结合起来，揭示全球政策变化模式，并了解海洋空间如何提供机会，重新思考我们如何理解国际领域。在这两种情况下，将研究两种迁移路线。在太平洋地区，重点是经印度尼西亚到澳大利亚和经泰国到加拿大的旅程;在地中海地区，审查的旅程是从摩洛哥到西班牙和从利比亚到意大利。为了了解这些路线，将在四个目的地国（澳大利亚、加拿大、西班牙和意大利）进行深入的实地研究，以追溯移徙者从目的地到移徙旅程的经历。这些经验将根据每个国家的政策变化模式进行分析，以及在区域和全球层面的国家间合作和治理，以揭示国家如何应对载着无证移民的船只的到来，以及这些反应如何影响这些人的流动性。指导研究方法是民族志，包括参与者观察，非结构化访谈和视觉民族志。视觉民族志代表了一种新的方法，将允许移民自己通过视频和摄影讲述自己的故事。这些作品将在项目网站上提供，并将在最后的公众参与活动中进行筛选。民族志也将得到半结构化访谈和政策分析的支持。在整个项目中，这项研究将得到研究人员全面技能发展的支持，其中包括方法培训，学术和从业者网络的发展，以及领导技能和机会的发展。在这个项目中的研究将提高我们对影响边境安全和庇护政治的非正常移民和政治变革过程的理解。这将反映在几篇期刊文章中，以及在项目结束时提交审查的最终书稿中。 这项研究也将产生重要的非学术影响。通过包括上述网站和公共活动在内的活动，在每个研究地点举办有针对性的讲习班，以及定期出版简报和项目报告，该项目将建立和加强跨社区网络。这项研究的主要对象包括一般公众、决策者、宣传和支助工作者以及移徙者本身。通过这一研究，政策辩论将通过对非正常移徙的更深入理解而得到充实。此外，该项目的活动和出版物将为沟通、协商和合作创造新的机会，以制定更有效和更人道的对策，应对非正常跨水移徙带来的挑战。

This project interrogates changing patterns of irregular, or undocumented, migration in maritime space. It asks how the experiences and practices of irregular migrants are impacted by changing policies in border security and asylum, and also how these patterns of migration are themselves driving policy change. The project has a particular focus on how security efforts that attempt to respond to human trafficking and people smuggling (and that often conflate the two) are impacting the vulnerabilities of migrants, particularly asylum seekers, as they cross maritime borders. In pursuing these questions, this research prioritises the experiences and perspectives of migrants themselves by using innovative qualitative methods that enable migrants to tell their own stories, in their own ways. The objectives of this project are to place the migrant experience at the centre of our understanding of irregular maritime migration, to bring local case studies together to reveal global patterns of policy change, and to understand how the maritime space offers opportunities to rethink how we understand the international realm.The project is built around two case studies: the Pacific Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. In both cases, two migration routes will be studied. For the Pacific, the journey that transits through Indonesia to Australia, and that which transits through Thailand to Canada are the focus; in the Mediterranean, the journeys examined are from Morocco to Spain, and from Libya to Italy. To understand these routes, in-depth field research will be undertaken in the four destination states (Australia, Canada, Spain, and Italy) in order to trace the experience of migrants backwards from their destination through their migration journeys. These experiences will be analyzed against patterns of policy change in each state, and of interstate cooperation and governance at regional and global levels to reveal how states have responded to the arrival of boats carrying undocumented migrants, and how these responses have then impacted the mobility of these individuals.The guiding research method is ethnography, which includes participant observation, unstructured interviews, and visual ethnographies. The visual ethnographies represent a new method, and will allow migrants themselves to tell their own stories through video and photography. These pieces will then be made available on the Project Website, and will be screened at a final Public Engagement Event. Ethnographies will also be supported by semi-structured interviews and by policy analysis. Throughout the project, this research will be supported by comprehensive skills development for the researcher, which includes methodology training, the development of academic and practitioner networks, and the development of leadership skills and opportunities in the field.The research in this project will enhance our understanding of irregular migration and processes of political change that impact border security and asylum politics. This will be reflected in several journal articles, and a final book manuscript that will be submitted for review at the end of the project. This research will also have important non-academic impacts. Through activities that include the Website and Public Event noted above, targeted Workshops in each research site, and the regular publication of Briefing Notes and Project Reports, this project will build and enhance cross-community networks. The key audiences for this research include the general public, policy makers, advocacy and support workers, and migrants themselves. Through this research, policy debates will be informed by deeper understandings of irregular migration. Further, the activities and publications of the project will build new opportunities for communication, and for consultation and collaboration in developing more effective and humane responses to the challenges posed by irregular migration across water.