Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by Boat: Mapping and Documenting Migratory Journeys and Experiences

目前的政策干预措施迫切需要根据前所未有的移民水平以及地中海各地难民和移民死亡人数的灾难性增加进行评估。虽然难民和移民在前往欧洲联盟途中死亡绝非新鲜事，但最近悲剧的程度和强度却是前所未有的。2015年1月至5月记录的死亡人数超过1850人，要求欧盟成员国迅速采取行动。该项目提供了及时而有力的证据基础，为在紧急情况下制定的政策干预措施提供信息。它通过评估这些干预措施对最直接影响的人（难民和移民本身）的影响来做到这一点。随着北非、撒哈拉以南非洲和中东地区移民压力的增加，欧盟领导人承诺加强在海上的存在，同时打击贩运和走私网络，并扩大跨区域合作，以防止“非法移民流动”。尽管欧盟的政策仍然具有很大的连续性，但该区域的事态发展在紧急情况下迅速发生了变化。Triton是由欧洲外部边境机构Frontex协调的联合边境管理行动，于2014年秋季取代了意大利的搜救行动Mare Nostrum。Triton的救援能力在2015年初有所提高，同时重新关注跨区域移民和发展合作，例如通过喀土穆和拉巴特进程。欧盟还通过地中海部队海军行动开始了新的努力，以破坏该区域的走私和贩运网络。迫切需要评估这些事态发展对整个区域难民和移民流动的影响。欧盟强调了加强成员国之间的内部团结和通过跨区域合作促进分担责任的重要性。然而，这些关切反映出一项政策议程迄今在为乘船穿越地中海的难民和移民提供有效保护或定居结果方面取得的成功有限。因此，对政策干预的重新评估迫在眉睫。本项目通过对难民和移民的旅程和经历进行评估，提出以下问题：政策干预对穿越地中海的移民旅程和经历有何影响？难民和移民如何在复杂和错综复杂的移民和监管动态中进行谈判？可以通过哪些方式重新制定政策，以解决移民在海上死亡问题？在搜索和救援、反走私和预防机制方面的进展不能脱离那些最直接受这些进展影响的人来评估。因此，迫切需要以难民和移民的旅程和经历为基础的办法，以便有效地评估整个地中海地区政策干预的影响。该项目提供了一个强有力的证据基础，探讨了政策干预对整个地区难民和移民的影响，重点关注希腊、意大利和马耳他这三个欧盟岛屿抵达点。定性访谈数据，包括文本和视觉，是通过跨学科的参与性研究方法产生的，并通过英国数据服务提供。对这些数据进行及时的初步和持续的分析，并通过研究简报和报告、项目讲习班和会议、项目网站、学术期刊文章以及各种媒体传播。该项目有助于：从跨学科的角度看待该区域政策干预的法律和社会影响；对穿越地中海的移徙路线和旅行方法的比较观点；对难民和移民的旅程和经历进行定性分析；以及紧急情况下参与性研究的方法论见解。

Current policy interventions urgently need assessing in light of unprecedented levels of migration and a catastrophic increase in refugee and migrant deaths across the Mediterranean Sea. While refugee and migrant deaths en route to the European Union are by no means new, the level and intensity of recent tragedies is unprecedented. More than 1850 deaths were recorded January-May 2015, demanding swift action on the part of EU Member States. This project produces a timely and robust evidence base as grounds for informing policy interventions developed under emergency conditions. It does so by assessing the impact of such interventions on those that they affect most directly: refugees and migrants themselves.As migratory pressures increase across North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, EU leaders have committed to a strengthened presence at sea, while fighting trafficking and smuggling networks, and extending cross-regional cooperation in order to prevent 'illegal migration flows'. Although there remain significant continuities in EU policy, developments in the region have shifted quickly under emergency conditions. Triton, a joint border management operation coordinated by the European external border agency Frontex, replaced the Italian search and rescue operation Mare Nostrum in autumn 2014. Triton's rescue capacities increased in early 2015, alongside a renewed focus on cross-regional migration and development cooperation, such as through the Khartoum and Rabat processes. New EU efforts to disrupt smuggling and trafficking networks in the region have also been initiated through the EUNAVFOR Med naval operation. These developments urgently need assessing in terms of their impact on refugee and migrant movements across the region. The EU has emphasised the importance of reinforcing internal solidarity between Member States and fostering shared responsibility through cross-regional cooperation. Nevertheless, such concerns reflect a policy agenda that has thus far had limited success in providing effective protection or settlement outcomes for refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean by boat. A renewed assessment of policy interventions is therefore pressing. This project undertakes such an assessment by engaging the journeys and experiences of refugees and migrants, asking: What are the impacts of policy interventions on migratory journeys and experiences across the Mediterranean? How do refugees and migrants negotiate complex and entwined migratory and regulatory dynamics? In what ways can policy be re-shaped to address migrant deaths at sea?Developments in search and rescue, anti-smuggling, and preventive mechanisms cannot be assessed in isolation from those who are most directly affected by such developments. An approach grounded in the journeys and experiences of refugees and migrants is thus urgent in order to effectively assess the impact of policy interventions across the Mediterranean. The project produces a robust evidence base that explores the effects of policy interventions on refugees and migrants across the region, focusing on three EU island arrival points in Greece, Italy and Malta. Qualitative interview data, both textual and visual, is produced through an interdisciplinary participatory research approach, and made available through the UK Data Service. This data is subject to a timely initial and on-going analysis, and is disseminated through research briefs and reports, project workshops and a conference, a project website, academic journal articles, as well as via various media outlets.The project contributes: an interdisciplinary perspective on the legal and social implications of policy interventions in the region; a comparative perspective on migratory routes and methods of travel across the Mediterranean; a qualitative analysis of the journeys and experiences of refugees and migrants; and methodological insights into participatory research under emergency conditions.