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

该项目探讨了海洋空间中不规则或无证移民的变化模式。它询问了边境安全和庇护政策的变化如何影响非正规移民的经历和做法，以及这些移民模式本身如何推动政策变化。该项目特别关注试图应对人口贩运和人口走私（通常将两者混为一谈）的安全努力如何影响移民，特别是寻求庇护者在跨越海上边界时的脆弱性。在探索这些问题的过程中，本研究通过使用创新的定性方法，使移民能够以自己的方式讲述自己的故事，从而优先考虑移民本身的经历和观点。该项目的目标是将移民经历置于我们对非常规海上移民理解的中心，将当地的案例研究结合在一起，揭示全球政策变化的模式，并了解海洋空间如何为我们重新思考如何理解国际领域提供机会。该项目围绕两个案例研究展开：太平洋和地中海。在这两种情况下，将研究两种迁移路线。对于太平洋地区，通过印度尼西亚到澳大利亚的旅程，以及通过泰国到加拿大的旅程是重点；在地中海，调查的旅程是从摩洛哥到西班牙，从利比亚到意大利。为了了解这些路线，将在四个目的地州（澳大利亚，加拿大，西班牙和意大利）进行深入的实地研究，以便通过他们的移民旅程追溯移民的经历。这些经验将根据每个州的政策变化模式，以及区域和全球层面的州际合作和治理模式进行分析，以揭示各州如何应对载有无证移民的船只的到来，以及这些应对措施如何影响这些人的流动性。指导研究方法是民族志，包括参与性观察、非结构化访谈和视觉民族志。视觉人种志代表了一种新方法，它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公布，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，包括方法论培训、学术和从业者网络的发展、领导技能的发展和领域内的机会。该项目的研究将增强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，并在项目结束时提交一份最终的书籍手稿供审查。这项研究也将产生重要的非学术影响。通过上述网站和公共活动、每个研究地点的专题研讨会、定期出版简报和项目报告等活动，该项目将建立和加强跨社区网络。本研究的主要受众包括公众、政策制定者、倡导和支持工作者以及移民本身。通过这项研究，对非正常移民的更深入理解将为政策辩论提供信息。此外，该项目的活动和出版物将为交流、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所带来的挑战。

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.