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

目前的政策干预迫切需要根据前所未有的移民水平和地中海沿岸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的事件并不新鲜，但最近悲剧的程度和强度是前所未有的。2015年1月至5月，有1850多人死亡，要求欧盟成员国迅速采取行动。这一项目提供了及时和有力的证据基础，作为在紧急情况下制定政策干预措施的依据。它通过评估这些干预措施对最直接影响的人的影响来评估：难民和移民本身。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海上存在，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”。虽然欧盟的政策仍有很大的连续性，但该区域的事态发展在紧急情况下迅速发生了变化。Triton是由欧洲对外边境管理局Frontex协调的联合边境管理行动，于2014年秋季取代了意大利的Mare Nostrum搜救行动。2015年初，Triton的救援能力有所增强，同时重新注重跨区域移徙和发展合作，例如通过喀土穆和拉巴特进程。欧盟还通过欧盟海军地中海海军行动，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。欧盟强调必须加强成员国之间的内部团结，并通过跨区域合作促进共同责任。然而，这些关切反映了一项政策议程，迄今为止，该议程在为乘船穿越地中海的难民和移民提供有效保护或定居成果方面取得的成功有限。因此，迫切需要重新评估政策干预措施。该项目通过参与难民和移民的旅程和经历进行这样的评估，提出以下问题：政策干预对跨地中海的移民旅程和经历有何影响？难民和移徙者如何应对复杂和复杂的移徙和监管动态？如何重新制定政策以解决海上移民死亡问题？在评估搜索和救援、反走私和预防机制方面的发展时，不能脱离那些最直接受到这些发展影响的人。因此，迫切需要采取一种基于难民和移民的旅程和经历的方法，以有效评估政策干预措施在整个地中海地区的影响。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，重点是希腊、意大利和马耳他的三个欧盟岛屿抵达点。定性访谈数据，文本和视觉，是通过跨学科的参与性研究方法，并通过英国数据服务提供。对这些数据进行及时的初步分析和持续分析，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渠道传播，该项目有助于：从跨学科角度看待该区域政策干预的法律的和社会影响;对跨越地中海的移徙路线和旅行方法进行比较;对难民和移民的旅程和经历进行定性分析;对紧急情况下参与性研究的方法学见解。

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.