Editorial
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12412 |
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
Editorial
In this final issue of 2017, we offer the second in our occasional series of Policy Interviews, this
time with Aydan
€
Ozo
guz, Germany’s Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees, and Integration.
Over the past few years, Germany has emerged as one of the world’s leaders in the migration field
and is now host to the second largest number of migrants in the world. Although Germany has
been in the spotlight recently owing to the Syrian refugee situation, its history as a country of
migration goes back well beyond the Syrian civil war. Since this interview with Commissioner
€
Ozo
guz took place, the country held an election the results of which indicated both strong support
for the government’s openness to refugees and other migrants as well as some serious misgivings
by a large and growing number of German voters. We will be watching closely how the new gov-
ernment manages migration and public attitudes towards it in the future.
Despite setbacks this year for some anti-immigration parties, for example, in France and The
Netherlands, the unease felt by much of the European public towards migration continues as can
be seen in the election results in Austria and what at the time of this writing appears to be gains
by anti-immigration political forces in the Czech Republic. Of course, it is not only within Europe
that one continues to find public disquiet over immigration, a disquiet whose origins can perhaps
be located in the public’s lack of confidence in their governments to manage migration effectively
and in the interests of their society. We continue to hope that the international community is able
to offer helpful guidance to governments through the twin processes to establish a Global Compact
on Migration and another on Refugees. And we can predict that success here will depend on these
global discussions taking seriously and not merely dismissing public concerns.
The strong interest by our authors in refugee affairs is reflected once again in our pages in this
volume including with regard to public perceptions. The story is not all bad. Zorlu looked at the
reaction of the public to Asylum Seeker Centres in smaller municipalities in the Netherlands and
found, not strong opposition, but a striking willingness to support the creation of such centres in
their communities. Also challenging the frequent assumption that those in smaller communities are
more resistant to immigrants and refugees is the contribution from Gilhooly and Lee who explore
how Karen refugees in rural parts of the U.S. state of Georgia are faring. But those refugees in
Poland who are experiencing the hardships of poverty, as Lukasiewicz shows, are finding little
comfort in the provisions of the welfare state which has so far proved unable to compensate for the
economic challenges in regions of the country characterized by underprivilege. Poverty is not the
only risk faced by refugees and asylum seekers. Mandi
c and Simpson, using the recent experience
of refugees from Syria, demonstrate how anti-smuggling policies are in fact shifting the risk burden
from the smugglers to the refugees and, at the same time, increasing the refugees’dependence on
their smugglers. The protracted nature of some refugee camps is frustrating some host governments.
Making matters worse, Baloch et al argue, is that, at least in the case of Pakistan, hosting such
large numbers of refugees inevitably hinders national economic growth.
We have noted before the growing interest in return migration, one aspect of the broader phe-
nomenon of multiple migration. The link to refugee policy is often seen through assisted voluntary
return programs where it is sometimes assumed that the return is in and of itself an indicator of
success. But Kuschminder notes that re-migration is a very different thing from sustainable return
and re-integration. Re-integration into one’s homeland can be as challenging as a previous integra-
tion into a host society, and Nisrane et al demonstrate this clearly through the experiences of
Dr. Howard Duncan, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
doi: 10.1111/imig.12412
©2017 The Author
International Migration ©2017 IOM
International Migration Vol. 55 (6) 2017
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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