The phrase ‘refugees and migrants’ undermines analysis, policy and protection
| Published date | 01 June 2023 |
| Author | Jørgen Carling |
| Date | 01 June 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.13147 |
International Migration. 2023;61:399–403.
|
399
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
Received: 23 Marc h 2023
|
Accepted: 27 March 20 23
DOI: 10.1111/imig.13147
COMMENTARY
The phrase ‘refugees and migrants’ undermines
analysis, policy and protection
Jørgen Carling
Peace Researc h Institute Oslo, Os lo, Norway
Correspondence
Jørgen Carl ing, Peace Researc h Institute Oslo, Os lo, Norway.
Email: jorgen@prio.org
Since 2015, the ph rase ‘refugees and migr ants’ has become a mains tay of policy discussion s, media coverage and
academic pub lications. The phras e is a cause for concern bec ause it subtly undermine s the meaning of ‘migrant s’,
with negative con sequences for policy, analy sis, and people on the move.
The hear t of the m atter is a disagreement over who ‘migrant s’ are. Traditionall y, policymakers, practitioners
and scholar s have understood an international mig rant to be anyone wh o has moved away from their country of
usual residence wi th the intention or expecta tion of staying for some time, irre spective of the reasons for mig rating.
Consequently, international students, oversees contract workers, refugees, and other groups with specific vulner-
abilities and ri ghts are included unde r the umbrella term ‘migran ts’.
The United N ations High Commissi oner for Refugees (U NCHR) has vehement ly opposed this u nderstanding.
Specifica lly, UNHCR argu es that ref ugees are n ot a subcat egory of mi grants. Rath er, ‘migrants’ a re understoo d
as the residual, hig hly diverse group of all people on the move except refugee s. Hence, we can denote the two
definitions of ‘mi grants’ inclusivist and residualist, respecti vely (Figure1).
Importan tly, the t wo views adhere to the s ame definit ion of refugees and recognize the distin ctiveness of
refugees and th eir rights; the only dif ference lies in whether or n ot ‘migrants’ include refu gees.
The residualist view is dangerous for four reasons. First, it asser ts that a mig rant by definition is someone
without a legitimat e need for protection from persec ution. But very often, when peo ple cross borders, we cannot
know their needs and rig hts. In fact, who is a refugee and who is not is sometim es established only after a leng thy
individual status determination process.
Recognizing that ever y migrant might b e a r efugee is essential for the formulation of migr ation polic y and
border ma nagement. For in stance, measure s to combat mi grant smuggling can go terrib ly wrong if migrants are
understood a s people who have no legitimat e need to seek protection (C arling, 2017).
Second, the residualist view deprives us of an accurate and n on- judgemental way of referring to diverse peo-
ple on the move. The phrase ‘refuge es and migrants’ seeks to do just that, you migh t argue. But using ‘refugees’ or
‘migrants’ on their own remain s much more common. If we cannot use ‘migrants’ as an umbrella term that inclu des
potential refuge es, the result is often pre mature and prejudicial la belling.
This is an open a ccess article un der the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and
reproduct ion in any medium, pro vided the origina l work is properly cit ed.
© 2023 The A uthor. Inter national M igration p ublished b y John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Internati onal Orga nization f or
Migration.
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