History and Development of Migration Challenges

Abstract

The movement of people from one place to the other is a phenomenon that has existed for probably almost as long as humanity. Thus, migration marks one persistent dynamic in human history. The reasons for people to decide to migrate can originate from various sources and events. Some of them include war, persecution, and discrimination to name the forceful ones; but also family reunification, better job opportunities and improved lifestyle. The motive for migration also determines whether a person accounts for a “regular” migrant or a refugee. In 2017, more refugees and migrants were on the move. Around the world, over 65 million people (equivalent to the population of Britain) are forcibly displaced. “That includes 22.5m who qualify more narrowly as refugees compared with 16m in 2007. Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon and Iran each host over 1m refugees. But international reaction depends mostly on events in richer countries, notably the numbers of people seeking asylum. In 2012 there were 943,000 registered asylum-seekers globally, the number rose to 3.2m in 2015, before dipping to 2.8m in 2016.” (Roberts, 2017, p. 81). The United Nations stated that 250 million people—roughly the population of Indonesia, the world’s fourth-most-populous country—are migrants and the think-tank OECD said that 5 million people migrated permanently to rich countries in 2016, with an average annual rise in recent years of 7% (Roberts, 2017, p. 81).