Why my research work is to highlight, counteract unjust and treatment of refugees , migrants -Dr Franzisca Zanker

Franzisca Zanker is a Senior Researcher at the Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institute (ABI) in Freiburg, Germany, where she heads the research cluster on “Patterns of (Forced) Migration.” Her research interests include migration and refugee governance, including return policies. She is the co-founder of the AEGIS Collaborative Research Group on ‘African Migration, Mobility and Displacement’ (AMMODI).

In this exclusive interview with voiceforafricanmigrants.org, Dr Zanker spoke about why she wants to use her research work to highlight and counteract unjust and treatment of refugees and migrants. Excerpts:

What informed your decision to work in the area of migration?
Having moved a lot since I was a child, I experienced being a (privileged) migrant from a young age with all the beauty and challenges that contains. The places I have lived – UK, France, Netherlands, Australia and Germany – do not exactly have the best reputation of accommodating people from other parts of the world. It is the unjust and treatment of refugees and migrants that I want to highlight and counteract with my research work.

For the benefits of those who do not know, what is forced migration?
If we open a newspaper or listen to discussions by politicians, it seems that there are universally accepted definitions of “migration”, or “refugees” or “displaced”. Yet, I would argue that it is actually not that clear-cut: many people move for different reasons and in different ways over time. Why would a Nigerian in Germany be called an “irregular migrant” and a German in Nigeria an “expat”? The research cluster I lead at the Arnold-Bergstraesser Institute in Germany is called “patterns of (forced) migration” – the brackets are no accident, we want people to stumble over them and to question who defines a type of journey and for what purpose.

What can you say about the politics of forced migration in Africa?
This has been my primary research focus in recent years, also to counteract the heavy bias in migration research in general on states in the Global North. The politics around migration, displacement and refugees in Africa are of course complex and multifold, and depend on the different states, non-state actors who are involved as well as the society of the specific location. For example, in South Africa we find that the political reaction to migration is tied to a domestic interest of scapegoating migrants for a variety of social problems. In Uganda, hosting refugees is considered a political tool to gain international leverage, and to a degree also to improve development for local host communities.

What are the challenges posed by forced migration?
Of course it is highly problematic when people are forced to flee due to war, natural disasters or other issues and are moving against their choice. They will most likely have lost their home, faced numerous traumatic events along the way and often live in terrible conditions once they reach their destination, be it temporary or not. However, it must be said that migration per se is not a problem- it is something that has always happened since the beginning of humankind, and will continue no matter what. The challenge as I see it is the responses to migration – the unequal power of passports, the dangerous routes many migrants are forced to take because of European externalisation policies, the hostile reception migrants face after they arrive.

What steps can be taken to reduce forced migration in Africa and the world at large?
To start with, wars need to end, the climate crisis needs to be acknowledged and action taken at a governmental and international level, government repression of minorities or political opposition needs to end. Beyond that, as above, a major problem we face today is the conditions of migration – we live in a world where your origin determines where you can move to, in what ways and for what purpose. Further securing borders, building walls, only accepting quotas only adds oil to the fire and in the long-run may even give people more reasons to move in the first place. Governments across the world need to take a step back and realise their policies are not working, causing the tragic deaths of thousand migrants each year and need to be changed.

From your experience, what is most responsible for forced migration?
This is an interesting question. I would like to say “who” is the most responsible, rather than what. We have governments causing wars, passing homophobic legislation or endangering their political opponents. We also have governments, all over the world, who are maintaining an unjust globalised white supremacist capitalist system that only benefits a small minority, and leaves a majority suffering. Governments who are not acting on the climate emergency. Beyond that, we have companies who are implicated in these systems, but are also directly causing displacements for development projects for example. This is why the African Kampala Convention on Internally Displaced Persons is such an important legislation; it includes a section on development-induced displacement.

Kindly share your field experience especially the ones that touched your heart most.
It’s hard to point to one experience. Talking to a variety of actors from different settings, from politicians, civil society actors down to people experiencing policies at the everyday level is a vital part of my research work. It is a great privilege to be able to talk to such a variety of people and learn from situations outside my everyday contexts. Of course the treatment of migrants and refugees is often very sad to hear, and frustrating when there is so little you can do to change the situation apart from raise awareness of what is happening.

There has always been deportation of migrants from Europe to Africa. What do you make of this and why is it so rampant these days?
Through the use of social media there is certainly more awareness of deportations, which I believe is a good thing. This allows for more transparency in a situation where often basic human right standards are not met. Though European governments are keen to deport many migrants who have no claims to stay in Europe legally, the actual number of deportations is still quite low.

Are African countries obligated to accept all deportations or are they at liberty to say no?
This is actually not easy to answer. Under international customary law (i.e. what is “always done”) it seems to be that states have to accept (to receive) deportees without question. They are their citizens after all. It is for example also included as a responsibility in the Cotonou Agreement from 2000. It is not actually a legally binding obligation however. In addition, if we question international standards more broadly, arguing that they treat states unequally, do states have to oblige with them? It’s a tricky situation because most states want to remain in a favourable position in the international community for which they need to follow the “rules” and accept the return of those being deported. But states also need to do what’s best for their citizens. This might be refusing their deportation back home. Or telling other states that the rules of game are biased and unjust.

What is your position on externalisation of borders by the EU and mass deportation of black Africans by Tunisia?
The current state of affairs is heart breaking. The number of people that have died due to awful racist policies is scandalous. Worse than that, it is creating more conflict-situations, entrenching autocratic leadership, pushing people to the brinks of society unable to work, go to school or take part in civil life, that will only lead to further migrations. It is simply not a way to deal with a ‘problem’, especially when the problem is not the migration, but the response to it.

Deportees are often sent home empty handed without any help from the home country. Is there anything the EU can do in the light of this to help the deportees?
The EU needs to work on having a better relationship with the countries of origin to work with them to provide an expansive, long-term support network for people forced to come home. At the same time, no one will ever be happy if they are forced to go somewhere against their will. If the EU put viable, accessible and visible legal migration pathways into place, fewer people would have to try dangerous irregular pathways and not all hope would be lost for entire families if their members came home empty-handed.

The views expressed in this interview are my personal views and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer, the Arnold-Bergstraesser Institute at the University of Freiburg.

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