Let's Give Cities A Greater Role In Managing Migration

Martin Botvidsson via Getty Images

Crowds on city street

National borders have become deadly barriers, rivaled only by war and natural disaster. Migrants who succeeded in crossing national borders are often disenfranchised and exploited. Can this problem be addressed by granting cities a greater role in managing migration?

The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 4,300 persons have died or went missing along migratory routes worldwide so far in 2016; more than 3,200 perished in the Mediterranean alone.

The causes of this human-made catastrophe are complex. There is a complicated interplay between national governments and their policies, international organizations, civic institutions, and surveillance and control technologies. Many migrants die as they take ever greater risks to avoid the grip of these "border regimes."

Border regimes operate not only at the physical border between countries, but also in the international waters of the Mediterranean and off the coast of Australia, and along the transit routes through the Sahara desert and out of Syria. They also act inside national borders, at the train stations of Munich and Milano, the bus terminals in Calgary and Chicago, and workplaces and hospital emergency rooms throughout Canada.

National migration policies play an important part in ordering our society based on origin and status.

Border regimes do more than simply controlling migration: they determine the conditions under which people live, work, and die. They regulate who has rights and access to work and welfare, and they establish who belongs to a society and who is "illegal." Border regimes order our world.

Because of our protected geography, relatively few people are dying on route to Canada. Most migrants realize that crossing the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans to reach Canada is much costlier and riskier than crossing the Mediterranean.

Nevertheless, border regimes are still ordering our country. Estimates suggest that up to 500,000 persons live in Canada without legal status. In Greater Toronto, there may be as many as 200,000 persons without status, and equally as many with precarious status. Their lack of full status often prevents them from claiming basic rights, excludes them from fully participating in our society, and renders them exploitable as workers.

National migration policies play an important part in ordering our society based on origin and status. Canadian temporary foreign workers and international mobility programs have resulted in more than 350,000 foreign workers living in Canada in 2014, often without the same economic rights and entitlements that Canadian citizens take for granted -- including the right to stay.

Cities have a different approach to migration. They are not in the business of controlling who crosses and settles within their boundaries, or ordering their communities based on where residents are coming from. Rather, their role is to be inclusive and provide access to resources and services for all residents.

Granted, some city administrations are eager to enforce national migration policies and actively participate in the border regime. Research by my colleague at York University, Liette Gilbert, shows how smaller towns such as Hérouxville, Quebec, and Hazleton, Pennsylvania, have introduced measures that erode the rights of migrants and control their presence.

Many other cities, however, resist exclusionary national policies and border regimes. For example, by declaring themselves sanctuary cities, Toronto and Hamilton have recognized that the residents who are denied status by national policies are nevertheless members of their communities. In this way, dozens of sanctuary cities throughout North America are seeking to build inclusive urban communities in which all residents can equally participate -- independent of the order which border regimes impose.

In a globalized world, nation states are increasingly failing to cope with the human need for security and desire to migrate.

Urban communities are also highly responsive to global developments and the need for people to migrate for work and opportunity, and to escape from war and oppression. Take Lifeline Syria as an example: this initiative was spearheaded by civic leaders of Greater Toronto to mobilize fellow residents to sponsor Syrian refugee families and help these families settle in their communities. While the federal government is an important partner in this initiative, it is the urban community that has demonstrated leadership.

Cities are demanding a greater role in managing migration and are asserting their independence from national migration policies that disenfranchise large portions of their residents.

In a globalized world, nation states are increasingly failing to cope with the human need for security and desire to migrate. As cities fill this void, they must maintain their inclusive approach and resist being absorbed into the deadly border regime.

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7 Deadly Threats Facing Innocent Syrian Civilians

Hunger and Starvation(01 of07)

The plight of Syrians besieged in the town of Madaya prompted an international humanitarian response (AP Photo)

Hunger, starvation, and extreme malnourishment present existential threats to millions of Syria's most vulnerable people.

The young, the elderly, and the infirm are all particularly susceptible to the effects of malnutrition, which can stunt the growth of children, and exacerbate chronic medical conditions.

Unicef deputy director Lily Caprani told HuffPost UK about the effects long-term malnourishment are having as the Syrian conflict enters its fifth year. She said: "There’s hunger in the short term, and then malnutrition over the longer term severely and in some cases irreversibly damages children’s development, so a child who at the age of two or three is undernourished can physical stop growing.

“Unfortunately there are some cases where that cannot be undone. We’re trying to stop getting it to that stage."

Unicef continues to work in Syria, and it estimates it has helped the majority of those who need help in accessible areas. That still leaves as many as two million out of reach of aid, however.

Towns which are besieged by fighting are particularly difficult to access. In one example, the situation in the Syrian town of Madaya, north west of Damascus, had become so dire that the UN estimated 400 residents needed to be immediately evacuated to receive life-saving treatment. Their conditions related to extreme malnourishment and starvation, as well as medical conditions.

(credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Exposure To The Cold(02 of07)

Syrian boys play with snow following a storm in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on January 5

Exposure to the elements is become a concern for aid agencies operating in and around Syria.

Harsh winters bring snow, ice, and chilling winds - making for harrowing conditions in houses lacking electricity and the refugee camps bordering on vast, desolate landscapes.

"One of the key things we worry about every year in that on top of everything else, we now have extreme cold," Lily Caprani of Unicef UK says, "Although we're doing everything we can to them, they're living in tents, in containers."

The organisation is leading a campaign to keep children warm this winter with hats, gloves and scalfs.

"Many of the refugees in... countries such as Jordan and Lebanon live in terrible conditions and are struggling to find warmth as temperatures fall," Robert Mardini, director for the Near and Middle East with the International Committee of the Red Cross, told Al Jazeera.

"They live with the uncertainty of not knowing what tomorrow will bring, or even if they will ever make it back home one day." (credit:KARAM AL-MASRI via Getty Images)

Barrel Bombs(03 of07)

Syrians searching for survivors in the rubble of destroyed buildings following the barrel bomb-attacks of Syrian air forces on February 2, 2014, in Aleppo, Syria.

Barrel bombs continue to plague Syrian cities. The improvised devices are thrown from transport helicopters, without the ability to hit specific targets.

According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the number of civilains killed by Syrian regime barrel bombs outnumbers those slain by the so-called Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

Jeremy Binnie, Middle East editor for IHS Jane's Defence Weekly, told HuffPost UK that the bombs were developed due to either a lack of weaponry or aircraft around a year or so into the current conflict.

He said: “While early ones appeared to be similar in size to oil barrels, the ones that have been seen generally have a smaller diameter.

“They were first seen in the summer of 2012.

“They are a way of turning the Syrian air force’s Mi-8/17 helicopters into attack aircraft as the improvised bombs can be rolled out the rear cargo doors.”

“The bombs are capable of destroying buildings and killing people, but almost certainly have less explosive power than mass-produced aircraft bombs of similar size." (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Airstrikes(04 of07)

A Russian bomber drops bombs on a target. Russia has unleashed another barrage of airstrikes against targets in Syria

Airstrikes from foreign forces continue to pose a threat to civilian life - however unintended this may be.

In December, at least 26 people were believed to have been killed following US-led airstrikes attacking suspected Isis positions.

The Guardian reported Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights as saying Isis is in control of Al-Khan but is only on its outskirts, “which is why all of the deaths were civilians”.

The US military command said it was investigating the claims.

Britain's Royal Air Force, which received Parliamentary authority to commence airstrikes last year, says it is able to say no civilians have died as a result of its recent airstrikes in Syria which are planned meticulously to prevent collateral damage. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Dirty Water and Disease(05 of07)

A health worker marks the thumb of a Syrian child after giving him polio vaccine (File Photo)

Dirty water and the resulting disease pose a continued threat to Syrians living in increasingly unsanitary conditions.

Unicef is one of a number of aid agencies working to mitigate the risks, but even it admits that millions of Syrian children and adults who continue to be at risk in areas that cannot be easily reached.

While the threat continues to be high - disease is one of the areas of success for agencies trying hard to prevent a public health disaster dovetailing with the fierce conflict.

Lily Caprani of Unicef told HuffPost UK: "We’re making sure children and the vulnerable are immunized against waterborne disease, because we know they are going to be exposed to disease so we make sure they’re going to be protected.

“This can help prevent a public health disaster. One of the very few pieces of good news is that you would expect the resurgence of disease and infections we would normally not see.

“But because we’ve managed to immunize we’ve prevented this. There have been no new cases of polio since January 2014 and that’s short of a miracle.

"It’s relatively cheap to do - it doesn’t cost a lot of money and it prevents the snowball effect of a public health emergency."

Nonetheless, the shocking state of health uncovered at the besieged town of Madaya in January points towards localised medical emergencies being commonplace in some areas in the country. (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Torture And Execution(06 of07)

A visitor looks at photographs in the 'Caesar's Photos: Inside Syria's Secret Prisons', a collection of photographs smuggled out of Syria last year

Torture and execution remain a threat to civilian life throughout Syria, with hundreds allegedly killed at the hands of President Assad's regime alone.

Syria has systematically tortured and executed 11,000 of its citizens in the three-year war, according to a report by former war crimes prosecutors, who compared the bodies they saw to images of Nazi death camp victims.

Meanwhile the so-called Islamic State has been adept at publicising its regime's torture and execution, even publishing reports in its own magazine, with countless Syrians and scores of foreigners killed in the now signature orange jumpsuits.

In January, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported that an Islamic State militant executed his own mother, after she encouraged him to leave the terror group. (credit:Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Violence, Exploitation and Kidnapping(07 of07)

Violence and exploitation resulting from the break down of Syrian society present a real threat to the lives of adults and children alike, whilst kidnapping remains a tactic of fear used by militants.

There are countless examples of violence between warring factions spilling over into civilian communities, wounding and killing innocent people.

Unicef's experience of conflict emergencies across the world has led it to the conclusion that education can protect children from violence and exploitation.

Lily Caprani, UK deputy director, told HuffPost UK: "If children are in education, they’re in a safe space. If children are in a safe environment with safe people, the risks of violence and exploitation are lower.

"This protects children from adults who might not have their best interests at heart."

Kidnapping by Islamic State militants continues to present a real threat to civilian life. Last year, hundreds of innocent people were taken by the group amid mounting international calls for the release of those abducted. (credit:Imgorthand via Getty Images)

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