Why is UNHCR getting involved in mixed migration matters?
It’s really important for UNHCR to play a role in relation to the management of mixed migration situations by states, because it will be to the detriment of refugee protection if we don’t. Our experience has been that mixed migrations, because they involve people coming for a whole range of reasons, tend to be treated as a migration issue – particularly an illegal migration issue – and not as an issue which also entails protection concerns and involves people with protection needs. Our involvement is designed to make some space in the broader management of this problem, some space for protection. UNHCR’s role is also to allow the needs to be identified, allow the needs to be responded to through protection-based solutions, not through migration control mechanisms. Most of the migration flow is from poor to rich countries, though there are also migrations from south-south. The rich countries react by putting up barriers. How can UNHCR ensure that genuine refugees get access to asylum? I
