Publications /
Policy Brief

Back
Download PDF
Impact of Covid-19 on african migration: Thoughts, perspectives and ways out of the blind alley
Authors
Amal El Ouassif
April 14, 2020
Related topics: 
International Relations
Africa

Africa has not been spared from the economic and political consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Acting as a catalyst for decreased job opportunities at home and increased foreign-born unemployment rates in host economies, COVID-19 will most likely affect the overall economic conditions of migrants and reinforce the root causes of irregular mobility. On the political side, narratives that feed the fear of ‘outsiders’ can be easy to disseminate in times of crisis when the economy slows and inward-looking social and economic policies appear to be the safest. Escaping the blind alley will require coordinated policy approaches. First, immediate protection for migrants and asylum seekers at the closed borders of countries should be provided. Then long-term policies to tackle the social and economic vulnerabilities in these countries should be developed.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Les trois scénarios possibles au Sahel à l’horizon 2040
    Authors
    Sabine Cessou
    January 4, 2021
    Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso… L’insécurité fait tache d’huile au Sahel, menaçant de s’étendre aux pays du Golfe de Guinée. Le terrorisme a entraîné la formation de milices d’auto-défense communautaires, et ainsi créé des « friches » sécuritaires dans tout le Sahel, du Bassin du lac Tchad à la région du Liptako-Gourma. Les budgets consacrés à la défense augmentent, contrairement à ceux qui soutiennent le capital humain, santé et éducation. Dans un contexte de croissance démographique so ...
  • The Vaccine, the Economy, and Governance
    Authors
    Uri Dadush
    December 30, 2020
    According to this month’s OECD economic outlook, global GDP --- which took a huge hit from the pandemic and is still 3% below its level of a year ago – will not recover its pre-pandemic level until the end of 2021. In a downside scenario, the return could take almost a year longer. The OECD predictions, which imply high and protracted unemployment, are in line with the view of many other official and private organizations. The arrival of effective vaccines such as Pfizer-BioNTech wa ...
  • They Did Not Want Compromise and Consensus. They Wanted War
    Authors
    Helmut Sorge
    December 22, 2020
    “When I got home late that night, the house was dark and Michelle was already asleep. After taking a shower and going through a stack of mail, I slipped under the covers and began drifting off. In that luminal space between wakefulness and sleep, I imagined myself stepping toward a portal of some sort, a bright and cold and airless place, uninhabited and severed from the world. And behind me, out of the darkness, I heard a voice, sharp and clear, as if someone were right next to me, ...
  • Fighting for Africa: External Power competition in the Sahel
    December 16, 2020
    President Trump may not enact his threatened US drawdown of troops from the Sahel, but President Biden will still face pressure to end America’s “forever wars” and reduce the number of American lives and treasure lost to fighting terrorism in Africa. If the United States pulls back from...
  • Fighting for Africa: External Power competition in the Red Sea
    December 14, 2020
    Foreign powers are grappling for influence across the African continent, but competition has been particularly fierce in the Red Sea. With Ethiopia, long viewed as a bulwark against instability in the Horn of Africa, emerging from conflict, there is a new opportunity to cement the peace...
  • The Pandemic Will Reshape Globalization
    Authors
    Otaviano Canuto
    December 7, 2020
    The pandemic is accelerating history, in the sense that it is leading to the speeding up of some recent trends. In the case of globalization, the pandemic will not reverse it, but it will reshape it. Here we take a bird’s eye view of global trade during the pandemic, relate it to previous trends, and guess how global value chain managers and government trade policymakers are likely to react. A Bird’s Eye View of Global Trade during the Pandemic World trade took a deep dive during ...
  • Fortes impressions d’Egypte dans les mémoires de Barack Obama
    Authors
    Sabine Cessou
    November 27, 2020
    « Une terre promise » (Fayard), livre événement de Barack Obama, couvre sa campagne et les trois premières années de sa présidence. L’Egypte est le pays d’Afrique dont il parle le plus – et pas seulement à cause du Printemps arabe. L’Afrique occupe à peine 40 pages sur les 840 que comptent les mémoires de Barack Obama. La crise financière internationale, la loi Obama Care et le retrait des troupes d’Irak et Afghanistan ont retenu l’attention du président fraîchement élu. C’est l’Eg ...
  • Europe, Africa and Asia: What Partnership Dynamics after 2021? (French)
    November 27, 2020
    The Policy Center for the New South is hosting a joint webinar in partnership with the ASEANplus Platform of the Ghent University under the theme “Europe, Africa and Asia: What Partnership Dynamics after 2021?”. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the effects of globalization and defi...
  • Europe, Africa and Asia: What Partnership Dynamics after 2021? (French)
    November 27, 2020
    The Policy Center for the New South is hosting a joint webinar in partnership with the ASEANplus Platform of the Ghent University under the theme “Europe, Africa and Asia: What Partnership Dynamics after 2021?”. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the effects of globalization and defi...