At Europe's frontline: factors determining migrants decision making for onwards migration from Greece and Turkey

Abstract

Limited research has been conducted on migrants' decision making factors in transit and this is an important area of investigation that goes beyond the origin-destination country dichotomy most commonly represented in migrant decision making. This paper examines the decision making factors for onwards migration or stay of migrants from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria in Greece and Turkey. This paper is based on a unique dataset of surveys collected with 1056 migrants in Athens and Istanbul from May-July 2015. The decision for onwards migration or stay is examined through a probit regression analysis. Four categories of influencing variables are discussed: the country of origin, current conditions in the transit country, the initial migration destination choice and previous onwards migration attempts. The results demonstrate that first; the majority of respondents in both countries seek to migrate onwards (75% in Greece and 63% in Turkey) and that conditions in the transit country are highly significant in influencing onwards migrate decisions including their current subjective living conditions, employment, experiences of abuse, and speaking the local language. This paper contextualizes the findings and highlight the complexity of factors influencing migrants' decision making in Greece and Turkey. ARTICLE HISTORY

Tacking towards freedom? Bringing journeys out of slavery into dialogue with contemporary migration

“…They often began uncertainly, perhaps starting with episodes of 'petite marronage' or 'laying out' (Camp 2004), and continued as a protracted series of journeysas in the case of Henry Bibb (1849), who made frequent and unsuccessful attempts to runaway as a teenager before undertaking a more successful journey to Canada in his twenties, or that of Harriet Jacobs (1861), who spent seven years hidden in a coffin-like space in her grandmother's attic, waiting for an opportunity to flee north by boat. Likewise, and in line with the body of research showing that asylumseekers' journeys are rarely direct and unidirectional (Collyer 2012;Collyer and King 2016;Innes 2015;Kuschminder and Waidler 2019), the majority of our interlocutors told of a series of journeys characterised by improvisation, serendipity, reaction to danger, hardship, as well as periods of stasis (Yıldız and Sert 2019;Stock 2019;Schapendonk, Bolay, and Dahinden 2020). Like enslaved people who ran from slavery in the past, our research participants moved in fits and starts, taking steps forward followed by steps back.…”

Rethinking Service Systems and Public Policy: A Transformative Refugee Service Experience Framework

“…They involve experiencing vulnerability in situations that demand multiple dynamic survival strategies and modes of travel (BenEzer and Zetter 2014; Collyer 2007). This transition phase should not be confused with transit, which connotes a point of departure and a linear process (Boer 2015; Brekke and Brochmann 2015; Hampshire et al 2008; Kuschminder and Waidler 2020). Instead, refugees may remain in limbo for uncertain and lengthy periods of time, including while they wait in refugee camps.…”

“…The limited opportunities render refugees particularly vulnerable to human trafficking, and exploitation can take multiple forms, including forced labor, forced begging, and/or sexual and conjugal slavery. Furthermore, refugees might arrive in safer countries but continue journeying to more “promising” destinations (Brekke and Borchmann 2015; Kuschminder and Waidler 2020). Refugees arriving at their destinations thus tend to exhibit high self-determined mobility, even within the destination country (BenEzer 2002).…”

Counter moves. Destabilizing the grand narrative of onward migration and secondary movements in Europe

“…Greece, Italy, and to a lesser extent Spain, are then considered to be “countries of entry” from where people aim to reach their “countries of destination” (e.g. Kuschminder, 2018a). Such notion might indeed reflect the statistical data of Eurodac on Dublin claims.…”

“…Ramos, 2018); Afghans moving from Greece to Sweden (e.g. Kuschminder 2018a,b) and Eritreans moving from Italy to Norway (e.g. Brekke & Brochmann, 2015)?…”