Push factor
Not everyone wants to leave
People talk about the pull factor, the false myth that every migrant wants to come to Europe. However, what really exists is the push factor.
Identities
Tell me who you are and I'll tell you how you'll arrive
Do all people fit into just two categories? Migrants and refugees. Can the violence caused by the lack of legal and safe routes move you from one category to another?
Exit
Leave everything behind
There are some mechanisms to protect those who need to leave their country, but in practice, the options only work for a few.
Visas
The privilege of free movement
Visas could be a tool for managing migration, but states only use them to control who enters and who doesn't. Do all states do this?
Waiting
The protection that never comes
The lives of thousands of people on the move are put on hold for years due to countless obstacles, while bureaucracy decides if you can pass.
Journey
Where no one sees
By land, sea or air, border externalisation places obstacles in transit countries in order to prevent people from reaching Europe, even putting their lives at risk.
Border
Fortress Europe
Reaching the border does not mean arriving. A complex militarized security system, on both sides, will do everything possible to prevent the entry of those who try.
Arriving
Don't leave! Don't come! Don't enter! Don't stay!
For the few who do manage to enter, even more obstacles await them, including on occasion severe human rights violations, despite already being in Europe.
Europe
High-level manoeuvers
Let's go back to the beginning: people to be able to come in an orderly and safe way. What do states do to make that possible?