Unisa online - Mobility, migration, development and environment

Prof André Mangu (Unisa's Public Constitutional and International Law)

Shahidul Haque (Director: International Cooperation and Partnerships at the International Organisation for Migration)

The numbers of migrants worldwide have increased drastically due to raising socio-economic inequalities and multiple demographic, political and environmental factors, in particular climate change and the distribution of the labour markets. There are also individual dimensions driving these migrations, making the question of migration more complex and multifaceted. Therefore, the debate needs to be widened instead of focusing on management of migration flows.

The 2012 international symposium on Mobility, Migration, Development and Environment (MOMIDEN), hosted by Unisa’s College of Law in collaboration with other international institutes and universities, seeks to do just this. Hosting a range of international experts from various fields, the symposium aims to expand the debate by highlighting the complementary and contradictory approaches to population movements and the developing environmental crisis which characterise the old and new mobilities.

The two-day programme began on 22 May 2012 with a welcome address from Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Mandla Makhanya. In his welcome address, he said with globalisation has come internationalisation of all forms – from people to products. “People not only travel to where the work is, but increasingly we find that people who were not able to before, are travelling to where security is, where perceived prosperity is and where the climate offers more conducive prospects of sustenance.”

Prof Makhanya said such migrations are taking place within and across borders – nationally, continentally and globally – and there is quite a distinct and growing relationship between mobility, migration, development and environment. “As a sociologist, I find it quite fascinating to see the emergence of a growing category of migrants whom we characterise as environmental migrants. These are the people whose living spaces have been rendered unliveable by environmental hazards and disasters, as a result of climate change.”

Prof Gérard Azoulay (University of Paris Sud)

Explaining Unisa’s vision, to be the African university in the service of humanity, and its values of social justice and fairness, and excellence with integrity, Prof Makhanya suggested these would provide a “wonderful platform” to explore, not only the human rights orientation of the symposium, but also partnerships with Unisa, as it is a university that is fundamentally committed to a deepening process of stakeholder collaboration and engagement in addressing its own challenges and opportunities, as well as those whom it sees as co-contributors to the education system. 

More than 50 papers are expected to be presented at the symposium. These papers will address developments related to forms of migration and the question of borders, the effects of migration patterns on living conditions and development, migration and the re-establishment or transformation of vulnerable production systems, climate change and migration, and governance of migration: migrants and refugees’ human rights.