The Catastrophic Migrations of the 21st Century: Implications for Education

• In Event: Transformative Pedagogies and Partnerships: Advocacy for Immigrant and Refugee Youth in U.S. Public Schools

Abstract

In 2017 there are over 65 million forcefully displaced human beings – the equivalent of every man, woman and child in Rio de Janeiro (12.9), Moscow (12.2), Paris (10.9), London (10.4), Lahore (9), New York (8.5), and Islamabad (1.4) suddenly forced to abandon their homes. Forceful displacement associated with conflict and violence has been growing since the beginning of the millennium and the most recent data represent “the highest figure ever recorded. It is almost twice the number of refugees [21.3 million under UNHCR terms] in the world.”

The face of catastrophic migrations in the 21st Century is youthful. Worldwide one in every 200 children is a refugee, almost twice the number of a decade ago. According UN figures in 2015 there were 28 million children forcefully displaced. Another 20 million children were international migrants. Their combined number is now larger than the populations of Canada and Sweden put together. Last year brought a record number of unaccompanied and separated children with 98,400 asylum applications mainly Afghans, Eritreans, Syrians, and Somalis – lodged in 78 countries; the highest number on record since UNHCR started collecting such data (UNHCR, 2015). Over 30% of sea arrivals in Europe since October 2015 were children & youth; for some nationalities, including Afghans and Eritreans, children constitute the majority of asylum applicants. Likewise, since 2014 the U.S. experienced a significant spike unaccompanied children fleeing Central America. In the 21st Century, even under the best of circumstances, migrations dismember families by separating children and parents and disrupting familial bonds.

This paper will (a) present the most up to date data on the catastrophic migrations of the 21st Century with a (b) focus on children and youth (c) and best practices for their education and wellbeing.   

Author

• Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco, University of California - Los Angeles