Taking Action: How to Transform the Reality of Migrants?

Did you know that there are more than 100 million displaced persons or refugees around the world today, fleeing armed conflicts, famine, and the impacts of climate change? A dramatic increase, and likely to worsen, predicts the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees. Have we adapted our structures to respond accordingly? Which approaches should be considered to develop our capacity to innovate and that of the people forced to follow unpredictable migratory paths? We must address the root causes of this crisis, of course, and focus on the ways host communities can adapt with solidarity cohesively and intelligently.

While a system’s flaws often have devastating impacts on human lives, they are rarely intentional in inclusive political regimes. Yet it is only from within the system itself that we can identify those harmful aspects. We are aware, too, that how we see others, our intrinsic behaviours and biases, arise from the complex structures that govern the rules of social harmony. For the 12th edition of Raccords, we talk to organizations that are examining and rethinking the support mechanisms for refugees and migrants with precarious status.

How do our public policies align with the social harmony on which we pride ourselves? What paradigm shift might change the game for human destinies shaped by a migratory imperative? What aspects of the migrant experience – people who have lost their bearings in a new, alien environment – might inform and transform our capacity to take action? All are aspects to be considered, thanks to the generosity of our collaborators.