In Europe, the development of multicultural societies became more marked following the end of the Second World War. In Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, great movements of population took place involving the forced return of the Soviet prisoners of war from the United Kingdom, deportations of German ethnics and others on various grounds, as well as movements of populations for labour purposes. As the continent was divided between spheres of influence, movements of population were also happening within the countries and between them.

As Western Europe recovered after the Second World War, a shortage of low-skilled labour led to a wave of migration from less developed countries in the Mediterranean. Generally, the migrants joined the labour market of the receiving countries as manual workers and, as a rule, were given a friendly or “neutral” reception. They were “needed”. The economic crisis of 1973 changed the situation: a recruitment freeze and a series of economic recessions that lasted until the mid-1980s. Structural unemployment was experienced in every industrialised country. It affected mainly “the weakest” in the production system, especially foreign immigrants. The initial friendly reception turned into fear or suspicion: “you are not needed anymore”. Foreigners were made into scapegoats for the economic problems and blamed for taking jobs away from the host population.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 led to an increase in economic migration and asylum seekers looking for refuge in Western Europe. The countries in Central and Eastern Europe became an important new source of migrants for Western and Southern Europe. In the first years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain, migration was marked by the “return” of the German ethnics from the former Soviet Union to Germany (including populations that had previously been deported). With the conflict in former Yugoslavia, war refugees re-appeared in Europe. The conflict resulted in some 4.6 million people leaving the country, and some 700 000 seeking refuge in Western Europe in the first part of the ‘90s.

The enlargement of the European Union has led to increased mobility within and particularly from countries in Central and Eastern Europe to Western Europe for permanent or seasonal migration for labour. As the EU internal borders slowly dissolved with the Schengen agreement, the external border controls increased to such a degree that the talk of a “Fortress Europe” changed from being a source of fear of the Union closing in on itself to its neighbours, to becoming a reality and a demand by some politicians and important segments of the population.

The terrorist attacks of September 2011 in the United States marked an important shift on the role of security and terrorism at a global level. The launch of the global war(s) on terrorism, with the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, was also mixed in public space with the legitimisation of stricter policies in migration and restrictions of human rights in the name of security. This has been accompanied by an increased number of terrorist attacks across Europe which have also contributed significantly to the rise in xenophobia, and in particular of Islamophobia.

The war in Syria confronted European countries with the plight of refugees and asylum seekers that still marks attitudes towards refugees. It is important to note that, since 2014, Turkey has hosted the largest refugee population in the world, with 3.6 million “registered” refugees in 2019. In 2015, some 1.3 million asylum seekers entered Europe¹. The broad coverage of the 2015 plight of migrants and their journeys through the Balkans or Hungary towards Western Europe renewed debates over migration and saw increasing levels of anti-migrant sentiments on the continent weaponised for political gain by many parties, particularly by those advocating for stronger border controls. This was accompanied by an increase in nationalist rhetoric coming from extreme right parties, but also from parties claiming to be closer to the centre of the spectrum. It led to policies in Europe that heavily violate international human rights and humanitarian law. Fences have been erected at borders, and under some legislation it became illegal to help asylum seekers. Many of these asylum seekers are also young people, including unaccompanied minors who often find themselves in situations of total precariousness, insecurity and destitution. In 2016, almost 26,000 unaccompanied or separated children arrived in Italy; migration reception centres such as on the island of Lampedusa struggle to accommodate migratory flows, often housing populations of migrants multiple times their maximum capacity.

In 2015, the Hungarian government decided to build a wall on its border with Serbia to prevent asylum seekers from entering its territory, along with making changes in the national legislation that infringe on the rights of the asylum seekers to proper protection and analysis of their case. The measures were accompanied by a billboard campaign in the country with messages such as: “Did you know that since the beginning of the immigration crisis the harassment of women has risen sharply in Europe?”
 

The UN Global Compact on Migration (2016) is the first inter-governmentally negotiated agreement that covers all dimensions of international migration in a holistic and comprehensive manner. It presents a significant opportunity to improve the governance of migration, to address the challenges associated with today’s migration, and to strengthen the contribution of migrants and migration to sustainable development.

The COVID-19 pandemic health and safety measures led to an unprecedented halt in international mobility: most countries in Europe and the world closed down their external borders completely, and imposed severe lockdowns internally to stop the spread of the virus. But these measures were not as uniformly applied as it may seem: as the lockdowns led to closure of businesses, many seasonal workers found themselves jobless, facing social security violations or unsafe working environments, and many either had to return to their home countries or were forced to do so. Since much of the agricultural work in countries such as Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom and elsewhere is dependent on cheaper labour forces from Central and Eastern Europe, the borders were – by exception – open for the migrant workers to come and ensure the crops were not lost. In Germany, for example, some unions documented cases of extreme abuse of Romanian workers brought to work in conditions that did not respect labour law or health security measures.²

¹ Number of Refugees to Europe Surges to Record 1.3 Million in 2015. Pew research Center. Global Attitudes & Trends

² Germany drafts Romanian farm labor for coronavirus pandemic. Deutsche Welle (DW).