Migrants in disaster risk reduction: practices of inclusion - Call for contributions

The International Organizational for Migration (IOM), the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the Council of Europe are calling for contributions from researchers and practitioners on how migrants and other groups of foreign nationals have been included and have participated in disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery activities.

Description of the publication

This initiative aims to highlight the importance and benefits of, as well as options for, integrating migrants into decision-making, policy-setting and implementation of disaster risk reduction initiatives. The intended publication will collect experiences from researchers and practitioners from a variety of geographical contexts on how migrants and other groups of foreign nationals have been included and have participated in disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery activities. It aims to explore ways in which their capacities have been leveraged, and their specific conditions of vulnerability addressed, in disaster risk reduction efforts in their communities of destination by looking at the work of (and partnerships among) governmental institutions, private sector actors and civil society groups, including migrants’ own groups and representatives.

To this end, the book will present a series of short and concrete case studies, in which authors describe the issues to be addressed, the interventions that were rolled out, the challenges encountered and lessons learned in the process. The book will also include an introduction to frame the issue and a concluding set of action-oriented recommendations, based on the experiences described in the case studies.

Rationale of the publication

In today’s increasingly globalized and mobile societies, internal and international migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers, international students, business travellers and tourists represent a significant share of the population of cities and countries all around the world. Their presence shapes the composition and increases the diversity of host communities and strengthens the need to think inclusively when defining public policies and providing access to services and opportunities.

Disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts are no exception: past experience shows that the barriers to well-being which many migrants face in normal times translate into specific conditions of vulnerability to natural and man-made hazards. Such barriers are linked with elements such as: policies and regulations influencing their status; marginalization, exploitation and xenophobia; their limited proficiency in the local language; and their lack of local knowledge and social networks. However, migrants most often are also resourceful individuals, with a unique set of skills and capacities: ensuring that these are recognized and strengthened, and that migrants are allowed to actively participate in DRR work is essential both to reduce their vulnerability and to build the resilience of their whole host communities.

The issue of effectively integrating migrants in DRR efforts has recently received significant attention within global policy dialogues. In particular, its explicit recognition as part of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) is a starting point for the roll out of more systematic operational efforts at national and local levels. As the DRR community approaches the Cancun Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction with the explicit intention to advance the achievement of the SFDRR’s objectives, this book aims to provide a comprehensive collection of replicable practices in the hope of informing future efforts of both practitioners and policy makers.

This publication builds upon the knowledge and experiences gathered through the Migrants In Countries In Crisis (MICIC) Initiative,1 a global state-led process for which IOM has been serving as Secretariat, and the Council of Europe’s EUR-OPA programme on “Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the context of major risks prevention and management”.2 Both processes have focused on developing relevant policy and operational guidance, based on existing practices and lessons learned, which this book aims to further explore and consolidate.

Relevant topics to be covered

• Preventing and mitigating hazards and empowering communities in an inclusive manner in areas characterized by intense presence or movement of migrants;
• Recruiting migrants and other foreign nationals as staff or volunteers of disaster risk management organizations;
• Accounting for, and leveraging, migrants and their communities’ channels and media to disseminate awareness messages, early warnings and emergency communications;
• Consulting, and ensuring the participation of, migrants and other foreign nationals and their groups in disaster preparedness planning;
• Removing legal, administrative and practical barriers to ensure migrants’ access to evacuation and relief assistance in disasters;
• Coordinating responses to disasters with local migrant representatives, groups and associations, in order to provide adequate and appropriate assistance to migrant groups, as well as to other potentially marginalized groups within the affected area;
• Addressing legal, cultural and economic barriers to improving migrants’ access to services and opportunities throughout the recovery process;
• Consulting migrants and other foreign nationals in post-disaster evaluation exercises;
• Ensuring the participation of migrants and other foreign nationals in long-term recovery planning.