For two decades, forced displacement has continued to increase worldwide. The UN reported that by mid-2022 the overall number of forcibly displaced people worldwide had risen to an estimated 103 million. This is primarily due to war in Ukraine and other escalating emergencies.

The number of refugees remains at record levels and grew from 27.1 million at the end of 2020 to 32.5 million by mid-2022. Nearly three quarters (72%) of refugees come from just five countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, South Sudan, Syria and Ukraine. 

Low- and middle-income countries continue to shoulder a disproportionate responsibility, hosting almost three quarters (74%) of refugees. Over a quarter (27%) were hosted in Least Developed Countries.

At the end of 2021 the total number of Internally Displaced Persons had a reached a record of 59.1 million - with 53.2 million displaced by conflict and violence and 5.9 million displaced by disaster. Just five countries – Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Syria and Yemen – were home to nearly half of the 53.2 million IDPs displaced by conflict worldwide.

Last year saw about 330,000 illegal attempts to breach the EU’s external border, the highest number since the Syrian refugee crisis in 2016. Separately almost 13 million Ukrainian refugees entered the EU following the Russian invasion.

EU reaction to crisis

What is Europe’s response to rising numbers of migrants attempting to breach its borders? There has been rising support for anti-migration policies. 

Italy’s new far-right coalition came to power amid public fears about uncontrolled influxes of refugees. France and Germany have seen similar increases in support for xenophobic policies. The EU continues to disagree about overall immigration policy. 

At a recent meeting of EU leaders, Ireland along with Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark were among 27 leaders meeting in Brussels to express concern about increasing irregular arrivals into Europe.

Taoiseach Leo Varadker said: "European countries are experiencing a big increase in the number of people who are coming from outside Europe on an irregular basis. It’s important that we, as Europeans, decide who enters our countries, not the human traffickers… Those who gain refugee status have the right to remain, but others don’t and should be returned." 

Unable to agree, the EU has turned to tightening its borders to prevent people from the Middle East, Africa and Asia arriving, despite criticisms that such policy was inhumane.

But are there other solutions to support people coming from countries besieged by conflict, terrorism and chronic instability along with the accelerating impacts of climate change and population growth?

Would a more humane and effective perspective be to adopt a pan-European approach encompassing foreign aid and budgets, heightened conflict resolution and an end to victimisation of migrants - both by criminal gangs and by well-off countries fearful of the impact of the influx on their own welfare?

Bram Frouws Director of the Mixed Migration Centre, writing in the 2022 Mixed Migration Review, suggested five migration solutions for Europe for 2023. He stated that migration itself is not a problem but an inherent feature of human society and history that often results in positive outcomes for those who migrate as well as their countries of origin and destination.

"Reducing irregular movement to the absolute minimum to ensure that the smallest number of people face these risks should be a starting point we can all agree on for a more productive conversation about how to manage migration. The question we should be focusing on is how can the goal of reducing irregular migration realistically and humanely be achieved?" 

Five pathways to resolution

Frouws suggests five pathways that should be viewed as a comprehensive scheme of interlocking suggestions to achieve this.

The first is to harmonise migration and economic policies. Frouws suggests that while Europe attempts to leverage hundreds of millions of euros in development funding, European agricultural and trade subsidies and policies disadvantage producers and companies outside the continent from making a living, increasing pressure on migration routes. 

Harmonising migration and economic policies is a win-win that would reduce pressure on people to migrate and cut down on the perceived need to fortify the EU.

Secondly, regularisation of migration by introducing premium visa schemes – could cost less than the thousands of euros people spend on smugglers and dangerous, irregular journeys. Other options include prospective migrants depositing a sum of money with the government of their destination country that they would get back with interest if they returned to their home country at the end of a labour contract, thereby encouraging circular migration.

Opening up opportunities for seasonal migration in sectors other than agriculture and hospitality is a possibility. Many countries face a shortage of healthcare workers during autumn and winter when caseloads tend to surge.

Thirdly, the saving expected to come from harmonising migration and economic policies could be invested in fast, fair, high-quality asylum processing that would include the right to appeal and free legal support. People whose claims are rejected would be quickly returned to their home, and the incentive for people with little chance of being granted asylum to undertake irregular journeys to Europe would be diminished.

Fourthly, European countries should create other options for rejected asylum seekers by allowing them to change migration lanes, by entering labour or work permit immigration channels if their skills are matched with increasing labour market needs in many destination countries.

Finally, Frouws suggests that cities have a stronger role when it comes to refugee and migration policy. The security-focused approach to migration at national level tends to move to a much more pragmatic and open approach at local government level where cities "often want to welcome more refugees, asylum seekers and migrants for both moral and economic reasons. 

It’s important to remember that migration itself can be part of the solution to some of the most pressing global challenges – from inequality, poverty, unemployment to labour shortages and even climate change.

Frouws concludes: "In the search for better policies, we shouldn’t forget to search for ways to harness migration’s positive impacts." 

President Michael D Higgins reminded us of the sociology of migration in a recent official visit to Senegal. "The social studies have a kind of inbuilt bias that the natural condition of people is to be sedentary when in fact literally it is quite the opposite. The unusual person is the person who hasn’t moved." 

He says eight million people left Ireland over 100 years. "The biggest gift we have to give is that we are a migrant people."

• Dr Catherine Conlon is a public health doctor in Cork and safefood’s former director of human health and nutrition