Foreword

The feeling of being nowhere

Forced migration is a consequence of the conflicts between countries or within them and is one of the most visible acts of violence exercised by the actors involved. Recently, its dimension has become more complex with the inputs from the debate on forced migration caused by natural phenomena. These phenomena result from changes in ecosystems due to human intervention and the resulting pressure on existing natural resources. The issue is complex and involves different dimensions. Iconic images and facts that summarize the drama of this phenomenon can be traced in the famous video of Angela Merkel responding to a Palestinian girl about the nature of the European Union’s political decisions on migrants and refugees; or in the decision to indefinitely prohibit the entry of refugees from Syria to the United States, issued in 2017 by the government of Donald Trump when Syria was immersed in one of the most acute civil wars of the 21st century. This book offers readers an analysis of forced migration from different perspectives. The chapters analyze aspects that come together when responding to this global problem: legal and ethical challenges emerging in the design of public policies to care for the displaced population, challenges in the conception and attention to the problem when a gender perspective is assumed, or public health challenges when it is understood that the trauma of displacement is not a specific matter of an event that occurred at a specific moment in time, but rather a condition that accompanies those who are forcibly displaced almost to the end of their days. Due to the exact ephemeral nature that characterizes the phenomenon of displacement, its study entails a high degree of uncertainty. Although the events that cause displacement are most often associated with violence, it takes many different forms, and their consequences depend on the sociopolitical contexts in which they occur. In this sense, understanding what we mean when we talk about forced displacement implies opening our minds and perhaps accepting the frustration that the problem is constantly changing due to the number of factors that intervene in its evolution. The analysis carried out in the subsequent chapters contributes to this broadening of the perspective and identifies new links between the different dimensions of the problem: legal, political, economic, environmental, and health, among others. A fundamental value of this publication is the attempt of all the authors to claim, directly or indirectly, the right to mobility, asylum, and care for the migrant population. The analysis of cases based on the experiences of migrants and displaced persons allows us to, once again, appreciate the power of agency and resilience of this type of population. Then the analysis is presented not only as an issue resolved within the legal rules, but it manifests itself with all intensity in the ethical plane. The visibility of migrants or those displaced by force also implies entering the field of registration that allows dimensioning the problem in terms of public policies. Moreover, this exercise, typical

of liberal democracies, also implies risks and challenges for a population that is already highly vulnerable. The revictimization of those who have suffered forced displacement and the public exposure of their identities are just some of the moral risks when public policies are not designed based on the subjects and their contexts. However, what would be the context of a migrant? From a very personal perspective, I would dare to say that it is unstable, fragile, and tends to disappear easily. I became aware of this when I listened to a conference by a researcher dedicated to studying the trail of missing persons in migration processes. Supposing it was already difficult to track missing persons in contexts of low mobility. What would it be like to do this work to track the disappearance of people whose characteristic is forced mobility? Understanding these populations’ different forms of mobility could become the only way to keep track of them on earth, which is an ethical imperative. Finally, due to the academic nature of this book, I would like to make a couple of reflections on what it means to investigate global and complex issues such as forced displacement or peacebuilding. This last case concerns me directly due to my current work at the German Colombian Peace Institute (Capaz). The first reflection refers to the possible existence of a limited continuum, on the one hand, by research carried out“ on ”forced displacement or “ on ” peace, and on the other, by research designed“to ”address the phenomenon of forced displacement or “to ” contribute to the construction of peace. This difference makes it possible to identify nuances in producing academic knowledge about these phenomena and even entails methodological discussions that it is not possible to address in this prologue for space reasons. In the first case, research“ on ”forced displacement or “ on ” peace would be determined by the definition of theoretical and conceptual approaches to study an object that is desired to be known. The principle of objectivity that characterizes scientific research would guide the investigative work, and the work methodologies would be more oriented to perfect the instruments of collection and information and inference of the collected data. In the case of research“to ” attend to the phenomenon of forced displacement or “to ” contribute to the construction of peace, the conventional idea of objective research is confronted by a more normative investigation where the researcher almost becomes an activist for the cause because a commitment to the subject is required. This reflection is one of the axes of the decolonial perspective on knowledge. The second reflection has to do with the joint production of knowledge, which results when research processes are carried out with the participation of communities directly affected by the phenomenon under study, in this case, forced migration. This case illustrates the tension between knowledge production with an academic or scientific perspective, sometimes known as“ expert knowledge, ”and other more diverse forms of knowledge anchored particularly in the local. We continue to learn about these latter forms to determine how they dialogue with the so-called“ expert knowledge” or “scientific knowledge.” Many of the elements involved in these two reflections can be seen in the later chapters of this publication. The role of researchers in defining the problem of forced displacement is also part

of the reflection. This can be perfectly appreciated in the cases treated in this book, such as the medical personnel who have the power to listen to migrants and institutionalize their narratives from biomedical frameworks of analysis. Another example is that of the researchers who, recognizing their position as academic women “ outside”the realities of the indigenous women of the communities they analyze, exercise their role as intermediaries to win a legal trial before the competent authorities. Forced displacement, as a structural element for conflict resolution and peacebuilding, is a phenomenon that will continue to be discussed and investigated. The agenda will become more and more intricate, and from time to time, we will have to go back to the roots to understand how the new pieces fit together. Undoubtedly, the visibility of the migrants’ narratives will provide invaluable evidence to understand new connections between a phenomenon that carries a continuous change in its genetics and the feeling of being nowhere. Bogota, 18 November 2021 Carlos M. Nupia Administrative Director German-Colombian Peace Institute (Capaz) Instituto Colombo-Alemán para la Paz (Capaz)