Migration: Root Causes

These days, everyone is addressing the root causes of migration and forced displacement...

From Khartoum to Valletta via London, Sharm el-Sheikh, Brussels and Addis Ababa, international and regional players, citizen groups, governmental and intergovernmental stakeholders, even the General Assembly of the United Nations, all are addressing the so-called “root” causes of migration. The assumption probably is that migration is inherently a problem for mankind, otherwise why would they be seeking to understand and resolve its root causes? In any case, without wishing to address the subject of the "legitimacy" of migration, we can agree that migration is indeed bad if it becomes forced, that is when it becomes a means, if not the only one, of finding security for one’s life and protecting one’s integrity. Nevertheless, it seems to us that the way the root causes of migration are addressed is fairly useless, whether migration is "voluntary" or forced, since, in both situations, our analysis remains at a rather superficial level. The objective of this article is to focus on other types of root causes, often neglected in current thinking.

Why is that? Most root causes cited and studied of so-called "voluntary" migration usually are: poverty, lack of (economic?) development, little or no access to primary health care and education, famine and malnutrition, as well as harmful effects of climate change (desertification, rising sea levels, water shortages, drought...) and, in most cases, a combination of some of these factors, if not all. The root causes directly related to "forced" migration are traditionally: individual or collective persecution, conflicts, wars, widespread violence, oppression, serious violation of human rights, lack of democracy and good governance. All these adversities that make it difficult if not impossible to live a "normal" life are factors forcing people to relocate elsewhere, mostly in an "abnormal" way – which results in not meeting the requirements to stay in the destination country – when all they want is to find a safe and more hospitable place to live.

As mentioned earlier, we are considering another approach to analysing the so-called “root” causes of migration, one that is less often mentioned, less publicly debated, and yet seems to explain the major causes of forced or less forced migration, and which, in many cases, reveals the underlying causes of the root causes. We want to classify them into three categories, for they have gained a symbolic notoriety which extends beyond their devastating effects. Their names are Captagon, UBS, and Viktor Bout.

Why these three names?

Captagon – Drug

Captagon[1] is a new drug, probably invented at the beginning of the war in Syria, originally produced outside Syria and, for several years, within Syria itself, in uncontrolled and still uncontrollable regions. This production is growing fast, and at a more and more frightening scale. Captagon has the devastating ability on the person using it to remove any sense of fear, while providing "pleasure" in torturing and executing people, and eliminating these atrocious acts from the mind and consciousness. Captagon pills are known to be used in war zones in Syria, but, strangely, their existence as a factor in war is hardly reported in the media. In Syria, as in Brussels, Paris, Istanbul, Kabul, Ankara and elsewhere, Captagon was probably, and remains, one of the real driving forces of violence and crimes of terror. Behind the political and ideological motivations that may lead someone to want to hurt others, Captagon becomes a lethal and emotionally painless way of taking action.

Captagon therefore belongs to the second and deepest layer of the root causes of migration. In modern warfare, where violence reaches unsustainable extremes, it is difficult to imagine that someone could stand the strain of such violence, without using a powerful drug. The use of drugs in wars is not new as such and has already been well documented, including in Iraq and more recently Libya. That said, because of new technologies and a quick and easy chemical manufacturing process, Captagon can be sold cheaply in the markets of war (a pill is sold for a few euros). This "helps" modern warriors and terrorist thinking types to push others, often the youngest, to kill, execute, without feeling, without pain or compassion, and without limits.

Eradicating Captagon and halting its production would automatically result in a reduction of the chaotic and unbearable level of violence. This would not mean the immediate advent of peace, but would give a better chance to the peace talks and reconciliation process. Thus, with time, the reasons for forced migration and for leaving one’s country would become less numerous, and the reasons to return more numerous.

UBS[2] – Bank

This well-known Swiss bank is being cited ever since the press recently reported that a large number of French (and Belgian) bank accounts were anonymously active in this bank, and that the value of the accounts held by the French was at least 13 billion euros. And since France only represents 7.5% of all the assets ​​of the bank, we can assume that dizzying amounts of money held by other nationals are also remaining unclaimed in this bank, or in another bank. The point is simply to say that there still is no control over these bank "deposits". Clean money? Maybe, maybe not. Money for business, money for weapons, for drugs, for trade or other traffic – who knows, who verifies? There must be a link between this and recent reports that 67 individuals[3] on this planet hold in monetary terms the total revenue of 3.5 billion other people! And since money has become the most important value, above and beyond anything else, it must also be considered when we talk about the root causes of migration, whether it is, in this case, "forced" or even more "free". Since we consider that there is no production of wealth as such, but only a permanent recycling of that wealth, the minuscule proportion of income left to the majority of the planet – or, in other words, the great imbalance in the distribution of wealth – is, in our view, a major cause of the real causes of migration. This is not to say that all banks are to blame and that their lax management would cause migration, but we have to remember that some, or even many of them, contribute indirectly to migration by encouraging some people to make money with other people's money (speculation) or by allowing dramatically "illegal" transactions with no controls whatsoever.

Viktor Bout[4] – Arms Dealer

Once again, we reflect on an "illicit" industry. If, in fact, conflicts are causes of forced displacement, we cannot ignore that the arms trade is backing all wars and conflicts, and thus fuelling their violence. However, it is necessary to distinguish between public military development and the sale and illegal acquisition of weapons by individuals or groups that are, shall we say, not licensed. In fact, since the old way of making war, that is to say between two established and trained armies, separated by a front, has been replaced by chaotic and unregulated operations where improvised warlords, tribal leaders, local guerrilla fighters and mercenaries take up arms for as many reasons as there are factions involved, it has become difficult to monitor the trafficking of weapons. Admittedly, this market has always been opaque, but it is becoming all the more so in the context of complex conflicts that involve more and more players. The total value of the global arms market is estimated at about 60 billion dollars per year, including about 8 billion allocated to handguns, rifles, machine guns and ammunition. The total value of the illegal arms trade is in fact more difficult to estimate, but the illicit small arms market has been estimated at 10-20% of the global arms trade in total, representing between 6 and 12 billion dollars. Viktor Bout is a famous arms dealer. He has supplied rebel fighters, guerrillas and armed terrorist groups in many countries of the world. The point is not to discuss this particular man, but the many other traffickers who, unscrupulously, act as intermediaries between industrial arms producers and the "illegal" warriors of the 21st century.

To conclude this section, the question becomes: what money, from which bank, buys weapons for modern, independent warriors whose soldiers, fuelled with Captagon, kill and rape without fear or emotion? When these three underlying causes for migration are more properly analysed, considered and forcefully addressed in response plans, the other, more traditional causes, the famous "root causes" mentioned in the introduction, will be more easily and more scientifically dealt with – and with less hypocrisy too.

The Josefa Foundation calls for a new and candid look at the world and its migration. These reflections are intended to contribute to this.