​Debate around possible offshore asylum processing by European countries has resurfaced recently, in the wake of Denmark's newly passed legislation, allowing for the relocation of asylum seekers to third countries while their applications are being processed. The European Union appears to often look to Australia as a country that has successfully managed to seal its – maritime – borders and control migration, notably through the establishment of offshore asylum processing and detention centres. The recent legislative adoption by Denmark raises concerns and expectations that other countries might follow suit.

​The project "Red Lines and Grey Zones: Exploring the Ethics of Humanitarian Negotiation" has received funding from the Research Council of Norway. Starting from consultations with humanitarian practitioners, the project will map problems related to the ethics of negotiation and cross examine these challenges through cases from Syria, Bangladesh, Colombia, Nepal, the Mediterranean and the UN Security Council.

​Ludvig Fæhn Fuglestvedt has successfully defended his thesis "Legal advocacy for the human rights of asylum seekers: A strategic analysis".

Congratulations Ludvig!

​As refugees and other migrants arrived in increased numbers to Europe during the summer of 2015, many citizens across Europe mobilized to provide basic assistance in different ways along the route: from food, shelter, clothes, to access to wifi and charging stations for mobile phones. Alongside the massive political and media attention to the migrants arriving, was also this phenomenon: the widespread mobilization of volunteers, many whom had never or rarely been involved in volunteer initiatives earlier. As the number of people wanting to help grew rapidly, the initiatives needed to organize and create structures to coordinate the volunteers. How did this transition from spontaneous volunteer initiatives, at a moment with high media and political attention, materialize into formalized structures, responding to needs and contexts that also changed over time?

​In a new article recently published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Bruno Oliveira Martins and Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert analyze the dynamics surrounding the adoption of technologies for EU border control. The article is part of a forthcoming special issue on The Spiralling of the Securitization of Migration in the European Union, edited by Valeria Bello and Sarah Léonard.

How to better understand the relationship between individual duties and collective action in response to large-scale societal challenges.

​​All over the world, states are responding to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by invoking the state of emergency – generally characterized by an expansion of the state power, allowing it to perform actions that it could not carry in times of normal politics.

​The initial fieldwork for MIGNEX was being completed when the worldwide coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis erupted. The pandemic not only thwarts travel in the short term but has longer-term implications that are still unknown.

The large PRIO-led project ​MIGNEX examines migration and development at the local level across Africa and Asia. A milestone was reached when the specific research areas were selected.