Aspirations and Dilemmas of Protection-Seekers: Reframing the Right to Move

Abstract (English)

In a world where only few can move with relative ease, asylum has become one of the remaining portals to a different life—often imagined as safer and richer in opportunity. Yet access to this right is far from straightforward, and for many entails dangerous journeys and prolonged periods of uncertainty.
Drawing on stories from fieldwork with forced migrants navigating the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, as well as the Balkan route, this paper foregrounds the migration journey itself, emphasising its non-linear and fragmented nature, and teasing out the multiple factors that shape refugee trajectories, sometimes in an unpredictable way. The paper argues that the decision-making processes of protection-seekers are shaped by a tension between multiple temporalities: immediate reasons for flight are closely intertwined with future-oriented aspirations, which often include improving the prospects of their families—particularly in terms of securing better access to rights. By centring migrants’ lived experiences, the paper seeks to contribute to a reframing of the migration debate, revealing the often-violent mechanisms of today’s unequal mobility regime, that enables the safe, transnational circulation of a few, while relegating many to forced immobility or dangerous, irregular routes.