Migration and Transnational Social Protection in (post) crisis Europe

MiTSoPro

High rates of unemployment in Europe since the start of the 2008 financial crisis, coupled with changing migration trends, have led to a high number of EU and non-EU migrants asking for social protection. Governments across the EU have accordingly considered reducing migrants’ access to this support, despite the fact that they are increasingly at risk of poverty and exclusion. Migrants’ strategies to cope with health, unemployment, old age and other social risks are at the core of this project.

Spanning from the entitlements in host and home countries to informal family and community-based practices, Dr Lafleur will investigate what he defines as ‘transnational social protection’. A team, composed of Dr Daniela Vintila and Angeliki Konstantinidou will compile information on welfare entitlements from the 28 EU member States and 12 non-EU countries into a single database and generate an index comparing levels of state protection towards immigrants and emigrants alike.

In addition, in the second step of the project, Dr Alexandra Voivozeanu, Félicien de Heusch, Jérémy Mandin and Carole Wenger will document through ethnographic fieldwork the experience of immigrants accessing social protection in various cities across the EU. This data will contribute to a better understanding of the type of social protection policies immigrants have access to in different spaces and how these formal entitlements are combined with informal cross-border social protection strategies.

Description of the ethnographic studies:

Alexandra Voivozeanu

În cadrul studiului, îmi propun, pe de o parte, să înțeleg cum își accesează migranții români beneficiile sociale în Germania și România (alocație, șomaj, asigurări de sănătate, pensie) și care sunt dificultățile pe care le întâmpină în acest demers. Pe de altă parte, urmăresc să explorez rolul companiilor, al organizațiilor non-guvernamentale și al altor tipuri de intermediari în a facilita accesul românilor la aceste beneficii în țara de destinație.

Félicien de Heusch

En analysant les pratiques d’engagement transnational autour de la mort de migrants sénégalais en Europe, la recherche explore la gestion associative, familiale, politique et mercantile de la mort. En prenant comme point de départ le phénomène du rapatriement de corps, la recherche propose d’expliquer comment, autour et au-delà de cette pratique, s’engagent les processus suivants : la planification de la mort en migration, la gestion des cimetières au Sénégal, la réaction accrue face aux morts violentes, et l’administration des pensions de survivants.

Carole Wenger

Ce projet de recherche porte sur les pratiques de santé transnationales des tunisiens résidents en France et en Belgique et explore le rôle du pays d’origine et du pays de résidence mais également du marché et du réseau familial et communautaire dans l’accès aux soins de santé́. Cette recherche souhaite comprendre comment les migrants naviguent entre différents systèmes de santé et explore notamment les retours médicaux vers le pays d’origine. Il examine également l’impact des trajectoires de vie transnationales des migrants sur leurs pratiques en matière de soins de santé.