Convergence in Crisis; Securitisation of Migration and the Role of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Securitising Migration

The COVID-19 global pandemic made countries, humanitarian and health organizations to evoke the concept of global crisis embedded in existential threats as control measures to it (COVID-19). The application of securitisation through crisification as control measure to the COVID-19 pandemic made the entire global system to perceive an imminent danger of a global health catastrophe. The perceived imminent global health catastrophe led to the convergence of migration restrictions amongst the comity of nations to close their borders to migrants, detain migrants, isolate and quarantine migrants as well as instituting mandatory COVID-19 test and vaccinations for the global populace as well as migrants. The convergence in global migration restrictions and controls stemmed from the fact that, the COVID-19 virus spread across the globe through migrants and migration related activities from the epicentre (Wuhan-China). The convergence in migration restrictions made global south countries to also accept some of the control measures imposed on migrants and migration related activities by countries of the global north. The convergence in the securitisation of migration during the COVID-19 pandemic set a bad precedence for global south countries, which are the main sources of documented and undocumented migrants to the global north. The global convergence in the securitisation of migration as control measures to the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to make global south countries which have porous borders to toe the line of the global north countries in restricting migration and migrants. The lessons from the global border closures during the COVID-19 pandemic must be an eye opener to global south countries which are the major receivers of global remittances. These lessons must force governments in the global south to create avenues of employment for the teeming youth not to rely on international migration as a means of survival and last resort in terms of livelihood strategies. Article visualizations: