Rights, Safety, and Identity: The Context of Forced Mobility in the MENA

Abstract

Every human being is born with certain fundamental rights. These rights entitle everyone to a degree of safety for life and existence. Identity is one factor that knits together the fabric of both rights and safety. However, due to differences in geographical and economic landscape, differential opportunities, and political differences these three critical issues — rights, safety, and identity (RSI) — bring differential results to the lives of migrant and refugee populations. Metaphorically, we say that the world has significantly transformed in the second half of 20th century due to the ongoing process of globalization. From a political perspective, some parts of the world are globally marginalized, while others are semiglobalized or advanced. Adaptation of market liberalization and competitiveness are perceived as significant constituent components of globalization (Beblawi and Luciani 1987; Larsson 2001). The notion of globalization may get distorted depending on the premise and location its definition is based on. Some economies perform well in the face of economic interdependence to compete with globalization; some grow faster than globalization itself. This creates an unequal race in the world. This has implications for rights, safety, and identity for refugees and non-refugees alike. Anthony Giddens has defined globalization as “the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local activities are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa” (1990, 64).