The decision to leave

Abstract

Having unpacked the routes taken by refugees and migrants in the previous chapter, we now turn our attention to the reasons why people decided to leave their home countries, focusing in particular on the role of conflict, persecution and human rights abuse, but also unpacking the complex and often overlapping relationship between ‘forced’ and ‘economic’ drivers of migration. This is important, in part to give voice to the diverse stories of individuals and families who ended up risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean, but also because their stories challenge the assumptions underpinning Europe’s policy response (discussed further in Chapter Eight).