Essay Sample on Immigration to Europe Since Mid-20th Century: The UN's 1951 Refugee Convention

Introduction

Since the mid-20th century, immigration within and to Europe, especially by the Eastern Europeans, has increased significantly. Since the 1960s, the percentage of Muslim immigrants has increased drastically. After World War II, millions of people were displaced as internal migration within Europe increased since people were seeking new lives and opportunities. With the influence of the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention, many European countries accepted refugees from WW II, especially the Muslims (University of Minnesota). During 1945-1960s, it was a period of war adjustment and decolonization a period that marked significant changes in the demographic and economic future of Europe (Alesina et al.). The period encouraged the European colonialists to return to Europe in search for work which marked the Labor migration between 1955-1973. Given the immediate belt surrounding Europe including the Northern African and Middle Eastern Muslim countries, a majority of the migrants who were Muslims left their countries in search for work and higher wages (University of Minnesota). For instance, the nation's drew many migrants from countries held formerly by the British empire, including central Pakistan, Yemen, and India, among other refugees fleeing the Soviet Army during the period. Also, as a result of the decolonization, many migrants from the Middle East, Central Asia, and Northern America moved to work in and rebuild Europe. In a large section of Europe, young men were recruited from Algeria and Morocco, which are dominated by Muslims.

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During the European recession in the 1970s, it left many migrant unemployed. During the period, many European governments opted to restrict immigration policies. As the policies differed, the ultimate goal was to reduce foreign labor, thus preventing immigrants from coming to Europe; however, the number of immigrants in Europe has increased rather than decreased since the 1970s. For many Muslim migrants, they brought their families to join them through the family reunification policy that continued the labor migration. Further, along with the overall increase of the immigrants in Europe, the Muslim populations have grown throughout Europe (Alesina et al.). The Muslims already living in the European countries during the 1970s and 1980s had significant opportunities to acquire citizenship. Through such developments of gaining citizenships and family reunification policies, this explains the increase of Muslim populations. The period saw a large number of European governments trying to enforce policies restricting immigrations while ensuring the provision of amnesty for migrants within their countries. Through such policies, the migrants are encouraged to integrate with the larger society as well as a stable lifestyle for labor migrants. As a result, this encourages family reunification an occurrence that has increased the Muslim migration to Europe.

In other occurrences, there has been an increase in refugees seeking asylum from unstable political regimes such as Iraq, Somalia, and Afghanistan. The recent Muslim immigrants into Europe are family's intent on permanent settlement rather than labor migrants (University of Minnesota). Also, the gender shift of the demographics of immigrants is an occurrence in the history of Muslim immigration to Europe, whereby men are considered primary labor migrants. On the other hand, the women migrants to Europe, such as the Moroccan women migrate to Southern Europe in search of employment in the small, agricultural, and domestic service industry. The high dominance of the Muslim communities is part of the changing political, economic, and social landscapes in different European countries. Moreover, the critical nations affected by Muslim immigration to Europe include France, with approximately 31% of immigrants, Germany, and Belgium.

Historical Aspects of Muslim Immigration to the Recent Mass Influx of Muslims into Europe

Previously, historical evidence of the immigration of the Muslims into Europe was mainly motivated by the search for employment, war adjustment and decolonization. The Second World War led to the emergence of refugees who migrated within Europe. This was followed by decolonization in the 1960s which significantly led to the migration of more Muslims into Europe in search of education and employment in their former colonial masters, countries such as France, Britain and Belgium were the highest recipients of refugees in the 1960s from their former colonies (University of Minnesota). The United Kingdom after decolonization attracted many Muslim immigrants from Pakistan, India and Yemen which were its former colonies with most of the immigrants at the time intending to work only temporarily in their former master countries. In the post-world war 2, Muslims from Eastern Europe, Middle East, Turkey, North Africa and Central Asia were recruited into Europe during the reconstruction era. However, in the 1970s many European countries initiated restrictive policies which led to the decline of the Muslim immigrants into Europe (University of Minnesota). Today, many Muslim immigrants are from the North Africa and Middle East regions which have recently been ravaged by civil war as well as the Arab uprisings which has led to the collapse of economies and order. Many migrants are from countries that previously experienced Arab spring violence as well as Syria and Iraq which have been ravaged by the ISIS terrorists as well as bad governance in Yemen which has led to a civil war (Frum). As such, there is a significant difference between previously recorded Muslim immigration into Europe and today's migration. Most of the migrants seeks to get jobs and also refuge from wars that have ravaged their homes. Before, Muslims were migrating to Europe not for refuge but employment opportunities especially after Europe was ravaged by the Second World War for the purposes of reconstruction. Most of the migrants today are fleeing poverty and persecution in their home countries (Frum). Today, most of the immigrants are from North Africa and they have changed their destinations to mainly France, Italy, Malta, and Germany which are easily accessible by sea using floating dinghies (Diez). Regulatory policies in countries such as France and Italy are recently restrictive due to the perceived negative impact of immigrants on the countries (Diez). The growth of terrorism has led to the implementation of more restrictive and assimilation policies by the European countries. Immigrants Muslims today see themselves as European first and Muslim second (Frum).

Works Cited

Alesina, Alberto et al. "Muslims In Europe: The Construction of A "Problem" - Openmind". Openmind, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/muslims-in-europe-the-construction-of-a-problem/

Diez, Georg. The Migration Crisis and the Future of Europe. The American Prospect. 2019. Retrieved from https://prospect.org/world/migration-crisis-future-europe/

Frum, David. Competing Visions of Islam will Shape Europe in the 21st Century. Global. The Atlantic. 2018. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/05/akbar-ahmed-islam-europe/559391/

University of Minnesota. Muslim Migration to Europe. Immigration Research Center. University of Minnesota. 2015. Retrieved from https://cla.umn.edu/ihrc/news-events/other/muslim-migration-europe