Forced Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Migration is an important issue in modern international relations. This article discusses the characteristics of forced migration in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Africa is a continent where migration has many species and actively influences the political situation in the countries of the continent. Migration in Africa is caused both by internal problems of the countries (political instability, famine, massacres, military conflicts, disturbance of public order, human rights violations) and external factors. All of these factors provoke mass population movements, forming new configurations of migration processes. At the same time, the fact that most of the migrants, moving to new places of residence, remain on the African continent is often ignored. Frequent causes of migration in Africa are economic factors: imbalances and uneven development, lack of employment opportunities, bad living conditions and low wages. At the same time, people migrate to Africa not only to improve their well-being. Military conflicts, threats to life or human rights violations are extremely common causes of forced migration in Africa. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (2018), more than 80 million Africans emigrated, leaving their country to settle permanently in another. The relevance of the article is due to the increase of forced migration volume in the SSA countries in 2000-2018 and the need to understand the reasons for this process. This article discusses forced migration in SSA countries. Based on the analysis, the main causes of forced migration in the SSA countries are identified, including political instability, famine, military conflicts, human rights violations, deterioration of socioeconomic conditions and the environmental problems in the countries of the region.