Glossary

Successful collaboration begins with a shared language, hence the need for a glossary. This joint effort of contributors from several teams ensures, on the one hand, terminological and conceptual coherence across not only our theoretical approaches, but also the qualitative case studies and quantitative research conducted in OPPORTUNITIES. On the other hand, our glossary facilitates communication between the academic side of the project and the fieldwork conducted by NGOs, uniting our teams working from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ghana, Italy, Mauritania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania and Senegal.

For more information about the Structure and Objectives of the Glossary, click here...)

Illegal entry

A migrant is in a situation of illegal entry into the territory of a country if he or she moves outside the legal conditions set by national regulations. Especially Senegalese media have used this term in recent years following the repatriation of irregular migrants to Spain. It is important to point out that ‘illegal’ does not mean ‘illegitimate.’ An act could be illegal under the law which, however, could be contested in courts or could have mitigating circumstances. For example, killing someone may be illegal under the law but self-defence could be presented as a legitimate reason. Similarly crossing the borders of a country without permission is illegal but a person may cross the border to seek asylum for the legitimate reasons of being persecuted in their country of origin.

⇢ see also: Asylum; Asylum seeker, Irregular migration, Migrant, Refugee

References and further reading:

Tandian, Aly. 2020. “Profils de Sénégalais candidats à la migration : des obsessions aux désillusions.” In Revue africaine des migrations internationales. 2020: 2–22.

Category: A

Work Package: 3, 5, 6, 7

[AT / MM]

 

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