On behalf of the Mixed Migration Platform (MMP), REACH carried out a qualitative study to understand more about the experience of the thousands of families affected by mixed migration to Europe, across the Middle East and Afghanistan, and to focus on the vulnerabilities of family members who are left behind. Qualitative data have been collected in February and March 2017, through 90 interviews with displaced and non-displaced family members who remained in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, but had relatives who departed for Europe between 2013 and 2016.
This research found that the dynamics of decision-making within families is influenced by multiple and frequently overlapping factors. Moving irregularly was identified as a coping strategy and a last resort in response to a range of challenges affecting the whole family, including ongoing conflict and insecurity, chronic unemployment, and a lack of access to good education. In most of the families assessed, decisions to travel and separate were made jointly by at least the nuclear family, after long discussing. Family members who decided to stay behind did so for a range of reasons, mostly concerning personal ties to homeland and community. In the case of displaced families, though, ties were weaker and tended to be more easily worn down by discrimination or broken by a sudden shock.
