Browsing by Author "Saari, Tanja"

Somalia has suffered from a long lasting conflict which has driven millions of Somalis out of the country producing a widely dispersed Somali diaspora. The aim of this research is to gather all the accessible evidence of the ways Somalis emigrate Somalia and the neighboring regions, and also of the used migration routes illustrating the current level of knowledge. Research explains what are the routes and ways of migration that Somalis use to leave the country and to where Somali diaspora has spread out and also what kind of influence social network has on choosing the destinations of Somalis. Research method is qualitative meta-synthesis which aims to produce broad understanding of the phenomena under study, broader than the single empirical studies together or separately have offered. Research data consists of 158 different references. Narrative method was used for the synthesis, which means choosing and organizing the research evidence in order to produce a description of the phenomenon. Synthesis summary is more descriptive than interpretative due to the aims of the research. Research also examines the destination choices of Somalis by using network migration theory. According to the theory social network influences individual's migration decision and it reduces risks and costs involved in migration and facilitates migrant's integration in a new country. Somalis' ways of emigration is strongly dominated by fleeing in great numbers to the neighboring countries, and irregular migration mainly to other parts of Africa, Middle East and Europe. The main result of this research are the maps produced during the research process that illustrate the ways and routes Somalis mainly use to leave the country and the neighboring regions towards different aspired destination countries and regions around the world. There are three most used routes. One of them goes from Somalia through Ethiopia and Sudan towards the Mediterranean coast, mainly to Libya, where boats leave for Southern Europe. Second route goes straight from Somalia, or through Djibouti, towards Yemen across the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden. From Yemen many travel onward to other Middle Eastern countries or even to Europe. Third route goes from Somalia towards South Africa mainly on land and by sea. Somali diaspora that has developed as a result of these migrations has concentrated in the Horn of Africa and Yemen; countries in the Gulf of Persia and in the Western Europe; and North America. Somalis live mainly as refugees in the neigboring countries and regions, especially in Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen. In the Western countries the biggest diasporas are located in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Italy. Somali diaspora is still on the move and started to grow in new destinations. The existence of the social networks in the destination countries is a significant factor when Somalis choose their destination countries. Networks offer information about the migration in addition to financial and mental support. Tightening immigration controls in the destination countries has increased the need of the support of the networks. The routes Somalis travel most often indicate their feasibility and functionality to reach the aspired destination. Routes, as well as the destination countries tend to change constantly as a response to tightening immigration and border controls. Despite the latest improvements in Somalia's situation emigration from Somalia still continues. In the future more and more Somalis need to rely on human smugglers in order to leave Somalia and neighboring regions to migrate to pursued destination. Increase in smuggling activities can bring along unwanted side effects such as human rights violations and human trafficking of migrants.