Lisa A. Eckenwiler

Forced Migration and Health Justice

While migration has been a human constant, the past decade has brought an unprecedented number of migrants fleeing uninhabitable conditions in the countries or regions where they have been living. These people--displaced by famine, drought, disease, armed conflict, or persecution--often endure these conditions only to find themselves in another set of hostile circumstances as they try to find their way toward safety, at least, and a life of thriving at best. Forced Migration and Health Justice focuses directly on forced migration, health, ethics, and justice. The book deploys a "journey" approach to highlight the ways in which structural injustice is central to what threatens migrants' health. Organized to map migrant journeys, the chapters follow the route of the forcibly displaced, analyzing the cultural norms; political, economic, and social policies; and institutional structures encountered along the way that thwart health justice for forced migrants. The book is divided into four sections. The first section contains case studies depicting the plight of migrants in different regions, while the second section looks at life in detention facilities or encampments, spaces "inhabited" by so many forced migrants. The third section turns to destination countries and their treatment of the forcibly displaced in the context of health care, followed by the final section that offers arguments on the responsibilities of governments, international humanitarian organizations, health professionals, and civil society concerning structural health injustice.