Bridges, not walls: beyond the single story of migration — Opinion
I use the terms “global south” and “global north” in reference to ongoing trends in migration discourses.
In recent years, debates on migration have tended to foreground the south-to-north trajectory. The ‘influx’ of migrants from Africa and South America is often viewed by global north countries as an emergency requiring urgent response.
These debates on migration, however, overlook the north-to-south and south-to-south trajectories which have grown significantly in the last few decades. Recent figures reveal that south-to-south migration constitutes at least 33% of the global total despite the structural bottlenecks.
What this highlights is the one-sidedness of the narrative that draws a skewed and disproportionate reality between the ‘developed’ world and the ‘undeveloped’ world. With this kind of narrative, we are denied a complete picture, leaving room for misconceptions that carry negative cultural, economic and geopolitical consequences, especially for countries in the ‘south’.
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In the United Kingdom, policymakers are so keen on reducing net migration, and significant effort has been dedicated to slashing the numbers of skilled workers, as demonstrated by the new rules for migrants settling in the country, recently introduced by the Home Office.
In these proposals, “The right to live in the UK forever will no longer be granted to migrants almost automatically after 5 years. Instead, it will be earned.”
To earn it, migrants must prove a spotless criminal record, high proficiency in English, lack of debt, and a track record of National Insurance contributions. Some critics consider these provisions racist.
This comes amid an intensified fight against illegal border crossings via the English Channel, the Canary Islands, the Central Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Dover in the UK, Spain, Italy and France respectively, despite concerns.
Border policing has become even more pronounced in the United States, where Trump’s anti-immigration campaign has allegedly caused more division. Similar complaints over the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-related shootings and killings have hugely contributed to the Republicans’ heavy losses in the just-concluded mid-term elections.
Whereas it is reasonable for any country to manage migration, it becomes problematic when people from certain backgrounds are singled out. This invalidates the aim, however genuinely stated, as it does more to reinforce dangerous, othering stereotypes, deepening polarisation.
The cost of a twisted narrative is high. In the case of Africa, critics have repeatedly cautioned about the danger of a single perspective, accounting for the continent’s maligning and exploitation. To some extent, the tilted narratives about Africa and its people have sought to normalise historical injustices like slavery and colonialism, downplaying reparation efforts, as implied in Britain’s Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch’s recent remarks:
“I don’t think we should be giving any money to compensate people for the slave trade, and I don’t think that Andy Burnham needs to be apologising because it is a lever to wedge open the door to ask for cash.”
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Badenoch has previously voiced her party’s intention to deport at least 750,000 migrants, and to establish a “Removals Force” – a replica of ICE in the US.
The recent election of Somali-born former refugee Sagal Abdi-Wali to Britain’s parliament on October 8, 2026, following her closely watched contest with Green Party leader Zack Polanski, suggests that migrants are not a liability as the politicians seem to portray them.
Given the growing backlash from numerous African countries against the burgeoning foreign migrant inflows, the world must be reminded of our shared humanity and the need to build bridges rather than walls. This way, international migration will cease being a chessboard for political players and instead foster meaningful exchanges.
But Africans and other peoples affected by the misrepresentation must step up and tell their side of the migration story and not leave it to the former colonisers who are so intent on fulfilling their historical and geopolitical interests.
The article solely represents the views of Simpson Muhwezi, a Ugandan freelance writer and development practitioner.
