Migration, mobility and digital technology in a post-COVID-19 world: initial reflections on transformations underway
Marie McAuliffe, Jenna Blower · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2021
This chapter provides initial analysis of the impacts of COVID19 on mobility and migration globally with reference to the uptake of digital technology in pandemic response as well as reflections on the key strategic implications for migration and mobility systems. Initial data indicate that COVID-19 has resulted in mass immobility, with countries enacting unprecedented restrictions on freedom of movement as well as a surge in population surveillance technologies for contact tracing measures, including through the use of AI systems. COVID-19 has further intensified the migration securitization rhetoric while enabling the uptake of digital technology for both pandemic and non-pandemic purposes, such as broader population surveillance. While technological innovations can help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 considerable concerns are being raised by scholars and civil society actors on the privacy and human rights implications of the data collection and usage. The full implications for migration and mobility, individual privacy and security are as yet unknown, however, alarming developments regarding the extent to which human rights principles have been so rapidly set aside during the pandemic are cause for major concern.