Nudging Migrants Around: Forcing Secondary Movement Across Jurisdictions in the Context of a Frozen Conflict

The Republic of Cyprus (RoC) has received relatively large numbers of migrants and particularly asylum seekers in recent years. Constrained by the sea, Cyprus’ geographic location and the fact that this EU member state does not belong to the Schengen area, RoC governments have not practiced “nudging forward” towards other EU countries like Italy, Greece and Malta. At the same time the de jure and de facto co-existence of three legally distinct entities on the island, the areas controlled by the RoC, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and the British Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) -which share boundaries with both the RoC and the TRNC- create the conditions for nudging migrants forward and around the island. To understand this puzzle we introduce the concept of ‘nudging around’: irregular migrants never leave Cyprus, but are pushed from one (de jure or de facto) jurisdiction to the other, exploring opportunities, changing status and facing precariousness in the process. We map ‘nudging around’, from the British Sovereign Base areas to the RoC; from the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) to the RoC; and, since 2019, through smuggling from the TRNC to the RoC, ‘category-jumping’ and driving migration underground. The data is derived from interviews with migrants about their experiences with “nudging around” practices and from a structured analysis of legal and policy documents, in order to trace the salient categories, operating procedures and levels of policymaking in the three jurisdictions. The importance of the United Nations Buffer Zone will also be explored as a possible stage in the “nudging around” process and migrant trajectory. Lastly, we will draw broader implications for the literature on ‘migrants on the move’/transit migration and frozen conflicts.