Europe’s current approach to migration – focusing on reducing arrivals at the expense of tackling conflict and instability and providing safe pathways for people on the move – is feeding into a vicious circle of conflict, poverty and displacement.

This infographic highlights the different steps within the circle. Europe faces political pressure to deal with the ‘threat’ of migration, which then leads it to reinforce its border security to contain migrants. This feeds into growing repression, instability, poverty and displacement – the very factors that force people to flee their homes in the first place.

The image highlights the need for Europe to take a longer-term, more sustainable approach to managing challenges in its neighbourhood. Instead of playing, and losing, the numbers game for cutting migrant arrivals, Europe needs to build a new policy consensus around a vision for promoting peace, stability and human rights.