Forced migration is one of the most critical and divisive topics worldwide. Significant research goes into understanding how and why it's happening and the impact that the decisions of the nations involved are having. We had a chance to talk with Keifer Brown, a research analyst at The Africa Center for Strategic Progress, about the role that research plays in the humanitarian efforts around forced migration.

The group of researchers that Keifer Brown is a part of at the center has most recently focused on forced migration through the Central Mediterranean route, where huge numbers of people displaced by war, famine, and economic strife migrate to Europe from Africa.

Having a background in international relations and conflict diplomacy, much of Brown's work has been on how the policies of nations within the Central Mediterranean route affect migrants.

Starting from his master's degree from the American Military University, Keifer Brown tells us that he has chosen this path because "I felt like it would give me a much greater sense as to what is happening worldwide, rather than looking at it from the narrow scope of United States interests."

Of course, US interests, and more notably European interests in the case of Central Mediterranean migration, still dictate much of how forced migration is addressed on a global scale. As the source of most funding for humanitarian efforts and research, the politics of these nations exert considerable influence on which programs and organizations proceed.

These issues surrounding forced migration are incredibly complex and involve a combination of economic, environmental, and political factors. In many nations and regions, groups are forced to relocate by their governments. In others, war and other dangers give the people there no option to leave.

Forced migration research evaluates the extent of forced migration in countries around the world. The research plays a critical role in providing the information that is essential for nations to develop and implement their policies. Maintaining current and accurate information allows relief efforts to mitigate these situations.

Much of the current policy development on forced migration is dominated by political factors and nations concerned more with the result rather than the causes. Effective research into the causes of forced migration provides more precise information to governments and organizations that can let them more readily implement solutions through their policies.

The need for this type of research is only expected to expand as more turbulence in key regions and the onset of more climate-related migration develop. There is an ongoing need to secure more funding for these efforts and always a lack of new professional entrants into the field with the necessary skills to produce actionable results.

Keifer Brown explained to us that he plans to focus future research specifically on migrant detention centers, where nations on either side of the Mediterranean are keeping large numbers of migrants with nowhere else to go. Detailing potential human rights abuses will hopefully spur governments to act decisively and quickly to implement policies to protect forced migrants.