The talk will explore the current ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe. Drawing on in-depth interviews with refugees and NGOs in Europe and Africa, it will examine the drivers of forced migration, explain why it is at a historical high, and propose solutions that (a) assuage hostile European publics and (b) respect member states’ obligations under international law to refugees. The talk will argue that European asylum systems are currently overwhelmed, and states appear to have lost control of their borders, because of a cross-continent denial of European economies’ – and European consumers’ – structural dependence on cheap migrant labour.