Strategic Engineered Migration as a Weapon of War

In recent years, it has been widely argued that a new and different
armament — i.e., the refugee as weapon — has entered the world's
arsenals. But just how new and different is this weapon? Can it only be
used in wartime? And just how successful has been its exploitation?
Using a combination of statistical data and case study analysis, this
article tackles these questions and provides a detailed examination of
the instrumental manipulation of population movements as political and
military weapons of war. In addition to 'mapping the terrain' of the
issue by providing a comprehensive typology of the most common means by
— and desired ends for — which displaced persons have been used as
political and military weapons since the end of the Cold War, the author
also provides a portrait of the identities of the kinds of actors most
likely to engage in this kind of exploitation. She also proposes an
explanation for what motivates them to resort — and apparently
increasingly so — to the use of this unconventional policy tool, despite
the reputational and potential retributive costs of doing so.

http://belfercenter.hks.harvard.edu/publication/18120/strategic_engineered_migration_as_a_weapon_of_war.html