International Program

Commentaries

March 2024

As Europe and the United States Face Similar Migration Challenges, Spain Can Act as a Bridge

Image of female worker at the Boqueria market in Barcelona making a crepe

Marcel Crozet/ILO

Spain and the United States both receive their greatest number of immigrants from Latin America, and have worked collaboratively together on displacement crises and other migration issues. As shared immigration challenges dominate debate on both sides of the Atlantic, Spain can serve as a vital bridge in the policy conversation, this commentary notes.

Policy Briefs

March 2024

Lessons from COVID-19: Managing Borders in the Next Global Public-Health Crisis

Volunteer hands out food to migrant workers returning to their hometowns in Vietnam

IOM/Red Cross Vietnam

The COVID-19 pandemic both shocked the global mobility system and reaffirmed the centrality and resiliency of human mobility. Four years on, public and political attention to COVID-19’s unprecedented consequences for cross-border movement has waned. Yet if countries are to manage mobility more effectively in future public-health crises, this is an important moment for reflection and learning, as this issue brief explores.

Reports

February 2024

Leaving No One Behind: Inclusive Fintech for Remittances

A woman in Nigeria smiles while using her mobile phone

iStock.com/Wirestock

Remittances are a vital lifeline for migrants’ families around the world and an important source of revenue for many low- and middle-income countries, especially in times of crisis. As more people turn to digital financial technologies for these money transfers, this shift holds the potential to shake up the rigid remittance industry and boost development benefits. But it also brings new challenges, as this report explores.

Policy Briefs

February 2024

The Mobility Key: Realizing the Potential of Refugee Travel Documents

Three refugee students at airport security check

Travel documents are critical facilitators of mobility. But for refugees, who cannot safely use a passport issued by their origin country, the lack of a usable travel document can shut them out of work, study, or other opportunities beyond their first country of asylum. This policy brief examines alternative documents that can facilitate refugees’ movement, key barriers to acquiring them, and strategies for overcoming these challenges.

Reports

January 2024

Expanding Protection Options? Flexible Approaches to Status for Displaced Syrians, Venezuelans, and Ukrainians

Ukrainian adults and children arrive at a train station in Hungary

IOM/Muse Mohammed

The massive and rapid displacement of Syrians, Venezuelans, and Ukrainians presented neighboring countries with an impossible task: providing legal status and assistance, even though their asylum systems lacked the capacity to handle such a large influx. This report examines the costs and benefits of the flexible approaches taken to providing status in these three cases, identifying lessons for future crises.

Policy Briefs

December 2023

Consolidating Gains: Lessons and Priorities for Promoting Fair and Ethical Recruitment

A migrant worker cuts through a metal rod at a construction site in Qatar

Apex Image/ILO

With more people moving abroad for work and events such as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar highlighting the risks migrant workers can face, questions about how international recruitment occurs have received increased scrutiny. This policy brief explores the notable progress that has been made in establishing fair and ethical recruitment standards, and identifies key areas for future attention by governments, employers, and recruiters.

A Haitian child looks over his mother's shoulder in Panama

Commentaries

Addressing the Next Displacement Crisis in the Making in the Americas

The next major displacement of people in the Americas is in the making, and it is going unnoticed. The response to the steady emigration from Haiti seen since a devastating 2010 earthquake has been largely haphazard and may not stand the test of new spikes as the country unravels further. This commentary suggests a way forward, based on a model used for the Venezuelan displacement crisis.

Image of passport page with variety of stamps

Articles

Top Statistics on Global Migration and Migrants

Looking for some of the most often-sought information on global migration? This statistics-rich article draws on the most current data sources to offer a primer on international migration, highlighting its types, the size of the migrant population and growth over time, and major sending and receiving countries and regions. Beyond looking at labor and humanitarian migrants and international students, the article examines remittances and more.

Recent Activity

Reports March 2022 The Central Role of Cooperation in Australia’s Immigration Enforcement Strategy By Henry Sherrell	Multimedia March 28, 2022 A Tribute to Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Multimedia March 16, 2022 Understanding Drivers of Irregular Migration from Guatemala	Articles March 24, 2022 'Migrants’? ‘Refugees’? Terminology Is Contested, Powerful, and Evolving By Rebecca Hamlin
Multimedia March 16, 2022 Comprendiendo los factores que impulsan la migración irregular desde Guatemala	Reports March 2022 Migración de Huehuetenango en el Altiplano Occidental de Guatemala: Respuestas de políticas públicas y desarrollo By Andrew Selee, Luis Argueta and Juan José Hurtado Paz y Paz
Reports March 2022 Migration from Huehuetenango in Guatemala’s Western Highlands: Policy and Development Responses By Andrew Selee, Luis Argueta and Juan José Hurtado Paz y Paz	Articles March 9, 2022 Origin of World’s Largest Migrant Population, India Seeks to Leverage Immigration By Ruchi Singh

Pages

Reports March 2017 The Long Road Ahead: Status Report on the Implementation of the ASEAN MRAs on Professional Services By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza and Guntur Sugiyarto	Reports March 2017 Rebuilding after Crisis: Embedding Refugee Integration in Migration Management Systems (Council Statement) By Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Meghan Benton and Natalia Banulescu-Bogdan
Reports March 2017 Improving the Labour Market Integration of Migrants and Refugees: Empowering Cities through Better Use of EU Instruments By Kate Hooper, Maria Vincenza Desiderio and Brian Salant	Reports March 2017 Strengthening Local Education Systems for Newly Arrived Adults and Children: Empowering Cities through Better Use of EU Instruments By Brian Salant and Meghan Benton
Reports February 2017 Firing Up Regional Brain Networks: The Promise of Brain Circulation in the ASEAN Economic Community By Jeanne Batalova, Andriy Shymonyak and Guntur Sugiyarto	Reports February 2017 Reinventing Mutual Recognition Arrangements: Lessons from International Experiences and Insights for the ASEAN Region By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza, Demetrios G. Papademetriou, Maria Vincenza Desiderio, Brian Salant, Kate Hooper and Taylor Elwood
Reports January 2017 Constrained by its Roots: How the Origins of the Global Asylum System Limit Contemporary Protection By Randall Hansen	Reports January 2017 Open Windows, Closed Doors: Mutual Recognition Arrangements on Professional Services in the ASEAN Region By Dovelyn Rannveig Mendoza, Maria Vincenza Desiderio, Guntur Sugiyarto and Brian Salant

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Feature

August 25, 2020

Southeastern Europe Looks to Engage its Diaspora to Offset the Impact of Depopulation

Southeastern Europe is experiencing one of the sharpest depopulations in the world, with countries such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia on pace to see their populations shrink by at least 15 percent in coming decades. To counter this trend, governments in the region, NGOs, and the private sector are increasingly, if unevenly, tapping into large diaspora communities to spur economic growth and strengthen cultural ties.

Migrants aboard a rubber vessel are rescued in the Mediterranean

Feature

August 6, 2020

Once a Destination for Migrants, Post-Gaddafi Libya Has Gone from Transit Route to Containment

Libya was once a prized destination for workers from around the world. But after Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow in 2011, the country became the transit point for hundreds of thousands of Europe-bound asylum seekers and other migrants. Following Libya's 2017 deal with Italy to detain and return migrants caught at sea—which was renewed in February 2020—migrants became trapped in an unstable country, facing harrowing realities, as this article explores.

Feature

July 9, 2020

COVID-19 Pandemic Profoundly Affects Bangladeshi Workers Abroad with Consequences for Origin Communities

Bangladesh is one of the world’s largest migrant-origin countries, and money sent home by its workers abroad is crucial to an economy that has become one of the more vibrant ones in South Asia. Against this backdrop, the COVID-19 pandemic has injected turmoil into the economy as Bangladeshi migrants have lost their jobs, families are seeing reduced remittances, and would-be migrant workers have had to shelve their plans to work abroad.

A gathering in Tel Aviv for asylum seeker rights

Profile

June 5, 2020

A Warm Welcome for Some: Israel Embraces Immigration of Jewish Diaspora, Sharply Restricts Labor Migrants and Asylum Seekers

Israel has a remarkably open immigration system for anyone who can prove Jewish ethnicity. But as this country profile explores, migration is extremely difficult for non-Jews, including asylum seekers. This article describes immigration flows under the Law of Return and examines labor migration and the rise in asylum seekers, reviewing the main challenges that have emerged within the last three decades.

Source Panda ClimateChange Bishnu Sarangi Pixabay

Feature

May 22, 2020

Climate Change, Displacement, and Managed Retreat in Coastal India

Coastal communities in India are confronting the effects of sea-level rise, erosion, flooding, and cyclones. This article examines displacement and migration from Odisha, the Sundarbans delta, and Majuli island in the state of Assam, examining national and state responses and the principles that could inform the design of policies to address displacement due to climate-related hazards.

Pages

Expert Q&A, Audio

December 16, 2020

Purposeful and Coordinated: Climate Change and Managed Retreat in India

Confronting environmental change, whole communities sometimes relocate from one area to another. This purposeful, coordinated movement, while currently rare, is referred to as managed retreat.

MovingBeyondPodcast Ep.5 GamlenEpisodeTile

Expert Q&A, Audio

December 9, 2020

What’s Next for Global Migration? Gazing Into the COVID-19 Crystal Ball

With news that viable COVID-19 vaccines are on the horizon, what might 2021 hold in store for the global movement of people, whether for tourism, business travel, or more enduring forms of migration?

Video, Audio

November 18, 2020

Welfare States and Migration: How Will the Pandemic Reshape a Complex Relationship?

This MPI Europe webinar reflects on the implications of this current moment for European economies and societies and the role of immigration and immigrant integration policy, and highlight research from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre on the fiscal and demographic impacts of migration.

Expert Q&A, Audio

November 17, 2020

Does Climate Change Cause Migration? It’s Complicated

The relationship between climate change and migration is long and complex. Human civilizations have been affected by environmental conditions for centuries, but we should be wary of arguments that huge numbers of people are inevitably destined to migrate in response to specific climate threats.

Video, Audio

November 9, 2020

The Post-Pandemic Ascent: The Role of Migration in Emerging from the Economic and Labor Market Turmoil

MPI and OECD experts discuss the impact of the coronavirus on migration and mobility systems, findings from OECD’s International Migration Outlook 2020, opportunities for innovation, what labor demands may emerge, and the role of migration in North America and Europe at this challenging point in history.

Recent Activity

Reports

March 2022

The Central Role of Cooperation in Australia’s Immigration Enforcement Strategy

Cooperation with other countries has become a central part of Australian border enforcement. Partnerships with countries such as Indonesia, Cambodia, Nauru, and Papua New Guinea have helped Australia curb irregular maritime migration, but also come at significant costs. This report explores the current and future role of cooperation in Australian immigration enforcement policy.

Video

March 28, 2022

A Tribute to Demetrios G. Papademetriou

Colleagues from around the world gathered to celebrate the life and legacy of Demetrios G. Papademetriou, who was MPI's first president and the founder of MPI Europe. One of the world's pre-eminent scholars and lecturers on international migration, he developed a rich body of scholarship and advised numerous governments, international organizations, civil-society groups, and philanthropic organizations on immigration and immigrant integration issues.

Video, Audio, Webinars

March 16, 2022

Understanding Drivers of Irregular Migration from Guatemala

This event explores changing migration patterns from Guatemala, how policymakers and development practitioners can help create livelihood options and address other drivers of migration, and the broader lessons for policy approaches in sending and receiving countries that could help better manage migration and provide alternatives to irregular migration. This event was in Spanish with English interpretation.

Articles

March 24, 2022

'Migrants’? ‘Refugees’? Terminology Is Contested, Powerful, and Evolving

What’s in a name? Terms used to refer to people crossing international borders are frequently debated and often evolve, amid efforts to shape the narrative and changing political realities. This article explores the history and evolving use of terms such as "migrant," "refugee," "illegal immigrant," "unauthorized immigrant," and more.

Video, Audio, Webinars

March 16, 2022

Comprendiendo los factores que impulsan la migración irregular desde Guatemala

En este evento de presentación del informe, los ponentes hablan sobre los cambios en los patrones de migración desde Guatemala.

Reports

March 2022

Migración de Huehuetenango en el Altiplano Occidental de Guatemala: Respuestas de políticas públicas y desarrollo

Desde principios de la década de 2010, la migración irregular de Guatemala a Estados Unidos ha aumentado drásticamente. Huehuetenango, un departamento en el Altiplano Occidental de Guatemala, se encuentra entre las principales fuentes de esta emigración. Este estudio examina los patrones y factores impulsores de la emigración de Huehuetenango, así como las posibles estrategias para abordar factores de empuje y creación de alternativas a la migración irregular.

Reports

March 2022

Migration from Huehuetenango in Guatemala’s Western Highlands: Policy and Development Responses

Since the early 2010s, unauthorized migration from Guatemala to the United States has risen dramatically. Huehuetenango, a department in Guatemala’s Western Highlands, is among the top sources of this emigration. This study examines the patterns and drivers of emigration from Huehuetenango, as well as potential strategies to address push factors and create alternatives to irregular migration.

Articles

March 9, 2022

Origin of World’s Largest Migrant Population, India Seeks to Leverage Immigration

With nearly 18 million nationals abroad, India is the origin of more international migrants than any other country and claims the world's largest diaspora. Indian emigration can be traced back to the colonial era, with the British empire dispatching Indian workers across the globe, and has evolved for more than a century in response to global labor demands and geopolitical events. This article offers a comprehensive profile of migration from and to India.

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