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

Articles July 5, 2023 Haitians Flee a Nation Nearing Collapse By Emmanuela Douyon	Multimedia June 27, 2023 A Mixed Welcome: Haitian Migration within the Caribbean
Articles June 22, 2023 The Uneven Path Toward Cheaper Digital Remittances By Daivi Rodima-Taylor	Policy Briefs June 2023 Linking Migrant Reintegration Assistance and Development Goals By Camille Le Coz and Ravenna Sohst
Multimedia June 14, 2023 Making Refugee Participation in Protection Community Dialogues Meaningful	Reports June 2023 Building Meaningful Refugee Participation into Protection Policymaking By Uwezo Ramazani
Multimedia June 7, 2023 Migration Narratives in Northern Central America	Articles June 6, 2023 In Canada’s French-Speaking Quebec, Immigration Sparks Anxieties about Language and Identity By François Rocher

Pages

Policy Briefs September 2021 Migration Management and Border Security: Lessons Learned By Alan D. Bersin	Reports July 2021 Integración socioeconómica de los migrantes y refugiados venezolanos: Los casos de Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador y Perú By Diego Chaves-González, Jordi Amaral and María Jesús Mora
Reports July 2021 Socioeconomic Integration of Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees: The Cases of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru By Diego Chaves-González, Jordi Amaral and María Jesús Mora	Policy Briefs July 2021 Deepening Labor Migration Governance at a Time of Immobility: Lessons from Ghana and Senegal By Camille Le Coz and Kate Hooper
Reports July 2021 Future Scenarios for Global Mobility in the Shadow of Pandemic By Meghan Benton	Policy Briefs June 2021 From Unilateral Response to Coordinated Action: How Can Mobility Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa Adapt to the Public-Health Challenges of COVID-19? By Ling San Lau, Kate Hooper and Monette Zard
Policy Briefs May 2021 EU Strategy on Voluntary Return and Reintegration: Crafting a Road Map to Better Cooperation with Migrants’ Countries of Origin By Camille Le Coz	Reports April 2021 Sentando las bases para una cooperación regional: Política migratoria y capacidad institucional en México y Centroamérica By Andrew Selee, Ariel G. Ruiz Soto, Andrea Tanco, Luis Argueta and Jessica Bolter

Pages

Crossers at the Nicaragua-Costa Rica border

Feature

March 7, 2023

Crisis Prompts Record Emigration from Nicaragua, Surpassing Cold War Era

A political crisis marked by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s growing authoritarianism has sparked the largest emigration in the country’s modern history. Hundreds of thousands have fled, including intellectuals, artists, and academics. They increasingly are heading beyond the traditional destination of Costa Rica, to the United States and beyond, as this article details.

Women with children and a donkey in Ethiopia.

Feature

March 1, 2023

Efforts to Manage Climate Migration Are Slowly Growing, but Their Focus Is Often Indirect

Can haphazard, unplanned climate displacement be turned into voluntary, safe migration? Projects explicitly aimed at addressing internal and international climate migration are rare, but development organizations increasingly are turning their attention to supporting them. This article catalogues climate mobility projects around the world and examines their primary goals, whether to support the movement or stay of people or help at destination.

A migrant from Tajikistan outside Moscow.

Feature

February 7, 2023

Post-Soviet Labor Migrants in Russia Face New Questions amid War in Ukraine

Millions of immigrants fill key sectors in Russia’s economy, help offset its demographic challenges, and support origin communities, particularly in Central Asia. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many have also been pressured into joining the military, and meanwhile face continued marginalization by Russian society. This article outlines the key issues facing these migrants, some of which have been complicated by the fallout from the war.

A displaced woman walks with a jerrycan of water in Somalia.

Feature

January 18, 2023

Amid Record Drought and Food Insecurity, East Africa’s Protracted Humanitarian Crisis Worsens

Catastrophic drought has thrust tens of millions of people in East Africa into acute food insecurity, raising the specter of famine. The extreme weather crisis, which follows years of conflict and economic disaster, has compounded long-running humanitarian challenges affecting refugees and internally displaced people, as this article explains.

A migrant scheduled to be deported from the United States is escorted to a charter flight.

Feature

December 20, 2022

‘Recalcitrant’ and ‘Uncooperative’: Why Some Countries Refuse to Accept Return of Their Deportees

Every year, thousands of migrants ordered deported from EU Member States, the United States, and elsewhere are not returned to their origin countries. Why? One reason is the multiple nations that refuse to cooperate on readmitting their nationals abroad. This article explores the motivations behind countries’ lack of cooperation and how deporting states have responded.

Pages

Picture of female Venezuelan migrant in Colombia, leaning over balcony railing

Video

June 7, 2022

A Path to Self-Sufficiency: Advancing Venezuelan Refugee Integration in the Americas

The presidents of Colombia and Ecuador speak at this high-level event held on the sidelines of the Ninth Summit of the Americas, focusing on the critical need for succcessful integration of Venezuelans in the Americas.

Seeking the US border, many Central American migrants begin their journey in Mexico on 'La Bestia'

Video, Audio

May 24, 2022

En Busqueda de Seguridad: Opciones de protección regional para personas de Centroamérica

Con motivo de la publicación de un informe del Instituto de Política Migratoria sobre posibles vías de protección para las personas centroamericanas, este webcast ofrece un análisis sobre las vías humanitarias y de reasentamiento que ya se utilizan en la región así como las oportunidades y los obstáculos para expandir estos programas.

Video, Audio

May 24, 2022

Seeking Safety: Regional Protection Options for Central Americans

Marking the release of a Migration Policy Institute report on possible protection pathways for Central Americans, this webcast offers analysis on regional resettlement and humanitarian channels and the opportunities and obstacles to expanding these programs, along with specific actions that the United States and Canada could take.

Mohammed Hafiz who returned from Libya to Bangladesh in 2019 and benefited from IOM Libya’s reintegration program

Video, Audio

May 23, 2022

Delivering on the Promise of Predeparture Counseling for Sustainable Reintegration

Experts and practitioners in migrant-origin and destination countries examine how to leverage predeparture counseling for sustainable reintegration of returnees in this conversation marking the release of a related MPI Europe policy brief that explores promising approaches to strengthen the links between the predeparture and post-arrival phases in reintegration programs.

Afghan refugees arrive on a flight from Tajikistan

Video

May 19, 2022

Preparedness for the Next Pandemic: Towards a Resilient Global Architecture on Borders and Health

This official side event of the International Migration Review Forum revists lessons from COVID-19, and explores the potential for greater international coordination over health and mobility and setting principles that are clear, equitable, streamlined, and future-focused.

Recent Activity

Reports

June 2023

Migration Narratives in Northern Central America: How Competing Stories Shape Policy and Public Opinion in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador

El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras have long histories of emigration, but are seeing increasing transit and return migration as well. This report explores the stories told within these three countries about migration in all its forms, how these narratives intersect with (and at times, contradict) each other, and how they influence policy decisions and public opinion.

Articles

May 31, 2023

Global Spending on Immigration Enforcement Is Higher than Ever and Rising

Budgets for border security and interior immigration enforcement have been on the rise in places including the United States and the European Union. The spending is a result of the heightened focus on securitization by the Global North and has led to a ballooning private industry. This article explains the trend.

Expert Q&A, Audio

May 23, 2023

The Curious Case of China – What Does the COVID-19 Response by China & Asia Pacific Mean for Future Public Health Crises?

MPI's Lawrence Huang discusses COVID-19 mobility restrictions in China and the Asia Pacific—and what this all means for future public health crises—with Dr. Karen Grépin, a health policy professor at the University of Hong Kong.

Reports

May 2023

Apuesta por la regularidad migratoria: Respuestas de América Latina y el Caribe frente a la crisis del desplazamiento venezolano

Los países de América Latina y el Caribe han aprovechado, de manera pragmática, una variedad de herramientas políticas para otorgar estatus legal a al menos la mitad de los más de 6 millones de venezolanos desplazados en la región. Este informe explora hasta qué punto los venezolanos desplazados han podido obtener un estatus legal en los 15 principales países receptores, su acceso al mercado laboral y a servicios públicos, y dónde persisten brechas.

Reports

May 2023

Betting on Legality: Latin American and Caribbean Responses to the Venezuelan Displacement Crisis

Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have pragmatically tapped a variety of policy tools to provide legal status to at least half and as many as two-thirds of the more than 6 million displaced Venezuelans in the region. This report explores the extent to which Venezuelans have been able to obtain legal status in the top 15 host countries, their access to labor markets and public services, and where gaps remain.

Articles

May 18, 2023

Tense Neighbors, Algeria and Morocco Have Divergent Migration Histories

Algeria and Morocco sit along a crucial migration corridor between Africa and Europe and have often been defined by their rivalry. Although both have been reluctant to welcome large numbers of sub-Saharan African migrants, their motivations have been different. And historically, their approaches to emigration have been a study in contrasts. This article explores the factors driving migration policy in these two countries.

Commentaries

May 2023

Regional Processing Centers: Can This Key Component of the Post-Title 42 U.S. Strategy Work?

Amid a potentially dramatic rethink in the U.S. approach to management of migration from the Western Hemisphere, the creation of Regional Processing Centers (now known as Safe Mobility Offices, or SMOs) across Latin America will be central to the post-Title 42 strategy, as this commentary explains.

Articles

May 3, 2023

Generations of Palestinian Refugees Face Protracted Displacement and Dispossession

Palestinians constitute the world’s longest protracted refugee situation and largest stateless community. Yet their plight has often been eclipsed by more recent displacement crises and dismissed as unsolvable. Other factors have contributed to Palestinian refugees’ situation, including the near impossibility of obtaining citizenship in many host countries and precarious funding for support, as this article explains.

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