
Kathleen Newland
Senior Fellow
Kathleen Newland is a Senior Fellow and Co-Founder of the Migration Policy Institute. Her work focuses on the governance of international migration, the relationship between migration and development, and refugee protection.
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Prior to MPI’s establishment in July 2001, Ms. Newland co-directed the International Migration Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment. Earlier, she was a Lecturer in international political economy at the London School of Economics (1988–92) and Special Assistant to the Rector of the United Nations University (1982–87). She has worked as a consultant to the International Labor Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the Secretary General of the United Nations, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the World Bank.
Ms. Newland is a Member of the Board of Directors of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a nonprofit organization that provides pro bono legal services to unaccompanied children caught up in the U.S. immigration system. She has served on the Boards of Directors of the International Rescue Committee, the Stimson Center, USA for UNHCR, and the Foundation for the Hague Process on Migrants and Refugees. She is also a Chair Emerita of the Women’s Refugee Commission.
Ms. Newland is author or editor of nine books, including most recently All at Sea: The Policy Challenges of Rescue, Interception, and Long-Term Response to Maritime Migration (MPI, 2016). She has also written more than 50 policy papers, articles, and book chapters.
Ms. Newland is a graduate of Harvard University and the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. She did additional graduate work at the London School of Economics.
Read the Washington Post profile of Kathleen Newland. Read Ms. Newland's report, Circular Migration and Human Development.
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Recent Activity
MPI Co-Director Kathleen Newland provides a concise overview of the impact of rich country migration policies on poor country development.
Danger often awaits people who set out by boat, seeking safety from upheaval or persecution. MPI Co-Director Kathleen Newland examines how governments, the shipping industry, and international bodies have succeeded — or too frequently, failed — to cast a line to those in need.
Change is sweeping the systems that govern refugee resettlement. MPI Co-Director Kathleen Newland examines the most important trends and their implications.
This special issue of the Forced Migration Review (FMR) was produced in collaboration with MPI. FMR felt that the implications for refugees and IDPs of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and the events which followed were so significant that they warranted changing our publishing schedule to accommodate this additional issue.
An Overheated Narrative Unanswered: How the Global Compact for Migration Became Controversial
Global Compact Lays the Groundwork for International Cooperation on Migration
Why Hide the Facts About Refugee Costs and Benefits?
The U.S. Falls Behind as Others Take on New Leadership Amid Record Humanitarian Pressures
The U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program Is an Unsuitable Target
The U.S. Record Shows Refugees Are Not a Threat
Protection at Sea: Addressing Irregular Maritime Migration
What Is the Right Policy Toward Unaccompanied Children at U.S. Borders?
The Lampedusa Tragedy Prompts the Question: Does the UN Have Any Impact on the World’s Migrants?