The number of people around the world forcibly displaced by conflict or persecution reached its highest total since World War II, with more than 51.2 million fleeing their country or displaced within it, the UN refugee agency reported in 2014. An estimated 13.6 million people have been displaced by conflicts in Syria and Iraq alone, constituting what the UN High Commissioner for Refugees dubbed a mega-crisis.
The phenomenon of unaccompanied children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, typically after an arduous and often dangerous journey through Central America and Mexico, has reached a crisis proportion, with a 90 percent spike in arrivals from last year and predictions of future increases ahead.
Several international initiatives were launched in the 1990s and 2000s in response to the steady development of migration policy and governance in the international arena. One such initiative, the Global Migration Group, an inter-agency group, has received scant attention from scholars. This article provides a critical analysis of its genesis, functioning, and future.
In its newest five-year "roadmap" for justice and home affairs policy, the European Union has made migration a priority area. But while the Stockholm program offers plenty of detail on issues like illegal migration and asylum, it offers few specifics as to the final goal. MPI's Elizabeth Collett analyzes the program's action points and looks at challenges facing its implementation.
In recent years, the European Union has come to recognize that it cannot prevent migration and that it needs a different approach to managing flows from its poorer neighbors. Jean-Pierre Cassarino of the European University Institute looks at the rationale for mobility partnerships and what they will need to be effective.
Along with increased trade and Chinese investment in Africa has come new migration between the two regions. Malia Politzer places this movement in context and looks at the types of Chinese migrants going to Africa and the Africans going to China.
Schengen eliminated border controls between European countries, and established a common external border. MPI's Julia Gelatt explains the changes brought by Schengen and the effects Schengen has had on European border control, visa, and asylum policies.
Christina Boswell, Senior Researcher at the Hamburg Institute of International Economics, provides an in-depth look at burden-sharing and refugee protection.
