E.g., 04/18/2024
E.g., 04/18/2024
Middle East & North Africa

Middle East & North Africa

The Middle East and North Africa span both poles of migration: as countries of migrant destination, particularly in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and as countries of migrant origin. The region has a large supply of young, active workers, with millions working elsewhere in the region or in Europe. The research here focuses on labor and humanitarian migration to and from the region, including the policies and regulations that govern such migration, protection and integration issues for the region's refugees, diaspora engagement, migration cooperation and reintegration agreements with European governments, and more.

Recent Activity

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Lors de la deuxième moitié du 20me siècle, le Maroc s'est transformé en l'un des principaux pays d'émigration du monde. Les marocains constituent une communauté de migrants parmi les plus larges et plus dispersées en Europe de l'ouest.

A source for Europe's labor needs since the 1960s, Moroccan migrants and their remittances are central to the economy back home. But as Hein de Haas of Radboud University Nijmegen explains, Morocco is also becoming a transit and immigration country for migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

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Israel is home to Jews and Jewish immigrants as well as Israeli Arabs, Palestinian refugees, and others. But the arrival of foreign workers in the 1990s has further complicated the country's migration issues, as Martha Kruger reports.
An ILO study of Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates highlights the special risks of domestic work for women. Gloria Moreno-Fontes Chammartin discusses the findings and implications.

MPI's Divya Pakkiasamy describes how "Saudiization" efforts are intended to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on foreign labor.

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Recent Activity

Policy Briefs
July 2012

This brief provides a background on the displacement and evacuation of migrant workers caught in the Libyan civil war. It highlights questions raised as a result of this crisis regarding the response of the international community, discusses lessons learned from the Libyan experience, and identifies policy recommendations for addressing the protection needs of labor migrants during humanitarian crises. 

Video, Audio
June 26, 2012

This discussion highlights the best practices and experiences of different countries in engaging and maximizing the contributions that diasporas can and do make to the development of their country of origin, and more broadly the experience of policymakers in both sending and receiving countries and the related challenges and opportunities they face.

Books
June, 2012

This practical handbook highlights policies and programs that can magnify the resources, both human and financial, that emigrants and their descendants contribute to development. It gives concrete examples of policies and programs that have been effective, and pulls out both useful lessons and common challenges associated with the topics at hand.

Books
April, 2012

Ce manuel pratique et simple d’utilisation à l’usage des décideurs et des praticiens fait le point des mesures les plus récentes prises par les pouvoirs publics en direction des diasporas. La question qui se pose aux responsables politiques n’est pas tant de savoir si les diasporas peuvent être utiles à leur pays d’origine, mais comment elles le sont et quels types de politiques et de programmes publics sont à même de favoriser ces relations.

Books
April, 2012

Este manual ofrece a los formuladores de políticas y especialistas una guía accesible y práctica sobre las iniciativas gubernamentales referentes a la diáspora. Este manual contiene un menú, seleccionado cuidadosamente, de opciones normativas y programáticas viables basadas en experiencias reales en distintas partes del mundo.

Articles

The Arab Spring exposed critical weaknesses and exacerbated long-held disagreements within the European Union related to asylum, immigration, and external border control policy matters that spilled over into the operation of the Schengen area.

Articles

The succession of displacement and refugee crises in the Arab Spring, Côte d'Ivoire, Somalia, and Sudan has been characterized as the most troubling in some time.

Reports
September 2011

The impact of climate change as a driver of human migration is expected by many to dwarf all others. Still, certain frequently repeated forecasts of the number of people who stand to be displaced by climate change are not informed by a complete understanding of migration dynamics, as this report explains.

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