Middle East & North Africa
Recent Activity
Martin Baldwin-Edwards of Panteion University examines new trends in the long-established phenomenon of migration within the Mediterranean basin.
Although the number of refugees displaced from the conflict in Iraq was significantly fewer than expected, the war produced some 260,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the North. Recent reports indicate that despite the threat of inter-ethnic retaliatory violence, many of these IDPs are now returning home.
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., EU officials issued a symbolic statement that the EU was prepared to receive Afghan refugees displaced from the looming American intervention. Despite internal policy tendencies to reject Afghan claims to protection and domestic security concerns, EU officials seemed to recognize at the time there was very little risk of a massive influx of Afghan refugees.
MPI Policy Analyst Monette Zard, who recently returned from the Middle East, examines the obstacles to protecting the approximately one million internally displaced persons in Iraq.
The obstacles to humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan could foreshadow those in post-war Iraq. MPI Associate Policy Analyst Erin Patrick maps out some of the possible lessons for policymakers and aid workers.
Although the relationship between migration and development has been widely discussed and debated for more than 30 years, a number of unanswered questions and unsettled debates remain. On April 11 and 12, 2003, the Migration Policy Institute sought to advance the dialogue. This report summarizes the key talking points of the high level meeting and offers some key summary remarks.