Migration, Development, and Global Governance: From Crisis toward Consolidation

International migration is inherently an issue that links countries together. But divergent goals and concerns among the world’s origin, transit, and destination countries have meant that until recently, there has been little agreement on what form international cooperation on migration should take. The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration, adopted by the vast majority of states in December 2018, marks what the author of this policy brief describes as “an important milestone in international cooperation on what has been the global issue most resistant to compromise.”

This brief is the culmination of a collaborative project between the Migration Policy Institute and the German Development Cooperation Agency that has provided a development perspective on the Global Compact. It has tracked the compact’s negotiation and begun to look ahead to its implementation, exploring some of the most important and complex questions at the heart of this process, such as:

• What is the relationship between migration and development?
• How does labor mobility affect development in migrants’ countries of origin?
• How has the governance of international migration changed in recent years, and how is it likely to change going forward?

The brief draws together key findings on these and other timely topics—including migrant returns and reintegration, and how development assistance could help refugee-hosting countries build effective humanitarian protection systems.