Migration Law and Practice

Migration Law and Practice

Introduction

The International Migration Law Unit has been established to streamline and strengthen IOM's involvement in international migration law (IML). The objective of the Unit is to increase awareness and knowledge on IML. Although there is no comprehensive legal instrument at the international level that establishes a framework for the governance of migration, a set of legal rules constrain, regulate, and channel state authority over migration. Such rules - which have been created through state-to-state relations, negotiations and practice - are enshrined in non-binding instruments and multilateral and bilateral treaties, or have become part of customary international law. These rules constitute the framework for cooperative migration governance and reflect primarily the interests of states, their nationals and interstate relations. Recognition of the human rights of migrants and the need for the promotion and protection of these rights in the exercise of state sovereignty has been present in IOM's constituent documents since the Organization's foundation (Zolberg, 1989). The IOM Constitution and certain Council decisions provide the basis for IOM's involvement in promoting IML as part of its comprehensive migration management frameworks. The International Migration Law Unit is focusing on:

1.Training and capacity building activities will help governments and other stakeholders in migration strengthen their capacity to govern migration more effectively and ensure consistency with international and regional law.

2.Various research activities and the compilation of migration law at the international, regional and national level contribute to increasing the understanding and awareness of IML among government policy makers, practitioners, academics, non-governmental organizations and other stakeholders in migration.

3.The database on migration law draws together relevant norms and instruments regulating migration at the international, regional and national levels.

Discussion

The term migration refers to human mobility: A migrant is someone who has left his or her country of birth and who is living in another country. A migrant differs from a foreigner, the latter being defined juridical as a “nonnational.” There are internal and external migrations. Most international migrants are foreigners, and most foreigners are migrants, but not automatically so. Today, we are facing the second wave of world migration since the mid-19th century, when millions of Europeans left Europe for the New World to find work (United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America), to colonize and conquer (Asia and Africa), for trade, or as missionaries. The number of migrants (200 million, 3% of the world population) has tripled since 1970, and globalization, the transnationalization of networks, and push-and-pull factors has made individuals mobile internationally. Together, these factors challenge national borders, the sovereignty of states, and the notion of citizenship, which in turn affects international relations (IR) and political identities (Weiner, 1995).

Most political science research that focuses on migration tends to deal with either the role of the nation-state in controlling its borders, the making of immigration policy, the impact of migration on sovereignty (including foreign and national security), or issues of citizenship (dissociation between nationality and citizenship, identity, allegiances, and political inclusion). Such research draws on several disciplines, including IR, public policies, ...