Essentials of Migration Management
for Policy Makers
and Practitioners
Section 1.7
International Cooperation
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Section 1.7 International Cooperation
Learning Objectives
•
•
•
increase your knowledge of the modes and mechanisms for international
cooperation in the area of migration management
understand the benefits of international cooperation in managing migration
improve your ability to identify modes and mechanisms of international
cooperation that are relevant to the needs of your State
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Essentials of Migration Management
Section 1.7 International Cooperation
Topic Titles
Topic One: The Basis for International Cooperation
Topic Two: Forms of International Cooperation
Topic Three: Realizing the Benefits of International Cooperation
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Essentials of Migration Management
Section 1.7 International Cooperation
Terms and Concepts
Consultative process:
A cooperative mechanism that offers participating States
the opportunity to share experiences with other States
usually in the same geographic region and to engage in
discussion and information-sharing on issues, policies,
and programmes of common interest, including
consideration of the benefits of common approaches.
Regional Consultative Processes (RCPs) are attractive
because they connect participants with common interests,
and participation is informal and non-binding.
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Essentials of Migration Management
International Cooperation
Topic One
The Basis for International Cooperation
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Topic One
The Basis for International Cooperation
Important Points
1.
Capitalizing on migration to benefit development can best succeed through
cooperative efforts.
2.
Effective management of migration can only begin to be achieved if there is a
clear understanding of the trends and flows in migration movement
(based on the collection, sharing, and analysis of migration data between
States)
3.
International cooperation makes a difference in managing labour migration.
4.
In order to address trafficking in persons, States need to share law
enforcement information to understand and follow patterns, and to break up
organized crime networks.
(Continued)
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic One
The Basis for International Cooperation
5.
Effective migration management requires cooperation and dialogue, not
only among States, but also among all interested stakeholders, including
international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and the private
sector.
6.
Effective migration management is achieved through balanced
consideration of economic, social, political, humanitarian,
developmental, and environmental factors, taking into account the root
causes of migratory flows.
7.
Migration management requires partnerships and responsibility sharing.
Cooperation may develop where:
•
there are similar problems to resolve
•
there are similar challenges to manage
•
there are different migration-related interests and goals, but it is in a
State’s political interest to find a cooperative solution
•
there are some common interests and other conflicting interests.
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Essentials of Migration Management
International Cooperation
Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
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Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
Bilateral cooperation
•
For many years, cooperation between governments in the management of
migration has taken place through bilateral agreements.
•
Early agreements were primarily in the area of labour migration between
States facing labour shortages and those with a labour surplus.
•
In recent years, there has been increasing focus on bilateral agreements dealing
with the return and readmission of persons without authorization to stay,
sometimes including other forms of cooperation or assistance.
•
Other bilateral cooperation arrangements have included management of a
common border.
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
Regional cooperation
•
Regional arrangements for international cooperation have existed for decades.
•
During the 1990s, and continuing into this century, multilateral Regional
Consultative Processes (RCPs) are emerging as an effective mechanism to
carry forward cooperative efforts in regional or international migration
management, offering the participating States:
• the opportunity to share experiences with other States of the same
geographic region.
• participation is informal and non-binding.
(Continued)
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
•
There is a growing convergence of ideas among most Regional Consultative
Processes regarding many of the key elements and principles that can guide
international migration management, including safeguarding migrant rights,
refugee protection, border management, and addressing root causes of
migration.
•
Currently, Regional Consultative Processes exist in most regions of the
world, and an increasing number of governments participate in one or more
of these processes.
•
Trends towards regional economic integration and political cooperation
in many parts of the world increasingly include consideration of migration.
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
Interregional cooperation
•
Mechanisms for regional cooperation are expanding to include cooperation
with other regions where there are specific shared interregional interests.
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
Global cooperation
•
There is no global consensus on how to address the complexities of
international migration.
•
Chapter X of the Cairo Declaration on Population and Development is
devoted to migration, refugees, asylum-seekers, and displaced persons, offering
a comprehensive overview of the challenges linked to the movement of persons.
•
The 2001 Durban World Conference Against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, and the 2002
Johannesburg World Summit on Social Development are two of the more
recent conferences where concluding declarations include significant sections
devoted to migration issues.
(Continued)
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
•
The Berne Initiative is a States-owned consultative process with the goal of
obtaining better management of migration at the national, regional, and global
levels through cooperation between States.
•
A number of international norms for global cooperation relate to migration in the
form of conventions or treaties.
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
Multilateral cooperation in the labour and trade sectors
•
GATS – The General Agreement on Trade in Services provides for the
movement of natural persons as service providers based upon specific
government commitments.
•
NAFTA – As of 2004, professionals from Canada, US, and Mexico in
designated occupations may work in the other North American Free Trade
Agreement countries without being subject to the numerical limits imposed on
other foreign nationals.
•
MERCOSUR – The Southern Common Market Agreement is similar to the
GATS. Provisions relating to access to labour markets and right of entry and
stay of foreigners are regulated by the individual member States.
(Continued)
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
•
APEC - The APEC Business Travel Card is intended to provide a balance
between the integrity of national borders and the need to simplify procedures
to boost competitiveness and trade amongst APEC member economies.
•
CSME – The Caribbean Community Single Market & Economy intends to
provide an open market without cross-border restrictions and therefore seeks
to facilitate the free movement of final products, goods, labour, and services.
•
The Labour Migration Ministerial Consultations for Countries of Origin
in Asia is a forum for Asian labour-sending States to share experiences,
discuss issues, and identify areas for activities.
•
Other forms of multilateral cooperation provide a variety of migration-related
arrangements for participating States.
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
Cooperation in the health sector
•
Health has long been a dimension of managed migration.
•
The International Health Regulations, adopted in 1971 by the World Health
Organization and currently under revision, are the only international regulatory
health instrument, and they are used as an international standard.
•
The Commonwealth Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of
Health Workers, adopted at a meeting of Commonwealth Health Ministers in
Geneva in 2003, is a consensus approach to dealing with the problem of
international recruitment of health workers.
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Two
Forms of International Cooperation
Cooperation concerning migration and development
•
There is a close relationship between migration and development;
properly managed, that relationship can reap benefits for the development of
States.
•
A connection between migration and development is increasingly being made
in international fora, in Regional Consultative Processes, and in bilateral and
multilateral agreements.
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Essentials of Migration Management
International Cooperation
Topic Three
Realizing the Benefits of International
Cooperation
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Topic Three
Realizing the Benefits of International Cooperation
Important Points
1.
Agreements should be balanced and will normally require some give-andtake by all parties.
2.
The benefits of the agreement for each party should be meaningful, but
realistic and financially feasible.
3.
Cooperative approaches should include regular evaluation.
4.
Cooperative agreements should address long-term needs, and not be
limited to short- and medium-term goals.
(Continued)
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Three
Realizing the Benefits of International Cooperation
5.
New policies that result from cooperative agreements should be tested and
assessed.
6.
Inter-state cooperation may include the provision of assistance to some
States by other States.
7.
Parties to an agreement should strive for transparent and focused
dialogue and exchange of information, particularly where countries share an
interest in specific migratory patterns in order to facilitate possible
responsibility-sharing arrangements.
8.
Consideration should be given to developing equitable and effective
responsibility-sharing arrangements that reduce the burdens on countries
hosting large numbers of refugees and countries of first asylum.
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Three
Realizing the Benefits of International Cooperation
National policies and international cooperation
•
Effective national migration policy is challenged to find, and maintain, a
balance between measures that address a number of migration-related
areas, and to avoid favouring one area over other equally important areas.
•
Effective national-level policy should include:
• policies that do not consider regular migration and irregular migration in
isolation from each other
(Continued)
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Essentials of Migration Management
Topic Three
Realizing the Benefits of International Cooperation
• consideration of the impact that national migration policy could have on
a number of related areas:
– economic growth
– public services
– social cohesion
– public protection and national security
– support for human rights
– international development·
• coordination between responsible authorities at all stages in the
migration process and, where appropriate, consideration for centralized
migration management functions in a dedicated ministry.
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Essentials of Migration Management
Last Slide
Section 1.7
International Cooperation
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