Migration

This new publication in the IOM Migration Research Series explores migration as one of the most problematic of the population variables. While reviewing the various instruments to measure international and internal migration, the research questions the tendency to consider the diverse forms of mobility separately from one another. The publication argues that human mobility is best conceived as a system that integrates internal and international migration within a single framework and that gives due account to tourism and its significant linkages with migration.

This book provides a transcription of the reports written by undercover agent Paul Kinsie for the League of Nations Special Body of Experts on Traffic in Women and Children in the mid-1920s. Between 1924 and 1926, a team travelled to more than a hundred cities in Europe, the Americas and the Mediterranean area to interview individuals involved in the regulation, repression, medical control, organization and practice of the sex trade. American undercover agents were included on the team to infiltrate the so-called ‘underworld’ and obtain ‘facts’ about the traffic. Among these, Kinsie was the most prolific. He visited more than forty cities and produced hundreds of reports in which his contacts with prostitutes, brothel owners, madams, pimps and procurers are described in detail. For a proper contextualization of the reports, scholars from around the world were asked to provide short introductions to the situation with regard to prostitution in each city that was visited. The book offers a unique source of information which is of great ethnographic value for people interested in the history of human trafficking and prostitution.

The US State Department included South Korea among its list of twenty-three countries that failed to meet minimum standards in attempting to stop the trafficking in human beings, primarily women and children exploited for prostitution. This report surveys the trafficking of women from countries such as the Philippines, Russia, and other nations of the former Soviet Union into South Korea. It systematically presents relevant data and research findings on this serious and growing phenomenon, and –by including both the South Korean government’s approach and the viewpoint of South Korean NGOs –it provides a balanced analysis.

The Yearbook series results from joint efforts by major African regional organizations to set up a joint data collection mechanism of socioeconomic data on African countries as well as the development of a common harmonized database. It is meant to break with the practices of the past where each regional/subregional organization was publishing statistical data on African countries of the continent in an inefficient way, leading to duplication of efforts, inefficient use of scarce resources, increased burden on countries and sending different signals to users involved in tracking development efforts. The joint collection and sharing of data between regional institutions promotes wider use of country data, reduces costs and significantly improves data and leads to better monitoring of development initiatives.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 10.7.2 was developed by the co-custodians United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to inform the global review of SDG target 10.7. The indicator aims to describe the state of national migration policies and how such policies change over time. SDG target 10.7, which calls on countries to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies, is the target most explicitly and directly related to international migration among all the targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The data booklet highlights current migration policies and measures to inform SDG indicator 10.7.2 “Number of countries with migration policies to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people”.

There is much greater awareness today that development affects migration, and that migration influences development. The challenge is to find innovative and effective ways to enhance the benefits of migration while mitigating its adverse development implications for emigration countries. This study assesses and analyses the migration and development situation of Angola and Zambia.

The EDAR 2018 titled "Migration and Structural Transformation in Africa" highlights how intra-African migration is of relevance to the agenda for regional and continental integration and shows that there are still many knowledge gaps, including on the relationship between migration, economic and trade policies. The report seeks to remedy these gaps by drawing on a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, global datasets, household surveys and sectoral level data to derive stylized facts about patterns of intra-African migration and channels through which they affect socio-economic development outcomes in Africa. This report innovatively adopts a human-centered narrative in identifying opportunities for absorption of extra labour in different sectors across the continent. The findings offer new insights for African governments as well as for migration stakeholders outside the continent.

More than 2 million Southerners have returned to South Sudan since 2005, following the end of the North–South civil war. Building on research conducted in South Sudan, as well as Egypt and northern Uganda, Ensor examines the process of reintegration of refugees and internally displaced persons returning to South Sudan since the signing of the 2005 Peace Agreement. The study focuses on the role played by displaced youth as they find themselves differentially situated vis-à-vis the various determinants of sustainable return and reintegration. The research finds that intergenerational tensions are a result of many displaced youths’ aspirations to a “modern” – often meaning urban – way of life perceived as incompatible with traditional livelihoods and social relations. In turn, these dynamics are impacting the way in which access to material assets, education, employment opportunities, political participation and other key resources is negotiated among displaced groups and those who stayed behind. The study also finds evidence of significant gender differences. As the pressures of responding to the complex needs of the vast numbers of returning individuals continue to mount, reintegration remains a loosely defined concept among government officials and external assistance agencies and, furthermore, understandings of what constitutes “sustainable return” differ markedly among the various stakeholders. Intergenerational differences regarding reintegration needs and aspirations, and even the very desirability of return, are rarely considered. This report shares primary research findings that may support return and reintegration programming so as to better respond to the age- and gender-differentiated needs and aspirations of diverse migrant groups in South Sudan.