Bringing Human Rights into the Migration and Development Debate
| Date | 01 October 2011 |
| Author | Stephen Castles |
| Published date | 01 October 2011 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-5899.2011.00116.x |
Bringing Human Rights into the
Migration and Development Debate
Stephen Castles
University of Sydney
Abstract
International migration is a key aspect of global integration, yet migration is characterised by a global governance
deficit: unlike such areas as finance and trade, there is a lack of international institutions to set standards and ensure
conformity with international legal norms. State migration policies often fail or have unintended consequences, while
for migrants the result may be high levels of risk and exploitation. The US has over 11 million irregular residents, and
systematic use of irregular migrant labour can be found throughout the world. In recent years, however, there have
been attempts to move towards global governance mechanisms in the migration field. At the same time, migrant
associations have grown and linked up with international human rights organisations. The article examines these
trends, paying special attention to the Global Forum on Migration and Development – an intergovernmental
consultation process that has met annually since 2007 – and the efforts of migrant associations and other civil society
organisations to bring human rights into the debate. A final section discusses the initiative of a group of mainly Latin
American academics to establish a new conceptual framework and set of strategic indicators to assess the links
between migration, development and human rights.
Policy Implications
•Labour-importing countries can no longer pursue migration policies that ignore the interests, needs and rights of
migrants and their communities of origin.
•It is important for government and international agencies to work together with civil society organisations and
migrant associations to safeguard migrant rights and to improve outcomes for all concerned.
•Government policies on ‘migration management’ generally differentiate migrants into the highly skilled who are
welcomed and offered legal entry and secure residency, and the low skilled who are treated as temporary migrants
with limited rights or – even worse – as irregulars who are subject to criminalisation and high levels of risk and
exploitation. Policies of this kind often fail to achieve their objectives or have unintended consequences.
•Migration only benefits development if it is seen as part of a broader change process, which includes combating
corruption, improving transport and communications infrastructure, upgrading education and health systems and
improving rights and political participation. In other words, broadly based sustainable development comes first.
•Progress towards a more sustainable migration order that recognises the rights and needs of all involved must be
based on the questioning of dominant assumptions and the development of new sets of indicators and new
sources of data.
•Bringing human and worker rights into the migration and development debate is crucial for the establishment of
fair and sustainable forms of global migration governance.
International migration is a key aspect of global integra-
tion. Just as multinational corporations and international
financial institutions insist on the right to move capital
and commodities around the world to ensure maximum
efficiency (and profitability), they also promote the inter-
national deployment of labour. Over the last 30 years, a
global labour market has emerged, in which processes
of innovation, production and distribution are divided
up all over the world, while remaining under the control
of multinational corporations. The workforce is stratified
not only according to possession of human capital (i.e.
education, training and work experience) but also
according to gender, ethnicity, race and legal status.
But there is a big difference between international
migration and other forms of global integration. In such
areas as finance, trade and intellectual property, interna-
tional institutions have been set up to ensure a ‘level
playing field’. By contrast, international migration is
marked by a global governance deficit: there is no
international body with a mandate to set standards and
to ensure that migrants receive protection and access
to human rights. Migration policy has become highly
Global Policy Volume 2 . Issue 3 . October 2011
ª2011 London School of Economics and Political Science and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Global Policy (2011) 2:3 doi: 10.1111/j.1758-5899.2011.00116.x
Research Article
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