The planet is experiencing an unprecedented level of human mobility (i.e., migration within countries, internal displacement, emigration, and refugee movements). During the first two decades of this century, we have witnessed one of the highest levels of human mobility since the Second World War, with more people living in a country other than the one in which they were born. The number of international migrants worldwide continued to grow, reaching 281 million in 2020, up from 244 million in 2015, 222 million in 2010 and 173 million in 2000. Thus, in 2020, international migrants comprised 3.5 percent of the global population, compared to 2.8 percent in the year 2000 (UNDESA, 2020).
Moreover, never since the creation of the United Nations have international migration and large-scale refugee movements been higher on the multilateral and UN agenda or a subject of such intense debate at national, regional and international levels. UNHCR (2022) estimated that, by the end of 2022, different countries around the world hosted roughly 35.2 million refugees (including 5.4 million asylum-seekers). The dynamics of globalization, urbanization, violent conflict and wars, combined with ever-worsening climate change and environmental degradation, among others, have contributed significantly to the increase in human mobility worldwide.
This introductory course offers a broad overview of the scale of international migration, the underlying drivers, as well as the challenges it poses in today’s world, including for peace, security and sustainable development. Students will become familiar with the relevant international and regional legal frameworks in this area, the main actors involved in addressing today’s large-scale movements of refugees and migrants, the global mechanisms in place ‘to improve the international governance of migration,’ including the 2016 New York Declaration on Refugees and Migrants, the 2016 Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration (Global Compact on Migration) as well as the Global Compact on Refugees.
- Professor: Catalina Matamoros
- Professor: Adriana Salcedo