Original Language
English
ISSN
ISSN 2223-5248
Number of Pages
30
Date of upload

12 Oct 2015

Migration Policy Practice (Volume IV, Number 3, July-September 2014)

Minors represent an important share of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, with an estimated 14,000 children crossing into Italy in 2014. In North America, the growing number of unaccompanied children leaving Central America and travelling north to Mexico and the United States has become a major policy concern. The U.S. Government has predicted that as many as 70,000 unaccompanied minors will arrive in the United States this year. Kelly Ryan, the Coordinator of the Intergovernmental Consultations on Migration, Asylum and Refugees (IGC, Geneva), addresses this complex policy question in the first article of this issue of MPP. She calls for a new policy framework which should be based on the principle that unaccompanied children should be treated first and foremost as children.

The second article in this issue of Migration Policy Practice, by C. Omar Kebbeh of the US Department of Commerce, also focuses on the United States, albeit on a very different issue – the situation of African immigrants in the United States. The article compares the labour market outcomes of African immigrants in the United States relative to those of the native-born, and where relevant the total foreign-born population. It shows that African-born immigrants in the United States have a high labour force participation rate because they are generally more highly educated than the native-born population.

The third article, by Nava Hinrichs and Teressa Juzwiak of The Hague Process on Refugees and Migration, focuses on eight cities around the world and their efforts to promote the integration of migrants and refugees. The article focuses in particular on the role of the private sector, and the innovative ways in which businesses help to promote integration in cities as diverse as Auckland, Buenos Aires, Chicago, Kuala Lumpur, Lisbon, Nairobi, Rotterdam, and Sao Paolo. The article is based on research conducted by the UN University–Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT).

The final article in this issue again focuses on the subject of irregular migration, and the concept of “mixed migration” in particular. T. Craig Murphy, an IOM official based in Kenya, reports in particular on the trend in migrant deaths in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. He shows that contrary to the trend in the Mediterranean, the number of lives lost in the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea decreased from 2008 to 2013.

Murphy presents a policy framework to address mixed migration flows, which has three components – prevention, response and post-response measures. He argues that the complexities of contemporary mixed migration flows require a coordinated and strategic approach.

Migration Policy Practice is a bimonthly journal published jointly by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Eurasylum Ltd. It only contributes articles from, and is overseen by, senior officials in Government, EU institutions and international organizations, as well as civil society worldwide, working in the field of migration policy.  

As the journal approaches its third anniversary the editors would like to invite readers to spare a couple of minutes to participate in a short readers’ satisfaction survey. The purpose of this survey, which can be taken anonymously, is to help us identify our readers’ profiles, the institutions they represent and their primary interests in our journal. The survey’s responses should contribute, in particular, to adjusting and improving, as appropriate, the journal’s contents, style and reader’s experience. Should you wish to participate in this survey, please click here Migration Policy Practice: Readers' Survey.

  • Introduction by Solon Ardittis and Frank Laczko
  • Unaccompanied and separated minors: A call for a multidisciplined response to a humanitarian crisis by Kelly Ryan
  • A profile of African immigrants in the U.S. labour market by C. Omar Kebbeh
  • Migrant and refugee integration in global cities: The role of cities and businesses by Nava Hinrichs and Teressa Juzwiak
  • Mixed migration: Assessing the issues and implementing an effective humanitarian response by T. Craig Murphy
  • Publications
  • MPP Readers’ Survey