Due to the complexity of migration processes, the related international legal norms operate on many levels and have a wide range of addressees. This overview of international law dealing with migration seeks to identify the legal norms that constitute the framework of and for cooperative management in the interest of states, their citizens, and interstate relations. This report is an offprint and will serve as the introductory chapter to a collection of legal research papers that constitute the bulk of the wide ranging Expert Study that was carried out in 2002 in co-operation among IOM, Institute of Higher International Studies (Geneva) and Migration Policy Institute (MPI in Washington DC).