International Migration Panel activities

The IUSSP Panel on International Migration: Strengthening the Knowledge Base for Policy is acting on its terms of reference to encourage population scholars to address conceptual, technical and policy issues concerning international migration, and to engage emerging population scientists in international migration scholarship.  

For the Second Asian Population Forum, to be held in Shanghai, China, 11-12 October 2019, the Panel is collaborating with the Asian Demographic Research Institute (ADRI), Shanghai University to organize a panel session on "Priorities for international migration research in Asia" and to implement a training workshop on the estimation of migration. The aim of this workshop is to address the significant weaknesses in international migration data as a route to better understand contemporary and emerging migration patterns and trends. The goal is to adapt this training programme for implementation over the next several years in other regions of the world and concurrently develop training materials for migration measurement, analysis and estimation for inclusion in demographic curricula and the development of a training manual. [Persons interesting in participating in the workshop should visit:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/adri-workshop2019]. 

Engagement of demographers and other social scientists in international migration research will be encouraged through Panel participation in forthcoming international and regional population and migration conferences including the XV Argentinian Population Conference and II International Congress of the Southern Cone in San Juan, Argentina, 18-20 September 2019. Interactive sessions and roundtables will critically consider priorities in the conceptualization and empirical analysis of international migration. Proposals for participation will also be submitted to the 2nd International Forum on Migration Statistics that will take place in Cairo, Egypt, 20-21 January 2020. A centerpiece of these sessions will be the testing of ideas concerning the challenges and opportunities for the implementation of a World Migration Survey.  Panel members Philippe Fargues and Marcela Cerrutti are building on the previous work of fellow demographers to make the case for a survey in a proposal that includes, but moves beyond, a call for action by presenting alternative strategies to generate migration and social demographic data that are representative, comparative and policy relevant.

To foster integration of evidence into international migration governance, the Panel has submitted an intervention to UN Member State leadership (Permanent Representatives of Bangladesh and Spain) developing the modalities for the International Migration Review Forum (IMRF).  The IMRF will serve as process to monitor the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. (A useful resource describing the IMRF process is https://sdg.iisd.org/news/co-facilitators-issue-zero-draft-on-internati…)  We argue for a formal and sustained role of demographers and migration scholars in the analysis of national and regional implementation of the Global Compact for Migration. Models for participation of the research community in these global commitments include technical expert meetings, commissioned scientific studies of migration and, very critically, institutionalization of an independent scientific group to consider progress towards secure, just, and sustainable processes of human migration.