More people are migrating than ever before, posing enormous challenges
and opportunities for individuals, countries and the entire world.
Now, more than 250 million people live outside their country of birth.
Most of them are economic migrants who leave their home
countries seeking better jobs and economic opportunities abroad.
They're also fleeing persecution, often
blurring the line between economic migrants and refugees.
But the distinction between the two has major consequences.
In 1951, an international convention legally defined refugees
as people who have fled their home country due to a well-founded fear
of being persecuted because of their race, religion, nationality,
or membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
It gave them specific rights and protections,
including access to health care and education.
But this definition doesn't account for every refugee.
Many people are increasingly displaced by natural disasters and climate change.
And despite the international convention, it's typically individual countries
that decide whether to recognize migrants as refugees and grant them
legal protections.
An asylum seeker is a person who has requested recognition
as a refugee and whose claim has not yet been assessed.
A process that can take years.
Not all
migrants are willing or able to leave their home countries.
Internally displaced persons make up one of the largest
migrant groups and are uniquely vulnerable.
Home governments are responsible for protecting IDPs, but
are often the very source of the conflict or persecution they're fleeing.
And intervention by foreign governments and organizations is challenging
because of sovereignty, the principle that individual countries
should generally have complete authority within their borders.
Most countries focus their migration policies on controlling who enters,
citing economics, values and security concerns.
A growing trend over the past few decades is the militarization
of border security, as migrants are viewed as potential threats.
On this front, many nations are following the example of the United States,
which also performs extensive vetting of migrants
requiring comprehensive interviews and biometric testing.
Beyond security,
some policymakers object to immigrants on racial and religious grounds,
but others welcome them, touting diversity and human rights.
Still, critics of large scale immigration
say that migrants are a burden for government services
and that they take jobs away from native born workers.
However, migrants can provide a major boost to countries economies,
filling labor
and skill gaps while bringing new ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit.
Over 40% of Fortune 500 companies were founded
by immigrants or the children of immigrants.
While the migrants home countries may lose talented individuals,
they benefit from money sent back to family and friends.
The main organization working to address migration on an international level
is the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
which AIDS and advocates for millions of refugees across the world.
But the organization relies solely on voluntary
contributions, and resources are limited.
Some governments coordinate with each other on migration issues.
In 2016, huge numbers of migrants
were flowing from Syria through Turkey into Greece.
But Turkey and the European Union struck a deal
allowing Greece to send undocumented migrants back to Turkey.
In exchange, Turkey would send some vetted Syrian refugees to Greece
for resettlement in the EU, which also provided
billions of dollars worth of economic aid to Turkey as part of the deal.
Still, as governments work together, their decisions
must not only address whether and how to accept the incoming flows of migrants,
but also other factors including war, famine and economic opportunity
that drive these millions of people to move in the first place.