// AMY POPE Amy Pope has been director-general of the International Organization for Migration since 2023. Pre- viously, she was the senior adviser on migration to US President Joe Biden and served as the deputy homeland security adviser to President Barack Obama. She has promoted dialogue on global migra- tion challenges and opportunities through her academic writing and work with Chatham House. She has also held positions at the US Department of Justice and US Senate and was a partner in the Lon- don-based law firm Schillings.
X-TWITTER @IOMchief iom.int
them more closely with labour market needs. Well-designed temporary and cir- cular migration programmes, with strong protections for workers, can deliver bene- fits for all parties while reducing reliance on irregular channels. When migrants can return home with new skills, experi- ence and savings, they become drivers of growth in their own communities – help- ing to reduce the pressures that lead to migration in the first place. Third, G7 leaders should intensify coordinated efforts to combat the $10 billion-per-year smuggling and traffick- ing business. These criminal enterprises profit from human desperation and expose migrants to exploitation, abuse and death. Disrupting them requires not only law enforcement cooperation but also a reduction in demand for their services by expanding safe alternatives. Finally, the G7 should reaffirm the importance of multilateral cooperation, including by working with institutions such as the International Organization for Migration. No single country can manage migration alone – but together, coun- tries can build systems that are orderly, humane and effective. Migration will remain a defining issue of our time. The question is not whether people will move, but how. With the right policies, migration can ease labour shortages, strengthen econo- mies and support development in some of the world’s most vulnerable regions. With- out them, we will continue to see disorder, exploitation and political division. The choice before G7 leaders is clear: invest in a system that works – or con- tinue to manage the consequences of one that does not.
majority of people on the move now are not fleeing persecution in a narrow legal sense; they are seeking safety, stability and opportunity. Yet the global system we rely on – largely designed in the after- math of the Second World War – was not built for this reality. It offers too few legal pathways for those seeking work, while placing enormous strain on asylum sys- tems that were never intended to carry this burden alone. A SYSTEM UNDER STRAIN The result is predictable. Irregular migra- tion rises. Public confidence erodes. And criminal networks – smugglers and traf- fickers – step in, exploiting both migrants and the weaknesses of the system. It is important to be clear: every coun- try has the sovereign right to determine its own border policies. Managing borders is not only legitimate – it is essential to maintaining public trust. But migration is, by its nature, a global phenomenon. No country, no matter how powerful, can manage it alone. When countries focus solely on enforce- ment, they may reduce migration flows in the short term. But these efforts do not address the underlying drivers of migra- tion or the economic realities that sustain it. In many advanced economies, labour shortages are constraining growth, with tens of millions of roles projected to go unfilled in the coming decades. If legal pathways do not help fill that demand, irregular routes will expand, further empowering the criminal smuggling networks. The alternative is not open borders. It is smarter, more coordinated governance. This begins with recognising migration
as a development tool. Strategic invest- ments in countries of origin – particularly in education, skills training and job crea- tion – can give people real choices about whether to stay or move. At the same time, expanding safe and legal pathways for migration, especially in sectors facing labour shortages, can reduce pressure on irregular routes while supporting eco- nomic growth. There are promising signs of progress. Increasingly, governments are align- ing migration policies with development strategies, investing in workforce partner- ships and targeted training programmes. This is a welcome shift. But it remains uneven, and it must be scaled. FROM ENFORCEMENT TO SUPPORT The G7 can accelerate this transition. First, G7 members should deepen investment in development initiatives that address the drivers of migration – particularly in fragile and climate- vulnerable regions. Supporting commu- nities before displacement occurs is far more cost-effective than responding after the fact. Second, they should expand and mod- ernise legal migration pathways, aligning “No single country can manage migration alone – but together, countries can build systems that are orderly, humane and effective”
131 globalgovernancemedia.org
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online