International Migration Research Paper

International Agreements on Migration

In the post-war period there have been a number of agreements which have been signed and ratified by various states in relation to the migration of people in the world. Some of these legal instruments are specifically for refugees, some are meant for migrants while some were specifically formulated to deal with labor migrants.

The legal instruments in international migration have been ratified by different states and even though the members did not all ratify or join at the same time the memberships to these conventions and protocols have been growing over the years, e.g. when the 200 Human Trafficking Protocol was launched it had less than ten members but its membership currently stands at a little over

These policies are formulated by countries which are in the same geographical territories. Regional blocs such as the European Union (EU) and Southern African Development Community (SADC) have formulated migration policies which regulate the movement of people within their member countries. According to SADC website “The immigration services of SADC are engaged in collective planning aimed at strengthening the control and facilitation of the movement of persons in the region to benefit development” (www.sadc.int, para. 1 ). The website goes on to mention that “The overall objective of the Draft Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons is to “develop policies aimed at the progressive elimination of obstacles to the movement of persons of the Region generally into and within the territories of State Parties.” Specific objectives aim for every citizen to have entry (with some limitations) without a visa into another State, to seek permanent and temporary residence in other States, and to establish themselves with employment in another State”, (www.sadc.int, para. 2). This indicates that even though there are protocols and conventions that are implemented at the international level some countries which are located in the same territories have come up with ways to address the issue of international migration at regional

Countries such as Canada are calling on rich countries to take some level of responsibility by taking-in more migrants. Canada has been hailed as one of the few countries which are doing their best to assist people entering its borders, whether legally or illegally. Amnesty International, which is an international organization, has also spear-headed the call for European Union member states to take in migrants based on their economic capabilities as well as their geographic abilities.

On the other hand, cooperation between states is experiencing challenges because of the principle of sovereignty because it is because of this principle that international law sometimes clashes with sovereignty of states and arguments arise as to which one takes priority and in which cases does the other take priority over the other. The exit of Britain from the European Union is argued to have the potential of making other states follow its path of pulling out of a cooperation bloc. Hungary is one of the countries which have voiced out that they are against the call by EU for refugees that arrive in Europe to be distributed amongst EU member