What's at stake at the Valletta Summit?

Development and migration

Development processes and migration and mobility are often intricately linked. Migration is one powerful way out of poverty and has great potential for sustainable development.

Flows of remittances now greatly exceed development aid, playing an important role in poverty reduction, relief and development. Economic research suggests that the opening of labour markets for international migrants can bring considerable economic gains for both sending and recipient countries as well as migrants themselves.

Yet migration and mobility – especially in the form of  displacement or in the context of conflict and crisis – can also bring challenges for development and put socio-economic pressures on governance systems and host communities.

The rise of complex and global mobility patterns has put migration high on the international agenda for the foreseeable future – not least for the EU.

Over the years, the European Commission has – at least on paper – developed a broad and forward-looking policy framework on international migration and mobility in relation to development cooperation and its relations with third countries. This includes migration in a South-South context, which is an important development issue for partner countries of the EU.

In recent years, the topic has also been of greater prominence in EU-Africa relations. However, the current ‘crisis response’ mood in the wake of the global refugee crisis has led to more short-sighted responses, which carries the risk of approaching mobility as a burden rather than a long-term development opportunity.

Successfully governing international migration and mobility requires cooperation, collective action, solidarity and working across relevant policy fields. It is important for policies that are aimed at addressing migration and mobility issues are based on a nuanced understanding of the complexities underlying it – and the important links it shares with development processes.

ECDPM’s work on migration and development

ECDPM has a long history of analysis and research on EU migration and development policy. As a knowledge broker for well-informed policy dialogue, we have produced a number of blogs, briefing notes, discussion papers and background notes. This includes work for the 2014 Italian Presidency of the EU, EU COM-Swiss Dialogue on Development Cooperation and the International Organisation for Migration.

We have worked in partnership with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE). Our research and analysis has focused on:

• Policy coherence for development (especially in migration and development)
• EU policies on migration and development
• Partnership between the EU and Africa, not least the EU-African Union partnership on Migration Mobility and Employment
• Migration and mobility in the post-2015/Agenda 2030 context

This dossier from ECDPM brings together its work on migration and development. ECDPM connects its long-standing work on policy coherence, EU external action, EU-Africa relations, security and resilience with the topic of migration.

Listen to our latest podcast with ECDPM’s Anna Knoll, who discusses the upcoming Valletta Summit on migration. 

http://ecdpm.org/dossiers/linking-migration-to-development/