Getting practical in migration and development

At the European Alpbach Forum, ICMC addresses the changes in perspectives on migration, including the many positives now associated with migration such as remittances and fulfillment of mutual needs in sending and receiving countries. ICMC posits that the current global debate on migration and development could end with either the creation of policies around managing migration, which could increase legal channels of entry and decrease human smuggling and trafficking. The second would involve “maximizing the positives and minimizing the negatives” of migration so that co-development can be achieved. They also express the importance of integration into host societies where migrants have both rights and obligations within the society, and the need for rights-based programming to help facilitate integration. Finally, ICMC expresses the important role which NGO’s can play in assisting states with integration programming and in formulating rights-based policies.