International Migration Policies: Should They Be A New G20 Topic?

International migration should be a core subject for global governance, given its transnational nature, and yet it is its “ugly duckling” and the global community has shied away from taking any concrete action to regulate cross-border flows of people, at least until 2015, when the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean prompted Turkey to include migration in the Antalya agenda. It is unlikely that the international community will move beyond the current consensus based on humanitarian principles and recognize that the free flow of people is a right, on the same level as trade and capital liberalization. At the same time, much of the criticism of migration policies is misplaced: efforts should be focused on improving the implementation of existing policies and fine-tune these policies in relation to entrance and integration, preferably in cooperation with the country of origin. The G20 should play a leading role in facilitating such coordination, also taking into account the increasing importance of South–South migration (such as the migration of Chinese citizens to Africa).