Unlocking migration’s potential

Migration is a vital driver of economic, social and cultural progress across Asia and the Pacific. Governments and stakeholders in the region are advancing migration governance to align with sustainable development and human rights. Yet, the full potential of migration remains unrealized—for migrants, their families and countries of origin, transit and destination.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed both the essential contributions of migrants and the risks they face. Many States adopted progressive measures during this period, such as improving documentation, enhancing access to healthcare, and reducing immigration detention. While some of these practices have lapsed, they offer lessons for a rights-based approach to migration governance and building resilience to future crises.

Progress in migration governance

Since 2021, Asia and the Pacific has witnessed achievements in migration Governance, which demonstrate a commitment to the principles of safe, orderly and regular migration. Good practices include:

  • Ensuring fair recruitment, decent work and expanded labour rights for migrants, including domestic workers.
  • Creating pathways to citizenship and providing protection for migrant workers in exploitative situations.
  • Improving visa provisions.
  • Protecting stateless children and strengthening frameworks for refugees and stateless persons.
  • Offering alternatives to immigration detention and reintegration support for returnee migrants.
  • Strengthening consular services and extending humanitarian assistance to migrants, regardless of status.

Nepalese migrant workers living in different parts of India boarding a crowded train to return back to their country to celebrate the festival of Bibha Panchami in Janakpur.
©Sudipto Das

Challenges and opportunities

Restrictive migration policies often create situations of vulnerability, driving irregular migration and exposing migrants to exploitation. Policymakers must adopt people-centred approaches that protect the rights of migrants, address the root causes of precarious migration, and promote pathways that are flexible and inclusive. Key priorities are:

  • Facilitating family reunification and academic mobility.
  • Addressing the needs of migrants in vulnerable situations, including for those impacted by the adverse impacts of climate change.
  • Combatting discrimination, xenophobia and gender-based violence.

Asia and the Pacific, home to over 40 per cent of the world’s international migrants, can leverage its diversity and regional cooperation to advance effective migration governance.

Migration and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Achieving sustainable development is critical to implementation of the Global Compact for Migration. Reducing poverty, hunger, inequalities and the impacts of climate change, as well as building peaceful, just and inclusive societies, are critical to addressing migration drivers and ensuring that people can choose to remain in their home countries if they wish. Achieving these objects can help underpin rights-based migration.

Policies must recognize migrants as agents of development, ensuring their contributions to inclusive growth and the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Looking ahead

The coming years present both opportunities and challenges for migration governance. Rapid digital transformation is reshaping migration and the world of work, while demographic shifts highlight migration’s role in addressing labour shortages in ageing societies. At the same time, the escalating impacts of climate change demand urgent action.

By respecting the human rights of all migrants, regardless of their status, and recognizing their value as development actors, migration can become a pathway to peace, inclusion and sustainable development.