The History of Global Migration Governance

This working paper on the history of global migration governance has been written in the context of discussions on the Global Compact for Migration. The paper is aimed at a policy-making and diplomatic audience, and seeks to situate the current discussions within a historical context and enable the trajectory of the institutional architecture relating to migration governance to be better understood by all parties to the negotiations. It traces the evolution of migration institutions over the last 100 years and highlights key turning points that have enabled to pace of institutional developments to accelerate in recent years. It argues that one of the great challenges of global migration governance has been its fragmentation, and concludes with a series of recommendations about how policy-makers can manage fragmentation in a way that promotes international cooperation.