The Ramphal Commission on Migration and Development played a significant role in highlighting the importance of migration to development issues at the recent biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Perth, Australia, where leaders affirmed their commitment to “maximise the economic and social benefits of migration to improve the resilience and prosperity of Commonwealth members”.

In the final communiqué released from the summit, Heads called for “stronger international cooperation to manage migration effectively in countries of origin, transit, and destination” in order to enhance the positive effects of migration and curb against irregular migration. They also agreed to reduce remittance costs by removing barriers to remitting and encouraging greater competition in the industry.

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On 5 October 2005, the GCIM which was launched on 9 December 2003 presented its Report ‘Migration in an interconnected world: New Directions for Action’ to the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the UN member states.

In its report, the Commission provides a concise and yet wide-ranging analysis of key migration issues and stresses that migration and related policies must be based on shared objectives and a common vision. The Commission proposes a comprehensive, coherent and global action framework based on six broad principles for action and a number of related recommendations covering the role of migrants in a globalizing labour market, migration and development, irregular migration, migrants in society, the human rights of migrants, and the governance of migration.

This report is likely to determine the future directions of research and policy on international migration in a significant way across the world.

ARI’s contribution to this report is noteworthy as papers by Prof. Binod Khadria and Dr. Nicola Piper make an integral part of the ‘supporting evidence’.

The two papers are:

Thematic studies, paper no. 10 on Gender and migration by Nicola Piper.
Accessible online at http://ftp.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/policy_and_research/gcim/tp/TP10.pdf
Regional studies, paper no. 6 on Migration in South and South-West Asia by Binod Khadria.
Accessible online at http://ftp.iom.int/jahia/webdav/site/myjahiasite/shared/shared/mainsite/policy_and_research/gcim/rs/RS6.pdf

IOM is an inter-governmental organization that works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners.
URL: http://www.iom.int

The Migration Information Source is an online publication by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI).
URL: http://www.migrationinformation.org/?mpi

A non-profit research institute based in the Philippines. The SMC looks at human migration and refugee movements in Asia.
URL: http://www.smc.org.ph/