The Foreign Service Journal, March 2013

22 MARCH 2013 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL their right to flee danger. Because such mass movements are often transnational and have a strong impact on neighboring countries, multilateral diplomacy is indispensable in address- ing these crises. Clearly, the most desirable and durable scenario for forced migrants, security permitting, is to assist them to return and re-establish themselves in the location from whence they fled, often with some financial support for reintegration. Many, if not most, forced migrants, including those fleeing ethnic con- flicts, would rather not leave home permanently, preferring instead to return as soon as they find the risks are acceptable. For example, at present, IOM’s resettlement program in Malaysia for Myanmar refugees—9,000 a year—could evolve into a large-scale return program, should an estimated three million Myanmar nationals in neighboring Thailand, and large numbers elsewhere, begin to regard the Burmese govern- ment’s reforms as credible enough to warrant returning home. It is also important to recognize how heavily crises weigh on migrants who are far from home. They are more vulner- able to local conditions than is the resident population, and generally require assistance in moving to safety—usually their countries of origin. Many migrant workers in Syria are in this plight today. During the Libyan crisis in 2011, IOM, along with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, evacuated some 229,000 migrant workers trapped by the con- flict and repatriated them to 54 countries at a cost of $125 mil- lion. This involved delicate, difficult negotiations with unlikely parties—the remains of the Gaddafi regime, the rebel National Transitional Council and NATO—to arrange a thousand char- ter flights and 18 sea evacuations from Benghazi, Misrata and Tripoli under very dangerous conditions. The example of the migrants from many countries who were stranded in Libya during the overthrow of Gaddafi demon- strates the necessity of making provisions for the evacuation of large numbers of people when a crisis strikes. IOM is working on the whole range of issues related to ethical recruitment and employment of migrant labor, with private-sector partners as well as governments. Our goal is to reduce migrants’ vulner- ability to dangers, including to exploitation and human traf- ficking, whether during crises or not. The success of returns in contributing to stability depends on the effectiveness of reintegration. Unfortunately, the Libyan evacuation was not accompanied by any funding for reinte- gration. Thus, 177,000 sub-Saharan Africans returned without any support to find the same jobless conditions, overstretched is not only more cost-effective than jumping from crisis to crisis, but promotes human development and stability. With that in mind, I will first discuss the initial response to such situations: getting people to safety and to new lives and livelihoods. In many cases, it is not safe for forcibly displaced people to return home, so they must be resettled humanely elsewhere—either in a country of first asylum or in a third country with favorable integration prospects. Examples from the work of the International Organization for Migration illustrate the success of such efforts in address- ing vulnerabilities and making migration a force for stability and peace, including accurately assessing vulnerabilities and providing appropriate assistance throughout, as well as the strength of the reintegration or integration projects. I use those examples not just because I have the pleasure of leading that organization, but because IOM is the pre-eminent interna- tional migration agency. It is also the only one with a dedi- cated mandate, a global footprint and 60 years of experience working with all aspects of the phenomenon. I then describe returns to a country or place of residence under non-hostile (i.e., improved) conditions. Then I turn to the question of resettlement, whether in a country of first asylum or a third country in which there are favorable integra- tion prospects. Finally, I analyze the various vulnerabilities that forced migrants may experience, such as trafficking, exploitation and other forms of abuse. Fighting trafficking and exploitation not only benefits all those who suffer, but is in the interest of coun- tries that oppose organized crime and seek durable solutions to the crises that displace people. As I hope will become clear, the success of both returns and resettlement programs depends on (re)integration efforts to turn migration into a force for stability and peace. Returning Displaced Populations Mass forced displacement highlights the central balance migration management must strike: between countries’ sover- eign right to determine who enters their borders, on one hand, and, on the other, people’s desire to seek a better life and A billion people—one in every seven persons currently alive—are migrants.