Assessing the ILO's Efforts to Develop Migration Law

Abstract

The world community has increasingly recognized the movement of people as an issue of global policy rather than an exclusive sovereign preserve of individual governments. In considering whether a good case exists for establishing a World Migration Organization, policymakers and stakeholders should look at whether existing international organizations can be better used to enhance international cooperation on migration policy. One such organization may be the International Labour Organization (“ILO”), a UN specialized agency that has worked on migrant issues from its beginning.

This article analyzes the work of the ILO in international migration as prolegomena to assessing whether its role could be expanded or whether it could serve as a model for a new agency. This article first provides a brief survey of what the ILO has done on the issue of migration since 1919. Then, the article discusses the implications of the ILO experience for the idea of promoting transborder migration through an international organization.

Keywords: Migration Law, World Migration Organization, International Labour Organization, ILO, migrant issues, transborder migration, international organizations, immigration

JEL Classification: F22, K33, O15