The pitfalls of closed borders, how to ensure resilient migration management, and more
Europe: Blockade of Ukraine grain ports may trigger mass migration
Taras Vysotskyi, Ukraine’s deputy minister of food and agriculture, expressed serious concerns that Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports may trigger global famines and refugee crises. Prior to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the country was the world’s sixth largest wheat exporter, accounting for 10 percent of global wheat exports.
Middle East / Africa: 900 Ethiopian migrants to be assisted to return home from Yemen
The Voluntary Humanitarian Return (VHR) initiative by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) saw its first flight to Addis Ababa, helping 150 Ethiopian escape violence and exploitation in conflict-ridden Yemen.
Asia: US visa program for Afghans plagued by rejections
Over 2700 applications from Afghans for visas under the US government’s Special Immigration Visa program have been denied in the last half of 2021, and data indicates that the approval rate is less than 10%. Thousands of Afghan asylum seekers fleeing the Taliban regime in their home country are stuck in neighbouring Pakistan.
Pacific: Australia’s closed-border policy leads to ballooning skills shortage
Australia is facing a steadily escalating skills shortage and sharply increasing job vacancy rates, with skilled positions such as engineering jobs seeing a 97% increase in vacancy in the last 12 months, raising fears that the country’s economic recovery may be stalled. In 2022, the wait time for visas for overseas graduates to work in Australia has increased from 18 months to 41 months.
Opinion and Analysis
How to build resilient migration systems: lessons from Covid-19
“Expanding migrants’ access to key services such as health care, social welfare and labor market programs, and adequate housing — even in periods of crisis — is an investment with a strong economic rationale.” A new World Bank report examines the data.
Mapping the migration of millionaires
Economics has always maintained that human migration is driven by safety, security and status. The Henley Global Citizens Report takes a look at how global events are influencing the migration of the world's wealthy.
Why people fear immigration
The current and former chief economists of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development examine the factors behind notions that migration hurts host communities — and what we can do about it.
Vacancies
Senior Reporter - Immigration
Law360, remote position, United States
Humanitarian Response Manager
Save the Children, temporarily remote, Farringdon, United Kingdom
