World Migration Report 2010

The Future of Migration: Building Capacities for Change

The World Migration Report 2010 (WMR 2010) is the fifth in IOM's series of biennial reports on international migration. Like the World Migration Reports that have preceded it, it is intended to contribute to the mission of the International Organization of Migration (IOM) to promote 'humane and orderly policies in the movement of persons across borders'. Specifically, its aim is to promote a focus on building capacities to enable states and other stakeholders to respond to and plan for migration effectively and in a sustainable way.

As international migration continues to grow in scale and diversity, it will present new opportunities, but also exacerbate existing challenges and add new ones. 

Looking ahead, therefore, it is essential to pose the question: do states have the capacities – the knowledge, abilities, skills, resources, structures, and processes – that they need to achieve their goals effectively and sustainably, and to adapt to change? How can they in partnership with civil society develop these capacities to meet the challenges and benefit from the opportunities which lie ahead?

The overall goal of migration capacity-building as recommended in WMR 2010 is to promote humane and orderly policies for the movement of people across borders. WMR 2010 sets out to achieve this aim via three objectives.

• First, the Report will develop an 'inventory', or checklist of activities required for coping with likely changes and challenges in international migration, to help states prepare for changes
• Second, drawing on IOM and other agencies' work, the report presents a review of existing activities, to identify best practice for capacity-building and identify gaps and weaknesses.
• Third, the report will conclude with a series of policy recommendations to states, civil society, and international organizations, for building capacities for change.

The WMR 2010 is divided into two parts. Part 1 is an extensive chapter, with text boxes from IOM and other agencies, on the key theme of the report – the future of migration and how to build capacities for change.

Part 2 provides an overview on migration in the world today, from both the global perspective and through 6 regional chapters. This part of the report describes main trends in migration and remittances within and between regions, with a particular focus on the impacts of the economic crisis on migration.