Forced Migration Governance

Forced migration at national, regional and global scales is intensifying. Since it is often seen as being a cross-border and transnational challenge, it also requires a multi-level response from state and non-state actors. The total number of people forcibly displaced (internally within the same territory or internationally) due to persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order increased to an estimated 117.3 million in 2023 worldwide, as reported by the UNHCR. The governance of forced migration remains a perennial dilemma, even though, since the 20th century, numerous institutional and legal measures have been adopted to manage it or provide protection for forced migrants and support for the host states and local communities. In 2022, the refugee flow from Ukraine was a reminder that war and displacement are contemporary issues in Europe, not confined to the Second World War and the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. 2023 political, military and humanitarian instabilities/emergencies resulting in forced mobility were observed in many other world regions, including the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. In addition, environmentally induced migration is still not regulated under international law, although the number of environmental migrants is increasing and will continue to grow. As it stands, the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defines refugees as those facing persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, raising questions as to whether it should change since the UNHCR remains the most important international organisation responsible for refugee protection and forced migration management, and the Geneva Convention is still in force. The extent to which the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) adopted in 2018 was “a wind of a change” in the approach to refugee migration governance, or provides a new approach to managing large-scale refugee situations in line with existing international law also demands investigation. We welcome papers focused on theoretical, methodological and empirical aspects of refugee and forced-migration governance from the perspective of policy and practice, as well as specific case studies dealing with the global, regional, national and/or local levels.