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Introduction: The International Organization for Migration as the New ‘UN Migration Agency’

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The International Organization for Migration

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

Abstract

This chapter introduces the edited volume entitled The International Organization for Migration: The New ‘UN Migration Agency’ in Critical Perspective. It outlines the key findings of each chapter and identifies the core cross-cutting arguments that emerge from the chapters of this book. After providing a short history of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) until its transformation into a United Nations (UN) agency in 2016, the chapter summarises the key issues raised by research on the IOM along four key topics: state sovereignty, the global economy, humanitarian protection/human rights, and knowledge production.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.iom.int/news/iom-becomes-related-organization-un

  2. 2.

    https://www.iom.int/organizational-structure

  3. 3.

    For detailed information on the IOM’s history, see Bast 2010; Ducasse-Rogier 2002; Elie 2010; Feldblum 1999; Georgi 2010, 2019; In-Chuen Koh 2009; Karatani 2005; Perruchoud 1989; Venturas 2015.

  4. 4.

    Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Germany (Federal Republic), Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey and the US.

  5. 5.

    It is worth recalling here that the IOM negotiates preferential fares with a large range of airlines and is therefore in a position to transport migrants at low costs.

  6. 6.

    For example, the IOM regularly publishes a kind of ‘catalogue’ that proposes a list of relevant projects to be funded by governments or other donors: the organisation thus identifies and defines potential ‘initiatives’ and actively ‘sells’ them to states (see IOM 2018).

  7. 7.

    See, for example, https://www.iom.int/sites/default/files/about-iom/iom_snapshot_a4_en.pdf

  8. 8.

    https://www.iom.int/mission

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Sorbonne Paris Nord, Paris, France

    Antoine Pécoud

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  1. Antoine Pécoud
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

    Martin Geiger

  2. University of Sorbonne Paris Nord, Paris, France

    Antoine Pécoud

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Pécoud, A. (2020). Introduction: The International Organization for Migration as the New ‘UN Migration Agency’. In: Geiger, M., Pécoud, A. (eds) The International Organization for Migration. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32976-1_1

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