This essay identifies and explores an underappreciated win-win policy option that has the potential to address both the needs of refugees for resettlement and the labor demand of destination countries. Building upon provisions of the Model International Mobility...

The Model International Mobility Convention provides a holistic and rights-based approach to international mobility that integrates the various regimes that seek to govern people on the move. In addition, it fills key gaps in international law that leave many people unprotected by establishing the minimum rights afforded to all people who cross state borders — whether as visitors, tourists, students, workers, residents, entrepreneurs, forced migrants, refugees, victims of trafficking, people caught in countries in crisis and family members — and defines their relationships to their communities of destination, origin, and transit.

The Model International Mobility Convention provides a holistic and rights-based approach to international mobility that integrates the various regimes that seek to govern people on the move. In addition, it fills key gaps in international law that leave many people unprotected by establishing the minimum rights afforded to all people who cross state borders — whether as visitors, tourists, students, workers, residents, entrepreneurs, forced migrants, refugees, victims of trafficking, people caught in countries in crisis and family members — and defines their relationships to their communities of destination, origin, and transit.

After nearly two years of study and debate convened by the Columbia Global Policy Initiative’s International Migration Project, the Model International Mobility Convention (MIMC) represents a consensus among over forty academics and policymakers in the fields of migration, human rights, national security, labor economics, and refugee law.

After nearly two years of study and debate convened by the Columbia Global Policy Initiative’s International Migration Project, the Model International Mobility Convention (MIMC) represents a consensus among over forty academics and policymakers in the fields of migration, human rights, national security, labor economics, and refugee law.

People are as mobile as they ever were in our globalized world. Yet the movement of people across borders lacks global regulation, leaving many people unprotected in irregular and dire situations and some States concerned that their borders have become irrelevant.

Producing (or revising) a more functional and responsive refugee regime is the primary goal of a global refugee compact. An accountability mechanism would be a valuable supplement to this project.