With thousands of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean in 2018, successfully identifying victims requires practical steps towards a coordinated regional response that overcomes bureaucratic ambiguity and administrative inaction.
As part of a pattern of recent international agreements which tend to be high on ambition and low on hard law, the Global Compact on Migration could be both a warning for future diplomacy and a conceptual framework for those who would like to see a rational approach to migration emerge over time.
As UN Member States negotiate the final terms of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, where should future “evidence-based” interventions be focused to most effectively eliminate discrimination against refugees and migrants, protect their rights, and positively shape public discourse.
