INTRODUCTION
This is an era of unprecedented mobility, and the need to facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility is becoming increasingly relevant. The need to face the challenges and to maximize the opportunities that this mobility brings has been recognized with the inclusion of migration in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which highlights the positive contribution of migrants to inclusive growth and development. Migration is integrated in a number of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, such as ending modern slavery and addressing the vulnerability of migrant workers. However, the central reference to migration in the SDGs is target 10.7 on facilitating “orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies”.
The incorporation of target 10.7 into the 2030 Agenda created the need to define “planned and well-managed migration policies”. This is why, in 2015, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) developed the Migration Governance Framework (MiGOF). This Framework offers a concise view of an ideal approach that allows a State to determine what it might need to govern migration well and in a way that suits its circumstances. The Framework was welcomed by IOM Member States in the same year.
In an effort to operationalize the MiGOF, IOM worked with The Economist Intelligence Unit to develop the Migration Governance Indicators (MGI), a standard set of approximately 90 indicators to assist countries in assessing their migration policies and advance the conversation on what well-governed migration might look like in practice.
The MGI helps countries identify good practices as well as areas with potential for further development and can offer insights on the policy levers that countries can use to develop their migration governance structures. However, the MGI recognizes that all countries have different realities, challenges and opportunities that relate to migration. Therefore, the MGI does not rank countries on the design or implementation of their migration policies. Finally, the MGI does not measure migration policy outcomes or institutional effectiveness. Instead, it takes stock of the migration-related policies in place and operates as a benchmarking framework that offers insights on policy measures that countries might want to consider as they progress towards good migration governance.
This country profile presents a summary of the well-developed areas of the migration governance structures of the Republic of Iraq (hereinafter referred to as Iraq), as well as the areas with potential for further development, as assessed by the MGI.