Initially targeted at training and technical assistance, the Italian-Albanian cooperation on migration enforcement has undergone a shift during the past year. One of the most significant Italian-Albanian cooperative efforts is a joint police program to combat smuggling and trafficking. They also enable the countries to respond jointly to such problems as smuggling and trafficking that can only be effectively tackled by efforts at the regional and bilateral levels. These mechanisms are not meant to undermine the sovereign responsibility of each government to manage the movements of people into or out of their countries, but instead to provide an opportunity to negotiate more manageable policies and procedures. The Regional Migration Conference, or Puebla Group, convenes similar discussions among a broader set of countries in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The United States and Mexico also have a joint working group that discusses border issues, visa policy, documentation, cooperation in combating smuggling and trafficking, protection of the rights of Mexican migrant workers in the U.S., removal of criminal aliens, joint research projects, among other issues. Rather, a combination of trade, investment, and aid is needed." "No one strategy is sufficient to overcome the economic and political problems that compel international movements. In an official agreement signed in December 2000, representatives of the two countries agreed to meet at least once a year to deal with three issues: 1) the integration of Malians who want to remain in France 2) co-management of migration flows and 3) cooperative development in emigration areas of Mali. There are a number of ways to achieve cooperation between source and receiving countries, including bilateral agreements and efforts mounted under international organizations.Īs one example, Mali and France have established the Mali-France Consultation on Migration, an annual bilateral discussion at the ministerial level. Best practices fall into the following areas:Ĭooperation on International Migration Management Lessons from other countries in transition, such as Mexico and Morocco, have also been considered. To research the best practices in the field, CEME's 20 immigration experts from Europe and North America have completed site visits to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Romania, Albania, Turkey, Mali, and the Dominican Republic. In an increasingly interconnected world, fostering sustained cooperation of this type is essential not only in migration management, but also in building support for market economies and democratic principles.
The best practices identified to date by CEME deal with all of the main factors driving this migration, focusing on the causes of emigration in source countries, the networks that move people over borders, and managing migration in a cooperative manner that is consistent with both source and receiving countries' interests.
The Cooperative Efforts to Manage Emigration (CEME) project of the Migration Dialogue examines ways in which immigration destinations can work more effectively with source and transit countries to manage migration and reduce emigration pressures.
With so much at stake, effective cooperation to manage migration is becoming more urgent for both source and destination countries. Industrial countries, meanwhile, are hard-pressed to handle unregulated influxes of many migrants, and have much to lose when their poorer neighbors suffer political and economic ills. A failure to manage migration streams either through or from source countries can undermine their economic development and democratization, thus generating additional migrants. Many of the source countries of migration to industrialized states in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region are in transition to more democratic governments, adherence to human rights norms, privatized industries, market-set prices, and integration into regional and global economies. This movement of people, while often beneficial to both sending and receiving countries, is not without problems. A complex set of factors is driving these population movements, including an oversupply of workers in countries of origin, labor needs in destination countries, and formal and informal networks that link supply with demand. Increasing numbers of people are working outside their home countries, often moving en masse along economic avenues widened by globalization.