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MIGRATION:
Border Controls

 

International Policies

The United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) was conceived to promote the global fight on human trafficking, on the basis of international agreements reached at the UN. To date, over 117 countries have signed the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children, which supplements the Palermo Convention against trans-national organized crime. 

UN.GIFT was launched in March 2007 by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with a grant made on behalf of the United Arab Emirates. It is managed in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO); the International Organization for Migration (IOM); the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF); the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR); and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

UN.GIFT works with all stakeholders - governments, business, academia, civil society and the media - to support each other's work, create new partnerships and develop effective tools to fight human trafficking.

The Global Initiative is based on a simple principle: human trafficking is a crime of such magnitude and atrocity that it cannot be dealt with successfully by any government alone. This global problem requires a global, multi-stakeholder strategy that builds on national efforts throughout the world.

An article in the 2006 Journal of Borderlands Studies discusses the arguments in favour of and against a right to mobility. It argues that contemporary migration and border policies are largely restrictive but still fail to meet their proclaimed objectives, which call for alternative approaches to international human flows. From a human rights perspective, tight border controls are accompanied by major challenges; including trafficking, the asylum crisis, and the death and vulnerability of irregular migrants; which ultimately threaten the moral foundations of liberal democracies. In this context, a right to mobility may constitute a relevant answer and the article examines the implications of such a right in terms of world justice, social cohesion, economic wealth, security, and border/migration governance.

News items and stories concerning international border issues

In 2006, 10 South American countries signed an agreement to allow their citizens to travel within the region without passports in order to facilitate internal tourism.

President Bush announces improvements to USA border controls.

Website of news items concerning US border control.

Tension between Spain and Brazil over border controls after Spain turns back 452 Brazilians in February 2008, reportedly including a sociologist going to a conference.

 

 

 

  

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