Making Opportunities out of the Global Crisis of Migration

Because of conflict and poverty induced displacement more people are on the move and living away from their home countries than ever before. There are 214 million international migrants in the world today with 15.4 million of those being refugees. Most of the irregular migrants have a tenuous existence living with a constant fear of deportation. They are unable to get work, have bank accounts or live in family groups. Migration is now a sustained crisis, with developing countries bearing most of the burden of these irregular migrants. The three durable solutions of repatriation, local integration and resettlement are continually being applied to the problems of migration. But these old solutions do not work. We need to make new opportunities where few existed before. Using the protracted refugee situation of the migrants from Burma who are living in Thailand as an example, this chapter puts forward some innovative ideas to make opportunities out of the global crisis of migration.