A human security perspective can help the international community design an international migration regime that responds to today’s economic and political forces. The international refugee protection system, built on the experience of two world wars and inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, enabled states to protect people suffering from political persecution and, at the same time, to defend their territory. The complex motives for migration today render this regime inadequate. This paper examines four policy areas to serve as examples of how a human security agenda could assist in developing new international approaches to global mobility. They include a focus on brain/skills drain, emigration policies, human trafficking, and competing state-centered, security claims between sending and receiving communities.
