Target 10.7 – Safe, Orderly & Responsible Migration Policies

Human beings have always travelled and migrated. People move between countries and many more around within a country, looking for a better tomorrow, safer places, or with an educational goal in mind, or to escape conflicts. The role of who leads where and why in this new, globalized world is a question with no simple answer, but it’s never been more important that we ask.

But in the absence of responsible policies, migration can become a source of human misery, poverty, exploitation, and social conflict. That is why societies and nations throughout the world are looking for responsible, organized, safe migration policies.

Instructive in this regard is SDG 10.7, which calls for governments to maximize the positive aspects of migration by ensuring well-managed migration policies at both ends and throughout waves (taking into consideration human rights), that are mutually beneficial, with migratory mechanisms that work toward cooperation between migrants and host as well as transit countries 75.

Safe, Orderly & Responsible Migration Policies

Migration is a driver of economic growth, cultural dynamism, and innovation. Migrant workers arrive to fill essential labour-market niches, send money home, and frequently import fresh ideas and skills.

But migration without sufficient protections can leave people vulnerable to human trafficking, dangerous paths, or discrimination once in host countries. Responsible migration requires policies that make the process one that benefits both and protect migrants’ dignity and rights.

Key Elements of Safe and Orderly Migration

Policy Area	Example	Impact
Protecting Migrants’ Rights	Access to healthcare and legal aid	Reduces exploitation, improves well-being
Legal Pathways	Work visas, student permits	Safer migration, better monitoring
International Cooperation	Bilateral labour agreements	Shared responsibility, stronger protection
Integration Policies	Language training, cultural orientation	Social cohesion and reduced discrimination
Root Cause Solutions	Development and climate adaptation	Less forced migration, more stability

Contents of a Good Policy on Safe and Orderly Migration

• Protecting Migrants’ Rights

The right to migrate must be the principle of migration policy. However desperate their circumstances, migrants should have the right to at least some basic services: health care, education, and legal help. Fair treatment will also cut recruitment abuse and facilitate migrant integration.

• Legal Pathways for Migration

With few legal avenues to migrate, many take dangerous trips. Establishing managed and transparent pathways for labour, study, and protection would help to reduce irregular migration. Legal pathways would also help governments better track and regulate flows of people.

• Cooperation Between Countries

Migration is a challenge that can only be resolved jointly by countries of origin, transit, and destination. The question of labour mobility, recognition of qualifications, and migrants’ rights (addressed through bilateral or regional agreements) is fundamental.

• Integration into Host Societies

Integration measures ease new migrant´s access into a society, like language courses or education possibilities, cultural orientation, as well as an anti-discrimination campaign. They have a positive impact on migrant’s well-being in the host societies. That’s a different kind of social compact, where you don’t have migration as a cost in some sense, but it’s an opportunity for everybody.

• Addressing Root Causes of Migration

A sustainable and intelligent policy would not be a policy OF migration containment; it would be a policy that instead removes the need for people to migrate. War, poverty, opportunity, and climate change are among its main drivers. Sustainable development investments tackle the root causes of forced migrations.

Advantages of Safe, Sensible Migration Policies

• Economic Impact: Migrants contribute to production, filling labour shortages in sectors like health, agriculture, and construction.
• Remittances: Money sent home to family members is one of the ways millions of families and, by extension, entire economies stay afloat in the developing world.
• Stability: Properly managed migration will contribute to avoiding the spread of chaos and, at the end of the day, also to stability in countries of origin, where possibly one could come back home, but also in the host community.
• Defending human rights: The protection of migrants is an expression and reinforcement of the international rule of law, promoting equality, dignity, and justice.

Migration and the SDGs

Formulate policies to increase the protection of migrants at the national and international level, that can go towards attaining several SDGs, including but not limited to Goal 10, Reduced Inequalities, such as:

• Target 3.8 (Universal health coverage): Migrant access to health care.
• Goal 4 (Quality Education): Ensures that migrant children have access to education.
• Business/Goal 8 (Decent Work & Economic Growth): Not using Migrant labour.
• Goal 16 (Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions): Increase governance and address structural forces that may contribute to unequal migration.

Technology in Migration Management

Technology can also help manage migration for governments and organizations:

• Digital ID Systems: Single Page Secure IDs for personal migrant surveillance and service provision.
• E-Visas: Cut graft and make getting a visa faster.
• Data Collection and Analysis: Better data advances our understanding for policymakers and others of the flow patterns across the migratory process, to be able to better plan to adjust.

FAQs