ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the two main international bodies with a focus on migration: UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration. It addresses the weaknesses of global migration governance through an examination of the early efforts of the International Labour Organization to address migrant rights and the more recent International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. There are many challenges to international migration governance, but three deserve special attention as the global community attempts to implement the Global Compact for Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees, which are both non-binding. First, migration governance would be vastly improved by a system that could better facilitate burden sharing. Second, migration governance should recognize the link between refugee and voluntary or economic migration. Third, any system of international migration governance must recognize the centrality of state sovereignty.
