PUBLISHED: JANUARY 2023

Summary adapted from Open Government Partnership

 In 2020 an estimated 281 million people were living outside of their country of birth, more than twice the number of migrants recorded in 1990. This number is only expected to grow as people are forced to flee their homes due to conflict, inequality and climate change. Linguistic or cultural barriers and exclusion or discrimination put up obstacles for these migrant population in accessing information or participating in policy-making.

Open governance is crucial for migrant groups who otherwise face significant hurdles to influencing or evaluating policy that shapes their communities. Open Government Partnership (OGP) commitments could increase migrants’ ability to access information and participate in decision-making that affects them. Not only would these commitments encourage governments to serve these marginalized groups better, but they would also promote greater migrant integration into host communities and allow governments to utilize migrants’ rich expertise to craft better-informed policies.

This Open Government Partnership article, authored by ICNL Senior Legal Advisor Kate Barth, discusses the issues facing migrant communities and outlines commitments OGP members could support in their national action plans. Please read the full article from OGP here.