UNESCO's Program on International Migration and Multicultural Policies

Children in a refugee camp in the Congo
Photo: F. Loock, Copyright: UNESCO

“It is time to take a more comprehensive look at the various dimensions of the migration issue, which now involves hundreds of millions of people and affects countries of origin, transit and destination. We need to understand better the causes of international flows of people and their complex interrelationship with development."
Kofi Annan in his report on strengthening the United Nations Organization of 2002.

The overall aim of UNESCO's program on International Migration is to promote the respect for the human rights of migrants, and to contribute to peaceful integration of migrants in society. The program provides a mailing list on migration, news on the topic, and the Migration Research Institutes Database with information on almost 300 research and training institutes in 77 countries as well as details on 86 periodicals dealing with migration.

UNESCO's International Journal on Multicultural Societies (IJMS) is a scholarly and professional journal, published by UNESCO. It provides a platform for international, interdisciplinary and policy-related social science research in the fields of migration, multiculturalism, and minority rights. Established by UNESCO's social sciences research and policy division in 1998, it aims at improving the linkages between academic communities in various regions and across different social science disciplines. One of its particular features is to promote the policy-relevance of social science research. Each issue is devoted to a coherent thematic debate on a key issue in the field of migration and multiculturalism. All articles published in the IJMS are refereed in external peer-review.