IOM Unbound?

It is an era of expansion for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), an increasingly influential actor in the global governance of migration. Bringing together leading experts in international law and international relations, this collection examines the dynamics and implications of IOM’s expansion in a new way. Analysing IOM as an international organization (IO), the book illuminates the practices, obligations, and accountability of this powerful but controversial actor, advancing understanding of IOM itself and broader struggles for IO accountability. The contributions explore key, yet often under-researched, IOM activities including its role in humanitarian emergencies, internal displacement, data collection, ethical labour recruitment, and migrant detention. Offering recommendations for reforms rooted in empirical evidence and careful normative analysis, this is a vital resource for all those interested in the obligations and accountability of international organizations, and in the field of migration. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Megan Bradley is Associate Professor and William Dawson Scholar in Political Science and International Development Studies at McGill University. She is the author of several books, including Refugee Repatriation: Justice, Responsibility and Redress (2013) and The International Organization for Migration: Commitments, Challenges, Complexities (2020), and co-editor of Refugees’ Roles in Resolving Displacement and Building Peace: Beyond Beneficiaries (2019). Since 2021, she has served as co-editor of the Journal of Refugee Studies.

Cathryn Costello is Professor of Fundamental Rights and Co-Director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School, Berlin, and Andrew W. Mellon Professor in International Refugee and Migration Law at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford. She has previously published The Human Rights of Migrants and Refugees in European Law (2015) and is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law (2021).

Angela Sherwood is Lecturer in Law at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and Co-Director for the QMUL Centre for Climate Crime and Climate Justice. Angela’s work has appeared in the Journal of Refugee Studies and in several edited volumes on themes of international migration, displacement, and state crime.