The migration world experienced a tremendous loss last week with the passing of Migration Policy Institute co-founder, President Emeritus, and Distinguished Transatlantic Fellow Demetrios G. Papademetriou. Demetri, who was also the founding president of MPI Europe and convenor of MPI’s Transatlantic Council on Migration, was one of the planet’s pre-eminent scholars and lecturers on international migration, with a research, policy-shaping, network-building, and public-speaking record too lengthy to delve into here.

He was also a close friend and mentor to many across the world, from the powerful to those at the earliest stages of their careers. And he was an ardent champion of the Migration Information Source since its creation, and often took an active approach to ensuring publication of the most forward-thinking and accessible analysis of international migration trends.

These last few days have witnessed an outpouring of warm thoughts from people who knew and worked with Demetri, sometimes for decades. On social media, in email inboxes, and in informal conversations, many of those who knew him best have noted his steadfast devotion to the study of migration and the influence his thought leadership and personal touch leave on generations of scholars, analysts, and practitioners. It is quite difficult to exaggerate the outsized impact he had on the field.

Among his beliefs was a conviction in confronting real-world events across the globe with pragmatic policy responses that could work on the ground and in individual contexts. His final report for MPI, published just last week, provided a sobering take of international cooperation on migration in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and what it has meant for implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration.

This week’s opening ceremonies for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will offer another opportunity to confront migration policy as it currently is, rather than as it might be. The games will highlight China’s status as a global outlier for its continued commitment to a “zero-COVID” policy that has included strict border controls and will prevent overseas travelers from filling the stands at Olympic events.

In a new article in the Migration Information Source, Heidi Østbø Haugen and Tabitha Speelman explain how the recent restrictions are at odds with the country’s gradual embrace of greater international mobility over the last 40 years. Since major reforms of 1979 and particularly under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has warmed to the presence of both foreign-born residents and the large numbers of Chinese nationals abroad, although it continues to face demographic challenges and unease with its position as a global power.

These are precisely the sorts of issues that Demetri spent years working on and which he believed were worthy of hardnosed, rigorous study. I hope you will join us at MPI in celebrating his life and legacy.

Best regards,
Julian Hattem
Editor, Migration Information Source
[email protected]