Forced Migration and Professionalism1

The complexity of forced migration calls for significant expertise with regard to prevention, responses and solutions. This article describes efforts since the early 1980s to professionalize the field. Professional development requires, at a minimum, that three things be in place: training; standards to govern professional competence; and a process for evaluation and improvement. Professional development must take into account the increasing complexity of humanitarian crises; changing notions of sovereinty that permit new solutions; changing mandates and responsibilities of organizations concerned with forced migration; and technological and communications innovations that enable new approaches to forced migration and professional training.