Getting a Handle on the Migration Rights–Development Nexus1

The migration‐development nexus has fascinated academics, NGOs, and national and international officials since the mid‐1990s. Although it is not actually new – the Review published a special issue on it over a quarter of a century ago ( IMR, 1982 ) – it suffers from lack of conceptual clarity and disregard of a crucial modulating variable, migrants’ rights. The aim of this paper is to give credence to the role played by rights and, in the process, to solidify some of the uncertain foundations of the migration‐development debate. I eschew too technical a presentation in order to reach not only academics but also NGOs and journalists, the drivers of today’s rights movements.