cover image: POLICY NOTE 15  - Words matter: ‘illegal’, ‘irregular’, ‘unauthorized’, ‘undocumented’

20.500.12592/74dx91

POLICY NOTE 15 - Words matter: ‘illegal’, ‘irregular’, ‘unauthorized’, ‘undocumented’

24 Feb 2022

What is crucial is that, in the public discourse – which is the one that the public perceives – the choice of terms and expressions be not stigmatising. [...] Reflecting on the latest changes in the usage of migration terminology, the ILO Media-friendly glossary on migration (2020), the IOM Glossary (2019), the EMN Glossary (2018) and the UNAOC Media-Friendly Glossary on Migration (2014) all proposed the term undocumented/irregular migrant as an alternative to the term “illegal migrant”. [...] The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has chosen to use the expression ‘migrant in an irregular situation’, rather than ‘irregular migrant’, in order to avoid attaching the adjective ‘irregular’ to the person of the migrant, but rather to their immigration status. [...] The European Commission, and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH commissioned by and on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) are the contributors to the trust fund. [...] The views expressed in this policy brief do not represent the views of the World Bank, the partner organizations, or the sponsoring organizations.

Authors

Francois Crépeau, Prof.

Pages
5
Published in
United States of America