Diasporas’ understanding of both their country of origin and their host country puts them in a privileged position to contribute to migration-related issues. “They have a role to play in linking the grassroots context with the international advocacy context,” says Liberian author, academic and activist Dr. Robtel Neajai Pailey. They send home remittances that allow families to survive in difficult situations, transfer skills between countries, and are active in lobbying governments to intervene in situations of humanitarian crisis. But they also have vulnerability and protection issues that host land governments and homeland governments must address.

Dr. Pailey also believes it’s time we talk about the effects of racializing migrants. “Let’s bring race into the conversation because it exists, and we can’t wish it away. Let’s see how we can make race a cross-cutting issue in the same way that we do gender and class and ethnicity.”