近年増加する越境移動は国際社会において喫緊の課題となっています。関心も高まる一方で、十分な情報の提供や検討がされぬまま、メディアによって作られたイメージで偏った議論がなされがちです。本書では移民がもたらす恩恵と、移民受け入れの課題の両面について客観性を持って論じることで読者の先入観を排します。一方で、難民収容所、人身売買、密入国、国際労働力などの問題について当事者の弁も織り交ぜ、今日の移民・難民問題に読者がそれぞれの結論を出せるよう導きます。
    

• Covers topical issues such as human trafficking, asylum seekers, and terrorism
• Draws on recent political debates to show how migration is a global issue of our time
• Provides an objective and approachable global overview of migration and its impacts
• Incorporates first hand accounts from the author's primary research experience, gained in part while working for the UN Global Commission on International Migration

    
In recent years, global migration has transformed in terms of its numbers and reach, its political significance, and its impact. The rising rates of international migration have been matched by growing public and media interest around the world. Today, the political and media attention on migration and greater public interest and concern feed into an international debate that is all too often poorly informed and one-sided. 

This Very Short Introduction looks at the phenomenon of international human migration - both legal and illegal - and offers an objective stance on the topic, and its benefits and challenges. Khalid Koser reveals the opportunities migration presents that must be taken advantage of in the current economic climate, and debunks common myths to demonstrate that society, as we now know it, cannot function without migrants. Using interviews with migrants from around the world, Koser presents the human side of issues such as asylum, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, and the international labour force, inviting readers to come to their own conclusions on the international migration situation today.