Pursuit of Justice for Migrants through codification of International Migration Law

International Law has developed significantly over the past 100 years. It is now accepted that the international community sets international standards which States must follow in their interactions with individuals, including migrants, who find themselves under their jurisdiction or on their territory. This is very clearly reflected in the international standards articulated under International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, International Refugee Law, Transnational Criminal Law, International Labour Law, inter alia. These norms have had a direct impact on migration, migrants, and how States exercise their sovereignty in relation to migration matters while abiding by international standards. For this Capstone project, the team was asked to draft a research and evidence-based academic article that will explore the evidence that sustains the recognition of International Migration Law (IML) as customary international law. This would require desk research, info and data gathering and analysis, in order to put together a piece highlighting the most prominent milestones of IML in the last century as well as academic works, jurisprudence, regional and national legislation. IML is not a law branch on its own, mainly since it does not have a treaty per se or an institution with a law-making mandate, however, there is a plethora of developments and sources throughout the last century that point to IML being recognized as customary international law, and thus, with the potential of being codified as such.