In late December 2015, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said, counted over a million people (1,006,000) on the move overland and sea toward Europe - from Syria, Afghanistan and a number of volatile countries in Africa. Many thousands of migrants aiming to enter Europe on foot or by boat have not achieved safe passage to file asylum claims on the continent. International policy-makers and NGO leaders continue to debate how to manage this movement of people that threatens to dismantle parts of the European Union's four freedoms. This conversation with Gregory Maniatis long-time migration expert and advisor to UN Special Representative for Migration, Peter Sutherland, will explore possible short- and long-term solutions.
Gregory Maniatis has served since 2006 as Senior Advisor to Peter Sutherland, the UN Special Representative for Migration. He also is Senior Advisor at the Open Society Foundations, Senior Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, and, and a co-director of Columbia University's Global Policy Initiative. Over the past 15 years, Mr. Maniatis has worked closely with the European Commission, EU member state governments, the European Parliament, international organizations, and civil society groups on all aspects of migration policy. His reportage and commentary on the European Union, Greece, Russia, migration, and other topics have appeared in many publications, including the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and New York Magazine. Earlier in his career, Gregory was a foreign policy advisor to several governments, and was the founder and publisher of Odyssey Magazine. He is a graduate of Princeton University and of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.