Migration Policy Institute Podcasts Migration Policy Institute

Young children in immigrant and refugee families can encounter mental-health risks related to their migration and integration experiences, ranging from discrimination and economic stress to persecution and violence in the case of young refugees. Infant and early childhood mental-health (IECMH) services have the potential to provide beneficial supports and treatment during the foundational early years for these young immigrants, promoting their healthy development and future well-being. However, many immigrant families, who are less likely overall to participate in early childhood services, face unique barriers to accessing IECMH supports across the spectrum of promotion, prevention, screening, and treatment.   
In this webinar, speakers discuss the importance of IECMH and highlight approaches that have successfully connected immigrant and refugee families with beneficial and culturally relevant services. Featuring recommendations from a MPI policy brief, the discussion explored opportunities to expand the accessibility and responsiveness of IECMH services to immigrant communities.

The U.S. military has long warned that climate change poses a challenge to global security. Instability and insecurity can be a result of unmanaged migration, with the potential for widespread climate displacement creating tensions in host communities. And they could also spark additional migration, if people flee precarious political dynamics. This episode, with Climate Migration Council member and retired U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott H. Swift, evaluates the security dynamics of climate change and migration, focusing on the Pacific.

In recent years, the Ethiopian government has pledged to increase access to education and employment for the more than 900,000 refugees living in Ethiopia, most in camps. There have been ups and downs along the way, but a few key trends have emerged. In this episode of our podcast, Migration Policy Institute Europe Associate Director Camille Le Coz speaks with researcher Abis Getachew about the major policy shifts to open classrooms and jobs to refugees and whether they have been successful.

Do countries that are major polluters have a moral responsibility to aid people displaced by hurricanes, sea-level rise, and other events driven or exacerbated by climate change? What form might that responsibility take? For this episode, we are joined by Jamie Draper, who focuses on political philosophy and ethics at Utrecht University. While he argues that certain countries do have a responsibility to aid displaced people, labeled “climate migrants” by some, in his view that does not necessarily translate to offering them protection.

The world is grappling with the idea of restitution for people who have been negatively affected by the impacts of climate change—potentially including displacement within a country or across international borders. World leaders are at the early stages of creating a global loss and damage fund to financially compensate these climate victims. Much remains unresolved, including complicated and controversial questions about which countries owe money to whom, and how to attach a dollar figure to intangible losses such as destruction of natural land. In this episode, we speak with Adelle Thomas from Climate Analytics to wade through the thicket of challenges ahead, in particular as relates to climate migrants—those displaced by hostile environmental conditions linked to a rapidly changing climate.

Many people are leaving rural mountain areas around the globe because their livelihoods are becoming less profitable and the threat of landslides and other disasters is increasing. As the impacts of climate change grow, these mountain residents may face additional challenges dealing with environmental disruption. And by moving to urban areas, they may face a new set of issues and lose connection with their homelands. In this episode, we speak with Amina Maharjan from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development about the unique climate migration issues that are witnessed in mountain regions.