New Update

Quarterly Mixed Migration Updates

Quarter 2 - 2025 (April-June)

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Photo Credit: ©Mina Nazari/IOM 2023

New Article

Migrant workers, climate, and constraint

Behind the scenes of Saudi Arabia’s labour engine

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Photo Credit: © Faisal Nasser / Reuters, 2014

New Paper

Protection and assistance for Afghans in mixed migration

Insights from 4Mi data on Afghans en route to Pakistan and Türkiye

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Mohammad Osman Azizi/IOM 2023

About MMC’s work in Asia and the Pacific

MMC engages in data collection, research, analysis and policy development on mixed migration in Asia and the Pacific.
Our primary objectives are to fill the knowledge gap on mixed migration in the region; to inform programming for migrants, particularly in the area of protection; and to inform policy-making around the rights and protection of people on the move.
MMC’s flagship data collection project ‘4Mi‘ currently operates in Tunisia and Morocco, where a network of enumerators conducts surveys with migrants who have reached Tunisia from across the continent as well as from the Middle East and Asia.

Mixed Migration in Asia and the Pacific


Asia is characterized by fast evolving and complex population movements, including the large-scale and often irregular movement of migrants. Across the region, weak legal protection frameworks result in migrants often being categorized as “irregular” or “illegal” migrants, subjecting them to measures including arrest, detention and deportation as well as increasing their risk of exploitation. Throughout the region many take great risks to escape life-threatening situations, such as conflicts, violence, discrimination or natural disasters, embarking on perilous journeys by land or sea. Others, motivated in search of better opportunities, migrate to work in often dangerous, dirty and demeaning (3D) jobs, exposing them to risks such as exploitation and trafficking. Regardless of their motivations for migration, people moving in mixed migration across Asia travel along similar routes and engage similar means, often travelling irregularly with the assistance of smugglers.

Quarterly Regional Updates

In the second quarter of 2025, MMC Asia and the Pacific concluded the third phase of the Protecting Refugees in Asia project, which included data collection in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia on the migration experiences of migrants and refugees, and research and advocacy capacity building of 7 refugee-led organisations in Malaysia and Indonesia. We published two reports, Smuggling dynamics en route to and within Turkiye, and Protection and assistance for Afghans in mixed migration. We also shared findings from our research on human smuggling at the Bali Process Regional Support Office’s regional meeting on countering people smuggling and transnational crime, in May, and the Bali Process Working Group on the Disruption of criminal networks involved in People Smuggling and Trafficking in Persons’ regional meeting in June

Our funding partners

MMC’s work in Asia and the Pacific is made possible through the generous support and close cooperation with various partners

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