Nowhere to GoNovember/December 2019 131“migration and development” with African states. Agreements that the
¤ forged with countries such as Ethiopia and Jordan have created jobs,
supported existing enterprises, and provided more sustainable oppor-
tunities for refugees and migrants in those countries. Europe’s approach
has been far from perfect—that much is clear. But it is also undeniable
that the crisis ended in part owing to policies that created sustainable
development opportunities and removed some o the “push” factors
that had caused the migrant surge. I U.S. policymakers are serious
about developing more sustainable immigration policies, perhaps they
ought to borrow European tactics, creating multilateral deals with coun-
tries in Latin America that aim to ensure the safety and economic op-
portunity o migrants in their countries o origin, transit, and asylum.
The Western Hemisphere could also look to its own past for inspi-
ration. In 1984, the countries o the region issued the Cartagena Dec-
laration on Refugees, which extended the deÄnition o “refugee” to
include people Áeeing “massive violations o human rights or other
circumstances which have seriously disturbed public order.” This def-
inition aptly describes the circumstances o many o the region’s con-
temporary survival migrants. But until now, nearly all states have
refrained from applying this extended deÄnition to the plight o Cen-
tral Americans or Venezuelans.
Policymakers could also draw lessons from the 1989 International
Conference on Central American Refugees (¤μ¬)—which identi-
Äed regional solutions for around two million displaced people across
the hemisphere, more than hal o whom were displaced across bor-
ders. C¤μ¬ is, in short, one o the most successful historical ex-
amples o cooperation on refugees anywhere in the world. The
conference set standards for recognizing and responding to dierent
categories o migration. And through ¤μ¬, countries created sus-
tainable sanctuaries closer to home for the region’s migrants.
The impetus behind the conference was just as dramatic as the
migration crisis that is troubling the political landscape in the present
day. By the end o the 1980s, after a decade o regional conÁict that
had produced around 160,000 casualties, there were millions o dis-
placed people in Central America. O these, around 150,000 were
recognized as refugees, around 900,000 were displaced across borders
but not regarded as refugees, and around 900,000 were considered
internally displaced. C¤μ¬ aimed to remedy this problem as part o
the region’s peace process at the end o the Cold War. The initiative for