IPS held its 2011 annual meetings in Helsinki, Finland from the 13th – 16th October.

A public seminar on the theme of “Migration and Communication: Re-balancing information flows and dialogue”, jointly organised with the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), took place on the morning of October 13th.

Latest estimates from IOM suggest that international migrants could number 405 million by 2050 if migration continues to grow at the same pace as during the last 20 years. In the context of these projections much of the public discourse around the issue has been negative.

Second Panel "Public perceptions of migrants and migration: how to communicate better"

The focus of the seminar was on how to re-balance the public debate around migration and open up new spaces for dialogue between different actors. The Minister for International Development of Finland, IOM Director General, the President of the United Nations General Assembly and the Chair of the IPS Board of Directors opened the seminar.

Prominent experts contributed to the panels, including representatives from the Ministry of the Interior of Finland, the Norwegian Refugee Council, IOM, the International Labour Organisation and the UN Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC). Journalists from the Helsinki Times, Suomen Kuvalehti- Magazine and Al Jazeera as well as the Media Ombudsman of Namibia participated.

The complete programme is available here.

The IPS seminar was followed by 984 journalists, communication and migration experts, individuals, and others from around the world through live streaming.

Live tweeting from the seminar used the hashtags #migration and #ipsorg.

On Friday 14 October IPS donors were invited to remain for the annual Core Group meeting, and an IPS international Board meeting took place later that day. IPS management held its annual meeting over the weekend.

News on the Seminar ‘Worsening Economy Hardening Views on Migrants‘

Follow IPS migration coverage at ‘Migration &Refugees‘.