Route-based approaches promise a paradigm shift in international refugee and migration policy. Rather than treating individual country contexts in isolation, they shift attention to developments along key migration corridors. The analytical value is obvious, given the complex and transnational character of mobility dynamics. Yet the growing popularity of route-based approaches also follows a political rationale – they resonate across different political camps, offer operational synergies and may help allocate scarce resources more effectively. At the same time, the concept reflects a fundamental tension in international migration policy: route-based approaches can improve protection along migration corridors, but they can also legitimise the outsourcing of migration control to countries of origin and transit. Whether route-based approaches amount to substantive change or merely repackage a logic of control will depend on how they are implemented.
Migration management and protection needs often transcend national borders, while responsibilities, funding mechanisms and support structures tend to be organised within national frameworks. Route-based approaches seek to address this mismatch by treating migration corridors as connected spaces for political and humanitarian action. In recent years they have gained traction in international refugee and migration policy – both within the UN system and at European level. Since 2022/23, the EU has increasingly organised its external migration policy around migration routes under the label of the Whole-of-Route Approach.
Several factors have expedited the growing popularity of route-based approaches. First, a perspective that looks at migration routes in their entirety reflects the complexity of mobility patterns. This is particularly true of mixed movements, where people seeking protection and other migrants use the same routes and face similar risks, even though their legal status may differ fundamentally. A route-oriented perspective can help to improve our understanding of such dynamics, highlight gaps in protection, and enhance the coherence of support services. A second factor is the severely constrained funding environment for humanitarian assistance and development cooperation. UN organisations in particular face growing pressure to create synergies, improve coordination and set clearer priorities. Route-based approaches promise efficiency gains by overcoming sectoral and geographic fragmentation and bundling interventions along migration routes. Their appeal cannot be explained by analytical or operational considerations alone, however. In particular in the European context, the focus on routes also reflects a broader shift in migration policy towards deeper cooperation with countries of origin and transit and a related externalisation of migration management.
About the authors
Nadine Knapp is a researcher in the SWP Global Issues Research Division.
Anne Koch is a researcher in the SWP Global Issues Research Division.