Cities, refugees and migration

Departing from the example of the Marrakech summit on the Global Compact on Migration, this chapter discusses how cities have come to play an ever larger role in shaping the international law of refugees and migrants and what promises and perils this process holds. It do so by setting out how and why some pioneering cities have come to invoke and implement international law in dealing with refugees and migration. Here, it is important to consider the role of networks in setting standards and developing soft law. Within these networks, cities actively attempt to break the bastion of international law, seeking to influence both procedures and substance. This potentially strengthens the effectiveness and legitimacy of international law, but also runs into limits. The fragmented character of these processes, for one, poses many normative questions and leads to a research agenda, discussed in the final sections of this contribution.