Ethical Benchmarking for the Measurement of Irregular Migration

This policy brief is aimed at everyone interested and engaged in or affected by efforts to measure irregular migration and provides an up-to-date outline of ethical dimensions to be considered for such an endeavour.

Irregular migrants generally are considered as a particular vulnerable group. Therefore, it is imperative to consider the ethical dimensions of addressing irregular migration, including efforts to quantify this phenomenon. These considerations need to be grounded in the values of Responsible & Innovation (RRI) framework and Research Integrity, legal data protection regulations, and specifications outlined in sector-specific Codes of Ethical Conduct. This policy brief uses the term ethical standards to comprise ethical requirements. In the last decade, the understanding of what is deemed to be ethically required has evolved substantially due to updating of regulatory frameworks, the advancements of digital technologies and enhancements of ethical sensitivity. Against this background, the policy brief introduces the current regulatory frameworks consisting of legal data protection regulations and domain-specific codes of ethical conduct that stipulate the scope of what is legally permitted and ethically required. The digitisation of the social world has generated an ubiquity of smart-technologies that capture information of incidents, sequences and individuals. Yet, the emergence of machine-learning and artificial intelligence creates new and unforeseen risks, such as the violation of legal regulations and standards of ethical conduct. Finally, the intensive and ongoing efforts to develop measures and tools that support and secure compliance with ethical standards require formation and further finetuning of context-sensitive ethical toolkits that can account for the different contextual particularities. In a nutshell, the current determination of ethical standards displays features of volatility thus demanding a continuous updating.