On Wednesday, 26 January 2022, Demetrios Papademetriou, former US delegate and Chair of the OECD Working Party on Migration (1991-1996), passed away. The OECD remembers Mr Papademetriou for his inspiring and visionary contributions on migration policies. Highlights from the decades of engagement with the OECD include his interventions in 1991 in Rome (The Changing Course of International Migration), in 1993 in Madrid (Migration, and Development: New Partnerships for Cooperation), in 2000 in Lisbon (Globalisation, Migration and Development) and most recently in 2020 in Paris (at the OECD High level policy Forum on Migration and integration, shown in the photo)

Mr Papademetriou was a formidable advocate for development of migration policy and a pioneer in advancing new forms of multilateral collaboration on migration. Throughout his career, he provided pragmatic and sound policy advice to many OECD member countries and leaves the international community with an impressive legacy of knowledge and analysis on migration policy. Among his numerous accomplishments, Mr Papademetriou is also widely known as the co-founder in 2001 of the internationally recognised Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and founder of MPI Europe in 2011.

Mr Papademetriou leaves the global policy discussion on migration and integration vastly transformed. Anyone working on international migration owes a debt of gratitude to Mr Papademetriou for his tireless and effective advocacy for more efficient and human migration and integration policies. Anyone who has met Mr Papademetriou will remember him as a person of great humanity. He will be truly missed.