Kathmandu, Dec. 18 -- The 20thInternational Migration Day on 18 December in the midst of the pandemic, with its disproportionate impact on migrants demands retrospection. We need to widen our time horizon to the last decades to see how far we have come and review the lapses along the way. We also need to focus on the virus-ridden year that is drawing to an end.

Both time frames are intricately connected. Many lapses in the last 20 years in governance have had an acute, amplified impact on migrants this year. Covid-19 magnified the weaknesses and highlighted achievements that helped migrants cope better.

Communication was critical during the pandemic as that made the long hours of waiting atlabour camps, quarantine areas, and even isolat...