Where are refugees and migrants in national AI strategies? This question is explored in an article by Dr. Mennatullah Hendawy, postdoctoral researcher within CAIS program “Digital Democratic Innovations,” titled “Refugees and Migrants Missing from the Table: Mapping AI Policy Gaps and Proposing an Inclusive Agenda in the Arab Region.” The article is part of the special blog series under the “Resilience and Inclusive Politics in the Arab Region” project by the School of Arts and Sciences at the Lebanese American University (LAU) and funded by the Carnegie Corporation.
Through a qualitative review of global AI policy documents (with a focus on the Arab region) and a thematic analysis validated by human review, Dr. Mennatullah Hendawy identifies six policy touchpoints where mobile populations should be considered: talent attraction, border innovation, economic and labor-market integration, social inclusion and service access, talent retention and brain drain, and ethical and rights-based governance. The findings show a stark gap. A few countries integrate migration into AI visions, yet most Arab strategies remain silent, with only isolated mentions of talent attraction or brain drain.
She proposes a regionally grounded agenda that centers participatory design with displaced communities, algorithmic impact assessments that explicitly include migrants and refugees, inclusive public-service AI, and coordinated talent frameworks that engage diasporas rather than exclude them.
The full article is available online via the LAU School of Arts and Sciences:
https://soas.lau.edu.lb/news/2025/08/refugees-and-migrants-missing-from-the-table-mapping-ai-policy-g.php