MODULE 12

CONTEMPORARY WORLD

THE VOLUME OF CONTEMPORARY MIGRATION

The most comprehensive recent figures have been provided by a study

carried out by the United nations Population Division, which gives estimates on
migrant stock in 218 countries or territories.

The UN figures show that the global migrant stock grew from 75 million
in 1965 to 120 million in 1990. The 1990 figure was roughly equal to 2 percent
of the world’s population. The number of migrants grew slightly faster than
world population as a whole, but the annual growth rate was not dramatic.
However, international migration appears to have grown more rapidly in the
1990s, reaching an estimated 135-140 million people, including some 13
million UNHCR-recognized refugees by 1997. Nonetheless, international
migrants remain a fairly small minority, with most of the world’s people
remaining in their country of origin. Internal migration, by contrast is much
larger: for instance, the number of internal migrants in India in 1981 was some
200 million, more than double the number of international migrants in the
whole world at the time. Overall, in the second half of the 1980s, between 750
million and one billion people migrated – mainly internally.

The significance of migration as a major factor in societal change lies in

the fact that is concentrated in certain countries and regions. The UN study
shows that 90 percent of the world’s migrants were living in just 55 countries.
In absolute terms, most immigration is between less-developed countries.

Migration affects certain areas within both sending and receiving

countries more than others. As migratory chains develop, large proportions of
the young men and women of specific villages or neighborhoods leave, which
may lead to local labor shortages as well as major changes in family and
community life. In immigration countries, newcomers become concentrated in
industrial areas and urban areas where there are chances of employment and
where previous migrants can provide help with settlement. In Europe for
instance, virtually all major cities have large concentrations of immigrants.
Typically, certain neighborhoods become centers of immigrant settlement,
marked by distinctive businesses, associations, social facilities and places of
worship. Such neighborhoods are the basis for ethnic community formation
and cultural and linguistic maintenance.

Another recent trend has been the feminization of migration. Although

women have always formed a large proportion of migrants, their share has
gradually increased: by 1995 about 48 percent of all international migrants
were women, and they outnumbered male migrants in about a quarter of
receiving countries. More important was the shift in the character of female
migration, with a trend away from movement as family members of male
workers or refugees and an increase in the number of women who moved
independently or as heads of households. However, such changes were not
always reflected in public perceptions, nor in migration regulations, which
tended to automatically treat women as dependents.

MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Over the last half-century, international migration has grown

considerably, and taken on forms which were not anticipated by governments
and planners. This poses new challenges for societies and policy-makers all
over the world. The most important question for countries of origin is whether
migration assists or hinders development. Migration may hinder development
by siphoning of qualified personnel, removing dynamic young workers and
reducing pressures for social change. Migration often involves a transfer of the
most valuable economic resource – human capital – from a poor country to a
rich one. The family, local community and state of the place of origin have
borne the costs of upbringing of the migrant to young adulthood. The
immigration country will reap the benefits of this investment, and the migrant
will often return home after completing his or her working life to once again be
the responsibility of the country of origin. It is only worthwhile for the
emigration country if the gain in human capital through working abroad can be
productively utilized upon return and the transfer if income from immigration
to emigration country outweighs the costs of upbringing of the migrant.

Both labor-importing and labor-exporting countries often pursue short-

term aims. The former are concerned with obtaining a flexible, low-cost labor
force. The latter are mainly concerned with generating jobs for an under-
utilized workforce and with getting the maximum possible inflow of worker
remittances. Other declared objectives include preventing exploitation of
workers and protecting nationals while abroad. Many countries actively
encourage emigration for employment. This may mean actual government
involvement in recruitment agencies or simply laissez faire with regards to
spontaneous movements. Some Asian governments have set up special
departments or agencies to manage labor emigration, such as the Bureau of
Power, Employment and Training in Bangladesh, or the Office of the Protector
of Emigrants within the Ministry of Labor in India. However, the regulation of
emigration from less-developed countries is often ineffective, as the large
number of irregular migrants demonstrates. This allows exploitative
employment and abuses like the trafficking of women and children for
prostitution.

Remittances are the key objective: they make a massive contribution to

the national accounts of many emigration countries and could help to fund
development investments. Global migrant remittances increased from US$2
billion in 1970 to US$70 billion in 1995. Orderly transfer of remittances is
essential if the potential benefits are to be realized – otherwise remittances will
be transferred in regular ways, often in the form of cash or consumer goods.
Money which goes through the banking system may be more conducive to
investment than cash transfers. Realistic exchange rates, low bank charges,
and availability of reliable financial services in both area of employment and
area of origin are vital. Special investment schemes to encourage migrants to
combine their savings to set up companies or carry out infrastructure projects
in the home community could play a part, although worker companies set up
by Turkish migrants in the 1970s were not particularly successful.
 Most emigration country governments have policies to prevent abuse or
exploitation of their citizens while abroad, and to provide assistance incase of
illness, accident, death, trouble with the law, disputes with employers or other
emergencies. For instance, the Philippines has set up the Overseas Workers’
Welfare Administration (OWWA), which provides a range of services, including
pre-departure orientation seminars and special officials at consulates to assist
migrants. However, measures and services for the protection of emigrants are
frequently ineffective. They are not available to the irregular migrants, who may
face the worst problems. The number of consular officials is often far too small
to cope with the case load. Even legal migrants are so dependent on finding
and keeping employment abroad that they hesitate to complain about abuses.
Moreover, sending countries authorities hesitate antagonize the authorities and
employers in the countries of immigration, for fear that these will prefer
workers from other countries. In a situation of global over supply of low-skilled
migrants, the market power lies with the recruiting countries.

There is a lack of coordinated strategies to assist returning migrants with

re-integration. Most migrants are left to their own devices and frequently face
difficulty in finding employment commensurate with the skills they have
acquired abroad. They may end up running small unproductive business
which often fail. Savings may be spent in consumption and dowries rather than
investment. The experience of returnees is thus very uneven, but there is
sufficient experience to permit some policy-relevant conclusions. It seems that
adequate counselling and information both before and after return, as well as
help in obtaining investment credits are factors conducive to successful
reinsertion and maximization of positive effects on development. Returnees are
more likely to be successful if advised and supported by governmental agencies
and NGOs. Maintenance of social networks in the home country is crucial for a
successful return. Cooperation between sending and receiving countries as well
as international organizations, can play an important part in achieving a
successful return.
INTEGRATION COOPERATION ON MIGRATION

International cooperation could help to ensure orderly migration and to

enhance the contribution of migration to development. However, efforts and
outcomes so far have been disappointing. The main reasons for this are lack of
long-term strategies by both emigration and immigration countries, and the
reluctance of immigration countries to take steps which might increase the cost
of migrant labor to employers. Major elements of an international regulatory
framework already exist in ILO Conventions No. 97 of 1949 and number 143 of
1975, and in the 1990 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Migrant
Workers and Members of their Families. These standards need to be linked
together in a comprehensive framework to regulate the rights and conditions of
migrant workers. However, the main problem is that relatively few countries
have ratified these instruments. Action is needed to persuade more countries to
sign up and implement the conventions. A migration might be one way of
raising awareness of the need for such measures.

Currently, most countries lack effective systems for monitoring

international migration. Moreover, definitions and statistical categories vary
considerably. Effective monitoring and comprehensive and internally
comparable statistics are essential for effective multilateral action.

Trends towards regional economic integration and political cooperation

in many parts of the world often include consideration of labor migration. Some
regional bodies have highly developed policies with regard to movements
particularly to the European Union, which has introduced almost totally free
movement for citizens of member states as part of European Citizenship.
However, none of the regional economic bodies have yet introduced
comprehensive common policies with regards to migrants for third countries.
Common policies on migration, both form member states and from third
countries, should be seen as an essential part of regional integration, and
should be linked to policies on international cooperation and development.
SETTLEMENT AND ETHNIC DIVERSITY

For receiving countries, the key question is whether immigration will lead
to settlement, formation of ethnic communities, and new forms of ethnic and
cultural diversity. In the 1960s, Western – European policy makers thought
that ‘guest workers’ would not settle permanently. However, after the oil crisis,
family reunion and community formation took place. The Gulf oil countries do
not allow family reunion and settlements, yet their economies are structurally
dependent on foreign labor. This is leading to increased length of stay and
family formation, despite the rules. Similarly, there is evidence of settlement
and emergence of ethnic neighborhoods in Japan and other Asian labor-
importing countries. It seems that migration almost inevitably leads to
settlement of a certain proportion of the migrants. Whatever policy-makers
expect. This is partly due to the social nature of the migration process which is
sustained by informal networks once it gets started. Another factor is the
increasing strength of human rights safeguards in many countries, which
make it difficult for governments to deport migrants or to deny them the right
to live with their families.

Immigrants often differ from the receiving population in so many ways:

they may come from different types of societies with different traditions,
religions and political institutions. They often speak a different language and
follow different cultural practices. They may visibly different, though physical
appearance or style of dress. Some migrant groups become concentrated in
certain types of work and live in low-income residential areas. The position of
immigrants is often marked by a specific legal status: that of the foreigner or
non-citizen. The social meaning of ethnic diversity depends to a large extent on
the significance attached to it by the populations and states of the receiving
countries. In many cases, immigration complicates existing ethnic or racial
divisions in societies with long-standing minorities.