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MIGRATION: ‘Uncoordinated’ Movements Undermine Labour Rights – ILO

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Jun 7 2004 (IPS) - The International Labour Organisation (ILO) this week is underlining its concern that migration movements amongst regions are increasing but there are no international agreements to regulate or protect the immigrants and their families.

To fill that void, the ILO proposes "the development of a non-binding multilateral framework for managing migration," one that would be "acceptable to most countries," says Manolo Abella, Filipino and head of the ILO’s international migration division.

The international labour conference, meeting in Geneva through Jun. 17, is considering this initiative of the ILO, which also proposes "strengthening the capacity of countries to manage migration and to apply protections for the rights of migrant workers."

One of the causes behind the increase of migration is the unequal distribution of the economic benefits created by the progressive integration of the world economy, according to the description the ILO uses for the globalisation process.

ILO Director-General Juan Somavía, of Chile, notes that if one considers the global economy from the perspective of the people, one realises that the structural failing lies in its inability to create enough jobs in the places where people live.

The world must find a way to create decent jobs for this vast flow of migrants, through multilateral action and policy, says the ILO chief.

"The most important issues have much to do with the problem of the irregular migrants, or illegal migrants in popular parlance," said Abella.

Even if they are relatively limited in number, irregular immigrants play an important role in most countries.

As an example, a British communicator said that if at midnight all of the foreigners without documents were expelled from London and southern England, at breakfast those areas would be completely paralysed, Abella said.

But the irregular workers face greater threats to their human rights when they are recruited, transported and employed outside the scope of the law, warns an ILO study prepared for the conference of ministers from its 177 member states.

Around 15 percent of the 175 million immigrants are in an "irregular" situation. Some 500,000 people enter Western Europe under these conditions each year, and there are an estimated seven million illegal immigrants in the United States, said the ILO expert.

And there are foreign workers without proper documents residing in Asia and other parts of the world as well, he added.

As such, the question of labour rights has become an important matter for countries like Mexico, "which has a large number of irregular migrants in the United States, and for other developing nations."

Another facet of migration is the loss of highly skilled workers from local labour markets. There are more doctors from Ghana and Jamaica working in the United States than there are working in those two countries.

"It’s a cause for alarm especially in Africa where you have a very severe need at this moment – because of HIV/AIDS – for doctors and nurses. The social consequences of migration are also very, very profound," said Abella.

An ILO survey found that there is "a shortfall in protection for migrant workers, particularly in middle income developing countries," which together see 46 percent of global migration, he said.

As for the category of economically active migrants, which total some 86 million people worldwide, around 52 million are in developing countries, says the ILO report.

Abella said that one of the positive aspects of migration is the remittances that workers send back to their countries of origin. Those countries are " very interested in improving ways or policies to reduce the cost of transfers… and to ensure that the benefits reach more people."

Remittances sent by emigrant workers to developing countries in 2001 totalled 72.3 billion dollars, equivalent to 1.3 percent of the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of those nations.

The World Bank has noted that this figure represented 42 percent of the total foreign direct investment in those countries, and far surpassed the official development aid sent by industrialised countries.

In many recipient countries there is a mistaken perception of the impact of immigration. Studies conducted in the United States and in Western Europe show that the effect of migration on wages, for example, has been minimal, says the ILO.

In some cases there has even been an improvement in skilled workers’ salaries during periods of high immigration, according to the experts at the ILO.

However, in those countries the social adjustments prompted by the influx of immigrants of different ethnic origins are what fuels public debate. If social integration does not occur, it can be the source of tensions, says the study up for debate by this week’s conference.