MIGRATION: Flow of 175 Million People Has Social, Economic Impact

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Dec 2 2002 (IPS) - The world’s migratory movements, which include one of every 35 people, continue to be a concern for the sovereign power of states, but are a phenomenon of growing universal interest, say experts at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).

Governments have effectively stepped up migration controls, but these measures "often have secondary effect of pushing more people into the hands of smugglers," noted Gervais Appave, IOM chief of migration policy and research.

These circumstances frequently lead to exploitation and trafficking of migrants, as well as to growing insecurity due to traffickers’ involvement with organised crime, violence and corruption, said Jean-Philippe Chauzy, the institution’s spokesman, in a conversation with IPS.

On the other hand, in some countries even lawful migrants "continue to be subjected to xenophobic and racist tendencies," said Chauzy.

Migration movements in the 21st century have a life and a dynamic of their own, with both negative and positive aspects. The challenge is to manage them, Appave said in his opening address to the IOM council, the institution’s maximum body, which is meeting this week in Geneva.

The number of migrants worldwide now reaches 175 million. A figure that might seem high at first glance, but represents 2.9 percent of the total population, noted the expert.

If all migrants were gathered in the same land, they would comprise the fifth most populous country in the world, after China, India, United States and Indonesia.

There are 49.7 million migrants in Asia, or 1.4 percent of the region’s population, Africa has 16.2 million (2.1 percent), and Europe 56.1 million (7.7 percent of its total population).

The number of migrants in Latin America and the Caribbean reaches 5.9 million, just 1.1 percent of the population. In North America there are 40.8 million migrants (13 percent) and in Oceania 5.8 million, a high 19.1 percent of that region’s population.

Migrational movements share some aspects but also differ from region to region. In Africa, the flows are very complex, but are clearly demarcated at the sub-regional level. In Asia, where internal labour migration predominates there are also major flows outwards.

Western Europe is a scenario in which the European Union’s common policies on zones for the free movement of migrants are the determining factor.

Latin America and the Caribbean is another complex region in terms of migrational movement. Since the 1970s there have been criss-crossed flows and movement towards the North, Appave said in his presentation of a pre-release of the IOM’s World Migration Report 2003.

The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand constitute a final group in which immigration has historically been an element of domestic development, and which now tightly control the inflows of immigrants.

One of the most significant changes in recent times, said Chauzy, is the "feminisation" of migration, with women representing 47.5 percent of the previously male-dominated population of migrants.

The migration phenomenon itself continues its trend of expansion. From 75 million in 1965 (equivalent to 2.3 percent of the world population at the time), it was 84 million in 1975 (2.1 percent) and 105 million (2.2 percent) in 1985, jumping to the current 175 million, or 2.9 percent of the world population today.

By 2050, the IOM predicts there will be 230 million migrants, representing 2.6 percent of the population forecast for that year of 8.77 billion people.

Contributing to the increase in number are economic, political and cultural globalisation, as well as the "transnationalisation of the migration process," says Appave.

Globalisation, through trade liberalisation, economic integration and electronic communications, has raised awareness about opportunities for living in other parts of the world, noted the IOM official.

In addition to greater awareness, improved international transportation has also contributed to increasing mobility of populations.

The IOM repeats the complaints of developing countries in noting that "progress in liberalising the movement of persons has not proceeded at the same pace as the liberalisation of trade in goods and capital," a process consecrated by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

But in spite of restrictions, labour migration – regular or irregular – "plays an important role in the international economy," said Appave.

The transnational nature of migration processes is reflected in the fact that migrants "maintain and promote ties between their country of residence and their country of origin by travelling back and forth, maintaining family and/or business in both, or by sending remittances on a regular basis."

The remittances factor holds unique importance for developing countries. "Worldwide, the estimated flow of remittances may exceed 100 billion dollars per year," Nilim Baruah, an official with the IOM Geneva office, told IPS.

More than 60 percent of that sum goes to developing countries, surpassing the total official development assistance granted by industrialised countries, he pointed out.

IOM deputy director-general Ndioro Ndiaye lamented that the United Nations-sponsored Financing for Development Conference held last March in Monterrey, Mexico, failed to discuss how migration can be a means to foment these remittance flows.

Ndiaye commented that making use of such financial transfers from migrants to their country of origin, "under arrangements that provide incentives and security, could be a powerful driver of development."

IOM director-general Brunson McKinley reckons that consensus on migration policy is beginning to form within the international community.

"In the year 2002, it is no longer controversial to view migration as a core element of global, social and economic change," he said.

MIGRATION: Flow of 175 Million People Has Social, Economic Impact

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Dec 2 2002 (IPS) - The world’s migratory movements, which include one of every 35 people, continue to be a concern for the sovereign power of states, but are a phenomenon of growing universal interest, say experts at the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
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