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UN meeting highlights migration's development benefits
lead photo
NEW YORK, 4 October 2013 (IRIN) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
opened a High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development
at the UN General Assembly on Thursday by outlining an eight-point
agenda
pdf> to "make migration work" for the world's 232 million migrants, as
well as their countries of origin and destination.
The meeting brings
together migration experts and delegates from 150 countries to discuss
ways to support the developmental benefits of international migration
while reducing its economic and social costs.
Ban described migration as "a fundamental part of our globalized world"
and "an expression of the human aspiration for dignity, safety and a
better future". His eight-point agenda included ending the exploitation
of migrants, addressing the plight of stranded migrants, improving
public perceptions of migrants and protecting their human rights.
The opening of the meeting coincided with news that more than 100
migrants had lost their lives after the boat they were travelling on
caught fire and sank just off the coast of the southern Italian island
of Lampedusa. The boat was carrying an estimated 500 passengers, many
of them believed to be Eritreans, from Libya. The UN Refugee Agency
(UNHCR) reported that 150 migrants had so far been rescued, leaving
some 250 of the passengers still missing. Earlier this week, another 13
migrants drowned while trying to reach Sicily. UNHCR estimates that in
2011 alone, 1,500 migrants died trying to reach Europe from Libya.
Ban and several other speakers at the meeting referred to the latest
tragedy as further evidence of the need to commit to addressing the
challenges arising from migration, particularly as the political
climate in many countries remains hostile to migrants.
Research needed
"Too often, migrants live in fear," Ban told delegates. "We need to
create more channels for safe and orderly migration."
Ian Goldin, professor of globalization and development at Oxford
University, referred to the meeting as "a ray of light... in what is
otherwise an extremely cloudy environment for migration and
development."
Goldin cited a World Bank study that found that changes in national
migration policies that increase the flow of migrants even minimally
bring significant economic benefits to sending and receiving countries,
in addition to transforming the lives of individual migrants and their
families.
geID=201310040907590163&width=490>
Photo: IOM
Syrian refugees on a flight to Germany
But both Goldin and Ban, in his list of recommendations, highlighted
the need to strengthen the evidence-base on the positive benefits of
migration as one way to combat the political rhetoric that fuels
negative perceptions of migrants.
"Migrants contribute greatly to host societies...They are doctors,
nurses and domestic workers and often the unheralded heart of many
service industries," said Ban. "Yet far too often they are viewed
negatively. Too many politicians seek electoral advantage by demonizing
migrants."
Fuelling development
Much of the discussion on the first day of the meeting made a case for
incorporating migration into whatever new set of goals replace the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are due to expire in 2015.
One compelling reason why migration matters for development is the
estimated US$550 billion that migrants remit to their families back
home annually, according to the World Bank. The figure is more than
three times higher than global aid budgets but could be larger still if
transaction fees, which are often exorbitant, were lowered.
However, at a side meeting devoted to how to incorporate migration into
the post-2015 agenda, speakers warned against framing migration and
development as a purely economic issue.
"Migrants are not just commodities or conduits for financial
remittances," said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi
Pillay. "We must look beyond the dollar value of global remittance
flows and pay more attention to the conditions in which this money is
being earned. Development won't work where it's accompanied by
inequality, injustice and repression."
While there is a greater understanding of the role migration plays in
contributing to development now than in 2000, when the original MDGs
were formulated, several speakers also pointed out that many people
still view migration as a threat rather than a boon to development.
"From a political point of view, it's a very hard sell," said a
delegate from the Bahamas. "What do you do when people feel the economy
is being under-cut and their identity swamped?"
The migration community has come late to the debate over the post-2015
development agenda, and there is unlikely to be a stand-alone goal
associated with migration. Deputy Director General of the International
Organization for Migration Laura Thompson advocated instead for trying
to incorporate migration and the rights of migrants into a series of
existing goals. "This would reflect the reality of migration as a
cross-cutting issue," she said.
ks/rz
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[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United
Nations]
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