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FOCUS: As world population grows, so too migration

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  • FOCUS: As world population grows, so too migration

    New Straits Times , Malaysia
    Jan 29 2005


    FOCUS: As world population grows, so too migration


    Millions leave their homeland every year in search of greener
    pastures, writes YEANG SOO CHING.
    SUCH has migration developed through the ages that every country on
    the planet is today more likely than not facing migration issues in
    in one way or another. According to the United Nations World
    Migration Report 2003, the number of migrants in the world increased
    from 84 million in 1975 to 175 million in 2000. By 2050, the number
    is estimated to reach 230 million.

    About 2.3 million people emigrate from the developing world to the
    developed world annually, accounting for two-thirds of the population
    growth in the West. Historically, more migrants have lived in Europe
    than any other continent; some 56 million of them in fact, accounting
    for 7.7 per cent of the population.

    However, in recent times, Asia has supplanted Europe as the continent
    of emigration. In North America, Asian migrants make up 13 per cent
    of the population, and in Australasia, they are 19.1 per cent.

    "The world population is growing by 83 million people a year, of
    which 82 million are born in developing countries. High population
    growth goes hand in hand with emigration," says the report.

    About 100 million of the international migrants are migrant workers
    and their families, says Dr Walter Schmid, president of Swiss
    Conference for Social Welfare Assistance. Schmid was in Kuala Lumpur
    recently to speak at the 31st International Conference on Social
    Welfare, hosted by the National Council of Welfare and Social
    Development Malaysia.

    He presented a paper entitled Migrant Labour in a Globalising World:
    Economic Drives, State o TURN TO PAGE 3, COL 4 o FROM PAGE 2
    Regulations and Transnational Behaviour. "In a globalising world, the
    dynamics of economic life transcend national borders and have become
    uncontrollable for national Governments," he observes.

    "No state can pursue a migration policy by ignoring the rules of the
    international market. The free flow of goods, capital and services
    has broken the traditional links between economy and states.
    "Technology and globalisation affect the way goods and services are
    produced, as well as their distribution. Commerce follows new
    patterns." Thus, migrant workers in a globalising economy can be
    categorised. First, there are the routine production workers in the
    formal manufacturing enterprises. This number is on the decline
    because production is increasingly being computerised. Then there are
    in-person servers who perform simple repetitive tasks such as waiting
    on tables. This number is on the increase.

    The third category is the highly skilled migrants recruited for
    problem-solving. Examples are in managerial tasks. Due to the
    increased mobility of economies, this category is also on the
    increase. Another category of migrant workers are the seasonal
    workers in agriculture. Such low-wage jobs under precarious
    conditions are increasing as well.

    Labour migration is certainly on the increase, says the International
    Labour Organisation (ILO). From 1970 to 1990, the number of countries
    employing foreign labour rose from 42 to 90.

    ILO estimates there are 20 million migrant workers across Africa, 18
    million in North America, 12 million in Central and South America,
    seven million in South and East Asia, nine million in the middle
    East, and 30 million in Europe.

    While resources and connections are still the most important factors
    for labour migration, people have more choices now, so temporary
    migration is on the rise too. And more than ever, women are migrating
    on their own. As at 2000, 49 per cent of the world's migrants are
    women. And of the 80 to 97 million workers and their dependents now
    living in countries other than their own, experts estimate no less
    than 15 per cent are working illegally. To ensure orderly migration,
    more and more Governments are recognising the need to establish and
    improve their policies, laws and practices. Twenty-five years ago,
    only six per cent of countries had policies to curb immigration; now
    40 per cent do.

    "The standard concerns of Governments are about combating illegal
    migration. There are dilemmas and contradictions in this. The more
    illegal migration is challenged, the higher the prices and profits of
    traffickers," says Schmid. Dr Astghik Mirzakhanyan, project
    co-ordinator at the Armenia office of the United Nations Development
    Programme, says two out of three Armenians are either migrants or
    decendants of migrants, and every fourth person born in Armenia
    currently lives outside its borders. "The Republic of Armenia
    declared its political independence after the collapse of the Soviet
    Union in 1991," she says.

    "There are three million people living in Armenia, and about 10
    million Armenians living outside of Armenia, most of them in Russia."
    Why Russia? Mainly because Armenians did not need visas, and they had
    links in the form of personal relationships and friendships.

    "There were no language barriers; neither were there barriers to
    financial flows. In some regions in Armenia, every eighth able-bodied
    man regularly leaves the country for seasonal work abroad, again
    mainly in Russia, adds Mirzakhanyan.
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