Migrants Worse off Than Others During Recession
The global economic crisis is having a particular impact on the well-being of those who cross borders seeking better opportunities for themselves and their families, a senior United Nations official said today, noting that migrants are often the first to suffer job losses or worsening working conditions.
“While the impact is not the same in
all countries and regions, globally speaking, worsening
economic conditions and more restrictive policies for labour
movements have led to a slowdown of migration and remittance
flows,” said Carlos Lopes, Executive Director of the UN
Institute for Training and Research (http://www.unitar.org/)
and Chair-in-Office of the Global Migration Group
(GMG).
Established in 2006, the GMG is an inter-agency
effort aimed at enhancing cooperation between UN agencies,
the International Organization for Migration (http://www.iom.int/jahia/jsp/index.jsp) and the (http://www.worldbank.org/) World Bank in the field of
international migration.
Addressing the Global Forum
on Migration and Development, which opened today in Athens,
Mr. Lopes noted that remittances are a major source of
foreign income for developing countries, especially at a
time when foreign direct investment (FDI) has declined owing
to the economic slowdown.
While remittances remain
relatively resilient, the World Bank forecasts that flows to
all developing regions will decline between 7 and 10 per
cent in 2009.
“Many countries which depend upon
these flows will be adversely affected not only
economically, but also socially. Households that receive
fewer remittances are under pressure to cut back on
expenses.
“Too often this will negatively affect
development outcomes, for example in the area of
children’s and especially girls’ education and
health,” said Mr. Lopes.
The recession has also led
many States to adopt restrictive requirements for obtaining
entry, legal residence and work permits. Mr. Lopes noted
that curtailing regular migration tends to increase
irregular flows that are more risky for migrants,
particularly the most vulnerable such as unaccompanied
minors.
“Additional restrictions can also reinforce
the impression that migration is a questionable, criminal
phenomenon, thereby contributing to anti-migrant, xenophobic
reactions in destination countries,” he
stated.
“From a development perspective, such
measures risk slowing down the resumption of growth,” he
said, adding that migration policy should keep sight of its
development implications as it adapts to the
crisis.
In addition, he stressed that migration
policies and practices must be rooted in human rights, and
that States must be vigilant against xenophobic sentiments
and discriminatory practices prompted by the economic
crisis.
The recently released 2009 UN Human
Development Report, entitled Overcoming barriers: Human
mobility and development, called for wide-ranging
reforms to maximize the gains from migration and to protect
the rights of migrants – now estimated to be one out of
every seven persons in the world.
The report, written
by independent experts and commissioned by the UN
Development Programme ("http://www.undp.org/"), proposes reforms to migration
policies in source and destination countries that it says
are politically feasible and will increase people’s
freedom and strengthen human
development.
ENDS