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.