Migration and Development: Taking on a Global Agenda

By Genevieve Gencianos

How to maximise the development benefits of migration and minimise its negative impacts? This was discussed when the UN General Assembly held a High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development in mid-September.

On 14-15 September, the United Nations General Assembly held a High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development. The aim of the dialogue was “to discuss the multidimensional aspects of international migration and development and identify appropriate ways to maximise its development benefits and minimise its negative impacts.” Over 120 governments, including 90 ministers, came to the meeting, as well as heads of international organisations concerned with migration issues: the ILO, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OCHCHR), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank.
A small number of civil society organisations and private sector representatives were also invited to join in the four round table discussions dealing with the economic and social impacts of migration, protection of the human rights of migrants, multidimensional aspects of migration, such as remittances, and the promotion of partnerships and capacity-building. PSI participated as an observer to the hearings, together with the ICFTU.

Twelve years!
The main challenge of the high level dialogue was to get States to “dialogue” on migration at a global level as it impacts on and interacts with development, while taking into account the political, economic, social and cultural context of migration today. It took 12 years for the UN to negotiate, before it finally managed to get States around the table to recognise migration as a global issue and to begin a constructive dialogue. It was back in 1994, during the UN International Conference on Population and Development, that migration was first identified as an international concern as it was linked to development and population management. It was also the first time that the human rights situation of migrants gained international attention.
Had it not been for the vigilance and advocacies of various international NGOs (including PSI), which established a ratification campaign in 1998, the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 18 December 1990, would have continued to be the “UN’s best-kept secret” to this day.

Global Forum on Migration and Development
The high level dialogue was envisaged to contribute to the development of a multilateral framework for the governance of international migration, though this may yet be a far way to go. At the very least, the meeting concluded with the acceptance of the UN Secretary General’s proposal for a Global Forum on Migration and Development. Belgium offered to host the first meeting of the forum, which will be held sometime in 2007.

Global Migration Group
Another notable development was the establishment of the Global Migration Group (GMG), with the support of the UN Secretary General. The GMG is a cooperation of the heads of major international agencies in order to promote international and regional instruments relating to migration and to encourage coherent and comprehensive responses to migration’s challenges.
A new member of the GMG is the World Bank, whose interests lie in the economic impact of migration and remittances as it relates to capital flows and poverty reduction. Remittances, which are earnings by migrants that they send to their families and communities back home, are now estimated at US$232 billion annually, of which US$167 billion goes to developing countries. The World Bank sees labour migration as a means of redistributing wealth, as poorer countries gain their comparative advantage by exporting their cheap and abundant supply of labour abroad. [This is the same line of argument pursued by the WTO in promoting the temporary movement of workers under Mode 4 of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).]

PSI’s criticism
PSI is highly critical. This kind of migration for development framework raises fundamental issues that affect workers, health systems and communities. PSI argues that:

• The lack of decent jobs and impoverishment in the developing countries are a consequence of people not being able to access essential public services that were, in the first place, reduced as a result of macro-economic policy prescriptions imposed by the World Bank and the IMF.
• Wealth is not created nor re-distributed when people are forced to leave their countries and families behind in search for employment abroad.
• Separation of families, racism and discrimination, exploitation of migrant workers – these are only a few of the long list of social impacts of migration. They have not been fully considered when praising migration’s economic impacts.
• What happens to health systems of developing countries when their skilled workers are leaving in massive proportions in search for a ‘better life’ overseas?
• What happens to health systems in the developed countries that rely on international recruitment that is based on trading health workforce services to fill in staffing needs?

“Migration is a courageous expression of an individual’s will to overcome adversity and live a better life. Over the past decade, globalisation has increased the number of people with the desire and capacity to move to other places. This new era of mobility has created opportunities for societies throughout the world, as well as new challenges. It has also underscored the strong linkages between international migration and development.”
Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, addressing the UN General Assembly High Level Dialogue on Migration and Development, 14-15 September 2006

PSI Pre-Decision and Information Kit

PSI is now distributing a Pre-Decision and Information Kit: a new resource pack on “Migration and Women Health Workers.” The kit, in English and Spanish, is a package of information that aims to assist health care workers make the right choice, when faced with the decision of migrating for employment. It contains practical information on cost of living situations, legal and employment rights and union contacts in the destination countries. It also provides general information on the issues on migration in the health sector and the role of public sector trade unions.
Implementing partners in the PSI Migration and Women Health Workers Project in 16 migrant sending and receiving countries produced the kit. The project engages public sector trade unions in providing information and assistance to potential migrant health care workers in order to protect their rights and to make sure that they continue to be part of the trade union movement even as they migrate. For more information, visit www.world-psi.org/migration

Migration should benefit migrants!

Getting the participation of civil society was one of the difficult issues in the high level dialogue. From the original proposal to have one civil society representative, major NGOs, faith-based groups and trade unions wrote to the President of the UN General Assembly requesting a mechanism through which civil society could contribute and participate. This led to the UN Civil Society Hearings held on 12 July, where more than 60 people came to the UN in New York for an informal interactive hearing with members of the General Assembly.
As one of the 16 speakers, PSI’s project coordinator, Genevieve Gencianos, strongly pointed out the need for a gender sensitive and rights-based approach to international migration and development. She highlighted the response of public sector trade unions on the issue through PSI’s work in representing migrant workers, organising them into unions and negotiating decent terms and conditions. The outcome of the hearing was a Chair’s Summary, an official document of the UN, which strongly incorporated the rights-based approach and the role of NGOs, trade unions, and migrant diaspora (migrant networks overseas) communities in ensuring that migration benefits all those concerned, particularly the migrants themselves.

Civil society dialogue
Parallel to the high level dialogue, migrant civil society organisations led by Migrants Rights International, Migrant Forum in Asia and the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, held a civil-society process involving international NGOs and immigrant communities in the US in a dialogue to share experiences, build solidarity and alliances and propose alternatives for a ‘people-centered, human rights and sustainable development-based’ approach to international migration. Various workshops were held from 13-15 September in a venue close to the UN in New York where invited guests participated as speakers, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants and the ICFTU President Sharan Burrow. PSI, as a close ally to these migrant networks, chaired a workshop on national immigration and labour policies and international standards. A rally and media event was held outside the UN on the second day of the high level dialogue, where Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, addressed the migrant groups.