Nations of the world have been asked to open their borders to migrants, and see their nations experience more development.
This call is the central theme of the 2009 Human Development Report, published by the United Nations Development Programme released recently.
The report themed: “Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development” argued that removing barriers to migration would greatly help migrants to improve their life chances, ensuring that they have access to the different indices with which development is measured and do not remain in abject poverty.
According to the report, migration is a fact of life in recent years, whereby people move from one geographical location to others, many times over long distances and between different regions.
As thus, the flow of migration could be from the South to the North, whereby people from Africa, the Caribbean, and South Asia move towards the United States, Europe and Australasia in search for greener pastures. Migration may even be within the borders of a country.
However, migrants have been faced with different challenges, especially such policies that limit the opportunities they can assess in their destination countries. This, the report said, must change.
Relating the reasons for migration, the report says: “For many people around the world, moving away from their home town or village can be the best – sometimes the only – option open to improve their life chances.”
While there is as yet no typical profile of migrants around the world, it is a fact that all manners of people, ranging from the skilled to the unskilled, at one time or the other seek a break from their situations and explore what is possible for them outside their own countries.
Economic conditions, conflicts, whether civil or political, as well as insecurity have made people to seek solace in other lands apart from their own. Yet many are still trafficked.
Unfortunately, the fact that there are policies that restrict the entrance of people into other countries and such strict measures being observed before people could get access to other countries have made the issue of illegal migration more conspicuous in recent times. Many people, especially youths from developing countries including The Gambia, have been lost to this tidal sway of illegal migration.
However, rather than meet the all rosy life that had propelled them to leave their home in the first place, migrants are sometimes met with hostility in the form of an environment, both policy and physical which militate against their survival.
While there have been myths held by locals that migrants are the causes of many of their social problems, the 2009 HDR argues that rather than this, “migrants boost economic output, at little or no cost to locals.” It said that as they acquire the local language and necessary skills needed to survive in their host countries, migrants tend to move up the economic ladder, they tend to integrate quite more naturally.
According to it, human development could be really helped if countries remove all barriers to movement.
“Large gains to human development can be achieved by lowering the barriers to movement and improving the treatment of movers. A bold vision is needed to realize these gains.”
The report argues that admissions and treatment of movers constitute the two most important dimensions of the mobility agenda, which would not only be the concerns of government but also of non state actors like the private sector, unions, non governmental organizations and individual migrants themselves.
“While policy makers face common face common challenges, they will of course need to design and implement different migration policies in their respective countries, according to national and local circumstances,” it said, noting that despite this, certain good practices still stand out and could still be more widely adopted.
The necessity of a ‘joint force’ to protect migrants is primary as the world has witnessed xenophobic attacks against migrants in recent times. Attacks on foreigners in South Africa in recent times are pointer to the necessity of instituting special frameworks that would protect foreigners.
This evidently would require a measure of commitment from the host governments. Apart from institutionalizing peace within the country itself, it would also go a long way in establishing diplomatic ties between countries.
Instead of the above, however, some host countries have encouraged an atmosphere of inequality between locals and foreigners by maintaining de facto barriers to movement.
The report noted specifically that restrictions take the form of reduced basic service provisions and entitlements against migrants.
It then says: “While not a substitute for broader development efforts, migration can be a vital strategy for households and families seeking to diversify and improve their livelihoods, especially in developing countries.
“Governments need to recognize this potential to integrate migration with other aspects of national development policy.… Advancing this agenda will require strong, enlightened leadership coupled with a more determined effort to engage with the public and raise their awareness about the facts around migration."
While the report dissociates itself from a wholesome campaign for liberalization of international mobility, it notes that “people relate to each other in myriad ways and that their moral obligations can operate at different levels.
“This is primarily because individuals don’t belong to just one society or group. Rather than being uniquely or solely defined by their religion, race, ethnicity or gender, individuals commonly see themselves through the multiple prisms of a set of identities.”
To act in the manner above would afford migrants increased opportunities to try their capacities in diverse areas, thus contributing their quota to both their personal development and that of their host countries.
The report concludes by suggesting policy and institutional reforms.
“Our suggested reforms to government policies and institutions could bring about sizeable human development gains from mobility at home and abroad.
Advancing this agenda will require committed leadership, extensive consultation with stakeholders and bold campaigning for changes in public opinion to move the debates and policy discussions forward.”
