A new study published by IOM and the Hague Process on Refugees and
Migration calls for the drawing up of an international framework on
the co-operative management of migration.

The study, "The Global Economic Crisis and Migration: Where do
we go from here?" says such a framework would relieve some of the
strain the world financial crisis has placed on the migration
system, improve the future governance of migration and reduce the
isolationist tendencies of countries worried about new influxes of
migrants. 

Authored by Professor Bimal Ghosh, the research paper cautions
against the pitfalls of inward-looking and isolationist migration
and trade policies in response to populist pressures or panicky
reactions to the global economic crisis.

Such measures, it warns, can have long-lasting perverse effects
on social peace and inter-state relations, holding back world
economic recovery and hurting both rich and poor countries.

Instead, the study states that an agreed multilateral framework
on migration management would make human mobility more orderly and
predictable. The guiding force for reaching such an agreement, the
report observes, should be reciprocity of interests and common
gains.

"In times of crisis, nations can also become more willing to
accept change," says Professor Ghosh.

Despite a slight decline in irregular migration during the
recession, the paper argues that this trend could rapidly reverse
due to demographic pressure from poor countries recovering more
slowly from recession.  In the absence of opportunities for
legal entry, many in these countries may seek entry through
irregular channels, encouraging smugglers and
traffickers. 

Against the background of economic decline and intense
competition for jobs and resources in host countries, tolerance of
foreigners tends to decline. With an expansion of the black economy
is the growth in a social underclass made up largely of migrants,
resulting in increasing discrimination and xenophobia, abuses and
violations of their human rights.

Claiming there are ominous signs of this happening already in
several countries, the study calls for proactive and pre-emptive
measures to counter such abuses, including increased public and
civil society vigilance. Other measures involve establishing
flexible labour market policies, matching changing labour market
needs and avoiding populist, inward-looking, trade and economic
policies, as well as a concerted push in job creation.

The paper also warns against cutting funding on migrant
integration programmes, as has already happened in some
countries.  The relative increases in the inflows of
non-working age migrants and refugees, who have low employment
potential, as being witnessed in the OECD countries, make their
social and labour market integration critically important.

 

"The 'business as usual' approach to recession-driven migration
issues based on the assumption that once the economic crisis is
over international migration will flow as in the past, is flawed,"
says Professor Ghosh.

He warns that if migration is badly managed at this critical
time, it may take decades for countries to recover economically, as
the experience following the Great Depression in the 1930s
showed.

The pre-existence of a sound multilateral framework of
cooperation to deal with current migration issues related to the
recession will allow the world to meet the future challenges of
human mobility in the 21st century with greater confidence, the
study concludes.

For further information, please contact:

Bimal Ghosh

Tel: + 41 022-755.53.91

E-mail: "mailto:ghosh@bluewin.ch">ghosh@bluewin.ch