Mr. Chairman,

Honourable Parliamentarians,

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates

Ladies and Gentlemen,

IOM welcomes the OSCE’s noble efforts to advance
democratic socio-economic development.  We applaud and
congratulate Kazakhstan for its distinguished and successful
Chairmanship.  Congratulations! 

Thank you for this opportunity to speak to this distinguished
assembly.  I have two main points that I would to address in
my remarks today.

I. The Migration Megatrend

My first point:  migration is a significant long-term trend
– one of the “megatrends” of the 21st
Century. 

Neither the current economic downturn nor increasingly
restrictive policies in many parts of the world can halt, nor even
slow down, the greatest human mobility in recorded
history.   

Demographic trends; labour market demands; and widening North-South
disparities constitute push-pull factors that make mass migration
inevitable.  And this is a reality that is unlikely to change
for several decades. 

To complicate matters,  global phenomena such as climate
change; drastically declining  birth-rates in the
industrialized world, and food, water and energy insecurity; and
natural disasters – all are coming together; coalescing like
never before to push and pull the world’s population in new
directions. 

Instant information, the communications revolution, and cheap
flights add to the acceleration of human movement within and across
borders. 

I have been cautioning governments and the general public
against turning the current economic crisis into a migrant
crisis.  Over the past year, an even more urgent concern has
surfaced, and that is, the emergence of an alarmingly wide-spread
negative attitude toward migrants and foreigners in
general. 

Much current government anxiety about migration is based on
inadequate public information and education -- information about
migrants' contributions to host societies.  More severe
critics might say that this is wilful ignorance – a
“head-in-the-sand” denial that perpetuates destructive
stereotypes of migrants.

In Europe and elsewhere, an alarming degree of intolerance has
emerged – just at a time of tight labour markets and
austerity measures – an intolerance that places many of the
world’s 214 million international migrants at risk.

II. Impact of the Global Economic
Crisis    

My second point: The impact of the global economic crisis on
migrants and migration.  Here, I should like to share with you
the key findings of our 2010 World Migration Report:

1. Although the total number of migrants in the world did not
   decrease in 2010, labour migration flows have slowed. 
   This is due to fewer job opportunities in destination countries; it
   also reflects the impact of restrictive Government policies –
   policies designed to reduce labour migration, especially of
   semi-skilled and unskilled workers.
2. Migrant return rates are lower than expected. 
   Relatively few migrants have returned to their country of origin
   during the crisis, despite the introduction by a number of
   countries of introducing new measures to encourage migrants to go
   home.  Despite a hostile atmosphere, migrants often remain
   because conditions at home are often worse for them than conditions
   in destination countries.
3. Migrant unemployment rates are much higher – as much
   as two times the rates for native workers.   Perhaps
   not surprising, migrants tend to be younger, more likely to be in
   temporary jobs, have less formal education, at least one-half are
   women; and migrants are concentrated in those sectors of employment
   most affected by recession, such as construction, manufacturing and
   services.
4. Remittances have deceased – approximately 6 percent
   worldwide -- but the trend is not uniform. Higher unemployment
   has meant fewer remittances back to countries of origin; as the
   rate of returns has been lower than expected, however, overall,
   remittances have remained fairly stable.  Indeed, some
   countries (for example Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Pakistan)
   have actually increased recorded remittance flows. In 2009, the
   World Bank estimated that USD 316 billion was remitted to
   developing countries – a decrease of 6 per cent, compared to
   2008.
5. Irregular migration flows decreased in 2010, but migrants
   have become more vulnerable.  The number of attempted
   illegal border crossings has fallen by about a third or more in the
   US and Europe since 2008.  But border arrests are only one
   measure of irregular migration flows.  

As many migrants who lost their jobs have not returned home, it
is likely that the number of migrants working in precarious forms
of employment in the “shadow” economy has increased.
One thing is certain: migrants have become more vulnerable during
the recession.

The challenges the worlds’ migrants face are many – job
insecurity, marginalization, and a growing risk of xenophobic
attacks.  This should pique the conscience of governments
around the world to reverse the trend of public hostility towards
migrants – all the more so, as governments will need them if
their economy is to recover.   

Migration is humanity’s oldest action against poverty
– humankind’s original poverty-reduction
strategy.  Migration is also the bedrock of many
countries’ economic prosperity.

Conclusion  

In conclusion, the issue before us is not so much a question of
whether or not to accept migrants or to allow migration. 
Large-scale migration is inevitable in today’s world. 
Rather, the issue before us all is how to manage migration in a
manner that respects national sovereignty, meets societal interests
and upholds migrants’ legitimate aspirations, dignity and
human rights.   

If we get this formula right, then migrants will be a key element
in national and global recovery from the economic crisis.