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World
on the move
Tom Nevin, African Business
May 2006
The
world has never seen the movement of people from one place to another
on such a scale as at present. Africans are in the thick of it.
Can it be a positive force for Africa’s development, or will Africa
lose out as the brain drain draws away the continent’s more skilled
workers? Tom Nevin reports on the issues.
Migration,
the restless movements of people from one place to another, more
often than not in search of a better life, is as old as mankind
itself. It is doubtful, however, if the world has seen as intense
and sustained migration as is happening right now.
"The
world revolves around the human mobility game, and that’s as old
as the human race," says Dr Mamphela Ramphele, co-chair of
the Global Commission on International Migration (GCIM). "People
have always moved around. But in terms of movement of numbers, over
the last 25 years since the 1980s, migratory numbers have doubled,
to the current levels of 200m people who are living outside their
country."
The
compulsion that gets people on the move are many and varied: exploring
the other side of the fence, being driven out by insufferable conditions,
and seeking means of supporting one’s family are just a few. The
consequences of migration can manifest themselves in a brain drain
on the downside and, on the positive, as a means of earning valuable
foreign currency in migrants’ remission to the home countries.
Mainly
a tide of poor people
More
likely than not, however, migration is about poor people moving
from their own meager pastures to the greener fields of rich nations.
"One
rather simple conclusion can be drawn from the evidence before us,"
reports Ramphele. "And that is that the vast majority of international
migrants, whether they move on a temporary or permanent basis, whether
their status is legal or irregular, whether they remain in their
own region or move from one continent to another, move from poorer
to more prosperous states. In other words, poverty and inequality
are central to the dynamics of international migration."
The
issue is not one of absolute or abject poverty, because the most
destitute members of society often lack the resources, information
and connections needed to move from one country or continent to
another.
Rather,
it is one of relative poverty and socio-economic disparity that
exerts powerful influences in prompting people to migrate from one
country to another, suggesting that globalization is the link between
relative poverty and international migration.
"While
globalization has had many beneficial consequences, it had also
led to the growth of socio-economic disparities within societies,
states and between different regions of the world," reports
Ramphele. "The process has also given relatively poor people
a powerful incentive to migrate while, at the same time, provided
the means of moving from one country or continent to another."
It
is the opinion of Danny Leipziger, vice president of the World Bank’s
Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) that migration
used to be the sole domain of interior ministries and associated
with security issues and strict border patrols. "We now recognize
the great potential for developing countries and policymakers to
create some coherence between development and migration policies."
Earlier
this year, some 400 decision-makers from migrant-receiving and sending
countries, as well as representatives of migrant associations, met
in Brussels to share country experiences on the factors that make
migration a positive force in development, and to discuss ways of
mitigating migration’s negative effects.
Arranged
by the Belgian government, the International Organization for Migration
the European Commission, and the World Bank, the "Migration
in Development" conference sought ways to strengthen the effects
of migration and economic and social development.
Greater
attention to the issue is providing improved data on the size and
impact of international migration for policymakers to analyze. The
World Bank reports that, at $165bn, officially registered remittances
are more than twice as large as all official development assistance.
According to the UN, there are 191m migrants around the world, of
which 115m are migrants from developing countries who moved to the
‘North’.
Need
for a people top-up shifts the paradigm
A slowing
birthrate means that Europe is running out of people and needs a
top-up, and that has led mainly European delegates to sense a distinct
paradigm shift highlighting the positive aspects of migration. "These
days we are more aware of the fact that we should allow migrants
to settle in Europe," says Belgium’s interior minister Patrick
Dewael. "The ageing of Europe will have dramatic consequences:
between 2010 and 2030 Europe’s population will decrease by 20 million
people and we will need to find laborers from outside the EU,"
he said
The
Dutch minister of development, Agnes Van Ardenne, agrees. "I
see that the tide is changing," she says, and calls for serious
discussion of the pros and cons of migration, for both host countries
and countries of origin.
On
the issue of the brain drain, Ghana’s interior minister, Papa Owusu-Ankomah,
has called on richer countries to help make it more attractive for
educated professionals like doctors, many of whom chose to seek
better paying jobs in richer countries, to return home. Governments
should also improve salaries and conditions for other professionals
such as teachers and nurses. Ramphele agrees and dismisses government’s
arguments that they can’t afford such measures, especially rich
countries like South Africa.
"We
can afford to pay municipal managers enormous salaries, some get
a million rands a year and more," she points out, "and
they are not creating even a hundredth of the value of a teacher
or a nurse. In this regard South Africa has its priorities completely
upside down. We have not prioritised the social sector or regarded
them as an important investment in human and intellectual capital.
We pay some people over-inflated salaries."
She
points out that parliamentarians are paid huge amounts compared
to critically needed nurses and teachers, and South Africa still
expects to have well-functioning schools and health systems.
"It’s
not a matter of money, it’s a matter of priorities. It’s also about
conditions of service. And it’s about respect."
Belgium’s
development minister, Armand De Decker, affirms that some African
countries are badly affected by losing highly skilled nationals
and he proposes that richer countries should adopt a code of conduct
on recruitment of professionals from Africa.
Government
officials of India and Sri Lanka highlight examples of well-managed
emigration practices and knowledge and capital transfer by returning
‘sons and daughters’ to their countries of origin. But Jeremy Kinsman,
ambassador extraordinary to the EU for Canada, has a different view
about what international migration means for his country: "Currently,
18% of all Canadian citizens were born outside Canada. Immigration
means for us full integration into Canadian society. The immigrant
becomes Canadian."
Migration
now a major international issue
"It
is part of who we are as people to always move in search of greener
pastures," says Ramphele. "Which is why, in this increasingly
interconnected world, you would better guard over human and intellectual
capital because, if you don’t, they can easily move to where they
are better appreciated and rewarded."
Ramphele
reports that in recent years there has been a substantial increase
in the total number of international migrants throughout the world.
Countries that were previously unaffected or only marginally affected
by international migration are now experiencing significant movements
of people out of, into and across their territory.
The
Commission’s task is to make recommendations to the UN’s secretary-general,
governments and other stakeholders through a comprehensive global
response to migration issues. Ramphele believes there is a "common
hypocrisy" in the current discourse on migration, particularly
irregular migration, and the world’s more prosperous states bear
responsibility "for the forces that have prompted and sustained"
the irregular movement of migrants.
"At
the same time," she avers, "the world’s poorer states
have an equal responsibility to create the conditions required for
entrepreneurship to flourish, for economic growth to take place,
for poverty to be alleviated and for socio-economic disparities
to be reduced."
There
is still a large agenda for research to fully understand the complexities
of the issues raised by migration. Alan Winters, director of research
in the World Bank’s Department of Development Economics, says, "the
developmental challenges and potentials are quite clear and of a
magnitude that requires their full integration in World Bank and
countries’ strategies globally."
Ramphele
maintains that Africa still has a long way to go in learning how
to manage itself in the 21st century. "Running a
country today is like running a business. If you don’t husband your
human resources, harness and retain them, you will lose them to
the competition, and the global competition is fierce."
She
says South Africa has had its freedom for 12 years and people have
immigrated, "but more have left. And some of those who emigrated
and wanted to return discovered we have archaic IT regulations.
Our connectivity costs are over the top. We’re shooting ourselves
in the foot."
Rampele
also blames a pervasive apathy by the African public to the plight
of such civil servants.
"We
as citizens of Africa have failed in our stewardship, to the extent
that we do not agitate for such changes that would improve the quality
of our democracy. We get the leaders we deserve."
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